Adventures of a Family

Halloween was great. Met up with BeeBao and Gus and the moms and dad and had dinner together. Then we went to two whole houses where you reached into the bowls of candy offered by strangers. One night a year it is okay to take candy from strangers I guess. Then Hallie and I ate Jonah's candy. A Twix and a Kit-Kat. Mmmmmmm.

I was recently introduced to a collection of poetry written by children held at the concentration camp Terezin in Czechoslovakia during WWII. The poetry was written in secret and was stuffed away, buried, hidden and later recovered after the camp was liberated. Of the 15,000 children who passed through Terezin, only about 100 lived. The poetry is touching, poignant, and terrible all at the same time. If I had read these before having a child, I would not have felt the depth of just how deeply tragic the poems are. I found this photo of Jews coming off the trains to Auschwitz. I can't help looking at the woman in the bottom right hand corner carrying the baby. Can you imagine what she was about to go through? I wonder why I am so lucky to be able to live so happily with my baby. He doesn't have to go without, there is no fear of him being taken from me, we even get to live in our beautiful house and enjoy each others company all day. I can't get this question out of my head:

Oh man, I don't want to spend too much time on this particular topic so I will try to be brief. Everything about babies is wonderful. The way they smell, the feel of their little breaths when snuggled into your neck, the cute coos and gurgles they create, the laughter. Even their poo is not a bother. It is what I imagine angels must leave behind. It even smells like fresh pastries or other baked goods (I swear this is true. Ask anyone who has changed a young, breast-fed baby). So, it has been quite a shock now that he is eating solid foods because his poo is disgusting . It reminds me Jonah is human, though I wish for a gentler reminder of that fact. Now I find myself troubled every time I feed him something new because you never know exactly how gross the end result is going to be. And I secretly chant to myself before changing him.. Please don't be the poo this time. Please don't let it be me. I know it is going to be there eventually but I am playing the odds ea