Category: koala update
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Role modeling thrives in the discomfort
Here’s a story about parenting. We’re at the celebration for returned Israeli hostage Eliya Cohen in his hometown (and mine) of Tzur Hadassah, and a junior reporter wielding a red microphone from Israel Hayom locks eyes with me from across the crowd. I know what he wants, I was him once. My daughters are standing…
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Koala update: fifteen years
It’s an understatement to say this was a year that, half-way through, has been impacted by the biggest national crisis of your 15 years; this is a developing story so we will watch the developments roll… for years to come… In the meantime, though, it’s safe to say… One thing I never ever want to…
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Zooey update: eight years
I don’t know what to say, Bean. It’s a lot to pack in to so few years. Since you were four years old, the world has been upside down for the rest of us; for you and your cohort – it is what it is. I assume. We’ll find out someday. In the meantime… Keep…
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Bebe update: thirteen years
It’s official. Day 1 of surviving teenage daughter. 275938753948 days and daughters to go. An exchange during one of my more melancholy moments early on: “I should be playing D&D tonight.” “So why aren’t you?” “My friends are all in the army.” “So *they* are playing D&D… just without the dice.” Ice knife. But yeah.…
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Nettles update: ten years
Double digit Nettles. Something you claim makes you an adult already, somehow. Or at least deserving of the privileges of your teenage sister. WHATever girl. Hold your horses. Slow down. (That’s a good joke…) It’s growth, I suppose. Like the aches you complain about – the growing pains as you steadily race to soar taller…
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Koala update: fourteen years
Someone told me the summer between ages 14 and 15 is the one where things really kick off for a teenage boy. I’ll let you know if it’s true, but here’s what I already know: Body image… is a thing. A big one. In boys. I should have known; I should have remembered (I have…
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Zooey update: seven years
The highlight of my last year with you is watching you take what you want and leave behind what you don’t. That’s not to be taken for granted with everything that comes with starting school, developing new friends, navigating new skills, and of course… being the youngest of four. The highlight of my highlight was…
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Bebe update: twelve years
A lot of people don’t know how to make choices. I don’t mean the right choices. I mean, how to go about choosing. Not only do you relish in making choices, you know how. Or it’s innate, at least. It comes easy to you. Whatever is going on in there is an actual thinking process.…
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To my bat mitzvah.
I could choose to roll my eyes at having to come up with another dvar torah related to one of my kids’ various Vayikra parshas – just a year later – but instead, I’ll leave the korbanot and the cohanim behind. Really, we have one word to focus on – look no further than the…
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Nettles update: nine years
I spent a lot of this last year thinking about wiring. The way our brains are wired. What does that mean? Yeah, it sounds weird, I know. Not like wires, what’s running around the office desk or what you pick up and randomly turn into some art project. It’s more the way our minds take…
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On to the next stage of modern teenage development: Looking over your shoulder.
Two days ago was Yom Yerushalayim, or Jerusalem Day – the celebration of the reunification of Jerusalem in 1967, where Jews were finally allowed to roam freely in the Old City due to their own sovereignty. It’s a day I really only tend to think about in the context of traffic to my former Jerusalem…
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To my bar mitzvah.
I’m in awe of Torah reading… getting up close to it… having a physical connection with the parchment… It’s not something I had access to from behind the kind of barrier they called a mechitza where I grew up. (I just realized this week I never even saw tefillin up close until now.) Watching you…