You know you're a New Yorker when...

...you've had your first nightmare about bedbugs.

For those of you who don't live here, there is a current bedbug epidemic. Bedbugs are tiny, horrid, vampires that lodge in your mattress, emerge at night, and suck your blood. They will leave you with horrid bites that resemble welts and they will make you broke. Exterminators have dogs that can sniff them out, extermination can cost thousands of dollars, and many a family has literally gone bankrupt because of a bedbug invasion. I am terrified of them: I don't let students put their coats anywhere near mine during the winter, I don't sit between people on the subway during the winter (bedbugs can travel in coats easily b/c lots of folks put coats on beds), I am skeeved out by hotels now (another big bedbug home)...Oh, ick ick ick. bedbugs.

I have lived in New York 11 years now, and I had my first bedbug nightmare last night.

I dreamed that we were staying at a hotel on 5th Avenue in our neighborhood, literally right around the corner from our apartment (makes NO sense, but it is a dream). I was in the hotel bed pregnant and napping when Adam came into the room and turned on the lights and a million tiny bedbugs were ALL OVER THE MATTRESS. I screamed, got up, and realized I had been bitten all over. I then ran around freaked out asking others' opinions--I didn't want to go home b/c I was afraid I would bring the bedbugs into my apartment, but I obviously didn't want to stay in the hotel--what should I do? It was like I was banished from everywhere. It felt horrible.

I'm sure someone could say something profound about this dream and how it signifies that I'm in a state of transition or indecision or something in my life, but all day long I have only been able to think of those little bugs.

Photo of Alexandra showing Nico an enlarged image of a bedbug, from New York Magazine's story on bedbugs on the Upper East Side, the richest neighborhood in New York City. Bedbugs do not discriminate.

(Note: Ever since learning of and fearing bedbugs, I can't bring myself to say "Sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite"--what my parents always said to me. Ewwww....Gawd forbid.)

Stats on the Kiddos

Took both kids to the doctor today. Here are the stats:

Alexandra Osa: The Amazon
3 years old
40 inches tall (97th percentile)
37.5 lbs (93rd percentile)
Highlight of the visit: Was asked by doctor if Alexandra could draw a circle. Felt like a bad parent, but honestly replied, "Uh, I don't know." Doctor handed her the pen and Alexandra drew one right on the paper of the examination table. She said to me, "I just drew a little one." Awesome.

Nicholas (Nico) Acer: The String Bean
9 months old
30 inches tall (95th percentile)
20 lbs (35th percentile)
Highlight of the visit: Was told that crawling is an "optional milestone" and my anxieties immediately vanished. Was also told to toss food restrictions to the wind--give egg white, peanut butter, etc. and to watch. That it's the parent's responsibility to make food fun and watch for allergies, but to go for it. Nico ate a scrambled egg for dinner and a bit of Alexandra's mac & cheese. He was so happy.

So thankful for our healthy kids.

Graduation Hater

'Tis the season....or 'tis has been the season since about mid-May until present for graduations.

When I first started teaching I taught 8th grade. At the end of that school year we had an 8th grade graduation. And I don't mean a 8th grade awards ceremony, I mean a full-fledged graduation with caps and gowns, "Pomp & Circumstance" playing, tassles on the caps turned at the end of the ceremony, caps tossed in the air, names called and diplomas handed out--THAT kind of graduation.

And it really irked me.

YES, I understand the argument that a fellow teacher made to me when I complained that they were making too big of a deal out finishing middle school. He said to me, "This will be the only graduation these kids get; they won't make it out of high school." After having taught ten years now (!!!!!), nine of those years in high school, I understand that on a much deeper level, but I still have not changed my stance.

Now it seems everyone graduates with a cap and gown, "Pomp and Circumstance," flowers, diploma presentation. Preschool, kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, and finally high school. And I think it's bullshit.

Not that we should not celebrate our children's accomplishments. We should. But does it have be a graduation ceremony? With all that that entails? I mean, it's great when you finish kindergarten, but you're SUPPOSED to finish kindergarten. Same with elementary school. Well, yeah, yay for you if you finished 5th grade, but YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO FINISH FIFTH GRADE. It is a milestone in life, but does it warrant a literal graduation ceremony?

I just remember high school graduation being a BIG DEAL. It was like a John Hughes movie come to fruition. Is it a big deal when you have already graduated four times prior? I don't know.