He speaks!

Ari's now said "mama" a few times, with purpose!

Oh yes... and someone at school asked while holding him, "Does he smell like powdered sugar, or is it just me?"

Guess the family member

WHO......

- went from army crawling, to crawling on his hands and knees, to full-on pulling himself up and playing the kid piano, in a matter of two weeks?

- argued with Dell for an hour to fix something for my computer, and ended up getting the parts shipped to us overnight for free?

- didn't bite their nails for two whole months and got a really nice manicure for the first time in six years?

- got a large excavator with working treads for Hanukkah, and has since named the excavator "Potter" and insists Potter sleep with him every night?

- is addicted to spending time with his brother and follows him all over the house as fast as he can, causing no end of headaches for the rest of the family?

- insisted we call Odelia on the phone "on speaker" to ask her how to say words like "house," "windshield wipers," "cat," "black," "street sign," "magic wand," and "garage" in Hebrew?

- has perfected the family sufganyot recipe, to the demise of the diet of the other adult in the house?

- smiles and laughs every time we sing the Hanukkah blessings and is mesmerized by the fire?

- was diagnosed with an ear infection plus a sinus infection, and is now on antibiotics?  The friend's mom of this person emailed to say that she apologizes, her son was probably Patient Zero as she's now sick too.

- spent the day clothes shopping with a friend and got a fancy new suit in a lovely pre-pregnancy size?

- loves to light the electric menorah and sing along in nonsense words to the tune of Maoz Tzur?  And made his mom's day when we were listening to music and he asked to dance the hora?

- slept for TWELVE hours last night and only got up to nurse ONCE?


Ahh, the mysteries I leave you with...

My definition of happiness

Finishing the third chapter of my thesis.

A fantastic yummy dinner that I didn't make.

Children who went to bed when they were supposed to with no complaints.

Having a "wrapping paper party" with my husband as we prepared for the first night of Hanukkah tomorrow.

Latkes with applesauce and sour cream BOTH.

Notting Hill and schmoopiness.

Chai tea and homemade sugar cookies.

Mmmmm....

What I've been doing the past few days

1) Thesis work.  I'm on page 15 of Chapter Three.

2) Taste-testing all of Jonathan's baking.  He's been quite busy perfecting his sufganyot.  Last night at 11:30pm he came in with a new batch of cookies.  When I protested that it was too late to eat cookies, he held them out in front of me and I acquiesced.  (He really twisted my arm, he let me smell them!)  We ended up in front of the TV.  "Some husbands lure their wives into late-night partying and drugs," he said.  "I lure you into sugar cookies and late-night episodes of West Wing."

3) Playing with my kids.  This morning Jonathan landed on the bottom of the puppy pile as Ari tried to climb on top of him and Xander nearly smushed him.  I was wedged halfway between the bed and the floor, but as Jonathan stroked my hair, I slowly sank down further and further.  Xander couldn't see me momentarily and got confused.  "Where's Mommy?" he asked.  I said nothing, enjoying the cuddles.  "She melted," said Jonathan.  "Don't melt, Mommy!!!" proclaimed my son. "Turn back into ice!!"

4) Translating Hebrew words.  Xander's been on a "What's this in Hebrew?" kick.  Of course, Murphy's law, he only seems to ask for words that I don't know.  For example: I have no idea what "excavator" is in Hebrew.  Before he turned two I barely knew what it was in English!  (Though note in case anyone is interested, I do know that dachpoor means bulldozer.  I'm thinking excavator is machpoor, but I'm not certain.)  I also had no idea what Kleenex was in Hebrew, and I told Xander that we always just called it... wait for it... Kleenex!  Xander thought that was hilarious.  Thanks to my sister, he now knows that it's technically mimhatot af.

5) Hanukkah prep.  This involves digging out all the songsheets we have in preparation for our kid party on Saturday (for all the parents, obviously the kids can't read yet), making a plan of attack on cleaning the house and going grocery shopping for fixings.

In the spirit of the holiday, I'll end on a song-ful note, courtesy of Sylvan.  Enjoy!

The (Non-Hanukkah) Festival of Lights

Entry to zoo.

At the beginning, when he still wanted to walk.

The train rushing over the lit-up lake.

The lake lights kept changing color!

More lake lights.

And yet another variation.

Giraffes are so tall!

Waiting to see the train go by.

Xander is in the middle, Devin is to the right.  The puppets were voiced by real people who talked to the kids, like "hi you with blond curls, come closer!"

Smiling smiling smiling.

Watching the lights from the train this time.  (Trains are very important in our lives, you may have noticed.)

So, so happy to finally be on the train.  It was over an hour wait, but both boys insisted.

Meanwhile, back at the house....

Because we haven't had too many kitty pictures lately.

Close-up of love.  Sometimes I think they snuggle more than the humans in the house.

And last but not least, Ari and his mashed potatoes.

Redefining success

I had great plans for the day.  I was going to log serious hours working on my thesis, and in my "free" time pay bills and do errands.

Instead, I never made it my home office.  I took care of a sick baby who wanted me way more than Jonathan.

In one sense my day was a waste.  I did nothing I had intended to do.  (Like, literally, nothing.)

In another sense the baby is happy and giggling.  So maybe it was a successful, productive day after all.

Sitting at home with a sick baby

Poor Ari is NOT feeling well... it's either bad teething or an ear infection, I'm not sure (the doctor's appt tomorrow will tell us for certain).  Either way, I'm home with him while Jonathan went to our scheduled playdate with Devin's family to the Festival of Lights at the zoo.

BUT... this means I can write a quick blog entry.

[Hahaha okay it's now five hours later.  A crying baby needed my attention more than the computer.]


Xander and Jonathan are back, and except for being cold, they had a fabulous time.  Jonathan took tons of pictures which will be posted later.

But what was I going to write, you ask?

- Jonathan's photography gig on Thursday went wonderfully.  He hopes to do more of the same.

- A grown-up Aryeh, a rabbinical student, plays bagpipes, and came over to schmooze with Jonathan. They ended up in our basement pulling out our kilts.  Scottish Jewry unite!

- Baby Ari is now on his very own mattress in our room instead of the co-sleeper (he has Xander's old one, while Xander has the new one). The salesperson at the store was so nice, he offered me a floor model mattress that usually retails at $900, for $250, with 50% off the mattress cover.  And rabbinical student Ari picked it up for me in his sister's van, so we didn't even have to pay the delivery fee!

- Marc and Rachel K. visited (Marc is part of our Thursday D&D group) and we got to know them better.  Both of them are educators and were amazing with Xander.  They stayed for dinner, and Marc even set up the mattress with Jonathan while Rachel and I were with the boys so Xander wouldn't be upset at the upheaval of his room.  Not only was it fun socializing, but the new bed has been such great incentive that Xander's gone to bed in his room with no complaining for the second night in a row!

- Today we went to a Temple Brotherhood event, "Lox and Glocks," discussing types of shooting, gun control, and the ethics of Jews and guns.  It was fascinating.  We took Ari with us but put Xander in "J Play," a daycare that the JCC offers for members who are in the building.  Xander didn't want to leave the play area, and was very grumpy on the way out. Our plan was to go to Costco afterwards, to get gas, groceries, and lunch, but he was having none of it.
     "NOOO!" he shouted.  "I don't want to go to Costco."
     "But we'll have pizza for lunch. And maybe even ice cream," I said.  "You love pizza and ice cream more than anything else in the world."
     "No, I don't!"
     "Yes, you do, love.  It's your biggest treat ever. I know you, my son."
     "I'M NOT THE SUN!  I DON'T SHINE!!"
For some reason he didn't calm down when Jonathan and I burst out laughing.  We couldn't help it, it was too precious.  And note if this ever happens to you: reassuring your child that yes, he shines from his heart is apparently not the right thing to say...

Oy, that's the baby on the monitor - g'night!

Age is nothing. It's all stages in life.

You know, when I turned 30, it didn't really matter.  I felt "older," but it didn't feel like a huge milestone.

They've been coming fast and furious this week instead.

1) For reasons long and unwieldy and wholly irrelevant to this story, the boys and I took a cab home today from Xander's school. Xander did NOT want to take a cab home, and spent a good portion of the ride crying and screaming.  I spent half the ride talking to him, asking him questions about his day, and calming him down.  I spent the other half of the ride talking to the cab driver.  I saw how he was reacting to Xander - suppressed amusement - and I asked if he had kids.  He did, he said, one daughter who lived with her mother far away.  "Oy," I replied.  "That must be hard."  He then opened up to me utterly and completely.  It was surreal.  In one breath I was saying, "What color was the bike, honey?  Did you go slow or fast?" and in the next breath I was pitching my voice lower and asking how the driver's ex-wife felt about him beating his drug problem.  By the end of the 20-minute ride Xander had calmed down and was looking out the window, and the cab driver had shared with me his entire life story and gave me his cell phone number in case I ever needed a ride again.  It was the most bizarre, unexpected pastoral visit ever, but I felt like I really made a difference to two people at once.

2) Two nights ago, Xander woke up three times in one night, crying.  On the third round we finally got him to tell us what was the matter:  "I woke up and my energy was gone.  I was scared it wouldn't come back!"  After reassuring him that his energy was sleeping, just like he should be, Jonathan and I looked at each in amazement over his kid logic.  I also just sent out an email with the subject invite, "Party invite from Xander's mom," inviting some kids in his class to a small Hanukkah party at our house.  When did I get old enough to have a kid who's that articulate, and to have to send out party invites with his name as my identification?

3) A friend of mine is a lactation consultant at Cincinnati Children's Hospital.  She and I have been emailing back and forth because the mother of a baby in NICU is Orthodox and won't use the breast pump on Shabbat.  I've been giving her advice on how to approach the woman and help her understand her perspective, sort of a "Jewish nursing in halacha" talk.  The other night at HUC it was the opposite; the school hosted a "game night," and I found myself sitting on the floor building a tower out of JENGA blocks with Xander, talking to two new moms about nursing and breast pumps while going back to school. The same thing happened while schmoozing at Maura's birthday party the day after; this time it was nursing and cloth diapers at the Cheesecake Factory.   How in the world did I become the experienced one about this stuff?

Whatever next week will bring, I'm up for it!

Boys and their toys (or really, kids and their toys, but the gendered version rhymes)

1) My German friend Teresa, a cartoonist, is going to send us one of her children's books, about a little boy finding out what different construction equipment is used for.  I'm excited.  Not that I can read the German at all, but it'll be fun to make up my own dialogue to put in the word bubbles.  And maybe this way Xander will feel more multi-cultural.

2) Ari and Happy Baby Colors are now best buds.  He has SUCH a serious look on his face whenever I read it, and he focuses so intently.  Learning colors is THE most complicated endeavor he's ever undergone, you can tell!

3) Much like sports references in the Midwest, construction references are ubiquitous in our house.  Take, for example, yesterday's dinner proclamation, spoken by Xander as he put his water cup down on the table:
"Water is like a bulldozer.  It pushes the food down my throat!"

4)  This is more of an "adults and their toys" reference, because we wouldn't let Xander watch this with us, but - we finally saw X-Men: First Class.  I loved it!  I found it really touching, actually, especially the backstory for Magneto.  I won't get into spoilers here, in case anyone hasn't seen it (admittedly not likely at this point), but the way they made the relationship with his mother and Judaism paramount to the use of his powers?  Brilliant.  I could feel my emotions being manipulated but didn't mind a bit.

5) I'm on a whole bunch of parenting email lists. One of them this week had a list of "The 5 Best Toys of All Time":

Stick
Box
String
Cardboard Tubes
Dirt

Well, I asked Jonathan to corroborate this list, because I wasn't sure about it. His response? "I have to agree that box and stick are in the top 10. I wouldn't put dirt that high up, but I guess this is a national average thing."

What do YOU think are the five best toys of all time?

My bookworm self cringes at the irony

I finally convinced Xander to try my oatmeal this morning.  Oatmeal, milk, brown sugar, and raisins.  "I LIKE it!!" he said.

We then talked about how he had heard of oatmeal before, in the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  What they called "porridge," we call "oatmeal."

He wanted to hear the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears again.

Great, I said.

Did he want me to read the story to him, as found in our nursery tale books?

No.

Did he want me to tell him the story myself, cuddled up on my lap?

No.

Well, what did he want?

To see the story.  On TV.  As told by the characters in the show SuperWhy.  

SuperWhy airs on PBS.  It's entire point - get this - is to promote literacy.