Long belated update

Wow. I think this has been the longest lag time in posting, ever. Oh well. That’s good, it means I’ve been busy!

Liz not only brought over her recipe book but made us fudge! She got me an introductory sewing kit and taught me a few basic things (like how to sew on a button) which I desperately needed. Her visit was wonderful, and Alexander was always quiet whenever his Shamma (Gaelic for grandmother) rocked him. We drove up to Columbus on her last day to see Natasha and Kevin's new apartment and meet Kevin's family. Liz played Wii bowling while I pigged out on Natasha’s homemade spinach artichoke dip.

That same day Holly flew in from Omaha. She and her 17 month old, Gregory, helped teach me how to go out and about with a baby. We did everything, from grocery shopping to going to bookstores to singing kid songs to figuring out new ways to use my wrap (I can now put Alexander sideways as well as facing me). She and I met up with various crunchy home birth friends of mine, each with other toddlers, and went out to lunches and errands. For example, Maria brought over her son to play and we later saw her again at a La Leche League meeting. On Friday our outing to the Children’s Museum expanded as there were three adults (me, Holly, Pam) and four kids (one mine, one Holly’s, two of Pam’s). Her last night we had over Elbie and Dave for dessert and whipped up some fabulous chocolate fondue.

HUC students have been wonderful about keeping in touch and bringing us meals (THANK YOU). Osher has decided that he wants to be an indoor/outdoor cat, so we got him chipped and gave him the feline leukemia vaccine. And I went back to teaching Sunday school two weeks ago and didn’t realize how much I’d missed it. Two quick stories: one, last week in art the kids were making clay mezuzahs. One decorated his in silver and gold puffy paint. “Cool!” said the 3rd grader next to him. “Jewish bling!”

Two, I loved how Noah, the rabbinic intern, discussed the Torah portion where Eliezer, Abraham’s servant, chose Rebecca to marry Isaac. In attempting to relate to the children at youth services, he said, “Eliezer was Abraham’s right-hand man. Nothing would have happened without him. Think of them like Batman and Alfred. Where would Batman have been if Alfred hadn’t been there to clean the cave and make sure everything worked right?!” I cracked up.

In terms of baby news, Xander – which is what we’ve decided to call Alexander instead of “Alex,” when we choose to use a nickname – has hit many baby milestones in the past few weeks. He can now… drumroll please… blow spit bubbles! He smiles and coos (and is oh so adorable when he does it, if I may say so myself). He’s very alert when he’s awake, and is fascinated by Jonathan’s face, a rattle that Holly brought, and the burgundy/cream tile pattern on our living room fireplace. He sleeps four to five hours a time at night starting at around midnight or 1am, then usually nurses once and goes down for another two hours. He’s still meticulous about his diaper and lets us know immediately if it needs to be changed. We introduced a bottle and a pacifier, and he’s taken to both, though we only use them in moderation (the bottle when I’m at Sunday school, and the pacifier when I’m not around or in the car). He's up to 10 pounds now, and has grown out of his "newborn" sized clothes and is in "0-3 months." I have probably about 200 pictures and ten videos of the past two weeks to sort through, so once I get them organized I'll be sure to post.

And last but not least, since it has actually snowed twice here and my neighbors are already stringing up their Christmas lights, I don’t feel too early in posting this link in the spirit of Hanukkah. Courtesy of Sheryl, behold the Seattle Men’s Chorus Ensemble singing cowboy Dreidel.