One Month of Marla!

Likes: Being held, sleeping on us
Dislikes: Not being held, feeling cold

Today marks one month of Marla!  

It is very easy for us to compare the ways in which bringing a child into the world in 2025 differs from how it was in 2020.  We are so thankful that we were able to have over 70 of our friends and relatives join us in person for Marla’s naming.  If you missed it, you can read the explanation of her name here.)  We also greatly appreciate everyone who has been able to meet her by coming into our house or seeing her at synagogue, rather than being limited to Zoom or a visit through our front window.

It is somewhat instinctive to try recalling what Johan’s first month was like and comparing it to Marla’s.  Marla is more “chill” than Johan was at this age.  It feels as if Marla sleeps more easily than Johan did at this point, though Johan was easier to soothe with a pacifier than Marla has been so far.  We also gave
Marla her first bath. She seemed to enjoy being in the newborn bath sling, but was more skeptical of being washed! 

Johan is adjusting to being a big brother.  Yesterday, he told a friend “I know a lot about babies!” There are definitely moments where he has noticed things are different, especially with regard to how much attention his parents are giving him, but it all seems within range for a 4.5 year old.

Oren goes back to work tomorrow, so we’ll be getting ready for another round of adjustments until he is on leave again.

The Explanation of our Daughter’s Name

Oren:  

 

Marla Avigail, 

 

You are named for Allison’s  Savta (grandmother), Marion Goodstein, and her father, Phillip Martin Redisch. While your first name echoes Savta’s name more, your mom and I both like that it shares the first three letters of Phil’s middle name as well. Savta’s yiddish name was Chava Meryl, which is why your Hebrew (or Yiddish) name is Meryl too. 

 

Allison:  

 

Savta was in some ways the quintessential Jewish grandmother, but in the ways she was stereotypical, it was only the good stereotypes. When I was in 6th grade, I had an assignment to pick my hero and write about him or her, and I chose Savta. Many of the reasons I wrote about in 1996 are the same reasons I’m so thrilled to name my daughter in honor of her Savta Rabba, her great-grandmother. I wrote: “the thing that makes her heroic to me is that she sets aside most of her money and resources to help and visit her family. She is devoted to her Judaism. She even helps other people observe Judaism by making and selling kosher meals and challah in Knoxville. She is a hero to me because her priority is her family.” 

 

Savta taught me not only to prioritize family, but to be welcoming, hospitable, generous, inclusive, and egalitarian. Folks looking for a Shabbat meal in east Tennessee rarely passed through Knoxville without being a guest at my grandparents’ table. She was progressive too: even in the 1990s  it didn’t matter if you were HIV+, part of a same sex couple, or any other part of your story or background – you were always welcome. She wore a tallit even when other women did not, and she served not only as the first female president of her synagogue, but also as president of their sisterhood, chair of many other committees, and the authority that folks throughout the community went to for any kosher food related questions. 

 

In fact, my own friends and communities have seen the fingerprints of her legacy in many ways.  When someone remarked last week that she wishes she knew how to braid challah with four strands, I was able to send her a video of me doing exactly that, because Savta taught me how. When our friends go on roadtrips, even if Lisa or I are not with them in the car, they will countdown to a state line, because Savta did that to entertain her own children on their family roadtrips starting in the 1960s. 

 

Oren:  

 

Our daughter’s middle name, Avigail, is in honor of my father-in-law, because one translation of this name is “my father is happy,” and as anyone who knew him knows, there was almost no better descriptor of Phillip Redisch. 

 

Allison:    

 

To know my father was to know laughter, even if things weren’t *really* all that funny. He loved to make jokes, both inappropriate and well, slightly more appropriate, and apparently even carried around a notebook so that he could write his jokes down and reshare them. Often, he wouldn’t be able to even finish whatever joke he was telling because he would just be too overcome with laughter. 

 

There are two other possible translations of our daughter’s name that I’d like to mention as well: 

The first is that one could also translate Avigail as “my father’s joy.” One of the most painful parts of the fact that he’s no longer with us is that his daughters were truly his joy, and I can only imagine the true joy he would’ve had from getting to know his grandchildren. He would’ve been silly with them, told them an endless stream of jokes, and of course laughed and played with them in a way not quite like anyone else I know. 

 

When I was 10, we did a family tour of CNN studios in Atlanta, and as part of the tour I was recorded pretending to be a news anchor. It was a 2 or 3 minute video, on VHS of course, that he insisted on showing to absolutely everyone. And this was way before you could just show a video to someone on your phone! Had he been able to really live in the age of smartphones, I’m confident that not a single person he encountered would’ve been able to get through more than one or two sentences of conversation with him without being shown pictures of his grandchildren. He probably would’ve been the person who spent the last few days going around Home Depot or some such thing and making sure to show the cashier at checkout that his new granddaughter has 10 fingers and 10 toes! 

 

And there is one interpretation of Marla Avigail’s name that tells a story. One could interpret her name (with a bit of gender and reflexive flexibility) as “Even when things were bitter, my father was happy.” Giving our daughter a name that tells this story is important to me for two reasons. First, I think it is an important reflection of my father’s story. As many of you know, he was the most social person in any room, and the last one to leave even Southern Jewish events. That his disability robbed him of the ability to be social for the last decade and a half of his life shouldn’t go unacknowledged when I honor him and his life. The other reason this interpretation is meaningful to me is that unlike our path to Johan, getting to Marla was a fertility journey that required three rounds of IVF, and so our daughter’s name also reflects the rejoicing that comes after the bitterness. 

 

Another note about both my grandmother and my father: they were both proud Southern Jews, living in communities where the surrounding Christian culture was strong. Their Jewish identities were tied to being a small, proud minority. While I’ve spent a lot of time focused over the past couple years on my family and on my household, the goings-on in our country and in our world are not lost on me.  Oren and I were keenly aware that right as the state of Alabama was banning IVF, our IVF baby was coming into existence, and would be named for two people born in Alabama. Also, while their relationship was technically son-in-law – mother-in-law, I think that Savta was like a mother to dad in many ways, and that they would have both enjoyed knowing that they were named for together. 

 

Oren:  

 

My sister-in-law Lisa wondered the other day if our second child would also have a German name, and while we didn’t think that Marla is especially German, we discovered a few days ago that Marla can also be translated from German as “wished-for-child,” which you most certainly are. 

 

Allison:  

 

One final note about the name Marla: after Savta passed away, my Aunt Shari was going through some of Savta’s things, and found a Hebrew school notebook that Savta had written in in 1938, at age 9. While her given Hebrew and Yiddish name was Chava Meryl, in that notebook, nine year old Marion wrote her name with a kamatz, one of the Hebrew vowels, under the lamed, which one could read as Marala. While it may have been the simple mistake of a child eager to learn, I’m thrilled to know that somewhere along the way, Savta wrote her name quite similarly to the name we are giving to you. 

 

Oren:  

 

Johan, we know that in our journey to get to Marla, and even now that she’s here, there have, at points, been less focus on you. When we first told you about your sibling’s existence, you decided we should nickname her Shady Grove, and clarified that despite our shared  interest in the Metro, this nickname was because “that’s what your doctor’s office was called.” When you decided to nickname her after the fertility clinic, we realized that you’d been internalizing all along where our other focus was. 

 

Allison:  

 

We of course can make no promises about how close you will be and cannot know what your and your sister’s relationship will look like, but I can tell you that without a doubt, a sibling was by far the best gift my parents ever gave me. And I can also tell you that when I sat with Lisa in a nursing home in Alabama in my early 20’s, and realized that I had a true partner in caring for our parents and navigating the challenges of our family and the broader world, that I made a commitment that if I had one child, I would do everything in my power to ensure that you had a sibling. I certainly didn’t know back in 2007 what that would look like, but as we navigated a year and a half of fertility treatments, I reminded myself of this commitment I’d made to you long before you came into existence. I know you will argue, I know you might compete, I know you won’t always be able to even stand one another, but the fact that we were finally able to give you a sibling is truly one of my greatest joys. 

 

Oren:  

 

When we named your brother Johan, one of the first things we told him is that he had to live up to the legacy of being named after three first born children.  You might have an even bigger challenge.  Not only are you named after two first borns, in our family of four, you are the only one who isn’t a first born.  If you’re hoping that we (Allison and Oren) will be able to provide guidance in how to navigate among us oldest children, we will try our best because we are your parents, but we can’t really draw from our own experiences in this regard.  Fortunately, you have also been born into a large, caring community, as evidenced by the number of people who have joined us today. Among all those people, and especially your Grandfather “Danpa”, Aunt Lisa, Uncle Jonathan, and Aunt Leni, we are sure you will find the support you need to deal with us, Johan, Grandma Grussky, and Savta Fran.

 

Allison:  

 

Finally, while we are of course grateful that family and friends from around the world are watching on livestream, we particularly want to acknowledge our deep gratitude for those of you who are here in person. For nearly five years, we have been hoping to someday have the opportunity to name our child in the presence of community, as it is meant to be. It feels like we have been waiting a long time to do things differently than we had to in 2020, and we are so very grateful on so many levels that that day has finally arrived for our family. We would like to thank the staff of Tifereth Israel, especially Sheri Blonder, for making this space available to us today.  

 

Oren:  

 

This particular physical space also has significance for our family: Oren (Allison) and I met in this building, in the chapel upstairs. However, a few months before that, we were both in this exact room for another baby naming.  That baby’s mother is Rabbi Elizabeth Richman, who not only officiated our ceremony today, but also helped us to adapt the ceremony to reflect our own values and wishes.  Her children Yonatan and Avital, and our children Johan and Marla, are the sixth generation of our respective families to be linked in various ways.  

 

Allison:  

 

A whole team of doctors and nurses at various institutions, including Shady Grove Fertility and Sibley Hospital, guided us on our IVF journey and helped us get to where we are today.  

 

Oren:  

 

To Marla’s grandparents, Savta Fran, Danpa, and Grandma Grussky:  Isn’t it wonderful to meet and hold your new granddaughter within days of her birth?  Thank you for supporting us as we prepared to transition to being a family of four, and especially over the past week since Marla arrived.  We appreciate how special it is for our children to have their grandparents present in their lives.  

 

Allison thanks Oren 

 

Oren thanks Allison 

 

What a year it has been!

Likes: See-saw rides at the playground (still), using the (closed) toilet cover as a drum, learning about how gravity works
Dislikes: teething, having his teeth brushed, wearing a bib until finished eating

What a year it has been! As Johan graduates out of infanthood and into toddlerhood, we are reflecting not only on the changes of the past month, but also of the past year. And we are excited for what the future will bring!

The biggest change in Johan’s life this past month (even bigger than the fact that as of today, he’s allowed to eat honey) was that he moved into his own room. It did take him a couple of days to adjust and start enjoying the new space. Now, he’ll sometimes crawl into the new room ahead of mommy or daddy, giggling as he goes, which we are interpreting as a sign that he is enjoying having his own space. He can spread books and toys all over the floor as much as we wants! (You know, as though he didn’t already do that in the living room, kitchen, etc…) His parents are also excited to have their room to themselves again so that they can…fold laundry and put it away slightly more promptly.

Speaking of spreading toys all around the house, one of his current favorite activities is dropping toys out of his pack and play or crib and then wondering where they went (this also extends to food on his high chair tray, which makes a bigger mess than plastic rings do). Another new favorite is putting toys on the kitchen counter, which is barely within reach of the pack and play, and then taking them down again. A third favorite “game” is taking any two toys and banging them together to see what noise they make.

Johan is gaining confidence in his standing and cruising abilities as well. Last week, he climbed up four stairs (with very close spotting by mommy,) but then realized he wasn’t confident enough to get down and therefore has yet to replicate the feat. Yesterday, he climbed up one stair and then succesfully got himself back down again too! He has also been participating in an outdoor music class in Arlington with his cousin Ella. His favorite music class activities are shaking his shakers and playing peek-a-boo with the scarves, but he also likes to try to eat sticks and acorns, steal Ella’s instruments, poke her face, and crawl around.

Just like his daddy did in 1987, Johan is celebrating his first birthday on Shavuot. As a result of this calendar confluence and in order to accommodate the schedules of Johan’s grandparents and other relatives, the birthday celebration is being extended in to June! This will likely include some additional posts with our perspectives on our first year of parenting that we hope to make in the coming days, after the holiday.

Revisiting Johan’s Bris One Year Later

Johan’s bris was not what we had imagined in most respects.  Some things were as we expected, such as having a large gathering, adapting the ceremony script from that of friends and family, and giving our child a name.  The fact we would be doing it via Zoom with just us and the mohel in our home was not something we had ever imagined prior to the onset of the pandemic.

Because it was about two months in to the pandemic at that time, doing Jewish ritual online was a pretty new experience for everyone.   Fortunately, we weren’t the absolute first people to try it, and we had seen some articles online with tips on how to make things run smoothly.  Another advantage of being among the first to do ritual via Zoom is that Johan got some media attention quite early on in his life.

Johan’s first media appearance was fairly conventional for an eight day old.  A writer for the Atlanta Jewish Times was looking for stories of how life cycle events were impacted by the onset of the pandemic, and Allison’s mother responded to the writer’s call.  Emails were exchanged and Allison gave a phone interview as well.  Our story was written up, along with several others, in mid-June for an edition of the AJT that appeared both in print and online.  

The less conventional media attention for Johan’s bris came via The Tony Kornheiser Show.  Oren has been a regular listener to the program for over 10 years when it was broadcast on various radio stations in the DC area (it is now exclusively a podcast).  Each show ends with Tony reading emails submitted by listeners, and for many years, people have sent in wedding invitations, birth announcements, and the like to be read in this segment.

About a week after Johan’s bris, Tony and his son Michael (who is a regular on the program) were discussing being invited to a Zoom Bar Mitzvah and were wondering how such an event might work.  Oren decided this discussion created an opportunity to write the type of “smart and funny” email that usually gets read on the show, and on June 10th, the email was read.  (You can hear a recording of how it was read on the podcast with some ad-libbing by Tony, or read the original email text below.)

In reference to Michael’s wondering about how a Zoom Bar Mitzvah might work, we did a Zoom bris for my son last week.  Think about that one for a moment…

 

OK, the truth is we let the mohel into our home and he, my wife, and I all wore masks, but the rest of our guests all had to join via Zoom.  Definitely not how we were expecting to welcome our little one to the covenant to say the least.

 

I look forward to introducing Johan (7 lbs 9.5 oz and a sneaky long 21 inches at birth) to the pod, though I must admit, his mother AKA the person to whom I am related by marriage would probably prefer otherwise.  

 

Oren Hirsch

Washington, DC

At this point, one might think that would be the end of the discussion of Johan’s bris on this particular podcast, but that turned out not to be the case.  On July 1st, this email was read during the Mailbag segment:

When Oren played the clip for Allison, the shared reaction was that although the circumstances were far from ideal, we were thrilled that the story of Johan’s bris made a priest in Texas laugh and tell his congregation about it!   Presumably, we also gave joy to countless people far beyond those who actually logged in to the Zoom event as a result of the story being read on this popular podcast.  Again, it is not what we expected by any means, but looking back on it one year later, we feel pretty good about what we managed to do despite the circumstances.  

 

Movin’ on Up…or Down…

Likes: The see-saw at the playground, eating non-acidic food, spending time with visiting family from out of town
Dislikes: Acidic food, being told not to eat grass and dirt at the park
Unsure: The swings at the playground

Special correspondent Beary is here with the 11 month report! I was told I needed to submit my story to the editorial board before Shabbat, so even though I’m supposed to be packing for our big move on Sunday, I’m taking a break to write.

This has been a very busy month! First, Johan’s great-grandmother Ria came to visit both him and Cousin Ella for a few days from New York. Seeing four generations of Grusses standing next to each other was exciting. Ria was impressed with how much Johan had grown and how he can now babble and crawl (we went to visit her in November when Johan was 5 months old, so a lot has changed since then). I hope we get to see her again soon.

Then during Passover, Johan’s Savta Fran and Aunt Lisa came to visit. They were also impressed with how much Johan has grown since they last saw him. I think Johan recognizes his Savta’s voice when he hears it on the phone or Facetime, which I find impressive. Johan often makes “na-na-na” sounds, so his parents tried getting him to say Ma NishtaNA (with some help), but that project will need to be reattempted next year, when presumably he has a larger vocabulary. I’m also not sure when we’ll next see them in person, but I think it could be relatively soon.

I can also report that Johan continues crawling, has started cruising, and is making more sounds, but we’re still waiting on his first words. He’s gone to the playground near our house a few times and enjoys crawling around the park. He also prefers the see-saw over the swing, he often has a skeptical look while riding on the latter. However, this isn’t too surprising, he’s always preferred jumping and bouncing over swinging. Johan also likes to try eating the grass and dirt, even though he isn’t supposed to eat those things.

However, there are many things that Johan is allowed to eat. In fact, his Mommy says that it often feels like she feeds him a meal, puts him down for a nap, and then it is time to prepare his next meal again! Johan especially likes Cheerios, challah, carrots, but he’ll eat just about anything that we put in front of him that is not overly acidic (homemade hummus didn’t go over so well, too much lemon juice).

I started off by saying Johan and I are moving on Sunday. Last week, Daddy moved his desk to the sunroom in the basement, and this week, Johan’s crib is moving to what was the study. All the moving plans are quite complicated. Mommy’s desk and Daddy’s bike also have to move, and everything is happening in phases. Johan and I have never had our own room before. Oren and Allison’s animals told me that it is a lot of fun to have our own room, and that they and Johan’s parents will still visit or that we can visit them in the master bedroom. However, I’ve promised not to sleep in Johan’s crib until it is safe to do so, even if Johan is fussy as he gets used to the new space. Anyway, I need to finish packing, so bye-bye until next time!

We’ve Reached Double Digits!

Likes: Eating solids, playing with Daddy’s office chair, pulling up at the front window, watching Mommy and Daddy brush their teeth
Dislikes: Wearing a bib for eating, being strapped in to the high chair for eating, having his own teeth brushed

Believe it or not, Johan’s age is now and for the next seven and a half years measured in double digit months! He is venturing further into solid foods, and greatly enjoyed the tofu that mommy gave him for lunch a few days ago. He might even be starting to realize that singing prayers at the Shabbat table means he’s getting challah! Yum!

He’s continuing to explore his environment, and we are definitely noticing more inklings of object permanence. He enjoys crawling up to the front window in our living room and banging on it, so if any local friends want to stop by our front porch and have a 10 month old bang on the window at you, Johan would be very excited. Johan has also gotten much better at letting himself down to the ground gently after pulling himself up to stand, and has developed a “running crawl” when he wants to get somewhere (often to play with the levers under Daddy’s office chair while Daddy is working) quickly.

Johan is someone who loves to bounce and he laughs frequently when being carried up or down stairs. He enjoys the new vantage point of his forward-facing stroller and has had fun crawling around in the park near our house on some recent nice days. His parents weren’t sure that the grass and dirt were the best place to try out his downward-dog yoga pose, but we suppose that once you’re getting rice and avocado in your hair sometimes, the dirt mixes in nicely.

At the encouragement of Aunt Lisa, Johan dressed up as a hot dog for Purim, with his parents accompanying him as ketchup and mustard. He is looking forward to visits from some vaccinated relatives in the coming weeks, and hopes his parents join the ever increasing ranks of vaccinated people soon.

Nine Months In, Nine Months Out

Likes: When mommy jumps with him, being tickled on his tummy, being worn facing outward
Dislikes: This week’s stomach bug! Yuck!
Undecided:  Snow

After nine months of getting ready and nine months out in the world, Johan is engaging with what’s around him in lots of new ways. He has honed his crawling skills and crawled the length of our narrow house to get to a parent or his other toys. This skill also enables him to expand on one of his favorite activities: feeling interesting surfaces! Now, in addition to the wall next to his crib, he can feel the mesh retractable baby gate by the storage area or the tile floor of the bathroom. It’s very exciting! He’s sitting up with confidence and can sometimes pull up to standing, which means he can retrieve some light toys from his toy bin on his own. In addition to the JCC music class, he also enjoys a free online music class from a Jewish school in New York.

This was also a month of good transition in our house: Daddy started a new job! We went for a hike nearby to have some quality family time before that, and Daddy wore Johan facing outward for the start of the hike. Johan enjoyed the new perspective so much, he giggled for what seemed like 5 minutes straight at the beginning of the hike. Forward facing hiking was more exciting than our other exciting foray in to nature this month; we took Johan to a park two blocks from our home to play in the snow after the season’s first snowfall, and he didn’t seem to enjoy that nearly as much as our hike. 

Mommy also has a new full time job of sorts since she is now the “primary parent” on duty most of the time during the week. Everyone is adjusting and getting used to the new routines. Now that Johan can crawl further distances, he can also knock on the door where Daddy’s working. But he’s going to be careful not to interrupt at inopportune times, and can’t wait to show off his singing cuddle bus to Daddy’s new coworkers!

Johan, Start Your Engine…

Likes: Jolly Jumper, being able to crawl, playing with solid food on his high chair tray
Dislikes: Antibiotic medicine, ear infections, actually eating all the solid food on his high chair tray

Johan is eight months old, and it has been a month of several exciting milestones, plus one milestone we all would would have preferred to skip: his first ear infection. But he took his antibiotics like a champ and, as predicted, was back to his normal self not long after that.  

He celebrated his first New Years Eve by dressing up in fancy clothes and then sleeping through midnight, which his parents were appreciative of. Mommy made gingerbread cookies, but he hears he won’t be able to try those out until at least mid-May. However, he is making some progress towards that possibility, with his two bottom teeth coming through! 
 
Johan’s most exciting achievement of this month is learning how to crawl! He was revving his engines for quite a number of weeks, and this week he finally put all the pieces together to get himself into motion (although he isn’t getting points for style just yet). We are glad that we have baby gates installed at the top of the stairs and look forward to watching him pick up speed and momentum. Aside from practicing his fun new skill, he enjoys zooming sometimes with his Savta Fran in Atlanta, visiting his other grandparents in Chevy Chase, participating in his new zoom music class from the EDCJCC, and jumping in his jolly jumper. We are excited to find out what else he discovers and learns in month 9!  
 

As always, there are photos of his adventures being posted here.

Zooming Through the Holidays

Likes: Solid food, toys that rattle
Dislikes: Teething, being left alone to sleep, not being able to crawl (yet)

While it might be cliché, this holiday season didn’t pan out the way we expected it to a year ago.  We had assumed that Johan would meet his Israeli Goodstein relatives over Sukkot, his American Goodstein relatives over Thanksgiving, and his Hirsch, Gruss, and Redisch relatives at various other times.  To some extent, those introductions did happen more or less when we expected them to, but they took place on Zoom rather than in person.  

The Goodstein Family Reunion, which has taken place each year for the past 75 years, went online this year (instead of being held in Alexandria, VA as planned, saving us a whole 50 minutes of Thanksgiving weekend related driving).  This meant that Allison got to make a turkey on Thanksgiving, something she rarely gets to do.  Johan met his extended Goodstein relatives via Zoom.  We hope to teach him someday that the wider world doesn’t just exist in boxes on a computer screen, and that he comes to love the conventional Thanksgiving reunion the way his mother, aunt, and Savta do as he gets older and actually attends in person.

Having now completed a nearly full cycle of holidays, we’ve all found that Chanukah is arguably the holiday where our celebrations were least impacted by the pandemic. We lit candles at home, as we would have each night anyway.  Johan inherited a felt chanukiyah from his mother which he “lit” with assistance each night.  He also got a wooden chanukiyah of his own as a gift from his Savta and Aunt Lisa, which he lit with even more assistance from his parents (i.e. they did it for him, lest he try putting a real, lit candle in his mouth).  He also got several new books to add to his library and new toys to keep on his playmat (including a singing cuddle bus from the New York Transit Museum) over the course of the holiday.

Johan attended his first wedding (also streamed into our living room) in early December, and dressed up for the occasion. Even he rarely dresses up these days.  We took Johan to a drive-through holiday light display, which was not Johan’s favorite activity.  We aren’t sure if he just didn’t want to be in the car, or if the lights were too bright, or he wasn’t in a good mood that night.  We were able to enjoy it enough, but we wish he had as well.  

Johan has also been “revving his engine” and seems to be getting closer to figuring out how to crawl on this own.  We have been babyproofing our home in advance of this milestone, but expect him to show us things we missed as soon as he can.  You may recall that last month, we weren’t sure what Johan thought of solid foods yet, but we can now say he seems to like (both eating and playing with) them.  Peas and avocados were among the foods he has had in the past month and seemed to enjoy most.  Finally, we think Johan’s first tooth is on the verge of making an appearance, maybe there will be something newsworthy to report on that front next month.

As usual, we’ve been posting photos that can be seen here.  We don’t usually do this, but Johan was not at his most cooperative while doing this month’s photoshoot, which resulted in some of the outtakes being shareworthy on their own merit for various reasons.