BIG NEWS!!!!!!!!!

For those of you who don't know this yet, Sarah has given notice to her employer and will be doing the freelance gig full time now. I am very excited about her venture and know she will be extremely successful (with her talent how could she not be!) Unfortunately someone in our family is concerned about the future and is making preparations if things don't go well.

Have faith little guy.....mom's going do just fine.

Mother Knows Best

It's been like a MASH unit here the last couple of weeks. Sarah had surgery to repair a torn meniscus and was hobbling around on crutches for a couple of days followed by limping with a cane. Amazingly she didn't miss a day of work, even taking an electric cooler, filled with ice and with hoses that wrapped around her knee, with her to her office. As she tried to put more weight on her leg, she would leave a crutch or her cane leaning against the wall making our house seem like the final scene in either A Christmas Carol or Miracle on 34th Street. Elijah has had horrible allergies causing puffy eyes, constant sneezing and red splotches on his cheeks. I have been taking care of the both of them and, to quote Danny Glover in Lethal Weapon, "I'm to old for this shit." (Full disclosure: Waiting on Sarah hand and foot for a couple of days was nothing compared to when I had my back surgery years ago. Sarah did an incredible job of helping me recuperate with all the TLC one could hope to get.)

Unfortunately, as a by-product of his allergies, Elijah was also getting bloody noses every day. No, that isn't right; it was every night, mostly between two and four in the morning. With Sarah somewhat disabled, I would have to clean up the little guy, change his pajamas and sheets, start a load of laundry and calm him back to sleep. (For awhile only Lizzie Borden went through more bloody sheets than we did.)

When I spoke with my mom and told her what was occurring she suggested a swab of Vaseline inside Elijah's nose each night would help. Sure enough the blood spigot has been turned off and all three of us are now sleeping peaceably through the night. I guess mom proved again she must have gained some knowledge from raising the three of us.

Which reminds me of the famous Mark Twain quote: "When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished by how much he'd learned in seven years." Thanks again mom for not only your love, but wisdom as well.

On the Beach

As I mentioned on an earlier post, we spent a wonderful week at the beach in Siesta Key on Florida's Gulf Coast. Sarah found a great place a hop, step and jump from the beach, and everyone had a great time.

Vacations usually involve eating out, which, with Elijah in tow, can lead to some stressful times. Fortunately Sarah booked a room with a kitchen, so meals were, if not a pleasure, at least no different from what occurs at home. With a barbecue grill right outside our door and a Publix Market a few blocks away, meals were not only cheaper, but much healthier than our normal vacation fare. (The Publix became our second home on this vacation. Each day Elijah would ask to go there as he shares his father's odd obsession with wandering through upscale grocery stores, especially if a viewing of crayon markers or a free treat is on the agenda. With the demographics of the area being elder Jews and Hispanics, each time I went there I thought I was back at a Vons in Sherman Oaks!)

Except for a day trip to the Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium in Sarasota, we spent almost all of our time on the beach. Although Sarah and I enjoyed the aquarium, Elijah seemed bored by the idea of looking fish that don't talk they do in the Nemo films. One of the few times he really seemed to be enjoying himself was when he was viewing a tank that contained clownfish, or "Nemo fish" (and, as I mentioned in an earlier post, when he saw the "traffic signs" in the gift shop.) But his biggest smile came when we debarked from a tour boat. "Look Daddy...over there," he said excitedly, and joyfully pointed out a basketball court someone had constructed behind one of the docks.

The beach was wonderful. The sand, like no other I've seen, stays cool to the touch and, like the tourist brochures promised, truly does feel like flour. And as one got closer to the water, the sand became home to sea shells by the thousands, prompting beachgoers to comb the area from sunup to sundown looking for the perfect shell.

Although colder than normal for this time of year, the weather, except for rain on our last day there, was great. I got a laugh when I went out to get a paper one morning wearing shorts, a T-shirt and flip flops and encountered a gentlemen out for his morning walk bundled up in a sweatshirt, jacket and gloves. I doubt he would even leave his home during winter if he lived anywhere near us. (The warmest day of the trip coincided with the day that SEVEN inches of snow fell back home.)

Our last night coincided with the traditional drum circle event on the public Siesta Key beach. Lots of congos and bongos, hula hoops and flowers, with people encouraged to join in and dance to the rhythm. Of course our little guy jumped right in and showed the crowd his best steps.

Just like we felt about our vacation, he left the crowd wanting more!