Shabbat Video Update, Episode 11: Space Cadets

About Shabbat Video Updates: Many of our readers (namely the Ohio State folks) got their weekly Kopans kids fix on Shabbat at Hillel. We're going to make that fix easy for you to continue to get each and every week, move to Kansas City be damned. Shabbat Shalom Umevorach from the Kopans bayit to you!

In this week's episode: Both boys are total space cadets.  You must watch (all 37 seconds of) the episode for full effect - be sure to keep a lookout for Rami.  Captioned for office and classroom viewing.

Field Trip Mondays: The Children's Farm

On Mondays the boys don't have school, so we try to get out of the house a bit in the morning.

There is an awesome children's farm in the area that the boys love, and we always learn new things when we visit.

For example:

Did you know that,

given the chance,

grown goats will eat

fallen autumn leaves?

Did you know that, given the chance, they will also eat your baby sister?

Neither did we.

Shabbat Video Update, Episode 10: Solid (Food)

About Shabbat Video Updates: Many of our readers (namely the Ohio State folks) got their weekly Kopans kids fix on Shabbat at Hillel. We're going to make that fix easy for you to continue to get each and every week, move to Kansas City be damned. Shabbat Shalom Umevorach from the Kopans bayit to you!


In this week's episode: Nesi LOVES solid food, and hardly wastes a bite.

Beauty and the Beast: A Photo Essay in the Blunder of Nostalgic Memory

I love "Beauty and the Beast."  Love it.
Belle was bookish and a simple sort of pretty and even though she didn't really use her brain all that much, something about the teenage me simply loved everything about that movie.  I was (still am) especially gaga for Mrs. Potts. (Don't ask why.  The heart knows no reason.)

I was so excited when it "came out of the vault" a couple of weeks ago.
The commercial for the DVD easily convinced me that it would be just awesome to "share it with my family."
I practically glowed as I dropped $15 on the classic as I envisioned our family cuddling on the couch together and grinning as its classic scenes lit up our living room.

Turns out that my memories of a warm, fuzzy film totally appropriate for preschoolers may have been a little....off.
While the opening scene is smiley and happy and beautiful (I remembered every word of that first song!  Oh yes I did) the "Beast" portions of this movie (of which there are many) are simply TERRIFYING.

So, because I knew you would want to see them -
photos of Asher experiencing "Beauty and the Beast," captioned with the scene he was viewing so you get as close to the full (hilarious) experience as possible.

Scene from a Friday Morning

Rami, being a middle child, gets hardly any "special time" with Ima. 

He's never been alone, and not even been the baby for long.

But sometimes, every once in a magical while, Asher is at preschool and Nesyah has fallen into a deep sleep in her carseat, and I leave her there to snooze her poor little schlepped-about heart out.  And Rami and I are in the house together with not much of a plan (How much can you really plan to do with an hour and a half at home before you have to load everyone in the car again?) and it is oh. so. sweet.

We giggle.  We tickle.  We snuggle.  We kiss like we mean it.  Rami nuzzles and sweetly hums, "Ima." and I croon back, "Rami," and we remember how very much in love we are (or at least, how much I am with him.)

And sometimes I pick up my camera.

This is what

a Friday morning Rami snuggle

looks like.

You're
 

welcome.

The Big Boy Room: Update

David will recall, with much nostalgia, the day he set up Asher's big boy bed alongside Rami's crib and thought, "Before we know it there will be two of these in this room."

"Before we know it" arrived a couple of weeks ago.

 We envisioned two "big boys," snuggled up on opposite ends of their room, snoozing contentedly while somehow managing to hold their own bodies within the boundaries of (tiny!) mattresses. Resting soundly with neither hug from Ima nor secure spindled wall to comfort them

(OmyG-d why won'ttheystopgrowingup theyareKILLINGme!!!!)

It turns out that my heart needn't have been quite so broken by this newest milestone.

 A midnight peek into The Big Boy Room revealed this:

That's right. An utterly delicious jumble of little-boy limbs cuddled up together in the same tiny toddler bed. And it wasn't just that first night:

(Asher wants to snuggle so badly he's willing to schvitz to do it. )

Naptime and bedtime, for the past few weeks, a split second after we announce it is time for bed, Asher chirps, "Can I snuggle with Rami?"
(squeeeeee!)




Occasionally, Asher will ask to be "tucked up" on the big ottoman a the other end of their room:


Perhaps he's starting to make the transition back to sleeping solo. But that's okay. However long these sleepovers last, they were just enough to comfort this poor old Ima that her baby boys still need some hugs, love, and squooshing to get to sleep.

Sleep tight, my sweeties. 
Whether you're across the room, across the world, or just an arm's reach apart, I hope you'll always find such love and comfort in one another. 

Click here to visit the original "Big Boy Room" post from just over a year ago (sniff!)

Shabbat Video Update, Episode 9: "The Entertainers"

About Shabbat Video Updates: Many of our readers (namely the Ohio State folks) got their weekly Kopans kids fix on Shabbat at Hillel. We're going to make that fix easy for you to continue to get each and every week, move to Kansas City be damned. Shabbat Shalom Umevorach from the Kopans bayit to you!

After a crazy month full of 3-day holidays, Shabbat Video Update is back!  We've missed you but, as you can see in this week's episode, all the time at home has been full of lots of sibling giggles and loooove.  Shabbat Shalom!