From Angela's camera, taken over the last month

Spelunking through the living room.

Executive Xander!

First attempt at putting on pajamas.

Lovin' the park.

Blue-eyed boy.

I love me.

More tunnel of fun.

Hollywood starlet.

"Water!"

My tent rocks.

Two quick things

I forgot to say that at Shabbat dinner last week (with the priest, Unitarian Universalist, and Baptist over for dinner) I was explaining the Shabbat imagery. "The three braids of the challah symbolize the three main pillars of Judaism," I said, "Torah, the people Israel, and... and... [turning to the other rabbinical student] Nicole, I'm blanking out, what's the third?" "Um, GOD!" she retorted. Everyone cracked up. I'm a bad, bad chaplain. Who apparently needs theology lessons.

And also, Xander has quite a memory. We have this little book with pictures of planes, and when we read it today he waved to the stunt airplane and said "bye-bye!" We didn't know why. Then I remembered that last time we had read the book Jonathan had told him that it was a biplane. Biplane = bye plane. That's pretty good for a 21 month old!

Teaser photos

Remember a couple weeks ago when my mom came to visit? The first thing we did (literally an hour when we got off the plane) was go to a photo shoot. Jonathan's really been getting into photography, and so for his Father's Day present I had arranged a two-hour rental of a local photo studio. We had multiple wardrobe changes and lighting effects, and we laughed, posed, and laughed at our poses. In the end Jonathan took upwards of 200 shots. Here a couple.

The three of us.

You'd think we were related... :)

And in non-photo news, Xander can now walk backwards and say up to "I" in the ABC's (though G gives him trouble). Friday night we had all my CPE coworkers over for Shabbat dinner, and we have so much food leftover our fridge is full to bursting. Last but not least, I leave in a few hours to officiate at a religious (but not legal, since I'm not ordained) wedding ceremony at my pulpit. Wish me luck!

New features to blog

Hey, Michal and I added some new features to the blog. You can now "follow" the blog. If you sign up, you will get an email with new updates from the blog as they happen. Also, we will now be hosting polls. Please join in and let your opinion be known!

Look for the new features on the right column.

Horsey Sick

Xander’s Journal

July 21^st, 2010 - Before Nap

I’m sad. My Horsey is sick. I used to ride him and he would whinny and shake his tail when I squeezed his ear. But now he’s too tired and can’t talk anymore. I told Daddy he was sick. He said, “Okay, I’ll do special surgery and make him better.”

July 21^st, 2010 – After Nap

Daddy did surgery! It was AMAZING. He took pictures so I can learn.

First, he told me that he gave Horsey a special shot to put him to sleep.

When Horsey was asleep, he opened him up so he could fix his insides.

“Here’s the problem,” he said, “Its inner battery is depleted.” I didn’t know that Horsey had an inner battery!

Now he’s all better, hooray!

New book rec

I just finished People of the Book, by Geraldine Brooks (who won the Pulitzer for March). It's a piece of historical fiction about a rare book expert who's analyzing the Sarajevo Haggadah. She finds a hair, a stain, an imprint of clasps, and other assorted things in the Haggadah, and the novel then jumps back and forth between the present, where she's speculating what caused the items to be present or lacking, and then the past centuries, where you have an entire chapter on how each of those things got there. It's all interspersed with a love story, so it's really quite interesting. Not heavy, but a fun read. It's a whole new genre of "book mystery," but with enough rare book jargon that you can tell the author did her homework. I highly recommend it. Read and tell me what you think.

Apologies

In retrospect, this blog is becoming really baby-focused. Oops. Didn't realize that.

In all honesty, that probably won't change anytime soon.

BUT... Mom is here, so I will tell about her visit later.

Note to self

One and a half pounds of chocolate CAN be eaten by four people, if the fondue is good and the things to dip are yummy.

However, just because one CAN do something, does not mean that one should. And if one does decide to do it, one should not be surprised if one's tummy hurts afterwards.

Ugghhhhhh.......

We've been pegged!

Today at CPE we did the Myer's-Briggs personality test.

I'm an ENTJ - extrovert/intuitive/thinking/judging.

For ENTJs the driving force in their lives is their need to analyze and bring into logical order the outer world of events, people and things. ENTJs are natural leaders who build conceptual models that serve as plans for strategic action. Intuition orients their thinking to the future, and gives their thinking an abstract quality. ENTJs will actively pursue and direct others in the pursuit of goals they have set, and they prefer a world that is structured and organized.

Jonathan, on the other hand, is an INTP - introvert/intuitive/thinking/perceiving:

For INTPs the driving force in their lives is to understand whatever phenomenon is the focus of their attention. They want to make sense of the world - as a concept - and they often enjoy opportunities to be creative. INTPs are logical, analytical, and detached in their approach to the world; they naturally question and critique ideas and events as they strive for understanding. INTPs usually have little need to control the outer world, or to bring order to it, and they often appear very flexible and adaptable in their lifestyle.

This explains so much about our relationship!

Fun with boy

Auntie Natasha is so much fun to play with!

Walking back toward the house. I love family.

Disco boy!

Offering Mommy water. On my overnights at the hospital I leave after he goes to bed, and don't return til 5pm the next day. He was having a lot of trouble with that, so we started webcamming in the mornings when he woke up.

Why, oh why are you up so early? The cats ask.

Looking out at the morning sun.

Riding the Simcha horse. This cat is amazing. He's more patient than I am.

This Kangaroo Climber used to be outside. We brought it in last week, and now he plays on it constantly.





Hangin' out with Lauren.






Playing Ghost.

And just as an aside - I did my undergrad English senior paper on Mark Twain. I found this article on him fascinating. He was acerbic and said exactly what he thought... which meant his uncensored words could only be published after everyone he knew was dead!

Dead for a Century, Twain Says What He Meant

A relaxing Shabbat

Aaron and Lauren babysat last night while Jonathan and I went out for a date, celebrating my being half-way done with CPE. We went to see Toy Story 3, which I admit I wasn't excited about at first. But I have to say, it was surprisingly excellent! Quite a good movie, intricately plotted with no loose ends left at the end. It was definitely worth the 99% on Rotten Tomatoes (Savta and Auntie Lois, that's an internet review site that usually gives scores in the 60th and 70th percentile).

Xander had a great time with them. They were telling us that he talks so much more now than last time they were over (only about a month ago). So just in case anyone's curious, this is what he can say:

cat

ball

car (cah - he has trouble with R's)

bus

water (wa-wa)

eyes

frog (fwog)

bear (beh)
bird

nite-nite

bye

mama

dada

sit

bubbles (bu-buz)

slide

book

and I know there are more, but I can't remember them. He still signs a ton, too. He also:

points to parts of the body when asked

follows two or three instructions at once (i.e. pick that up, put it over there, come back)

loves to sweep the floor and clean up toys
gives great hugs and kisses
pet the cats

And he and Jonathan are napping, so I'm going to get offline and follow their great example....

Written by the president of HUC

Op-Ed: A plea for inclusion and religious liberty on LGBT rights

By David Ellenson · July 7, 2010

NEW YORK (JTA) -- As a Reform rabbi and president of an institution passionately committed to the religious position that Judaism demands full rights for lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgender Jews, I read with great interest Lynn Schusterman’s call on Jewish organizations to adopt policies that would foster greater inclusion of LGBT Jews in our Jewish community and the counter argument from the Orthodox Union’s Nathan Diament.

It should come as no surprise when I assert that I agree completely with the positions expressed by Schusterman regarding discrimination against LGBT persons, and that my own religious standpoint does not allow me to agree with Diament when he asserts that the “clear and firm teachings of Jewish law and tradition going back to the Bible” “cannot embrace or validate homosexual activity as legitimate.”

Instead, I hold that the values and principles of empathy and justice contained in our tradition demand an alternative Jewish religious standpoint that would require that the LGBT community receives the same privileges and entitlements enjoyed by heterosexuals as Jews seek to realize the moral obligations that the narrative and principles of our Torah impose upon our community.

Full article found here.

Overnights can be very strange

My experiences so far have ranged from praying with someone before surgery at 6am, to being in the room after a woman miscarried at 22 weeks and blessing the bundle in her arms. Let's hope tonight's one of the quiet nights.

The worst part of the overnights, I think? Xander is always upset with me when I come home on Thursday. :(

1. Xander's main sentence right now: "want this." Alternatives are "want mama" or "want wa-wa" (water). He claps along to Shabbat songs - his favorite is the Shabbat dinosaur knock-knock-knocking at his door.

Daddy about to knock on the table.

Babbling/singing along.

2. Simcha escaped yesterday! And we didn't even know it for hours. Around bedtime I realized that I hadn't seen Simcha since lunch at 1, we had thought he was sleeping upstairs. Then we remembered Xander standing by the screen door. We put two and two together... Simcha meowed at the door. Xander wanted to be nice and tried (as usual) to open it. Apparently he succeeded. I was so worried all night, but then, while trimming tree branches this afternoon, we heard sad pitiful meows from beneath the next-door neighbor's porch. He was very dirty and very glad to be back.


3. Yesterday when the boys were at the aquarium I finished The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon (who, coincidentally, is married to Ayelet Waldman of Bad Mother. The man writes a novel that reads like poetry, and creates entire worlds. I don't usually read mystery or suspense, but this was well worth it. Thank you Sylvan for the recommendation, and Gwen for the book!

4. Apparently at the aquarium, the penguins were the big hit. Then the fish. Then the drinking fountain, and then the stairs.








5. Fourth of July! Our friend Rachel's parents live on a farm about 30 minutes north of us. They have 300 acres, complete with horses, cattle, and pastures covered in hay bales. They threw a huge party, with bounce house, 20 foot water slide, kiddie pool, and tons of other toys. We got there early so Xander could go in the bounce house without lots of big kids in there with him, and he loved it.

6. The video game Harry Potter Lego: Years 1-4 is fabulous. It's sooo well done, I'm really impressed. Jonathan got it for me as my anniversary gift, but we only started playing it yesterday. Go LEGO, they're so original!

7. And speaking of video games.... something funny. I was at the hospital wanting to tell my coworkers about this webisode series The Guild, and I asked if any of them were gamers. "What does that mean?" asked one. "Gaming as in hunting?" Asked another. I wanted to laugh but held it in. It was one of those things where if they had to ask, the answer was no.

My two gamers.

"Me time"

Jonathan took Xander to the aquarium for some boy bonding. I'm alone! That hasn't happened in so long, I don't know what to do!

Any suggestions?