goodbye gan shalom, hello Summer Camp i dont like you.

jayanth graduated. for two weeks i would tear up in front of my computer screen thinking of how he was finally leaving his baby years behind. its a big day, a huge leap. the wide world beckons and i am not ready to let go. and all he's doing is joining kindergarten. i will never forget the sight of him sitting on the stage in the beth shalom temple sanctuary on a little chair with a balloon tied to it. and his dear dear teacher Regina's face flooding with emotion as each little 5 year old walked up to her and quietly handed her a bright, blooming peony and whispered "thank you".

basketball camp at the Y is truly daunting for J. "the ball keeps running away from me," he sobbed as he clung to me, arms wrapped tight around my hips, his little black head pressed into my body. Losing...not being as good as another...these are things jayanth cannot stand. he is acutely sensitive to any such indication and being of non athletic, average-build stock, the odds are not in his favor. but -- even kindergarten has not begun...life perches before him like a pliant flower, waiting for him to unfold its petals, one by one, and breathe the fragrance within. we all must envy our children their childhood, and they will surely envy their own children. Toward us, they will have pity or sympathy...reminders of what lies ahead and how much more beautiful and thrilling that must be than us, and all the other things they must one day leave behind. but, for now, i have my children to watch and learn and love -- and, going by their behaviour ('spirited' is a mild word) at home-- be thoroughly infuriated by!
when he is not in time out or being yelled at by me, he says i love you a hundred times, reminding me of how i don't say it enough. drinking milk the other day he said -- "this milk tastes beautiful, just like my amma. i give you my love amma." my mom says hes going to have lots of girlfriends. i think that is true, if not anything else, he knows to turn on the charm. his first real female friend is our little neighbor Mitzi. J's favorite things to do with her are (i) dance with the volume turned all the way up, to Alvin and the Chipmunks!
(ii) pretend to fall down and bang his head or some other body part while she watches and laughs. Hes a clown! he loves making his classmates laugh too. he heckled me when i read a story to his class. hes going to be standing outside the classroom when he does the same to Mr. or Mrs.Whoever

and his sister?....her update is coming soon! she's a bubbling little spring with the sweetest voice and skyrocketing vocab. all still in baby language - she might as well be speaking English, she sounds so believable. and when she roars, or lunges forward to scratch or bite or head-bang, shes a bear. (cue...the nuns and maria in "she 's an angel, she's a demon, she's a girl!!!" (or something like that).