It's Not Eli's Fault After All

I might have blamed Eli for breaking my camera, so I am now publicly apologizing for blaming my 2 year old for something that he just didn't do.  Turns out, I just hadn't actually charged the battery and that's why the camera wasn't working.  Not because Eli was playing with the spring that holds the battery in place.  Oops.  

So my camera is working but I still haven't taken many pictures because I got used to it being broken and I forgot about it.  I will start up again, I promise!

Today when I took Eli to gan, Frieda asked me if he could be the Abba shel Shabbat tomorrow.  Of course I said yes and then she asked if I could bring something for Tu B'Shvat (the upcoming holiday that is the New Year for the Trees).  Her suggestion was "a cake shaped like a tree."  Maybe I misunderstood her Hebrew, but I smiled and said "sure, no problem" and left thinking "where the hell am I going to get a cake shaped like a tree??"  I decided to be creative and rather than make a cake shaped like a tree, I made a cake (from a mix) and then decorated it with a cherry tree.  I made the trunk out of pieces of chocolate-covered orange peel (I actually bought that by accident but it worked well), the leaves out of dried kiwi and the cherries out of dried cherries.  I'm quite proud of how it came out.  Hopefully Frieda will be impressed. 

I knew at some point there would be funny stories to tell regarding my bi-lingual children and language misunderstandings.  Here is a great one:

Simon: Mommy...I  need to get parrots to bring to gan tomorrow.

Me: I'm sorry, you need what?

Simon: Parrots.  2 of them.  One that you can eat and one that you can't.

Me: Parrots?  Like the bird?  Who said you need

 to bring that to gan?

Simon: Smadar said.

Me: Are you sure?  What was the word she said in Hebrew?

Simon: Perot!  (that means FRUIT....but said in an Israeli accent it sounds the way you'd expect an Israeli to say "parrot.")

I almost died it was just so funny!!  I explained to him that "perot" means fruit and he goes "ohhhhhhhh" as if suddenly it all clicked.  And then he said he needs to bring one fruit that can be squeezed and one that you can't eat.  He totally lost me there so I had to call my friend Deborah whose daughter is in Simon's class.  She said she thinks they are supposed to bring one fresh fruit and one dried fruit but she wasn't so sure either.  I wish they'd send notes home instead of expecting the kids to remember!!

While Eli was in the tub tonight, I was asking him what he sings in gan with Etti (the music teacher).  He looked like he was thinking about it and then he said "Eli do this (and opened his mouth wide) and water comes out."  I said "you spit out water?"  He said "yes."  I said "with Etti?" (because I thought we were still talking about Etti) and he said "no, with mouth."