This is Six

This is Five

Into your mind

Don't wanna nap, you say.

I will lie down with you, I say. 

Don't wanna nap!

Wanna jump. 

Wanna play. 

So I lie in your bed. 

I hope to sleep but you are 

moving

talking

bouncing

talking 

moving

keeping yourself awake. 

I find myself not asleep

but not annoyed. 

Instead 

amused

enlightened

I hear your brain at work. 

Snippets of your life. 

That's not fair!

I will be right back, Monkey!

Let's jump - 1,2,3!

Is that Spider-Man? Yes it is!

Watch out!

How are you, Dinosaur?

Oh, I love it!

Put your head down, I say. 

I don't need a nap, you say. 

Please? I say. 

No, you are adamant. 

So you

jump

move

talk

tell stories. 

And I listen. 

Blessed with the insight

into your little growing mind. 

But I still wish you would just take a nap. 

{36 Reasons} Cute Teeth

 I totally imagined that this project would be all about ME and doing new things for these days leading up to my birthday.

Instead, I seem to have had a lot of firsts with my kiddos.

Like Solly's first trip to the dentist, which was so adorable it almost doesn't need any words:

Blessed are You, O God, Ruler of the World, who creates milestones for our children, who gives us the energy to revel in the milestones, and who has brought me to this day.

{36 Reasons} Goals Delayed

On the wall in my kitchen hang triptychs of my children eating cake at their first birthdays. It started with just the one, of course, and then as each one turned one...a new set of cake pictures. They love these pictures. They love to talk about who has the messiest cake, who seems to be enjoying it the most, and, for the last year, when will Solly's pictures be added!?

I did have a goal to get it up there before Solly turned 2. Admirable, right?

I bought a frame.
I printed the pictures.

It all sat and waited. About a week before Solly turned 2, I went to put it all together and then I realized that the frames on the wall had 4x6 pictures, but the new frame was 5x7. (oh, and the pictures I had printed? Yep, 4x6.) Arrrrgggghhhhhh.

So the 2-year-old goal? Missed it.

But only by a little bit. Eleven days to be exact.

Because today was the day.

I could NOT find a matching frame to the ones I had, so I ended up reframing them all.

And they look gorgeous.

Yes, in my kitchen also hang all the fun school things like handwriting charts, Spanish letter sounds, and number grids.

(Now I'm waiting to see who will notice...)

Blessed are You, O God, who gives us family traditions to work with and through, and who sometimes makes us try harder than we imagined we would need to, and who has brought me to this day.

{36 Reasons} Two!

From this:

to this:

to this....

The fourth child seems to come to things so much more quickly. He has three eager teachers who are so proud when they can teach him a new word or skill. It's hard to believe that he's been a part of our lives for two years....

Happy birthday, Solly!

Blessed are You, O God, Ruler of the World, who has created us, formed us, and brought us to celebrate this day of honoring birth.

{36 Reasons} Hair Today

There's a Jewish tradition to keep a child's hair uncut until the age of 3. (Okay, it's really a tradition for boys, but I'm an equalitarian.) Except I haven't ever made it to that age with any of my kids.

Too. Much. Hair.

I thought for sure that Solly would be the one who would make it.

After all, who can resist those gorgeous blonde locks!? Not me.
But I was stymied. Halted. Thwarted.

Poor kiddo. He kept trying to brush the hair out of his eyes. And he inevitably woke up with a rat's nest of dreadlocks in the back of his head, no matter how much brushing or conditioner we put into it.

And while a ponytail might seem like a reasonable solution, it just wasn't in the cards.

So a haircut was in the offing. (Actually, I just learned that one sect of Hasidim cut their boys' hair at age 2, but I'm not too keen on modeling myself after various sects of Hasidim.)

I might have shed some tears. After all, this is my baby! My beautiful long-haired baby.

One last look....

Along the way...(he wouldn't wear the apron, so we thought we'd make it easier for the stylist)

 And the finished product...

He looks fabulous. But suddenly....so grown up.

Am I imagining things, or is he now standing up taller? Speaking more clearly? Acting older?
(But no, I'm not deluding myself, not more reasonable.)

I think it is true.
Two years old IS very grown up.

Especially when compared to this:

Blessed are You, O God, Ruler of the World, who has created us to grow and change, who has helped us to see both progressive and sudden growth, who has given us tissues to wipe away our tears, and who has brought me to this day.

The Two of Us

With all the upheaval in our home, I've noticed how much my kids all love each other.

It makes my mama's heart so proud. It's what I want for them above almost anything else - to have their siblings as their bosom friends.

So now that there are only two at home...
(David got a wonderful weekend away with friends, and as you know...Sam is holed up at the hospital.)

The dynamics are quite different.
Yael has never been "the oldest," and in this new role, she is excelling.

She might be just a tad...bossy opinionated instructive to her little brother.

But it's beautiful to watch, since he is totally in love with her.

Finding Joy

A rainstorm might mean you don't have to water the grass.
Or it might mean that you have to check the basement for leaks.
Or that you can't wear your favorite open-toed shoes because you don't like wet feet.
Maybe it means you get to wear your rain boots or your favorite rain coat.
Maybe it means you get to stay inside and snuggle up with a good book.

But as an adult, a rainstorm never leaves behind this kind of joy:




And as I watched him laugh with delight, I remembered just how important it is to find joy in every moment.
To take the time to find it
and examine it
and revel in it

and to get your feet wet.

One

one

year

has

gone

by

and

i

can't

quite

believe

it.

 

Where has my baby gone?

He's turned into a toddler...

My life is full of blessing.

Behind the Scenes of Day 333

In a really unplanned move, I have been posting a daily picture of Solly on Facebook since he was born.

It started because I posted his first picture with "Day 1" as the caption...and it just...happened.
(I've written a little bit before about the Picture of the Day Project)

Many many people are now looking at his sweet little face each day and I even get cranky messages from some people when I am late to post the Picture of the Day. My kids are in on the action, sometimes helping to take the picture, sometimes wanting to be in the picture. Friends are excited to "be the picture of the day" and I joke that I could auction it off and somehow pay for college with that money. (or...not.)

It has become much much much harder to take the Picture of the Day.

The kid moves around a lot.

And my phone camera, with which I take the picture, is veeeerrrrryyyy slow.
Like a turtle. A flash-less turtle.

(And even though my husband says "just use your real camera!" I feel as though it would be somewhat untrue to the whole spirit of the Project, which didn't have a spirit to begin with but now seems to have a life of its own.)

So I want to give you a little "behind the scenes" tour of The Making of Day 333 (which was yesterday)

Here are all the pictures that I took...

All to get to this picture, which was honored to be called Day 333:

At this point, I take what I can get...but he sure is cute, isn't he?

When I announce to friends and family that I plan to stop this nonsense quit post less pictures of Solly after Day 365, they do threaten some kind of friendship mutiny.

But I think they'll get over it.
(I hope!)

Eleven Months!?

Time sure flies when you're having fun.

Eleven months!?

That is awfully close to a whole YEAR.

Where has the time gone?

If The 9 Month Old Could Talk...

"Mom, stop taking pictures."

"Enough! I'm warning you!"

"Oy vey!"

"Seriously!? If you don't stop I'm going to stop looking cute for you."

 

"Hey, what's that? Is that my hand?"

 

"Aw, cool, look, I have two of them!"

 

"I am no longer interested in you. I have something new to occupy me. This blade of grass looks veeerrrryyy tasty."

I can't believe he's 9 months old already...oh how the time flies!

Look at that Face...#BlogElul

No one ever takes pictures of me while eating.
(Thank goodness.)

I'm just not nearly as cute as this.

When do we stop being adorable for making a mess?

Of course, it's the month of Elul...so I'm thinking about forgiveness.

And of course, it's the month of Elul, so this reminds me of a story.
(Or, as one of my friends says, it's ME, so everything reminds me of a story.)

Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen, one of my favorite writers and teachers, had gone to hear a well-known rabbi speak on Yom Kippur, that most holy of days, and she was expecting to hear about God’s forgiveness. "Instead," she writes, the rabbi "walked out into the congregation, took his infant daughter from his wife, and, carrying her in his arms, stepped up to the bimah or podium. The little girl was perhaps a year old and she was adorable. From her father’s arms she smiled at the congregation. Every heart melted. Turning toward her daddy, she patted him on the cheek with her tiny hands. He smiled fondly at her and with his customary dignity began a rather traditional Yom Kippur sermon, talking about the meaning of the holiday. "The baby girl, feeling his attention shift away from her, reached forward and grabbed his nose. Gently he freed himself and continued the sermon. After a few minutes, she took his tie and put it in her mouth. The entire congregation chuckled. The rabbi rescued his tie and smiled at his child. She put her tiny arms around his neck. Looking at us over the top of her head, he said, ‘Think about it. Is there anything she can do that you could not forgive her for?’ Throughout the room people began to nod in recognition, thinking perhaps of their own children and grandchildren. Just then, she reached up and grabbed his eyeglasses. Everyone laughed out loud. "Retrieving his eyeglasses and settling them on his nose, the rabbi laughed as well. Still smiling, he waited for silence. When it came, he asked ‘And when does that stop? When does it get hard to forgive: At three? At seven" At fourteen? At thirty-five? How old does someone have to be before you forget that everyone is a child of God?’"

Look at that shayna punim.

May his sweet face always be a reminder of his inner spark of the Divine.

And may we always be able to see that sweet inner spark in everyone we meet.

 

The Jewish month of Elul, which precedes the High Holy Days, is traditionally a time of renewal and reflection. It offers a chance for spiritual preparation for the Days of Awe. It is traditional to begin one’s preparation for the High Holy Days during this month with the Selichot, the prayers of forgiveness. We look to begin the year with a clean slate, starting anew, refreshed. All month, I'll be blogging (except on Shabbat) a thought for each day to help with your month of preparation... Most of my #BlogElul posts will be over at my other blog, rabbiphyllis.blogspot.com, so feel free to visit me there or follow me on Twitter to read all my #BlogElul posts and others' posts too!

Let the Little Light Shine

I'm going to Blog Elul over at my other blog on a regular basis, so make sure to check that out too!

Each day, the Jewels of Elul offer inspiration and words of wisdom during the month of Elul, the month that precedes Rosh HaShanah.

There's also going to be a daily question, and you can go over to the Jewels page to post your answer.

Today's question is:

If you could identify one light that changed your world this year, what or who would it be?

It sounds totally cheesy, but my new little guy has been quite a light. Quite by accident, I started posting a daily picture of him on Facebook. (Today is Day 263.) It's been really remarkable to take a picture each day and see how much he has grown.

From Day 1:

to Day 260, just a few days ago...

Watching him grow and change has been quite a light. The daily picture has been its own light. Feeling compelled (by social pressure - Solly has fans!) to put that picture up has been such an interesting feeling. To know that each day I need to find a few moments to snap a picture (which has gotten harder and harder as he has gotten faster!), in addition to snuggling and loving him...it has been a good and welcome challenge. To know that the three day trip I'm planning in November will also include a plan for making sure that the picture of the day is taken by someone else, that too is a lesson for me in how much wonderful time I've had to spend with Solly in his first year of life. I am truly blessed.

The other light that he has shined on our family is in his siblings. I'm constantly amazed by the way that they love him so much. They want to hold him, to get his attention, to make him laugh, to feed him, to play with him...I hope this delight in their brother (and in each other?) continues to grow and be always a part of our family's life.

What light has changed you this year? Feel free to answer here or pop over to Jewels of Elul to answer there.

Six Months Old

Look who is six months old!

Loves to swing.

Crawls, pulls up to standing.

Ticklish and funny.

Doesn't sleep through the night.
Sigh.
But he's darn cute.