LeWinternet:It’s LeWinternutty!

It’s not Paris, but to us it’s Paradise…

Sorry I’m not writing much lately…but at least you have captions!

Here are some photos from Aviva’s first March.

For those who don’t know, Purim is a typical Jewish holiday in the sense that the plot summary is, “They tried to kill us. We survived. Let’s eat!” However, in addition to eating, people dress in costumes, roast people in “spiels,” and get drunk. Yup. It’s the law!

Okay, so we personally don’t do the drinking think, but we did get dressed up. Or rather, I spent months planning Steve and Aviva’s costume (including asking the doctor if she could wear face paints, purchasing clothes, etc.), but never figured out a costume for myself. This proves that I am now a mom. So Aviva and a-Steve-a wore matching outfits and we made sure she looked even more like Dad than usual.

Some people have to wonder why their children will hate them in the future. We know already.

We were also very very lucky to have Scott, Steve’s brother, visit us. He bought tickets last minute on Skybus. Little did we know that they were also last-minute in the sense that it was about the last minute to get here before Skybus went out of business. So we are extra happy he didn’t delay and miss the chance the hang out.

Here are some more pics from Purim:

By the way, the face paints came off easily except for the little bit of black that was in Aviva’s eyebrows. So for about half a day she looked like she had painted on brows.

Aviva has really enjoyed flirting with herself in the mirror since a young age. Her physical therapist taught us how to use the mirror to help Aviva to turn her head to the right and so forth, so we could blame the physical therapist. It’s also partly our fault, since we kept the huge mirror panels up in the dance room turned nursery. You can also see Aviva’s amazing thighs in these photos…the Yiddish word for thigh folds is “pulkes,” and I think we can safely say that her pulkes have pulkes.
In any case, Aviva had a fun time smiling at herself when her Nana Yvette and Papa Bob came to visit this March. It was a great visit, and they did make it quite clear that they were not here for us. We don’t blame them!

But it was Rachel Bieber who gave Aviva a formal introduction to the Aviva in the mirror, and Aviva decided that she’d like to make out with that cute baby. So she licked her own image quite contentedly…

Now, there is an interesting genetic history behind the fact that in Aviva’s mind (or so the books tell us) that is a different baby in the mirror. You see, as a young girl my parents recorded me singing and talking with them into a tape recorder. On one of the recordings, I asked to talk with the Debra in the tape recorder. Although my father patiently explained how tapes work, I would have none of that. “There are TWO DEBRAAAAS!” I shouted insistently. After Dad left the room, you can hear me say, “Hi, Debra, it’s me, the other Debra. I know you’re in there. Now I’m going to rewind the tape so I can hear you talk.” We figure Aviva is going to have a heck of a time buying into this whole painted-glass-makes-reflection theory.

In other news, Aviva had her first clear response to language. For a while now, we’ve been quite sure of the history behind the words “mama” and “dada.” When happy, Aviva cheerfully babbles “dadadada” to herself. But when she is tired or hungry she is quickly grabbing for me and exclaiming, “Mumumumumum!” So angry/needy=Mom and happy/joyful=Dad. Fair? We think not. But the fun began yesterday when Aviva was playing away and I asked her if she wanted milk while doing the sign for milk (which looks like squeezing an udder, by the way). In response, she immediately grabbed for my shirt and tried to lift it! Steve and I were totally clear from the way she went for me that she understood the word and/or the sign. It was so exciting to have some communication reach her. I think it might be time for me to take the cue and stop swearing in front of her quite so much…especially when pretending to translate an angry “mumumumumum!” into English…

A great surprise during Rachel Bieber’s visit (after Steve left for a conference in DC) was when we headed to the park and realized that it was the day where they did the reenactment of the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, a major Revolutionary War battle. The British general Cornwallis won, but lost 25% of his army during it…it cause him to literally win the battle but lose the war. Although we fled before mixing sleeping baby and gunfire, we got to tour a farm that the British has walked through on their way to the battle. My favorite shot from the farm was the one below. Even Shorty pointed out that it didn’t make much sense to run a “Sumer” camp here in NC, since we’re just not in Ur.

Other updates: Aviva rolls, pivots, creeps, and scoots. No crawling yet; we think the pulkes keep her from getting up on her knees yet. She is also now eating rice cereal, carrots, apples, bananas, acorn squash, sweet potato (or, potatoe if you’re Quayle), and green peas. She’s liking them all so far…we’re crossing our fingers that tofu will be a hit this week! Oh, and she’s got hair now. Kinda.

Please enjoy this slide show summing up the rest of the month’s events…you can click on it to see the album at a different pace.

So, it has begin. Aviva started solid foods at about six months. She’s so far had rice cereal mixed with breast milk, carrots, and peas. She’s getting the hang of it and likes it, although she’s often mostly into chewing on the spoon.

Here are some pics from her first encounters of the food kind.
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Since Aviva’s come back from California, we’ve been enjoying her becoming a heavy roller and a major player. She’s been rolling all over, sitting up and eating every toy she can, and rolling across rooms before we can bat an eye.

Last week Aviva went to her six-month check-up. She weighed in at 17 lbs 3 oz and was nearly 26 inches long.

Things are changing so fast that every day she does something new. They are subtle things like sucking on her lip or no longer making strange deep grunts (opting instead for more of the typical ape-like oo oo noises of this age). Each day I’m thrilled at the new event and torn apart by my sadness over the speed of it all.

In other news, Mommy is very much enjoying the continued lack of the female cycle…especially the part where she tries to bite people’s heads off and cries randomly. Although I (like me father before me) can’t read a sappy book without tears, I haven’t had a crying fight since the birth hormones leveled off at about 2 months postpartum. I feel so…even. Perhaps this explains my hatred of Aviva’s transition to solid food (more on that to come), since I reckon a return to fertile moodiness is not far behind.

Here are some pictures and captions about what she’s been up to.

Those who are related to Steve say she looks like me. Everyone else…says she looks like Steve. Here is the start of a photo record of Steve and me as kids to help settle the score. I don’t yet have Steve baby photos; I’ll have to snag some from his mom.

Debra at six or seven months. I look so much like my dad, Lou, here, don’t I? I wish he could see Aviva and see how much she looks like him. And don’t you love his suit? Back in those days he was invited to a black tie affair, but just didn’t have the dough to rent or by a tux. So he one wore it to a black tie affair…with a black tie on!

Debra at one year and 2 1/2 years. In case you’re wondering, that’s Bert’s head in the photo. I LOVED my Bert and Ernie dolls.

Here are the pics!

We were pretty nervous about Aviva’s first flight. I had terrible ear problems on planes as a kid, and I dreaded the possible miserable screaming child on the trip. We got a ticket from Charlotte so we could fly directly, and tried to plan ahead for the chaos.

Before we headed out, we handed the kiddo to Dan for an hour for his first venture in baby sitting. He got her happily into the mellow need-to-nap phase and played a game with the puppy attached to her outfit. Go HERE to see the video. I highly recommend watching through the first “Nom.” This will make sense shortly.

Well, luckily Aviva did great on the flight. She wooed the flight attendents as well. Here she is pushing the cart and serving them drinks:

Once in LA, the rounds of meeting began. She got to play with her Nana Yvette (Steve’s mom) and Papa Bob:


Aviva also met her Great Grandmother Lillian. Of course meeting her two great grandparents is a wonderful thing, and was such a special part of our trip.

She also got some love from her Uncle Scott, Steve’s bro.

She also got to meet her Aunt Sandy and Uncle Lev for the first time. She also met her cousin Moshe, who is shown here applauding for her after Aviva let loose a huge burp.

The next day, she got to hang out with Lesley, Austin, Finn, Eli, Lauren, and Jeff…friends from Steve’s college and high school years and their children.

She also met Rachel Bieber, who had gotten her a wonderful book. Here we are saying, “Mooooooo.”

My mom, Stefanie, and Daisy Miller got Aviva giggling:

Her Great Grandfather Poppa Dick and his wife, May, kindly hosted a lunch for Aviva and friends. In thanks, Aviva ate Poppa Dick’s finger.

Here’s an artsy shot of Aviva trying to eat her cousin Lila’s hair…

Here are a couple of random highlight shots from LA life.
First of all, my mom discovered that Aviva has her own high school. And in Hollywood, no less!

Secondly, there are things that happen only in LA:

There are lots more family and friend pictures to see as well. Far too many to post them all here. So I’ve linked this to a web album: FOR MORE PICS, CLICK HERE

So here is a random tale from Aviva’s newborn days:

Aviva was about two weeks old when my mom went grocery shopping and brought home this delicious wheatberry dish with raisins and pine nuts. We ate it for lunch. Later on, Mom said, “Why is there a raisin by the changing table?” We didn’t know. She said she was tempted to eat it, but didn’t.

A few hours later we realized that the stump of her cord had fallen off.

Yum!

From First Portrai…

Here is the link to some pictures from Aviva’s first visit to a real portrait studio (Click on the little “From…” under the picture above).

The other 30 babies at the studio were all dressed in red lacey Christmas outfits with matching headbands. They had on tights. They had on patent leather shoes. They were NOT happy. If you refer back to my tale of Aviva learning to her dismay that she was Jewish, she was now thrilled to be a Jew. It was a crazy, screamy place to be. Did I mention this was a Monday morning, for goodness sake? I’m sure I will soon put Aviva in tights and a headband, but for now she has escaped.

The maroon outfit, by the way, is from our friend Tracy. I’m such a geek that I also bought it the next size up so she can keep wearing it!

Halloween

Steve and I went to Scarlett and Derick’s for a Halloween party. Tired as we were, we dressed as parents. It’s the most terrifying costumes we could think of for some of those attending! Notice the drool on my shoulder. I also purposely didn’t fix Aviva’s red-eye in the shot; I think it adds to the dire danger of parenthood.

I wasn’t quite ready for Aviva’s first Halloween. We had thought about dressing her in a black onsie and putting the Gentian Violet thrush treatment back on her lips to make her a purple-lipped Goth baby, but then we realized we couldn’t find a black onsie warm enough for an evening outside.

So I pulled a fluffy white outfit out of a bag of hand-me-downs from Sabine Spaulding and declared that Aviva would be a baby sheep. Sleep deprivation is clear here since the word “lamb” did not occur to me. Steve found a sheep hat and mittens, and thus Aviva’s first costume was born.

Our Mommy and Baby yoga class had a party and loads of kids showed up in costumes. Both sets of twins were peas in pods. Aviva’s friend, Lucas, kept watch over Aviva as she slept through it all.

I’m working on finding any pics of Aviva with the sheep hat and the whole deal. She was so cute! I’ll post those ASAP.

Poopnership
It was my first real day out. Like, the whole day. Away from the house. I’d left the house at nine with a fully stocked bag. In the evening, we ended up at Dan, Marcy, and Nikki’s for dinner. Suddenly, “it” happened. And by “it” I mean when the guy in Forrest Gump asks for a bumper sticker idea and Forrest steps in a huge mound of dung and says the famous phrase but edited for regular television “it.”

Yes, Aviva released a sound now quite familiar to us. “A present!” We declared. “We LOVE presents.” And Steve set about the routine of diaper pad, etc…except we were out of diapers and out of wipes.

Just as we set out to deal with the situation (i.e. run to our house down the street for more diapers), Aviva unleashed on the changing pad and all over her clothes. Of course, I’d started out with changes of clothes, but she had gone through them. So we had nothing, nothing, nothing that you would need in a diaper bag. You wouldn’t even call it a diaper bag at that point. It was a useless purse with a set of baby mittens and a couple of toys.

We sprung into action. Steve headed over our place, while I used her blanket as a gigantic wipe and rinsed her in the sink. It all happened without argument or even frustration (although perhaps a little embarrassment to have caused such trouble).

It hit me then how happy I was. All these years I saw couples share responsibility, take turns carrying screaming kids out of theatres, etc. in partnership. I guess I always feared we would argue or something; I don’t know. But we WERE those parents right then. As Steve arrived back at the scene and I kissed him, I was the happiest person ever to be pooped on.

Bad News for Aviva

Mommy and Me classes are supposed to be educational about useful topics, or so I thought. During my first class an overweight woman gave us handouts on how to prevent our children from becoming overweight. I guess that was useful. But the next week reps from Babies R Us came to show us their top toys for Christmas, most of which were huge plastic items that made a lot of noise (although I’m sure Aviva would love them). They passed around a teddy bear with a red and white Santa hat on and a pretend book in its hand. Upon pressing its paw, it would read “’Twas the Night Before Christmas,” mouth and body moving in a Teddy Ruxpin-esk style. Aviva was transfixed. “Aviva,” I said to her. “I hate to break this to you, but…you’re Jewish.” I haven’t told her about the Santa Claus deal yet.

Aviva Speaks Out on Important Issues

I took Aviva with me to hear the Israeli consul general for the southeastern U.S. She slept for a while, than woke to nurse. I was very proud that I managed to get her feeding under nursing cover, and she was quietly enjoying her meal. As the gentleman spoke regarding Syria, she let out a huge man-burp. The consul commented that that was her view on the subject, and continued his lecture.

I learned about the nursing cover at my swing dancing shower. Our friend was using it, and proudly declared, “And guess what it’s called? A Hooter Hider!” Our other friend’s Mormon nine-year old turned to her mom and asked in the sweetest voice, “Mommy, what’s a hooter?”

Aviva no longer tolerates being covered while eating. She wants to see the world!

So I hadn’t posted these before and thought we should get them up.

Aviva spent most of her fourth month living in the studio apartment we’d rented for my mom while we had folks do lead abatement work on our house. I loved living there; it was so easy to go to the bathroom when she was never more than a few feet away, I could clean easily, no monitor needed. The one to suffer was Shorty, since we dropped him into our backyard on many days and he spent the day able to pee at will but probably very lonely.

We had the joy of seeing Aviva’s friend Disa get baptized. It was Steve and my (and Aviva’s) first time at a Lutheran church, and it was so special to share in an important occasion in another child’s life. Libby, Joe, and her family were very kind in welcoming us to their home afterwards, and the two babies hung out on the floor, making for a fun centerpiece.

Month four is a fun one. Smiling and laughing happened every day with Aviva, and she started to really become her own little person.

Our dear friends Dan, Marcy, and Nikki live just a few blocks from us. “Uncle” Dan works from home, and since we’ve been living in the studio my mom rented while they are doing lead abatement on our house, Aviva and I walk over for me to use the internet or to try and fail to accomplish much work. Aviva’s first encounters of the cat kind happened on one such occasion, and she ended up in a stare-down and made a grab for fur already (oh, we pity Shorty in advance).

The cutest thing, though, is when Dan plays piano for Aviva. She and I sit next to him while he plays something (he always includes a number entitled “Infant Eyes”). Then I help her pluck some keys. She watches and listens with fascination, and cries when Dan stops playing. Last week she also reached out with both hands and explored the keys with her fingers. It was so neat to watch her press hard enough to make some sound come from the piano. Those tiny delicate hands move with such thoughtfulness and grace. She explores Daddy’s face the same way, cooing and touching his goatee, nose, eyes, etc. The grace part is not so much there when she nabs his glasses, though. We tell her there is no rush, she’ll have her own glasses soon enough.

Nikki holding Aviva