Not Only Does He Talk Back...But He Does It In Hebrew!

Eli and I had this conversation in the car on the way to gan this morning:

Me: [i asked him a question but I don't actually remember what it was]
Eli: Lo. (no, in Hebrew)
Me: Lamah lo? (why no?)
Eli: (in singsong-y voice) lamah ken? (why yes?)

I was astounded. And so proud. I relayed the story to Frieda when I dropped off Eli and she thought it was funny. It obviously showed Eli that he did something good because for a lot of the afternoon he was saying "lamah lo...lamah ken" and then looking at me for a reaction.

He also woke up from his nap yelling "Mommy...Eli PEEEEEEEE" so Simon and I ran and took him to the bathroom and he peed in the toilet! I think Simon was more excited than Eli was to put the very first sticker on Eli's potty chart.

In Simon news, he taught himself how to write the first 10 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. He can't do them all so well, but still!! It's the fact that he taught himself that is amazing to me. He is also on the verge of really reading in English, beyond just recognizing certain words that he knows. How did he get so smart???

On Fridays, Simon brings home a little pamphlet about the week's parsha (torah portion). It's all in Hebrew and it has some stories and some games. We like to read it together after dinner on Friday night. I tested him a bit when I was reading about the story told in last week's parsha (not that I could tell you what parsha it was) and I kept leaving out words and waiting for him to fill them in, which he did!! He really learned about the parsha in school and actually understood what was going on. Or at least remembered the words and was able to say them back to me.

Also, both kids know all the words to Modeh Ani which is the short prayer that you are supposed to say when you wake up in the morning. Simon was saying it to show me that he knows it and suddenly Eli piped up and said almost all of it with him.