Last Post of the Year

The way I've been not posting at all, this could be just the last post. There have been so many events to write about, from Israel sending aid to Nigeria to bombing targets in Sudan.  From the insanity of the Haredim spitting at an 8 year old girl because she was not modestly dressed to their standards, to Syria considering Israel as an enemy forever, to the crazy changes in the Republican contenders for president of the U.S., with Cain out, Gingrich in but slipping, and Romney moving forward, all towards the Iowa caucus in a few days.

But the only thing I can think of right now is my daughter, Rambo, who is still in a wheel chair and not doing well.  All her therapies have stopped.  The hospital is throwing their hands up, not understanding that her therapies must continue even if she is not showing much progress.  She also needs to leave her apartment (she is not happy their, for reasons which I will not go into now), and doesn't even know where to look, if she won't continue therapy at this Tel-Aviv hospital.

We (my D.H. and I) are going to visit her and the rest of the mishpachah towards the end of January.  Maybe we can accomplish something and help her.  At least, we'll be with her and her siblings and their families for a long awaited visit.

The next time I will be posting, it will be "next year" already.  For those who celebrate the secular New Year, have a happy and safe New Year.  2012.  It will take me a week to write the correct year on checks.  Oh wait, I use a debit card...

Beautiful Presentation on Health

There are plenty of subjects to write about, but I have little time these days to just "sit" at the computer.  And Dr. Mike Evans agrees: don't sit so much!
Here is a beautiful presentation on how to improve our health, by not sitting (I'd better get up from the pc right about now...).

Co-Sleeping with Baby: Is it Dangerous?

I remember a little of what it was like when I had just given birth to my first child: I was exhausted, all day and all night.  I distinctly recall attempting to sit up at night in a chair to nurse my baby, and almost dropping her--I was so tired I almost fell asleep in the chair while holding her.  In those days (ancient times), it was verboten to sleep with your baby.  Unheard of.  Even nursing was not fully accepted culturally, and my own mother-in-law was dismayed by my insistence on it.

Even though I tried to do what was accepted and considered the norm at the time, I just could not sit up in a chair at night, so I began nursing my baby lying down, in bed.  My D. H. would stagger up to get her out of the crib when she awoke, and bring her to me in bed, where she snuggled up to me and we both dosed off, she nursing happily.

I have been reading lately about how that is considered dangerous.  Two weeks ago there was an NPR report about co-sleeping, with a frightening ad campaign pushed by Milwaukee Health Commissioner Bevan Baker, which shows a baby sleeping in an adult bed, next to a meat cleaver.

                                                  
Co-sleeping, or at least, baby sleeping in the same room as the mother, can promote successful breast-feeding and good sleep patterns in baby, and a closeness and warmth between baby and mother.  Skin-to-skin touching is so important to baby's sense of security and attachment development.  On the other hand, what does it do to preparing the baby to sleep in his or her own bed later on, if he's used to sleeping with parents from infancy? And is it true that the infant mortality rate is higher for co-sleeping babies? I know I personally do not regret the time I slept with my babies nearby in a bassinet when they were tiny, or when I took them into my bed to nurse them at night.  It promoted a closeness and bonding that is not as achievable if baby sleeps by himself in a crib (which doesn't seem quite natural to me, anyway).

There are pros and cons to sleeping with your baby, and I would love some feedback on this from experienced mothers and breastfeeding experts.  There seem to be pros and cons to this idea, although some form of co-sleeping has been done by mothers and babies for millenia.  So, what do you think?

Giving Feels Good, Even on Your Birthday

It's a big jump from posting every day (NaBloPoMo style) even when you can't think of anything to write about, to posting once in a blue moon...even when you can't think of anything to write about! I would say that this is the latter, although I do have something, albeit small, to write about: My Birthday (remember? It's just like the composition you wrote in fourth grade, "My Summer Vacation." )

My English birthday--to be technical, my Gregorian calendar birthday--was this past Wednesday.  Yes, yes, I always wake up to the dulcet tones of "this was the Day of Infamy," about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.  Not a great way to start one's day, but there it is.  By the way, I am not that old, having been born...sometime after Pearl Harbor--in case you're wondering.  Old is a relative concept, anyway.  My little students in the Preschool where I teach, all of 3-51/2 years old, think I'm very old.  One sweet little 4 year old (the director's daughter, as a matter of fact) suggested that I might be as old as (gasp!) twenty-two.  I did not dissuade her from this notion...

So I was advised by my sister, who called to wish me a happy birthday (yes, I did call her on her birthday as well.  It was 5 days before mine) and is 4 years younger than I, to celebrate the entire month of December.  Sounds good, especially since, as per my previous post, the entire month is laden with s'machot,"joyful occasions," which include my birthday and my sister's, my youngest daughter's, and two out of seven grandchildren's.  Not bad, for the winter doldrums.

Credit where credit is due, one of the teachers in the school suggested that I get little chochkes for my students (whom she teaches in the morning) as little treats for my birthday.  It was a great idea, which I should have thought of myself--so I did it.

It's amazing what little things can make a small child happy, if it's given with excitement and mystery!  All I bought were little candy necklaces and watches, plus a little sevivon (Chanukah dreidel, or top), and had a 'grab bag' event where each child reached into a bag with his or her eyes closed.  It was great!

For the holiday of Chanukah, our staff is doing a "Mysterious Mattisyahu" (the Jewish equivalent of 'Secret Santa'), and giving anonymous gifts to each other, culminating in dinner out one night next week.  It feels good and creates a warm glow.

Just a little thing like giving to someone who doesn't necessarily expect anything, even if it's something small--makes you feel great.  We should carry this concept on into the rest of our lives, and not only for a holiday or birthday.

Shabbat Shalom!

                                                                    

       

November through March: Personal Importance

This is the time of year when I ruminate about my kids, grandkids and birthdays: winter and Chanukah time are special for us, and here is why:

The months of November through March are of personal importance to me.  Our family birthdays are comcentrated in those months, children and grandchildren alike.  I'm a December baby (14th of the Hebrew month of Kislev), as is my sister.  Strangely, our first three children were born, respectively, in January, February and March.  The last two were back to January and December.

Our grandchildren by our eldest started in December (the oldest will be turning twelve this month), then January, then December again.  For years we had one married child, and three grandchildren.  Then one day, many snows hence, the next two younger  kids married and started their families.  The first grandchildren by my third born (who married in 2007) followed the pattern--guess we just love winter--except that this time it was, for both his kids (grandkids numbers four and five) a little earlier, in the month of November--and only a year apart.  Then, not to be outdone, our second-born starting catching up with his younger brother.  He married in 2008, and the month his daughter was born in was yotzei dofen.* (drumroll, please)...JUNE 2010!

I never had a summer baby, child nor grandchild, before this.  A whole different way of buying clothes for her: newborn size summer clothes.  I was so used to buying winter clothes, I didn't know what to do with myself. I mean, a frilly, thin little seersucker Shabbat dress? No way!  And then, before you knew it he (our second born.  Is this getting confusing?) hurried to catch up with his younger brother, again, and had number two, also a girl, just arrived in--you guessed it--November.  Back to the "I love winter" pattern of birthdays in the Lady-Light family.

...this is the season when I ruminate about my kids, grand-kids and birthdays.  And it's erev Shabbat, so I don't have much time to ruminate.  Gotta go--need to call my sister to wish her a Happy Birthday!

                                               (Now, she's got hair.  Shabbat Shalom)                                                 

*yotzei dofen: Hebrew for an exeception; not like the others; out of the ordinary