My swirl and I have finally returned to school after an extended vacation
Despite a few harrowing days of tears and abandonment issues after seven weeks of being with mommy and abba plus running my own days (and theirs) rather than having it run for me by a more structured environment, I made peace with my return to school. It turned out to be a good thing.
I was thrown into the deep end having been sent back on the first possible day (last Sunday) and literally thrown into the pool as I resumed hydrotherapy immediately. I resisted this new schedule at first, falling into a deep-sleep nap by 10 a.m. on most days and extending my crankiness to meal times. But I suppose getting back into the "swing" of things helped me get my clock onto Jerusalem time.
As you can see, I eventually dove right back in:
Part of the reason for my initial distress was exhaustion and my upside down view of time. Jet lag is a mystery to babies and it cannot be explained to us logically. I wasn't sure why it was dark during prime afternoon hours and my sleeping patterns were thrown off accordingly. But after just four nights I angelically settled into a sleep pattern that was proper for the new time zone I was in. That allowed everyone else in the house to catch up on sleep and also defeat jet lag.
Well, everyone except Lucas that is. Lucas is still suffering from newborn lag even though he is not a newborn anymore. And really, mommy is the one suffering. For Lucas it is all still normal to wake up between 2 and 4 a.m. on any continent.
From left to right, Miri, Liat, Michal, Avital, Yochevet and Moi.
We were missing just Esty, who just had a baby, a new friend for me. Mazal tov!
Who knew that before I even turned one I would be earning my first diploma already! I didn't even have to go to kindergarten to receive this.
Sunday was my last day of the Me and My Mommy Program at Shalva, an auspicious occasion with a parting meeting with all of my instructors and therapists. Since October, every Sunday, we went to Shalva for "spa day" as mommy called it, unless we were in the US, or there was a Jewish holiday, or I was having heart surgery. We spent many weeks and we made many friends, both among the staff and the other families there.
My first diploma!
According to the certificate, I finished my year with distinction, at the top of my class. Sure, I was the only one in my class, but I was the top, not the bottom, which is commendable to be sure. When I started in October I was just a tiny baby, 2 months old and still in that newborn coma in which we all begin. But I soon began to recognize that spa day wasn't all fun and games. There was actual work couched in between massages and bubbles. Even in the pool some workouts were involved.
But despite the work I made some good friends, both adults and babies, and it was a nice way to mark the first year of my life. Admittedly, I had many meltdowns due to over exertion, infringement upon nap time, sudden hunger pains and bad sleeps at night that left me a tad grumpy during the day.
And then there were my inadvertent dives into the pool - oops! Yes, twice I lost my balance while on the mat in the pool and went head first into the water. I wasn't happy about either of those times, although one of them was a dive that could probably have rated a 10 in the Olympics. It was a beautiful, one-and-a-half-rotation forward flip. The crying that ensued also rated a 10 - on the Richter Scale!
Those were rare moments and because of the gravity of the situation were not captured on video. These, however, were. On my very last day, Grandma came to see me in the pool. I had saved all of my hidden talents just for this very moment. No one had seen me do this before, but I paddled on all fours in the water and even alone! THIS was captured on video. And then for the first time, I was dunked under water, this time in a controlled manner, not an accidental dive off of the mat. And here I am in both of these instances:
Bye bye for now Shalva, see you in the fall! Shalom!
If it wasn't my schedule it was mommy's. Or it was Mimi's daily Skype marathon from New York, starring me. Or the internet at home just didn't work as was the case several evenings this week. Basically, I was just plain busy this week, too busy to blog. Did you miss me?
Well I'm back! And I'd like to take you on a tour of my very interesting week.
On Saturday I met some friends from England for the first time. They bought me a cute outfit they sent over when I was first born. It was the only outfit that fit me those first few early weeks.
Thanks Michael and Anthea! Nice to meet you!
Then I had "spa day" at Shalva. Here's me in the pool!
It all started well enough.
Then I started getting skeptical.
Apparently, I wasn't the only one!
On Monday, more spa-like activities. This was "play time with Ayala," one of my many fine physical therapists.
Me on a bouncing ball.
Afterwards, a culinary adventure! Mommy took me to my first hummus place, fittingly, with Aunt Majda, who was indoctrinating me on the intricacies of why Hummus Lina is the best. While abba agrees with her, mommy likes Gamal the best. But I'll be the judge when they take me there.
At first I opted for my burp rag. Yum!
Soon though, I dove in like the good Middle Easterner that I am. More yum!
Then on Tuesday, mommy had her own schedule so I met up with Grandma for a short date. Here's me arriving in the Old City on my carriage.
In between all this mommy managed to squeeze in a few runs and is now in the best phase of marathon training: tapering! This means she runs a lot less.
During one of those short runs on Tuesday, abba took me out for a stroll and we picked up some sushi. He didn't let me taste it for some reason, but mommy gave some to Lucie - not fair! But this is apparently what happens also during marathon training - my parents eat a lot of take out.
Today, well, we went to a cafe to write this. Look, I've almost graduated to real lattes!
Before I begin, I would like to say hi to my new friend Xander, who traversed from womb to world yesterday at 8:48 p.m. NY time. I was also born on a Sunday at 8:47 p.m. Jerusalem time. Congratulations and I look forward to meeting you in person. If you recall, we met in Israel when your mommy was just a few weeks pregnant and I was just a week away from being born (although we didn't know that at the time). And by the way, readers, if you think I'm cool because I'm blogging, Xander had a facebook page while in utero! Now that is impressive!
Bubbles are the best things ever!
Every Sunday is "spa day" for me. The line up includes playtime, talking time, massages, light and sound shows and pool time. As I mentioned before, my mommy likes to sugarcoat things, so she has termed my weekly therapy sessions at Shalva thus. Allow me to elaborate.
Playtime is really physical therapy. It sounds fun until Yochevet makes me work. Things like weight bearing on my extended arms and twisting and stretching in all sorts of directions. This is all in an effort to build up my muscles and help me to accomplish the many milestones that lie ahead.
Talking time is actually speech therapy with Esti. Adults are already encouraging me to speak "their" language rather than they learn mine. Speech therapy at my age involves odd things like learning to eat with a spoon, imitating strange sounds and even reaching out to touch toys. Sometimes this too crosses the fine line between fun and work.
Me having a conversation during speech therapy.
My light and sound show, ahhh, now here is something I can handle with aplomb. Michal takes me into the "white room" (which mommy has dubbed the "White House" because why can't I too become the US president??). The room, redundantly, is white - white walls, white cushions on the floor, and is adorned with disco ball lighting, a spaghetti light and, my favorite, bubbles! At this point in my life, bubbles are the most fascinating things I have ever seen. I haven't been to Times Square yet though.
Then there is my massage therapy. Mommy groans with jealousy every time I'm in that room. Avital, the masseuse, works on my sore muscles (hah, yea right, they are far from sore) and teaches new techniques to awaken my muscular system. Mommy and abba employ these methods at home on me whlile arguing over why neither one of them gives the other a massage.
Utter fascination with spaghetti lights!
I just started what they call hydrotherapy. It was a bit of an ethereal experience entering a pool for the first time. It was like reality suddenly became a very fluid concept as my mommy plunged me into water up to my neck. This was nothing like a mere bath - I was surrounded by water and there was nowhere to sit. I had memories (there's that long-term memory kicking in again) back to a year ago, floating in mommy's tummy, only this time gravity was a greater factor. But even pool time eventually became "work" as I did sit ups in the pool and held my upper body straight up upon threat of drowning. Ok, I was nowhere near drowning, I just threw that in for the drama. Tehila tried to make it fun by singing to me, but eventually the fact that I had not slept since 7 a.m. overrode all possible attempts at placation and there was no turning back: I screamed and turned red until I was placed horizontally on solid ground. Then I took an epic nap. And I slept for two straight hours from Shalva to car, from car to cafe, from cafe to home where I was placed in my bed. That was a napping record for me.
Me in my speedos. This will haunt me in the future.
I was skeptical at first, but pool time = fun!
On Mondays, I have "playtime with Ayala," our friend at our HMO's (for lack of a better translation) child development center. Again, mommy sugarcoats the event. It is actually like going to the gym, but is called physical therapy. But I do approach it as playtime. I mean, Ayala has all these fascinating toys we do not have at home. Today, however, I began to show signs of a major meltdown, so we have no successful photos of this session unfortunately.
And, yet again, a mega nap ensued, thus justifying, at least in my mind my less than stellar performance at today's play date.
