Penmanship

Hi Sidra,

I didn't know when I got up this morning that I could comment on your penmanship. I didn't know you could do much writing other than a circle. You must be getting some practice at school. And obviously you are getting better with your fine motor skills.

This morning I was writing a list and you wanted to take part. I decided to give you a chance to do your own writing instead of trying to share my list with you. Actually I got the idea for this activity by reading with you from your magazine "Highlights." There is a story about a girl who writes to a relative and it's mostly scribbles and loops although she tries to make an 'M ' because her name begins with M. So I wondered if you would be able to do that. I thought I might give you some help by providing a trace of the letter. By George, you did it on the first try and did well with several more attempts. I was "blown away" to quote your uncle Ben. You can see your first three 'Ss" here. You did about 10 for me altogether.

I also wanted to thank you for dancing with me. It was a couple weeks ago and we were listening to the modern version of Oh Hannuka by Aaron Baron Cohen. I really like the song and you were a great dance partner. We did a little mini hora together. It was cool for me because I've always been a pretty self conscious dancer. You had no preconceptions of what good dancing was so you were just happy to have a partner. Your mom probably would have joined us but was busy in the kitchen. I just wanted to write about it so I would remember to talk with you about it when you're older.
The song plays on the video here.

Love, Aba

Channuka 5770 (2009)

hi sidra,

we are in the middle of channuka 5770 and I wanted to share some things with you about it.
Mostly about your great ability to receive gifts. It is really easy to get gifts and you are developing quite the appetite for it. I hope that you will mature into a good gift giver as well.

The video doesn't have a very good picture quality but you will see yourself opening a gift that is not a toy and quickly tossing it aside. I guess that's not uncommon for a kid your age. On the other hand, you did do something pretty cool with a gift you got from tante Debbie. It was a book. Even in the frenzy of gift opening, you paused to hop on the couch and quickly look through it. Your mother and I were both pretty surprised and pleased by that. A fun detail about the book is that the main character is named Cary, just like me. Although she is a girl.

You've also been receiving a really cool magazine. It's called National Geographic for Kids. You are seen reading it while sitting on the toilet in one of the pictures here. It has some pretty cool stuff in it and you surprised us the other night by recalling something that was in it. Jeopardy was on TV and one of the contestants answered 'Botswana.' You repeated it and said it was in your magazine. Then you picked up the magazine and showed us the reference. Neither of us remembered that part of the magazine although we'd both read it to you.

In the video I took the liberty of dubbing in one of my favorite rock 'n' roll guitar solos over what your guitar was playing. I preferred the Golden Earring riff to Britney Spears. If you listened carefully you can still be heard saying "Look at me, Jen" and "It's like a real guitar!"

Happy Channuka,

Love, Aba.

Shabodja

Hi Sidra,

I wanted you to know about Shabodja. Actually, you already know about her but may need to be reminded later in your life who she was. She's one of your dolls and I am only guessing at this phonetic spelling of her name because you named her and I don't think you can spell yet. If I asked you now to spell it I don't think you could do it. I think you know how to spell your name but not this one.
The name is part of her mystery. We have no idea how you came up with this name. As far as we know it isn't a name of someone you've met or a fictional character that you know. Maybe later when you can articulate your thoughts a little better you will be able to remember how you decided on this name.
You have done a lot of things with Shabodja. You like to take her with you and have her watch you do things. This picture was taken as a recreation of something you did the other night. You were getting ready for bed and Shabodja was going to join you. But you had also been looking at an evil (my editorial opinion) book called 'Bridesmaid's Diary.' It is about a young girl and her older sister who is getting married and the younger sister is asked to be a bridesmaid. Anyway it's a pop up book (indoctrinating the pre school girls that one of their aspirations should be matrimony) and has some other removable parts. One of them was the pendant that Shabodja has in her hand in the photo. It represents the necklace that was given to the younger sister by the older sister in the story. For some reason you thought Shabodja should have it.
I just wanted you to know that you have a pretty creative mind sometimes and we have a tough time figuring out the influences.
Love,
aba