5773

A new year is beginning.  Rosh Hashanna always gives me pause to reflect on the year that is closing, the year that is to come, and the many blessings in my life.

This year is no different, and yet like every year it is unique.  The kids are in such a great place.  When they were younger, as much as I appreciated and enjoyed every stage, I have to admit that I looked forward to an age that would be a bit easier and less laborious.  Countless times I thought "this too shall pass", both as a way of coping with the challenges of the day but also to remind myself that the good parts of that stage would pass as well.  I haven't thought that in a long time.  Quite the opposite - i don't want this to pass at all.   I want to relish it forever and hope that I remember the sweetness of this stage for all the years to come.

Samuel is fully school aged, or in his "second plane" of development from a Montessori perspective.  Ever imaginative, dramatic and focused on what others think and feel - "these are the worst pants ever (in reference to corduroy pants he chose to wear when we said no sweat pants for Rosh Hashana).  They make noise and everyone will hear the noise.  And everyone will see my pants and talk about them, and think I'm stupid".  He loves Lego and has changed his approach to building and playing with it.  Before, he'd build it following the instructions and take it apart immediately to build something using his imagination.   Now he keeps things built and plays with them intact.  He loves anything science - experiments in the kitchen, MadScience camp, space, anatomy.  His face lights up.  He has lots of friends at school.  we have great conversations based on both his curiosity and imagination. He still loves his stuffed animals, he puts them to bed on his shelf and gives them blankets (aka old pajamas), he pleads with us to take as many of them as he can anytime we go away. 

Renee has such a pure laugh.  They boys laugh more easily, but when she laughs its great.  She loves being with me and often wants to be with no one else.  At the same time though, we have terrible fights, over the tangles in her hair, at bedtime when i have the indignity to sing Matthew a song or tell him a story.  She loves being in the kitchen and has a cookbook (Salad People - i highly recommend it) she loves to use.  She has very strog gender affinity, she is a girl and she likes girls,  boys are "yuck" and "stink", and she will not do any activity that has a boy teacher like trampoline, TaeKwon Do and the second part of camp.  She is a total chatterbox, never stops talking and she never stops doing, whether its puzzles, reading, drawing, writing, she is always busy.  She also loves beads which she calls beans "Mami, can we do my beans with the colours to make a bracelet".  She has taken to looking at herself in the mirror and declaring that she she has  "princess hair".

Matthew is so excited about so many things, everything from holding hands to being in a booster.  he is now is a booster because in his words "i was growing so much yesterday, i focused on growing and i did". He loves playing with Samuel, one of their latest is playing "Deana jones" (as in Indiana Jones) where they chase each other around the house with Matthew shouting "Andy.  Andy.  Deanne Jones" to get Samuel's attention.  He fall off his bike a few weeks ago at scrapped his chin, likely with the helmet strap.  when the scab was falling off, he'd point to it and say "look Mami, the healing is happening and the scamp is falling off".  One of his friends from school moved to Israel and Matthew misses him terribly, talks about him several times a day. 

We have so much fun together.  We had a great game of duck duck goose (changed to duck, duck, Luke and the you, you, Luke) with Samuel telling Matthew and Renee exactly what to say and do, and Matthew and Renee running in the same direction, all until they started rolling on the floor, kicking their legs and someone got hurt.  They love swimming, octopus tag, what time is it Mr Wolf.  The marble run game is also a huge hit right now and we've had many great afternoons of parallel lego play with them all working on individual structures and me taking turns helping each one.

At Rosh Hashanna, and at the beginning of every holiday, we say a blessing "baruch atah hashem eloheninu melech haolam, sheheheyanu vekyimanu, vehigiyamu lazman haze".  Blessed are you Lord our Gd, King of the universe, for granting us life, sustaining us, bringing us go this season.  To that i say amen.

Shana Tova Tikatevu.