glenrockschwartz

Dear Avery, Tomorrow you are having your adenoids removed.  We have spent the entire three-and-a-half years that is your life constantly wiping your nose and listening to you snore and the past six or so weeks squirting Nasonex and saline up your nose every evening to shrink your adenoids (it didn't work, which is why we are on the eve of your surgery).  You loved and seem to sincerely miss the Nasonex/saline combination because it meant getting to eat two jellybeans everyday. And you seem to be responding to the idea of this surgery in the same way you did the nasal sprays - "You mean I can eat ANYTHING I want!?!!?  Juice? Candy? Ice-pops and ice-cream?  So when is this thing happening when I can eat anything I want?" Your dad and I have had a bit of a different reaction both because we are older and understand more what is about to happen and because you are our child and we love you more than you may think is even humanly possible.  I worry most about t...

Dear Kids, I want you to remember the year that you were seven and three (or almost eight and almost four, as you both like to remind me) and the storm that we have just experienced.  For the very first time in your lives, our house was without power for three days.  We stayed with family and friends because it was too cold and dark to stay in our own home and I want you to always remember how kind people are. Sadly, this is the Halloween that wasn't.  There were too many tree and power wires in the road so it was not safe to trick-or-treat.  You have not yet worn your costumes or gotten any candy, but you have been such good kids an have not complained even one bit. You will have many Halloweens in the years to come, but I think that this will be the one that you remember most - the Halloween that wasn't. Thank you for being such good kids. Love, Mom

Hi kids, "Dor v'dor" means from generation to generation in Hebrew.  That's the title of this post because I had a wonderful experience with you two last night celebrating Simchat Torah at the Glen Rock Jewish Center.  And I remember when Grandma used to take me when I was a kid.  I don't know, honestly, which is more fun, being a kid and going or watching your kids when you are older. In any case, I want to let you know that this year, I wore a tallit and danced with a torah.  Alex, you held a real torah for the first time and that is really amazing and special for a seven year old. We also all stood under a chuppah as a family during the reading of the torah and sang the blessings before the torah reading together.  What an incredible honor for all of us. Chag sameach! Love,  Mommy

Dear Alex,  I want to make sure I document the good along with the bad. This post definitely falls into the "good" camp.   Last week, you were playing in the backyard with Josh and David and you lost one of your big front teeth. Like every other kid that this happens to, you now have a goofy smile (and the other big front tooth is hanging on by a thread!). What the loss of this tooth really signals for me in some odd kind of way is a sign that you are really growing up. Whether it is coincidence or not, many other amazing achievements have also occurred over the past few weeks.  1. At Rosh Hashanah dinner, you were humming a song and then questioned who sang it. You answered yourself (black eyed peas), but your dad countered that it was someone else (he believed it to be Rihanna and Nikki Minaj). Your dad challenged you to NEVER question him when it comes to pop culture, that he would even bet you an itouch if you were right. You could have backed down, but y...

I just wanted to wish my favorite Kiwi Strawberry (blonde) - the remarkable Naomi Harris-Narev - a very happy birthday. I think about you a lot and miss you. xo

Avery has cute little toes and one of my nicknames for her is 'tiny toes'. In the past couple of days she has insisted that I drop the nickname. In her mind, since she is no longer tiny, she can no longer have tiny toes. Much of this stems from her incredible strength and fearlessness for giving up her pacifier. As of Friday September 16, 2011 Avery has no more paci and she sleeps in a big girl bed instead of a toddler bed and she goes to sleep all on her own. I could not be more proud and hope that she is proud of herself too.  Saturday morning to celebrate, I took her to the toy store and let her choose ANYTHING she wanted. She chose triplet baby dolls that say 'mama' and make other noises. She hasn't stopped playing with them. After the toy store, we went to Alex's flag football game (he is a great defensive player, btw - but when did I become such an over-complimentary Jewish mother!) and Avery put all her pacifiers in a plastic bag to give to bab...

Honestly, I was having an anxiety attack this morning as I dropped Alex off for his first day of second grade and stayed after a bit to socialize with other parents. I was thinking "Is balance really possible or does it just mean that I'm doing too many things, all of them imperfectly." I know that the rule not to compare oneself is both important and impossible. Luckily, I have a network of working mommy friends who can talk me off the ledge when I cannot help but compare and these same fantastic women can make me laugh.  You see Alex (and Avery), I am learning and growing with you.