The Asparagus Song

(If you're confused by the title of this post, read this.)


Short, sweet, and always in motion.  Oh, and his haircut isn't really that crooked.  He has the most infernal hair growth pattern -- we call it the Dagwood -- and that's just the way it was hangin' that day.

Oh.Wow.

Barukh atah Adonai, Eloheinu, melekh ha`olam, asher kidishanu b`mitz`votav v`tzivanu l`had`lik neir shel Chanukah.

That is the blessing that one sings while lighting the candles on each night of Hanukah.  Neil did the honors last December.  Ben was very intrigued, and after a few nights could be counted on to come in on the final "Chanukah".  Once or twice since then Neil has sung it for him on a whim, but we've never made a big deal out of it.

So here's what went down at dinner tonight.  Ben was eating asparagus.  Neil playfully asks him to sing a song about asparagus.  Ben thinks for a moment, and says, "Here's an asparagus song."  And proceeds to sing the entire blinkin' blessing.  Almost word perfect.  Yes, in Hebrew.  With an extra flourish on the "Chanukah."

Yeah.  Have I mentioned that this kid scares me sometimes?  In a good way, mind you.  And just to prove it wasn't a fluke, he went on to sing it again, and then I got him to do it a third time over his late night yogurt.  No, he didn't pronounce every last syllable perfectly.  But the bulk of it was there.

We'd better get working on those Passover questions.

Of Pooh and Geodes

I seem to have a considerable lag time when it comes to the calendar thing.  Here are December and January:

Some of you may recognize the Wonder Pets paraphernalia featured in early December.  Yes, Ben is a fan.  I am too, I must admit.  India Gate (December 7) is our favorite restaurant, up in Buffalo; Ben likes the naan and two large sculptures of a cow and elephant.  That must have been a day that Ben had an audiology appointment and we grabbed a meal there afterward.  The mass of red protuberances on the 8th is a very poor rendition of a large outdoor sculpture on campus that has taken Ben's fancy.  Hanukkah started on the 11th, and we made cookies on the 12th.  On the 22nd we flew to Wisconsin and celebrated Christmas with my family.  We flew home on the 28th, and I honestly have no recollection what the giant 7 on the 29th is supposed to signify.

While we were in Wisconsin, my sister gave us an old VHS tape of Winnie the Pooh (seeing as how her college-age daughter has presumably outgrown it by now), and you can see images of the cast sprinkled throughout January.  Other characters making an appearance are Elefun and Froggio (licensed cartoon characters that just happen to have their own line of toys -- our acquaintance with them is due to a free DVD that came with one such toy), a rather sickly looking Grinch, a Blue Meanie, and Skippyjon Jones (a.k.a. El Skippito -- we borrowed the book from the library and love it).  My sister, Ben's beloved Aunt Kathy, visisted for about a week in January, and we made a really good ratatouille on the 17th, hence the eggplant and zucchini.  Ben and his Best Bud Jackson made their ski debut on the 14th, in our backyard.  Jackson is a natural athlete with no fear; as soon as boots touched skis, he was off on a tear.  Ben is a little more reserved when it comes to such things, and needed some coaxing and cajoling.  We figure they'll be good influences on each other.

And here are a couple of other pictures from my sister Kathy's visit.  In the first one, Ben is signing "red".  In the second, he and I are using a magnifying glass to examine a fragment of a geode that Kathy and Ben had just busted open.  One of Kathy's Christmas presents to Ben was a great rock collection and the accompanying magnifiying glass.