Pilots, trombones, and bling. Life is good.

This was the plane ride back to Cincinnati... forgot to download it from the camera.

The pilot helping him with the chair lever.

Ari "reading" a magazine.  Once we finish one, he gets to play with it and crumple all the pages.

Now for a glimpse into our lazy Shabbat mornings:

I hesitate to put this online, but hopefully you'll focus on the cute kids and not on the fact that I hadn't yet brushed my hair that day.

  Pajama playtime!   The blue dinosaur is romping about around the castle.

Dancing with necklace decorations and frog boots.

I like this series because of Ari's movements.  Watch him creep closer and closer to the shiny necklaces!

"Oooh, that looks interesting."

"I think I want to try."

"I'm getting there, I'm working it..."

"And... almost!"  

The next picture, had we taken it, would have been of Ari grabbing the necklaces and Xander complaining.

In his new high chair and utterly thrilled about it.

Doing a high-chair dance.

Pleased as punch to be at the table with us.

Let me close by sharing with you a new song we use when washing our hands, courtesy of Xander.  (I love that he teaches me songs he learned in school.)

To the tune of "Frere Jacques":

Top and bottom,
top and bottom,
in-between,
in-between.
Rub them both together,
rub them both together.
You are clean,
you are clean.

Making connections

It's fascinating to realize how Xander's brain works.

- When listening to the song about Victor Vito and Freddie eating spaghetti, tabasco sauce, and other foods (here are the lyrics), he always says, very confusedly: "But they didn't say the Hamotzi!"  I think he thinks the whole world is Jewish.

- Lunch today was pizza slices, baby carrots, and a banana.  Near the end of the meal I asked him what he wanted more of: pizza, carrots, or banana?  "Pizza!" he says.  "The carrots and banana are already mixing in my tummy.  My tummy's like a dryer!"  I laughed and told him I loved his imagery, that I could picture exactly how all the food was tumbling about.

- Yesterday we were lucky enough to go to Disney on Ice: Minnie and Mickey's Magical Journey, in box seats.  The parents of one of Xander's friends from school invited us to go with them.  Not only was the view stupendous, but there was a private bathroom, couches, the whole works.  Xander's favorite part?  The sliding door between the room and the outside seating.  In all fairness, we honestly don't watch any Disney movies besides The Lion King, so he didn't really know the stories.  Aside from the door, he liked when Peter Pan and the three kids "flew" in the air.  (I was impressed by how high they got in their harnesses, and how easily they were able to land and skate.)

- After Disney on Ice we went to lunch.  Xander was hungry and tired, which translated to crankiness.  One minute after pulling Ari's toy out of his hands for no apparent reason, he was deeply offended when the waitress deigned to say hi to Ari and tell him how cute he was: "DON'T TALK TO MY BROTHER!"  Apparently the protective "no one can beat him up but me" thing has started already.

- Today on the way back from Rachel D.'s house, I made a wrong turn and turned around to get back on the proper street.  Xander asked what had happened.

"I made a U-turn," I said, "a big circle."
"Why did you make a U-turn?" he asked.
"Because I made a wrong turn originally. I had to get back on the right street," I explained.
"Why did you make a wrong turn?" he persisted.
"I didn't mean to.  It was a mistake."

And then the part I love...

"You should throw it in the water."
"What??"
"You should throw it in the water.  The mistake," he clarified.  

And I got it - he was paying much closer attention to taschlich last month than I had thought!   Pretty good memory, too.



And so that this won't be all about Xander... Friday was a really cool day because I got full back access  to the AJA.  Though I've been processing collections, whenever I've wanted to access something, I've always filled out a form, given it to an archivist, and then they pulled my material from the back.  Friday I learned how to do that myself!  So for at least the in-house work (not my private research), I feel like a full-fledged (albeit junior junior junior) member of the team, complete with a keycard that gets me into "AJA Staff" restricted areas. :)

Interview with Xander, three years old

What do you want to be when you grow up?  
A fire fighter, to be on a fire truck as big as this (reaches way up).  Like this one (grabs his toy fire truck, pulls the ladder all the way out).

What is your favorite color?
Pink.  Look!  I put pink letters on my paper (on the wall), from Amber’s class.

How do you make bread?  
You put raisins in when you make challah.

Where do babies come from? 
Your belly.  When I was a baby, I was in your uterus for a long long long time.  When your belly was getting small, I came out into the water and you picked me up and then you started to cry.  When you picked me up, I was very happy. That’s why I became a baby, I was very nice. I couldn’t walk and talk and cut, I couldn’t do those things, I just cried. I was a baby just like Ari.

What would you do with $100?  
 I don’t know.  Look, flowers!  And a butterfly!  It’s mine, it’s pink. (looking at art on wall)

If you could go anywhere in the world to visit, where would you go?
Cincinnati.

What is one new thing you would like to try this year?   
Driving a tractor!

What is one memory you have from this year?  
Leaves turning colors.  I want to see the pumpkins! (on the table) They were mine from the farm, from the hayride. This one’s big and this one’s small.

If you could have only one present this year what would it be?    
A cheetah.

What is your favorite food?  
French toast.

What is your favorite toy?  
My fire trucks.

What is your favorite thing to do?  
[Play] fire trucks.


Conducted 10/22/11

Sticking to my values

I just got a funny, witty, adorable email from a Christian home-birther friend of mine asking me (and everyone else on the email list) to help with fundraising and buy her son's Cub Scout popcorn.

I debated for a long time before hitting "reply all" and sending this response:

Hi ----,


First, thank you so much for including me in this email!  I appreciate that you thought of me.  I do like popcorn, and I do want to support your kids.

BUT... the Boy Scouts have been vehement in their exclusion of gay scouts and leaders, even kicking them out once they come out, and going to the Supreme Court to uphold their decisions.  I can't in good conscience support any organization that is so strongly in opposition to my core values of tolerance and diversity.

I'm sorry that means I can't buy from your sons.  But when Girl Scout cookie time comes around, count me in. :)

B'shalom (in peace),

Michal

The whole thing seems so frustrating.  I like my friend, and I honestly do want to help her kids.  And I think that Boy Scouting has some really great things going for it.  But that 2000 Supreme Court decision really got to me.  

I'd write more on a tirade, but this blog says it better than I could.  Go read!

The last of the vacation photos

This was actually from before we left, when Ari was feeling adventurous and kept wanting what was on my plate.  Hence, banana eating.  He's had it a few times since and so far, is a fan of smushing, but not so much the putting-it-in-his-mouth part.

On both Delta flights, we asked the flight attendants if Xander could visit the pilots.  He was a little intimidated I think, but really liked it nonetheless.  On the way to CA, one of the pilots actually vacated his chair so Xander could sit there.  Plus he let him flip a couple switches.  Xander was in heaven.

For broader context.

Ari, Mike, and Lois with our sumptuous dessert spread from Katella Bakery.

Antonio, Marleena with Kara (2 months old), and me in front of Marleena's new house

Ari and Kara having parallel play.  Kind of.  Ari is too fascinated with Antonio (note his elf shoes) to pay too much attention to anything else.

Bubbies exude comfiness and sleepiness.  It's in their job description.

Ari having fun with Kathleen.

Smiley smiley boy.

Mom got Xander a recumbent car for walks around the neighborhood.  It was a major hit.

He was fast on that car, I tell you.  He kept racing ahead and then getting impatient when we strolled along more slowly.

Come on already!!!

I guess if our kids have attitude, we have no one to blame but ourselves!

Pictures from my mom's open house

A very small selection of pictures.

Barbara and Cristina.  They've been together for what, almost 30 years?  Barbara's as old as my grandmother.  Their longevity gives me hope in this thrice-divorced world.

Ari with Melissa.

Roxanne and Xander.  She taught him that haircuts aren't scary, but can be okay and not hurt... a lesson which he then imparted to his stuffed dinosaur Buddy, who imparted it to me.

Annie tickling Ari's feet while Jonathan and Melissa look on.

We're having a crazy time here, Mommy!

Sandra making Xander's day.

And finally, brothers sharing the kid chair.  I love their facial expressions!

Also, for those who are curious, Ari was SO MUCH better today.  He didn't cry once, and Jonathan really enjoyed himself.  This is gonna work out!

A tale that has existed (with different nuances) since women first started working outside the home

So today was a great day in one sense, not-so-great in another.  I went back to school/work for the first time in a month, really, acharai hachagim (after the Jewish holiday season).  Class til 11am, then work til 4pm.  

1) School was great.  We had a guest speaker from the CCAR, Central Conference of American Rabbis, the rabbinic organization of the Reform movement and what we automatically join we're ordained.  The speaker spoke all about transition, for both ourselves and our congregations.  I highly recommend this spoken poem "The Parable of the Trapeze," which she played for us and, entirely not-coincidentally, happens to mirror a lot of what I'm currently feeling.

2) Work was great.  I'm processing this collection by a man who was a Jewish educator for 60 years, and the variety of personal items, curriculum, and correspondence is very impressive, and inspiring.  I feel lucky to be working with these documents.

BUT...

Our childcare provider who had been living with us moved out - she needed more time to work on her studies - so that meant Jonathan had Ari at home all day.  Which meant we had to wake up extra early to take Xander to preschool so I could go to class, instead of me carpooling into school with her.  More importantly, it meant I also needed to pump all day.

1) That didn't work so well. My body hates the pump.  I got some good tips from a couple friends and it's going better, but it's still not ideal.

2) Ari hates not being around me.  He only took one 20-minute nap and spent all afternoon crying.  Which made Jonathan feel absolutely terrible because Ari's a really wonderful baby who rarely cries.  And Ari was so mad at me when Jonathan picked me up that he refused to make eye contact for a good 15 minutes, he kept turning his head away.  After that he got over it and didn't want to be out of my arms.

Xander had a perfect report card from school, so of course he was a terror at home (two-time outs for kicking the cats).  And then we did bedtime rituals, and as Jonathan read Xander the last story I went into the other room to put Ari to bed, around 8:15pm.  I fell completely asleep on the bed next to him. 

Jonathan woke me a little after 9pm because Xander wouldn't go to sleep without me; in fact, the minute I woke up I heard hysterical "I WANT MOMMY!!!!" screams coming from his room.  So I went in, lay on his bed to cuddle with him for a minute, and promptly fell asleep again.  I woke up at 10:30pm when he sneezed on me.  I debated going to my own bed then, but no, I wanted some time to myself.  And anyway, I have to pump to keep my supply up for both myself and the woman I'm giving milk to.  So to amuse myself while pumping I turned on Netflix.

Did you know that Netflix now carries Thirtysomething?

Literally six minutes into the show Jonathan came rushing downstairs confused because he heard the baby crying.

It was the seven month-old baby on the TV who was crying, not Ari.  And the mom was crying into the dad's arms because she couldn't take being with the baby all day, but she didn't want to go back to work yet either.

That show is our lives.  It's kind of scary.

And reassuring too, because it shows me that there really is nothing new under the sun, and all this too shall pass.

Only that shall happen

Which has happened, 

Only that occur

Which has occurred; 

There is nothing new

Beneath the sun!

   - Ecclesiastes 1:9

The Magic Kingdom

In the interest of full disclosure, I actually did NOT want to go to Disneyland this trip.  Too many people, too young kids, blah blah blah.  Jonathan convinced me it would be worth it though, and lo and behold, we all had a great time.  Xander's jaw about dropped to the floor in the Tiki Room, and he didn't really close it until we left.

On Main Street.

After a ridiculously expensive meal, finishing lunch with home-brought strawberries.

Clinging on tightly during the Jungle Cruise.

"The train, the train, the train, the train!  Would you, could you, on a train?"

Looking very carefully at... something.  I forget what.

In front of the Fantasyland castle, like any good tourists.

We must pause for a short interlude of Ari being adorable:

And back to our regularly scheduled programming...

This is, honestly, how we spent most of our day.  Ah, waiting.

Nearing the front of the line!

Hypnotized by Dumbo.

Entranced, yet a little trepidatious.  It is a flying elephant, after all.

Of course he fell asleep right as we were about to get on.

Xander made that elephant fly so high, up and down, up and down, my stomach jumped and Ari woke up!

Post ice-cream eating, pre-ice cream clean-up.

"It's a small world after all, it's a small world after all, it's a small world after all, it's a small world after all."  Come on, you know you're all singing the tune now.

Utterly thrilled about the submarine in his immediate future.  The people behind us became fast friends after half an hour of chatting.

Mesmerized.

Cool artsy shot of the submarines with the Matterhorn in the background.

Last ride of the night before closing.  We went on the monorail three times for Xander's sake - to Downtown Disney and back, and then a return to Downtown Disney to leave the park.

Awesome view of Downtown.

Inside the monorail Xander exclaimed, "It's like a spaceship!"

And it will surprise no one to learn that both boys fell asleep minutes after leaving the parking structure.