The Grandmothers

Maman Jaleh has been here since Mani's birth and has been a huge help and wonderful for Salma. Buby came for a 10-day visit at the end of February which was terrific. Salma had a blast finding her in the mornings sleeping in the livingroom. Zaida is going to have to come down on his own after tax season.

Mani finds his thumb

It happened a couple weeks ago. He just found it somehow. In fact, he doesn't really suck his thumb much. He quite likes the Playtex pacifier, and otherwise, he still mostly sucks on his whole hand.

Mani Smiles

And Salma smears yoghurt all over her face...

More from Mani and Salma

Sorry for the long delay between posts. Mani is continuing to demonstrate a relatively more mellow temperment. Salma's vocabulary is growing. These days she quite enjoys playing with someone putting together a puzzle and watching dragon tails. Oh and of course, sitting under my desk and ripping up the recycled paper. Zahra has also been taking Salma to music class and they've been having a blast.

Dec 7, Mani's bris

Buby and Zaida came in to play important roles in the bris... hold him down and keep him drunk. Uncle Paul and Aunty Toby were there virtually through the magic of the web cam. Mama Jaleh, Dayi Ali, Amu Nersi and Azar were there to lend moral support. Thanks to Nersi for the pictures.

Salma in December (17 months)

Buby and Zaida came in for Mani's bris and couldn't believe how much Salma had grown.
Salma loves her new tea set. Particularly the part where she can dump all the pieces out all over the floor.


Today my friend Joanna introduced Salma and I to the Habitot Children's Museum in Berkeley. Loads of fun. I expect we'll be going back for more. There are many of these hands on children's museums all over the country and in Canada. Great stuff.

What's in a name...

Mani, (pronouned maw-nee' as in Tommy with the emphasis on the 2nd syllable), was a Persian prophet who lived around 200CE. He was also a painter. Here's a link to the wikipedia article. I've also just learned that Mani means "jewel" in Tamil which is an added bonus.

Mani at 7 days.

Mani is born

Introducing Mani Raphael.

Wow! This one was totally different. Substantially easier...for me any way:). Zahra came home after only 2 days! Jaleh is here and is a really big help. Mani nurses really well. From the very first moment he seemed to know what he was doing. Of course Zahra is an expert too at this point. And Salma seems to be happy with her new brother.

I've put a few pictures in web album. Let me know if you like this approach.

2006_11_30 Mani is born

Doing her part... broom broom broom

 

Salma at Tiamat's Birthday