Best Rosh Hashana EVER

Remember that commercial in the 1980s, the one for Enjoli perfume that started, "I can bring home the bacon/fry it up in a pan..."? I felt a little like that tonight.

Because of the way our schedules worked this week, Drew is in Seattle today instead of home. Which means, like last year, I'm alone with Rachel on the holiday. Last year I put her in the synagogue's child care while I went to evening services. I have no idea how I fed us dinner. I do remember taking her to the children's service the next day, and I think we ended up spending the day at a park.

Here's how tonight went: I picked Rachel up from preschool, persuaded her that instead of going to the park, I'd make her favorite dinner (lemon chicken with noodles), and we'd go to the playground (2 blocks from our house) instead. So, I dashed into the house, put together the marinade for the chicken (with Rachel's generous help -- "I want to help you!" she exclaimed, so I put her to work peeling garlic and helping me squeeze lemon; she is almost at the point where I can set her to do some simple tasks without supervision), put the chicken in the oven, stripped off my power clothes(sheer stockings, short skirt, high heels, etc. for a bunch of meetings I had today), pulled on jeans, a T-shirt and fleece, then grabbed Rachel and we RAN to the playground. We managed to squeeze in about 20 minutes there before it got really too dark to see. Rachel went up the slide backwards, slid down backwards, and then we played airplane, where Mommy was the air traffic controller and Rachel slid the plane (i.e, her body) down the slide.

When we got home the air was filled with the smell of dinner. Normally I would never leave the house with the oven on, but there was nothing I could do that would get Rachel to bed at a decent hour AND allow her to play outside AND get a nice Rosh Hashana meal on the table. She was really hungry when we got home, but I placated her with some challah and she was really quite patient until the chicken was ready. We lit the candles, and Rachel announced, "I'm going to say ALL the amens!" Not only did she do that, but she started reciting the blessings along with me!

We had a nice dinner, and so I rewarded her with a chocolate-chip cookie for dessert (I had promised to get some dessert from Willamette; she had expected brownies and started kicking up a fuss when I picked her up from school until I told her that she'd get a timeout if she continued). We read one book, and she asked me very sweetly, "Can you sing me a lullabye?" So I sang a couple of songs while we were in the glider, including two Shabbat songs. "Can you cuddle with me in bed?" she pleaded, and when I obliged she did the loveliest thing -- she put one arm across my shoulder and took my hand in her other hand and held it close to her chest. We lay there for 20 minutes, with me rubbing her back and running my fingers through her air, and me not able to bear to get up, until I finally whispered, "I love you," and moved to get up. She started whimpering a bit until I said I had to go and clean up the kitchen. "Shana tova!" I said, and then left the room.