Shorts

She is sleeping next to me. Lying calmly on her back, arms stretched above her head, head tilted to the side. A glow of serenity and beauty surrounds her.
Zoom in. A red organic grape is clutched in each little hand. She was so tired last night, she just fell asleep in a second...

This morning we woke up and saw five wild turkeys in our back yard. Kind of an unfortunate timing for them to be running around, don't you think? (Carving knife anyone?)

Last night Yuval came back from his business trip. He brought George, our golden retriever, back with him. There was a happy happy reunion between George and Nohar. The chamber pot was clean this morning... He's back to his old tricks. I completely forgot he does that.

Yuval's business trip was to Israel, our homeland. Both grandmas sent a ton of clothes. Now go and explain that you are trying to live frugally and if you actually purchase clothes you try to buy organic, fair trade clothes.

Oh well. It's the thought that counts, in the end.

Calling All Crunchies...

I know you're out there. You have to be there, somewhere among the 1,800 moms waiting for meetups in the Boston area, you must be. You believe in natural learning from birth, which probably means that you are also an attachment parent.

Your way of life brings new insights every day, about natural child rearing, natural eating, natural healing, natural birthing, hygiene, sleeping, exercising, working, saving the planet, poopin'... just about every aspect of life :)

You must have at least heard of elimination communication, unschooling, co-sleeping, raw-food, no-limits, and other ideas that you either practice or not, but about which you would like to share your opinions or maybe wrap your mind more seriously. Um. Around.

It doesn't mean that you apply all or any of them to your daily life, but you see a path where you would like to take a walk and interesting partners with whom you would like to share the road. You probably feel that most people don't get where you're coming from, sometimes not even your own family. That you would love your kids to know more kids like them. That you would love to have lived or at least visited that village... the one it takes to raise a child.

I invite you to join our group. It is aimed to be a small and close-knit community that grows together. So if your idea of friendship, family, parenting, community are of the warmer kind, and not the instrumental kind, you will probably find a new home with us. We will share our homes with eachother, cook (or un-cook), talk (or be quiet with one another), take day trips and camping trips, and generally try to become that village for our children to grow in. For us to grow in.

Don't hesitate, come out from behind that crowd.

Introduction

Wow. I thought it would be easier to write the first post. I have so much to say, don't I? It seems, though, that there is not a natural beginning to it all, so I'll just have to start somewhere in the middle. Or the end.

My sixteen months old daughter picked up a mushroom in the back yard this afternoon and shoved it in her mouth.
I ran towards her, took it out of her mouth, and did something that I did not imagine that I will ever ever ever do. I tried to force vomitting. She gagged a bit, but nothing came out. I cleared her mouth thoroughly and let her be. She seemed pretty happy and not disturbed by the whole incident.

Which got me to thinking - Wow. I respect her and her body so much, that she accepts my behaviour as necessary and caring even though it is probably unpleasant.
Wow #2. She is such a gatherer! And she loves mushrooms. She even said "p-Tiya!" which is toddler Hebrew for mushroom.

Then she went and played with the birthing pool that is now collecting rain water, pine needles and four dead bumblebees. She used a stick and squirted water around. This little one is a bundle of joy.

Joy. Bundled. Yep. That's her.

So anyway, then we went home, and I looked it up on the internet, and even though I can't be a hundred percent sure, it looked like a Saffron Milk Cap, an edible mushroom that grows in grass under conifers. I nursed her a lot this afternoon, probably trying to give her a boost of health... totally irrational... And figured out A. that if she did swallow anything it wasn't much, B. that it is most likely an edible mushroom, and C. that if it was this poisonous, we would probably not be here to tell the tale (as a species I mean)

What makes it harder is the fact that my husband is on a business trip across the Atlantic. So no one to call in case of an emergency. Argh.

They say it takes a village. I am still looking for one.