The holiday of Purim is coming up next week, and my synagogue holds a little carnival every year for the kids. I never had any reason to go before I had kids, of course, but I always knew when it was, and it was just another reminder to me of how much it stunk not having kids and not knowing when or if I would be able to attend the carnival. And so it went for two years of infertility. The third year I was heavily pregnant with the twins at carnival time and not allowed to go anywhere. In searching through my emails today for the info about this year's carnival I came across an emailed conversation between myself and a good friend of mine. She had invited Shmuel and I for the Purim festive meal that year, and I had commented to her that I wanted to go to the synagogue to hear the megillah read but would need a ride. As luck would have it, I was in the hospital during Purim and was therefore unable to go to both her meal and to hear the megillah. But the rabbi of my synagogue actually came to my hospital room and read it for me. That was pretty incredible, since it was late at night, and I'm sure he was exhausted. By the next year the twins were almost one and crawling all over the place. I was beyond determined to get to the carnival, so I bought them costumes, dressed them up and went.
This picture is actually from the Purim party at the Chabad house at Brandeis, but it's the same year and the same costumes, so you get the idea. It's so funny to see Chana B small enough to actually fit on one leg of my lap! Anyway, they didn't get too much out of the carnival that year since they were much too young to play the games, but at least I could show them off and let them crawl around in their costumes.
The year after that, Tzipora was still quite little, I didn't feel comfortable taking all three out at once, and the twins weren't even 2 yet, so I wasn't sure they'd be able to play games anyway. The year after, I believe I was just being lazy and didn't get costumes for anyone. That's what nursing school will do to you! So we just didn't go.
This year I was going to get them to that carnival, because the twins are now definitely old enough to play and enjoy games, and even Tzipora is big enough to play! Besides, I knew the kids would love dressing up in costumes. But of course then it started snowing, and it's beyond freezing outside. We weren't even sure the carnival would still be on, but I didn't care and bundled everyone up anyway. We made it to the carnival (which was still running - this is Boston!), and the kids ran around playing games and having fun for almost an hour. My huge proud moment was Chana B telling me she had to use the potty and doing so. YAY! I might just say she's potty trained, but it makes me nervous to say something like that out loud...don't want to jinx it. But the fact that she stayed dry even outside the house was huge. We got lots of tickets to redeem for a whole bunch of prizes, half of which were broken before we even got home. LOL But Dovid got a little truck and a little airplane (big surprise there), Chana picked a fan and a pair of sunglasses, Tzipora got a strange pair of glasses and a spinning top, and I nabbed two pinwheels to give to the kids for being well behaved. They also all got pastries while we were there - chocolate cupcakes for the twins, a brownie for Tzipora. So all in all it was a successful trip. It cost me just over $20, but to watch my kids having fun at the carnival was priceless.
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