Potty Training Revisited
Yesterday, I decided it was time to attempt potty training again. Compared to Samara, who is only three months old, Ari is like an old man. He's going to be three-years-old tomorrow and that means it's high time he spent some quality time on the toilet. Yesterday, I put him in underwear all day long. He peed all over the floor, and (eventually) in the toilet multiple times. I was so focused on the task at hand, that I canceled a playdate I had previously scheduled. I told my friend, Liz, that there was pee all over my house and that we'd better hang out another day.Each time he peed in the toilet, he got a cat cookie. Despite all the peeing on the floor and the soaked underwear, my crowning achievement as a mother occurred when I woke up this morning to find that Ari had slept in underwear in a dry bed! Today, he has peed on the toilet numerous times, and pooped on the bathroom floor once. Progress! Hopefully he will be wearing underwear when he enters college.
The Day Two Cats Escaped
Yesterday morning, I was in a sleepy haze, when I heard Wil come in the door from work around 5:00am. "Babe," He said "Uh...there's a cat outside our door. He's really cute." "No..." I grumbled "We can't keep him." "But, I don't know what to do with him...I'm gonna feed him. I think he's hungry." "Okay...but don't bring him in here..." I said drifting back off to sleep. A few hours later, there was a knock at my door, it woke me up. It was our neighbor from downstairs. "Hi!" She said cheerily "Is this your cat?" Before I even looked down to see what cat she was talking about, I said: "No, no, no...he's a stray..." then I glanced down and saw him. "Oh! He's not our cat, he's my parent's cat...uh...Dusty." I was clearly not awake, my hair was sticking up, and I was wearing a gross tee-shirt and pajama pants. "Thanks--thanks so much. I'll bring him back...have a great day." She smiled politely, went on her way out the door, most likely thinking that I was a giant slob. I walked the formerly homeless cat known as Dusty back downstairs to his rightful owners. **Later that day** [...]
Bottle it Up or Let it Out
I consider myself a sensitive person. Although, I keep a lot of my sensitivity on the inside. Something someone says will offend me and often, I don't say anything. After years of therapy, I've learned to express my emotions better. The trouble is, it takes me an extremely long time to get the chutzpah to say what's on my mind. I suppose the reason that I'm afraid to say how I feel, is because I've been burned in the past. I've told people how I felt, and they haven't been receptive to it. I guess the trick is to have conviction in myself. Regardless of how the other person reacts, I know what I feel, and what I think, and that's what matters. Easier said than done. I think I might need to get back in therapy to work on that one.I've been thinking a lot about my sensitivity when it comes to my kids. I want them to be able to express themselves without fear. I want them to have confidence in their beliefs, in their feelings so that they aren't plagued by displaced emotions. But if they see their mother bottling her feelings up, will they model after [...]
This Won’t Hurt a Bit (And Other White Lies), Michelle Au Cracks Me Up
Recently, Ari was in the hospital for nearly a week. During the course of our stay, we met numerous doctors and nurses, and I can only remember one of them who had a decent sense of humor. Her name was Shantel, and she was a Libra nurse. None of actual MDs ever cracked a smile. Ironically, as we were walking into the hospital (to get admitted) , my great friend Leah sent me an email recommending I take a look at a blog called The Underwear Drawer. She said: "Do you want to review a book? There's a really funny blog I read by a mom/doctor. She is so funny! You will love it. I feel like you guys should be BFFs via the Internet." Well, she didn't need to convince me any further. The book was called This Won't Hurt a Bit (and other white lies), and the blog in question belonged to Michelle Au. I clicked on over to The Underwear Drawer, and I immediately fell in love with it. Michelle is an anesthesiologist and lives in Atlanta with her husband, Joe (also a doctor), two boys Cal, 5, and Mack, 2, and their dog Cooper. She, unlike [...]
Random Life Observations
I don't want to alarm anyone, but I think something might be wrong with me. I can't think of anything to write. Well, that's not entirely true. I have some ideas, but many of them are "too personal" or "too provocative" and I'm not sure I can deal with the fall out after posting them. Instead, I'm going to share some things I've noticed lately, using photographs to illustrate them. I enjoy driving.Ari enjoys throwing sand... And stealing other people's tricycles. Even in New York City, you can still find a bird's nest. Samara is getting bigger by the day. Ari is going to be three years old. I can't believe it. Finally, I have two kids. No really...two of them. Wil looks mad in this picture, but insists that "the sun was in his eyes."What have you noticed lately?
Recess Monkey LIVE at The 92Y Tribeca
Today Ari, Samara and I had the awesome opportunity to see Recess Monkey live at 92Y Tribeca! As usual, they rocked the house, and had whole crowd, kids and adults, dancing up a storm. It was our first time at The 92Y Tribeca, and it was a really nice space. I'm looking forward to checking out future events there for kids. Thank you, Recess Monkey, for an amazing show!
Flying High With Recess Monkey
It's a constant challenge trying to find children's music that both Ari and I like. One fateful day in 2009, Ari and I found our favorite band, Recess Monkey! We've been in love ever since. Recess Monkey consists of three teachers, who also happen to be amazing musicians, from Seattle. Jack Forman (who plays Bass and does vocals) and I kept in touch over time. I even made some silly videos of Ari with Recess Monkey playing in the background. Mr. Forman even let me interview him for OS/NS Mom.Here's Ari dancing to "My Favorite Book" one of the new tracks on their new album "Flying."I was psyched when I got an email from Elizabeth, Recess Monkey's PR manager, with the news that "Flying" was available for review. I knew Ari would be pleased too.Recess Monkey's "Flying" is a lot of fun, just like the rest of their albums. One of my favorite tracks from "Flying" is called "Invisible Friend." The song is a dialogue between a child and his imaginary friend. It's such a common childhood theme, and is so well illustrated in this track.One of the best things about Recess Monkey's music is how danceable it is. You [...]
Why Did I Call The Doctor?
Yesterday we went to the playground, which was extremely hot. Samara was sleeping in the Moby Wrap, so one side of her face got sunburned. She was really cranky when we got home, and I wanted to do something to soothe her sunburn, poor thing. I made the mistake of looking on the internet for treatments for baby sunburns. The first thing I saw was "baby sunburn, when to call a doctor." Naturally, I freaked out, and called the doctor. Of course, I had to leave a message for someone to call me back. In the interim, I called my friend Donna, who has five siblings and has witnessed many an ailment."SAMARA HAS A SUNBURN! THE INTERNET SAID TO CALL THE DOCTOR! WHAT DO I DO?!""Give her a cool bath and some infant tylenol." Donna said calmly."Okay, okay ..." I said trying to remain calm. All of a sudden,I noticed the doctor was calling on the other line. I quickly hung up with Donna and promised to call her back.Guess what the doctor's advice was? A cool bath and infant tylenol!Why the hell did I bother calling the doctor?!I called Donna back to tell her the news, and I strongly [...]
Please Refrain From Flash Photography
Watch as Samara reacts to a camera flash!
The Department of Vital Records Strikes Again
When we first received Samara's birth certificate there was error on it. So, like any neurotic Jewish mother would do, I trekked down to the hospital with the two kids to get the error fixed. The error, in case you were interested, was that the time of birth was listed as 10:07 am, when Samara was actually born at 8:06 pm. A month later we received this envelope:I opened it to find this: Which made me feel like this: The Department of Vital Records is jumping rope on my last nerve. I guess I'll have to make a second trip into Manhattan and fill out yet another correction form! As if I didn't have enough going on. I wonder what the next version of this document is going to look like. Maybe she'll be born at 2am! I can only hope they get it right this time.
Surgery, Therapy Dogs, Improv Theater and a Baby in a Laundry Basket
Ari had surgery this morning. The doctors came and got him from his hospital room at 9am to transport him to the O.R. They let me come with him down to the Operating Room, but first they suited me up: When we were traveling down to the Operating room, I felt like I was the one about to have surgery. I guess that's because Ari is like an extension of me. We got to the Operating Room. He cried at the unfamiliar stark white surroundings. I held him while the Anesthesiologist sedated him. I was terrified. He was going under general anesthesia. He fell asleep quickly. As soon as I saw him on the Operating Room table I could feel a lump in my throat. I wanted to cry. "Okay, mom." Said the Anesthesiologist, I was glad that she spoke because it stopped me from crying, "We'll show you to the family lounge now." One of the nurses walked me to the family lounge where I could wait for the surgery to be over. It was the longest 30 minutes of my life. I tried to distract myself by looking at silly websites on my phone, i.e. damnyouautocorrect.com, but I [...]
Admitted to The Hospital
I don't know what day it is. I barely know what time it is. Everything is running together. People's faces are blurred. I can't tell one doctor from another. They all look the same. We're in the hospital. Ari is in the hospital. I write those words and I don't believe them. It's surreal. At some point in time, I realized that Ari wasn't getting better. The mass on his throat was swollen and red. I called the pediatrician and said: "Look, he isn't getting better, what can we do?" "The next step is so see an ENT doctor." Ear, Nose and Throat. The ENT I wanted to see (the one affiliated with my pediatrician) wasn't available for two days. So I took a second choice appointment with a back up ENT. It was a mistake. The doctor, we'll call him Dr. Y, barely looked at Ari and said he needed a Cat Scan. Whoa...back the bus up! He called in his partner who said "He doesn't need a Cat Scan, the mass is superficial. You should aspirate it." I went along with that plan; another mistake. Dr. Y strapped Ari into a papoose like structure. He stuck a needle [...]
I Got Lost in Bed Stuy, And Then I Learned How to Wear My Baby
My friend Chana Leah invited me to a baby wearing meeting at store called Caribou Baby here in Brooklyn. Since I frequently wear Samara in the Moby Wrap, I thought it would be fun to go. I tried to call my friend Cordy to see if she wanted to go, but she (being a mom of two girls three and under) dropped her phone in the toilet, so I couldn't get in touch with her. Instead, I talked to her husband, Chaim, who encouraged me to leave the house. I was having second thoughts about going to this event, and I was particularly feeling anxious about meeting new people. I posted on my Facebook status that I was headed to Billyburg (that is slang for Williamsburg, a neighborhood in Brooklyn, for those of you non-New Yorkers) and immediately, my friend Alicia, from college, replied with something like "Where?" I can't remember exactly what she said because I have no brain right now. She works in Bushwick, so Williamsburg is really close to her office. I told her to call me immediately. She did, and we decided to meet up for lunch at a cafe near her job. I piled two [...]
Farewell Story Time
Today was my last day covering Story Time at the library. Ari was feeling a little better this morning, so I asked him if he was up to going to Story Time. He "Yes!" enthusiastically. The pediatrician said since he is on antibiotics, he is not contagious. So off we went. On the way out the door we ran into my dad. He asked if I wanted help with Story Time and I said "Yes!" enthusiastically. When I got to the library, Samara was cranky. Thankfully, she fell asleep in the moby wrap as I was walking around looking for books to read to the kids. We had a lot of fun as usual. Toward the end of Story Time Ari got tired. Those are not his boots, FYI. I am a poor multi-tasker, so his exhaustion resulted in this: In addition to being exhausted, he was upset because a little girl hit him. He responded by hitting her back. Then he started to cry. Kids are weird. Here are the books we chose: Ari selected this one: The librarian is back next Monday, so I'm off the hook. But, I have to say it was a lot of fun. [...]