A Visit from the Next Doors

I had burned a DVD of Toy Story for Simon--just a plain blank DVD and I wrote "Toy Story" on it. We watched it on Sunday and he actually didn't like it that much, but he did watch the whole thing. On Monday evening while I was at school, David was looking for a movie for Simon to watch. He took out Toy Story and brought it to Simon to put in the DVD player. Simon took one look at it and said "I don't want to watch Toy Story." David asked him how he knew that was Toy Story and Simon said, very condescendingly, "because it says (and then he pointed to each word and sounded them out slowly) TOY STORY." He's really starting on his way to reading--in that case, he probably just remembered that that was what the Toy Story DVD looked like, but he is starting to look at words and try to sound them out. He can find the folder on the computer that has some Backyardigans episodes in it. When I asked him how he knew that was the right folder, he said "because it starts with a B."
On Tuesday afternoon we had a really fun visit with the Solomonts from Next Door who I guess aren't really next door to me anymore, but the name has just stuck! Joan, David, Eb and Jackie were here visiting Lauren so they all stopped by to say hello. Simon and Eli made a very good impression on them and hopefully they will report back to everyone in Boston how cute the boys are. Eli was SO tired and kept taking his bear and his blanket and lying down on the step. He was awake enough to amuse everyone by filling his mouth with apple juice and then letting it drip out. As soon as the Solomonts left, Eli went right for a nap and Simon and I played with his city-rug for a long time.
Last night, David and Simon were reading a book on the couch. There was a map of the world in the book and David was pointing out different things like where Boston is and where Israel is, etc. All of a sudden Simon said "and where does Hashem live?" David's answer was that Hashem is everywhere but His house is really at the Kotel. Simon accepted that answer.
To add to the "poor Eli" list, this morning he stuck his finger in an electric socket. There is one socket in the living room where the protective plate came off. We usually keep something plugged into it to hold the plate on, but for some reason there was nothing in it this morning. David and I were not in the room but we both heard Simon yell "ELI NO!" and then Eli started to cry--apparently he got a little bit of a shock, literally. I think Simon actually pushed his hand away before any major damage happened because I think he would have ended up on the other side of the room if he really touched it! I'm glad Simon was looking out for him.
On Tuesday morning it was raining so the kids were wearing rain jackets...here is a video of their rain dance: