Five Christmas Presents

Today for Christmas, Bow only had five presents, but he enjoyed each and every one. Actually, I did not think he would have more than four, but it seems before he left, Lawrence left Bow an extra present under the tree. That was after he had already given Bow two other gifts, including that marvelous Christmas sock.

Here is what the gifts looked like before any of them were opened.

Bow looked out at his gifts, surveyed the loot, and then said he wanted the green one. I was a little confused. I didn't actually remember there being a green one. Sure enough, it was a surprise gift from Lawrence.

Here is a close up of the gift from Lawrence, in case you could not clearly see what it was in the video.

When Bow was done playing with the present from Lawrence, he handed the toy back to me and asked for the small present. The small present was a collector's snow globe that I was handed as a free gift at JC Penney's when we went shopping there on Black Friday.

I would never have actually bought Bow a snow globe, but since I had one, I thought I would give it to him. He handed it back to me when he was done. He was not nearly as impressed with it as one might have thought. Here is a close up of the snow globe.

Next Bow asked for the big blue present. That means, in his parlance, the biggest present that was blue remaining.

Bow really liked the rug I got him. He did not hand it back to me right away. Instead, he made himself right at home on the rug and did not ask for another present to open for a long time.

He got very relaxed on the rug.

He was so relaxed he actually closed his eyes. But eventually he did stir himself and decided to ask for another present. He did not, however, hand me back the rug. He said he wanted the blue present. At this point, there was only one blue present left.

The blanket was an even bigger success than the rug. Bow stayed wrapped in that blanket for a very long time, snuggled up on the rug.

More than an hour later, Bow started to take an interest in the remaining present: the gift basket from his uncle.

There was quite a selection of goodies.

Bow said he wanted a pear. I wonder if that was because only the pear was uncovered and easy to recognize.

The pear was very juicy and Bow enjoyed it thoroughly.

That pretty much sums up Christmas morning 2013 at Project Bow. We hope you are all having a very merry day!

The Gift of a Glove

My mother is spending a week with us, so we can celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday together. Bow and my mother have a special relationship, one that has grown over the years. When I first started Project Bow, my mother was not thrilled about it, but as Bow has  matured, while he's alienated a lot of people, surprisingly he has won my mother over.

My mother spoke to us over the phone before her visit this year, and she told Bow she was going to bring him a present when she came. Sure, enough, on the first day of the visit, my mother announced that she had a gift for Bow. At first, Bow did not seem interested, but after a while he took my hand and spelled out, rather primly, that he would like to see the present after all.

My mother brought out a little plastic elephant, and eventually, I passed it along to Bow. He accepted the gift, put it aside, and then proceeded to interact with my mother. In time, he played with the elephant, although the playing mostly consisted of mouthing it. Every once in a while the elephant lost part of its anatomy: the tip of its tail, then each of its tusks, then some part of a foot.

Did Bow enjoy the present? Yes, but he seemed to enjoy more the fact that my mother had given it to him. That was on Tuesday.

The next day at breakfast, my mother had two other gifts for Bow. One was a small piece of chocolate. (She had shared the same kind of chocolate with me and Sword the night before, after Bow went to bed.) The second gift was a small metallic packet of peanuts that she got on the airplane on the way here. Bow had trouble opening the packet, but he appreciated the peanuts very much. He actually went out of his way to say "Thank you, Grandma."

This morning, Thanksgiving Day, my mother came into the pens for breakfast carrying a small cardboard box, and Bow kept looking at it all during breakfast. Finally, after the meal was over, he motioned that he had something to say, then took my hand and spelled: "Why doesn't Grandma give Bow the present?"

My mother had no idea what he was talking about. "What present?" Then we realized that Bow probably thought the package she had carried in with her this morning was a present for him. My mother hastened to explain: "No, Bow this isn't a present. These are just some things I need to help me prepare the turkey."

Bow was reluctant to accept this explanation, but he eventually let the subject go.

All morning long, my mother worked on the Thanksgiving Feast in the kitchen, and Bow was very impatient. (My main culinary contribution of the day was the boiled eggs I prepared in advance to help tide us over.)

When my mother announced that the meal was ready and I started carrying the food in, Bow emitted lots of excited food cries. Nobody appreciates food as much as Bow.

After the meal, when Sword had already left to do her own thing, my mother and I stayed and talked about how tender the turkey had been this year, and my mother, picking up the oven mitt that was lying on the table, said: "This is a really good oven mitt. I would buy one for myself, but I seldom cook anymore."  (It was an oven mitt she had given me a few years back, an 'Ove' Glove. ) And then we talked about a lot of other things, family memories, previous meals, while Bow chewed his cud happily.

After about an hour of this, Bow motioned for me to come in with him, because he had something to say. He took my hand and spelled: "Give Grandma a present."

This surprised me. "You think I should give Grandma a present?"

"Yes."

"What should I give her?"

He spelled in Hebrew:   ".תני לה דוקא כפפה"

The word davka is one that is hard to translate. Bow had said: "Give her davka a glove." Now roughly translated, that means: "It's exactly a glove that you should give her!" or "Of all the things you should give her, a glove is the one." Or "In fact, it's a glove you should give her." There's no such word as davka in English, but that's what it means.

My mother and I exchanged glances. "I think he means the oven mitt, " I said. I pointed at the mitt and asked: "Is this the glove I should give her?"

"Yes," Bow spelled.

I went over to the other side and presented my mother with the glove. "Bow would like you to have this as a present."

"Thank you, Bow," my mother said. "That's so thoughtful of you!"

Bow's Ninth Birthday

Today was Bow's birthday. He is nine years old. He had a party, and balloons, and cake, and presents and guests. It was his choice. I actually wasn't sure whether he wanted to have a party this year. He isn't always that happy when people come over, and he isn't always that nice to guests, so I hesitated. Both Lawrence and I asked him specfically whether he wanted a party, each separately. Bow said he did want a party. He even told me that he wanted presents.

Yesterday afternoon, Bow made specific suggestions for who the guests should be. He had some particular people in mind.  Nothing was settled well in advance, but it was definitely the party that Bow wanted.

He was very excited all day long. He could not wait till the party would start. It was scheduled for three pm. He wanted it to start earlier, and he was impatient, but he waited. When the time arrived, and we had our quorum of two adults, three children, and two teenagers, he was so excited and sang along with the birthday song. However, when an additional guest arrived late, after the cake had been served, and some of the presents distributed, he was not as cordial to the new arrival, making territorial displays. When attending a chimpanzee birthday party, punctuality is a must!

Bow had a great day, but he hasn't opened all his presents yet. He usually draws that out over several days. He certainly enjoyed his balloon, though!