Sorry, Kids! I Promise We Didn't Mean To!

I am not a dog person, in case you were wondering. This does not mean that I AM a cat person, or other such nonsense. I am also not a gerbil, hamster, guinea pig or goldfish person. I am not even a plant or flower person. The only living things I can reliably keep alive are my children.

And even then, it's touch and go sometimes. For example, Nadav has reminded me on an embarrassing number of occasions, as I'm getting him ready for bed: "Ima? Lo achalti dinner." Whoops! Forgot to feed him dinner. Again. (Note: There usually was dinner on the nights in question. The problem is that Nadav isn't ready to eat when it's ready, and then I forget that he never ate. Or it's a Friday night and I am hellbent on "Get-him-in-bed-before-candlelighting-so-we-can-eat-like-mensches" and I consequently forget to, you know, feed him.)

However, starvation is an easily rectifiable solution. Especially when children are old enough to announce they are hungry. But we have a long and rich history of accidentally harming our children in other, more creative ways. Today, I lay out my sins before you.

Let's begin around 11 years ago.

Formula? Who Needs It?
Ariella is 8 months old and eating a lot of solids. 3 meals a day, in fact. She had been getting bottles, but now, I figured, it was time to stop, right? She's eating like an adult, so why does she need stinky baby formula?

Over the course of the next month, her babysitter mentions how constipated and uncomfortable she is. Momz notes that Ariella seems thinner than usual. We are already firm believers in Parenting Through Winging It, so no alarm bells go off. But: It comes time for her checkup. And: She has gained no weight since the last month! How can this be????? The doctor starts asking me about her eating habits. When I tell her, she stares at me. "She needs to be taking three 8-oz bottles a day. Until she's a year old." Whoops! We start up the formula again. She gains weight, she poops better and is an altogether happier child. (Luckily this was before memory kicked in, so she can't add it to the list of reasons to be angry with us now.)

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Slip & Slide
Yaakov almost got away unscathed. Except for the time we left a magazine on the floor and he slipped on it, breaking his leg. Whoops! At least it was a manly magazine ("Adventure") and not something wimpy like "Family Circle."

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Nadav, it should come as no surprise, has born the brunt of our carelessness. You'd think by our third time around the block, we'd be better at this. Well, let me reassure you that we found all sorts of new and wonky screwups. Skipping formula and leaving magazines on the floor are soooo 2003-2007.

Vitamin D: Mmm, Mmm Good
For some reason, I had never had to give vitamin D drops to our other kids (or maybe I was supposed to and never did? Would that surprise you? Didn't think so.). So I'm giving him the drops, tra-la-la. Also, I notice that he's peeing. A LOT. "Haha, our little pisher, isn't that cute?" I say to Donny.

I mention to a friend that I need to get to a pharmacy to get more drops. "More drops?" she's astonished. "How are you finished your first bottle already?"
"Well, a dropper-full every day, you go through it."
"A DROP. Not a DROPPER."
Whoops!
Turns out I was giving him like 10x the amount of vitamin D. Hence all the pishing; his kidneys were working overtime to get rid of it. Luckily the doctor said just to stop for about a month and then pick up again. But this time, with a twist: Try not overdosing him.

Buckle Up!
When Nadav was about 2, he would occasionally need the booster seat (the kind that attaches to a chair) for height, in order to reach the table, but he didn't really need to be strapped in. Except, of course, that he's Nadav and insists on weird things, like making a color chart so he can decide which shirt to wear today. One Saturday night, during havdalah, he was sitting in his booster. Which I had plopped on a chair, not bothering to attach it. But he was going to do havdalah properly, dammit. He demanded to be buckled in AND have his tray attached. So, if you are picturing this, we have essentially incarcerated him in his booster. Which, careful readers will remember, is NOT strapped to the chair. The next step, of course, is he reaches forward to get some grape juice. He then topples over from the chair, but can't land on his feet or right himself due to all of the restraints. So, strapped into his booster, he lands on his face, gets a bloody mouth, cut lip and tongue, a trip to Terem and a visit to the dentist the next morning.

Whoops!

The best part of this story? The exact same thing happened a year later! Did we learn our lesson? It seems not! Luckily the fall wasn't as bad so we avoided the Terem/dentist trips.

Good for What Ails You
Nadav finds some children's chewable Tylenol. Gets through about a pill and a half before we realize and yank the remaining crumbly, slobbery, pink  mixture out of his mouth. We call both our local friendly pediatrician (who was vacationing in Eilat then, natch) and Poison Control. No lasting repurcussions. Although he does have an extreme fondness for pink medicines. Hmmmm.

Curious Minds
This one is all on him. Nadav finds a little spray bottle of some perfume lying around in our car. He puts it up to his face, asking, "Eich zeh oved, Mommy?" And then attempts to find out the answer by spraying himself in the eyes. WAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!! "It works like that, Nadav." Many unpleasant, screeching eye washes later, he was fine.

Till the next time, of course.

Now one lesson we can takeaway from this, besides boring ones like "Don't leave magazines on the floor," "Read dosing instructions carefully," "Always strap the booster onto the chair" is that at the end of all of these stories? The kids are just fine! Take heart, parents! Like us, you too can screw up abysmally without causing (too much) lasting damage for the little ones! Like the popular saying goes, "Parenting. It's sooooo easy!"

Now it's your turn. Feel free to share the times you accidentally caused harm to your children. (Or is this just us?)

In Which Donny Bravely Faces Back to School Night

What follows are the transcripts from our whatsapp conversations.

Gan meeting, Sept 2.

I am filling out information. [Good.]

What is Nadav's teudat zehut? Oh, and his Hebrew birthday? [I tell him]

They want to know who his friends are. [Ellie. Joe. Yuval. Rafi]

What are his interests? I wrote "To be funny." I think that covers it. [NO! No you cannot just write that! Write: Puzzles, cars, playground, games]

I'm putting you down for a committee. It's called חשיבה על פעילות הדנית* [What?? What??? Don't you dare! Did you hear me? You take my name off RIGHT NOW. Put yourself down!]

Just kidding! I put myself down.

*As far as we could tell, this translates to "Thinking about Danish activities." Maybe pastries?

School meeting, Sept. 9.

Tuesday night was a marathon school meeting. Donny went straight from work and took the first shift (third grade) and I took the late shift (sixth). The 3rd grade meeting was called for 6:00.

6:10 My whatsapp beeps. However, I'm busy making dinner so I can't get to my phone.

I bet that is Donny. He has no idea where the third grade classrooms are or what the teacher's name is. Well, he'll call in a minute when he sees I haven't responded.

6:12 Phone rings. "Which third grade class is Yaakov in? Do you know where the
classroom is? Who is his teacher?"

Donny finds his way to the classroom. Whatsapping ensues:

Eveyone is filling out sheets. [Probably information sheets. Use Lisa and Momz as emergency contacts]

The teacher is talking. You should feed Yaakov breakfast in the morning.

Email the teacher. Don't call. Call if you must, but don't.

I'm volunteering you for the va'ad.

Haha.

I didn't.

I think I'll tell her I don't give her permission to take pictures of Yaakov.

She wants 100 shekel for the va'ad. I'm offering 50.

Hmmm. She won't take 50. Suggesting tashlumim.

Now she's reading a poem. It's about candy. I think our children are the candy?

There is candy art. Did Yaakov bring it home?

No, it's here, waiting for us.

Okay she won't accept tashlumim either. You'll have to pay 100.

And email, don't call.

Done. Coming home.

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Later, at the 6th grade meeting, I did not have to text Donny once. #justsaying

But the most important takeaway is that we are now finished being oriented. Hooray! No more small chairs for another year! If you need us, we'll be celebrating with some Danish activities.

Hello? Is Anyone Here?

Readers, it has been a long time.

First, I made the conscious decision to stop posting because of all the Unfunny Things that were happening this summer. The three boys, the war, sirens. Then as August crept on, I made no conscious decisions at all. This is because my brain cells had fled for cooler climates. If you would look inside my head, the only remaining thoughts were "Me hot" and "Feed children. Again." Those two semi-coherent thoughts spent their days floating around lazily in the cavernous space that once contained my brain.

But now the war/operation is ... over? I think? There's definitely a cease-fire? Which brings up the question - why don't we just agree to a 1,000-year cease-fire? Then no one dies, no one sends rockets and we don't have to deal with like, solving anything. [This will be a cornerstone of my platform when I run for prime minister. My platform will consist of Confrontation Avoidance and Changing all the Highway Signs in Israel to Include "Modiin." Because I don't want to have to figure out if I need to head to "Afula" or "Tel Aviv" "Jerusalem" or "Beer Sheva" in order to get home. I want clarity. Every sign on the highway will be legally required to include "Modiin, This Way." You're welcome.]

So I guess ceasefire = we can return to our irregularly scheduled blogging program. In the meantime, I will catch you up on the highlights of summer:

1. Camp. Careful though. Did you blink, sneeze, or use the bathroom? You missed it! Now camp's over!

2. Mommy camp. TV, pool, fight, eat, TV, repeat. BUT - no waking up children, making lunches or doing homework! So it has its moments.

3. StayCation. In which we finally realize that the highlight of hotels for our children is the ability to eat sugar cereal every day for breakfast. So we decide to save thousands of shekel and just buy sugar cereal for them to eat HERE. The advantage is that HERE also includes good beds and not having to wash laundry in a tub.

4. My phone gets stolen. But I get a new one, so in the end it all works out.

5. We lose internet for a few hours. The Rose family stares at each other in horror. Without internet, there is no computer or TV. Everyone makes a mad dash for Mommy's phone. But Mommy gets there first. What shall we do now? Talk to each other? Read? Clean up? Confusion reigns. We rush to light some candles but then realize we DO have electricity, plus it's the middle of the day. So we blow them out. Luckily the 'net returns soon and happiness is restored.

6. The week before school. i.e.  PLEASE TAKE MY CHILDREN I WILL PAY YOU OODLES OF MONEY SO SO SO MANY OODLES.

7. School begins. And while "Hot" and "Feeding children" still take up an inordinate amount of space in my head, the other brain cells have slowly, cautiously begun migrating back. ("Let's see if she'll recognize our potential instead of just using us to figure out how to disentangle the children from each other and creative ways to say 'Stop it!!!!!'")

So, welcome back! How was your summer?