South Berkeley

On the 4th of July, we walked to the Berkeley Marina for a *free* children's event--it turned out to be one of those (nightmarish for adults) things where kids run wild amongst inflatable "rides." Avi seemed to be okay with his 2 ride limit and, after a hasty entrance into a pirate ship filled with much bigger kids pushing each other up and down a ladder and slide (Leeor and I were aghast that we'd blundered and not somehow protected our firstborn but also bemused and a little proud that he seemed just fine taking a few elbows and holding his own), we landed at the much more age-appropriate "ride" with this dinosaur that seemed to make Avi impossibly happy. He's wearing a suit because we'd read there would be a water slide and besides, Avi loves to wear his bathing suit.
We stopped for a smoothie and a hot dog for Avi; this is a sweet spot by the water that made me so happy for no particular reason--just one of those shiny family moments that start out good and turn into perfect in my mind's eye.
Avi scored a balloon butterfly before he passed out in the double stroller; I was entrusted with the butterfly's safety and decided to wear it as it was so windy it might have otherwise blown away . . .
Then it was off to the McFarland's for a festive BBQ . . .
Avi convinced Leeor, then me, then Mollie to take a turn in the bounce house. It was awesome.
Lilit loves to crawl into our room and play peek-a-boo with the bedroom door. Sometimes I just want to freeze her at this age because she is so ridiculously good-natured and fun. Not to mention adorable.
Avi has some good fashion sense, too.
We are blooming out in the backyard . . . Lilit has always been our little flower.
Again in the doorway of our room, totally busted after going through my purse. I know I'm not supposed to say these things about my own daughter, but c'mon, could she get any cuter with those enormous espresso bean eyes?

It's been foggy the past two days. This morning started out a little rough, nothing a little family yoga couldn't turn around. I decided to take a bath instead of a shower and both kids wanted to join me. I eased my way out but these two got all pruny. Avi said, "We are back-to-back, Mommy!"
Sunday morning they piled stuffed animals, aka "guys" into Lilit's crib. They were reading books and playing sweetly together while I made coffee. It's pretty cool to think about last year at this time, when Lilit was the one lying down with Avi sitting over her . . .

We have a miniscule deck but it's the perfect sunny afternoon spot for snacks. It's possible that Avi is sampling some of Simon's cat food here.
I love this picture because it looks like Lilit is doing the hula.
The boys wanted to have a private dinner on said deck. Later, I caught them hucking their juice boxes into the back yard and giggling wildly. I couldn't even be mad because it was so funny.
There's a lot to cover since the last post; mostly all is well.

I can't believe we have lived here four months.

We had another crime incident; there was an attempted break-in a few weeks ago. I had left for work and Leeor had taken the kids out in the double stroller. The creepy thing is that the alleged theives were probably watching to see us go. But we'll never know--it's something one of the police officers mentioned. Our neighbor was out with his daughters when he saw some guys, boys, really, come around from the back of our place. They were wearing gloves. He called out to them and they took off. He called the police and then called Leeor; Leeor called me and I was quickly back at our house, pulling into the driveway that was flanked by no less than 4 police cars (our mail carrier asked me the following Monday, "What was happening at your house?"). I called Leeor and made him promise not to bring the kids back until the police were gone.

No one had gotten into the house and nothing was stolen--most importantly (again), no one was hurt. But we did invest in a new alarm system that includes sensors on the kids' windows.

It's made me think a lot about race and class, big thoughts that I can't articulate well and that I'm not sure have a place on this little blog I started to keep track of these early years in our children's lives.

I've had this song in my head lately. It's called Gangsta and the hook goes something like, "never move to my hood, cause danger is crawlin' out the way . . ." It's by the Tune-Yards, a local band from Oakland. People keep asking me if I'm glad we moved here. I am. Sometimes I miss San Francisco but ultimately I know we belong here, that buying this house was a really good decision for us.

There's a wall mural on the side of a storefront mere blocks from our house. It's one I've seen often and always loved--it says: "Free that smile, you're in South Berkeley."

***

We hit a wall with Avi's bedtime routine last night--at least Leeor did. I usually put Lilit to bed and Leeor reads books to Avi before lights out; but Avi, bless his sweet, sensitive self, has wanted one of us to lie down with him since we moved to this house four months ago ("a quarter of a year!" Leeor reminded me last night). It's been wearing on us but I am mostly too complacent to put in the time to figure out an alternative.

So we will work on this, along with everything else. I know Avi needs to go to sleep on his own, but I also get why he needs the security of one of his parents right now. He's so sensitive, so astute for his 3 years (almost 3 and a half!). Today, we walked by the Ashby BART station and he said, "Let's go in there, Mommy! Let's get on a Millbrae train!" which is amazing because he remembered that one takes a Millbrae train to get to the city from here. He also suggested we find another farm (he is apparently over the Little Farm at Tilden), "one that has horses." He has a way of tilting his head before he announces, "I have a great idea!" His ideas usually involve some sort of treat for him. He's crafty.

Lilit is working hard to stand up. Her process fascinates me. She doesn't use furniture but instead gracefully eases herself into downward dog and tries to stand from there. I accidently put the same photo up twice on this post but I am just going to leave it because she is so adorable these days that I can't help it. How am I supposed to leave them at 7:10 tomorrow morning and not get home until 6? The days I work feel so long that they are like different people when I arrive home in the evening. Lilit, for all her evolution towards separation, usually quakes with excitement for me while Avi, who usually had more difficulty with the morning goodbye, only wants to know if I've brought him a treat.

There's much more to say but I have to get the sheets out of the dryer and go to bed. I need to get some good sleep in before a sweet boy pads his way into our room and climbs into our bed, leaving me a sliver of it in which to spend the rest of the night. I know it has to change, but for the moment I don't mind.

Patthabi Jois, an Ashtanga yoga guru from Mysore, India, said something simple that often repeats in my mind, "Do you practice and all is coming." Even though the days sometimes blend together, there are often moments of bliss that make the dreary-weary moments worthwhile. My family is everything to me. We are settling in here. Avi pointed out the neighborhood elementary school today, Malcolm X, "That will be my school when I get bigger," he said with certainty. I am pretty sure he's right.