Nicknames and Flight

Does it ever bother you that there's no good nickname for "Moshe?" I mean, you could do "Mo" or "Moishe," or "Mosh-mosh" (if you really hated your child,) but these names just don't have a catchy ring to them. Not like the nickname....Donald. In the car today, Ariella piped up and said, "Is Donald the English name for Moshe?" Wondering how she came up with THAT one - is Moshe Balsam confessing to her his secret desire to be named after duck during their weekly playdates? - I asked why she thought that. She starts singing the Israeli version of "Old McDonald," which is ...."Dod Moshe." The inner workings of the five (sorry, five and a HALF) year old mind...

In other children news: Yaakov has been attempting flight. (This may have been related to the animal chug that comes to gan - the most recent one was a toucan.) He has been standing up on the arm of the couch, grinning wickedly, extending his arms, and then hurdling off onto the couch pillows. This has been causing me no end of near-heart failure as I watch him precariously balance himself. Especially coming from a boy who managed to break his leg slipping on a magazine. While wearing shoes. On a carpeted floor. I have tried gently explaining to him that he is not, in fact, a bird, and these attempts at unassisted human flight will probably end badly for all of us. However, in his two (sorry, two and a HALF) year old way, he is completely nonplussed by my logical arguments and continues his lofty pursuits. To paraphrase John Locke, "Don't tell me what I can't do, Mom." However, I will admit that his determination, misplaced as it might be, is quite inspiring.

Flu udpate: On Friday the retching ceased, praise be given. Donny now only has a really really really bad cold. He returned to work today, the first time in a week. However, he spent most of his day coughing - a really loud, annoying, hacking cough. I'm sure it impressed all of his colleagues. "So during this next phase of the project, BLEARGHHH, I think we should HAAAWWWWWG, because the requirements are too GAAAAAAAKKKKK." You get the idea. He came home a little early so he got to see the kids right before they went to sleep.

Donny has been answering all of their questions for months now with, "I love you," no matter how relevant, or in most cases, irrelevant it is. So it was quite cute tonight when he came home early, and Ariella asked him, "Why are you home early?" and Yaakov turned to her and said, opening his blue eyes big and wide, "Because he loves us!"