Yummy yummy fingers!

Four day weekend!

First off, I just have to say that I got the best Hanukkah gift ever this year! Jonathan gave me the collector's edition of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, the fairy tales by JK Rowling set in the Harry Potter world. I'll have to get a picture up so you can see how cool the book is, it comes in a gorgeous box and the book is leather-bound with embossed silver skulls on it. I'm a huge Harry Potter fan but never would have bought it for myself, so it's perfect. I got Jonathan a black t-shirt that says, "No, I will not fix your computer." :)

The last few days were relatively uneventful. On Christmas Jonathan and I hired a babysitter and went out for Indian food. The babysitter is 16 and is my madricha (teacher's aide) at Sunday school. The baby was fine; I think it was harder on me than it was on him!

Jonathan and Xander both relieved that we're home.

Aside from going out for a few errands, we've just lazed around. I watched It's a Wonderful Life, which I used to do every Christmas as a kid. And I shared An American Tail with Jonathan. I remember it as being much more dramatic, with the cats chasing the mice and poor little Fievel Mousekewitz being lost and scared. Then I looked at the date, and apparently the movie came out when I was five years old! That explains a lot.

Snuggling and doing nothing. I love vacation.

I'm determined to lose this pregnancy weight so I've been walking a couple miles a day on our treadmill. I've done this four times so far. And I'm not thin yet! What's up with that? (Footnote: half the time I'm on the treadmill I hear Joe's voice in my head, telling me in his British accent that treadmills were originally part of a prison punishment system and I'm voluntarily participating in the quest to go nowhere. Darn that historical context!)

And Hanukkah, of course, is still ongoing. Pictures of it are below. I realize most of them are of the baby, and that this blog is quickly becoming in danger of being solely baby-focused. It will even out more, I'm sure, when I go back to school next month.

In Hanukkah onesie from Chana, and his menorah socks.

In winter gear from Aunt Sandra and Uncle David.

Shabbat and Hanukkah all at once! Xander is looking at his hands - he'd been eating his fingers a moment before we put the mittens on, and he was very confused.

The kitties got gifts too. They love their new ball.

And in closing, a series proving that our boy is a flirt:

How I know I'm half-Israeli

Jonathan and I drove Maura to the airport today. There were NO cars on the road. We coasted all the way to the airport, passing by closed restaurants and shops. When we got to the terminal, it was completely empty. There was literally only one other car in the entire drop off/passenger unloading area.

"Wow!" I said. "It's like Yom Kippur for Christians!"

This disgusts me

In Madoff Scandal, Jews Feel an Acute Betrayal

His actions go against every value I've ever been brought up to believe.

A pictorial first night of Hanukkah

A dramatic retelling of the Hanukkah story. The baby had never heard it before!

The tale of the Maccabees is riveting.




Explaining the menorah before we light candles.

Playing a fierce game of dreidel. I taught everyone how to spin it upside down.

Jonathan made homemade latkes, but as he was putting them onto the plate we realized we had forgotten to buy the garnishes! He earned many many brownie points by going out into the 6 degree weather to go buy applesauce and sour cream. When he got back we ate til we were sick from the grease. Then we sang tons of songs.

Last but not least was gift exchange! Becca brought a gorgeous traditional Korean outfit for Xander called a hanbok. This one will fit him in about two years.

In the spirit of the holidays we also drank eggnog, and what do you know? All my life I've thought I hated it, but after drinking it virgin I realized that I'm fine with the eggnog itself, it's just the rum in it that I don't like! Here is our toast to friendship, holidays, and a joyous life.

Happy Hannukah, everyone!

More of Becca's visit

Becca babysat last Friday night so Jonathan and I could have a date night! We got all dressed up and painted the town red. Well, really, we got all dressed up and went out to dinner, but hey. For anyone in the Cincinnati area, I highly recommend the Indian restaurant Tandoor. They make the best mango lassi I've ever tasted.

We took advantage of her visit to do some fun things that usually don't happen, like Sunday brunch. (I'm also usually teaching, but hello winter break!)

Becca and Jonathan, the syrup connoisseurs

Xander was very vocal about our menu choices. Or maybe I should say that he's very vocal now, period.

Conversation at IHOP.

Becca is awesome with the baby, and we played, watched some ST: Voyager episodes from her IPOD, made more chocolate chip cookies, and just hung out. She loves Rummikub, just like I do, and we're evenly matched - she ended up beating me, 5 games to 4. Hmph, I say. It was all the luck of the tiles. :)

Playing with Becca.

All of us sang songs. Becca knows the ABC song backwards! Sadly, I do not have this on tape. But Xander was happy to sing along with me the regular way.

Singing along with Mommy.

And since last night was Becca's last night, she and I then stayed up so late talking that the menfolk crashed.

Sacked out on the couch.

On a more serious note, she and I had a really good conversation about changes in people when they become parents. This made me think of changes in my own expectations about parenthood, specifically how my newfound realization that practicality does not always live up to my ideals.

Here are four specific ways off the top of my head: when I was pregnant I wanted to do cosleeping, with Xander sleeping next to our bed. But Jonathan likes to sleep with the room at 65 degrees, and Xander needs it closer to 75. So off to a nursery the baby went. Two, when I was pregnant I had wanted all the baby's clothing to be organic - now, after going through so many outfits that he's outgrown (already!) I just want clothes that aren't itchy. Three, philosophically, I'm still deeply into Montessori. We aren't buying toys that flash or light up, or that make loud noises. And I still prefer wooden toys that I know aren't coated with potentially toxic paint or chemicals. But now, if someone gives us something plastic, I'm not going to give it back. And lastly, when I was pregnant, I thought I would never use a bouncy chair because I would be so into babywearing; now I thank my lucky stars for the chair, because I find the wrap really inconvenient at times, and I'm tired of always eating to the side so as not to drip on him.

Becca saw these expectations of mine kind of dashed against a wall. What about other people? Does this whittling down of ideals to reality happen to everyone? And if so, what has changed/do you think might change? I assume that this keeps happening in parenthood at every stage. Actually, I guess it just happens in life in general...

Xander explains his week

Car trips are so much fun!

No way, Auntie Becca! The moon really IS made of cheese?!

I like to participate in the holiday consumer crush. I am an American, after all, even if I'm little.

Shopping wears me out. But I do look stylish when I sleep, thanks to my special Disney outfit from Savta.

Oooh, keep talking, I'm paying close attention!

I wuv you!

Just call me Superman when I sleep.

Josh is so cool. He's the only rabbinical student who can quote Star Trek along with Mommy!

It's great when Daddy works at home. At least for me. Here he is on a conference call at 11pm, helping me go to bed.

My cats are gay lovers. Are all cats this way?

Rudolph's first cousin on his mother's side, Shlomo.

What's been going on, in no particular order

Becca's visit has been wonderful. Now that I'm feeling better and am over the flu, we've been going out and having fun. Mind you, she's been teaching in Korea for six months, so going out means doing "American" things like having Mexican food and visiting Target (both of which I love). We've been renting movies (go see Forgetting Sarah Marshall), watching Star Trek:TNG episodes, baking cookies, and playing with the baby. Last night Xander refused to go to bed until nearly 1am, and Becca stayed up and kept me company - we had long conversations on multiple subjects, all sung to the tune of Brahm's Lullaby so that the baby would still feel relaxed. Today she went running on the treadmill with him in the wrap, and the baby kicked his feet and gurgled along happily.

We went out to buy a cloth diaper bag yesterday (literally a bag to put used diapers in when we're out), at this cool store downtown. But I was so excited to find a good parking spot and I was focused on getting the baby out of the car out of the rain, and I just took the kiddo into the store and locked the car. I completely forgot to put money in the meter. We got back and lo and behold, I had gotten a ticket. I told Jonathan about it and felt very sheepish. "The diaper bag was $18," he said. " And the ticket was $25. So all in all, we spent $45 on that little bag?" "Um, yeah," I replied. "I'm sorry. I feel really stupid." "That's okay," he said. "I spent $83 on a hammer once."

Xander is growing by leaps and bounds. Two weeks ago, at eight weeks old, his 0-3 months clothes stopped fitting. All the outfits are too short, even if they fit him perfectly in width. Some of the clothes we got as gifts that I washed so he could wear (like Savta's cute elephant sleeper), he never even wore! I put him in a new 3 month outfit today and his feet are already at the end of the sleeper and the sleeves stop before the wrists. He's tall, Daddy's kid by far. He's also started to spit up and drool some, as well as gurgling and making noises. He now grabs onto things, like my hair when nursing or Jonathan's nose when he sings him songs. So yay for reaching new developmental milestones! Another new discovery is that he doesn't like it when I drink milk or eat tomatoes (we were finally able to narrow it down). So as long as I'm breastfeeding, I guess I'll have tomato-less salads and stick to soy chai at Starbucks.

The cats have now fully adapted to all the changes. Simcha's as friendly as ever, and Osher goes outside for a few hours a day and then comes back in. Sometimes we'll hear major hissing outside that sounds like a catfight, and whenever I run to the door I see Osher all fluffed up standing on our porch, defending our house against the errant neighbor cat. He's also still very much into squirrels, and will chase them around the neighborhood regardless of snow.

And that's about it on the home front. Pictures/videos to follow soon.

Urg

Recovering from a bad case of the flu. Will update later. Thank god Becca is here to take care of both me and the boy when Jonathan's at work.