December 2001

This is Vinny, our contractor, and carpenter, John.  We've really been enjoying getting to know these guys and watch them work.  It's amazing how much they can get done in a short period of time!  Here is the roof as it was being finished and the addition with house wrap on it.  

 
The cedar siding is up, looks gorgeous and smells wonderful.  We need to decide what color the outside will be, since the whole house needs painting.  This probably won't happen until the spring.  More pressing is actually deciding on the interior colors right now!  The fourth picture shows John and Ernie (carpenters, framers, sheetrockers, you name it, they can do it) installing the supports for our little deck outside the bedroom.  George (fifth picture) installed the insulation on the same day.

Well, they finished sheetrocking the last day of December--what a difference!  It really looks almost finished, but they say not to count on painting until the end of January.  We're doing okay, though, considering that we are all living in the lake room with our dressers in the living room.  It could be so much worse than this.  The clutter bothers me (Judy) even more than usual, because we're living in a smaller space, and I find myself constantly stepping on toys, which is especially disconcerting when I'm holding Dalia!  So I'm trying to make it a rule that we put away toys and books when we're finished playing with them.  This is a lot to expect from Sophie, who will be 2½ soon, but if I don't start expecting it now, what will we do later?

The lake is frozen now and Noel is thrilled, because skating is one of his favorite forms of exercise.  Maybe one day I'll get better at it (read: less of a Florida-born weenie!) and be a better skating partner for him.

Sophie and Dalia read Daddy a story at bedtime.  (See how our bed fits into the lake room?)  Sophie still loves to read, especially retelling stories we have told her.  Dalia already loves books and being read to, which is a lot of fun for us and for Sophie.  I think that Sophie didn't show an interest in books until she was a bit older.  Dalia is always grabbing whatever we are reading, text or pictures, and trying to look on to see what is so fascinating.  

Dalia also loves to "work" on the website, and she laughs whenever a picture of herself or us pops up on screen.  It's a little hard to work on it while holding her, but I wouldn't trade it for the world!  She is still very interested in whatever we are eating, and now that she's almost six months old, we're starting to give her small tastes of whatever it is--don't worry, benign things like pea soup and oatmeal and crusty bread to taste and knaw on.  I know, all the books say to start with one thing, like rice cereal, do that for a week, and then try something else, to make sure that she's not allergic to things, but when did we ever do things by the book? :-)  And what did people do before they had all these books?  :-) Sophie hated rice cereal, as I remember, and didn't really like anything but breast milk until we tried cooked, mashed sweet potato when she was about seven months old.  

Dalia loves to mouth things: her fingers, our fingers, toys, bread crusts, burp cloths, you name it, so we're expecting teeth in the next little while.  Not that I (Judy) am especially looking forward to that! :-)  Dalia's babyhood seems to be just flying by, faster than Sophie's was, it seems, and since this will probably be our last child, I just want to hang on to every day.  Sniff! :-(

Sophie loves to "help" in the kitchen.  In the first two pictures, she gets to use her new cookie cutters to make her name in cookies (lower left of second picture).  In the next two pictures (two separate occasions), she helps to knead and then paint the egg wash on challah dough, then sprinkle with poppy seeds.  She really seems to enjoy doing stuff in the kitchen.  She loves to measure, pour and mix, too, usually making a big mess, but isn't that what it's all about? :-))))

A visit from cousin Aleeza is always a lot of fun for Sophie, and now Dalia is old enough to enjoy her company as well.

Ildikó surprised Sophie at the December Hungarian táncház by bringing her a costume to wear for the party.  Öcsi taught her some basic steps and turning, including an introduction to heel turns (just kidding!) .  Öcsi and Trix also visited us at home later in December, bringing smiles and fun and lots of great gifts.

Both girls love coming with us to parties and dancing and appreciating music.  Dalia usually sleeps through a good bit of the parties, but it's really great that she can sleep through music and other party noises.  Good practice for the future!   She loves when we sing to her and she joins in by cooing adorably.  Sophie is still singing and playing at every opportunity, making up songs, making up new words to songs she already knows.  We love to watch her at a live music event.  She really knows how to listen respectfully and clap at the appropriate time, as well as pick up an instrument and join in the fun, and she loves to get up and bop to dance music.  Sophie has been participating in the Israeli folk dance classes that Judy teaches at her nursery school to the 3 and 4 year olds, and we hear her singing some of the dance songs (in Hebrew) at home.  She's also an eager test audience, in case I need to see if a dance "works" with her age group.