What does friendship mean to you?

Today, I want to be philosophical. What do friendships mean to you?

God says there is a season for everything. There are even seasonal friends. So we have lifetime friends, and friends that are only there for a period of time, a year, a couple of months or maybe we get lucky and it is a couple of years. Nonetheless, the departure of a friend hurts. Sometimes we don't realize that they are gone until it is done and finished. Sometimes, we fight and it is over in a heartbeat.
Nonetheless, it hurts.

Then there are friendships where we ask ourselves why we are friends with that certain somebody - thinking that we have almost nothing in common. I mean with friends that are almost our identical twins, we don't even ask ourselves this question. I think, one doesn't have to be the other person's soul mate in order to teach us something. We can learn from each other no matter what. Doesn't it all come down to respect each other rather than tear us apart because we are different? I married my best friend, so that is covered. Now I can relax with all my other friendships. And instead of looking for all the things we don't have in common, I look for the things that I can learn from that other person because we are different!

A Hasidic quote says: "One who looks for a friend without faults will have none."
Well, I don't want to be the one with NO friends!

A Jewish Saying goes as follows: "Who finds a faithful friend, finds a treasure." Oh, how true that is. I have gone through many, sometimes I think too many, friendships and every time I thought that it will last for a lifetime. But unfortunately, it did not. And sometimes I really wondered why it did not last!?! Was it my fault? Or the other person's? Or was it just meant to be that way? Ralph Waldo Emerson said that "The only way to have a friend is to be one.". So what does that mean? When I was younger, I really suffered when a relationship went bad. With time (and aging?) I learned to deal with it better. Then I learned about God's way at looking at things, and it makes it so much easier. It makes it easier to let go because maybe that person would have really hurt us one day, and in just loosing track of each other avoids us from really getting hurt. And it is easier because there will be new people and new friends to get to know....

Whatever happens, we changed because of someone that shared a piece of our walk in life. An anonymous saying goes like this: "Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for awhile and leave footprints on our hearts. And we are never, ever the same." So my heart is filled with small footprints and big dinosaur ones! I have come to understand that a friend is a gift even for a short time.

And Euripides said in 408 B.C. that "Friends show their love in times of trouble". So the last couple of weeks have been pretty touch for me. But yesterday, I found out that there are people still thinking of me, praying for me and just offering help. Three people came to me and made my day by encouraging me that this is just a phase and it will pass. By telling me that they love me. By offering help. And by offering an ear to vent. So thank you. I feel loved. And I am not that desperate any more.

Funny things Coqui says

For the last two days, I have tried to remember the funny things Coqui said, in order to share it and for memory. Here it is:

1) He keeps saying: "When I'm a real boy then...." It makes me laugh out loud. Because all I envision is Pinocchio saying "I'm a real boy." and his nose getting longer and longer. Too funny.

2) We try to teach him that he needs to be gentle with the baby and that he, as the big brother, needs to protect her. So recently, the Hubby asked him what he is protecting her from, and he said: "The rain, Daddy." Well, of course!

I know it's not alot, at first, but I am planning on adding as we go along.

Turning Night into Day

For about two weeks now, Peanut has a hard time to either fall asleep at night or to stay asleep at night. Last night, she woke up at around 3:30 am and was WIDE awake. There was NO way of her going back to sleep on her own. Even rocking didn't help much - and remember, I said I will NEVER rock her to sleep, right? Well, nothing helped for a long while..... I started to get so frustrated!
After about an hour, or so, I think she fell asleep on me in the rocking chair. And I fell asleep as well. I must have woken up later, was able to put her in her bed and went to sleep on the couch upstairs, as my bed was taken by my son....
She slept until 7:30 am - that is pretty normal. She was always a good sleeper in the morning. Not like Coqui....

What is the matter with her at night? (btw, I secretly call her my nightowl!!!)

Now, on the other hand, what is the matter with Coqui??? The child that used to wake up at around 5 or 5:30 am and was ready to rule the day..... About a year and a half ago, it changed to about 6:30 am. Much better! In the last year or so, he started to sleep until about 7 am. Woohoo!
Now this morning, he slept until 10 am!!! Yes, you are reading right! I kept checking my bed if he was still alive! No, just really deep asleep! Yesterday, it was 8:30 am. I am sure for some families, this is normal, see for us, it is not! So what is wrong? Is he simply growing? Or maybe sick? Not sick enough for feeling sick during the day (as he runs around like normal!), but maybe an underlying sick that his body is fighting?
I am not sure what it is! And I haven't made up my mind about being happy that he sleeps so long now, or just worried that something might be wrong....

Sleep habits

Okay, here is something that I am learning having now two children.... they are completely different in so many ways!!! I know, most of you are laughing now, having more than two children..... well, I am not there yet.

Coqui was, and I guess still is, a very light sleeper. On top of that, he is very active. So it was hard for him to calm down in order to fall asleep. When we did the sleep training with Coqui, I had no sound machine - I guess the idea had to grow on me. So we stayed in his room at first, and then eventually moved out of the room when he could stand in his bed and see us. Eventually, he learned how to fall asleep. And after three years, he is so easy now!

With Peanut, I never really did the sleep training. I just knew one thing: NOT to rock her to sleep ever! Most of the time, she is easy enough to put to sleep in simply putting her down in her bed. And she would fall asleep by herself. I thought, wow, this is great. Of course, I used a sound machine right away. Now here comes the thing with her that totally baffles me: she loves noises!!! The more the better. Her room is right next to the laundry room. And with Coqui, I could never do laundry. Now with her, she likes it. She seems to be teething right now, so she was not quite ready for her nap this morning. So I just put the wash machine on (I have done so before). The water running into it puts her to sleep! It's amazing. Totally cool.

Now I just have to get her to take longer naps - it is still a hit or miss. Morning naps are about half an hour. But after lunch time, she sleeps just half an hour as well, sometimes only more than that..... and we are not talking about the afternoon nap, because that is still all over the place. So I guess with her, I don't have to work so much on the 'putting-herself-to-sleep' than the 'staying-asleep'.....

Potty training - or not!

Well, a while back I wrote about Peanut going potty - that was a good thing. But I have run into a problem....

She found a new way of going potty!!!

These days, whenever I put her in the ExerSaucer, she is doing her business there. It can be only once a day, or two, or even three times a day. I put her in, she goes. It doesn't matter.
And yes, I have been smart, I did not put her in at all.... well, guess what? She is not going! What is this? Revolution by a six months old???

What can I do?