Category: <span>Moments</span>
Any mother knows that the minute you hear that your child is unwell, you want to run to them and be with them. You would do anything to make them feel better. Something happened when I became a mother. All of a sudden, I had, without any deliberate effort, attained an acute sensitivity to suffering of any kind and especially, that of children. That isn’t to say that I was heartless before. In fact, most who know me extremely well, will say that I am very compassionate. But motherhood has somehow elevated my sense of compassion to a whole new level.
Someone close to me once said “all children get sick, it is no big deal.” She was obviously someone who does not yet have children. I found the comment to be ignorant but I bide my time until she becomes a mother. A prospect of a sick child doesn’t just mean a child in discomfort. It also guarantees sleepless nights (likely more than one) for the mother. But I digress…
I grew up in a family where when my sister or I were sick, my mom did everything and anything to make us feel better. There was first and foremost a stern lecture how we must have caught this cold because we didn’t a. wear our hat/scarf b. ran around until we broke a sweat and then gulped ice cold water and c. didn’t wash our hands before eating. The reasons were, universal if you’re Russian, dubious and likely untrue. Once the lecture was finished, we were loved. That meant hot tea with homemade raspberry jam on demand, hot chicken soup with matzo balls or dumplings. We were allowed and encouraged to lay down, watch tv or read books. Sometimes, when feeling especially poorly, my mom would lay down with us (even when we were older) and just hold us. It was just nice and I believe that children can feel that and it instantly calms them and soothes their already aching bodies. Just look at infants whose mothers can soothe them by just holding them. The infants can smell their mother and are instantly comforted. This and all that special yummy goodness continued well into adolescence. Not to be mistaken for a mommy’s girl, which I am definitely not, but I even felt infinitely better when my mom came and spent my first full day as a new mother in the hospital with me. She just gave me such reassurance.
This past Friday, Sophia had a runny nose. She’s so miserable when she has a cold because she have yet to master blowing her nose. Even though our nanny is more than capable of administrating medicine and trying to sooth Sophia, there is no-one better than Mama to make it all better. I rushed home from work to try and comfort her and hopefully curtail the advances of this cold. I defrosted some chicken soup, made warm tea (that’s right, we’re Russian and we drink tea!), bundled her in a warm cardigan and even held her while she napped. We thankfully nipped this cold or allergies or teething or … whatever it was in the bud. Fingers crossed. Oh and she drinks “flowering honeybush” tea which is naturally caffeine free.
Taking a selfie with my sleeping child is not beneath me :-). This is mothering. This is love.
Happy Birthday to our very special ten year old nephew.
These are our wishes for you…
Always aim to jump higher — you can do anything.
Never forget those who help you along the way — don’t stop being humble.
Be forever as gracious and kind as you are today.
You make me so proud and I can’t one day wait to look up at AND to you.
There is no one in the world who is a best friend like my sister. We are by all accounts, fairly different and yet have an unbreakable bond. She is ten years older, smarter, much better read, has a lot of patience and is much, much more responsible. In contrast to her, I am much goofier, more outgoing, impatient and obviously, much, much younger ;-). Despite all of these very serious and contrasting qualities, we manage to be quite goofy when left to our own devices which is, by the way, is almost never.
“Almost never” happened yesterday for a coffee/breakfast date while my parents babysat Sophia and Evan got some extra ZZzzzssss. I finally got a tour of my nephew’s new school. He recently switched schools as his previous only runs until 5th grade. It is a beautiful campus with perfectly manicured lawns where buildings with large windows dot the rolling hills. My sister and I both agree that we would love to go to this school. Then again, we both love to go to school and would be lifetime scholars if that sustained our families.
After strolling through the school grounds, we decided that some coffee was is order. We stopped by the Drip Cafe for lattes and this:
This … this is an apple and bacon pancake stack with caramel sauce.
Thankfully, an afternoon of running around Sophia was on my agenda. I would otherwise have no way to rationalize this calorie-laden, delicious breakfast. In the end, it didn’t really matter where we went to, though I will be back to the Drip Cafe. It mattered that we finally got a chance to catch up, just us, to talk about what interested us. When I think about sibling relationships, I understand that not everyone has this closeness, but I also realize that this is the very definition of sibling relationships. This coffee date, these few hours, made my weekend extra-ordinary because I am almost never afforded the luxury of time with my sister.
It isn’t a birthday without a small celebration — right? Sophia turned two on Friday and our family and friends came together to celebrate on Saturday. Nothing fancy, just adults catching up, kids playing with one another, decorating pumpkins and a little bit of mac-n-cheese and chocolate cake… That’s the summary of the weekend because quite frankly, there was nothing done yesterday except some major putting up of feet to rest from all the festivities… and the recent plague Sophia and I were besieged with.
Of course I know you’d like the details about the birthday party, so here goes: the theme was butterflies and bugs and the invitation was blue, yellow and most importantly orange (Sophia’s absolute favorite color)! We invited our friends and family and a few of Sophia’s neighborhood friends. After all, this is her party and she should ring it in with her friends. All in all, ten children between ages 1 and 9. The menu had to be simple since there was quite a crowd (~40 people) and included Philadelphia style hoagies, mac-n-cheese, Tuscan stewed chickpeas, herbed quinoa, fritata, veggies and dip, hummus, roasted pepper hummus, asian green salad with napa cabbage, sweet and sour meatballs and to really make sure everyone was fortified — a cheese plate with a petit salumi platter. You don’t believe? Here… look!
We opted to purchase the hoagies so that we can focus on making everything else. They came from Taylor Gourmet Deli — and since the President thinks they are good, I figured so would our guests. We did have help with the food: my mother-in-law made her signature sweet and sour meatballs and my mother made her signature asian salad. We’ll talk about desserts and who contributed there in a bit.
Food is great and so are the german beers Evan picked up in honor of Oktoberfest, but you have to have entertainment at a kids’ party. So… thankfully, my mother-in-law who is an early education specialist, suggested pumpkin decorating. I admit, I was rather skeptical — picturing glitter everywhere and glue all over my furniture, but it went over swimmingly. The kids were thrilled to do it and enjoyed taking home the fruits of their labor.
All the decorating and chaperoning of the decorators led to quite an appetite for some cake! If there was one thing that I insisted on doing, it would be to make my daughter a home-made [multi-layer] birthday cake. I wouldn’t mind having the affair catered, but the cake, the cake was going to be mine. This, ladies and gentlemen was no ordinary cake — it was a three-layer, moist chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream on the inside and vanilla buttercream on the outside. When fully assembled it measured 8 inches. That’s EIGHT inches! I like BIG! I decorated it with edible butterflies, too!
There was another cake, the picture missing because it was too good and went flying off the platter before I could snap a picture. It was a poppy-seed cake so moist it would blow your socks off made by non-other than my sister.
Here are Evan and I with the birthday girl right before and during the blowing out of the candles. My sister-in-law and soon-to-be-brother-in-law took the pictures and I guess things got too busy and there are none of us together … but you can just imagine that. Beggars can’t be choosers! The party was great, the birthday girl happy about her cake and presents and balloons, of course. Evan and I feel very loved and are profoundly grateful to all our family and friends who made a 2+ hour journey from Pennsylvania and Delaware with young children in tow.
Oh, oh, oh! Before I forget … besides the pumpkins as party favors for the children, each kiddo got a home-made dirt cake Evan and I put together in mason jars with bugs and creatures (all edible) hidden inside. Besides… what parent wouldn’t want a kid on yet another sugar high after the one from the chocolate cake wears of?!
Until next year!
Difficult to believe that you joined our family just two years ago, Sophia. However, in these two years you’ve captured our hearts and we cannot imagine our lives in any other way than with you playing the central role. You’re a beautiful person inside and out — your baby blue eyes and golden curls charm those around you and let you get away with just about anything. There is nothing more heart-warming than to see your curls bounce as you run around while playing. You’re also patient and perhaps you’ll work hard and make a significant impact on society when you grow up. You’re confident and know what you want and while that may present your Papa and me with challenges, we know that will become a positive as you grow older. Most importantly, you’re above all, gentle, sweet, and compassionate. You are concerned about everyone’s well-being and share your love openly. I hope that you forever stay as open and warm and avoid the traps of becoming to self-absorbed, cynical, and self-important.
Your smile and happiness bring perpetual sunshine in my world. Happy 2nd Birthday, Sophia!
I am a believer in capturing moments and special occasions in life. We, as many other parents, have thousands of pictures from our travels, of Sophia, of … life. Most of these pictures we take ourselves, however there comes a time when we deem it worth it to let someone else do this for us.
Evan’s parents took many pictures of their kids growing up. There were family celebrations, portraits, and every day moments. Their family room is adorned with them and I think it is beautiful. My parents did the same, though much more so for my sister (their firstborn) than me. They also couldn’t bring all of their pictures over form the Soviet Union, so I don’t have as many. I miss that and I don’t want Sophia to feel this way two decades down the line. Besides, I am sure that I won’t look any younger as time goes on, so I may as well try to capture more pictures for her — now.
To commemorate Sophia’s upcoming 2nd birthday and our recent 5th year anniversary, we commissioned Hans and Nichole to capture a few memories on film. We prefer casual, unposed, relaxed pictures and here are just a few from the many they took.
Starting the countdown to Sophia’s 2nd birthday with a walk down memory lane.
These are small side-by-side pictures of Evan (left, ca. 1985, Sophia 2013 and me ca. 1985)
