Puzzler

 

Before Elie could talk, he was throwing puzzles together left and right… and even face down.  He did this puzzle in under 29 minutes (I think I was only able to find 5 pieces).  I’ll have to dig up old videos and link it.  

From Russia

Asher has a knack for imitating people and accents.  Here, you can see he nails the Russian accent...

(This video was taken back in June of 2017)

The Secret Weapon

(This video is from last spring)

They call him their secret weapon.  Elie may have been the smallest/youngest one on the team of 3rd and 4th graders.  But don't be fooled by his size as he's slippery, fast and very stealth.  #Don'tUnderEstimate

Brownie Baby

Look at Asher’s smirk, haha 

We dog sat Brownie for a couple days... Elie looooves him and took him on walks in his PJs

Hillel’s 12th Birthday

Asher’s friend Hillel had his 12th birthday party at Mission Beach last weekend.  They all had such a great time boogie boarding and burying each other in the sand.  His mom took these photos... they are such awesome pics.  This will be a lifetime memory for these boys.

Dear Eilemberg Family

This was an email we received from Asher's teacher back in January of last school year (01-25-2019).  Needless to say I don't really post much these days partially because it is too emotional for me.  Hopefully I will find myself posting more regularly again.  Anyway, here is a beautiful email we received that brought tears to my eyes.  I'm so proud of you Asher.  You are growing into such a mensch.

Dear Eilemberg Family,
I wanted to relay a very inspiring moment I had with your son, Asher, this past week in school. On Monday we had a Hebrew test on our vocabulary and the most recent unit.The following day Asher approached me and asked to speak with me privately. He went on to tell me that during his test the previous day, he found himself struggling with one of the words. A friend saw him struggling and offered to help him out. Asher accepted the friend's help and wrote down the word's translation. he told me that after he did it, he felt really guilty. He then asked me to please cross out that word and disregard it as if he didn't know it. I expressed how very proud I was of him for coming forward and admitting his mistake. I immediately agreed to follow his request but I couldn't stop thinking about how mature and grown up a decision that was for him to tell me. It showed a tremendous amount of character and exemplified the middot tovot that we as a school always work hard to imbue on the children.

I hope that this brings you a lot of nachat as you head in to Shabbat and I also wanted to compliment you all on the amazing young man you are raising!

All the best & Shabbat Shalom,
Morah Rotal 

testing!

My sweet birthday boy!  Asher is 9 years old tomorrow!

Boogers

As I'm washing dishes in the sink this morning Asher comes up to me with his kindle asking me to unlock it with my password.

I say, "Yes sweetie, let me dry my hands first or else it won't work."

Asher, "Why won't it work?"

"Because with the touch screen, it's sensitive to it and will get confused if there is a water drop left on one part and you're trying to touch another part of the screen."  I explain.

"Oh, yeah!  I know exactly! When I used to pick my nose that would happen with my iPad.  There would be a booger on this part and it would think it was my finger."


Why can't they stay little boys forever?!!

Actually what I was thinking...

I about died laughing at what Elie just said.  (To preface the story, we've been working on extinguishing Elie's whining habit for quite a few weeks now.)  This afternoon as we're waiting to head off to the Purim party, we're all deciding on a show/movie to watch.  Asher came up with a great idea on how to choose what show we were going to watch.  After Asher finishes explaining his idea (and it was rather complex and well thought out), Elie says, "Well, actually what I was thinking was I just choose so that I don't whine."

Asher and Mommy's Morning Walk

Asher: Mommy, I want to go with you on a walk when you take Louie.

Me: What time is it? (as I'm barely opening my eyes to check the time)

Asher: It's about 5:27

Me:  Ok sweetie.  Let me get the coffee going while you get your shoes, ok?

Asher: K

As Asher lifts the blinds up to check how dark it was he says: Mommy, you have two rooms.

Me: Yes, that's true :-)

Asher: I have two rooms too!  One at your house and one at Papi's!

Me: Do you like having two rooms?

Asher: Yes, but Papi's house is one step up from you because he lets us have iPads on Sundays.

Me: Yeah, I know you love playing on your iPad!

Asher: But then I like staying with you the same because you take us to Starbucks every morning before school if we are ready in time.

While out on our walk Asher sees some plants that he thinks resemble artichokes.  What I love about Asher is how descriptive and detailed he is when describing things.  He couldn't think of the word artichoke so he said, "You know those things you peel off one by one and scrape them with your teeth?" As he pretends to eat one and scrape it with his teeth.  I say, "Oh, you mean artichoke?!"  "Yeah!" he says.  "Do you like artichokes?" I ask.  "YES!!! I love artichokes!!!.... (he thinks for a minute)... they kinda taste like boogers.  I like the way boogers taste."  "Really?! Hmmmm. Well they're not good for you sweetie," I said. "They can make you sick."

Continuing on our walk Asher noticed a sign stapled to a palm tree.  "Mommy, what does this sign say?"  "How about you read it to me,"  I say.

In a nutshell, it was about a missing dog named Missy.  Please return her to her mommy because she is devastated.

Asher asked what devastated meant.  I told him it meant heart-broken.  "For example, if Julio or Louie got lost, we would be devastated."  Asher said, "That makes my eyes water."  Now that what he just said made my eyes water.  Such a sweet, empathetic boy.  On our way home, Asher looked in every bush, calling our her name.  He didn't want to go back home before searching.  I told him the doggy may have already been found buy we should still keep an eye out just in case.  This boy is so yummy.

Three months ago...

...Elie was born! It really seems like last week, yet at the same time it feels like he has always been a part of our family. It's hard to imagine our life without him.

I have been meaning to tell the story of how he was born, almost on the side of the road-- REALLY! So here goes...

About five days before he was born, I was lying down to go to sleep when I started feel some contractions and my belly getting really hard. My heart started racing as I thought, "This is it!" So I paced around getting really nervous wondering whether or not to call my midwife. My concern was that my labor with Asher was only 4 1/2 hours which meant more than likely my labor would be half that this time around, plus we had a toddler to worry about. So I called my midwife and she told me to head to the hospital. I called our babysitter, Megan to stay with Asher.

Yeah, it was a false alarm. I was so thrown off because I never had any braxton hicks contractions (fake contractions) with Asher. Over the next couple of days I was getting some pretty strong braxton hicks contractions sporadically. Early Tuesday morning they were getting even stronger and more frequent. I thought for sure, "This is it!" Fortunately my mom was here staying with us at that point so I didn't have to worry about Asher. We headed to the hospital again. Of course on our way there my contractions tapered off. I was getting frustrated and feeling really stupid for going to the hospital TWICE, and feeling bad that Moises had missed an important meeting. I was just so worried about getting to the hospital on time.

All day Wednesday I was getting inconsistent contractions so strong that I had to stop what I was doing and take deep breaths. That night Moises and I went on a date to a really nice dinner. We contemplated going to a movie after but I was too tired and thought I really should get some rest.

That night at about 11:45 p.m. I was woken up by a massive contraction and my water breaking. I flew out of bed so fast and yelled to Moises, "My water just broke! Let's go!" I called my midwife's answering service right away. As I was brushing my teeth I got another contraction. I stopped to crouch down to the floor for it to pass. As I was heading down the hallway to tell my mom we were leaving to the hospital, I crouched down to the floor again squeezing the banister railing to get through another contraction.

On the way to the hospital I had my phone out expecting my midwife to call me back. With every contraction in the car all I could do was squeeze my phone so hard and pressing my face and whole body up against the car door. As we are about 3/4 of the way there I had the uncontrollable feeling to start pushing. As I'm pushing I feel his head crowning. I yell to Moises, "Oh my G-d, I feel him crowning!"

We pull up to the ER and Moises grabs a wheel chair from the doorway to wheel me in. Moises tells the ladies at reception we are headed up to the birthing unit. They ask who our doctor is and if they are expecting me. As I'm having another contraction I yell, "Oh my G-d, I have to push! Just go," as my water continued to gush all over their floor. I remember two elderly women staring at us with their jaws dropped to the floor and eyes like saucers.

We get up to the fifth floor and they rush me into a room, get me on a bed all while trying to get a gown and monitors on me. As the head nurse goes to measure how far I have dilated she yells, "SHE'S CROWNING! IS THERE A DOCTOR AROUND?!" And then I push. She told me to push a little less forceful next time. Moments later, I push again trying to keep it more controlled and right then, I feel our baby being born and his beautiful cry! They wrap him in warm towels and hand him to me right away and I say with tears streaming, "Hi baby, I love you!" And I hug and kiss Moises and tell him I love him.

The time was 12:28 a.m. My labor was 45 minutes long.

Elie-isms

Elie's my little guy with big personality :-)  Lately some of the things he says and does are just so funny and cute.

I keep a chart for each of the boys where they earn stars to "buy" rewards.  Moi took Elie to the gift shop at Legoland to look for a Lego set.  When he found the one he wanted he plops it on the counter and the cashier asks him if he has enough money.  Elie says, "Yes, I have 44 stars."

Elie and I went to a Padres game together.  Elie tells me he has to go potty.  I say, "Ok let's go!"  He says, "No I will go by myself!"  I finally convinced him that wasn't a good idea.

Babi got the boys a huge pack of superhero underwear at Costco.  The boys love them and like to sort them in various piles.  Elie will also where three pairs at once because he just can't get enough of them.

He also has superhero socks that he likes to mix and match.  Maybe so that he doesn't have to commit to just one character?

Elie has a new pair of those black and white checkered Vans that he loves.  As we were walking out the door I noticed he was wearing one of those on one foot and one of his old Puma slip ons on the other.  It actually looked pretty cool so I let him.  Little trend setter!

Elie loves his Thomas the Train backpack that has the wheels and handle so much that he wanted to wear it to sleep.  In the middle of the night he came in to our bed, still wearing it :-)  I could hear it clanging around as he's trying to get in the covers.

Asher's Preschool Graduation