Ethan on stage conducting a 40 piece orchestra in front of 350 people. Jared fully attentive sitting up in his seat, somewhat tense, complaining he’s bored. Matthew asleep in the chair cushioned by our many rain jackets.

We went to a free concert for children by the Peninsula Symphony at the nearby College of San Mateo last week. We had to call ahead for the free tickets. Grandma Penny and Grandpa Jim came down from Berkeley to go with us.

It was a great program for the kids. Short pieces were introduced by the conductor. They started with Eine Klein Nacht Music, which is just a small group of strings, but then the entire orchestra came out. 40 pieces maybe?

For the Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique the conductor, talented and friendly Jessica Bejarano, first described the piece’s story – the composer is walking to the gallows, then he sees his true love for just a few sweet bars of music, then we hear the guillotine fall and head hit the floor and bounce (eegads!), and then the crowd cheers! The orchestra played these moments separately first, then played the entire piece through.

Then the conductor asked for a volunteer conductor from the audience. Who’s the first person to volunteer for anything? Ethan, of course. And she picks him! He jumps up and goes bounding down the steps of the theater. Does he walk to the stairs to get up on to the stage? No, he leaps on to the stage. The conductor, who had been giving instructions to the orchestra,, turns to look forhim and is surprised when he’s already at her feet ready to go!

She gives him a quick posture check – arms up! They start midway through the piece. Ethan conducts with his entire body, bending his legs to the music, his arms waving, feeling the beat and intensity, loving every second!

We find out afterwards that the guest conductor was only supposed to go 16 bars, but everyone was haivng so much fun that she let him go through to the end!

A neighboring audience member offered to email me pics. What a good samaritan! He got some great ones! I especially love to see how happy the musicians are. They seem to enjoy it as much as Ethan! I think I enjoyed it the most though.

And Matthew slept through the whole thing.

Bow, Maestro!

Many thanks to the Peninsula Symphony for this wonderful childrens’ event!

Tonight we were outside and looked up at the half or so moon. There was a giant cirle around it.

I described it as a giant ring of faint cloud in a perfect circle with the moon at its center.

Matthew described it as Santa’s belt.

Ethan said it was the eye of a giant storm that would hit in 10 minutes.

Jared thought it was a meteor belt like the one in our solar system.

Still waiting for Astronomy Jim to call us back and explain it.

Mom: Hey Ethan, what are your brothers doing  outside with your daddy?

Ethan, annoyed: They’re playing the most primitive game ever: … CATCH.

(Games that don’t have strategy are primitive.)

Addendum:

This reminds me of a birthday party we went to when Ethan was almost 3. All of the approximately 3 year olds were running around this rec room. Just running all over the place randomly and yelling and excited and having a ball. Ethan was running too. But he didn’t want to run randomly. He had some rules in his head he kept trying to communicate with those other excited preschoolers and to impose upon this mad rush of chaos. Not the last time he was unsuccessful in an attempt to organize his peers in an exercise beyond their interests.

Addendum 2:

The other night I checked in on Ethan while he was sleeping. He sleeps like the dead so I can mess with him while he sleeps, whispering words of encouragement or starting conversation with a sleeping person, without fear of him waking. So fun! I asked him what he was dreaming about and he mutters, “offense … defense…” Oh brother! Strategizing in his sleep!

homes… because in the old days there were no houses.

And they’re going to Macaroni Grill. Tired of turkey? What is wrong with the CA Lipka boys? I’m having leftover gravy, stuffing, turkey and cranberry relish!

We had a lovely Thanksgiving – so RELAXED. Only 7 of us. Although Nana was with us in spirit, since we had matzoh ball soup as a light lunch and, of course, her never-fail turkey recipe. Fastest turkey in the west!

Grandma Penny did most of the cooking the day before, so this birthday girl just enjoyed a puzzle and hanging out all day. I was also glad to get to watch a game of Monopoly between Grandma Penny, Grandpa Jim, Jared and Ethan. The boys are obsessed with Monopoly now and start pestering me to play as early as 6:30 a.m.

Our hearts were with Nana on this first Thanksgiving without Joel and Mommer. *sigh*

The day after T-Day we had our first annual Leftover Pie Party in our park. About 30 of us shared our leftovers and also tried to run it off with some soccer, swinging, and sand castle building. Get those kids out of the house! The weather was gorgeous. Only the visitors from NY and former Canadians were wearing coats. Go figure!

A song, it’s BooBooDee* and

trick or treating and

having playdates at Aidan’s house and

birthdays I go to and

birthdays I stay at.

As told to Teacher Leslie and written in a Thanksgiving card.

* BooBooDee is The Cowboy Song, which we have recorded by a local artist. We listen to it OVER and OVER in the car.

On a recent visit, Henry loved to just roam around our house gathering little toys – especially anything with wheels!

Darcie had told me he loved books almost as much as vehicles, but I hadn’t seen it in action yet.

On the first evening of their visit, I was doing something with Claire and Matthew in Matthew’s bedroom. In walks Henry, and he beelines straight for the book case of board books. He stands in front of it, stretches out both arms to the side, palms up, and says: Thank you! Thank you!

Considering he hadn’t said barely another word the entire day, I now know that this is a kid who LOVES books!

The things kids think of:

Ethan wanted to call a friend to go play tennis at noon. It’s ANOTHER hot day in San Mateo. I asked why not wait until later in the day when it’s cooler.

E: “Nah, mom, noon is the perfect time to play tennis.”

Me: “No, it’s too hot and the sun beats down on you.”

E: “Yeah, but at noon you both have equal sun in your eyes.”

Me: “Who told you that?”

E: “Nobody. I just thought of it myself.”

Do other kids think of things like that?

Ethan had his first soccer game of the season today. He played great. He only played the 2nd half, because it turned out he was wearing baseball cleats by accident. So I drove home to get another pair (15 min each way! I had to hustle!!!) We have like 8 pairs of cleats in various sizes. Glen found the other pair that looked like it would fit him and I drive it back to the soccer field. Nope! The ref says those are FOOTBALL cleats. (Apparently American football…)

Why the heck would we have football cleats???

Luckily I brought his regular sneakers too, and they let him play in those. Of course, as the only kid who hadn’t played during the first half, he looked real good out there!

Glen’s grandmother, Florence Green, died last week.

Family occassions, like a funeral or wedding or bar mitzvah, are the times when it is so hard to be far away from family. Those are times when you learn so much about the strength of your family members, about their values for better or worse. Those are the times when you see their faces at their most happy and most sad. Those are the times you remember the memories and make new ones. But not if you aren’t there.

Glen and I have made the commitment that our family vacations (in other words, traveling budget and time away from work) have to be spent with family and that we must commit to those big, meaningful celebrations of life and mournings of death. We want the boys to know their family at the good and bad times, see their faces happy and sad, and hear about the past and help create the future.

Ethan and Jared started school 2 days after Mommer died. Thank god (literally?) for the jewish tradition of shiva. It is such a civilized, meaningful way to deal with losing someone – multiple days to visit and mourn and remember with family and friends. Glen didn’t make it for the funeral (I have no further comments), but he and Ethan went out to see his family for a shiva call.

Mommer was my grandmother-in-law, and I will never forget how she gave it to me straight. When Glen’s family was a mystery to me and so often I didn’t have a clue what I had done to offend, she would tell me. Straight out – no apologies, no sparing my feelings – and it was such a relief! I remember her distinctive voice and the way it softened over the years I knew her. The way she said “Karen,” protesting something or calling her.

Ethan, Jared and Matthew – Mommer wasn’t always the kindest person to everyone, but she was always kind to me and she loved you very much.

I finally hung up the poster that Grandpa Jim gave us for winter solstice – a calendar of the moon’s phases for each day of 2008.

Jared was studying it the next day and immediately asked to call Grandpa.

“Can Grandpa bring his telescope over on Thursday? It’s a new moon – perfect for sky watching!”

To be honest, no night is perfect for sky watching when you live across the street from the mall – the epitomy of light pollution! And it turned out that Jared misread the schedule somehow and that the moon was half full. But that didn’t stop us from calling Grandpa right away and asking him to bring the telescope over.

He brings his small telescope every week in the winter. It’s harder in the summer because obviously the sun is kinda in the way until past the time when Jim and Penny would be heading back to Berkeley. And since the weather here isn’t prohibitive after dark in the winter, that’s our best time. But Grandpa would never ignore a special request.

It’s hard for young children to see in the scope. They can’t hold their heads so still and they don’t know what they’re looking at.

When Matthew looked at Jupiter, Grandpa said, “look for a ball. Can you see a giant ball?”

Matthew said, “No ball. I see a disk.”

We’ll take it.