21 Weeks – 5.5 Months “Things Have Changed”

Travel, packing, moving, and more travel (this post was finished on Cruv’s fourteenth flight; here we go: JFK-PHX, PHX-SLC, SLC-PHX, PHX-JFK, JFK-PHX, PHX-SFO, SFO-JFK, JFK-IST, IST-TLV, TLV-IST, IST-JFK, JFK-SFO, SFO-SLC, SLC-OAK) continually delayed this update. Worse, as our camera’s USB cord is in a box that should be in 94110 but is not, this post is text-only. When our things arrive, we promise to fill this post with the relevant photographic evidence, plus a prompt upload of all the pictures.

Developmental Things
Leaps and bounds, sans the leaps and bounds. Cruv rolls-over from belly to back, back to belly, then back to the back and to the belly, and over and over when he is on a roll.

In the many off-weeks, he progressed from sitting-up with support to sitting-up with watchful hands. He grabs at things big (e.g. blankets and books) and small (fingers and spoons). He crumples paper. Everything, independent of size or texture, is taste-tested.

He reaches for his feet and just now can grab his toes. If he bathed more often, we would encourage him to taste them, too. He pursues voices with full head-tilts and backward-glances. And, maybe, he replies to his name. He engages in games and laughs at silliness. He’s awesome.

Beautiful and Tasty Things
In our goodbye to New York, Cruv made a few NYC appreciation stops. He completed his tour of the major New York art museums with the MoMA

(to review, Cruv visited the Met twice, Guggenheim twice, Whitney, New Museum, and MoMA). And he added three destinations to his restaurant repertoire: the Bar Room at the Modern, Blue Hill at Stone Barns (he loved their farm-to-table table)

and Sushi Seki (where he showed great facility with one chopstick–he almost ate it). The tastiest and, maybe, most beautiful visit was to Abu’s Organic Farm, where Cruv’s Abu himself gave Cruv a daily tour of and progress report on the glorious lettuces, budding tomato plants, climbing pea tendrils, and more and more.
Cruv’s introduction to San Francisco was dominated by furniture hunts and Lowe’s Home Improvement (details below), but, we hope, he held glimpses of his beautiful hometown: expansive sky, hilly streets with bay views, jades on the sidewalks, and quaint Victorian and Edwardian apartments.
After only an hour-and-twenty of flight time, Cruv arrived in SLC. Cruv stayed wide-eyed for part of his return to Park City’s Sweeney’s Switchbacks (more than his winter hike)

–sparkling green and in-full wildflower bloom Indeed, a great bonus of our travel to many climates has been perpetual spring: cactus blossoms in Phoenix, calla lilies in San Francisco, cherry blossoms in New York, tulips in Isantbul, booganvias in Jerusalem, irises in White Plains, and sunflowers in Park City.

New and Old Things or “Don’t bring your walker near the baby”
On a Friday a few weeks back, with Abu at the wheel and Savta Sandra in back, we drove to the Ring House to see Bubbie, Cruv’s ninety-four year-old great-grandmother. Cruv had a restful and cush ride–slept the first half, ate freshly pumped milk the second. With Bubbie, we had an early Shabbat dinner (Cruv and his Abu played on the carpet). At our post-Shabbat visit, Bubbie declared her anger with Cruv: “He’s a criminal. [Dramatic pause] He stole my heart. [Full-body laugh]“. The sentiment, for us, is confirmed and mutual.

Things We Move and Things that Move Us
In 2005, on an airplane, Yaron watched “Because of Winn Dixie,” a children’s movie by Wayne Wang. It is set in a down-and-out town, the result of a shutdown of the factory that produced profound candies–taste sweet yet filled with sadness. Our last days in White Plains were such candies, though huge ones: kisses, tears, smiles, quivering chins, giggles, sobs, love and love. The early morning airport-goodbye, though, was sad through-and-through. Unlike his Abba, Ima, Doda Li, Abu, and Imama, Cruv was all smiles.

Happily, we did not say goodbye to Liore (sweet-through-and-through), for she moved with us (Liore, our neighbor on the Upper East Side, now is our roommate in the Mission, though not full-time).

Aunt Rachel welcomed us with cheese, wine, and big hugs. As our stuff remains in-transit (oh gosh), for four days the roommates slept on air mattresses, ate burritos (five of them) and Tartine pastries and bread , saw friends (Betsy, Joel, Irwin, and Seth), painted (three and half rooms), shopped for shower curtains, tools, and necessary accessories, bought furniture, lined drawers, and planned the space. For four days, the city shined and illumined our increasingly colorful apartment. Without our stuff, we were reminded of our huge blessings: way-way beyond things (pots, books, or even the perfect mattress), they are the people we love, the people who love us.

Most importantly, we have each other and our 1911 Murphy bed that awaits the family and friends we left behind and those to whom we moved closer.