Xander swam across the width of the pool! By himself! On his third lesson!
Ari made it about 2/3 of the way across.
And Connor stopped screaming and started cuddling the instructor, even letting him put his head underwater.
Amazing progress all around.
Thursday, July 9, 2015
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Monday, July 6, 2015
Shiva, shopping, and swim lessons: a day in the life of a Florida rabbi
The funeral on Friday for the young woman was exceedingly difficult. As have been the shivas, the mini-services at the family's home in the week following the funeral. I come home and hug my kids tighter.
Speaking of my kids, Xander is doing better. I think. Ari alternates very quickly between being utterly adorable and creative and amazing to wanting to yell at him and put him on time-out until he's 10. And Connor is finally night-weaned, hooray, he only nurses once a day now, in the morning. He even slept from 8pm-3am straight last night!
Today was the first real day off I've had since I've moved here, where I didn't spend the day away from temple unpacking something. (Though since I lead shiva, the "full day off" label was a misnomer.) But I had fun doing something uncharacteristic - I went to the outlet mall! I fixed my watch, fixed my eyeglasses, bought X's uniform clothes from The Children's Place since it was a 4th of July sale, and decided that as my previous two Target handbags have fallen apart, I should consider it part of my professional wardrobe to get a nice one. So I bought an insanely expensive black professional-looking handbook at half the retail cost, which was still more insanely expensive than I thought would have been possible.
What else? Coral Springs has a distinct lack of charging stations for our Leaf (we're not in California anymore, Toto!), so we bit the bullet and installed a quick charger in our garage. It's amazing. Instead of taking 29 hours to fully charge the car, it now takes 2.
It was much more cost-effective, and better learning, to hire a private swim instructor to come to our house than to pay 3 tuitions at the swim club, and have to abide by their schedule with each kid in a different class. We found the downside today: the swim club has an indoor pool. We, obviously, do not. The instructor cancelled today's lesson because of the "lightning alarm," the siren that went off in the area telling everyone to get out of their pools, lightning was spotted within 3 miles and you don't want to be electrocuted. I'd never known such an alarm existed before I moved here.
My office still isn't finished and it's bugging me, grr. One more cabinet needs to be moved in and then I can unpack the last box. And have I mentioned that we're missing my beautiful tree of life tapestry that Cathe made me? I'm so sad. I have the moving company tasked to find it, and I don't want to put anything up on the walls until it's for sure I'm not getting it back.
Oh yes, and 4th of July has like a gig of pictures. I'll upload them eventually, promise.
Lilah tov, nighty-night.
Speaking of my kids, Xander is doing better. I think. Ari alternates very quickly between being utterly adorable and creative and amazing to wanting to yell at him and put him on time-out until he's 10. And Connor is finally night-weaned, hooray, he only nurses once a day now, in the morning. He even slept from 8pm-3am straight last night!
Today was the first real day off I've had since I've moved here, where I didn't spend the day away from temple unpacking something. (Though since I lead shiva, the "full day off" label was a misnomer.) But I had fun doing something uncharacteristic - I went to the outlet mall! I fixed my watch, fixed my eyeglasses, bought X's uniform clothes from The Children's Place since it was a 4th of July sale, and decided that as my previous two Target handbags have fallen apart, I should consider it part of my professional wardrobe to get a nice one. So I bought an insanely expensive black professional-looking handbook at half the retail cost, which was still more insanely expensive than I thought would have been possible.
What else? Coral Springs has a distinct lack of charging stations for our Leaf (we're not in California anymore, Toto!), so we bit the bullet and installed a quick charger in our garage. It's amazing. Instead of taking 29 hours to fully charge the car, it now takes 2.
It was much more cost-effective, and better learning, to hire a private swim instructor to come to our house than to pay 3 tuitions at the swim club, and have to abide by their schedule with each kid in a different class. We found the downside today: the swim club has an indoor pool. We, obviously, do not. The instructor cancelled today's lesson because of the "lightning alarm," the siren that went off in the area telling everyone to get out of their pools, lightning was spotted within 3 miles and you don't want to be electrocuted. I'd never known such an alarm existed before I moved here.
My office still isn't finished and it's bugging me, grr. One more cabinet needs to be moved in and then I can unpack the last box. And have I mentioned that we're missing my beautiful tree of life tapestry that Cathe made me? I'm so sad. I have the moving company tasked to find it, and I don't want to put anything up on the walls until it's for sure I'm not getting it back.
Oh yes, and 4th of July has like a gig of pictures. I'll upload them eventually, promise.
Lilah tov, nighty-night.
Sunday, July 5, 2015
Saturday, July 4, 2015
Real life
Friday was a mixed bag. It was my first Shabbat at TBO, and I worked really hard on my sermon and service prep. It was a lovely evening. Everyone was beyond welcoming.
But... an hour before I was due to leave for temple, Xander had a meltdown. His first full meltdown of his big-kid life. Crying, not wanting to be touched, curled into a ball. Then laying his head in my lap sniffling.
Why did we have to move to Florida?
I want to go home.
I miss Mateo.
I'm mad at YOU! YOU made me move. You could have stayed a rabbi in California. I didn't want to go.
It went on.
Twist that knife a little deeper.
He's been really difficult lately, not listening, being rude and mean to his brothers and new friends. Obviously it's related. We're trying to figure out how to handle it.
My sermon last night was about the difficulty and the opportunity inherent in change, and how we as a community can handle anything as long as we stand together.
It worked well in the context of the congregation.
Not so much when you're six.
But... an hour before I was due to leave for temple, Xander had a meltdown. His first full meltdown of his big-kid life. Crying, not wanting to be touched, curled into a ball. Then laying his head in my lap sniffling.
Why did we have to move to Florida?
I want to go home.
I miss Mateo.
I'm mad at YOU! YOU made me move. You could have stayed a rabbi in California. I didn't want to go.
It went on.
Twist that knife a little deeper.
He's been really difficult lately, not listening, being rude and mean to his brothers and new friends. Obviously it's related. We're trying to figure out how to handle it.
My sermon last night was about the difficulty and the opportunity inherent in change, and how we as a community can handle anything as long as we stand together.
It worked well in the context of the congregation.
Not so much when you're six.
Thursday, July 2, 2015
Our mailbox...
is straight from a movie. It's white, on a post outside our front door, and it has a little red lever that you move you when you have mail to be sent, and down when the mail has arrived.
I explained the concept to the kids tonight and they were in awe. Secret code with the mail carrier! You don't have to walk to the neighborhood mailbox! It comes right to your door!
I love looking at the world through their eyes.
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
My first day
What a beautiful welcome.
It was really my second day, technically... yesterday I made a hospital visit to an ECC (Early Childhood Center) mom on her deathbed, and she died last night. The funeral is on Sunday. I feel so badly for the family. People kept apologizing that this was my first official act as their rabbi, to be involved in these arrangements, and I kept saying no, don't apologize - obviously it's a horrible situation, but I was privileged to be in that room, as I am to be able to honor her memory in the days following.
In other news, the two bookshelves and my monitor are supposed to arrive tomorrow. And the kids had their first swim lesson today. So all is well. I'm very blessed.
Nothing like the tragic end of a life to make you appreciate the beauty of your own.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)