Charlie has been learning about Passover at her after-school Jewish studies class, and she can rattle off the 10 plagues, the 4 questions, the various items from the seder plate and all their symbolic meanings. She participated in a model seder last week, and had a great time looking for the afikomen, spilling drops of “wine” (aka grape juice) along the edge of her plate, and singing Passover songs. Tonight, the first night of Passover, I think it really sank in that we weren’t doing a seder at our house, but she tried her best to liven things up, asking if she could recite the blessings, and maybe “we could pretend we’re eating hebrew food, and having a real seder?” Basically, tonight I feel like a bad Jew, and next year, I’m committing to a proper Passover meal!
The boys haven’t a clue about Passover, but they’re getting super excited about the “chocolate bunny eggs” they’ll be finding this weekend. My parents are coming down for the weekend to help celebrate Easter, so we should have a good time, especially since the weather forecast is calling for temperatures around 24 degrees! Spring has definitely sprung here in Montreal, and we’re getting back into our groove at the local park on the weekends.
Enough chat, time for pictures. Here are the boys, sorting through 1001 toys on the dining room table:
Eric picked up Charlie from school last Wednesday, brought her to dance class, then the two of them assembled pizzas for dinner:
Elijah and William got to add some finishing touches to the pizzas (that’s not a bruise on William’s cheek, it’s a painted-on ladybug from daycare):
William and Charlie playing with a toy computer (yes, William’s got oven mitts on his hands again):
Elijah’s still somewhat obsessive about his little “guys”, AKA various figures which include robots, pirates, “Sully” from Monsters Inc, and especially “cowboy” and a much-beloved Buzz Lightyear from the Toy Story movies. He’s also got a little collection of Smurfs figurines, which he doesn’t like to share. Here, he’s got them assembled tidily in a toy recycling truck:
The boys’ language continues to develop at a rapid pace, and they’ve recently clued in to the fact that they can talk to each other at bedtime, once Mummy and Daddy have said goodnight and turned out their lights. Every night is now a slumber party in Elijah and William’s room, with long, drawn-out giggling conversations lasting for a good half-hour after they’re put to bed. It’s very sweet, but it makes it harder to wake them up in the morning to get ready for daycare!
Charlie’s making her own language breakthroughs these days, with her reading more and more fluently in both French and English. She’s delighted that she can now pick up a newspaper or a book and pick out whole sentences. Whole new worlds of literature are opening up for her!