I'm Going to Eat Your Face

I can't tell you how many times I've been schnoogling* with Rami,
experiencing his utter deliciousness -

that delectable, round softness of cheek!
that loving, relentless pincher grasp!
that squeal of delight from deep in the belly!
that sweet crust of strained pea behind the ear!
that trademark smile of bliss! -

have become overjoyed,
and declared,
"I'm going to eat your face!!!"

Yes, I realize how freaky that sounds.
But consider this:

and then, tell me - wouldn't you say the same thing?

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*Schnoogle (schNOOgle) - n. An intensified snuggle, differentiated by increased face-kissing, full body hugs, and sighs of contentment and/or squeals of delight.

Mobile

"Life is like riding a bicycle -
to keep your balance, you must keep moving."
~Albert Einstein

Happy Father's Day

The father who would taste the essence of his fatherhood
must turn back from the plane of his experience,
take with him the fruits of his journey,

and begin again beside his child,
marching step by step over the same old road.

~Angelo Patri

To see the whole Father's Day set, click here.

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Father's Day means summer is really, really here! Check out some more sweet summer photography at the Summer Stock Photography Challenge on Robin's Blog, "Around the Island."

Let's Talk About Hair

I've been lucky to get so many compliments on Asher while we're out and about:
"She's so sweet!"

"What a pretty little girl!"

"Aw, isn't she precious?"

Yep! Even when he's dressed in a polo shirt and cargo pants,
strangers think that Ashi's a girl.

So, why haven't we cut that boy's hair yet?
It's a Jewish custom to let it grow.
Until he's three.

Why?

(I'm glad you asked.)
The Bible compares people to trees:
"...They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper." (Ps.1:3)*

In the Torah,** the Israelites are instructed to refrain from harvesting a tree's fruit for the first three years of its life.

We want our children to be like trees.
We know that small children need lots of special love, care, and devotion to build strong roots.
We know that they need a different kind of love to grow tall and strong.
And yet a different kind to grow branches, leaves, and fruit of their own.

We want our children to be strong enough
to weather the storms of life,
which also means being flexible enough
not to break in the fiercest winds.

So, as a symbol of this deepest of hopes,
we leave his hair alone,
just like the fruit of a tree,
for his first three years.

(Also, it's a sneaky way for me to avoid getting rid of this last little remnant of his baby-hood. Oh, you'd better believe I'm going to cry buckets when we cut it next year.)



To see the whole "Ashi's hair" set, inspired by this post, click here.
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*Another favorite example of mine is Psalms 92:12 .
**Leviticus 19:23.

Oh, Vanity! {I ♥ Faces}

We all know that Rami is a beautiful baby.

Apparently, so does he.


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This post is submitted on I ♥ Faces, a photography blog focused on the art of capturing faces and their various emotions. Visit them at www.iheartfaces.blogspot.com. They pick winners every week - maybe we'll get lucky!

Apology

Dear Abba,
I am so very sorry about last night.
I know that you need your sleep,
but for some reason,

I just wanted all the snuggles,

hugs,
and attention

I could get from you.

At the time,
letting you sleep for 20-minute stretches
seemed pretty generous to me.
(You are just so much fun to be with
and you give the best cuddles
and I love you so very, very much.)

But now, I have seen the error of my ways.

And I'll understand if you don't want to hug me anymore.
Really.


Love,
Rami

Hermit Prevention, or "Doing Things"

David and I have always said that
we are not people who "do things."
That is true...of us.
Of the boys, not so true.
(This is evidenced by the exponential rate at which they become cranky when we try to loll around the living room on Shabbat, a la our pre-child days. It's not pretty.)

So, to prevent the boys from turning into antisocial hermits like ourselves,
(and mostly so they don't demand that we pay their therapy bills in 20 years)
we've been trying to "do things" on the weekends.

Today's "thing" was made necessary by my embarrassed realization
that, although Asher pores over books about the farm,
totally zones out to a movie about the farm ("Charlotte's Web",)
and is incapable of either sleeping or riding in the car without his many, many farm animal figurines,
he has never been to a farm or seen an actual farm animal.
(For shame!)

Once we found out that our city's metroparks include a working farm,
we were really out of excuses.





Holy Cow! (pun totally intended, thank you very much)
It was so incredibly cool to watch Asher realize that, unlike his dinosaur figurines,
his plastic cows and horses represent real, live things.

Yeah, at the end of the day, we can be pretty awesome parents after all. (Thanks for noticing.)

(Click on any of these photos to take you to the full farm set on Flickr, including some awesome shots of Rami and other all-natural things.)

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This post is featured in this week's edition of Haveil Havalim, a Jewish blogging carnival. It is expertly hosted by Ima on the Bima and has allowed me to fill my morning with general awesomeness. Head on over and check out ! http://imabima.blogspot.com/2009/06/haveil-havalim-221-news-and-politics.html

The Sordid Tale

Picture this:
An Ima who is desperate for a family photo.
After several badly (BADLY) botched professional attempts,
I had had enough.
ENOUGH!
We were going to get a family picture,
by G-d,
and we were going to get it this weekend.

At about 5:00 PM,
when the light was golden
but boys were cranky,
I decided it was now or never.

What do you do when you have 30 pictures of your family
Where one boy is looking
but the other looks miserable


or the other boy looks pleasant
and one looks very, very worried?


You cut the head off the pleasant boy
and sub it for the miserable one.




Then you print it really big on canvas, hang it in your house, and hope no one notices.
(Great job, Kim - you figured it out! FB me your preference of Jeni's flavor and I'll send it right to your house.)

Go here to see the whole set of (head-substituted) family photos.

In Which Ima Has No Shame

I went to drastic measures to get this family picture.
Whoever figures out what Photoshopping I did first wins a pint of Jeni's. Just leave a comment.

(No, I'm absolutely not kidding. How's that for my first giveaway?)



(Yeah, I'll post the whole sordid tale later. For now I want to test your eyes.)

Things You Never Knew Until You Had a Sick Day*

Playtime on the floor can happen without toys being stolen and without getting bashed on the head -


Long, quiet naps cuddled up next to Ima do not exist only in your wildest dreams -



And, although it is nice to have Ima all to yourself,
a big brother is still the best. thing. EVER.


_
*(Rami was running a fever after his six-month shots, but don't worry - today he's back to breaking hearts as usual.)

Ashi ♥s Jeni

Dear Jeni,
With your delectably complex flavors,
inspired sundae creations,
and (most especially) your Ashi-sized spoons,
you have stolen my heart.
Love,
Ashi




(Visit Jeni on the web at http://jenisicecreams.com/.)

The Muddiest Boy Wins*

"The world is mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful."

~E.E. Cummings

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*Thanks, Elle, for the nudge.

A Prayer for My Children - Rosh Chodesh Sivan

I was reminded by the Homeshuler that it is traditional to offer a special prayer for one's children on Rosh Chodesh Sivan.

You can read the text of one such prayer here.

At the LittleHouse, we do Jewish things just a little bit differently. They are a bit more flexible, a little gentler, and more open to the belief that tradition is richer when it considers the contemporary.

With that in mind, here is a prayer for my children on Rosh Chodesh Sivan.

Before You, my G-d and G-d of my ancestors,

I set this prayer for my children:

I pray that they add more to the world than they take,

that they work every day toward its repair,

and that they walk through it with awareness of and humility before You.

I pray that they live full, healthy, secure, joyful lives,

and that if they cannot, that they are granted the disposition

to be truly happy with their lot.

I pray that they find a love that speaks to the deepest parts of their souls

and makes their lives worth living.

I pray that they become young men of whom their people can be proud.

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable to You, G-d, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Seen In the Personals

Single Jewish Male

Enjoys lively dinners, lots of snuggling, and wearing as little clothing as possible.

(Sounds pretty good, right?)

Yeah, until you see the picture he attached:

(That's a deal breaker, ladies!)

Still interested in RamRam?

Leave a comment and we'll add you to the shidduch list.

(In case, you know, NevNev's not interested.)

Meet Bonnie ({sweet})

Bonnie joined our family this past weekend.
She is a tomato plant.

The super-enthusiastic (!!!) sales lady gave me these care instructions:

Give it lots of water,
lots of sunlight,
lots of love,
(hope for the best,)
and it should bear some really sweet fruit.

I'm wondering:
was she really giving me advice about the plant
or about my boys in the shopping cart?

I guess it doesn't really matter -
in that regard, the tomatoes and the boys are about the same.
Except, of course, the boys are more delicious.





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To see more {sweet}ness, visit Beth's blog. Thanks for the challenge, Beth!

Dining Al Fresco, Toddler Style

Weekends can be rough here at the Little House;
Parents want to spend maximum Quality Time with boys.
Naps are sometimes (read: often) missed.
Some days, you can even witness things getting hairier by the hour.

Today was one such day.
Dinnertime rolled around and our nap-deprived Ashi was more highly strung than a Jack Russell terrier bouncing against the gate before a field trial.
My announcement of "Dinnertime!" was countered with Ashi's near-constant refrain,
"OSSIDE!"

"You want to eat outside?"

"Yesh!"

Recognizing that this may be the only way to get some dinner in the boy's belly, I set up to feed the boys on the front porch.

Asher wanted to share some of his yogurt with Rami.


Asher thought the resulting oozing was hilarious. Rami agreed.


Following the celebratory flinging of the yogurt, Rami was a mess, and Ashi still hadn't eaten dinner.

Boys 2, Ima 0.
Oh, well. There's always tomorrow.

{colors}

On a lazy early evening this week,
a bucket of vibrant sidewalk chalk
and an equally, though uniquely, vibrant sky
were just calling my boys
to sit outside
and bask in their fabulousness.

The power of those colors on the boys,
I think,
is like the power of the boys on me.
The deliciousness of their smooth skin,
their lingering baby-scents,
and the sweetness of their expressions
beg for me
to just loaf around all evening, drinking them in.

Dinnertime be damned.






To see more {colors}, although I know I'm plenty late for the party, visit Beth's blog here. (Thanks for the challenge, Beth!)

Mother's Day - Epilogue

Sometimes when you pick up your child
you can feel the map of your own bones beneath your hands,
or smell the scent of your skin in the nape of his neck.
This is the most extraordinary thing about motherhood -
finding a piece of yourself separate and apart
that all the same you could not live without.
~Jodi Picoult, "Perfect Match: A Novel"