Saturday, January 23, 2010
Ethics of the Fathers = Life Stories of the Mothers
אם אין אני לי, מי לי; וכשאני לעצמי, מה אני; ואם לא עכשיו, אימתי.(פרקי אבות, פרק א, משנה יד)
Translation: "If I am not for myself, who is for me? And when I am [only] for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?"
That's why we call them the Sages.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Normal is Relative
I often find myself having conversations with other moms about what a normal day is like for them. We ask each other how many naps our kids take, what we cook for dinner, what time is bedtime, etc. I have my typical daily schedule. I've shared it here before. The schedule in my house is ever-evolving as kids shift from three naps a day to two to one. It changes with the school/camp schedule. It changes whenever something "out of the ordinary" occurs. Which is pretty much every day.
Here's a rundown of our typical schedule, which I will now officially rename our IDEAL schedule:
7:30am- We all wake up. I feed the kids breakfast, pack Sophie's lunch for school, get the kids dressed, and get out the door on time!
8:20am- Drop Sophie off at school and set out to run some errands with Lilah.
10:00am- Return home, feed Lilah, put her down for a nap, and get on the treadmill.
11:30am- Shower (haha, somehow I never have time for this part!), eat something, feed Lilah lunch.
12:20pm- Leave to pick up Sophie.
12:45pm- Arrive home, if kids have not eaten enough for lunch, feed them again.
2pm-4pm- Kids nap and I nap or chill.
4pm-6pm- Kids play nicely together.
6pm- Dinner time (it's especially nice if Shimmy is coming home soon and we can all sit down and eat together).
7pm- Start winding down and getting ready for bathtime/bedtime
7:30pm- Lilah goes to bed.
8:00pm- Sophie goes to bed.
This is IDEAL. This is what I spend most of the day aiming for. My sole purpose seems to be to keep everyone ON SCHEDULE and for us to STAY ON TRACK!
Having said that, I honestly cannot think of a single day where some thing isn't thrown into the mix. Here's an example: For the past few weeks I have been without an oven and a dryer. Yesterday my parents decided to come up for dinner with little notice. Shimmy said, "how will you make dinner for everyone without an oven?" I looked at him and said "challenge accepted." A couple hours later when we all sat down to spinach pasta, salmon croquettes, a mandarin salad, and a bottle of chardonnay chilling on the table I said, "this is the fanciest meal I have ever cooked in a toaster oven." Ideal? No. Normal? Definitely.
Here's another example: At 7:30 this morning, just as everyone started waking up, the dryer company called to say they would be here in an hour with my new dryer. Luckily, Shimmy had slept in, so he was able to take Sophie to school. They weren't able to disconnect the old, broken dryer, though, so they ended up just bringing the new one down, leaving me with two non-working dryers. I called someone I thought might be able to help. This was about 10:00am. I put Lilah down for her nap. She seemed tired, so I fully expected her to fall asleep right away. An hour later she was still awake, rolling around and playing. I decided to take my chances and get on the treadmill anyways. She still wasn't asleep (but wasn't sad) after 45 minutes, so I got off the treadmill (15 minutes early). As soon as I got out of the bathroom she was fast asleep. At this point it was 30 minutes before I needed to leave to pick up Sophie. I hate having to wake a sleeping baby, especially after an insufficient nap. So I called my mother-in-law, who said she would pick up Sophie. Good thing, too, because the guy I called about the dryer showed up just as I should have been leaving to pick up Sophie. A short while later, I had a working dryer, Sophie was brought home, and Lilah woke up after a nice amount of napping. Very much NOT on schedule. Very much NOT ideal. And somehow I survive yet another day.
So what is a normal day like? Well, pretty much like today. I guess normal is relative.
Here's a rundown of our typical schedule, which I will now officially rename our IDEAL schedule:
7:30am- We all wake up. I feed the kids breakfast, pack Sophie's lunch for school, get the kids dressed, and get out the door on time!
8:20am- Drop Sophie off at school and set out to run some errands with Lilah.
10:00am- Return home, feed Lilah, put her down for a nap, and get on the treadmill.
11:30am- Shower (haha, somehow I never have time for this part!), eat something, feed Lilah lunch.
12:20pm- Leave to pick up Sophie.
12:45pm- Arrive home, if kids have not eaten enough for lunch, feed them again.
2pm-4pm- Kids nap and I nap or chill.
4pm-6pm- Kids play nicely together.
6pm- Dinner time (it's especially nice if Shimmy is coming home soon and we can all sit down and eat together).
7pm- Start winding down and getting ready for bathtime/bedtime
7:30pm- Lilah goes to bed.
8:00pm- Sophie goes to bed.
This is IDEAL. This is what I spend most of the day aiming for. My sole purpose seems to be to keep everyone ON SCHEDULE and for us to STAY ON TRACK!
Having said that, I honestly cannot think of a single day where some thing isn't thrown into the mix. Here's an example: For the past few weeks I have been without an oven and a dryer. Yesterday my parents decided to come up for dinner with little notice. Shimmy said, "how will you make dinner for everyone without an oven?" I looked at him and said "challenge accepted." A couple hours later when we all sat down to spinach pasta, salmon croquettes, a mandarin salad, and a bottle of chardonnay chilling on the table I said, "this is the fanciest meal I have ever cooked in a toaster oven." Ideal? No. Normal? Definitely.
Here's another example: At 7:30 this morning, just as everyone started waking up, the dryer company called to say they would be here in an hour with my new dryer. Luckily, Shimmy had slept in, so he was able to take Sophie to school. They weren't able to disconnect the old, broken dryer, though, so they ended up just bringing the new one down, leaving me with two non-working dryers. I called someone I thought might be able to help. This was about 10:00am. I put Lilah down for her nap. She seemed tired, so I fully expected her to fall asleep right away. An hour later she was still awake, rolling around and playing. I decided to take my chances and get on the treadmill anyways. She still wasn't asleep (but wasn't sad) after 45 minutes, so I got off the treadmill (15 minutes early). As soon as I got out of the bathroom she was fast asleep. At this point it was 30 minutes before I needed to leave to pick up Sophie. I hate having to wake a sleeping baby, especially after an insufficient nap. So I called my mother-in-law, who said she would pick up Sophie. Good thing, too, because the guy I called about the dryer showed up just as I should have been leaving to pick up Sophie. A short while later, I had a working dryer, Sophie was brought home, and Lilah woke up after a nice amount of napping. Very much NOT on schedule. Very much NOT ideal. And somehow I survive yet another day.
So what is a normal day like? Well, pretty much like today. I guess normal is relative.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Also, SAY HELLO!
Also- Apparently it is National Delurking Day. So for all of you people who read, but never comment (I know who some of you are because you choose to comment live and in person) please say hello! I especially love seeing comments from people who have found my blog from other blogs that they found from other blogs and so on. Six degrees of blogaration. Love "meeting" new people and reading their stories!
Last Conversations With a Two Year Old
Tomorrow Sophie turns 3! Making today the last day she is 2. I feel this need to chronicle everything about her 2 year old days: cute things she said and did, the things she wore, etc. So here it is, the last Conversations With a Two Year Old post:
Me: "I like you :)"
Sophie: "You LOVE me!"
Sophie: "Where are you going?"
Me: "Just outside to take out the recycling."
Sophie: "Okay, well, put on your shoes. You don't want to hurt your feet."
Sophie: "Am I a person?"
Me: "Yes, you're a person. And Lilah is. And I am. And Daddy is."
Sophie: "Daddy's not a person, he's a boy."
Me: "Boys are people too. Hard to believe some times, but they are!"
Sophie: "Mommy! Lilah has teeth!" (This was said when Lilah had about 6 teeth already.)
Sophie (to Shimmy): "I would hold you if you were a little boy."
While playing show and tell (whispering): "Mommy! Mommy! Can we run in the library? Nooo... We have to be QUIET!"
Upon seeing our new house for the first time: "Is this the Beatles' house? Where's John? Where's Paul? Where's George? Where's Ringo?"
Sophie: "Can I have a tissue?"
Me: "Yes... does this mean you're going to be sick and pitiful now?"
Sophie: "Yes."
In a sing-song voice: "I have a nipple! I have a nipple!"
At the grocery store, pointing to some dog treats: "Mommy, can I please have some of these cookies?"
--------------------------------------------------------------------
I'd also like to remember some of the funny ways she used to pronounce things. She has very few of these funny words now, but when she had just turned two her speech was rampant with Sophie language:
Meecote= Wacky Mac
Fwakamony= Maccaroni
Peppamonny= pepperoni
Meegut= music
Yaya= Lilah
Diwun= dinner
Bwata= blanket
Fwack= both quack and black
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Last Sunday evening we had Sophie's birthday party. It was soooo low key compared to past years' parties. I just had no idea where we'd be up to with packing and moving. It was sort of a last minute decision. Shimmy's sister and cousin were already in town, so we decided to have a small pizza party at our house for family and Sophie's few friends outside of school. Tomorrow morning I am bringing cupcakes to her classroom during snack time for another little party.
Here is a picture of her on her birthday last year:
---------------------------------------------------------------
Happy Birthday, sweet Sophia Grace. Thank you for making me a mommy. I love you more than life itself. I can't wait to see what you will learn, say, and do this year. You never cease to amaze me.
Me: "I like you :)"
Sophie: "You LOVE me!"
Sophie: "Where are you going?"
Me: "Just outside to take out the recycling."
Sophie: "Okay, well, put on your shoes. You don't want to hurt your feet."
Sophie: "Am I a person?"
Me: "Yes, you're a person. And Lilah is. And I am. And Daddy is."
Sophie: "Daddy's not a person, he's a boy."
Me: "Boys are people too. Hard to believe some times, but they are!"
Sophie: "Mommy! Lilah has teeth!" (This was said when Lilah had about 6 teeth already.)
Sophie (to Shimmy): "I would hold you if you were a little boy."
While playing show and tell (whispering): "Mommy! Mommy! Can we run in the library? Nooo... We have to be QUIET!"
Upon seeing our new house for the first time: "Is this the Beatles' house? Where's John? Where's Paul? Where's George? Where's Ringo?"
Sophie: "Can I have a tissue?"
Me: "Yes... does this mean you're going to be sick and pitiful now?"
Sophie: "Yes."
In a sing-song voice: "I have a nipple! I have a nipple!"
At the grocery store, pointing to some dog treats: "Mommy, can I please have some of these cookies?"
--------------------------------------------------------------------
I'd also like to remember some of the funny ways she used to pronounce things. She has very few of these funny words now, but when she had just turned two her speech was rampant with Sophie language:
Meecote= Wacky Mac
Fwakamony= Maccaroni
Peppamonny= pepperoni
Meegut= music
Yaya= Lilah
Diwun= dinner
Bwata= blanket
Fwack= both quack and black
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Last Sunday evening we had Sophie's birthday party. It was soooo low key compared to past years' parties. I just had no idea where we'd be up to with packing and moving. It was sort of a last minute decision. Shimmy's sister and cousin were already in town, so we decided to have a small pizza party at our house for family and Sophie's few friends outside of school. Tomorrow morning I am bringing cupcakes to her classroom during snack time for another little party.
Here is a picture of her on her birthday last year:
---------------------------------------------------------------
Happy Birthday, sweet Sophia Grace. Thank you for making me a mommy. I love you more than life itself. I can't wait to see what you will learn, say, and do this year. You never cease to amaze me.
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