I KNEW IT!

In my previous post, I SAID that maybe Syler might be a shape-shifter!

I'm good....

Because I'm SO not 12 anymore...

Malka has suddenly become an adept expert at stairs. This was proven to me last night, at Shul, when she walked on over to the steps that lead from the main sanctuary, to the small children's service room, and she simply held the hand rail and WALKED UP THE STEPS. I was plotzing! (and SO proud!)

So today, Malka and I went to the playground, and she was SOOOO happy to CLIMB! The slide steps! BY HERSELF! (I was right behind her, however...) When we got to the top, I held her, sat down myself, and we slid down together. I don't think Malka could have smiled any bigger.

So the third time we go up, I sit down, but a bit too far to the right, and you see where those 'safety rails' end? Into the little lips that border the actual slide, so kids don't go sliding off? Well my "not 12 anymore" self came down FULL weight on the lip to the right, and I felt that oddly painful, yet slightly enjoyable rush of adrenaline that accompanies a wound of force. And I continued to slide down with Malka, when all I wanted to do was hop down and yelp in pain.

We continued our day, went and saw mommy between shows, had a lovely dinner at Chipotle. Malka LOVES her some Chipotle! We went to that toy store with the backwards R, where, thanks to Natalie, and a left over $25.00 gift certificate from Malka's birthday in December, we got TMX Elmo, which Narda says is OK, since he's really a tall balck man.

When we got home, of course, Elmo had to make an appearance, and as it happened last time, hilarity ensued.

I took a moment to look in the mirror while Malka was laughing hysterically, and found a LOVELY souvenir from our adventures this afternoon - I'm sure the rainbow effect will increase as time goes on.

But it was a lovely day regardless, because I got to spend time with BOTH of my girls..

Kvelling over here!

One of Malka's (and our's) dear friends was JUST (as in moments ago) accepted as the FIRST openly gay Cantorial Student at JTS (Jewish Theological Seminary)

She has a BEAUTIFUL voice, she has
impeccible taste in bibs, --------->>>>>>
and we just couldn't be prouder.

Mazal Tov, Marisa, we're SO proud and happy for you! Yesher Koach!

Because some things shouldn't be translated...

T minus - well, look over there...

of Syler, the Cheeleaders and Hiros...

So um, WTF!

I was SO jammin' on the groove, until Syler painted that picture of a "Syler-stein," aka Frankenstein as President - ACK - and now with shape shifter chick, I'm not sure if anyone is who they are - you know?

OK - so I now have total faith in Claire's dad, glasses guy. I'm still torn about Linderman, but I DO applaud him saving the art, and there may be some merit in that. But I'm not sure how George Takei and Linderman fit into the whole big picture.

I was hoping that Syler, in taking over the power of Isaac, would paint a scene with HIM, (Syler) dead - but that didn't happen - so WTF!

And Hiro meeting his future self? Or is it Syler?

I'm ALL confused now - should the bomb go off or shouldn't it? Do we sacrifice NYC to save the world? Is NYC itself "the tracking device?"

What do you think?

The power of green

The power of green
Originally uploaded by shellipsm.

5,824 Killowatt hours, consumed by us, were produced by wind and water, and pumped into NYC's electric Grid.

Now that's something to be proud of!

Happy Earth Day!

To sign up for green power, please go to this site to learn more, and to sign up:

http://www.conedsolutions.com/residential/greenpowermain.htm

Because they like to change it up a bit...

Trista had a good suggestion about the milk thing, and I'll ask our doctor tomorrow. She's seriously not drinking ANY.MILK.AT.ALL. But she's gobbling up cottage cheese, yogurt, smoothies, and the like, so we're not as concnerned. And she IS drinking water, and having wet dipes, so it's totally a "simple" (hahaha) milk avoidance.

However.... part of bedtime routine USED to be: dinner, books, bath, BOTTLE, bed. The bottle knocked her out, she got her "milk drunk on." It's been harder and harder to get her to take her night time bottle, now she just plain refuses it. And tonight? She simply wanted to play. OK, I thought, we'll play for a bit, she can help me go get the laundry, (she LOVES helping with the laundry), and then she'll go to bed... HA!

We go get the laundry, (She's SO DAMN cute in her "assistance" - she tosses the clothes FROM the basket to the dryer, most often missing, but it IS adorable to watch), and we come upstairs. It's about 7:20 or so now. I start the hum of the lullaby that I usually use with her, and she SHAKES HER HEAD NO! Oy. We're in for a long night. I'm figuring it's probably something developmental.

She's also in this weird "I only want Eemah" stage - if Narda goes to her, and she doesn't see me, it's all good. They can have hours of fun play and snuggles together. But if she sees or hears me? She will scream the scream that sounds like the earth is opening up underneath her. It's a bit disturbing, actually. She calms down a bit when I go and hold her, but it's rather intense. Narda theorizes that she's on the verge of talking, and that makes a lot of sense - but OY, these "developmental changes" that affect her sleep? They're BRUTAL.

Thank you all for the previous suggestions and thoughts about the milk thing, it really helped to calm me down.

My prayer is that by the time #2 gets here, Malka will have trained us well enough in all of the oddities of growing up...

Because I didn't have anything to worry about for a while..

I'm constantly reminded how much Lexapro has helped me. I take stock of potential danger zones of worry (PDZOW), and say to myself: "Wow! Good thing I'm on Lexapro, or I'd be a mess." half joking, half serious. For example, I had a random pain on my left side the other day, and I was easily able to say to myself, "Self, this is your pectoral muscle hurting, because, you know, Malka's 31 pounds, and you tend to lift her up on your left side. Oh. OK then." or, when she woke up at midnight last night for NO.APPARANT.REASON, "wow, this sucks, sleep regression starting 2 months early. damn." And no further thoughts from either event.

Except this am. Malka has been slowly drinking less and less milk. Her typical day used to be: 4oz at wake up, 8 oz at daycare, split into two bottles, 6 oz at bedtime - for a grand total of 18 ounces a day. Not a lot, but actually 2oz or so more than her doctor recommends (because of the chunk-a-liciousness). Plus, she eats cottage cheese and yogurt, so I'm sure it all adds up to the recommended daily dose of 20-24 ounces of calcium/dairy per day. But lately, she's been handing her night time bottle back to me after about 2oz gone, leaving 4oz, which I would just stick in the fridge and save for the morning. But this morning? She barely has had MAYBE 4oz total today. I did make a yogurt smoothie, and she had about 4oz of that, and loved it. She's eating food, she's drinking water, it's just milk that she's refusing.

I thought perhaps it was "off," so I went and bought a new carton, but the same reaction. She'll take a sip or two, and hand me back the bottle. As if to say, "waiter, I'm done here, take this back to the kitchen." I did read, at baby center dot com that sometimes toddlers do just randomly stop eating their favorite foods, including milk, and I hope that this is the case.

Because I'll tell ya - if it's something else? We may just have to up my Lexapro to 20mg, as I can feel the knot of worry slowly building...

SCOTUS is all up in my who-ha again!

Five MEN, two of whom were appointed by Bush, made a decision today.

THEY decided to UPHOLD the Abortion BAN that Bush signed into law in 2003.

According to President Bush: ''I am pleased that the Supreme Court has upheld a law that prohibits the abhorrent procedure of partial birth abortion,'' he said. ''Today's decision affirms that the Constitution does not stand in the way of the people's representatives enacting laws reflecting the compassion and humanity of America.''

...Reflecting the compassion and humantiy of America. But apparantly not compassion towards women.

A great time was had by all...

Malka and Natalie had a wonderful time together this past weekend - Malka playing with all of Natalie's new toys that she got for her birthday, (erm, thanks for sharing, Nat!), Natalie signing more to the singing, both girls mysteriously waking up at 1am, 3am and 5am - AT THE SAME TIME, Malka sharing a cold with Natalie, and some lovely time spent with friends.

Here, Malka demonstrates how NOT to use the popper-walking-toy-thinggy, but she doesn't seem to mind...

No More Drive Throughs...

I promise to post about our wonderful weekend in DC with Natalie, Jen and Cait, but first, I want to urge you to go HERE.

Currently, many insurance companies are trying to push through Mastectomies as an OUT-PATIENT procedure.

Um.

Yeah.

So please, go sign this petition. I promise, it's NOT an "NPR, sign your name and pass it on" deal - it's an actual petition, where you sign your name and zip code.

Thanks.

Communication...

As I've mentioned previously, Malka's a bit behind on the verbal language front, but since she has receptive language, we aren't too concerned.

It DOES however, pull at my heartstrings just a bit when I hear of babies of friends, and baby friends, and fellow kids in Malka's daycare chatting up a storm. Now Malka does indeed "chat," but we're not sure what she's saying.

We know, that since we're teaching her Hebrew, English and Sign, and she's getting some Spanish AND French at daycare, that she's either really confused, or will spew out 5 languages in a matter of months!

But here's what she does know/show/speak so far:

Sign:
-Water
-Eat
-All Done
-More (she had been using this to amplify all done, as in "I'm SO done, mommies; but we think we've clarified for her that it's just related to wanting more of something, like food, or a book, but in reality, I guess it could mean she's even "MORE" all done!)
-She understands the signs for: Bath and wash.

Speaks:
-Todah, which means thank you, but it always sounds like "daduh"
-Narda? We both spin aorund and FREAK out that it really really sounds like the kid is saying Narda. A LOT.
-Eeeeeeemmmm - Eemah, perhaps?
-Ka - either cat or just the sound to hear her own voice (see what I mean about not being "quite" sure...)
-'nceee- Quincy, the cat
-mmmmm'mmmmm - Tasty
-iis? - This, said while pointing to a random object.
-erm, that's about it, really. She'll repeat sounds and inflections, and she babbles a LOT (just like her Eemah, heh), but no concrete words.

But If I ask her to do stuff or point to stuff in either English, or Hebrew, she will. So that's something, right?

can't and can...

The following are a list of things we simply CANNOT live without:

-Our Ergo . As used in today's monsoon; I put Malka into the ergo (ALL 31 pounds of her) in the back position (by myself, mind you!), walked with umbrella to the bus stop, and we took the bus to daycare. It was great! If I so much as LOOK at the Ergo in its lovely little cubby, Malka bounces and squeals with delight.

-Our Sit and Stroll. Malka is, (as mentioned above) a healthy 31 pounds. This puts her out of limits for most portable car seats (the bucket kind). Since we don't have a car, and most of our car transport is either via cab, or "getting a lift from a friend," We don't need a big, bulky car seat. Plus, we need portability. Since this can hold a tot up to 40 pounds, and it converts into a stroller, and it FITS IN AIRPLANE SEATS, it's a MUST have. Now it did take me a week of cursing and getting black and blue fore arms to used to the dang thing, but now that I am? It's a DREAM, and it drives REALLY well, and is much more stable on streets than some people would claim.

-The Sharper Image Sound Soother. When Malka was smaller, and would fall asleep in her stroller during one of our many many walks, we'd bring her into her room, still in the stroller, turn on the "city sounds" button, and leave the room. It gave us a much needed break. Now she goes to sleep to the general white noise sounds. But this is the only one we found that had the city sounds on it...

-Her cool mist humidifier. Not only does it have the added bonus of lovely white noise when on high, but it really gets her room to a decent 25-35% humidity level on those really dry days, which help her breathe better during (frequent, thanks to daycare...) congestion periods...

-Our Shampoo Rinse Cup. Malka has NEVER been a fan of having water near her face in large quantities (read: washing her hair) But since we found this thing that looks like a large yogurt container cut in half with a handle and a soft spot that conforms to the baby's head, Malka's allowed me to not only wash, but CONDITION her hair. As long as I play with the device, and use it as a water fountain that she can also "wash" her hands in, it's all good.

-From when she was younger: the Sleep Positioner. It REALLY helped alivieate Malka's reflux, and it also helped prevent that flat head thing that back-sleeping babies get. She used it from the time she came home (at 8 weeks, 5 days), to about 8 or 9 months old (when she could roll over to her tummy from her back).


And here are a few items that we CAN live without:

-A bottle warmer - Seriously? we just nuke her milk for 20 seconds in a GLASS container then transfer to the bottle. She drank her formula at room temp - we never used the thing. (but THANK YOU Uncle Bobby, we meant to!)

-Sleep Sacks. They work for some, totally NOT for miss thang. 'nuf said.

-Portable placemat. Yeah, I'm a suker. I bought it. NEVER used it. When we are out with Miss Malka Palka Pooka Palka? I just take a baby wipe and wipe the table. And hope the surrounding germs take that as a warning...

-The small, soft bath thinggy? We went straight to the EUROBATH; and continued using it until about a month and a half ago. But, as you can see, Cougie liked it...


I'm sure there's more, but I can't think of them right now... care to add to the list?

More have been added...

As I was AT the petfood store on Sunday (happy that it was open, because the fur balls were low on their supplies), I CALLED Nutromax and spoke to a representative, and was told that the foods were CLEAR AND SAFE. So I stocked up. I had them OFF their food for a while, and we were using fancy feast in it's stead, but I went ahead and got them their regular food on Sunday. And fed it to them for the past few days.

Then a NEW Press release came out YESTERDAY that MORE foods have been added to the recall.

So PLEASE, go here, and make sure that your furry kids are eating food that's safe.

And back on the tuna fish they go. I'd keep them just on the dry food, but the senior citizens needs the "gravy" from the "cuts and gravy" to take their meds.

tsimmes

tsimmes
Originally uploaded by shellipsm.

She loves the tsimmes, too!

Pesach has been a BIG BIG hit at our house.

Have YOU started planning your carb binge for tomorrow night?

Sorry if this alienates anyone...

But do any of you who Kasher your kitchen for Pesach use tin foil to cover your counters?

And if so, HOW on G-d's green earth do you keep it clean by day 6? I've washed, and wiped, but to no avail. It's always SO pretty and shiny during the first few days - then the dull arrives. Should I just replace it? I'd hate to be that wasteful, but it may be my only hope...

Oh - and by the by, Malka LOVES my tsimmes - and um, let me tell you, she's been MORE regular during Pesach than during other times. Hmmm, maybe it's all of the prunes I put in my tsimmes... Or the fact that our Shmurah Matzoah is the OAT Shmurah Matzoah?

Malka LOVES the Matzoah Brei!

Malka LOVES the Matzoah Brei!
Originally uploaded by shellipsm.

What can I say? She is LOVING Pesach!

smitten

As previously mentioned, Malka fell in love with her cousin, Enmanuel on the second night of Pesach.


Here is a crawling race, which Enmanuel, a mere 9 years old, let Malka win...

Smart kid. And under the "tough" exterior, really sweet.

the trouble with naps...

Not Malka's, but mine.

After two seders that ended rather late, two days at home with a rambunctious toddler, cooking tsimmes and farfel and matzoah ball soup, and way more than 8 cups of wine in over 2 days, I was a bit pooped today.

I had SUCH grand plans for today. But by the time we all woke up, and by the time I got Malka to daycare in the rian and got back home, it was almost noon. OH the de-cluttering and cooking I was going to do today. OH how the storage unit was going to get sorted out. OH how I was going to cook some home made cat food for the beasties (since more and more food keeps getting added to the recall - but they aren't complaining that I've switched them to Fancy Feast - it's safe, AND yummy - and Juno and Cougar keep puking, but they are old cats and always puked a lot BEFORE the recall. So I watch Quincy, and he's his same spastic self, puke-free, so I'm not too worried). But um, I got home, and layed down to "rest my eyes for a few minutes."

And woke up at 4:00pm. So I scrambled to prep the tsimmes that I would put in the oven when we came home from daycare, and I made a farfel with tomato sauce and a 3 cheese blend. OK - it was totally for Malka, but OH my, was it SOOOOO good! Then I literally made it to daycare with minutes to spare, to learn that it was one of Malka's boyfriend's last days, (they're moving to NJ), but that one of her pals from her baby room is taking Maxime's place, so my secret plan to have all of her old baby room infiltrate the mini-toddler room that she is in is working (muhahahaha!)

But all of this to say, here it is, 11;18pm, and I'm NOT tired. Ugh. I'm going to try and go lie down and read for a bit and see if that works. It usually does. Because I have a big day at work tomorrow, and then 3 days home with the Malka Palka Pooka Palka (feel free to stop by and help me clean the house and keep me company and help with Malka care!) and then... and then... and then! MOMMY COMES HOME! And not just for a night, but mommy comes HOME. Now granted, she's hopping right into a broadway tech schedule, but she'll be home. And that will make all the difference. Oh sure, we'll have some "re-entry" stuff, but I'll just be grateful to have her home. And so will Malka. We've both missed her constant presence.

New pictures of the yummy tsimmes and other wonderful Pesach seder moments to come. I haven't had a chance to upload pictures, but I will do so soon. Malka fell SO much in love with her cousin Enmanuel, it was wonderful to watch the two of them together. And as usual, Maria's brisket was amazing.

Eemah's little helper...

Malka has hit the "mimic" stage - it's SO wonderful, and endearing, and lovely, but OY does it slow me down!

When we leave or enter the house, she wants to kiss the Mezuzzah (it's SO sweet), she helps with the recycling, and with taking the garbage out - she HAS to help carry the bags, and since it's kind of too heavy for her, I actually carry the knotted bag, and Malka carries the handles. And we s-l-o-w-l-y work our way down to the other end of the hall and then I toss the bags down the chute.

She'll come from which ever corner she's occupying in the living room if I ask her if she wants to help eemah with the recycling.

She always helps with the laundry - I fold it, she tosses it, giggling all the way.

She helps with doing the laundry - she holds one strap of the laundry basket and we inch our way to the basement.

She helps with the sweeping - due to having 3 cats, and 2 litter boxes, we keep a hand sweeper and dustpan on top one of the litter boxes. (aka easy toddler access) So Malka will "sweep sweep" at any given opportunity.

Truth be told? I'm grateful for the pace, and I'm SO glad for the help. I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Now I have to finish the rest of the chores and go search for the Chametz and burn it with my lulav. This is always the tricky bit, as we live in a NYC apartment, and I can't just go outside and burn my chametz, I'll have to be a bit sneaky...

A Ziessen pesach to you all.