Ball Girl

Professionally Laurence has made a few subtle changes to his repertoire this year. Given that he is not coaching varsity athletics he has taken on some smaller roles at the school, one being that of the Middle League Basketball Coordinator. Essentially this is a Middle School intramural program which employs high school students to run warm-ups, coaching and refereeing while the younger students participate. This means that Laurence supervises the league on Wednesday nights at Saturday mornings. Wednesday are a little tricky with getting the kids to bed, which Natalia does. But Saturdays lend themselves to the girls coming to school sometimes and spending time with daddy. Irini is the observer of the family. She follows her father around, mostly wanting to be by his side. These days she participates in a Yoga for little kids program that has just begun at the same time. But little Amalia is smitten with the idea of any kind of ball. Not surprisingly, one of her first words (she's up to about 7 now) is "ball", which sounds a bit more like "boh". Anything resembling a ball is a source of excitement and creative inspiration for her.

So, when they arrive to the Panther Pit (the outdoor recreational area the back of the campus) and Laurence opens the storage room door, Amalia is in seventh heaven! All sorts of balls in there to discover and play with. The primary option, of course, are basketballs (in both girls and boys sizes), but there is also an array of other options: Tennis balls, whiffle balls. dodge balls. You name it. Heaven can be such a small space!

Letter to my daughters

Some of you might know that the arrival of Irini (and later Amalia) prompted us to create ways of recording our lives together, for information, for posterity, for fun. One such avenue was this very blog. The other, more personal, was the creation of an email for each of the girls, to which we write whenever we feel we have something worth saying (tidbits, love, whatever we want to impart). The post below is such an email, reprinted with permission of the author. :-)

Amalia and Irini,

Yesterday, October 1, 2011, was the first day that Amalia slept away from us. We moved her bed into your room, Irini, just before Tia arrived, with Avihurik and TTimouz for dinner. The house filled with noises and children everywhere and, as always, you both loved it.

But when it was time to go to bed, I took Amalia to bed with a sad heart, missing her already. I have been so used to having you, Amalia, in our room and it was hard to give that up, just like it was hard to give up having Irini with us two years or so ago. Amalia, you did a wonderful job! We were worried that with the new surroundings and the light that we kept on you'd have a hard time adjusting. Sometimes in the past you've been fussy when you've fallen asleep because you tend to sleep lighter than Irini does, but when the time came, and I lied on the the floor pillows next to you to make sure that you had my finger to hold on to (as you always do when you fall asleep) you tossed and turns a little bit, then said "mama" out loud several times, and then you held my finger with both hands, before finally falling asleep in your new room for the very first time. It was sad, but wonderfully warm at that same time. You slumbered as I left you behind and went off to find your sister. You seemed so comfortable and happy as I left, that I knew you belonged there, with your sister.

Irini, you were treated to a new routine because of Amalia's arrival into your room. Since she sleeps a bit before you do, it meant that we couldn't read with you in your bed like we usually do, so mom came up with the idea of going to our bed to read with both of us! You loved it! So did we. :-) Mom and I took turns reading you books that you chose (and there were six of them) and you read one to us too (which is a new thing for you these days). In the end, after the books and after brushing your teeth, I took you into your bedroom for sleep. When we quietly opened the door and you took your first step inside you remembered that you sister was there, and watching the amazement, the happiness in your eyes and movements brought me so much joy. You looked up at me and said "my sister is sleeping here!" and you gave me a massively big smile. You clenched your fists and moved your arms back and forth with excitement. It was the innocent enthusiasm of a sister happy to be with her sibling. In that instant I realized that no matter how sad I might be for having to give up time with Amalia in our room, that it was all worth the energy, the love, the power of togetherness that would give you. You are a good good sister, and I am so happy that, for a while at least, you will have the chance to share your room with your wonderful little sister. She loves you. You love her. Just the way it should be.

And we - your mom and I - love you both!!

Love and smiles,

Daddy :-)