I Mean It!

February 13, 2017Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Funnies, Speech Language Pathology, Things Kids Say, Writing Tags: Funny, Getting dressed, Independence, Problem Solving, Self sufficiency, The Daily Post, Things Kids Say, Toddlers 1 Comment

He plopped himself on the rug and pulled his sock on, tugging on the elastic till the fabric stretched to his knees. He gazed down at a bump. Scrunched his forehead, patted the bump down. It flattened but not all the way.

The furrows in his forehead grew. The bumpy bit was connected to the sock … like always … but something still seemed wrong.

He twisted his foot. Examined the sole. No bump there.

He pulled harder on the elastic. Re-examined. No change.

He shrugged.

Somehow when mommy or daddy did this, the sock looked different. No bump on the bottom. No bump on top.

He stood, took a step and stopped. Another step. Stopped.

The bump bunched. It felt funny when he walked.

He sat back down. Stared at his feet. Wiggled his toes.

It felt funny again. He bent his foot. No good.

Maybe the sock was broken.

He pulled it off.

Took a look.

The sock appeared completely normal now. Just like always.

He pursed his lips, pointed his toes into the sock and tried again.

The fabric bunched. A bump.

He moved his foot, paused, narrowed his eyes, and sighed. Tugged the sock off and held it between thumb and finger.

“Be good boy, Sock,” he admonished. “No more no-sense. I mean it!”

toddler-putting-on-socks-wearing-winter-water-factory

Photo by: agirlnamedpj.com

For The Daily Post

Awake

February 11, 2017February 11, 2017Na'ama Yehuda Current events, Life and love, Meditations, Reflections Tags: Awakening, Awareness, compassion, hope, life, Meditation, Poetry, Reflection, The Daily Post 2 Comments

: Atlantic Sunrise: Na’ama Yehuda

Be awake.

In the world. For the world.

Be aware.

Of the life that unfolds

On pinpoint.

Keep your eyes

Open.

And your heart

Soft.

Wake up all words

Of hope.

Even those

Packed away in tight bundles

And locked.

Be awake

To the air. To the light. To the rain.

As shimmer reflects

And compassion

Remains.

For The Daily Post

Lush Life

February 10, 2017February 10, 2017Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Meditations, Reflections, Writing Tags: blessing, Lush, New life, Nourishment, Photography, Poetry, The Daily Post, Verdance Leave a comment

May you live life lushly.

May new life, both the organized and the wonderfully wild,

Find purchase in your soul

To grow

And feed

Your whole.

Orly Fuchs Galchen @ Dalia, Feb 2017

This photo of contrasting verdurous fields is by my wonderfully talented childhood friend and artist Orly Fuchs Galchen. (We’ve known each other since 6th Grade!)

Not This Way!

February 9, 2017Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Funnies, Speech Language Pathology, Things Kids Say, Writing Tags: Being difficult, Criticism, Funnies, Literal thinking, Mornings, Siblings, The Daily Post, Things Kids Say 4 Comments

She doesn’t want the blue dress. She wants the red one, with the sparkles. Yes, from the laundry. Even dirty. Not wait for tomorrow. Today.

She doesn’t want socks. Her feet won’t be cold. Not even if its snowing. No socks. She doesn’t even like socks. Ever. Never. Not even the Minnie Mouse ones from Granny … well … she likes those “a little” … “sometimes” … but not today. She doesn’t like any socks today.

She doesn’t want a ponytail. Or pigtails. Pigtails are “stupid.” She wants braids. Four of them. No, not this way! She wants one big one “like Elsa” and three “baby ones.” Because.

She doesn’t want milk in her cereal. She wants chocolate milk. In a cup. With a straw. Not the green straw. The pink one. And three strawberries. Not four. Three. “Not that one. These ones.”

Her momma sighs.

“You are being difficult today.”

The girl gives a shrug, then a side glance. A giggle escapes.

The mom raises an eyebrow. She is not amused.

The child smiles enigmatically, twirls her four braids (one big like Elsa’s and three baby ones).

“So what’s this all about?” Mom asks, eyes narrowed but curious.

“It’s Ben’s fault.”

“Ben!?” The mother shakes her head. The older brother is ten-going-on-fifteen and goodness knows these two don’t always get along, but Ben had left for school before Miss Au Contraire here as much as opened an eye. “How can it be Ben’s fault?”

“Remember yesterday?” little eyebrow mirrors the parent’s, challenging. “Ben said I ‘such a terrible critic.’ So I’m practicing. To get better.”

pinterest.com/pin/339810734368459869/

For The Daily Post

Can You Hear?

February 8, 2017February 8, 2017Na'ama Yehuda Current events, Reflections, Trauma and Development, Writing Tags: Current events, Hearing, hope, humanity, Keeping children safe, Refugees, Safety, The Daily Post, Trauma, War 3 Comments

Can you hear the hearts that beat

across the mountains, deserts, oceans

hoping for safe harbor,

an anchor

home?

Can you see small fingers gripping

other little hands

bereft of parents,

lost,

alone?

Can you hear the soft breaths

of babies

sleeping

in tired arms

weighted by

desperation,

violence, hate, war?

Can you hear the calls

in dreams

in prayer

for safe passage

for a welcome

to belong?

Can you —

how can you not —

hear,

the urgency

of hope

that hardship snuffed

and yet

still

yearns to grow?

Photo by express.co.uk

For the Daily Post

Do It Anyway

February 7, 2017February 7, 2017Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Quotes, Speech Language Pathology, Things Kids Say, Writing Tags: Bravery, Courage, encouragement, Inspirational, Persevere, Practice makes perfect, Social Phobia, speech therapy, speech-language-pathology, The Daily Post, Things Kids Say 4 Comments

He has stage fright. The real deal.

Social phobia with all the trimmings.

Speaking in front of anyone renders him paralyzed with irrational but no less numbing terror.

Talking to a store clerk makes him sweat.

Let alone giving a speech in front of assembly.

The whole school. Faculty, too.

He trembles at the thought.

“You don’t have to do this.” His mother. She is distressed by his distress. Protective.

“But I do,” he says.

He’s scared.

Determined, too.

He asks me to teach him how “to speak even when my throat gets stuck.”

We work on it. On breath, on visualizing, on rhythm and on parsing and on tone and pitch and breath again. He practices. With me, at the mirror, with family, with a good friend.

He knows the words by heart. He wrote them. A speech about things that oh-so-matter and are so very needing-to-be-said.

“The words come into my dreams,” he tells me. “Is that weird?”

I shrug. I don’t think so. “What do you think?”

He smiles shyly. “I think they want me not to be afraid. The words. Like we are friends now, words and me.”

The day comes.

He calls me in the evening.

“I threw up twice and I trembled like crazy,” he says, but his voice is giddy. “Then I thought about the words. My words … like friends. The beads on the necklace like we practiced … and I could breathe … I was still scared but I did it anyway!”

Above all, Love.

February 6, 2017Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Current events, Meditations, Reflections Tags: compassion, connection, Earth, hope, inspiration, love, Meditation on Life, Poetry, The Daily Post, Winter sky Leave a comment

Breathe now

The light

That dances on the pavement

Filters between branches of bare trees

From winter sky.

Breathe now

Because the truth

Remains

In spite

Of images

Or imaginings

Of misplaced

Amplified

Fear.

Breathe …

Because above all,

Love.

Of life

Of nature

Earth

All babies

Freedom

Oxygen and gravity.

Love of

Heart strings and connection

Of compassion

And

The ties that bind.

Photo by A.Katz

For The Daily Post

Life’s Craft

February 5, 2017Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Meditations, Reflections, Writing Tags: inspiration, Life Lessons, Meditation, Poetry, Reflections, The Daily Post 6 Comments

Photo Credit: E.F.

May your life be your craft.

Well defined.

Aged and fine.

May your life be your craft.

Practiced, shared

Worked and honed.

May your life be your craft.

Filled with heart

Buoyed by joy

Lit with hope

Let to grow.

May your life be your craft.

Skilled,

Perfected,

Helpful,

Whole.

I Know You!

February 4, 2017February 4, 2017Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Funnies, Quotes, Speech Language Pathology, Things Kids Say, Writing Tags: Birthday Parties, Funny, Movies, Nanny McPhee, Preschoolers, Recognition, The Daily Post, Things Kids Say, Things Moms Say, Too-much-Pizza 2 Comments

As told to me by Mom-of-Three-Under-Six:

“So there we were, on our way to what feels to me like the 100th birthday party of the school year, and possibly the real cause for childhood obesity driven by absolute overload of pizza, cupcakes, sweets and other junk food … (I’m almost — almost — considering serving celery sticks, kale-chips, and wheatgrass juice in my son’s upcoming birthday. What stops me is knowing he’ll need about a decade in therapy to deal with the untimely exodus of little feet and the almost guaranteed desert of future RSVPs to his parties …).

In any event, there we were, cranky baby squirmy in the carrier and the hand of a squirmy already-hyper-on-the-thought-of-sugar preschooler slipping in and out of mine. When we finally arrive, the door is opened by the somewhat stooped and Old-Country dressed grandma (or great-great-grand …) of the birthday boy.

My boy takes one look at her and announces, full lungs: ‘I know you! You are Nanny McPhee!!’

…

I think I need about a decade of therapy.”

nanny-mcphee