going to the snow

i know that steve has become a true california convert because he said it on our way up to tahoe. he told samuel that we were "going to the snow". yes, snow is a place, not a season.

breakfast stop in sacramento on our way up "to the snow"

the vacation begins, as every vacation should, with... sleep

bubbie pulls out her carefully selected* bag of tricks

*she was only allowed to bring one bag of toys

samuel suits up for his big day in the snow

happybirthdaynewcsaboxfarmfieldtripchanukahohchanukamakingtoastdayattheparktrainingthefourthchef

we did a lot this month. so much, that i haven't had a chance to blog about it. so here is one big catch up.

the month of december began, as it always does, with the day of my birth...

i was lucky enough to have dinner with my family, preceded by a day at the spa, which i will not speak of further, but it was also the place where i'm pretty sure samuel was conceived...

next came our pick up of our first winter CSA box. so i suited up shira and samuel, and we biked on over.

and shira began her chef duties with our newly acquired produce

we went to the farm for a field trip with our preschool class

samuel showed his true colors as a pyromaniac this chanukah, much like his uncle david. in order to satisfy his desire for fire, he insisted we light two menorahs each night.
steve and i realized how few of the chanukah songs we actually know all the words to, since samuel began to ask for chanukah songs at bedtime. dreidle dreidle sung many times in a row just did not satisfy.
this chanukah marks the first time samuel truly began to understand the concept of gifts. he was excited about unwrapping them, and was more interested in the contents,
than the box (most of the time)
samuel putting his new matchbox cars into his new matchbox carrying case (courtesy of auntie lauren and grandma joan, respectively)

samuel playing maestro as lauren and lena play the piano after chanukah dinner: (video at www.mysunmoonandstars.blogspot.com)

this month also marks shira's half birthday. and boy is she growing up: (video at www.mysunmoonandstars.blogspot.com)


samuel is also growing up. his latest burst of independence** includes making his own cheese toast from start to finish. the steps to make this happen
1. samuel pulls his chair over to the freezer, opens it, pulls out a piece of bread, puts bread on chair, pushes it over the counter, climbs on the counter, opens the toaster, puts bread in
2. opens the fridge, removes the cheese, brings it over to the cutting board, asks me to cut him two slices*
3. places the slices of cheese on the bread
4. closes the toaster turns the dial on and waits for it to toast
5. pulls out a plate from the cabinet, puts his toast on it
6. eats it happily


*when samuel doesn't want any help at all, he slightly modifies this step, and instead of cheese, uses butter - he rubs it straight on the bread and doesn't need my help (or approval)

**the first time he did this, he did it all without my knowledge. i just showed up in the kitchen to see him eating toast, and he proceeded to show me how he made it happen.

What happened?

I will hopefully return to blogging in the next few days. What happened? Well, I realized Chanukah was rapidly approaching and thus used my few moments of "free" time to catch up on some gifts that I meant to knit. Now that I have finished those (pics to be posted after the recipients of said gifts have them in hand or head, as the case may be) I have been madly baking.

1. Today I managed to go to preschool with Samuel.

2. Be the one in charge of the outdoor art project (painting a candle precariously stuck in some kind of clay and then sprinkle with glitter. )

3. Talk another preschooler down from an "i miss mommy and must cry hysterically until she returns" fit.

4. Tote my hysterical preschooler to the car under one arm while pushing my infant in a stroller in the other (and get them both in the car, and drive home while he continued to scream, etc. etc.)

5. After hysterical preschooler slept, made two loaves of pumpkin chocolate chip bread and 3 dozen pumpkin chocolate chip mini muffins.

6. Made a 3 course dinner while infant decided she was too tired to sleep and would rather scream every time I put her down.

7. Made 3 dozen ginger spice cookies after putting crazed preschooler to bed.

8. Made plans to meet an old high school friend in San Francisco tomorrow who I haven't seen in almost 15 years.

9. Blog about it all.

10. Relax to some mindless television (I hope).

Thanksgiving 2009

For the first time in several years, we spent Thanksgiving at Grandpa Lou's and Grandma Joan's house. It was nice to finally have the whole Silberman clan together again. Daniel was home from Udub, Lauren is living nearby again and we weren't in New York.

Samuel unpeals the wrapper from one of the turkey cupcakes that Emma made.
From the moment he saw the turkey cupcakes he insisted on having one, and went into meltdown when we told him he had to wait until after dinner. Steve finally negotiated for Samuel to sit on his lap for five minutes and eat two pieces of actual turkey before he devoured the cupcake and a half.

The rest of this post is a series of three videos. Once again, you can't see the videos on Facebook, if you'd like to watch them, go directly to my blog: www.mysunmoonandstars.blogspot.com

I am strongly tempted not to include the first video because you can hear me singing on it, and yes, I sound REALLY REALLY BAD. I mean embarrassingly bad, but it has my Dad's traditional self deprecating toast at the beginning, and it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without it. And really, since everything in the world is not about my vanity, I'll take one for the team. Just please ignore my voice.






Shira attempts to eat Steve's plate, and maybe some mashed potatoes too. She has yet to actually get any food very near her mouth, but it is only a matter of time.

Look Ma, No Hands!

shira sits! 5 months and 3 days.

and since being able to sit up on your own, and the imbibing of food are intimately related...shira was given her first chance at solid foods
and decided she'd rather wear it, than eat it
but she made a valiant effort at getting it at least near her mouth.

Taking after Mommy

This morning Steve introduced Samuel to my childhood favorite. Bread and butter. A half a loaf of bread later...

bed or jungle gym?

Samuel and Steve hard at work putting together the new bed

The finished product

we decided that having a trampoline in our backyard was not nearly enough liability for us, so we got Samuel and Shira a loft bed with a slide.

surprisingly, though the slide has been a big hit, the ladder is a large part of the entertainment as well. i forgot that getting up is just as important as how you get down.

shira also loves this bed. she is enthralled to watch samuel as he plays on it. he narrates to her as he goes up and down. talk about a perfect symbiotic relationship - he wants someone to listen raptly to all he has to say and shira loves to have people talk to her.

in addition, shira gets to be a part of bedtime stories, albeit on a different level (pun intended).

family

At first, it hit me by surprise at an impromptu dinner out with all of us together, though Shira was sleeping.

Maybe it was the candles and warm lighting. Maybe it was the cold outside contrasting with the coziness inside. It began to startle me in the morning when we all sat on the couch and read stories together. Now I notice it throughout the day, all the time.

First I was me. No, that's not true. First I was part of a family. Mom, Dad, Brother and Sister. Then it wasn't a family anymore. It was sometimes Mom, sometimes Dad and Joan, but mostly just David and Lisa/Big Brother and Little Sister. And then it was just Me. Teenager, alone Me. Then it was College Student alone Me. Then it was Me and Him (get obsessed Me, break up Me, fall apart Me, be alone Me - rinse and repeat.)

Then it wasn't just Me. It was Us. The Couple. Then the Married Couple. Then the Couple and Baby.

But now, I wake up in the morning part of a family.

And when I mean wake up as part of a family, I mean wake up in a bed with four people.

Is it the wintry air that causes us to turn on the heater and cuddle under blankets on the couch as we read stories that has done it? Is it the completion of our family with the fourth member? Is it moving past the hardest parts of infancy with the knowledge that it all gets better from here? Is it the enchantment of hearing our words come out of a little mouth that looks just a bit like us?

Whatever the reason, I constantly find my heart warmed and so full sometimes I think it could break to be part of something so wonderful with my children and my husband, something that I haven't felt myself since I was a child.

Music Together

Samuel and Sophia chilling in music class

The first time we enrolled in Music Together, Samuel spent more time playing with the curtains than he did interacting with the music, teacher, kids or instruments. He was 14 months. We quit.

After hearing how great "Teacher Joe" was from Shannon, and listening to how much Kathy and Britta both enjoyed music class, we decided to give it another try.

We just finished our third season tonight, and it is amazing to see how much Samuel has changed. He is excited to go to class every week (and not just because we stop at the office to pick up Steve and get a carton of milk first.)

He plays with the instruments, and is starting to show a real sense of rhythm. He talks to "Teacher Joe", and loves to use his pick to play the mandolin. He sings many of the songs both in class and at home, in addition to mixing and matching songs with nursery rhymes, and his own versions of his favorites. He loves it when Shannon and Sophia are in the same class as us. It is absolutely amazing to see how much he has changed over the last year.

Shira is enchanted by music class, and though she usually falls asleep on the way there, she always wakes up the instant the music starts. I think she might enjoy it even more than Samuel.

Video here: www.mysunmoonandstars.blogspot.com

Shira Shira Bo Bira

my plumbing heroes

about 2 months ago the water pressure in our kitchen sink suddenly decreased. we had no idea why or how, but we were mostly too tired and too scared to do anything about it.

the too tired coming from having a toddler and an infant, the too scared coming from our previous plumbing experiences as owners of a sixty year old house with original pipes and fixtures. and then two weeks ago, the pressure decreased so dramatically that we could ignore it no longer.

well, technically, that isn't true. we managed to ignore it for another two weeks. but today steve got out the tools, the pants that sag in the appropriately plumberly fashion, and the plumbers how to book, and got to work.samuel was ready as ever as the plumber's assistant.

how do you use the wrench?

watch the video to see just how helpful samuel is: (www.mysunmoonandstars.blogspot.com)

all the world's a playground

on our way to the farmer's market last sunday...

climbing

racing daddy


and jumping


and newspaper grabbing

samuel's first pumpkin carving experience

I have been remiss in not posting these photos earlier.

Last year we purchased a pumpkin, fully intending to carve it and stick a candle in it for Halloween, but between raising a toddler and constant nausea from my pregnancy with Shira, it just didn't happen. Instead it got moldy since we left it on the porch until April. I was also planning on throwing a Halloween party. Ah, maybe next year.

Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa being in town this year, our pumpkin did get carved.


And video here: www.mysunmoonandstars.blogspot.com

a new potty adventure

shira sits on the ec potty for the first time. this morning we caught our first poop in the potty. woohoo!

your dad, the hipster (aka steve's new glasses)

my goal one day is to take this digital photo album/commentary, and make it into physical family albums. i imagine samuel and shira looking at this picture one day and saying, "look at dad. i remember those glasses." or "can you believe he looks that young?" or "ha ha, look at those glasses."

i'm just glad i was able to trick him into smiling for real and into not closing his eyes.

ps i picked the glasses out, so i get all the compliments or jeering.

pps to samuel and shira - i think he's gorgeous

halloween stop action photos

i couldn't resist posting these. i just kept clicking away hoping i would get one pic with the rooster and pumpkin looking at the camera. no such luck, but here are the results anyway.