Week 13 – Lucky Us

His People
This week was all about visitors, friends, family, and their various combinations. Sunday was few days into Savta Sandra’s visit—filled with smiles, museums, edible and wearable treats, playfulness, and giddiness. Monday, Cousin Joe joined for breakfast and Noam and Julie babysat in the afternoon. Tuesday, Cruv spent at Earlwoode in the hands of Talia, Aaron, or Nona (Savta Shira?) and returned to PH-C to Michelle, a west coast friend of Miriam. Wednesday, Cruv’s Abu went to meetings with his new wingman, Cruv, who had dinner with Abby, Izzy, Sarra, Ryan, and Joel (another west coast visitor). Thursday, Cruv met many of Yaron’s classmates at NYU and that night Liore held Cruv as Yaron pickled cabbage (cruv) and spun sorbet. Friday, we returned to Earlwoode for time with Abu and Savta Shira (Nona?) before Shabbat and Shabbat with Talia and Aaron.

All of those mentioned above, are included in the “Holding Cruv” slideshow on the Pictures page.

Bigger and Bigger
He’s huge. And cute. Super cute.

Giggles, Gurgles, Coos, and Oos
When his life began, his mouth made only one, if infrequent, sound: a cry. As the weeks have accumulated, so too his oral capabilities. Cruv’s sounds—sometimes noises, other times communicative gestures—are among the highs of the day. To our delight and his occasional surprise, his range expands daily.  A sample:

Week 12 – Merriment and (Breast Milk) Drunkenness

Spirals, Spires, Bells, and Sashimi
The week began with a visit to the Guggenheim, for an incredible show filled with light, explosions, tigers, and wolves. Cruv slept.

We ended the week in Philadelphia, PA (eighth state)

where Miraim took her USMLE Clinical Skills Exams (a success). Yaron and Cruv intended to visit the tourist sites: sold-out Independence Hall and a two-mile-line for Liberty Bell. In the end, we went to another landmark of Philly: Morimoto, for a seven-course omakase. Cruv slept through the first two courses, observed the next two, slept through the last three, and awoke hungry only after Yaron finished his last bite of dessert. As the woman next to us (who has eaten two-hundred Miromoto omakases) said, “He’ll one-up-me. He can say he’s eaten at Morimoto his whole life.”

Abu and Savta? Papu and Nona?
As is tradition, Yaron and Cruv spent Tuesday at Earlwoode with Cruv’s grandparents (names, again, undetermined) and pregnant-sister-in-residence, Talia. Super fun all around, including Cruv’s awesome, if uncontrolled, piano recital.

Belle of the Ball
For Purim, Cruv dressed (was dressed, really) as Vashti, the bold, first-wife of King Ahashverosh. With a few snips and Savta Shira’s sewing-machine-magic, Miriam’s bride-to-be tiara became a crown and skirt. He was, without doubt, the most dazzling queen of evening.

“If it’s all night, it’s got to be alright”
Underreported in the previous posts: Cruv consistently and generously sleeps through the night—eight hours of somnambulant bliss, for everyone.

He also sleeps in museums, restaurants, and, most recently, Amtrak trains.

San Francisco Treat
It’s official. In June, the Sheinbein Milgrom family heads west for Miriam’s residency at UCSF. Through four years of medical school, dozens of exams, hundreds of hours of study, thousands of polysyllabic words, Miriam’s charm, brains, and iron will made it happen. With all of the excitement of Miriam’s first choice—a perfect match, a great city—there is, of course, the preparation for a hard-move from Yaron’s family, our friends, and a beloved city.

Week 11 – Living Hand to Mouth

Stacks in a Sling
Cruv browsed the shelves of two libraries—NYU’s Bobst and JTS—as Yaron xeroxed and read for his general exam. Entirely respectful of the “Quiet Please” sign, Cruv passed unnoticed by most of the bookworms and even a few librarians.
The Bobst visit followed Cruv’s first proctoring: Professor Chazan’s Conversations of the West midterm.

Spotted Celebrity
As Miriam and her friend, Laura, ordered sandwiches, Yaron and Cruv found a table. A friendly New Yorker began a friendly conversation:
So cute. Yes, I know. How old? Almost eleven weeks. Oh, my child is three next week. Happy birthday, almost. What’s his name? Cruv. Are you Liore’s brother? Yes! I practice yoga with Liore—Last week, she was totally channeling Cruv.
As Liore told us a few days earlier, she, mid-inversion, had Cruv on her mind and Lucy sensed the nephew love. Celebrity (Cruv), with an excellent publicist (Doda Li).

Baby Sat and Strolled
The work week (yes, Yaron worked—he taught recitation) began with a drop-off at Noam and Julie’s. Prepped with a full baby mis-en-place—diapers, frozen milk, bottle, change of clothes, washcloths, etc—Noam and Julie kept Cruv dry, fed, and smilling.

And the work week (yes, Yaron worked, kinda—he read at the library) ended with a Morningside Heights pick-up by Abu.
Finally, ten-weeks-and-two-days into life, Cruv went for a suburban stroller ride. And, as with many firsts, he slept right through it.

Hand to Mouth
Cruv continues to eat and sleep prodigiously, and grows accordingly (As evidence, consider these two pictures—Day 3 and Day 78.

d-day-116.jpg

Nonetheless he tries—and tries and tries—to suck milk from his unwilling hand. His effort is impressive, his yield meager.

Week 10 – Pumped

As week nine ended, week’s ten arrival loomed—back to reality. Yaron returned to the classroom and Miriam to the hospital. And with these returns, so would come the electric breast pump and increased bottle feeding, babysitters, and schedules. As it unfolded, day one was a freebee: Miriam had forty-minutes of orientation and then the day to play. So we all played. First stop: our friends as Dipalo.

Cruv’s uterine growth could be traced to the cheese (pasteurized and unpasteurized) sold by Lou, Sal, and Marie. It was for him, a return, even though he didn’t know it. As Sal said, “This is what’s it’s all about. You made my day.” Oh, Sal, the sentiment is returned and much more.
From there, we went to the next most important place for Yaron—the Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies. Shayne copied Cruv’s foot for the wall of fame.

While Tuesday through Friday was full-on work for Miriam, Yaron and Cruv were pampered at Earlwoode for a day-and-a-half.

As Cruv was passed from grandparent to grandparent, Yaron crossed-off a book from his general’s list. And on Wednesday as Yaron taught students and Miriam treated patients, Cruv accompanied his Abu to lunch in Connecticut (seven down: NY, NJ, DE, MD, AZ, UT, CT).

Back at PH-C, dinners included great friends down on the floor with Cruv.

On Thursday, Yaron and Cruv met Miriam for a mid-day-breast-feeding rendezvous. But otherwise, the week pulsed to the variable rhythm of the breast pump.

Week 9 – Mirror, Mirror on the Bassinet Wall…

Paradise in the Sky
It seems impossibly long ago, but this week began in Park City. Indeed, the week began with the deep and steep, those ski days that validate a season’s pass.

Of course, Cruv had none of it, except the secondary glow of his Abba and Aunt Rachel.

He got out once more in the winter wonderland, for a snowshoe on the Rail Trail. With heavy hearts and a getting-heavier frontload for Yaron, we basked in the endless sky and snowy landscape. In June, when Cruv returns it’ll be all green mountainsides.

Des(s)ert Party
As we descended into PHX, Cruv stood on Yaron’s lap, full of smiles and coos. As soon as we landed, Yaron remembered he had to say goodbye before he flew on to JFK. Another hard goodbye later, Cruv and Miriam were en route to Savta Sandra’s, host of the next day’s party.

Family and friends—those who knew Miriam when she was smaller than Cruv (Miriam was very small); actually, Dr Gross, the doctor who delivered Miriam, was there—gathered to get a sight and hold our wonder.

East of Eden
The next day, Miriam and Cruv pre-boarded for their flight to JFK. After an initial hungry cry and a diaper-malfunction-pee-on-Miriam’s-leg, Cruv met his friend in the unbreakable mirror and they got along like identical brothers. At Terminal 7 baggage claim, an eager husband and father awaited Miriam and Cruv. The hello erased the sadness of the prior two goodbyes.

Vaccinated

On his second-month birthday, he got his Pneumovax, Polio, and DTP shots. He yelped—three times—and as soon as you could say, “herd immunity” he was back in form. So impressed with his cuteness and manner, Cruv’s four-time-mother-doctor said, “He’s dangerous.

He’s the baby that makes you want to have another, even when you shouldn’t.” We could not agree more, but not just yet–We’re not yet caught-up on sleep.