Ari's Turning Two

Ari turns two in 9 days, we just came off of winter break at Bamboo Grove.  Not only was he stellar during winter break- but somebody forgot to tell me that winter break is an oxymoron for the parents - there is no break in winter break over here- we were with his mostly fun little self for 10 days!  We had a party to go to every night except the night we hosted.  I didn't even make latkes this year because we were out so much and how many can you eat?  We hosted the last night where I was decidely tired of latkes and really burned out on Chanukkah- the Joy lasted for 7 nights too bad chanukkah lasts 8! except our guests were lovely.   So at some point I would like to go back and tell you about the 8 nights of chanukkah but we have to press forward on Ari's first days back after winter break.  On Tuesday (1/30) Lisa took him up and he marched right in and said, "Bye, mommy."  And off he went without a whimper, whine or tear, and then it was Lisa's turn to cry, "what happened to my baby?"  He is growing by leaps and bounds in his language, movement, understanding and his descriptions of what is occurring.  "That's a big ball, daddy," he says.  Colors not so much.  "What color is that, Ari" I ask.  He replies red or blue or green with no predictable accuracy.  What is amazing is his singing and how he bursts into song, loves an audience, and is unabashed at belting them out with an instrument or intruments all clanging away.  Particularly cute and adorable is when he has his ukelele perched on his bent knee, strumming away and singing something like Baby Beluga.   So that is partially how he is and he is so much more just developing in complexity, and just general good naturedness and yes he can be a crank too and we will get there.  That too is developing interestingly and he is probably beating the parents at getting what he wants- lollipops and candy and cookies and mum mums...mmm- the tot is winning.