Thumb sucking

Ellie was not a thumb sucker. Abraham has enjoyed occasional thumb sucking since he was tiny. It doesn't seem to be a habit, though.

Cinnamon Roll Saturday

On Saturday mornings we have cinnamon rolls. Occasionally Ellie likes to help.

Letters from Ellie

Recently I bought Ellie a new notebook thinking she'd like to draw and color in it. She decided, however, that it's purpose was for writing messages to people. So, she dictates a letter to me, including what shapes to draw. Then, when I'm done with my part she signs her name and draws a few extras.

A Happy Eater

These pics were taken while Abe was healing from his broken collarbone. You can see how he kept his left arm close to him for a while.

Wall work

My friend gave us a wall hanging that helps Ellie work on things like zipping, doing up buttons, velcro, lacing and tying, etc. Fun.
So, thanks to both the creator Ingrid and the giver Hosanna.

100 strokes

Ellie likes combing her hair straight after a bath. She's been doing it even more lately since I told her that when I was young my mom told me that to get long hair I had to brush my hair 100 strokes a day. Fortunately, we are still working on counting with Ellie so the 100 strokes goes something like this, "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 100. Done, Mom! Does my hair look longer?"

Dressing Up

Sitting to Standing

 Seriously, it seems like my little boy has grown up overnight. He went from laying down all the time, to scooting and almost crawling, to broken collarbone, to crawling and sitting, and now one day later he stands (holding on to something) all the time! What? Don't I get some time to enjoy the crawling and sitting stage before my BABY stands?! He looks like such a big boy... I don't know if I'm ready for this.... like I have a choice.

So, here he is practicing in his bucket bath.

Not so happy sitting...

Putting in the effort to stand...

Ah, the joy of standing.

Dot Fun

We went through a phase around here a few weeks ago that involved daily dotting. These are just a couple of the dot creations. 

This rainbow was fun... unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the final product. 

We got these "Do a Dot" markers from friends a couple years ago. When looking online for activities I also saw that people use plain old bingo markers for the same effect. Fun, fun.

Lorina's attempt at AC

It is HOT. Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot. Really, really, really hot. :) Just want to make sure that I am communicating my point clearly.

Last year we had a visitor who used to live in Mongolia. He told us that when it would get unbearably hot (which I'm SURE that we are experiencing worse right now! :) ) They would put frozen water bottles in front of a fan and it would blow cool air. So, we tried it. Our water bottles had salt water in them so they would melt slower.

Did it work? Nope. If you got really close, there was some cool air surrounding the water bottles, but putting it in front of a fan did not make the cold air blow towards us.

I didn't take a picture of this, but one way that a frozen water bottle HAS been effective has been to sleep with it. :) I got the idea from a friend here, and it makes such a difference. Wrapped in a towel, it goes under my neck, under my ankles, or I just hug it to my chest. It lasts a few hours, and when it melts and the towel and my bed gets all wet with cold water, I don't care because the cool water feels good.

So, if you are hot, hug your water bottle. Don't bother putting it in front of a fan.

I'd like to note that this idea did not impress my husband. He has had much grander visions of a homemade AC which might be shared here one day... or might not. We'll see. :)

A counting poster

Fun with clean laundry

 Why should you put the laundry away right after you take it off the line?

Because otherwise a baby crawling around on the floor will get into it.
And then, of course, his big sister will want to join in the fun.

I love my two goofballs.

Fun with buttons

 Patterns on a string, a good workout for little fingers...

Buttons on pipe cleaner make a fun snake/caterpillar...

Sorting and organizing...

and decorating...

Thanks, Marcie.

Baking Soda, my best friend

Prickly heat (heat rash) is my worst enemy during hot season. So, when my friend told me that in order to get rid of it, you can make a paste out of baking soda and it'll go away, I was eager to try it. Lo, and behold! It works. So, that is how baking soda became my best friend. A warning to all of you who are going to try this, because I'm sure that after this post baking soda will be in high demand around the globe! My friend left this paste on her daughters too long, and it apparently pulled off a layer or two of the skin. We don't leave it on very long at all... less than 30 seconds, just long enough for a blogging mommy to take a picture. :)

Bathtime

When it's hot, cold baths to wash the sweat off my kiddos and cool them down occur every few hours.

Determined to be like Daddy

Language Learning

This is Ellie with our language tutor Shoshi.

Roof time

I really want to give Ellie the chance to get out everyday. Without a yard that is pretty hard with a baby.  Usually women and kids go out between the third and fourth calls to prayer each day, but with Abraham's nap somewhere in that time, it's too hard to even get out to the open field down the road.

What has been working lately is just going up onto our roof before the fourth call to prayer. Our neighbors are up there, we get fresh air, and Ellie gets to use her sidewalk chalk and bubbles. Sometimes I need to come down to be with Abraham and Ellie has a blast just staying and spending time with our neighbors.

Ellie and some of her flower drawings.

Sometimes the drawings get pretty big.

Oftentimes one of our neighbors wants to hold Abraham. That frees me up to take the laundry down (we hang our laundry to dry on the roof here) or to cross stitch.

Here's Abraham with the greatest landlady in the world.

A New Photographer

There's a new photographer in town. Here's what she decided to take pictures of when given the opportunity to use the camera.

All photo credits go to Ellie. :)

How to Feed Yourself

You can use a spoon.

Or you can skip using the spoon.

Just have fun.

Shampoo fun

You would never guess her hair is this long when it's dry, would you?

Guess who

Happy New Year 1419!

April 14 is when we celebrate the Bengali New Year. We dress up in red and white (unless you are Franklin). Last year Ellie and Franklin went to the University and had a great time celebrating while I stayed home packing. This year Abraham and I joined in the merry making and we went to the University, too.

All dressed up and ready to go.

We got to the University and there was parade

after parade

after parade

after parade (if you consider marching behind a man dancing on the back of a motorcycle a parade).

There was yummy snack food available, but we didn't have any. Before we left our neighbors had brought over some yummy treats. Here's what an ice cream "truck" looks like, though.

One of the best things was watching Ellie get her face painted.

My gorgeous family.

By the end of our time at the University, Abraham was fast asleep on Daddy's shoulder. 

Happy New Year 1419!