Maxine’s a fresser. I seem to remember her first word as “mama,” but both Jonathan and our baby sitter insist that I am delusional. Her first word was “cheese.” This kid will pretty much eat anything. Kiwi, stinky Stilton, dal, smoked whitefish, oily lox, spicy tofu and bitter greens with Thai fish sauce. She loves…
Are you so sick of me meditating on how having small children changes the nature of everything? Well, too bad. It does! It’s like going through life thinking that something was solid, and suddenly you discover it’s a gas. Passover is a case in point. For decades we had My Zayde’s Seder (aka “humminah-humminah-humminah,” the…
Josie and Maxine have something I never did: the experience of both having and being a sister. And it’s so intense, so all consuming, so loving and so teeth gritting, I’m not at all surprised that the feminist movement spawned the phrase “Sisterhood is powerful.” I adore and admire my brother, Andy. But growing up,…
Recently, at the New York Jewish Film Festival, I saw a movie called “Be Fruitful and Multiply.” It’s a portrait of four ultra-Orthodox women in Israel and Brooklyn, all talking about the joys and pressures of having huge families. Mostly the joys. One woman, who’s been pregnant or nursing for 25 of the 26 years…
Maxine, now 15 months old, has worked through her irrational fear of the stuffed Eeyore, the little wooden incense holder and “Harvey Nagila,” the battery-operated, clap-activated, dancing Hasid. (I, however, am still afraid of Harvey.) But Josie, age 4, is going through an anxious time. Music in a minor key, such as “Peter and the…
We were not trying to be Difficult. We were not trying to be Edgy. We were not making a Statement. Yet sometimes, when people hear that our two children have two different last names, they look at us like we have a really large booger hanging out our noses. Josie has my last name; Maxine…
The best Hanukkah gift is a book. Some people may think the best Hanukkah gift is Disney Princess Lip Gloss Necklace and/or a pony, but these people are not old enough to have folding money. Now, I could tell you about my favorite picture books published this year. But who cares what I think? The…
We are a little out of touch with the spacious skies and amber waves of grain around here. Josie can tell you what train to take to Coney Island (the Q, silly) and Max understands that when we find torn bits of candy wrapper on the playground, we give them to Mommy; we do not…
