July-August 2003

Family activities in July

 
Sophie and Dalia "helping" to make Sophie's "chocolate chip cookie" sheet cake for her birthday, as well as her brownie sheet cake.  Overkill?  They had a good time doing it.  And now we have plenty of leftover goodies in the freezer.

     
Sophie's 4th birthday party was celebrated on July 4 with much joy and many friends.  A few from school, a few from the neighborhood, and a few other good friends, plus parents and siblings, all gathered to watch the nudist birthday girl in her "birthday suit" blow out her candles.  Maybe one day she'll keep her clothes, or at least a bathing suit, on for the duration of the party!  The theme was music, so everyone had fun making musical instruments out of yogurt containers, plastic plates, etc., and then created a marching band to actually try them out.  Next year maybe we'll even get to the "musical chairs" and other activities that we had planned!

In July I was diagnosed with vocal chord nodules, which means I really have to take it easy, i.e., talking less, probably talking softer, talking more slowly and remembering to breathe, speaking and singing with air support, etc.  Definitely not yelling!  Definitely using Sign more!  So, just after this diagnosis, I signed Sophie up for 6 weeks (3 days/week) of summer camp to give us both a break from each other.  I was pretty resistant to the idea, because we had really had a great time together last summer, but as it turned out, between the vocal nodules and the rainy weather this summer, I was glad to have a little relief from the pressure of finding good activities to entertain her.

   
The weekend before Noel and Dalia's birthday (July 14) was spent in Amherst, celebrating with Noel's parents and brother and his family.  The girls loved dressing up and making crowns with cousin Aleeza, while cousin Benna (just under a year old) couldn't really participate in the same way.  Soon, though!  

Family activities in August

     
In early August, we hosted another Hungarian party in the Lake Celeste Rec Hall--this time with the intention of raising some money to help out a sick friend.  It was pretty well attended, and a good time was had by all.  Our very dear friends Kalman (Ocsi) and Trixie (8 months pregnant) played, as well as their friend Raul Rothblatt from Eletfa, and Jesse Kotansky jammed along with them.

This was a fun and unexpected treat!  Our friends Erika and Faruk, who actually met for the first time at our house 4 years ago, stayed overnight with their new baby, Jazmin, after the Hungarian party and hung out with us the next day.  They're leaving for a year in Hungary soon (for Erika to do research for her dissertation on a Fulbright scholarship), so it was good to have some quality time with them. Aaron and Jana and their girls also joined the "post-party party."

     
The pictures above are from Balkan Music and Dance Camp, which took place in late August.  Do we look relaxed and smiling?  Yes!  What an idyllic way to spend a week with your spouse, kids, and dear friends, dancing, making music, and singing, sunning and bathing and enjoying the outdoors.  And the camp where we held it, in the Berkshires, had a great lake and boats for us to enjoy, gorgeous weather (fortunately, after this weird-weather summer), and BABYSITTERS!!!  Noel and I actually got to take classes and attend some of the evening parties, which was a big, unexpected, much-appreciated PLUS!!!!  Now I'm tempted to hire babysitters more often, and go out alone with Noel sometimes, even just for a walk, to be able to talk and enjoy each other's company without so many demands (even adorable ones) on our attention.  My favorite class was FYR (former Yugoslav) singing, and I plan to get together semi-regularly with friends in the area to review those songs and learn new ones.

By the end of August, Dalia's verbal skills amaze us constantly.  Her grammar is so good!!!  But she'll suddenly revert to babytalk, like "abababababa," while pointing, and we'll say, "Dalia, what is it that you want?  You need to tell us in English."  And she'll say, "Mommy/Daddy, may I please have a banana?" Clear as a bell! Or, "Are you almost done?  Is it time to go?"  Dalia is still very petite, at only 10% for both height and weight at her last checkup in July, and the doctor was a bit concerned, but she's generally very healthy and she's putting on a little more weight now.   The contrast between her tiny size and the advanced verbal skills is just hilarious at times.  She also does the "diva" thing that Sophie used to do, insisting that she sing a song all by herself, that she's "practicing."  This is especially funny when the song is in Croatian, Hungarian, Hebrew, etc., or when she doesn't know all the words, or when she thinks she does but really doesn't!!!+

Sophie is still a real talker, always with all sorts of new expressions, picked up from other children, videos, books, or her own very active imagination.  Both girls still love to read and do puzzles, sing and dance, play computer games, pretend to be cats, dogs, or whatever, and watch videos.  Lately they've been asking for sign language videos again, which is wonderful for their ASL skills and mine. 

Dalia does a funny little thing with ASL, in that she'll make up a sign, like flicking her fingers a certain way, and then ask me, "Mommy, what does this mean?"   She also will be nursing or otherwise entertained, and then will pop off and say, "This means froggy, people, scary, popcorn, P, E," or whatever happens to come into her head!!!  I really haven't been consciously "working" with them on signing, but they are really picking it up!!!  Sophie came into the office the other night with her toy stethoscope on, and signed to me, voice-off, "I-want-you-take-my-heart-beat."  I was blown away!!!