All is Well that Ends Well (aka Toothbrush in the Toilet)

This evening I came home from grocery shopping to a situation....M got frustrated while the babysitter was trying to help him brush his teeth and threw his toothbrush into the toilet.  Of course, this was the new toothbrush that we got last week (after being long overdue for a replacement for the old one...it even lit up). 

I had opened the door to come into the house with more groceries that I could carry comfortably when Em came running and told me the fascinating news.  I told him that I would deal with it after I brought in the rest of the food and proceeded to head back outside to grab another load. As soon as I headed back out, Em opened the door into the garage and screams out, "oh, and by the way, I love you and when you get back in, I need a hug and a kiss."  Anyway, after all the groceries were unloaded, I sat the boys at the counter for a bedtime snack.....it was then that Emet got his hug and kiss and afterwards, using a plastic grocery bag a la "pick up the dog poop", I got the toothbrush..... 

Easy E

Em is my child from another planet....he's just too good to be true.  The other day, he bumped into his little brother who was knocked into the cabinets.  The bump was minor but M was upset. Of course, I was trying to figure out what was going on.  I kind of raised my voice to ask Em to explain what was going on.  "I was just trying to give him a kiss.", said Em.  Of course, M hates kisses (which is frustrating to me b/c I have to sneak them when he's doing other things). Anyway, I'm grateful to my loving, gentle, sweet, boy........

Z at bat

Z made AA baseball this year at age eight.  There are a total of 3 eight year olds on the team; the other kids are nine and ten.  Lucky for Z, me, and the rest of the team, Yami is helping coach.

Last night, the team had their second game and I only saw the very beginning -- I wanted to get home so that the Em and M wouldn't go to bed too late.  Anyway, at about 8:30 Yami and Z came into my room.  I don't know who had the bigger grin.  "What happened?", I asked.  

Z asked Yami to explain.  So, there were runners on first and third and the game was tied in the last inning.  With two outs, Z was up to bat.  Now, Z has had some trouble batting.  When he hits, he hits hard but he tends to over think hitting and two of his at-bats early in the game were strike outs.  On the way to the game he said to me, "Mom, I'm not good at hitting."  I said, "yet.....just keep at it." So the pitch came and Z swung and hit a line drive past the first base man(kid) and ran to first scoring the runner at third.  While the other team was throwing home, Z made it to second base and ultimately his team won as a result of that run. 

I'm happy for him -- he needed a boost of confidence and he got it.  I'm sure there will be many tough at-bats.  Yami says he remembers all his good plays in baseball and Z will probably remember this at-bat for a long time.  The beauty of baseball reminds me very much of the beauty of dance or meditation or love-making.  Plenty of the time, the dance comes with the self-conscious concern of what it looks like, the meditation can feel like a bit of a struggle, the love-making is satisfying but still of this world.  But, there are times when something happens that is other worldly and the "I" disappears as something separate -- when the "I" becomes the dance, when the "I" melts into the meditation, when the "we" unite as one with the divine..... baseball as mundane as it is, has that potential -- the potential to unite the "I" with the present moment and the cosmos and to connect us to something greater than balls and bats and gloves.....I'm grateful to Yami for sharing the joys of throwing and catching and hitting and for giving our family this way to connect....

 

Thinking Like Descartes

A few weeks back Em came downstairs to let me know he had been thinking.  "How do I know that I exist?" he asked me.  He went on to say, "I mean, maybe when I'm dreaming that is what is real and now I'm really dreaming."  I looked up from doing the dishes and explained that there were many people in the past who wondered the same thing.  I know that we pondered this question in Intro to Philosophy and I even included reference to it in my law school entrance essay but at age six?  No, at age six I was not thinking about this.  If Em is thinking about this now, I only can imagine what he'll be wondering as a teen or a young adult.  I guess I just want to keep his ability to wonder alive and I wonder whether I am doing enough to do so....I hope so....I know that if society is going to move forward then it is not enough for schooling to only ask kids to learn and rehearse what is already known....we need to encourage and support true inquiry and exploration of that which is yet unknown to move forward....

Toy Guns on the Playground

A few weeks back, on the 10th anniversary of Columbine, I took the boys to play at our local playground.  When I got there I found 3 kids running around with toy guns (one was a toy rifle).  I thought to myself, "wow, unbelievable" and tried to piece together whose kids they were.  Finally one boy gave his father his toy rifle and the father spun it like a baton for several minutes as he was chatting with a mother.  I thought again "wow."  Zay was frightened by the guns on the playground maybe b/c I've always been really opposed to them having anything that even resembles a gun (yes, I buy non-gun shaped water squirters) and in general just kind of assumed that was the norm these days.  Well, not here.  I could see that there were a few other parents that weren't thrilled and plenty who didn't seem fazed but no one said a word.  I managed to speak to the father and explain that my son was frightened....as a result I got a big eye roll.  We didn't stay much longer but I have to wonder....if we live in a world where kids pretend to point and shoot and kill and thats OK, where are we headed as a society?  I know some might think, come on, they are just playing.  But, you know, I can't help but think that this kind of play desensitizes them to actual violence.  Why can't we encourage play that promotes peaceful behavior later on...cooperative games, games that teach conflict resolution skills....I refuse to believe that "boys will be boys".....my boys have lots of energy and certainly like to compete with each other but violence, thats where I draw the line......

Walk on Water -- Movie

I finally managed to watch this film after having it recommended to me several times.  Its an Israeli movie about a secret agent who is asked to assassinate an aging Nazi war criminal.  In the process of getting to him, the agent becomes enmeshed in the lives of the criminal's grandchildren and discovers more about his own history, the demons he carries around, friendship, and fate.  I definitely would recommend it.  In general, I'm realizing that Israeli movies with English subtitles are a really good way to improve my Hebrew (which by now is not so bad but I've still got a long way to go).  That said, I simply won't waste my time on a bad movie just so I can hear some Hebrew.......

Canadian, eh?

So, I ordered Yami's birth certificate today to present to the Canadian Embassy -- it looks like Yami and the boys may have dual citizenship with Canada (for those of you who don't know, Yami was born in Vancouver).  I think about the benefits of that -- traveling on a Canadian passport, potential options for university in Canada at a far reduced price, having the option after careful thought to not participate in unjust wars that future American administrations may venture into....I think its a good thing.  That said, its my understanding that citizenship would not be available for me unless I lived in Canada for a certain amount of time (b/c I'm a spouse not a child)and I'm alright with that.....

Las Vegas--Coming Soon

So, in 2 weeks we are going to leave the kids for the first time with Nancy and Flo, are boarding a plane (2 separate ones actually) and headed to Vegas.  Its my cousin Jeff's 50th birthday celebration at the Redrock resort and we are really looking forward to it.  We plan to hike in the Redrock canyon, eat at some good restaurants, and also spend a little time on the strip.  But mostly we should plan on doing a whole lotta nothing as we sit by the pool and sip margaritas (sp?) and not watch kids, not toss them into the air so they splash in the water, not hold Micah, the reluctant swim class kid who as of yet has no swim skills, not break up splashing fights....well, you get the point.....

Oh Yeah...its Mother's Day

I just realized that today is mother's day and as a result this feels like a very good day to start a blog about family life.  So, now we just need to make sure Yami and I call our moms and all will be well.  Of course, Yami is still in bed and I have been up since 5:30 a.m. --  I guess in some families Mom will sleep in and get served in bed but given my biorhythm, that just wasn't going to happen!

A Night Out--Bar Mitzvah

Yami and I had a sitter last night so that we could go celebrate our friend's son's Bar Mitzvah.  And in just a few weeks, Emet and I will fly to Chicago to celebrate with his cousin for his Bar Mitzvah.  All these Bar Mitzvahs are making me realize that on the conveyor belt of life, I am no longer the Bar Mitzvah friend and instead have moved down the belt to being the parent of kids whose own Bar Mitzvahs are not so far away.  How did that happen?  For so long, I had an identity of "teen" or "college student" or "law student" or "new mother" and now well, the conveyor belt has kept moving.  Now, although I certainly feel that I have an identity outside of motherhood, I can see the identities of "mom of teens" "mom of college students" and even eventually "grandma" and I realize how fast this all goes....... My promise to my self is to keep it meaningful, to do good, and to have fun.......

In the Beginning

I just realized after looking a lot of other blogs that our family is having enough adventures to have one of our own.  With 3 boys and a family addition in the works (I see pink!) we are up and running..... sit back and enjoy the show.....