Growing Up With The Seeman Family: November 2010

I'll start at the end - Noam went to sleep at 5pm with 104F and is now resting calmly. The good news is that he does not need surgery for whatever was going on with his ear over the past few weeks. The not ideal news is that I'm guessing he's going to need tubes. We'll be back at the doctor tomorrow to figure out what this latest fever is about. Hadara is now coming back to herself recovering from an ear infection. Racheli is now asleep, though her tummy and hip hurt.

Now that the background noise has been identified, I'll tell you about some nice parts of the last couple of weeks. I was walking on Derech Beit Lechem last week and passed a sweet nursery - here're a couple of shots of some rakefet (cyclamen?) which are in full bloom this week.

One of my favorite flowers!

There's a popular Israeli song about the Rakefet that my girls love to hear:

"Cyclamen"

Lyrics: Levin Kipnis
Singer: Esther Ofarim

Under the rock grows like a wonder
A very cute Cyclamen
The shining sun kisses it

And crowns her with a pink crown
The bird whistles
Look at me for a minute
Beautiful Cyclamen hiding under the rock
Hiding from every thing
Bat sheva went out for a walk
The morning was bright
She collected every flower and plant
Her mouth full with a song
Bat sheva sings
Cyclamen speeds up
peeps out for a moment
Who is looking at me here?
That’s Cyclamen ... Bat sheva gets closer slowly
Bat sheva gets off the rock
A beautiful Cyclamen on her chest
A bird whistles the wind folndles
And this song comes to an end.

מתחת לסלע צומחת לפלא

,רקפת נחמדת מאוד
,ושמו מזהרת נושקת עוטרת
.עוטרת לה כתר ורד
"רקפת, רקפת" צפור מצפצפת
"הציצי אך רגע אלי!"
רקפת נהדרת בסלע נסתרת
.נסתרת מנפש כל הי

,יצאה עם הרוח בת-שבע לשוח
;היה אז הבקר בהיר
כל צמח, כל פרח אוספת בדרך
ופיה אל זמר ושיר... ללללל

בת-שבע מזמרת – רקפת ממהרת
...מציצה אך רגע אחד
!מי זאת הנשקפת? אכן זו רקפת
בת-שבע נגשת לאט... ללללל

מסלע ונגבע יורדת בת-שבע
...רקפת-חן על החזה
ציפור מצפצפת ורוח לוטפת
.וסוף כפר לזמר הזה

One evening during the week, we went to a street fair on Emek Refaim. There were about 30 performers - magicians, singers, dancers, athletes, comedians, jugglers, etc - up and down the length of the street. There were tables lining both sides of the street filled with crafts and goods for sale. Most of the restaurants from the neighborhood had a booth and were selling their food. The kids LOVED being there and it was a lot of fun to take them. One of the best parts for them was that they could finally eat anything that they saw. Not our usual experience of street fairs. The first thing that they decided to enjoy is found below ...

The cotton candy was seriously bigger than the girls' heads! They also got their first taste of sufganiot at the fair. What a treat! A little boy from Racheli's class was at the fair as well and came up to her to say hello. It was very sweet. Noam got into the "chilling out" action as well. He ate an entire hot pretzel (no mustard available for hot pretzels in Israel). He strolled around with his feet up smiling at everyone who would look in his direction.

Another sweet moment this week came just before Shabbat. I was cooking in the kitchen, Hadara was passed out on the couch,

and I looked out the kitchen window to our patio where Racheli was doing her homework and Noam was playing. Turns out, Racheli had brought some pretzels outside with her to snack on while doing her work. Well, Mr. Noam saw the pretzels and just scooted right over to her and stood by her side. She fed him pretzels and he kept her company while she did her homework. They must have hung out together for close to 30 minutes.

Hopefully by the next entry, I'll have good news about everyone's health and these kids will be smiling and antibiotic-free. I'm really hoping that's the case especially since Don is headed to the States in a few days and I'm going to be single parenting for a week. Love to all ... Deb.