Growth
I subbed for Pre K the other day, and I was surrounded by four-year-olds, so I drew this with crayons: I love sitting down with the kids and drawing, it's very relaxing. This particular Pre K class gave me hope for next year. While I was making my masterpiece, I was talking to one of the parents, who happened to be volunteering in the class that day. I told her about Ari's aggressive, defiant, and even combative behavior. "How old is he now?" She asked "Three." "Yeah, don't worry," She said "She was like that too," she said gesturing to her daughter who was happily creating artwork with us. "Really?" I said in disbelief looking at her child who appeared to be spirited but not aggressive by any means. "What did you do? How did deal with that behavior?" "You know what, you basically just have to ride it out. Nothing much you do is going to change it. It's a phase. One day, you'll see, he'll just stop. It's an annoying period, but you get through it." I hope she's onto something here. I've been trying to be more patient these days, but there's only so much irrationality I [...]
Perpetual Teeth Grinder
Today, I got an email asking if I would check out Top Dentists, and also, if I'd be interested in writing a post about how dental care has impacted my life. I had to think about this for like three seconds and then I remembered, my night guard. I've noticed lately, that I manifest my stress in my body. That's why I love going to acupuncture, because it allows my body and my mind to relax. One of the things I do is grind my teeth. In the morning when I wake up, my jaw feels so tight, I sort of feel like Dr. Frankenstein's monster. My dentist said I needed to use a night guard, which is this bizarre plastic looking thing that is molded into the shape of my teeth. It looks like this: I was skeptical about using a night guard, because I felt like a total dork, but my dentist was laying it on thick about how my teeth were crowding, and how eventually, if I didn't use my night guard, it would result it tooth decay and other scary things, so I listened to Dr. M, and popped that suck in at night: I still [...]
The No Pants Subway Ride 2012
Today, the kids and I, along with my friends Donna, Rita and some of Rita's friends, went on the 11th annual No Pants Subway Ride. Every year, since 2001, New Yorkers have been boarding the subway for one cold day in January and promptly removing their pants one person at a time, stop by stop. It all started when Rita and I hung out in December. Rita and I see each other, on average, once every six months, and when we do hang out, it's epic. There's so much to catch up on. On our date, we ate some huevos rancheros at Perch, and Rita mentioned that she was planning on attending the No Pants Subway Ride in January. "Wait, what?" I asked "I need to know about this immediately!" Rita told me all about disrobing that occurred on the subway back in January 2011. I told her to count me in, sans pants, for 2012. Then I told my Donna about NPSR. She was psyched, and told me she was in too. Today, January 8th 2012, we all met at the Stone House playground in Park Slope, and listened to this guy for instructions: Then we were divided into [...]
“I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant” In Real Life
I went to visit Ari's doctor on Friday, because he had been complaining that his feet hurt for some time. While I was in the waiting room, I met a dad who was playing in the play kitchen with his daughter. The daughter was around Samara's age, she had just turned one. The baby and Samara were fascinated by each other. They kept touching one and other's faces, and trying to bite each other. It was very cute. While the babies were playing, Ari was occupying himself in the refrigerator playing with the pretend eggs. The dad was young looking, if I'd have to guess, I would say around 25. He had square rimmed dark brown glasses, dark brown spiked hair, and was dressed in a black tee-shirt, jeans, and high top Adidas. He and I got to talking, and it turned out that he worked for Trader's Joe's. We talked about my intense obsession for the store.A few minutes later, the baby's mom came out. She was petite, and had short black curly hair, which was held back by a tan headband. She appeared to be biracial but I couldn't tell what her heritage was. She was beautiful. He [...]
I Wish You Could Purchase Patience at The Store
A long, long time ago, when this blog was a tyrannosaurus rex, I wrote about hitting a frustration threshold. At that time, Ari was a baby. I was lamenting about how I'm impatient, I became utterly frustrated when I couldn't figure out what he wanted or needed at 11 months old. Nearly two years later, Ari can talk. I know what he wants most of the time, because he is hyper-verbal, which is a fancy phrase to mean that he doesn't stop talking. Don't get me wrong, I love the fact that my son is loquacious and bright, but it makes for very challenging, and sometimes infuriating, days. He tries to negotiate everything. I tell him "put your shoes on." He lies on the floor and begs me to help him with them. We get into a battle about the damn shoes. Finally, I say"Okay, if you don't put your shoes on, you're not going to art class.""I want to go to art class!" He shoots back."Then put your shoes on!!" I shout.Then a yelling match ensues, and I end up feeling like a terrible parent, because my kid doesn't listen to me and his shoes aren't on.We have the [...]
Magical Kosher (I Might Add) Beef Marrow Bones Soup
Ari is a notoriously picky eater. I've been at my wits end trying to get him to eat anything other than peanut butter and honey sandwiches. Even though the peanut butter, honey are organic, and the bread is whole grain, it's still not enough to survive on. There was one day, in particular, that really freaked me out. We went to Blue Sky for a muffin and coffee for me, and a chocolate chip cookie for him. He refused the cookie, which was really bizarre because he ordinarily loves those cookies. He insisted that it was "gross" and wouldn't eat it. Desperate for a solution, I took him to my acupuncture clinic to see if they had any suggestions for holistic care to treat his eating issues. The clinic has a pediatric shift, and the practitioners were really patient and understanding. The supervisor, Melanie, recommended making a soup, and putting beef bones in it for extra nutritional value. Beef marrow bones, she said, all kinds of nutrients in them that Ari is currently not eating from his peanut butter diet. I wish I could be more scientific about this, but I'm too lazy to point you to a statistic or [...]
Going Back to School and Writing About it On The Information Superhighway
In June 2011, a visit to the NYC Department of Education changed my life. I met one of the meanest, disgruntled DOE employees while attempting to renew my substitute teaching license. However, if it wasn't for her blatant hostility and disregard for human life, I wouldn't have met her lovely supervisor. And if I hadn't met her supervisor, I wouldn't know about the DOE scholarship in Speech Language Pathology. That fateful day in June changed my life. I applied for the DOE scholarship in Speech, and I'm writing about my entire application process, and if I get in, G-d willing, I will continue to write about it on GradSchools.com.Click on the GradSchools.com logo below to read about my application woes; how it took me 3000 years to scan my transcripts, because Ari went hog wild at Staples, or about my GRE phobia, or how about...okay enough of the spoilers, click below and read the articles yourself:
Self Portraits on Xmas
It's Xmas, and we are bored. While everyone is out getting last minute items, we are taking pictures of ourselves. Here's some of our work:
I Don’t Know How to Use a Comma
I have a confession to make, I'm 32 years old and I don't know how to use a comma. This is shocking, but true. It all started 27 years ago when I was in kindergarten. I grew up in New York City in the 1980's. I was raised in the NYC public school system. At my schools, P.S.87, The Computer School, Booker T. Washington Junior High School 54, and Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School For Music & Art and Performing Arts, I did not learn grammar. As a result, I don't know how to use a comma correctly. This became abundantly clear when I was hired for a freelance transcription job. I emailed my first draft of the transcript, and I received a long email back with many corrections. One of the main corrections that was pointed out to me is my overuse of commas. I'm not sure why, but apparently I love commas. My education has failed me. I went to good schools, some of them were gifted and talented programs even, I am a graduate of NYU, but a comma defies me. However, I'm done living in the past. It's time to move on with my grammatical life. [...]
Sometimes, You Need to Ask For Help
I can't do it all. I've come to this realization recently. So I asked my right-hand man to help me with something today. It worked out well. I think he really got into to! We had a lot of fun cleaning. How did I get him to do it? This morning he asked me " Can I watch something?" I said "You can watch something if you help me clean," to which he replied"Okay!" The rest was history. The motivating factor for me was not television, but rather music. I blasted my tunes while I was cleaning to keep myself going. We were listening to Quietdrive's album Deliverance. This was a really productive morning. Thank you Ari! Let's do this again sometime, hopefully on a regular basis.
Ari Shops At Trader Joe’s
Ari has recently taken the lead when it comes to grocery shopping. Take a look!
This is How it’s Done
When I ask you what you love about me, you say "Everything." I say"What's one thing?"You reply "You're cool."Here's what I love about you:You love children and the elderly, and you're wonderful with both of them. You think everybody deserves a chance. You don't give up.You can put complicated things together without an instruction manual.You can find my keys when I can't.You clean the house!You are a dedicated loving father, and you always put our kids first. You're generous.You let Ari sleep on your back, even though it hurts your back.You gave me your special headphones.I love you!
The Winner of The Ficklets Giveaway
The winner of the OS/NS Mom Ficklets Giveaway is Leah! Congratulations Leah! You won! Check out more from Ficklets here. How do you feel, Leah?
Listia: It’s Like Ebay, But with FREE STUFF!
When I was in college, back in the late 1990's, I had a major Ebay addiction. Ebay was mesmerizing to me. One could bid and purchase items from the 80's like old school Nintendos, Teddy Ruxpins, to other cool things ranging from antique chairs to clothes, even cars for crying out loud! Not toy cars, we're talking Nissans and Hondas. Welcome to 2011, where I don't have the luxury of buying whatever I want all the time. Enter Listia. My best friend, Mint, introduced me to this site, by saying: "it's like shopping, without really buying anything, because everything is free!"Listia is a place online where you can bid on and get free stuff. Sounds to good to be true right? Well, it's not. Want to know more? I had the opportunity speak with Listia founders, and here's what they had to say: 1. What was the inspiration for Listia?James came up with the idea for Listia because he was having trouble giving away free snowboard boots on craigslist. The long version of the story is here:http://blog.listia.com/giving-away-free-stuff-should-be-easy2. Who are the founders? Tell us about yourselves? James Fong Gene Chuang Hi guys, this is Sarah here, I'm just going to take [...]
And Then…I Changed My Pants
The other day, something humiliating happened to me. My friend Adriana, and I had plans to go to the movies. Wil was going to watch the kids. As usual, my time management skills, or lack there of, took over, and I tried to do too much before the movie. I drove over to Trader Joe's with Samara, while Ari and Wil were still sleeping, bought snacks, drove back home to meet Adriana. Adriana estimated her time of arrival to meet me at 10:15am, but the train ran express, so she got there a little after 10am. Because I am terrible at managing time, I was still wearing yoga pants and a tee shirt. The yoga pants were covered in food stains, maybe some banana residue, some oatmeal, who knows what else. Did I mention that I have two kids? Adriana was walking toward my house, at the same time as a questionable looking man. There happen to be a lot of questionable looking characters on my block, so I didn't really think much of the guy...until he spoke to me. "I know you got a right, but damn. Do you really have to go outside like that?" It took me [...]