And Now the Tiny Terror

Yitzchak, at not quite a year and a half, is proving to require a lot of supervision. Like Odeliya he doesn't let his young age stop him from climbing to heights thought impossible for a toddler. He loves climbing onto the dining room table. The only thing better is throwing food down to the neighbor's dog when he comes in to forage/beg for food. Other than that, kicking bowls and making a mess help him pass the time. Today he spilled a little of his drink. He then, intentionally and gratuitously, spilled the rest of the cup onto the table. I have no explanation for it.

Don't get me wrong. He is very sweet too. He plays peekaboo comes looking for us. When I come home from work I always get an, "Abba!" with a running hug. I usually can't put him down afterwards. He loves Odeliya and will go looking for "La la." On occasion he also plays with "Nani." He also talks on the phone and says "Hi" to the computer.

I am less favored. Back during the harvest I was coming home from work one morning. As I walked down the block towards the house at 7:15 am (the kids were already up and playing outside) I saw a dog run past me in the other direction. Yitzchak came trotting after him. Seeing me he said, "Abba! Woof woof!" and continued after the dog as if he had seen me all morning.

On our Chanuka trip to Yerushalaim we left the other two kids with friends and took him to get food. While we were waiting for the pizza to be ready Yitzchak was climbing on the counter trying to get past the glass sneeze-blocker. He would have made it if I hadn't pulled him away. He learned a new word that trip, "pizza." The whole way back to the group he was whining, "Pizza. Pizza" until he saw some cats on top of a dumpster. It went like this, "Pizza, pizza. Meow. Meow..." His love of animals overrode his desire for pizza.

On this same trip we spent Shabbat with Ayelet's siblings here in Israel. Netanel and Odeliya are in an age group by themselves. Tzachi is the oldest of three boys in the same "generation" for cousins. As my brother-in-law put it, he was a maniac that Shabbat. I mean climbing, spilling, stepping off the chair... He was insane. I think he scared the other parents about what their kids will be like soon.

All in all he is extremely sweet and very snuggly when he's calm. But when he's not clam he can be quite challenging, er, I mean fun.

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In other Chanuka news, Netanel got a lego helicopter kit that he built without the instructions. He's got enough imagination all by himself. Also, check Youtube and FaceBook for videos from Odeliya's Chanuka party and other cuteness.

Enjoy.