Shlock Rock Concert!

Gosh, that was fun! I rushed the kids out of the house this morning, gassed up the minivan, and we made it to school before the teacher was out to collect the kids! Then Sofia and I went for our regular Starbucks breakfast with D and her daughter A. Miss Sofia sits so nicely now, coloring or playing with a doll, while I jump into line to get coffee and food. She also cleans up the table and throws everything in the garbage!

I dropped her off (begged her teachers to come into the room a minute early) and raced back to school to catch the bus. I got to assist with the kindergarten, so Micah was my bus-buddy. The kids in this school are so darn CUTE! The bus ride was very very loud, and one kid almost got sick, but we made it in time for the concert.

What a riot. The concert was in the gymnasium at Maimo, which is celebrating its 70th year. Now, Maimo is an Orthodox school, and most of the other guest schools were also Orthodox. So it was interesting to see how our kids would fit in.

Mind you, Sam not only wore his "tallit katan" (the little undershirt with the tzitzit/fringes), but he insisted that I change from jeans to a skirt! So I had to wear my long Jerusalem skirt (very very comfy, but the shoes weren't as comfy). I looked quite frum (very religious). Sam and only one other of our kids has a tallit katan. All our kids had on their choir T-shirts, which makes them look like a colorful array of M&Ms, but they stood out from the plain blues and whites of most of the other schools.

The band was great, but it was tough to hear the words, and they are the kind of band that you NEED to hear the words in order to get the "joke". They take popular music ("We Didn't Start The Fire", "Oh When The Saints", etc.) and put lyrics for nice Jewish boys and girls to it. It's tough to describe; go check out the band's website.

So I'm glad to say that eventually our kids did get up and dance. Again, this was not what they were used to; since it's an Orthodox environment, the genders shouldn't mix for dancing, so there were conga lines of boys and conga lines of girls. I had to make sure our kids picked the correct line! But we had lots of fun, and my little friend A and I were doing The Swim and a bunch of other goofy dances. A lot of the MWJDS kids conked out halfway through, and they all ended up sitting on the bleachers for a while, but a few of our kids were totally into it.

We left the concert promptly at 11:30, and I was able to meet David and Sofia back at Whole Foods just as they were finishing lunch.

Sam is reading Torah tomorrow for the first time. He's been practicing, and this afternoon when we got home, he was able to do it perfectly! I'm so impressed at his ability to learn the trope (music) by listening to the mp3 over and over. I'm very very proud of him!

So I'll post that video tomorrow, I hope, but for tonight, here is Miss Sofia, swinging on the swing in the doorway this weekend (T21Online friends, this is the same video I posted over there):

A Good Day

Well, today has been good all day, and just got better. Busy, of course, but fun.

1. Drop the boys at school.
2. Race to the mall to meet out Speech Pathologist at the playspace at 8:30am. Had fun watching Sofia interact with another little girl (who is coincidentally also in the EI program).
3. Speech left right after Occupational Therapy arrived.
4. Sofia got ored with the playspace halfway through OT, so we all walked around the new wing of the mall, exploring lose flooring (Sofia did a great dance on a piece of sheet metal).
5. My girlfriend C arrived just as the OT was leaving.
6. We sat in the American Express Lounge at the mall for a while, having a snack.
7. We roamed the mall for a few hours, having a great time (I don't get to see C that often, and I love her dearly).
8. Just as we were about to go to lunch, we ran into my other dear friend, R, so she joined us too! (And she's the one who is so great with Sofia, so Sofia was also very glad to see her).
9. Sofia fell asleep just as C and I got back to the other side of the mall, where the cars were parked, but she did not stay asleep when I transfered her to the car. (boo hoo!)
10. Drove around trying to get her to sleep.
11. Gave up, and parked in front of the school waiting for the boys.
12. Got the boys, raced to the pediatrician's office so Sam could get his flu shot and his chickenpox booster.
13. Went to Tae Kwan Do (where today I got to meet a few of the dads instead of their wives).
14. At TKD, had the pleasure of hearing my eldest son recite his Torah reading (for Thursday) almost perfectly!
15. Sofia fell asleep in the car on the way home, but woke up when I tried to transfer her to the crib. Ugh.
16. Ordered pizza on the way home, but it took over an hour, so the kids were all melting down when it arrived. But they perked up after they ate.
17. Lit the Chanukah menorahs for the last time. Tonight we lit 5 chanukiyot (menorahs), for a total of 45 candles (8 plus one "shammash" in each).
19. Eventually got the kids to bed and started working on my homework.
20 Just got a call from the boys' head-of-school, inviting me to chaperone tomorrow's Shlock Rock concert at Maimo! Yippie! And David is going to be working in his office, which means he can pick up Sofia from her playgroup.

So now I'm in a really good mood. Yeah.

Quick shout out to my online friend AF, who can't read this anyway because she lives in the Midwest and has no power. Stay warm!

Back to Hebrew Homework.

Baby Naming

We were proud to sponsor the kiddush (snacks) after Shabbat services this weekend in honor of the baby naming of our new niece, Lilien Eve W. Lilie's Hebrew name is Lila Chava Talia - Lila in memory of David and Laura's brother Larry, Chava/Eve in memory of their aunt Barbara Ellen AND in honor of grandma Esther Ruth, and Talia in honor of grandma Toby.

The baby is adorable and tiny. She's such a little mush! Laura seems to be handling things ok. The naming was lovely. David and I had the Levi aliyah, and then Larua had the next aliyah, so we were all on the bima with her. The boys came up. At one point, my friend E sent Sofia up, but she was too disruptive, so my other friend D took her back down. My parents came, as did several good friends (S, N, D, L) and some surprise friends (J&L).


We had bought decorations for the kiddush, and there were latkes and bagels. It was very relaxed and "haimish" (homey). Everyone hung out at shul for a while. Then my parents and Laura came back to the house, and D brought the girls over later. After D left, my neighbors came over with their 1 year old and we had more latkes and did Havdalah and lit the chanukiyot again.

But in the middle, Laura and David had a quick run to the ER, because Lilie had a very stuffy nose and Laura's pediatrician said to take her in. The ER doc listened quickly and then sent them home - it was all just upper, nothing in her chest. Whew!

It was a very nice day, marred only by the fact that the baby's own grandparents were not there and her mother is a very young girl. I hope they are ok.

Friday I took Laura shopping for nursing tops, and I felt like I was in full grandma mode myself. I made brisket for Friday dinner (David was out), and I helped Laura give her daughter a blessing when we lit the Shabbat candles.

Sunday was fun - Sam had a K'vutza event (3rd-4th grade youth group) at Plaster Fun Time. D brought her girls, and she and I talked while I painted my own project; then she helped me with Hebrew homework. Then the 3rd graders had a birthday party in Holliston, so we dropped them off, had a bite to eat, and walked around with J.

In the evening, David and I went to my grad school program Hanukah party. It was nice. The lady who hosted has a lovely, very "grown up" (i.e. breakable) apartment, but there was also a fire in the fireplace and tons of scented candles and a small dog, so my allergies got really bad. I wheezed most of the way home. I'm better now

As for my mood, I'm better than last week. I got some sleep on Thursday and Friday nights (although then I woke up at 5:30 on Saturday and 6:00 on Sunday).

Today we had an ice storm. The drive to school was fine, but our driveway, which is very very steep, is a solid sheet of ice. The minivan slide all the way down. Right now I had to park at the bottom.

Descending into the Abyss again

Ok, what's going on? I am exhausted, but I can't sleep. I'm 2 full lessons behind in my Hebrew homework again, and the end of the semester (and therefore the final exam) is fast approaching. Miss Sofia just said "BABY" very very clearly, and has been adding lots of other verbal words and sounds, but she's also still refusing to nap at home and we spend hideous amounts of time wasting gas with the car running.

I spend lots of time worrying about Laura and the baby and what their life will be like. I fret about my MIL and how she has let herself be a slave to a paranoid and sad man.

Sofia just put her hand directly into the mist of the vaporizer, so now she's unhappy (and yet STILL begging to watch another "Signing Times" video). And she keeps whining.

Micah's got something brewing, and has been excessively grouchy for the past several days, which makes life really challenging.

But David has been great, and Sam actually helped me calm Micah down yesterday instead of goading him into a frenzy. And I got the most delicious kiss from Micah for a present the other day.

Ok, some photos before I head to the minivan again:

Catching up

So much to catch up on.

So David and I spent Thanksgiving weekend in Quebec City. On Thanksgiving Day (after my last blog entry), we stopped at the mall and I amazingly found a decent and on-sale bathing suit on the first try. Then we drove - in a snowstorm - about 30 minutes north of the city, ot a nordic spa, Le Nordique.

This is what it looked like when we walked outside, after putting on our bathing suits:

So first we sat in the Sauna, heated up our bodies. I don't have a great tolerance for heat, so we only sat about 10 minutes the first time.

Then we went outside and took a very fast dip in the cold pool (5 degrees C). Then back inside to relax in a warm room, then a dip in the (outside) whirlpool.

Then we repeated, the second time trying the Steam Room instead of the Sauna (I liked Sauna better, so I only did the Steam Room once).

One time, instead of dipping the the Cold Pool, we ventured down to the river, which, at 1 degree C, actually had snow slush floating on it.And it was SOOO cold!

Whew!

Anyway, the rest of the weekend was lovely. We had fondue twice, sushi once, mediocre pasta, yummy breakfasts. We walked in very cold weather and several light snow storms. We shopped. We relaxed. We ate. We drank. We talked. We had so much fun!

So we came home on Monday (the boys did not have school, so there was an extra day of vacation for everyone). Within about 2 minutes of walking into our house, it was crazy again - the kids and my folks had just gotten there too, and the boys were bouncing off the walls.

The week was busy. Since bedtime at my parents house is so late, the boys had trouble getting up in the mornings for school. I spent evenings working on a video for the day school's gala (and ignoring my Hebrew Homework). Friday we had Shabbat dinner at the home of friends.

But boy, yesterday was SOOO busy!

1. At 8am, we went to my hairdresser for the following transformation:

Yup, David not only cut off all the hair to donate to Locks of Love, he also shaved the beard and mustache! I have never seen his top lip! The kids were so excited.


2. We drove to CT to spend the afternoon with Grandma Ruth and David's sister Laura and her new baby and their cousin Heather and her new baby and hubby and son. I posted a bunch of pictures on a new webpage, but here are a few:I get to hold 2 babies, and then hand them back!


Ian Robert and Lilien Eve - he is 2 days and 2 weeks older than her, but so much larger!


After a long and somewhat emotionally charged day, we left Grandma's at about 6:30. But of course I'd forgotten that it was the night of my 25th high school reunion, and my friend J had flown in with her hubby from Omaha! I'd totally forgotten to RSVP! So I figured I'd just stop by and say "hi" while David and the kids waited in the car...

but everyone wanted me to stay, so I sent David off to drop the kids at my parents' house, and then we crashed the party! It was so much fun to see everyone.We were there until after 11, which means we didn't get to our house (after picking up the kids) until after 1:30 am. I am SOOO tired today!

Happy Thanksgiving

I awoke this morning with a whole list of things I am Thankful for swirling around in my head. Here, in no particular order, is my list:

• I am thankful that my children are having a wonderful time with my parents and my sister’s family, while my husband and I are enjoying private time in beautiful (but chilly) Quebec City.

• I am thankful for my beautiful children, for the imagination which runs in their spirits, for the generally good health they have been blessed with, for the love I feel for them, for the skills they all are learning each and every day. I am thankful for the opportunity and ability to see each of them grow into their own individual person, so different from each other and from anyone else in the universe.

• I am thankful for my husband, because we are best friends and sweethearts and we have so much fun together just walking around and talking. I am thankful that we both enjoy things like talking to strangers and meeting people, being the host/hostess, having friends, traveling around the world, exploring new places, wandering bookstores for hours at a time, learning and investigating ideas.

• I am thankful that I live in a time when, as a woman, there is no hindrance to my ability to study the texts and stories of my religion. I am thankful to live in such a vibrant Jewish community, to have institutions such as Hebrew College nearby for me to study, online resources including just about every holy book in the canon, Jewish Day Schools in abundance (last Shabbat, in the K-1-2 service, there were 3 different day schools represented among the children, plus the religious school!).

• I am thankful for my brain, which allows me to observe, appreciate and understand all of this!

• I am thankful for my girlfriends (and today I’m listing you by name!): Renee, for her sweet and gentle way mixed with her quirky and funny sarcasm; Jody, for her strength and organization and sheer joy in life; Debka, for her seriousness and caring; Cheska, for her earth-mother feel and wild-woman reality; Ruth, for her thoughtfulness and fun; Brenda, for her caring and her love of Judaism and her children; Michelle, for her cautious ways and infectious laugh; Nicki, for her goofiness, her guidance and the insane amount of clothing she hands down to my daughter; Debbie, for her wisdom and her guidance in the Jewish-Special Needs arena; Sara, for her warmth and sweetness; Cari, for her own strength in the face of Special Needs and our customary “rock talks” even when they don’t take place on a rock any more; Elyse, for her dedication to her projects and her quick thinking; Toni, for her humor and her knowledge of people; and all the other friends whom I am sure I am forgetting to name but I am never forgetting in my heart. You are all special women, and I am so fortunate to have you in my life!

• I am thankful for my ability to be friends, real friends, with men also: Peet, who is the Kahuna to my Gidget; Michael D., my geek-twin; Eli, sweet and gentle and patient with his beautiful family; Michael K., a friend since 7th grade, who patiently allowed me to be the tag-along tomboy, then continued to stay in touch as we became adults, and who now, improbably so, also has a daughter with DS (and a beautiful family in general). Again, there are more, I’m sure, but all of them are important to me, important to how I see the world.

• I am thankful that my sister-in-law, Laura, yesterday delivered a healthy baby girl, Lilien Eve, 6 lb 4 oz, 18”. This “thankful” is tempered, however. I am thankful that both Laura and the baby are healthy, but so sad about a host of things: my mother-in-law was not “allowed” to go to the hospital to be with her only daughter because my FIL wouldn’t “let” her; instead, Laura’s erstwhile boyfriend was there with her, and at the end of the day, it was his family who got to hold the baby (however, I am willing to take it as a possibly good sign that he did stay with her all day – maybe he’s not as horrible as I thought). I hope this all turns out ok. I feel guilty for not being available to her, but that same guilt made it clear that it was very wise of me to plan to be out of the country at this time!

• I am thankful for the decently good health my family has. Yes, we all have our “stuff”, but it is really so minor compared to what other people are going through. My skin cancer was quickly discovered and easily cured, and now I have access to a wonderful dermatologist and RN, who are overly cautious and willing to test just about any spot. David’s Crohn’s Disease can be annoying for him, but he also has a great doctor, and usually the medications he receives keeps it fairly well controlled. Sam is getting terrific reading guidance to learn how to cope with Dyslexia, and he uses his time with his therapist really well. Micah’s food allergies are also controllable, and he is so good-natured about what he can and can’t eat (and we’ve been so lucky to have nut-free schools!). Sofia’s Down syndrome has brought us nothing but joy – joy in the ability to appreciate every milestone, joy in the way our friends and our community have showered her with love, joy in the new people we have met because of her extra chromosome, joy in the fact that she is really “high functioning” (as much as I hate that phrase) because she can do so much already. I am thankful that her cardiac issues are so minor, and that her gastric issues do seem to be settling. I am thankful that all of us have wonderful healthcare professionals, who are all willing to work as a team to take the best care of us.

• I am thankful for my extended family. I love my grandma, and am so thankful that even at my age, I can still enjoy special conversations with her every week. My parents are loving and caring, and so willing to take care of their grandchildren! My sister and her family are also loving, and my sons have so much fun with their cousins. My own cousins, spread across the country, are all interesting and fun people, and my aunts and uncles have always been fascinating personalities for me to learn from. I miss my great-aunt Toby, who died last summer, and my grandpa Benny, who died 2 years ago, as well as Grandma Sarah and Grandpa Ralph, both of whom have been gone for a while now, but I am thankful for the time I did get to spend with each of them, and for the ability to know them all even after I became an adult. You see different things as a child than you do as an adult.

• I am thankful for the safety and prosperity that we enjoy, that allows us to do all the things we want to do.

Ok, now that I have typed all of this, my brain is settling back down. Happy Thanksgiving to you all.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone

Oy, what a week! And it's only Monday ;)

Well, tomorrow, after the day-school student concert (which I have to videotape), the kids leave with my parents for a week in Connecticut, and David and I are off to Quebec City! Hooray!!!

However, I'm handing over Sam, who has some sort of winter virus (he gets red spots on his cheeks and very dry skin around his lips); Micah, whose eyes "felt like they had lots of sand and dust in them" today; and Sofia, who has...

1. a stuffy nose
2. diarrhea (from the stuffy nose)
3. a yeast infection (from the diarrhea)
4. horrible diaper rash (from the yeast infection)
5. croup (because we were silly and visited our friends for Friday night dinner even though both their little ones had croup); and
6. a double-ear infection.

Well, at least she's on antibiotics now. The doctor and I had to practically sit on her to keep her still while doc pulled large clumps of wax out of both ears. And this morning, before we went to the pediatrician, we had her first visit from the public pre-school's director. Miss Sofia croupy-coughed throughout the session, but otherwise did very well (right up until she fell off a chair and split open her lip!).

(Oh yeah, 7. a split lip).

But now that we've seen the doc and gotten meds, I feel slightly better about handing her over to my mom for the week. Slightly.

I went craft-fair hopping on Sunday afternoon (all by myself) for a few hours, and got a few gifts for people.

Mazal Tov to my cousin J and her hubby J on the birth of baby Lily Iris this morning.

Mazal Tov to David's cousin H and her hubby P on the birth of baby Ian Robert 2 weeks ago.

(Now we're all waiting for David's sister, who is due next Saturday).

Mazal Tov to my friend S's mom for her recent marriage. (Not so sure S thinks it's worthy of a Mazal Tov, though!)

Deepest condolences to my online friend A on the loss of her best friend.

I have to go finish packing - I think I've gotten the kids' stuff done, now it's just my stuff. David is responsible for his own gear!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone; drive carefully, drink responsibly, eat thoughtfully. And try not to stress too much!