And on we grow...

Today, I came to the realization that Yousuf is growing-whether i like it or not. Sadly, I had to retire many of his 6-9 month clothes after my friend Hoda made the comment that his bum seems to be sticking out of all his pants. I think I was in denial. I had to come to terms with the fact that he would never fit into any of darling little 6-9monthers again-EVER! Next thing you know, as his daddy says when I complain about this cling-to-me-like a fly to honey-phase, he won't want to spend time with his embarassing mother. *Sigh*, maybe I'm being a little melodramatic, but I'm stuck in Cairo alone with a 9-month-old in an unfurnished flat, so cut me some slack here. Who am I talking to again? Who knows. But if you'e gotten this far I applaud you (you're either bored yourself or also have a 9-month old in a big, horribly pollluted, sorely unfashionable city).

Also a note on Yousuf's latest "sha2awa"..that is, troublemaking. He was play attempting to pull everything possible thing off the plastic nighstand near hoda's bed, slipped, and hit his eye on the edge of the bed. Pls. keep in mind all this happened while I was a foot away from him (for those rolling their eyes and thinking "what a neglectful parent"). He broke out in screams and next thing I know his eye is covered in blood, and I'm in hysterics. After I frantically called daddy (mine and his) and calmed down, I realized, thank God, it was a shallow wound, which nevertheless left a one-inch long scar across his eyelid. My lesson: God made babies pliable, quick healers, and quick to forget what happend one-minute ago for a reason.

Stuck in Egypt

Was on my way back to Gaza to work after a brief hiatus to the US to see Yassine, when wouldn't you have it the Israelis closed the Rafah border crossing-the only route into Gaza-after a giagntic explosion killed 5 of their troops there. Well that means Yousuf and I have been stuck here for over 2 weeks now and counting.

Some comments on our status: an Egyptian friend of my mother's, who trying to be good-natured and seeing if I needed anything, made the comment that "its not a big deal, you must be used to this by now", meaning of course the constant border closures.

How can one EVER get used to the uncertainty of Palestinian existence? To being prevented from entering one's own homeland arbitrarily, spontaneously? To being in absolute lack of control of one's life-that is, to have another be in absolute control of your every movement? You cannot. And as Palestinians we do not. We live, for the most part, in a state of constant temporality, and this, more than anything else, has come to define us.