A Date with Eli

This week--the kids' last week in camp/daycare--has flown by. It started with a very nice Shabbat with lunch at the Kayes where we discovered that Eli's fear of animals includes harmless little guinea pigs named Adina. We didn't get home until almost 4pm, but we were all exhausted so we all took naps and accidentally slept a little too long and had to eat really quickly before the fast started.
Of course the kids stayed up too late and they decided a fun thing to do would be to take literally every single toy and book off the shelves in the playroom. David had woken up from his nap not feeling well and by Sunday morning he was really sick, so he stayed home from work, which, in theory, was nice so that I wouldn't have to entertain the kids alone on a fast day, but he was pretty much useless (justified because he did have a fever) and stayed in bed all day. The kids were both gone in the morning so I got some work done and then when I picked them up, Eli napped for a long long time and Simon was very happy to watch tv for 7 hours straight. At some point, I walked to Mega to get a few things and then Eli and I baked apple bread. Eli was sitting on the counter mixing the batter and I turned around for one second to throw something out and when I turned back he was carefully spooning the batter onto the grillpan which was sitting out on the stove. When the fast finally ended, we broke it on the apple bread which was really good (even if Simon said it was gross).
On Monday, I only had one class so was done at 6pm. Jonny (from David's work) had offered to take David to Herzl Street in Tel Aviv near where he lives where there are lots of furniture stores so that we could finally buy a bed. David still wasn't feeling well, so I was going to go with Jonny. He was coming from work and I was coming from school, so I met him at his apartment and got there first and hung out with Keren Or, his girlfriend, and practiced my Hebrew. When Jonny got there, we all walked to Herzl Street and all the stores were closed!!! So I need to go back but I saw a bed that I liked in the window of a store so at least I know where to go. I went back to their place and ate yummy soup with them and then came home.
On Tuesday, after Eli's nap, we met Oren and Mika (and their mothers and brother) at the pool. Simon is quite the fish. He uses his goggles and puts his head underwater and even started "swimming" underwater. I thought he was actually swimming until I realized that he was really walking. I asked him if he was lifting his feet off the ground and he said "yes, but only one at a time." Eli loved being in the water too but he kept wanting to get out and be wrapped in his towel and sit on the bench and have snacks.
Simon was SO tired when we got home because he had gone to Playball camp in the morning and then the pool. As soon as he finished dinner he said "I am so tired. I'm going to bed now." And he did. Eli was still up, which is a very rare occurrence. He was obviously loving having undivided attention from both David and me and he was very entertaining and cute. He also went with me to the supermarket and insisted on holding on his lap in the stroller 3 liters of milk (which he calls "milt") and a package of gnocchi. Even after I paid for them, he didn't want me to put them in a bag and he carried them all the way home.
Last night was the end of the year dinner for my program even though we actually finish next week and we don't actually get to walk down at graduation until next June (because Bar Ilan graduation is in June and we didn't finish until August so we missed this year's). It was really fun to meet everyone's significant others and I got an award for "academic merit" that was given to the top 3 students. I was number 3, but I don't have to mention that part on my resume!
Yesterday was also Eli's last day at Bettina's. He had such a great year there and I am so sad that it's over.
Today was Simon's last day of Playball camp as well, so this morning it was just me and Eli. We had a great time together. First, we went to Coffee Bean for breakfast. We ordered an omelet that comes with salad and some cheeses and we got 2 orange juices. Of course Eli dropped his and the glass broke and the juice spilled everywhere and the waitress looked at me like "what kind of idiot gives a full glass of orange juice to a 2 year old?" She didn't even ask me if I wanted another one which I thought was kind of rude. After the glass incident, I guess Eli was feeling a bit insecure because he only wanted to sit on my lap. But he sat nicely and ate almost the whole omelet and then almost the whole little dish of some sort of whipped cheese thing. He ate some plain, some spread on a piece of bread, and some he ate by dipping pieces of cucumber in it. He was very methodical and cute about the whole thing.
At one point, Candace came in with her daughter whose name I can never remember and they joined us for a few minutes. We were talking and then realized that we couldn't see the kids and didn't hear them which we took to mean they were doing something bad. Sure enough, I went behind the pole that was blocking them from our view and found Eli filling cups of water from the water cooler for them. He had filled one for her and given it to her and was filling another but wasn't paying attention and it overflowed and spilled all over. At that point, we figured it was time to go before they kicked us out!
From there we walked around doing some errands. Eli mostly walked but then at one point he just climbed into the stroller. I guess he got tired. We stopped to get some vegetables and the line was very long and Eli made friends with the woman in front of us who kept feeding him cherry tomatoes. He picked out a nectarine to buy and eat and he ate the whole thing in his stroller and then reached up and handed me the pit when he was done.
We came home and played a little bit and he helped me make some meat loaf. He was sitting on the counter (his standard seat for helping to cook) and he wanted me to reach something for him so he was pointing and saying "'dis...'dis" but I didn't know exactly what he wanted, so I kept pointing to things and saying "this?" and he would shake his head and make sort of a clicking "tsk tsk" sound with his mouth and wag his finger.
In the afternoon, Simon went to Chaim's house after camp and Natan came over to watch Eli for a little bit and I went to Tel Aviv to meet Alan, my former boss from JCRC who was here for work. It was great to see him and hang out for a bit. When I came home I went to pick up Simon who came to the car dressed in Chaim's clothes. Irit said "he had an accident at camp" and I guess I looked very surprised because then she said "no, not that kind of accident...he fell in the pool!"