Ah, the druyanity!

Photo shoot

2012-01-30T00:40:00.000+02:00

Mad props to CB-with-the-good-camera (um, ahem, Sea Bee Graphics) who came over to shoot a nice hi-res pic for poster printing for my grandmother's hospital room. :(

Here's a highly impromptu collage of the event, suitable for desktop backgrounds. Or something.

Goofballs. Love 'em.

Chanuka video flash back

2012-01-30T00:22:00.000+02:00

Llama and Sroch making brachos, Chanuka 2011.

Visuals are much better on Sroch's, since she already had Llama's lights a-lighting her.

Harmony. Um, ish.

2012-01-30T00:11:00.000+02:00

A couple weeks ago I was clowning around with the girls while they were in the tubby, singing single notes and having the girls sing the same notes to match. I was actually VERY impressed with their accuracy, especially because, gentle reader, while my daughters are always ENTHUSIASTIC singers, they are not always ACCURATE singers.

Unlike their mother of course. Ahem.

Anyway, I wanted to then replicate the trick on video, but, um, yeah, well.

Still here, still alive, still cute

2012-01-29T00:26:00.000+02:00

More to follow, um, eventually

Blurry but shiny happy people

2011-12-21T22:43:00.000+02:00

Some Chanuka yumminess

2011-12-21T20:22:00.000+02:00

At 6:30 this morning, the girls crawl into my bed and whisper - "Mommy, can we color on Chanuka?"

You see, gentle reader, all this shabbos - yuntiv - holiday-that-isn't-shabbos-or-yuntiv stuff is confusing! When you can turn lights on and off, when laundry, when coloring. They also asked about cooking on Chanuka, tearing paper - and naturally, they want to wear shabbos clothes. Llama actually last night had a tantrum until I let her wear her shabbos robe to bed instead of pajamas.

A few words on Llama's tantrums. Since she turned 3 and realized the impending inevitability of aging (poor baby), she occasionally acts very mature - which means, when she suffers a disappointment, she will often drop to the floor in a sort of kvetchy genuflection*, something that is perfect vintage 4 and 5 year old Sroch. She drops on her knees and puts her head in her hands, facing the floor, and occasionally whimpering or outright crying, depending on the magnitude of the perceived offence. It's really delicious, and because she's our second child, we have none of the parental stress and crisis about our child Not Coping, but instead can just quietly giggle at the absurdity. And never fear that we're ignoring her real feelings - when she's REALLY upset about something, she bawls and pushes and hits the floor on a good day (someone else on a bad day).

It's just funny, because we got through the bulk of Age Two with very few tantrums. Hmm.

*I should totally copyright that term. Kvetchy Genuflection would also be a good name for a band.

I gave up

2011-12-19T22:37:00.000+02:00

I don't have time to blog.

So they're doing it.

(note: "shtuyos" means rediculousness. Hmm. Ya think?)

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Kindnesses

2011-11-24T01:32:00.000+02:00

My husband, the girlies and I are this little nucleus of blended Rosenblatt and Druyan ensconced a hemisphere away from our parents and (especially in my case) extended uncles and aunts and grandparents and such. Thanks to the kindness of Hashem, what with cellphones, Skype and the like, to say nothing of the occasional plane journey, we can still maintain a lot of connection. If this were, say, 100 years ago, or even 20 years ago, I don't know that I would have been as okay with living so far away from them all.

(Okay, I would have - because I do believe that strongly in living here and raising my family here - but it would have been very, very hard)

And God's kindness to us that, bank account (un)balance notwithstanding, we ARE living here and blooming and blossoming and fruiting, is tremendous. Every day is a gift.

I am overwhelmed with kindnesses of late. Here are the most recent ones, some of them as recent as just hours ago.

A coworker just had voluntary weight-loss surgery... and when they went in, they found a tumor they didn't know he had, would not have been able to detect - and they removed it cleanly. What a kindness they never saw coming, but will never forget.
Both of my children's teachers made a point of telling me how fine both girls were all the time that I was away, marveling at their stability and security. Such a kindness - I was going on that trip anyway, but how wonderful that it wasn't disruptive to their little self confidence.
While I was in Houston, my grandparents were charming and affectionate and felt good, and I was able to have wonderful visits with them and everyone else and be lighthearted doing so - such a gift! Especially because now, one week later (has it only been a week?) my grandmother is hospitalized once more and in a dreadful amount of pain. Such a kindness that we were able to enjoy each other while I was there.
I left Houston a week ago, freeing my parents to go this week to Miami to be with my very ill Aunt Andy. Such a kindness that they, loving and compassionate as well as medically trained, were able to be there and spend time with her in her last days and hours, because you see, she passed away just this morning. I am so grateful that I was able to speak with her while I was in Houston as well.
And indeed such a kindness, because Andy's own mother, our Mama Gloria, passed away just the day before. Such a kindness that Andy knew she wasn't going to leave behind her elderly mother, that they could avoid the tragedy and horror of a child dying before the parent.

And so here I am, in my microcosm of family here, far from the stormy changes in my family there, far from the grief and mourners. And my distance is, itself, a kindness, since if we lived there, these storms would be so hard on my children who are, still, so very young.

And I know that because we live here, my children are growing up with such an awareness of Hashem's kindnesses in everything, everything that happens, that they hardly need to be shown.

And so in loving memory of Aunt Andy, whose inherent Godliness made her choose for her life's work helping children (as teacher, principal, professor, leader) - because God shows us kindnesses like a parent does for their child: daily, constantly and unceasingly.

.... One explanation of the six-word Shema Yisroel we say goes like this, that "Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad" (God is Lord, God is One) is phrased as such to say God of Kindness (Hashem) and God of Judgement (Elokeinu) are not contradictory, but are in fact One.

In the midst of God's judgement, his kindnesses have been pouring out - as they always do.

America

2011-11-14T20:36:00.001+02:00

Soy Starbucks latte.
Target.
Walmart and Sam's.
Beef hot dogs and one million different kosher condiments.
Carpeting everywhere (and out smells like urine where I'm sitting now, but I digress).
Outlet stores. Strawberries out of season. Squat soda bottles. Root beer, mmm.
Everyone in this airport has an iPad.
Four hundred channels and nothing's on.
.
.
...and family.

Will miss the one here, can't wait to see the one there.

Over Canada

2011-11-08T11:52:00.001+02:00

This airplane mode on my phone is very useful....

Out my window, for the last eight or nine hours, there has been a crystal clear starlit sky, and often a full moon as well. Totally lovely. I noticed that Orion's belt is no longer due left of the plane; we must be getting somewhere.

I dozed, but I didn't really sleep. Dinner was excellent. I may or may not have watched an, animated film, depending on where I want Sroch to go to school next year, but if I HAD I would be shocked at the amount of suspense and even violence they put in Toy Story 3. Egads, do they want to give every child nightmares forever?? I of course still cried like a baby. I can only imagine what my seat mate must think of my bawling, to day nothing of how I went to the lavatory with hair on my head but came out with a hat.

Right now it's still dark, but some Canadian lights are dining through from cities below. And right now my babies are at school, Super Husband™ having gotten them out.

I wonder if they noticed yet I'm gone.

I sat them both down last week and said that just like they have to do the mitzvah of honoring their patents, I had to do it as well, and so I had to go to America to do it. And they were both totally, totally fine with that. And I told them about all the plans I made of who they would be watched by and who they would play with, and they're all excited. Llama especially is psyched since she's been asking me for some Super Why books, and I've told her that they only have them in America, so she's been asking me to go to America for weeks already, so this to her is great.

Yesterday when there was a general national strike in the offing, I told Sroch that maybe I wasn't going that day, and she said, "oy, what about your mitzvah?"

Only as I put her to bed last night do I think she realized that hey, I really won't be around.

But they will be fine. Thank God they are secure, bright, well adjusted kids, poo poo poo. They will do fine.

And I... I shall miss them.

On the airplane

2011-11-07T23:02:00.001+02:00

Boarding: I'm thinking, how can I bedding this without my kids??!

And

How on EARTH do I EVER do this with my kids??!

Signing off!

In the airport 4

2011-11-07T22:29:00.001+02:00

I enjoy the feeling of pride in being Israeli when I walk through the beautiful things we have, and the airport is an example of course. It really is lovely, even if my nostrils are on fire from the duty free perfume. And it's so not fair that when I travel without the kiddos, THAT is when they aren't doing free booze samples.

Shah. Whatever.

I may have to buy a beer on principle. Except I don't actually want one.

I feel so.. single, and by single, I mean married without kids. After all, it's three middle of the night now, so it's our norm that they are asleep and I am alone on my phone.

Tomorrow is when I'll feel the lack of them I think.

Okay, correction, I definitely feel like a mom, since I am educated enough to know those duty free toy prices are STILL insane.

Target, here I come!

In the airport 3

2011-11-07T21:46:00.001+02:00

Passport control hall. Way different without your companions running laps.

In the airport 2

2011-11-07T21:28:00.001+02:00

Everyone looks vaguely like someone I know, but no one is.

We've got Christian pilgrimage people, fire fighters who did a exchange program with Israeli ones, some sullen lone men, a fifty treat old man with a sixteen year old hair cut and dye job... And a very, very small handful of people like me, that is, people who actually live here.

I like being special.

And I like not having to worry about anyone else's bladder.

In the airport 1

2011-11-07T21:06:00.001+02:00

On line for check in. It is now odd, and yet familiar, to be doing this alone.

I miss my little people.

That said, I don't miss the feeling of dread that I will have to amuse them for the next twenty hours of travel.

Winter is here!

2011-11-05T22:50:00.000+02:00

I got caught in a torrential downpour today.

Item: I am still young enough to have wanted to get caught and soaked, but old enough that after a couple minutes I was like, what was I thinking?

Anyway, enjoy the girlies, and pay no attention to the cut-and-paste marks around Sroch's head. It is HARD to get them both to smile at the same time!

Mouths of 3 year old babes

2011-11-05T20:39:00.000+02:00

Butterpum - butterfly

Paghetti - the long skinny pasta

Toooshi - where the "poop in my belly" goes out from

And my current favorite, for that box with the moving pictures, hellavision

Llamavideo

2011-11-03T23:51:00.001+02:00

Ending our Llama-fest for the night, we have some video of Llams before Yom Kippur, including her showing me her kapparos chicken from gan. Love the smush.

Llama's cake

2011-11-03T23:29:00.001+02:00

Never ask an almost-three-year-old what kind of birthday cake she wants when she is in possession of a Mimmy and Simmy book.

Because she wanted a Mimmy and Simmy cake. Of course she did. Practically, this meant a triple decker chocolate cake with roses on the sides. Generously, she didn't need the separate strawberry topper, which is a good thing, because strawberries are a) out of season, and b) apparently the source of all bugs in the universe, second only to asparagus. Or something.

So I made three round cakes, used up one thing of genuine Duncan Hines frosting to fill and frost them (it was ~$4.50 for the tub of frosting, which is about what I would have paid for that much margarine and powdered sugar and such), and then bought (for, um, more money) a thing of chocolate fondant to cover it with and make the roses.

Fondant is FUN, and makes you feel like you could make an outstandingly amazingly gorgeous cake SO easily. However, I now know if you put fondant on a lumpy cake, you will have lumpy fondant.

BUT Llama was beside herself with joy, and that is what mattered.

First covered with the frosting. Note the gaps between layers. It's to, um, save calories. That's it.

Then the initial fondant covering. Lost some glossiness by over dusting with starch so it wouldn't stick.

And don't forget the somewhat spastic roses. BTW, "Spastic Roses" would be a great name for a band.

What she wanted, and what I made. Bless her, she didn't see any difference between them.

Ever since I made it a week ago (until today when it was finally finished) she would just randomly stop what she was doing and run to the kitchen to peek, saying "my cake! My cake!" and then go about her business.

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Llamis turned 3 (!!!)

2011-11-03T23:14:00.001+02:00

"I'm not big little anymore. I'm a BIG girl!"

There ya have it, folks. She is now officially Big, although that doesn't mean she doesn't still have a pacifier and occasionally babbles and wants to be rocked.

Here are some beautiful pictures of the birthday girl. She just happened to have had a Torah party at school that day (her birthday was shabbos - the pics are from Friday) so that was her birthday crown too, cause hey, we're easy going like that.

Since her birthday (almost a week ago) she has nicely perfected the art of holding up three fingers. As you can see, it's not such an easy thing to do!

Just in case you forgot, Sroch is 5, Llama is 3. There will be a quiz.

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Is this thing on?

2011-11-03T23:00:00.000+02:00

Need to blog about Sukkos, and Llama turning 3 of course. Already mentioned the lice (pooey).

Okay, I'm on it.

I sum up

2011-11-01T23:53:00.001+02:00

We had lice. 51 bugs, all in SR's hair (and I'm not telling which) except for 1 in my hair.

On behalf of the Committee of You've Got To Be Kidding, we were unamused.

That was a week ago yesterday, I think. We did more laundry last week than we do in a month. I became one of those mothers who change my children's sheets daily.

Scratch, scratch.

Oh, and Llama turned 3.

HELLO!!?!?!?!?! Who let her grow up!?

Chag sameach!

2011-10-12T15:47:00.000+02:00

Happy sukkos to all, from all of us!

Okay, so this picture is from before Rosh Hashana, but hey, this time of year, it all kinda blends together.

From Llama

2011-10-06T20:45:00.000+02:00

"Mommy! I made you a shuga!"

Huh?

"I make for you a shuga!"

Huh?

Oh.

For you see, gentle reader, I am occasionally wont to tell my youngest that she is "making me meshuga."

Ah.

Art

2011-10-03T23:25:00.000+02:00

Since they are in the same tzaharon, they come home with projects they did side by side. So we have this:

Top one is Llama's. I asked her what it was (I was thinking fire, or something like that). She said, with just as much excitement as I was using in my voice praising her for her artistry, that "It's a red! And it's an orange! And two things!"

Oh. (WPO, natch)

Bottom one is Sroch's. She reports to me, when she shows it to me, "there isn't a door because they didn't have any money left to buy a door, because they are aniim (poor people)."

WPO again.

I turn to the ganenet and start to tell her what Sroch says, and she tells me Sroch already told her a whole story about those poor people in their house. She also said she's never seen a kid with an imagination like Sroch's.

Shepp shepp shepp shepp shepp.

Coats

2011-10-03T23:22:00.000+02:00

We were trying on last winter's coats to see if they still fit, whereupon my girls insisted on wearing them for the next hour or so - outdoors, with an umbrella, in rain boots.

When I finally made them come home for dinner, Llama was very upset. Why? "The rain didn't come yet!"

Soon, Llama darling. IY"H soon.

PS - that's gum in Sroch's mouth, lest you think she has some tooth growth disorder or something.

PPS - and so, darling grandmothers, no need to buy coats for the girlies for this winter :)

Children = way closer to God than adults

2011-09-28T00:50:00.001+03:00

On the way home from the dentist last week, Llam and Sroch both wanted to sit in the stroller. Finally when Llama got up, Sroch grabbed it - and Llama had a fit. After a couple moments, Sroch got up and let Llama sit down. She then whispered in my ear:

"I did it because I want an extra mitzvah on my moznaim (scales)."

Wow. Nice education, gannenets!

So couple days later, when we're getting home from gan, I go pick up the mail and Sroch, totally educated and tuned into just about every aspect of Rosh Hashana by now, starts to holler, "Mommy, there's a maatafa, (envelope), we have to take it and put in tzedaka (charity)!"

Now, thank God, we live in a religious city in Israel. We have people knocking on our door collecting every day or two (or around holidays, several a day), and we get envelopes in the mail all the time. And we never, ever use them (we do recycle!) because we give our charity money to other places that we know and trust, not just any organization that sends us a leaflet (sadly, not all are legit).

Sroch has seen us throw away (um, recycle! Sometimes!) many, many of these. But she will NOT let this one go.

Upstairs we go, she grabs my wallet out of my bag and starts scrounging for cash. She finds 20 agurot (that's about 5 cents). She puts it in and asks for a stamp, and I tell her gently that it will cost far more to mail that than what we are donating.

"How much does it have to be?"

"Um, at least 5 shekel."

"Oh, good, so we need 3 more!"

Well, okay, great math skills for a five year old (5 minus 2 = 3, nice!) except, hmm, lack of comprehension that 5 10-agurot coins don't make 5 shekel, but nu nu.

"Sorry Sroch, I don't have any money."

"WHY?!"

Um. Long answer. Let's skip it.

"Sorry Sroch, we have to wait until Abba comes home. Maybe he has some money."

"No. We'll just put your credit card in the maatafa."

"Sroch, no, credit cards don't work like that."

"But you use them to pay for things!"

Um. Shoot. Am I allowed to drop the I'll-tell-you-when-you're-older?

"Sorry, no."

WAAH!!! WAAH!!!! "But we HAVE to!!"

Fortunately, God loves me and I recall that outdated system called 'checks,' and I offer to write one.

So Sroch helps (she tears it off, then decorates the outside of the checkbook with her backwards Hebrew writing) and I write out a check for 18 shekel. We seal the envelope, and I tell her I'll mail it. I did so too, the next day.

Now, why do I find this story so remarkable?

Remember, gentle reader, this story that I sometimes tell Sroch at bedtime:

Once upon a time there was a man and a lady who were married and very happy, except they were also sad, because they didn't have any kinderlach. And so they davened and davened to Hashem for many years, and so did lots of other people, and then finally Hashem gave them a HUGE bracha of a wonderful little girl they named Sarah Rochel, and they were SO happy and everyone was SO happy for them!

For you see, the tzedaka organization Sroch insisted with all her might on us supporting was Bonei Olam - a Jewish infertility organization.

Like I said, they are a lot closer to God than we are.

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The poeticism of Llamushkanuna

2011-09-28T00:28:00.001+03:00

Between the pacifier in her mouth and her, um, non-quiet older sister, Llama isn't always so so talkative. So every now and then when she comes up to me and expresses a complex thought in multiple coherent sentences, I'm like - huh? Aren't you a baby?

Nope.

And she's so rational and coherent, that I can't even remember later to blog what wonderful rational coherent things she said, because it was just talking to a Person, and you don't blog People.

Sometimes.

Although yesterday she did ask for a different purple towel. I told her I didn't have one, and this, verbatim, enunciated, is what my 2 year old said:

"So why don't you go to the towel store and give them money and buy a new purple towel?"

Who says Llamas only hum?

Anyway, two cute things, this week she had a candy (okay, like every day she has candy, but whatever) and she sucked it for a bit, then swallowed and said, "my candy flew away from my mouth!" And then yesterday, when we were in the stroller, she said, squintingly, complaining, "the sun is looking at me!!"

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Anger

2011-09-20T20:15:00.001+03:00

Alright boys and girls, it's time for another exciting edition of self-help through blogging, where the blogger, in lieu of private reflection or costly therapy, just rambles on about herself in a public forum, thus achieving some sort of catharsis, or something.

Except no one actually reads this. Except for you. Thanks, by the way.

Right, so, tonight's topic is Anger, a common theme when I blog before 8 PM, because it means that Bedtime was the Badtime, know what I'm saying?

It actually wasn't so heinous, is the truth - especially since a few minutes ago when Yoav walked in I walked out.

It was more like the afternoon. I am always totally and utterly amazed that these darling little creatures can get me angrier than anyone or anything else. Before they were born, I just about never got angry. Hurt, insulted, possibly indignant, but not seeing-red capital-A Angry, but with these precious little kinderlach? Gevalt, watch out.

Anger, as I mentioned in a shiur I gave (wow, people think I'm an actual rebbetzin or something) last week at Kever Rochel, is classically rooted in pride and an inability to accept God's will because our own will is more important. Hmm.

So today, when Sroch, Llama and I had to go to the dentist (Sroch = no cavities. Llama = refusal to have dentist examine her), then according to that I should have gotten angry because the bus didn't come. Nope. I should have gotten angry when the bus didn't follow the route I saw online but instead went to the other side of RBS, so I had to call Yoav to bail us out with the car (because I had no money for a cab) and we were late.. but no, that didn't make me angry.

What made me angry was my child (no need to name names, but you're smart, you'll figure it out) running away from me, not coming when I called, practically running into the street, occasionally hitting and kicking. ARGH!

Hmm.

Hmm.

Hey, this therapy by blogging is great. That's it: anger is due to pride. My hollering at my daughter and her ignoring me negates my motherly existence. Child, I am your MOTHER, and so help me you will LISTEN to your MOTHER, or ELSE! Grrrrrr!!!

So is it possible that it is my pride as The Mommy, and not my pride as Miriam, that is why I am angry?

And if so... well, isn't that appropriate? The children are obligated to listen to me - that's clear from the Torah. Chutzpa is one of the greatest sins, and are not willfully ignoring your parent and spiting them (hitting them!) perfect examples of chutzpa?? Are we not taught we should have a righteous anger to defend the Torah!?!

Yeah right. I should be on such a level.

I think the problem is even if I get angry for Noble Reasons, once the anger is there it percolates through my Coffee Filter Brain and creates the Brewed Beverage of Harshness.

... and with that metaphor, my therapeutic blogging ends, because I DON'T have the solution. Yes, my children have to listen to me. No, I should not waive my motherability by allowing them to forgo that. My challenge is to be stringent on that point without actually seeing red. (Item: walking home from the dentist with the offender strapped into the stroller somewhat forcefully, we passed the pediatrician, and it occurred to me to threaten the child that if she didn't listen, I'd have to take her to the doctor to get a shot to make her listen. I mean, I didn't SAY it, but it DID come to mind!)

Phew.

Feeling a little better.

Do we have any chocolate?

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Hebrew integration post #1

2011-09-18T20:55:00.002+03:00

(post #2 may come later - or it may not, ya know?)

Quite possibly the world's perfect food

2011-09-06T22:12:00.000+03:00

No no, not bananas.

On Twitter (thanks @bydahway) I got linked to this recipe: 1 Minute Peanut Butter Cake. Now 'cake' isn't strictly accurate, more like 'cup-o-goo' but wowsa, it's yummy AND I think it's actually healthier than the honey-coated corn flakes they eat for breakfast.

It has an egg.
And peanut butter.
And whole wheat flour.

Hello! This is health food! If it actually had banana in it, I would feed it to them day and night.

Because, gentle reader, they both ate it!

And, ahem, um, we both had a bite or two as well.

...EDIT: Okay, so I plugged in the nutritional information and found that this is a LOT more caloric than I thought it was. Well... Actually, if I could get that many calories into them for breakfast, and all that protein - well hey, this IS a good breakfast!

For a picky almost 3 year old and a skinny 5 year old.

And, most likely, no one else!

Today's update

2011-09-05T23:34:00.002+03:00

Wow, blogging. I could get into this.

Today's update:

Llama, on the way to gan: "I like Morah Rivki's gan!" I, with false security, paused at drop off to talk to the morah for a couple minutes, resulting in Llama realizing I was still there and then needing to be peeled off of me, crying. Oh well.
Only one pair of wet underthings today. Woo hoo!
Yes, Llama's.
Llama still doesn't want to be big. For example...

Remember I mentioned lots of baby-ish regression? This was her temporary crib in her 'house' (Sroch's too, clearly. Nice flexibility, no?).

So anyway, now that she's doing the whole toileting thing (and yes, thank you Hashem, we're on the toilet now, so I can stop cleaning out the little plastic potty) to say nothing of gan shalosh, Llama recognizes that she isn't little anymore.

But she still doesn't want to be big.

Her new label: "I'm big little."

Awesome.

Sroch came home from school in her inimitable fashion of repeating like everything the teacher taught that day. Well, give or take. I continue to delight in her ability to understand the different teachers - nice to know this year's are able to reach her as well, bli ayin hara. Of course, Llama is still working on her language acquisition; she learned to say "I don't let!" in Hebrew this week.
Sroch continues to choose to wear her Land's End oxford shirts to gan, preferring them to others (I think because they look like first grader shirts - fortunately, the ones she has we got for $6 each on clearance, phew). I can only imagine what her new teachers think of her. Kindergarten preppy comes to Ramat Beit Shemesh. There goes the neighborhood. ;)

(I actually thought she was so impossibly deliciously gorgeous today in her shirt and belt and denim skirt I didn't want her to get in pajamas.)

(And yet, I overcame that.)

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Sand: toy, food and litterbox

2011-09-05T00:57:00.001+03:00

According to Yoav and Sroch, Llama didn't cry at drop off today - yay! - and only cried when it was time for her to leave the sandy play area (and incidentally, leave Sroch who was having recess at the same time).

Hooray!

Thinking question: Can you really call it recess when they are 2 years old, and their 'school work' involves Lego(TM)? Discuss.

Anyway, last Wednesday afternoon we went off to the beach, as our one-afternoon-long Official Summer Vacation. That way my children, who have been bounced from camp to kaytana to camp all summer, could feel like they had an actual Summer Vacation.

(True story: in the backseat on the way to beach, Sroch actually said: "This is our vacation? I can't wait to tell Rina and Elisheva I had a vacation!")

Thinking question: Does contributing to the Israeli economy as well as keeping the family solvent "excuse" the Druyan parents from allowing their children to experience boredom, sunburns and long lines that are normal Summer Vacation staples? Cite examples.

So off we went to Ashdod, planning on just not blogging about it if there were any missile attacks while we were there! Ha ha ha! Just kidding! Except we weren't kidding! Sigh. Long summer.

ANYWAY, I was worried, because the last time I took Sroch to the beach, she was miserable, it was miserable, all was misery, etc, etc. (BTW, how predictable am I that that post also has discussion questions? Egad, no new humor Druyan!)

BUT - this was awesome!

We found a deserted spot, and waded on in. The girlies both loved the sand, loved the water, loved it all, didn't want to leave, didn't complain about sand all over them or even their dinner (not that they ate it anyway), wanted to take home ALL the shells, etc, etc.

(At one point, Llama is standing in the water with Yoav, and she asks to walk in more. He does. She asks MORE - they go. Then she points to the tankers on the horizon and says, "let's go there.")

Yoav and I weren't dressed to swim, just to wade, which is good because the idea of taking my kids into water deeper than my knees where a big old wave (or shark - or missile - or gosh, I don't know, hostile seaweed) would have access to them, yeah, well, I'm not old enough yet.

(Another true story: friend of mine at work had her daughter in the sea with her in a little inner tube thing - and a wave came up suddenly and flipped over the tube with her like 3 year old in it. Heart palpitations just thinking about it. B"H, kid didn't slip out, but, yeah, way too scary for me. If we go swimming for real in the water, my children will be duct-taped to me.)

(Gorilla taped, actually.)

(Maybe surgically stitched. But I digress.)

So we had a great time, even practicing our alef-bais in the sand so Sroch also got her Official Summer Enrichment in there too. Man are we the awesomest parents around or what?

Thinking question: Or what?

A special shout out to Tali, who just left today after being an honorary Druyan for the last few weeks. Klita kalah and good luck madricha-ing, and I hope we remember how to wash dishes again!

Well, not really. You know.

Pictures!

Llama endeavored to empty the ocean, bucket by diligent bucket. She must have made ten trips back and forth, chubby little feet pounding through the 15 feet of coarse sand back to our base camp. Way to go, Llama. You go girl.

We let them wade in about up to their waists. They would have kept going. We held very, very, very tightly to those little hands.

Next time, they wear inflatable underwear.

And SPEAKING of underwear... poo poo poo!

Wait a second. Did she mean that literally? What is with her anyway?

Seriously, Llama is really doing awesome with this whole undies big girl thing. She embraces the daily return to pajamas (pajama time = diaper time) but she's really doing very well at home and the first couple days of school. Over shabbos she was perfect except for one very memorable "gadol" accident at Mamma Nechy's house (if you know what I mean and I think you do!) - sorry about that Nech. Welcome to RBS! Ha ha!

Today was the first full day at gan (8 AM - 4 PM) and as we expected, she came home damp (of course, the dry two extra pair, extra skirt and extra socks were all still in the tik, so it's possible she didn't enpuddlize, but was a little tardy to toilet), but hey, we are On The Way.

Poo poo poo.

Which reminds me of the picture of our beach trip we failed to take, watching Yoav walk off into the sunset with a child, a spade, a plastic bag and some wipes - but some memories, perhaps, it's okay to release your tight grip upon.

Was that sentence even legal, grammatically? Discuss with examples and participles. No diphthongs, though - this was a family beach outing.

Spoke too soon

2011-09-02T09:15:00.002+03:00

Yesterday on Facebook I linked to yesterday's blog post with the note, "I am crying, they are happy, all is at is it should be."

Spoke too soon.

When I left Llama there yesterday, she was sitting at a table and looking at toys, was perfectly fine, etc. When I went to pick her up, though, other mothers told me when they had dropped off their daughters, they had sat with and tried to comfort Llama, who was freaking out.

Oysh. Poor Llams.

I asked her then WHY she had been crying. "Because I wanted to!!" You were sad? "Yes." Why were you sad? "Because I wanted to be sad."

Oh.

So today when I went to drop her off, not surprisingly, she had a freak attack as well, but she didn't wait for me to leave to begin it. In the end, the ganenet preferred that I not stay with her in the gan and try to settle her, but just to leave. So I took her outside with me for a couple minutes to calm her down (hah!) which she did - and then we went inside and let the morah pry her hysterical body off of mine.

It is hard to remember that Sroch also had to be pried off of me at times at the beginning of gan shalosh. But upon reflection, she did.

Llama will get there. She just seemed so little today, it was hard to feel confident in my choice to put her in Real Gan this year.

(PS: underwear is going well so far, bli ayin hara - although, much like gan, there's a bit of crying and kicking involved. Sigh.)

Prayer of the first day of gan

2011-09-01T08:39:00.001+03:00

May their hearts not sink when they walk in the door.

May they make friends, have friends, be friends.

May they eat their sandwiches.

May they get to the toilet on time. May they recall the use of toilet paper.

May they keep their fingers out of door cracks, drains, nail-y boards from the construction, and the noses of all.

May the morahs learn their names, and their strengths.

May an alef look like an alef, and not backwards, upside down or wavy.

When (can I pray for if?) they have an accident, may they not feel shamed.

May these 'real school' steps - the first step for Llama, the third step for Srochel - into the world of learning be sure, steady and secure.And may they laugh, and sing, and dance.

And eat the ENTIRE sandwich, darn it.

Gan parties 2011, and our summer schedule

2011-08-31T00:15:00.000+03:00

Well, oops, it's 24 hours before the first day of the 2011-12 school year - so maybe I should give you pictures of the gan parties from LAST year!

Oops.

We're trying something new, so please follow this LINK to see the pictures I put on Facebook already. I tested it, you don't need to join FB or even be my 'friend' (gevalt) to see them.

I will sum up the parties for you:

Sroch does a long series of songs and 'tnuot' (movements) that are loosely tied together by a common theme (bought from the catalog of Themes for Gan Parties (TM)) featuring the different parts of the day. My favorite was the song on the theme of, "the other girl's sandwich always looks better than mine, but I'm going to eat mine anyway and not complain because my mommy made it for me with love." Good education gives me goosebumps.
Yes, I cried. Sroch was awesome.
Llama had a brachos-stations party theme, just like Sroch did at Morah Shoshana (shoot, never blogged that either, MAN!), with lots of running around and getting a necklace of salty snack thing at the Shehakol table, grape juice at the Hagafen table, play-doh carrot at the Adama table, orange stickers at the Haetz table, and braiding challah at the Hamotzi table.
I didn't cry. But Llama is total awesome.

After gan ended, it was time for A Series of Fortunate Kaytanot (camps). Llama was at Morah Shoshi for most of it (every day, 9 AM (never got her there on time at 8) to 4 PM). Sroch was at Camp Kinderlach (she will happily recite about 10 hours of exported American cheers for you any time you like, and several you may not) (seriously though, it's a fantastic camp) for several weeks (every day, 9 AM to 3 PM). And now the two of them are together at Mrs. Lewin's Camp (TM) across the street, every day 8:45 AM to 1 PM. Thank God Yoav has been home in the afternoons these last couple of weeks.

I, of course, have been at Camp TalknSave, which is YOUR cell phone company in Israel, of course. We actually rock - I'm really proud to be working there.

It's now late Tuesday (um, shoot, early Wednesday). The girls IY"H start school on Thursday! Of course Llama may not have a classroom yet and there's still many rumors about whether or not they will have a tzaharon AT ALL but by golly gee it's going to be AMAZING!

God will work it out. He always does.

Snoring

2011-08-30T23:28:00.002+03:00

Well, it's good news and bad news on the shidduchim front:

Bad news: Llama snores.

Good news: Sroch is used to it.

"Doesn't mind snoring" I would think would get bonus points on the old shidduch resume. And as for Llama, we'll just buy her those nose strips before the wedding.

House

2011-08-16T23:39:00.001+03:00

Back to my point of Llama's hiding-from-growing-up regression, she's been building herself a 'house' in the corner of te living room, all boxed in between table and couch and window and cardboard box, and happily spending many minutes hiding there.

Here's the lady of the house, sharing with a guest.

3 outa 413 ain't bad!

2011-08-16T22:14:00.003+03:00

Since Potty Day, we have mostly been doing a lot of regressing.

Crying on the floor like an infant.
Babbling.
Not talking at all.
Playing with food (well, in a more infantile way than the mature two year old way).
Asking to be the baby.

And never, never, never saying yes to wearing underwear since the two days she tried it in gan and came home with wet socks. We even went to a toy store and she showed me what she would like to have - but when I offered it in exchange for toilet training, she said "nope!"

As I mentioned, right after Potty Day, she did try wearing underwear to gan for two days, and so now we have had three actual Uses of Toilet / Potty:

The Sunday and Monday after Potty Day, we used the toilet two times at gan (the teacher told me). Go us! But then also had accidents at said gan (item: impossible to get urine smell out of plastic shabbos shoes), and have refused to wear underwear ever since... UNTIL TONIGHT!

After our bath tonight, we asked to put on underwear, whereupon both of my overtired children sprinted around the house in merely their flowery or Dora-y undies, until Llama said - "I need to make!"

And she WENT TO THE POTTY AND USED IT.

This was the first time she did it at OUR HOUSE!! Such a fuss we made - clapping and singing and dancing and giving her a toffee (hmm, could that be the reason she didn't fall asleep for 90 minutes after bedtime? Yup!) and a new sticker chart and everything. Yay!!

Of course, when it was time to get into bed (sigh, mixed messages) she first said "I want my diaper on top of the underwear" but then thought about a PullUp - nixed it - then opted for only diaper AND asked to sleep in her cribby.

Um, we put the cribby away a month ago kid.

So I whispered in her ear, once again, a secret: "You can wear underwear and still be little!" She laughed and said okay.

Yay!

Progress!

The truth is, the last three or four days, she's been telling me each time she wets her diaper, so it may just all be clicking physically along with mentally finally being willing to Grow Up.

A little, anyway.

Yay Llama! Go underwear girl, go!

How we grew

2011-08-16T22:08:00.004+03:00

September, 2009:

August, 2011:

Psst.. my favorite part is showing how discolored the towel is from various, um... usage. Damp usage.

Thoughts on Leiby, from the floor

2011-08-08T21:07:00.005+03:00

I've waited until tonight, Tisha b'Av, to write about Leiby Kletzky.

Like a large chunk of the Jewish world, I heard about him first when he was reported missing, and Jews were mobilizing to search for him and daven for him. I davened too, actually a bit more and with more intent and emotion than I usually daven for strangers. Premonition?

Like many, after he had been missing for more than a day, I was quietly sure in my heart that he was no longer alive, and at that point my tfilos increased, and also changed, praying that he would miraculously be found alive and whole but at least that he shouldn't have suffered. Because while I can understand that sometimes a 8 year old child has to leave this world, it is very, very difficult that an 8 year old child should have to suffer.

And then, when the truth emerged, the truth was beyond what my morbid, youth-spent-watching-cable-television mind could have thought of. While the facts could possibly indicate that somehow maybe Leiby didn't suffer too much, if he was drugged perhaps, the bald facts were so devastating, so gruesome, so searingly painful that when I read the first news reports I had trouble catching my breath.

And my first thoughts were not of my own children.

They were of Leiby's mother.

But quickly, quickly they did turn to my children, and to all children, and the thought came into my mind and would not leave and that was: Why, WHY strive to bring children into this world if they can be hurt so? Why, WHY would you do you that? Sure, if you happen to have a baby, okay, fine, but for people like us who had to really work hard to have children - why do such a thing? Who cares what the odds are. There is so much evil in the world, and the evil is of such a blackness and utter depravity that it cannot be purged, then why, WHY risk it?!

I have never had a fear of death. I still don't. But the fear of pain - that I have. The fear of my CHILDREN being in pain? It's paralyzing.

And I couldn't let that go. It took a sobbing conversation from the side of the highway (I was crying too much to drive home) with my wise mother to remind me of that critical point: Life is precious. Every moment, every breath, is precious, and worth fighting for, worth increasing.

...

...

...

Here I am on the floor again. It's Tisha b'Av - again (previous Tisha b'Av posts here here and here). There has been a ton written about how the entire Leiby Kletzky tragedy has done so much for Jewish unity - from the pray-ers and searchers to the mourners. Thousands have been raised already for good deeds in his memory. His parents and their reaction have inspired countless people.

Me, I still get that catch in my throat when I think about his mother, and how she much feel, when I think about what his last few hours may have been like. But I push it aside, because I have to go about my day. I may squeeze my daughters tighter to me in a rush of animal protectiveness, but I do let go. I push it aside.

I push it aside... for Tisha b'Av.

This is our official day of mourning, and in an inverse parallel of the Pesach seder, if this had been our only tragedy, dayeinu - it would have been enough.

If the Holocaust had been our only tragedy, dayeinu for a day of sitting on the floor.

If the pogroms, the Cossacks, the Inquisition had been it - dayeinu for a day of fasting, praying, crying.

But it's everything all together. All of those, the expulsions, the destructions, the murders, the missing Israel soldiers, the blood libels, the horrific car crashes, the everything.

But this year Hashem gave us Leiby Kletzky as the object lesson of this Tisha b'Av. He gave us a very direct way to feel the pain (note: as horrified as I have been by this tragedy, I am not so naive to think that this is the first Jewish child to be abducted and grossly murdered. But it is the first that I prayed for, watched for, tweeted for, before his death happened).

...

...

...

As I sat here on the floor for the seuda mafsekes (last meal before the fast, having chased Sroch and Llama both back to bed but not before they had a bite of my hardboiled egg with ash), I was descending into the numb silence of Tisha b'Av, and when I bentched I enunciated each Hebrew word perfectly in a sort of daze - and I noticed the last line of bentching, the line with which I began Tisha b'Av (because, not surprisingly, we were running late enough to run right up into sunset):

Hashem yivarech es amo ba shalom - God will bless his people with peace.

Peace.

Safety.

Since Leiby Kletzky was killed, I think of him every week (well, I think of him lots of times a week, but specifically...) when I daven for my girlies after I light shabbos candles every week. Now added to the litany of the things I pray for for them - health and wisdom and obedience (ahem) and kindness and their husbands and so on - I added that they should be safe.

It's odd, living in Israel which so many consider to be a war zone, that I never thought to pray for them to be safe before. But now I do pray - and only pray. I cannot lock them up in a tall tower, as I've publicly wished to do so so many times before. I cannot disallow them from going anywhere alone (item: Sroch sometimes takes Llama to gan on her own (after I 'cross her the street') - although I do surreptitiously trail them to make sure all is well, some of the time).

But it's something else to pray for, their safety.

And the lack of it is something else to mourn for, on this day of mourning.

To mourn for, and then move on.

....EDIT: to contribute to the Leiby Kletzky memorial fund, click here.

Liveblog of Potty Day (TM)

2011-07-29T08:47:00.005+03:00

8:40 AM: We are naked with underwear, and have happily flushed about 12 tissues down the toilet. We have yet to actually do anything that would require flushing, however.

Aside: this process is much harder when the subject is so hoarse I can't understand anything she's saying.

8:49: bad parenting to the rescue! We're going to watch a video!

9:36: Um, don't you have to go yet?
10:08: like seriously kid... and stop crying because we turned off Elmo!

12:38 PM: I don't believe this. She still hasn't 'made' anything, in or out of the potty. Isn't there a statute of limitations on a two year old's bladder?

1:15: Sroch is home, and she decides to take Llama to the bathroom with her. So away they go and then I hear Sroch's "Oh!!!!!". I sprint, Llama is standing a foot from her potty and starting to sob. I thrust her onto the potty, and she stays there, crying throughout.

Nuts.

Anyway, we get cleaned up and she helps clean up too, very nicely. Clean underwear, okay, we're back in the game.

1:45: Llama starts crying that she wants her diaper and she wants to be little. I ask her if she needs to go to the bathroom, anything - nothing, nothing, only semi-hysterical open mouthed sobbing (remember, she's hoarse, I can hardly understand her when she talks and she's pretty much opting not to talk). She's beside herself, and I realize... perhaps this is not going to work by force.

1:50: in a diaper, which (I know you're all suspecting) she does NOT then immediately fill. I make her pack away all of her adorable undies that she picked out herself, and summon my full parenting wisdom and manage to say in a smiling, encouraging way that I know when SHE is ready to wear them, she'll let me know. Smile, beam, smile, turn away and mutter grumbly things.

Llama goes over to the gold chair to lie down. I ask if she wants to go to sleep - No, don't want to take a nap! Okay, fine.

2:11: Fast asleep. Huh. I guess it was a stressful morning.

Shoot. Now what?

Coming attractions

2011-07-28T22:07:00.001+03:00

Tomorrow is POTTY DAY here at the Dru-You Corral, where we attempt to take Llama from diaper wearer to underwearererer.

Will be live blogging!

Inbetween puddles!

Maybe!

The sound of you-really-should-be silent

2011-07-28T20:47:00.002+03:00

Llama is hoarse (she caught my cold. Or I caught hers. Or whatever). It's hysterical to listen to her.

These were last night. She's a bit better today. She kept walking around yesterday saying (squeaking) "my vol got lost" (could 'vol' be a contraction of 'voice' and 'kol' (which is voice in Hebrew?).

Dinner

2011-07-22T13:59:00.000+03:00

Llama, what kind of chicken should I make for shabbos?

"Not the sad chicken."

Not the sad chicken?

"No, not the sad chicken. Only make the better chicken."

Oh.

6 hours of driving...

2011-07-21T00:18:00.004+03:00

6 hours of driving
400 kilometers
1/2 a tank of gas (ooh, good mileage!)
2.5 energy drinks (for me, not the kids)
7 pieces of string cheese
10 soy hot dogs
1 package smiley cookies
(assorted shabbos treats)
9.5 times listening to Uncle Moishy Volume 3
8 "why aren't we there yet"s from Sroch
4 "I want to go home! Want go Beit Shemesh!" from Llama
2 "don't want Beit Shemesh!" from Llama (upon return)
1 fall-and-topple-over-a-chair-in-the-Ari-shul-in-the-middle-of-shemone-esrei-and-cry-hysterically incident

...all equaled a lovely shabbos in Tzfat, where we went to join Yoav who was there with camp.

Sroch on the way out, "Mommy, we can't leave Tzfat*!" Why, Sroch? "Because it's just too beautiful!"

*For most of the trip she kept calling it Bnei Brak. I'm pretty sure she knew the difference. Pretty sure.

So maybe neither girl slept as much in the car as she should have. Nu nu.

Prediction

2011-07-21T00:16:00.002+03:00

I'm about to blog, but I keep getting up because Llama with a stuffed nose is getting up every two minutes to ask for a new tissue.

So I give her a whole pack.

So she gets up every two minutes to throw her tissue in the garbage.

So I tell her to leave the dirty ones in the bed, and we'll throw them all away in the morning.

Whoops - as I type, here she comes... ah. Sippy cup refill.

My prediction: soon she'll come out asking for more tissues, as she will have finished the entire package and will be sleeping in a bed of pristine-but-crumpled tissues.

***Edit: so far, safe on the tissues, but she's already come out again for a diaper change (unnecessary). She is exhausting her arsenal, though - and her mother.

****Edit again: she came back out to ask for powder for her tushy. Tough kiddo. Back in bed!

This is what it's supposed to look like in there:

*****Surprise! And this time she says...nothing. Out of ideas. I gave her the Big Girl Bed ultimatum (threat of crib) and before I can finish typing this sentence, she's back! Argh!... Okay, put her in the crib, she cries, offer her another chance, sad nod, back in the bed.

Here's hoping!

********No sooner did I click 'publish post' did she come out - again! Cry cry cry, Sroch is stirring, so I did what any good mother would do.

I dumped the child into her father's bed.

Off to wash dishes. Goodnight!

Waiting for Saba and Savta

2011-07-04T22:30:00.001+03:00

They should be here any minute. Flight was delayed, so the girlies have been waiting all day.

It's 10:30 and they're still awake!!

Sroch just popped out (for the millionth time) and said, "Mommy, can you turn off the air conditioner, because it makes me think Savta is already here!"

Oh, the things kiddos notice... :)

Never

2011-07-04T00:14:00.002+03:00

I never blogged about the tick on Llama's ear, or the nasty blood-tinged mess that came out of the opposite ear a week later (alas, ear wax - um, literally).

I never blogged about Sroch's ballet recital.

I never blogged about Llama's slow transition to wanting to be 'big' and not 'little', so far culminating in her having slept one night in the Little Bed (as opposed to Tall Bed (Sroch's) or Cribby) and many, many random stalling trips to 'make' that have not once yet resulted in actual production of bodily fluids on the receptacle.

I never blogged about Sroch's end of the year party.

I never blogged about how Llama refuses to wear short-sleeves, pants, short skirts and wants only socks that go "all the way," or tights, ideally. Sheesh! She's 2!

I never blogged about how both of my children have recently asked me if there's a baby inside my belly (ahem. I am not aware of any such developments, just to confirm, but harumph!) (I choose to believe it's due to everyone having a baby lately, and not my petite self).

I never blogged about Shavuos at Cheryl's house. I never blogged about my show. And shoot, I never got around to blogging Sroch's 5th birthday. Booger!

I never blogged about how we are like the worst parents in the world, in such denial that our baby will be 3 before we know it but when she's fussing and grumpy we go get her pacifier so as to calm her - and not because she asks for it, but because we think she's a baby! But she's not!

I never blogged about how my neighbor figured out why I cry at EVERY little thing - but that at least really deserves a blog post.

I never blogged this conversation:

Llama: Mommy!
Mommy: Yes Llama?
Llama: Not you Mommy, dis Mommy!
Sroch: Mommy, she keeps calling me mommy, and I don't like it!
Mommy: Maybe because that's because you always play with her pretending to be the mommy?
Sroch: Well now I don't like it.
Mommy: So tell her.
Sroch: Fine. Llamis? Srochel doesn't want to be the mommy. Please don't call me mommy anymore, okay?
Llama: You mommy!
Sroch: MOMMY!
Mommy: (collapses in laughter)

And I never posted any of these adorable pictures. How silly of me.

Compliment of the week

2011-06-26T11:24:00.000+03:00

"Usually I think when the mother works, the children are really poor, but your kids are great!"

Silliness

2011-05-30T15:44:00.001+03:00

I introduce Sroch to the joys of MS Paint, my favorite software in the world.

Lag Baomer

2011-05-22T22:50:00.005+03:00

This was taken after the big old shul fire had mostly died down, somewhere around 11 PM or so.

Note the people pouring oil into the fire drum in the background. The shul actually was selling bottles as a fundraiser. Or something. It was nice - the music and the singers and the contained fire and the free ice pops for the kiddos and there were even chairs for tired parents to sit in.

A miracle.

Other pictures:

Yes, that's the back of my building in the background. Yes our windows were as tightly closed as possible and - guess what - it wasn't tight enough. But by morning I no longer smelled charred debris in my living room.

Today, the girlies went off to Yeladudis, and I went to... work. Oh well.

Oh, and B"H Llama had strep (yay! an actual diagnosis!) so she's on antibiotics and a whole lotta better, which is such a blessing, because she had gotten to the point where she was spitting out oral acetaminophen and screeching in horror for non-oral acetaminophen (ditto ibuprofen) so I was just letting her (low) fever go untreated - but she LIKES the nasty bubble gum medicine, so all's well. My kind of illness.

Fun fact of the day

2011-05-20T02:06:00.002+03:00

Llama throwing up sounds a bit like a cat having a hair ball problem.

Who wants to come over and give her some non-oral medicine? If I do it again, I think she won't talk to me until Chanuka at the earliest?

Yawn. Note the time-stamp.

Llama's Mah Nishtana

2011-05-17T23:17:00.001+03:00

Not to be outdone by her sister's high-tech video slideshow, we bring you Llamushka's Mah Nishtana debut.

Well, rerun really. Seder was the debut. But whatever.

Not doing laundry for one week...

2011-05-17T23:12:00.002+03:00

= a very full kitchen floor.

Note - this isn't including dirty linens (just from our guests - thank you GOD Sroch's sheets have been dry dry dry lately, BLI AYIN HARA!) (I mean, don't sniff them too closely or nuthin, but they're dry in the morning).

And yes, I adore having to separate darks - lights - pinks. :)

Llama of Futility

2011-05-15T11:44:00.001+03:00

Running outside after the birds... "Birdies! Birdies! Come I want to
pick you up! BIRDIES! I want to hold you!"

Sroch brings you.... Pesach!

2011-05-11T18:44:00.001+03:00

With her fifth birthday stuck in there too.

FIFTH.

I've been a mother for five years?

Gevalt.

Wait, more than that, I've been a blogger for five years???

But I digress.

Yom Hazikaron, 8 PM siren at bedtime

2011-05-08T20:07:00.004+03:00

"Mommy, what's that siren?"

"Don't worry, it's not shabbos now. It's a different siren."

I hope she won't ask, I hope she won't ask... but she does.

"So why are they making it?"

"Well, Sroch, some yidden decided that today would be a good day to remember the chayalim, the soldiers, who were hurt or died to protect yidden. So they have a siren to remind them that they want to remember the chayalim."

"Why do we have chayalim?"

Do I have to? Do I have to hurt her safe world-view, her peace?

Yes. Yes, I have to.

So, gently, I say, "You're very smart, right? You already learned so much about Chanuka, and Purim and Pesach? Right you know that Antiochus was bad, and wanted to hurt yidden, and Achashverosh and Haman were bad, and wanted to hurt yidden, and Paroh too, right? Well, even today, there are people who want to hurt the yidden. So that's why we have chalayim, to fight for us, to stop the bad people. Hashem is the one who lets them win, of course, but we have chayalim to fight for us."

Untroubled, Sroch says, factually, confidently, "But Hashem doesn't let yidden not win! Because we're tzadikim!"

Mommy stops to catch her breath because she's crying so hard.

"Srochel love, you're right, Hashem will never let all the yidden die, Hashem will never let all the yidden go away. Never ever. But... but sometimes, sometimes some of the chayalim, sometimes some of us get hurt or even die." Collect myself for a moment. "But no, Hashem will never let the yidden all die."

"Right, because even when we die, we're not really dead, we're just not in this world, we're not dead we're just in shamayim."

And she smiles at me, and curls up in bed, peacefully, because there's nothing to be afraid of. A siren at bedtime isn't something scary.

Hashem will always make the yidden win, and we will never die.

Amen.

.

My mature daughter

2011-05-08T10:48:00.003+03:00

When I was 14 I campaigned my parents to let me become legally emancipated, move out and get my own apartment.

Why does this come to mind?

Sroch went to a friend's house for shaloshudas on shabbos. Her mother just emailed me this:

"SR said you are going to Mexico (just you and Yoav not the kids) on Monday.
She didn't know when you are coming back, so she mentioned something about moving in indefinitely."

Where do they get this stuff?

More on Purim

2011-05-06T15:04:00.004+03:00

On Purim itself, there was an oddness. It may have been... maturity. Well, what else could you call it, if I found myself on Purim afternoon with several hours to do... nothing?

We hosted the seuda at our house, but everything was done. The shaloch manos had been efficiently delivered in the morning. Llama was sleeping - Sroch was getting a Purim treat of watching Rebbetzin Tap (the only video she watches outside of an airplane), megilla readings were done... and there was time to relax. Chill. Organize gobs of candy and baked goods.

And daven.

It was a good Purim, Baruch Hashem.

A neighbor put together a special little-children's-only megilla reading, one with lots of Hamans and not too much else, but something that gave the children a feel of the mitzva. That thoughtfully took place concurrent to our in-house reading, so the kids were out of the house. Remember two years ago when I had to nurse Llama in the middle of laining?

That was like 10 years ago.

Odd since Sroch is 5, but I digress.

Llama adamantly refused to wear the fancy Disney glittery kalla costume she had tried on so willingly a week before (that then had to be pried off of her), but fortunately she was perfectly happy with Sroch's old princess costume as Esther Hamalka. Sroch was just a princess, but didn't we know that already?

We ate outside in the backyard for the seuda, with the Weinrebs and Hollanders.

A wonderful time was had by all.

Purim cards

2011-05-06T14:53:00.007+03:00

This year, instead of a poem, our shalach manos had cards inspired, inevitably, by a Filth Wizardy card project. I dressed the girlies in costume-type accessories and went to photograph them with a neighbor's white broomstick.

A little high-tech work with good old Microsoft Paint (I would be nothing without it) and voila, adorable children holding massive lollypops (which then themselves were part of the shaloch manos). Cute as little buttons, and collectible too - trade with your friends! They each gave out ones with themselves alone, and our 'family' ones were with the two of them together.

More about Purim to be posted another time, possibly, before Chanuka next. :)

(Oh, and nefariously, I COULD have changed the date on this post so it looks like I put it up right after Purim, and not now on the 17th day of the omer. But that would be Wrong.)

(And there's only like three of you reading anyway)

Kids say the darndest...

2011-04-14T01:36:00.002+03:00

Llama: (kvetchy) Want Mommy! MOMMY! No Bubbie!
Me: Shulamis, when you say 'no Bubbie' it's not nice, it hurts her feelings.
Llama: (sweet, docile, gentle voice) Please no Bubbie?

----

Sroch: Bubbie, what did you do?
Bubbie: I sewed and fixed one of your shirts, and one of Mommy's shirts, and Abba's bekashe.
Sroch: What did you do of yours?
Bubbie: Nothing. I didn't have anything that needs fixing.
Sroch: Yes you do.
Bubbie: I do? What is it that needs fixing?
Sroch: Your hat. You need more threads on it, because it's not covering all of your hair.

----

Mommy: Llamush, are you a big girl or a baby?
Llama: Lamis BIG girl! Not baby!
Mommy: Right! Does Llama want to make on the toilet like a big girl?
Llama: I not big. I little.

----

placeholder

2011-04-04T22:43:00.001+03:00

Insert blog post about Purim and Sroch's 5th (5th!!!) birthday HERE.

Right.

In my free time.

Did you know we're making Pesach this year?!?! Have you BEEN in my
house, recently licensed by General Mills as the official Cheerio (TM)
Theme Park?

On feeling someone else's pain

2011-03-16T23:14:00.002+02:00

I read a friend's blog about one of her reactions to the attack in Itamar being less empathetic, less emotional than she would have liked / expected, how she was unhappy with herself for not 'feeling' more (until she looked at the horrific graphic photos out there of the aftermath of the attack, which I have no intention to ever view ever).

Here's my reaction to that. I don't claim to be an expert on this whole mommy thing, but as most of you know I had a long time to prepare for this mommy thing in my own life, and a lot of years to watch others do it, and here's what I believe.

I think the reason it took literally thousands of years of human history for women to get the vote, etc, etc, is because a mother of children is BUSY. I don't just mean busy, like carpool and dinner and laundry. I mean mentally busy.

For example...
At any given minute, besides everything else in your brain, you know where each of your children is, how well they slept last night, what # dose of antibiotics they are up to, what they ate in the last 24 hours, what they are wearing today, etc, etc. The mother's brain is unique in its ability to keep all these details in RAM at once. The Mommy-brain-computer is running more background programs than a non-mother's, and there's a lot more in your Quick Launch / task bar / startup menu too.

And our brains only have so much RAM. (This too is why as we age, we lose chunks of our hard drive memory!)

So when something like this enters... yes a mother is capable of greater empathy due to her parenthood. But often a mother is not able to process the incoming data in the same way because she is currently parsing other queries.

(Now please, no rants about mothers who are lawyers, mothers who are clueless, non-mothers who are busy too, blah blah blah. I'm generalizing here, shush.)

Years ago, a computer tech at work was being dismissive of my ability to understand why he was making the changes he was making. He just kept saying that X, Y and Z on my computer were 'using resources.'

Like my friend, I too have been dissatisfied with my own lack of empathy with others who are suffering. But I think a lot of the issue is this motherhood thing uses resources, resources we didn't even know we had.

Another example, our Child Proximity and Velocity Meter and Response System. Israel spends billions developing incoming missile detect systems - but mothers automatically process where their child is, the physics involved in their motion and likelihood to fall, and when our child does start to fall, how many times do we end up catching them just in time? Sure, not every time - but realize how many times we DO catch them... Wow. And that's just one program running all the time.

Don't even get me started on the Progeny Bladder Fullness program.

So mothers of the world who feel like you aren't feeling the pain of the Fogels of Itamar 'enough,' or Japan 'enough' or anything else: don't be so hard on yourself. Compassion and empathy are important traits for people, women, Jews, mothers, yes. You should work to develop them. But heaven forbid you feel guilty for a perceived lack of them.

.

At the same time

2011-03-15T01:39:00.003+02:00

At the same time as millions in Israel are mourning the slaughtered (for there is no other name for it) parents and three children from Itamar, and millions of people in Japan are living in grave uncertainty and tragedy...

At the same time, God is making my lemon tree bloom.

First bud that bloomed. This year will be, please God, the first year we have edible, permitted fruit from this tree.

And God is making Purim come, and we're making hamentaschen.

God is a way better parent than I could ever be. He can, at the same time, chasten us and draw us closer. Those can even be one and the same thing. The same God makes the tragedies and the flowers bloom.

Wild 'white mustard' flower field.

Do you realize that in the original Purim, meaning when it happened, the day we rejoice on was the day the Jews had to go out and do bloody battle for their very lives? We were the victors, it is true - but we did have to fight.

Sroch re-'reading' Megilas Esther for the nth time, explaining it to her sister.

In the spirit of that...

In the spirit that keeps us fighting...

We're going to give the children the best Purim we can, without any shadow or sorrow.

I hope.

And pray.

'ello

2011-03-11T14:27:00.003+02:00

I was going to make some comment about how we didn't fall off the face of the earth after all, except that in light of the global tsunami situation - um, right, it's not a joke.

Scary stuff. As I wrote on the company twitter account, a situation like this makes the world seem very small - and God seem very big.

Anyway, I was alerted (Hi Mommy L!) that apparently I have this blog? Or something? And I should really update it.

SO - B"H we're all fine, just busy. I also had a few days of computer downtime while my unknowingly-illegal copy of Windows 7 was upgraded to actually-legal Windows 7.

Updates:

Llama has turned two. Now, you might think this happened almost 6 months ago. But no, now she means it. As in, we've learned the art of the defiant grin, the petulant no, the stop-on-a-dime-full-body-kvetch and of course the, DO MYSELF!.

Oh well. I have no complaints - we got lucky till now! She's also been not wanting to take her daily nap, been refusing foods she used to like and instead waiting for the middle of the night to ask for cheese, been unpredictable and moody - in short, she's been a perfectly normal 2 year old. Bless her heart.

Sroch, therefore, has been the 'easy' child the last couple weeks. I mean, let's not take that too far or nuthing, but she's at least easier to reason with.

Sometimes.

Okay, never mind.

Quote from Sroch yesterday, showing me a picture she drew: "Here is the etz, and here is the tzipor, it's affing away."

The thing is, she could have said it all in Hebrew, or all in English. It's fun that with us, she speaks the way she probably thinks, which is in both Hebrew and English simultaneously. As opposed to with most of my friends, that she speaks to in perfect English, or her peers, who she speaks to in fairly perfect Hebrew (better than mine, anyway), or her little sister, who speaks to in English baby talk. Much cute.

The wildflowers are out! My lemon tree is budding! Purim is nigh! AND I STARTED PESACH CLEANING<>

That's wild sorrel from our backyard. Cool, huh? It lasted for like two full weeks inside, and apparently we could have eaten it too.

Reading Railroad

2011-02-16T22:36:00.004+02:00

Almost.

Sroch is almost there.

She knows K-I-D-S spells keh-ih-duh-ssss, but she's just THIS shy of knowing it makes KIDS.

She got that word eventually, though.

And then GO and STAR and ZOO.

She's practically reading. I'm trying not to push it, I haven't attacked her with workbooks lately or nothing (the opposite of railroading her), and for heaven's sake, she's fluent in two languages, wonderfully expressive, and knows two alphabets and the letter sounds in both. What do I expect?

Still... Oh, what a delightful thing are brains! Yay!

The Long Overdue Crafting post, part II

2011-02-16T21:00:00.005+02:00

Play-dough extravanganza:

Back to Filth Wizardry for play-dough, although she got the recipe from the lovelydesign site. There are tons of homemade play-dough recipes; this one isn't nasty, however.

Based on online comments and research, etc, I adapted this recipe to my Israeli reality (read: no cream of tartar in quantity). It's still pretty greasy, but that makes it smooth. Just don't leave it on any paper surfaces you don't want grease-stained:

2 cups of water
1 cup salt
oodles of food coloring
8 tsp lemon juice (cheap = okay)

Heat until almost boiling. Then add...

4 tablespoons oil
2 cups flour (don't have to sift first, yay!)

Stir until globby mess is pulling away from sides, then remove from heat. Wait until it cools enough to handle, and then knead into childhood joy.

Note: if you double it, use 1/4 cup lemon juice, and possibly as little as 6 tablespoons of oil.

It's the kneading that really does it. I took compulsive Crafty-Mommy-Blogger pictures, because I do appreciate the online community that puts tons of stuff online for me to cull. So here we go from initial boiling to glob to kneading to my finished batches:

We then used it for our last turn at hosting the rotating 'chug' with a bunch of other girlies. My plan of what to do with it failed when I couldn't get it to cling to the surfaces I had planned to use for verticals (plastic? metal? shoot, it was too long ago, I forgot what Plan A was already!). But it sticks to paper. So I tried to instruct the girls to make castles. Yeah, well, whatever, they made lumps. Can you tell which is Sroch's? Hint: it's very topographical.

Anyway, it's a great recipe. It stays good for a long time if covered, and it will eventually dry if you want to keep something permanently. Until Pesach anyway.

Tu-Tus.
Well, the idea was to take a ton of tulle and make tu-tu skirt things. Although once I crunched the numbers from that site, it would have seemed for the 5 girls today I would have needed like 35 meters of tulle. A little pricey.

So I went for the "al-bad," which literally translates as "un-fabric." I have no idea if there's an American equivalent - it's basically disposable fabric, super lightweight and cheap, but awesome for craft projects. I used about 10 meters or so (about 20 NIS worth).

The idea is tie strips of tulle / al-bad / fabric around elastic, then wrap elastic around waist. So ours were more like hula-skirts than tu-tus, but miraculously, the girls were happy with them.

I cut out a million shkabillion strips of the 'fabric,' and measured out the elastic generously. Then I taped the elastic from the edge of the table to the floor, making a very primitive loom for them to work off of (I guessed, accurately, they wouldn't be able to handle holding the elastic in their laps and making knots for the first time in their lives).

I keep over-estimating their attention spans for these projects. After knotting (all but one girl had to be taught how to make a knot (too many velcro shoes!), and all but one finally got it) about 6 or so, most girls ran out of steam, so we had a break and came back to it. In the end, I added probably 10 strips to each of theirs, and - once again - Llama slept through the whole thing, but I had a pink one for her when she woke up. It had to be hoisted up under her armpits to not be too long.

Two long skewers taped together and topped with a pink strip and a gold ribbon made nice wand / scepter thingies. Here's the pictures. I edited out some of the girly faces, because SOME people don't want their kids' pictures on the internet. Whodathunk?

And so far, that's it! For now. :)

The Long Overdue Crafting post, part I

2011-02-16T20:06:00.004+02:00

So, I'm not Filth Wizardry. But I have been inspired. The crafty projects I do with the kids (okay, mostly with Sroch) have gotten more elaborate, and I'm frankly proud of the results, even if the process is almost always different than I think it will be.

Previous projects:
Skirts, dress-up dress and swords
Sukkah painting

Tissue paper window:
I think we did this back in October (who's behind in blogging? Not I!). This again is from the inimitable Filth Wizardry post.

My kitchen has two big sliding glass doors. Due to geometry, anyone in the neighbor's yard can see into my kitchen through one of those. So for about a year or so I had the door covered with a big plastic floor cover thing from Llama's first birthday party. Nostalgic, but not exactly decorative.

Enter this project. The idea was Sroch (then a mere 4-and-a-half) and Llama (just barely two) and I could all do it together! So one day while Llama was napping, Sroch and I starting cutting up lots and lots of tissue paper. So far, so good. Then we took our glue roller thingies (that I had gone to three stores for) and attacked the back window.

Sroch was so excited about the chance to shmear glue all over the window she did the whole thing by herself!

Oh, whoops, that's not true. That's what I expected. She actually glued about four pieces on, completely didn't grasp the deliberate overlap-but-not-entirely thing, and then wandered off. Oh well. And Llama just wanted to ruffle her hands through the big basket of paper.

But I had a good time. :)

Finished project in daylight and night, and detail of heart and butterfly motif:

In a few more months, it may be all dusty and gross, and it may die during Pesach cleaning if the splashing cleaning agents get too high. But it's washable glue and tissues, essentially, so it should goo off without too much fuss, I hope. And then we can do it again!

Chanuka menorahs:
I wish I had pictures of these (cough! Uncle Micah cough!). But when we were in Houston for Chanuka, I decided to use the mystical dollar stores that all the online crafty mommas rave about, and find something for my girls to make menorahs out of. Well, Sroch. Llama napped through the whole project.

In the end, we used...
-strange African vaguely religious tribalish artwork wooden plank things for a base, covered with
-contact paper, sitting on feet made of
-little mosaic tiles, with candleholders made of
-little X-mas red, green and gold plastic slinkies, and of course
-foil. Lots of foil. Glue too.

My mom also had gold paint, and teeny-weeny terra cotta pots, just the right size for a Chanuka candle holder. Well, until the heat cracked them. But we made it through the holiday. :)

today

2011-02-15T22:22:00.001+02:00

Got yelled at by a delivery man, car wouldn't start, dust storm blew
in, Llama pooped in the tub and Sroch threw up when we woke her up to
go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

Baruch Hashem, a good day. :)

Thank God for 2 year olds

2011-02-15T11:01:00.001+02:00

2 year olds, ah, 2 year olds. Who else could make full sentences so PAINFULLY cute??

Heart

2011-02-14T19:13:00.002+02:00

Last night I was in a show (partially written by me, lots of fun except for beyond absurd technical difficulties, but anyway), and so tonight at bedtime Sroch wanted me to 'tell' her the show. So I sang her like three songs from it and told her part of my lines, and then said I'd sing her one more song.

That song was "Ima Tagidi Li," a wonderfully emotional sweet song about a child asking her mother what her mother is praying for, and the mother answering with the words from the after candle-lighting prayer, which I said even before I was blessed with these girlies.

So I start singing the chorus, and... Sarah Rochel chimes in singing with me!

"Sroch," I exclaim, "how on earth do you know that song?!" (it's very American, despite being in Hebrew, and I don't know where she could have learned it)

"I don't know," she says, "but I heard it and I saved it in my heart for you, so I could learn it by heart."

Oh. Oh, my heart.

.

More of the two of them

2011-01-23T00:32:00.000+02:00

The two of them

2011-01-23T00:30:00.000+02:00

ABC -> N-E-T

2011-01-22T22:53:00.004+02:00

Llamush has finished her antibiotics as of this evening, thank you God. She's made a wonderfully efficient, full recovery (no more fever after the first dose - we continue to thank God for mold) and besides sleeping a bit more than normal, she's showing little sign of her brush with pneumonia or bronchiowhosits or whatever it was.

Insert public acknowledgement of Hashem's greatness here ___.

Verily do I miss the days of my parenting deliberations being on the topic of which stroller, which car seat, which pair of Robeez (remember that? Good times. We actually ended up with the giraffes, but I digress). Our current dilemmas include:

The Llama Schooling Dilemma
Being an October child, Llama could go in two directions for her schooling. Either when first grade comes around, she could be 5-almost-6, or she could be 6-almost-7. This works earlier as well, meaning for next school year, I could stick her into gan 3 as 2-almost-3, or wait a year and she'll be 3-almost-4. Basically, to be the oldest or the youngest. That's one consideration.

Another consideration is if I choose to hold her back, which year do you repeat? Send her to gan 3 twice? Or kindergarten (gan 5) is an option, a very common one. Lots and lots of kids in the neighborhood repeat that year, the disparity between the type of workload and teaching in gan 5 vs. first grade being extreme. So I could push off the issue until then (and let her kindergarten teacher tell me then if Llamush is ready for first grade or not). BUT I don't know what kind of person Llama will be by then. Sroch, in the same situation, would be devastated not to 'graduate' to first grade, since she's been asking to move up since, um, she was 3. BUT if I prep Llama, if when I explain school I say "some girls do gan chova once, and some do it two times" especially because that's really true - then that issue can be discounted. Maybe.

Which brings me to - is Llama ready for gan 3 now? Well, the answer is of course no, she's not NOW. Will she be in 8 months? Who knows? But NOW is when I need to make the decision! Enrollment is now!

Except, of course, it's not. The Ministry of Education has announced they are cutting subsidies for gan 3 and 4 in our area, so our tuition for 'real' school (vs. someone's living room) would be about 800 NIS/month, as opposed to the 160 NIS/month we pay now.

Ha. Ha ha. HA HA. Not. So enrollment is on 'hold' while the schools and citizens negotiate and plead, and the schools decide if it's even worth it to hold those classes.

So why send to gan 3? Just send her for another year of private gan, right? But there's the other issue: tzaharon. The 'real' schools often have afternoon problems -
'private' almost never. So we could transfer her midday, like we do now. But do we want to do that?

We could send her to full day at her current tzaharon, although that school is moving a couple blocks away, and and and and and ARGH!

This is not even touching on issues of toilet training, which language gan to send to, and so much more.

In the end - God is running the world, and will send us the right answer. But right now, when I'm still in the 'waiting to receive the right answer' stage - it's hard. To mix my metaphors, I'm shooting fish in the dark, or something like that.

The Sroch Scheduling Dilemma
This actually is a no-brainer now that I figured it out. :)

Three days a week, Sroch goes to tzaharon. The other two days she has ballet on one of them, a rotating 'chug' on the other.

She used to fuss and fuss about ballet (since she almost got kicked out, though, that's basically stopped), and lately she will not go to 'chug' either.

I was very bothered by this. I find Sroch good, fun activities to do, QED I am a good parent, ergo ipsum factum she should go and be happy and appreciate me.

It was not until my neighbor asked me if Sroch wasn't feeling a little "overscheduled" that my brain clicked though. You see, I was hearing all the words Sroch, my awesome communicator, was telling me - but I wasn't getting the right message.

"Mommy, I don't want to go to chug. I want to stay with YOU Mommy. I don't want to go to someone else's mommy."

Ah. She is telling me she wants more time with her mother, regardless of exciting cookie baking or beading going on at the neighbors'. She wants me, and moreover can tell me about it.

Realizing that she has changing needs (as a 3 year old, she was perfectly content and secure enough to happily play at a friend's every day until bedtime) and learning to listen and stop projecting my own feelings onto her is a work in progress. But it is progressing.

Smarts
Shulamis is now singing her ABC's with gradually increasing diction and consonant sounds. Moreover, when you correct her - she gets it, and learns it, and got it. Awesome.

Sroch read 'NET' with the Bananagrams letters today, also PET and BET, and UP (her favorite Bananagrams word). She is also writing her name in Hebrew with about 75% accuracy (they practice in gan, which is nice) and her copying of Hebrew or English characters is coming along very, very nicely as well. Yay!

They're great. They're amazing, both of them. Bli ayin hara, as always.

Do you want the good news or the good news?

2011-01-16T00:16:00.002+02:00

Good news: antibiotics ROCK. Llama is amazingly better. Thank you Hashem! She even went to gan on Friday.

Good news: We had a lovely shabbos in the hotel with Saba and Savta. Both girls even napped. Glory, glory! Thank you Hashem!

Good news: I am going to bed now on a motzei shabbos before 1 AM AND it's to the sound of falling rain.

Smiley emoticon, smiley emoticon, like button, like button, retweet, woot, amen.

Loooooong (sick) day

2011-01-12T20:45:00.003+02:00

I remember getting the last ultrasounds of my girlies when they were still in utero and saying to Yoav how sad it was, on some level, that I won't get to see their internal organs anymore. Like by the time they were born, I had spent hours looking at live images or print-outs of all their little ribs and femurs and skulls and such.

And, if all went well, I wouldn't be seeing any more pictures like that for a long time.

Sigh.

We have pneumonia. Unless it's bronchiolitis. Whatever, we have a nebby little Llama who's been running close to 104 degree fevers, and when the fever is upon her, her breathing is uggggly. Blood tests were clean, but we're on antibiotics anyway - and this is going around the neighborhood.

Shout out to Saba for Saving The Day, hanging out with Sroch whilst I did the Terem scene with Llama.

It was interesting. While we were at the doctor, and then Terem, I had no like fear or sinking feeling or any doubt that Llamushka would be totally fine and better soon, etc, etc. And she, bless my phlegmatic daughter (not to be confused with being phlegm-atic, which is what she coughs up), she "don't like it!" the examinations and nebulizer, but was also able to chill out enough to fall asleep getting the nebulizer (!). So it was not HARD being with her.

And yet when Yoav came when we were discharged, as soon as I got in the car and officially Stopped Being in Charge, I was shaking and babbling and on the verge of brief hysteria.

They say motherhood isn't for wimps. They be right.

Baruch Hashem, the true rofei cholim! IY"H soon Llama will soon be doing much, much better.

Internet = bad

2011-01-11T01:33:00.002+02:00

Googling temperature conversions for the Fahrenheit I'm assuming Llama feels like through my turbo MommyGauge(TM) shouldn't bring me to links that convince me she has pneumonia, chas veshalom!

Just rapid breathing. And a cough. And what feels like a 102 fever.

IY"H she will feel amazingly better in the morning, and the doctor will once chuckle as he sends us away into the land of humidifiers.

And ours just broke.

Refua Shleima little Llamoosh!

Advances in medical hoo-ha

2011-01-10T08:32:00.003+02:00

Item one: Llama had nits last night.

Hyperventilate, hyperventilate.

BUT faith restored in the super duper "Assy 2000" comb, which was so
effacious that when I combed out her hair (we comb out both girls'
hair every night, because I have zippo zero zilch ability to visually
detect the buggies), I actually felt a 'bump' every time we scored a
hit, um, nit with the teeth of the comb. So I combed and combed and
'Lo B'rosh Li' oiled as I always do... and saw no bugs on the comb,
none in her hair, and no eggs left either.

This morning, checked again, and phew, still clean. It works!

The ganenet had sent home a note on Friday that there was an
incursion, so I was braced for it - but still!

Item two: We had a LOVELY, really awesome shabbos (aside: we usually
have fantastic shabbosim, but this past one was exceptionally
wonderful). One girl (a madricha) is taking developmental psych and
speech now, so she was having fun interviewing the Sroch and so on. At
one point, another girl raised an educational point that children
learn from what they see their parents getting excited about (e.g. a
parent who says "I love Torah" but starts jumping up and down with joy
at a new car sends a very specific message to the child). So, we
tested:

Sarah Rochel, what makes Abba happy?
Home.
Sarah Rochel, what makes Mommy happy?
Kinderlach. (this means all children, but I think she specifically meant her and her sister)
Sarah Rochel, what makes you happy?
Lamis.
Sarah Rochel, what makes Shulamis happy?
Racha.

Some of the guests had to wipe tears away. I, surprisingly, wasn't
crying for a change, just so, so happy. Phew. It's working! :)

*Llama calls herself 'Lamis,' and so Sroch calls herself that too.
Llama used to call Sroch 'Racha,' so Sarah Rochel, whenever talking to
Llama, refers to herself as 'Racha.' It's very cute how Sroch baby
talks to ease her sister's comprehension. Even more amusing is how
Llama imitates that lilt and tone when she talks to her own peers, as
opposed to her sister or me.

11:39 PM, most nights

2011-01-05T23:39:00.005+02:00

A creak. We freeze (well, those of us still awake).

Shuffle, shuffle.

Distinct squeak of door knob.

We immediately rise, so we are already at the bedroom door when a bleary eyed little girl in pajamas, slippers and blankie-shield informs us (as she does most nights):

"I can't fall asleep."

To which we reply, "little girl, you've been asleep for hours."

Whereupon we will scoot her straight to the bathroom (after surreptitiously patting her on the behind checking for dampness that would imply it's already too late), where she may or may not require you to hold her head less she fall straight off the toilet in slumber.

And back to the (hopefully) dry bed, unless you let her sleep in the blue chair, recklessly.

And then we thank God. :)

(Exceptions to this routine include the prophylactic 'take sleepy girl to bathroom while she's actually snoring,' the "Mommy, I just need to sleep in your bed for a FEW minutes," and of course the "no I didn't fall asleep yet! I was just being quiet.")

BLI AYIN HARA!

Followup

2010-12-26T23:14:00.002+02:00

....and last night, two weeks and three days after we returned from America, Sroch slept through the night.

Phew.

Llama has been sleeping well for a while now, including some 13 hour nights. So THAT's where all the sleep in this house has been going!

Now have a random picture from my eldest's Chanuka party in school. And as for pictures on our trip...

..um...
..um...

grandparents and uncle, could you send some? I didn't take a SINGLE ONE with my camera. #MommyFail

Making up is hard to do

2010-12-21T21:31:00.002+02:00

Good news: with ibuprofen, Llama is perfectly fine.

Good news: when Abba is late getting home with a flat tire and Mommy has to lock herself in the bathroom, the children are capable of taking care of themselves.

Bad news: the children are capable of taking care of themselves.

Good news: this was the 'toy' makeup we had in stock from Mommy's Cache of Things to Occupy Children During International Transit, and not something I would ever want to use personally. Although, hmm, I never considered nostril-stick, to say nothing of forehead gloss. I'm such a fuddy duddy.

Llama sick day

2010-12-21T15:32:00.002+02:00

Poor little bunny. I guess I didn't take my antibiotics fast enough.

Life moves pretty fast

2010-12-20T21:46:00.002+02:00

If I don't stop and blog once in a while, I may miss it.

Hooded

2010-12-20T21:19:00.004+02:00

I have been hiding.

Can you blame me?

Between planning the US trip, taking the US trip, returning, recovering and so on - is it any wonder that blogging has been backburnered? Think about it: Daily life has a stressful point, so quick, write it up for a blog so you can relive the stress AND commit it to internet immortality!

But perhaps I'm being defeatist. There's lots of great things going on. No, really!

Llama is talking up a storm these days. Except for when she's tired or anxious, in which case she does a lot of pre-talking pointing and kvetching. Nu nu. I've been known to do that myself, sans pacifier.
Llama can now count to ten, only occasionally skipping 5. And she sings her ABZs with great aplomb, if perhaps lacking some accuracy.
Sroch succeeded in not getting thrown out of her ballet class today. Hey, this is a big deal. This was my conversation with the teacher last week:

Teacher: "I'm about ready to kick her out of the class."
Me: "Do you think she's just too young for this?"
Teacher: "No, she's plenty mature. Usually by this point, the girls understand it's more fun to do the dancing properly than to do their own thing - and she just wants to do her own thing."

Hmm. Discipline. Not our strongest point. But the gravity of her actions was explained to her today, and Sroch rose to the challenge and did excellently. So we're holding a good thought. Imagine the challenge of such an expulsion on her Permanent Record! (And yes, I'm still worried about that 8th grade suspension still on my record.)

It rained two weeks ago, over three inches in my backyard alone. Yay! Of course, we still need lots, lots more.
When the Sinus Incursion of Bacterial Doom began two days ago, I was blessed to have antibiotics in the house - yay! Of course, 24 hours after starting them, my throat is starting to hurt. What's up with that?
Other good things... oh, yeah, we went to America! Target and Walgreens report stock increases of over 5%.

Seriously, our trip was quite lovely. My flights with the girls (sans Yoav) were long and long, but - thank you drugs! - were manageable. The girls slept some of the time (see drug comment), and were really quite reasonable the rest of the time. Passerby were quite nice and solicitous, offering help and comments on the utter adorableness of my children, and we made it intact and all still speaking to each other.

The return flights with Yoav were also alright, despite US Airway's rerouting us painlessly through Newark (btw - utter endorsement for US Airway's Israel line - comfortable planes, very nice peoples, etc). They were alright because of a) drugs, but more importantly, b) Yoav, who sensing my Total and Utter Proximity to Losing It, took the girls in hand and sat with them in one row, letting me chill and read my Kindle and doze - alone. I was just about not coping, so it was really a chessed on his part.

In general, the combination of Spirited Srochel (doing some 4.75 year old authority testing lately, driving me mad) and Lack of Sleep from working on the girlies' jet lag brings out the worst in my parenting skills. Twas a memorable night last week (?) when 3 AM found all three women in the house crying, screaming and stamping their feet. Sigh. Sleep = good.

Anyway, our time in Houston was wonderful, with Bubbie and Zayde and Saba and Savta who came too, as well as Uncle Micah the Wunder-Uncle and Paw and Ganger and Prices and Beans and so on of course. I wish we could have stayed longer.

Another good thing: work didn't fire me for pretty much hibernating in Houston, not spending the couple hours a day on work that I was sure I would. In retrospect, yeah right.
Another good thing: I only forgot an entire drawerfull of clothing in my parents' house. Sleep. I should really look into it.
Finally, the best thing - my daughters. When they are bad, they're horrid, but when they are good (read: have slept) they are so very good and delightful and yummy. I continue to thank God for them on a daily basis.

Item: when I first fell sick and was laying in collapsed state in the recliner in the girls' room, Sroch solicitously brought me my slippers (unasked!), a blanket to cover me, and then asked, "do you want a book to look at?" Later she offered to read me a book, so I picked one and she sat with me and 'read' to me the entire thing, whilst I dozed in happy contented (ill) mommyhood. Aw.

They really are the best.

And here is proof: Sroch loves to compose her own songs, although sadly they don't usually keep longer than one singing (i.e. she can't replicate them later, but she'll happily make up a new one for you). Undaunted, Llama does the same, although Llama's video features two Chanuka songs, the latter one where the dreidel falls asleep, but the former the classic, timeless song about a dreidel made of 'play':

the jet lag chronicles

2010-12-10T03:40:00.002+02:00

testing... testing...

Testing my blogging ability from my new Kindle.

I have ample opportunity to do since this is the girlssss secon twp thirty A M play session. In a row.

Yawn.

Ledor vador

2010-11-21T19:33:00.003+02:00

Tonight (well, it wasn't nighttime yet - but it certainly was dark) in the park Sroch was singing a song they are learning in school for her Chanuka party (she tried to teach it to me too, which was adorable - first telling me the words, then having me say them with her, then trying to get me to say them alone, then she told me to add the music - except, alas, I've never heard this song before in my life).

She sang it over and over. Something about lighting a candle in my heart (this is all in Hebrew), that the light will go on "le dor va dor."

I must have asked something about it, and so she began to explain, that it was about lighting a candle, in your heart, and then the postman delivers the mail.

The postman delivers the mail?

Of course. "Le dor va dor" - he delivers from DOOR to DOOR!

I couldn't help but laugh a tremendous, giggly, shepping nachas laugh. I then tried to explain that in English, "door" means an aperture, and in Hebrew, it's a generation.

But she maintained the song was about the postman.

.

Lamoosh's birthday pictures

2010-11-19T14:02:00.004+02:00

Here we are making the muffins she was going to take to gan. (Sroch took this picture.)

This was before her birthday shabbos. Note the crown with 'two' antenna thingies. Well, whatever.

Getting ready for gan for our birthday party. Gorgeous hair doesn't come easy you know.

Much better.

Morah Bracha made us such a nice party (full of bemused, blank-stared almost two year olds going "huh?" - this was the first birthday party in gan, and the kiddos didn't know to be excited yet). Sroch got to come too, which was nice. (I actually let her skip school - whoa!)

The miseducation of Miss Llama

2010-11-17T00:58:00.002+02:00

As I blogged earlier*, I have come to realize that I must make a deliberate effort to talk to and engage my Second Child, since First Child automatically gets most of the volume and direction of our daily time together. "Mommy, right airplanes don't fall out of the sky because Hashem holds them there?" gets much more of a reply than "Airpain! AIRPAIN sky!"

But I realize now how much of Sroch's "advanced-ness" in pure knowledge milestones came from her Single Child status of yore. For example, by 2, she knew her ABC's. Well, Llama can say "ABC" but does not know "DEFGHIJKLMOPQRSTUVWXYZ" (although she started saying "ABC!" or "letters!" when she sees letters on my computer screen). I think we accidentally taught Sroch a lot more, simply because she was there alone to teach. The Single Child gets the ABC books read to them much more often than the Second Child, who hears a lot more of the books likely to be interesting to both parties. And Second Child is more likely to be playing with the toys ostensibly purchased for the older First Child, rather than the 'baby toys.' Thus our playtime conversation is much less of "right, that's the BLUE block, with the letter B on it!" and much more of "right, that's the Abba little man - put him in the dollhouse in the bathroom!"

All still educational, but less focused on quantifiable fundamentals.

(And hey, it's not like Sroch knowing her ABC's for almost three years (!) has gotten her to learn to read yet or nuthin.)

I think I can accurately say the girls are on the same intellectual level, but they manifest it so, so differently. Their different temperments and preferences, their different educations, their different rate of physical growth (clothes go straight from Sroch's drawer to Llama's, basically) - and of course, their different birth orders and family positions are what make them into different people.

Hair color of course plays a major factor as well.

Anyway, it's beyond belated (well, 6 weeks or so), but here's the Llama on her second birthday, before Shabbos and then the next day at gan:

ARGH! Blogger picture uploads not working! BUT I TRIED! You will all have to wait. Sorry!

*Don't think I didn't notice that despite writing that I welcomed comments on that blog post, I got NONE.

.

The Tantrums of Sroch

2010-11-17T00:56:00.004+02:00

Do you have a Screaming Monster (TM) at your house?

They are very, VERY sneaky - and very, VERY fast. It's really amazing. You could have a relatively ordinary Srochelbean in the room, talking to you, and then, faster than lightning, Sroch is whisked away and the SCREAMING MONSTER is there in her place!

And Screaming Monsters, true to their name, only know how to scream. They don't know any words except, possibly, 'no.'

As in: No! NO! NOOOOOO! AAAAAAAAHHHHH

It happens to be rather cute, in a loud, draining kind of way. When Sroch gets upset, and granted it's usually after one small upset follows another follows another, her speech sort of deserts her, leaving her just with screamed basic vowel sounds. 'Ah' or 'eay' are preferred.

Typical identifying movements of the Screaming Monster include but are not limited to:
- kicking / stomping
- limp wristed smacking 'paatching' (reminiscent of 80's Valley Girl hand motions)
- anything the opposite of what is being requested (climbing out of bed when ordered to stay in, staying still when ordered to move, etc)

Fascinatingly enough, Screaming Monsters whilst performing their eponymous cries, hardly ever actually cry. The scream of the Screaming Monster seems to be one of rage, not sadness, and that rage is generally interpreted as "I'm ready to have control of my life now now NOW! Please!"

It has been remarked by trained mediwizards that Screaming Monsters often vanish as quickly as they came, usually upon repeated reinforcement (physical or otherwise) of the desired action or whatever.

At this time, frequently in lieu of a Screaming Monster, you may find yourself with a brief larvae stage of Sullen Yet Resigned Teenager, who likes to be alone, but quickly (blessedly) metamorphosizes into that delightful, sought after prize of parents everywhere, the Cuddly Repentant Monster.

The Cuddly Repentant Monster speaks softly, and says things like this:
"I'm still mad at (one parent) but I like you (other parent)."
and
"You can tell (raged at parent) I won't do that again."
and occasionally even...
"I'm sorry."

Several weeks ago, we were promised that Screaming Monster would NOT return, and indeed, often at the threat of an incursion, merely the mention of the imminent arrival of the Screaming Monster is enough to ward off his arrival. But alas, much like bedbugs in the entire tri-state area (I am soooo not stepping foot on Manhattan island anytime soon), it is hard to eradicate the pest entirely.

But progress is being made. And look, every age tests, and every human gets angry sometimes. We're proud of Sroch that her furies are as mild as they are, that (bli ayin hara!!) they do not result in her lashing out at her sister, just at us (those she trusts the most), and that when they pass, she is aware of the fault. I know plenty of adults who cannot say the same.

I am proud of my words to her tonight as she sat on the toilet (nu nu, we take our moments when they come), after she told me that her screaming and disobedience would not happen again: "You're allowed to feel angry, to be mad, to be upset, to feel hurt. Your feelings are always okay, and I always want to know what they are. But it's some actions that are not okay, and saying 'no' to Abba and Mommy and screaming are not okay."

A word on that "we don't say 'no' to Mommy/Abba" thing. I am delighted and surprised that she gets it. She knows exactly what we mean, that of course you can say 'no' to Mommy/Abba, but you may NEVER say "NO!!!" to Mommy/Abba - and she totally GETS it.

Follows it? A work in progress.
:)

Video backlog

2010-11-10T00:09:00.003+02:00

Man oh mano, I am behind on video blogging.

And regular blogging.

And dishes and laundry and, hmm, everything else.

Anyway, enjoy this video from, shoot, JULY.

Only 4 months ago.

I'll catch up soon, sure I will.

We're still here

2010-11-06T23:49:00.001+02:00

New blog post coming soon.

Sorry, housework, 'real' work, Llama's cold (B"H just one day of fever, but otherwise lots of coughs, poor baby) and frenzied internet shopping has been taking up my blogging time. That and the crazy dream I had last night about having a shabbos meal with Michael Jackson, but I digress.

Here's an example of the housework:

WonderLlama

2010-10-19T21:59:00.005+02:00

Oh Google...where would I be without you?

Llama looking like this...

Has been reminding me of SOMETHING from my childhood, something I saw a million times.

And... I've got it!

It's the image of the clay girl being brought to life in the classic "Wonder Woman: Cheetah on the Prowl" which book (and cassette!) I read / heard a million times in my youth. I am amazed to find the whole thing online as video here.

Cool, huh??

And yes, I had a Wonder Woman costume and as a chubby four year old, I would proudly romp around the house on my dinosaur Dini and save the world. You're welcome.

.

Sukkos 2010 (finally)

2010-10-19T21:27:00.005+02:00

Here in the land of better-late-than-never, let's talk about Sukkos and What We Did There.

Quick, before I forget.

Baruch Hashem, unlike last year, we were all together, and while we ended up doing a lot of stay-home-and-host-seminary-girls (a LOT - I think we may have hit the limit even for us, and that's saying something!), we got to do some fun other stuff as well.

Davida's Farm is a fairly local elaborate petting zoo farm thingy. Unsurprisingly, Sroch's reactions were mostly timid / scared / clutching / trembling until she was really, REALLY sure all the animals were behind bars (except for the Walking Menace of DOOM (aka the cute farm dog) that occasionally strolled around). She miraculously unbent enough to actually take a pony ride! The best part of that, of course, was two minutes into it when she was able to let go of Yoav's hand, and said to him - "I like it!"

Llama was much more into the animals, despite some confusion over species (I guess an ostrich DOES look like a chicken, if you've never heard of ostriches before). That said, she was surprisingly hesitant to actually touch any of them. Oh well.

We took a tractor ride ("look, we're on a bumpy road going up a hill! Here are some plants! There is a view! Look, we're on a bumpy road going down a hill!" finis), which may not have been so scintillating for adults but Sroch was perfectly happy having that authentic 'farm' experience, and after all, this was about them, not me. :)

The farm wisely had inflatable jumping thingies set up for the kiddos, as well as plant potting (no animals involved) and of course many frozen sugar treats available, which we actually escaped buying any of.

A modern sukkos miracle.

Park Brittania (details on Hebrew link here) is one of the national (ha! Get it? National?) parks (JNF) nearby. We didn't go to do the forest part, just the jungle gym set up at the entrance. We went with mybestfriendRena, and had a lovely time, despite Llama going in her socks (her shoes were mysteriously too small that day, but now they fit again - hmmm...) and me getting two four year olds to use the outdoor, ahem, facilities (for some reason, they were less picky about bark and rocks and such when they were smaller). Anyway, got some great pictures, but you're going to have to wait for the rest of the post, aren't you?

Kalman's engagement party was a delightful surprise, and the girls were delighted to get dressed up and go. Mazal tov to Mamma Nechy, et al!

Kite flying in the local turtle park (named for stone turtle sculpture in park, not actual turtles) (and yes, 'Stone Turtle' would be an excellent name for a band) rounded out our thrilling activities. Especially amusing was watching the ambient children in the park gravitate to my husband getting one kite up in the air and failing to launch the other two broken ones. At least I know he could work as a Pied Piper should education fail us.

Last but not least Sroch got some seminary girls (well, a madricha, actually, who was only keeping one day so had time) to straighten her hair.

!!!

I won't even make you wait for the slideshow for that one:

I'm going to publish this now, and will go work on the slideshow, and edit later.

Edit: here it is. You want to see it huge. Click on it and watch it big. Really, they're cute, it's worth it.

Filth apprenticeship

2010-10-04T21:29:00.007+02:00

Some recent stuff we've been up to...

1) Craftiness. Due to the influence of FilthWizardry, we have recently
---a) painted the sukkah, as you know
---b) made swords and a geodesic dome out of rolled newspapers
---c) from a second-hand skirt, I made Sroch and her friend ballet skirts and a dress up dress as well.

Here's the swords, dome and skirts.

The dress-up dress I don't have a picture of; it was made by sewing the top of a skirt closed, then cutting out a neck hole and arm holes (the top you sewed closed now becomes the top seam of the shoulders), and giving Sroch permanent markers (aiiieee!) to draw on hearts and butterflies and flowers and a necklace on. I am so brilliant.

I made a diagram for you. Click to enlarge.

Makes a dress for a toddler, or a vest for a grown-up. I would have kept it, except... pepto pink? Methinks not what my wardrobe needs. Also, wasn't exactly finished nicely on the edges, you know?

Now, the swords. Yes, they were awesomely cool, but Yoav does wonder why I chose to make a project that would encourage them to attack each other. Hmm.

As you see, Sroch wasn't nearly as excited about being hit as Llama was about striking (Sroch prefers to use the Bonetti defense from my lap). En guarde, and touche!

In the background, you can see the rolls I was making for the geodesic dome, which I was hoping would be a play sukka of sorts, but it totally failed to do so. But I enjoyed it sitting in the corner of the sukka until it was inspected one too many times by a child. And now all the approximately 2,345 seminary girls we had over (give or take) know what a geodesic dome is.

Pictures of all our trips, etc, during Sukkos vacation still to follow. But here's a preview:

Goodnight!

Getting ready for Sukkos!

2010-09-22T03:09:00.002+02:00

Yes, it's 3 AM. But my turkey-corn beef-deli roll-fish-broccoli kugel-brownies-lemon bars-baby carrots-unstuffed cabbage-pineapple kugel is (are) all done.

And I am UberMom (TM) for doing a Fun Messy Project on the eve of all that cooking.

(Have I mentioned my Filth Wizardry inspiration yet? More on that, skirts and swords another time.)

Good yuntiv to all!

Low and high holidays

2010-09-16T00:04:00.004+02:00

None of you mentioned that we had our 11th anniversary recently!

Thanks a lot. What, you just come here for the kids?

Oh. Right. You do.

Anyway, we had a lovely evening of chinese takeout and frisbee on the Rechovot beach, thoughtfully lit by a full moon (impossible to photograph by my camera). Fun fun!

Why is it that I'm 32 years old and still feel like I'm being sneaky and defiant when I have a beer? Discuss.

And then of course, we had our Rosh Hashana. It was really lovely (we had Cheryl and her husband, yay!) and it was managable, since we ate out two meals and I used my crock pot and freezer freely. According to the calendar we have more three-day-yuntivs in store, which means I really need to buy another freezer. But since Sroch worked out that to have room for it, she'd have to keep it in her bed - we may have to find another solution.

First picture is Sroch basting the challahs I made. Then before yuntiv, the girls were splendidly uncooperative in posing in their holiday finery, so here's the best I got.

Shana tova to all of you, and gmar chasima tova for Yom Kippur this shabbos. Go take a drink now in anticipation. Glub, glub.

Language

2010-09-15T23:39:00.002+02:00

Sroch was walking Llama down the steps on shabbos (or maybe it was yuntiv day number one, or yuntiv day number two. Well, one of the three), and I hollered for her to take care of Llama and help her down, and Sroch hollers back -

"Don't worry, I'm saving on her."

Sigh.

For those of you, dear readers, who don't understand my sigh, a brief lesson. In Hebrew, the word 'shamor' means guard, watch, or save. Correct Hebrew grammar would have her say "shamor alaia" (Savta, feel free to correct), which if you translated it painfully literally, would be "guard on her" or as Sroch said, "saving on her."

But realize, my sigh is a happy sigh. Why? I'm not worried about her English grammatical constructs; they are already quite excellent for a child her age ("four and a HALF!") and she reads (well, we read) a ton and I think she'll be fine. No, I am delighted that her Hebrew is so good that she seeks to make English conform to it.

(This specific example may not be the best one, since lots of her friends say "saving on her" as well.)

Sroch will come home from school and tell me in great detail what she learned about the parsha or the upcoming holiday... in English. Last year's teacher spoke English as well, and I was never sure how much Sroch got from the straight Hebrew, but this year's teacher does not speak English - and Sroch not only retains it (bless her, bli ayin hara), but is fully comfortable and able to spit it back translated.

......

Llama is now in English gan, and it has been amazing to see her verbal English blossom. Because until now she was in a Hebrew metapelet situation, where there's less language because there's less instruction, as well as her being corked part of the time, her English is really taking off. That's not to say she's totally intelligible. For example, we couldn't get her to take a video (sigh), but this Rosh Hashana she sang...

"Dip da appa in da chaney, mik a bracha lauw an keer, shana toba u mesooka, ave uh appy seet new ear!"

Right! Shana tova to you too!

(Aside: tonight during her mad freak-out bedtime thing, I was singing "Down in the Valley" and when I got to end and said "valley" she stopped crying, stood up, said "chani!" (honey) and we sang the entire "Dip the Apple in the Honey" together - whereupon she finished and went right back to having a tantrum.)

She's also talking about colors a great deal - but I have no clue if she knows them, or just the words. But "yehllow" is her favorite, followed by "geen" and "puhple."

......

In the inevitable comparisons you try not to make of children and their skill acquisition, I realize the truth of what I was told back with Sroch, that Sroch was exceptionally verbal for her age, because gosh she was counting and having conversations and learning songs and saying 'Mitsubishi' (I tried getting Llama to say it - she just said "bishi" - there ya go, Micah). So I think to myself, self, Sroch was just Ahead, and Llama is Just Fine.

But then, I look back on vintage Druyanity when Sroch was this age (i.e. just short of 2) - and you know what? They're not so different at all.

The difference is - who gets spoken to.

For better or worse, most of what comes out of our mouths is directed at Little Miss Know Everything, her Highness the Elder, as opposed to the Princess Floppy Llama.

So I'm trying to make more of an effort to recall what Llama is capable of, linguistically, and speak to her accordingly. It's working too.

And I'm wondering why not a single child raising book EVER mentioned that this extra effort was necessary. Was I dumb to overlook it? Or is this the plight of all second children?

(Item: I'm a second child, and my brother's vocabulary is better than mine, but I blame his high-scoring Scrabble habits for that.)

I welcome your opinions.

Bedtime

2010-09-15T22:38:00.004+02:00

And now, gentle reader, a virtual bedtime at the house of Druyan.
(This does not include schedule exceptions such as three days of yuntiv (!!), shabbos, Daylight Savings Time changes, teething (yes, teething - Llama got two teeth a couple weeks ago, and was a feverish wreck!), or, I don't know, full moons, etc.)

5:30 PM: A nutritious (snort), well-balanced (snigger), thought-out meal (neh!) is served to two tidy, compliant, table-mannered children. Who eat every bite.
Well, usually there's protein and a starch and cucumbers. Ah, cucumbers, last bastion of vegetable matter that both children will - sometimes - eat. My challenge lately has been what one will consume, the other will not touch.

Like mashed potatoes - Sroch loves 'em, Llama not with a 10 foot pole.
Or hardboiled eggs - ditto.
Or sweet potato - Llama yes, Sroch big fat no.
Lately even corn shnitzel, we've been having Sroch eating Llama's for her (!).

Fortunately, the two of them now equally like bread and butter. So that's a starch and protein and fat right there.

6:00 PM: Sated from their feast (or sedated with igloos), the children happily scurry off to the waiting bathtub, to take off their immaculate clothing and get into the water without a fuss (I can't even type this with a straight face), happily awaiting their favorite part of the bath, getting their hair washed.

I put soap in the water so if all that happens is their tushes sit in soapy water for two minutes, it accomplished SOMETHING. Llama especially hates having her hair washed, despite us doing it exactly the same way for almost two years, night after night. Oh well. She will not linger in the tub almost ever, but she still gets in the tub pretty nicely. Sroch, on the other hand, will drag her feet to avoid getting in, kvetch and moan "you're HURTING meeeee!" vwhen you try to help her take off her shoes and socks (and avoid the sandfall that comes out of them - I wonder if the playground at school has any sand left by the end of the year), and then once Compliant Llama (TM) is in, will protest "but IIIII wanted to go in FIRST!!!", etc, etc. And then later, "but IIIII wanted to get out first!"

Yeah, well, whatever. Wash their hair, rinse their hair, put conditioner in Sroch's, scrub behind four ears if I remember, rinse again - well, except when I forget - and remove squirming bodies to the room. Usually Llama comes out first, leaving Sroch alone in the tub to either frolic or kvetch that SHEEEE wanted to get out FIRST, etc. She actually often climbs out herself by now. So onto...

6:30 PM: Grooming.
We're actually pretty good here. Both girls get their curls brushed out, and then special-combed (bli ayin hara, no unwanted guests have been found - but constant vigilance is our watchword.. um, are our watchwords... oh, whatever.*)

Into pajamas, often after both girls reject the ones we choose for them (who lets them have opinions?). Llama gets the plug of her choice (lately "puhpul tzetzi" is her favorite). And then...

6:45 PM: We quietly read two books to the yawning, calmed, attentive children, who then immediately get into bed without a fuss.
Um.
Um.
Um.
Well, each girl gets to pick a book. Llama will 99% of the time pick one of the Rikki Benenfeld books, of which we have all but the new farm one (and yes, we'll be buying it ASAP). Llama will request them by name - "Doctor! Shooool! School! Vistin! Shoppeeng!" Sroch actually sometimes reads them to her, since she - and we - know them by heart. Srochel, Queen of The Stall, will try to pick the biggest, longest book we have.

We sit in the big blue chair, Llama sharing the cushion with me, Sroch perched on the cushy arm. I manage to turn pages with my arms around the girls (aw). Llama's book is first, and while I read Sroch's she'll often scamper down and look at other books or take toys out of their designated toy boxes, because goodness me there aren't any toys just laying on the floor in disarray. Heaven forfend.

And then...

7:00 PM: to bed.
Usually I start by snuggling the Llama, turning off the light, and putting Llama in her cribby, where she has me cover her either with her blankie or with an old head-scarf of mine (kids are weird).
Then I go to Sroch, who is either
1) in bed
2) still in the chair, complaining that I "held Shulamis FIRST! You NEVER hold me first!", or
3) in the bathroom for the last-minute-bladder-emptying-please-God-no-wet-bed-again effort

She then gets into her bed where we have to wrap her blanket around her like a sleeping bag, make her blankie into a ballie for her head (note, I've been making her ballies for about three years now), make sure baby and sippy cup (YES it has like two tablespoons of water in it) are in place - and she's ready for...

Conversation.

Well, we might say shema and sing a bit, but often Sroch is too busy with "I just want to tell/ask you ONE more thing..." (followed by 45 seconds of stammering as she tried to think something up) or whatever. But, finally, and usually with a smile, she lays down to go to sleep.

Or lays down, and comes out five minutes later because "I need to make again." Right.

Llama is usually wonderful about just laying down and even if she doesn't drop off for thirty minutes, she's quiet in her crib. Sroch, though, once she lays down for real, usually lasts about two minutes.

(No, I'm not giving myself an ayin hara by saying Llama usually drifts off nicely, since tonight at bedtime - just like last night between 4 and 5:30 AM - she had a OHMYGOSH TEMPER FIT, thrashing and screaming and making herself choke and no holds barred protest like whoa about going to sleep. Like my baby was possessed by... by... um, by Sarah Rochel at that age. Shoot. Hopefully it's a - very - brief phase! She's probably teething again, although she has 16 teeth already...)

7:15 PM: Oh, shoot, I forgot to brush their teeth.

*But never forget, better wizards than you have lost buttocks, you know.

Whatever happened to my blog?

2010-09-15T22:16:00.002+02:00

I read some other bloggers - like the brilliant Filth Wizardry and the funny and poignant Bad4Shidduchim, the wise writing-industry advice of Pub Rants, and others.

And I don't know how they have the head space.

It's not that we're doing any less cute things than this post, exactly three years ago today.

Part of the problem may be work, that is, I use my home computer for work, so I'm less likely to drag it out to blog.. maybe. Some of it is Facebook (jeepers! The first time I admit to having it on this blog!), where ideas that used to germinate into blog posts are more likely to be spat out as undeveloped status update seeds.

And - part of the problem is head space. Keeping track of TWO kids worth of cute things they said is HARD. (I should only have such problems, amen.) And also, poor Llama, there isn't the novelty of First Child (TM) - meaning when she learns a Skill, it's one we already know a child is capable of learning, whilst with Sroch a new Skill was like discovering, I don't know, kryptonite.

But I'm a-gonna try (new year's resolution much?) to do better, because I am sad to not have my blog as bloggied.

So here goes!

Oh, and it's totally not my fault I don't have many pictures; the Union of Grumpy Kinderlach (est. 2008) keeps refusing to take nice pictures.