Salting & Soaking

When I sat down to write this post, I was shocked to realize I had never posted anything about Freida's eczema on this blog. I guess because I never really had much to say on the matter. I grew up plagued with the skin disease, and while we tried at everything (from diets, to creams, to antihistamines) to obliterate it from my childhood - it never really stayed away, and I suffered years of its abuse (I'll never forget coming to school in the 2nd grade with a Dr's note that I may not be able to sit down that day due to the irritated scabbed skin behind my knees. I wasn't able to bend my legs!!)I finally grew out of it at about 18, and have only had few minor flare-ups since then. My younger brother had it even worse than I did - his entire body was covered in scaly skin and he suffered tremendously from the itching. My mother tried everything. And I mean everything! He was seen by all the big skin specialists, and they had cream imported monthly from Ireland! But it never said goodbye. It really is a plague. And it's insane that "they" still can't seem to find a cure!

Anyways, the only thing I remember praying for consistently since I was a child is that my children should never have to know of eczema. When I had Freida I was so excited that she displayed the cleanest smoothest baby skin on earth - I was just over the moon about being able to moisturize her yummy little baby bum without worrying about it irritating her... When she was about 7 months old, the first signs of eczema surfaced. (I have an entire guilt-based theory about how ferberizing her brought the eczema out of her system; how the anxiety of sleep-training induced the nervous system to lash out. But I know it's mostly bullocks.) I had to immediately switch up her bedtime routine to include oatmeal baths, heaps of aquaphore, and sporadic smears of steroid-laced cortozone creams. That mix of prevention seemed to keep things relatively under control, for the most part. Since she's always been a thumb-sucker (and she liked to alternate from one to the other) I was never really able to control what went down in that region - her thumbs and hands became a muck of dry cracked skin, and from time to time I'd have to cream them, sock them, and secure a rubber-band over them while she watched TV - it was torturous!

Now, we mostly survive off oatmeal baths (I'll definitely be blogging about how we do these!), a very good cortozone cream, and lots of aquaphore during the nights. But recently we've added something wonderful to our skin regimen: dead sea product. Salts in the bath, and mud beforehand. During our most recent trip to Scottsdale Arizona, my brother-in-law (thanks Yossi!!) took us to The Salt Chalet, owned by a friend of his. Apparently, "salt rooms" are the current health fad and are becoming increasingly popular due to the health benefits derived from this sort of "salt experience". You can watch the video about it here.

We took a slew of sand toys along (plus a cousin to play with) to keep Freida entertained for the 30 minute session. I stripped her down to shorts and simply let her sit and play in the dead sea salt (a hell of a lot easier than taking a trip to Israel!). We sat and lounge chairs in the salt room while the kids played on the floor, and we did some of the deep breathing Dr. Gershkovich showed us. It definitely felt like it opened up my airways, and since I have a bout of asthma - it felt fantastic. Aside from that, the whole thing was just so relaxing - kind of drug/trance-like. And I definitely noticed a difference of Freida's skin for at least a week afterwards...

We brought home some sea salts for the bath and a big pot of mud to try. The mud works so well on her eczema!! It took a little coaxing for me to convince her to let me smear mud on her :) but the results were amazing! I cover her problem areas with a coat or two of dead-sea-mud and wait for it to dry. Once it dries, we rinse it with warm water and put her in the bath. It seems to draw out and dry-up the real cracks and irritations, and then the oatmeal bath restores the moisture.

She's been getting a little weary of the mud recently, so we upped the fun-factor by letting her use a paint brush to paint it on her skin by herself... Now she loves mud time!

Obviously, for those of you without any skin ailments - this post was a bunch of boring rambling :)

But! If you or your children suffer from skin irritations, I'd really suggest looking into finding a quality dead sea mud like this one we've been using, and perhaps even hitting up a salt room (there is one in Encino). Plus, I'll be posting about how we do our oatmeal baths - that's really the only thing that seems to keep in under control. And the mud's been keeping her happy for now...!

Life. And Age.

For as long as I can remember, there seems to always be a "summer rumor" - a sort of urban legend that suddenly circulates the internet. In this years case, it's a story about an old man who died in a Florida nursing home leaving nothing behind but a scribbled poem found in his pants pocket titled "Crabby Old Man". In truth, this poem was written 20 years ago in Texas by Dave Griffith, as a personal observation of life and aging titled "Too Old Soon". Either way, these words have obviously struck a chord for many readers (as it continues to circulate the web). I, for one, think it's a tragically beautiful timeline on life. And I love it.

I feel like I'm always being told by strangers to "appreciate the time with your babies because they grow up so fast!", and like my elders are always reminding me how fast life goes by. Do you ever find yourself nostalgic about things even as they are happening?? Like when I'm bathing Hudi in the sink; instead of fully enjoying the cuteness of her tiny little tushy fitting in the basin with rolls of tummy fat lapping at the water, I instead feel an urgency to appreciate it because soon she won't fit in there anymore! It's insane! I totally have this weirdness about me where I'm acutely aware of how fast time goes by, and how quickly they'll be old. How quickly I'll be old. (Honestly, I'm pretty sure this all started when my second grade teacher read my class a copy of "Love You Forever" by Robert Munsch.) I feel like I'm in a constant rush against time - always stopping to tote the years I have left to child-bearing (frantically calculating how many more children I can fit in before I turn 30!), glimpsing daily at the calendar to make sure I am aware of how many weeks I have left until Freida starts school (can I really fit enough one-on-one real-life education into 5 weeks??),  thinking about my body - making sure I love it enough to have only confidence in the bedroom during my prime (hello? 30 is NOT old!), getting teary as I put away boxes of clothes that are too small on my baby (she's only been alive for 5 months!!!) etc. etc. I can honestly go on and on. It's awful and wonderful at the same time. It definitely helps me appreciate every day of my life, but it also nags at a part of my brain - inhibiting me from fully enjoying each moment. Worrying me about the moments going by as they are happening...! Anyone else out there relate to this frantic stop-time obsessiveness? Anyone??

Anyways, this poem did nothing but exasperate it for me. And still, I love it.

Crabby Old Man

What do you see nurses? .. . . .. . What do you see?

What are you thinking . .. . . . when you’re looking at me?

A crabby old man . . . . .. not very wise,

Uncertain of habit . . . . . with faraway eyes?

Who dribbles his food . .. . . . and makes no reply.

When you say in a loud voice . . . .. . ‘I do wish you’d try!’

Who seems not to notice .. .. . . . the things that you do.

And forever is losing . . . . . A sock or shoe?

Who, resisting or not . .. . . . lets you do as you will,

With bathing and feeding .. . . . . The long day to fill?

Is that what you’re thinking? . . .. . . Is that what you see?

Then open your eyes, nurse . . . . . you’re not looking at me.

I’ll tell you who I am. .. . . . . As I sit here so still,

As I do at your bidding, .. . . . . as I eat at your will.

I’m a small child of Ten .. .. .. . .. with a father and mother,

Brothers and sisters . . . . . who love one another.

A young boy of Sixteen . .. . . with wings on his feet.

Dreaming that soon now . .. . . . a lover he’ll meet.

A groom soon at Twenty . .. . . . my heart gives a leap.

Remembering, the vows . . . . . that I promised to keep.

At Twenty-Five, now . .. .. . . I have young of my own.

Who need me to guide . . .. . . And a secure happy home.

A man of Thirty . . .. . .. My young now grown fast,

Bound to each other . . . .. . With ties that should last.

At Forty, my young sons .. . . . . have grown and are gone,

But my woman’s beside me .. . . .. … to see I don’t mourn.

At Fifty, once more, babies play ’round my knee,

Again, we know children .. . . . . My loved one and me.

Dark days are upon me . .. . . . my wife is now dead.

I look at the future . . .. . . shudder with dread.

For my young are all rearing .. . . .. . young of their own.

And I think of the years . . . . . and the love that I’ve known

I’m now an old man . . . .. . and nature is cruel.

Tis jest to make old age .. . . . . look like a fool.

The body, it crumbles . .. . . . grace and vigor, depart.

There is now a stone . . .. . where I once had a heart.

But inside this old carcass . . . .. .. a young guy still dwells,

And now and again . . . .. . my battered heart swells.

I remember the joys . . .. . . I remember the pain.

And I’m loving and living . . . . . life over again.

I think of the years, all too few .. . . . . gone too fast.

And accept the stark fact . . . . that nothing can last.

So open your eyes, people . . . . .. open and see.

Not a crabby old man . . . Look closer .. . . see ME!!

Color in the Classroom

I simply can't get over this Parisian Kindergarten building!! I'm swooning over the rainbow-on-steroids colors that are splashed across the playground, hallways, classroom, and even bathroom! I love color, but it isn't easy to use lots of it together without the result looking kinda cheesy... Using muted colors seems to be easier to get right - especially when paired with neutrals. But when I happen upon something like this - I'm in total awe!!

Wes Anderson

Didn't I tell you Wes Anderson is great?? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbO3BS0Uzm0

Quesadillas + Cookbook Giveaway!!

I had been looking for some new summer dinners lately (somehow my regular weeknight menu plans just don't feel right for the long lazy summer evenings), and while leafing through the new Bais Yaakov Cookbook last weekend it dawned on me that I should really be switching things up in the kitchen - even just for Freida. She is so used to my meals and the way I cook and the flavors I use, I thought It would be really good to try some new things. And since I have all this time with her during these summer weeks, it's a perfect way to incorporate cooking into our slew of "mommy camp" activities. Anyways, we poured over the cookbook together this morning and I let her pick something new she wanted to try for dinner. She went with Quesadillas! The recipe was simple enough - unlike many of the other high-grade kosher cookbooks, this one is beautiful to look at yet actually works with regular ingredients that you'll likely have in your pantry! - and she was able to do most of it and assemble them on her own (while entertaining Hudi, to boot! :).

I used whole wheat tortillas, and the recipe called for onions, mushrooms, red pepper, yellow pepper, and shredded cheese. She ate it all! I couldn't believe she didn't even put in a request for a "plain" version!! Who knew quesadillas are total kid fare?? She dipped them in sour cream for a while, and then went on to munch away on them happily like they were little slices of personal pizza. Perfect summer dinner + leftover lunch-on-the-go - perfect with some chilled salsa and sour cream!

The Bais Yaakov Cookbook is choc-full of elevated recipes you can make from regular ingredients you have on hand. It's beautifully done and really well-written (I loved reading the History of Bais Yaakov in the forward. I had no idea the whole movement was started by one girl when she transformed her small seamstress workspace into a classroom in Krakow - for only 5 girls!!), and the halachic guidelines in the back will very likely come in handy,  but mostly what I loved about this cookbook is that majority of the recipes I can make for dinners, or dinner parties without hassling too much in the kitchen. (I can't wait to try the Crumb Coated Sea Bass, Roasted Garlic and Zucchini Soup, and these Apple Buns look off-the-hook-amazing!!)

To win a free copy of The Bais Yaakov Cookbook leave a comment where you see this post on Facebook!! A winner will be chosen at random on Wednesday. Good luck!!

But don't worry - even if you don't win you can still snag a copy for yourself or for a friend at 20% off + free shipping here!!