Ok Mommy, I no do it anymore.

This afternoon we went to Park Kfar Saba with Tali, Boaz and Uri.  It took us 40 minutes to get there because of traffic when it should take only about 15 minutes maximum.  But it was worth the trip because it is a really great park and we hadn't been there since last April.  Shortly after we got there, Eli got in trouble because he scratched another kid.  I said to him very firmly that there was to be no scratching, hitting, biting, yelling, etc or we would have to go home.  He looked me straight in the eye and said very sincerely "ok, Mommy.  I no do it anymore."  And then he was more or less well-behaved the rest of the time.  Except for when he and Uri were eating cheetos that they found on the ground. EWWWW.  Tali and I both noticed that at the same time and starting screaming at them "NO STOP!" and running towards them like crazy people and they just watched us, laughed and kept eating.  We made them spit out what was left in their mouths and we were literally scraping cheeto crumbs off of their tongues.  It was really gross and hopefully they won't catch any weird diseases now.  We also spent a good 1/2 hour before we left looking for 3 hot wheels cars that Simon and Boaz lost.  We were digging in the sand around where they thought they might have left them.  We eventually gave up and as we were packing up our stuff, a woman came over to us and handed us one car.  Her son had been digging in the sand and found it.  She had seen that we were looking for cars so she thought it might be ours.  Not to be political, but she was Arab.  See, we can all be friends.  We then ran over to where her kid had been digging to see if the other cars were there, but they weren't.  So we had a big talk about responsibility and taking care of toys and then we left.  

Eli had also brought a big truck with him that he and Uri were sharing nicely.  One of them would have it and then the other would "count to 10" and then they would switch.  Turns out, Eli knows a lot of numbers, just not in the right order:

Some new Hebrew things that I heard Eli say lately:

• This afternoon when I picked him up from gan, he was coming up the stairs behind Talia and he said to her "zoozi, Talia" which means "move, Talia"
• He came home from gan with a crown on his head that all the kids had for Shavout (not sure what the connection is but Simon had to bring one from home that we made with a tree branch and he looked like he had an entire tree coming out of his head!) and when we got home he put it on the table.  Then later he said to me "l'culam yesh keter." (everyone has a crown).  I asked him, in Hebrew, where his crown was and he said "there, al ha-shulchan" (there, on the table).  I love when he mixes the languages.  

Apparently, when a kid is learning 2 languages, one in school and one at home, you are not supposed to mix them at all.  Meaning, we shouldn't speak any Hebrew at all to Simon and Eli.  It's ok if they speak it to us, but we are supposed to answer them only in English and only speak in English.  This is according to some bilingual specialist or something like that.  I see how it can be confusing to the kids.  Simon thinks he has to speak to me in Hebrew with an American accent or else I won't be able to understand him.  

Speaking of Simon and his Hebrew, his confidence in his Hebrew speaking has gotten much better.  Now when I pick him up from gan, he is always talking away a mile a minute in Hebrew to his friends.  He doesn't necessarily have as sophisticated a vocabulary as all the other kids, but he can certainly hold his own.  He was helping a little boy in the park use the water fountain and was just speaking so sweetly in Hebrew to him, telling him to press the button "chazak chazak yoter" (strong, stronger).

Also, he calls the velcro on his sneakers ''scotch."  I don't think he even knows the word velcro.