Yaakov really, really loves Star Wars. He has never seen the movie, of course, but has Star Wars legos, and uses lego poles to build his "guys" light-Savers (his words). Every time we go to the Library, he runs to check and see if the movie is on the shelf, and to ask me if he is 13 yet and can watch the movie.
Answer: no, but you are one week closer than the last time you asked!
I took him to the Bike Store last week to order his new 2 wheeler with training wheels and the guy showed him all the bikes popular with the 3 year old set- Thomas, Lightening McQueen, but no- none of them were "cool enough" for Yaakov. He ended up chosing the plain blue bike, because it wasn't babyish. Since when did my baby care about things being babyish!?
The bike salesman asked him how old he was and Yaakov answered sadly "Not 13."
Meanwhile, we were discussing at the Shabbos table what Amira wanted to be when she grew up- she goes back and forth between wanting to be a teacher, a doctor, and a ballet teacher/doctor. Her teacher sent us a note last week that she has been put in math enrichment (ha, my kid is really good at math!) and she said, well, I am one step closer to being a doctor! Or a ballet teacher.
What does Yaakov want to be when he grows up?
Darth Vader.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Conferences take two!
I am home from round two of elementary school parent teacher conferences, and as Amira's English teacher said to me tonight, it's going to be a good night for you. And thank G-d, it really was. I will spare you all the details, suffice to say that she is doing beautifully in school and most importantly is very, very happy to be there. Please G-d, all my future conferences should be as wonderful.
One funny story from her reading teacher:
The reading class was just this week assigned their first real, big book report, due in 2 weeks. It will involve a lot of work, all of which Amira is very excited about. Her teacher was very, very amused, though, when Amira raised her hand in class to ask if it was permissible to write her book report on a book that she wrote herself. Loll!
In other news, it was sunny and warm and as such, bike and park weather! I do love the winter, but there is just something wonderful about spring, and especially this kind of weather before the bugs come!
I put Yaakov on his trike from last year only to find that he is too big, and not just that- he was fully proficient at riding a two-wheeler with training wheels, something that Amira only learned to do last summer! Amira is doing so well on her bike that we are planning to take off her training wheels this weekend, G-d willing!
Yaakov borrowed a friend's bike, hopped on, and off he went! So it will be off to the bike store this week for us, to buy his first real bike!
Monday, March 16, 2009
Nature vs. Nurture
Two Posts in one day!? Well, as I was watching Yaakov play with his legos today (legos rate up with polly pockets in terms of being tiny, easy to lose and annoying to clean up, but both kids can spend hours building things, which I must admit, I love.) I was thinking about how my mom always says that when we were all little, she wanted to give the girls and the boys equal toy opportunities, so she gave us all dolls and trucks. My sister and I used the trucks the drive our dolls around, while my brothers used the trucks to run over the dolls. 
Now, Yaakov may be very happy to dress up as Tinkerbell, but while he is wearing said costume, he is also running around with a make shaft gun, shooting away. I don't even know where he learned about guns, or shooting, but oh, does he know. He makes a beeline for the Star Wars Movie every single time we go to our Library and every single time asks me if he is big enough to watch it. (Answer- when you are as big as cousin Akiva.)
My parents did not allow guns in our house, and my brothers compensated for that by making anything and everything into a gun. Sandwich? Crust eaten into the shape of a gun. Legos? Make awesome guns.
So, despite the fact that I am a republican in a family of democrats, I am not pro-gun, and do not have them in our house.
Supposedly.
What happens when...
Your children start to ask questions you can't answer? (Well, I mean, not without the help of google?)
When we first got email/Internet some time when I was in high school (my aol screen name was Shluffless ( Sleepless in Yiddish)- I totally wish I still had that one!) my mother rolled her eyes in the way only she can (although Yehuda and my brother in law will tell you that Atara and I come close now!) and said that she had absolutely no interest whatsoever in such a thing and why on earth would she want to learn how to do that!?
Fast forward 15 years or so and we now refer to my mother as "Savta Google" because she is not only amazing at navigating and figuring out the Internet (no, Ima, I still can't figure out how to set up Skype so that I can actually talk, and yes I am still embarrassed that I yelled into the computer screen assuming you could hear me in Israel when I didn't have a microphone), but she also manages to find the absolute coolest stuff out there and happily sends it along to us so that we can learn more.
Well, it looks like I am going to be following in her footsteps, but in my case out of necessity.
Last night at dinner, Amira continued with her campaign to out learn her parents by the time she is in second grade and asked us the following questions:
Amira: How many astronauts have ever walked on the moon? I think it was 12 and that all of them walked on the moon by the time Abba was born (1972) and not since then.
Yehuda and me: (beam with pride, blush with embarrassment) um....
Me: (I have to um, go to the bathroom...run to google, turns out she is right!)
Me: Amira, how did you know that?
Amira: I was reading a book about the first ever African American Woman astronaut and it said that. Why haven't more people walked on the moon since then? Have they walked anywhere else besides the moon? Why do they call them African Americans if they have lived here for a long time already and aren't really from Africa? Does it matter what part of Africa they are from?
Me: um, eat your soup please...
2 minutes Later...
Amira: Can you marry your cousin?
Yehuda and me: um.... well, you could, but it isn't a good idea.
Amira: Why?
We attempt to explain the gene pool and mutation and wow, when you think in high school and college that you will NEVER actually need to really know any of this stuff in the real world, it is just not true- all that stuff is preparing you to be a parent! Now I wish I had paid better attention.
Amira: How many languages are there in the world?
Us again: Um.......
She also likes to quiz me on the state capitals and world geography. I barely knew all the state capitals by the time I was in Junior High, forget first grade!
She told me this morning at breakfast: when I was younger, I thought the capital of Arizona was pronounced Phonix, not Pheenix. Her idea of something hilarious is that the capital of Oklahoma is Oklahoma City, how original. Loll.
Despite the feeling that I had better start studying again and get my brain into gear before she starts second grade, much less high school, I am so thoroughly enjoying this stage. She has such curiosity and a drive to know everything. And Yaakov benefits from it too. He can already locate many countries on the globe!
Last night she told us that she wants to be a scientist and a Doctor and wanted to know how she could do that. I told her she just had to keep reading and learning and paying attention and go to school for a long time and she could do it. And I really know that she can.
Parent teacher conferences are tomorrow night and I am very excited!
And in Yaakov news, he has learned all of his ABC's! I love that every time he sees a "Y" he says "Y" for Yaakov Y-A-A-K-O-V. (and I always think "Gooooo Yaakov!")
When we first got email/Internet some time when I was in high school (my aol screen name was Shluffless ( Sleepless in Yiddish)- I totally wish I still had that one!) my mother rolled her eyes in the way only she can (although Yehuda and my brother in law will tell you that Atara and I come close now!) and said that she had absolutely no interest whatsoever in such a thing and why on earth would she want to learn how to do that!?
Fast forward 15 years or so and we now refer to my mother as "Savta Google" because she is not only amazing at navigating and figuring out the Internet (no, Ima, I still can't figure out how to set up Skype so that I can actually talk, and yes I am still embarrassed that I yelled into the computer screen assuming you could hear me in Israel when I didn't have a microphone), but she also manages to find the absolute coolest stuff out there and happily sends it along to us so that we can learn more.
Well, it looks like I am going to be following in her footsteps, but in my case out of necessity.
Last night at dinner, Amira continued with her campaign to out learn her parents by the time she is in second grade and asked us the following questions:
Amira: How many astronauts have ever walked on the moon? I think it was 12 and that all of them walked on the moon by the time Abba was born (1972) and not since then.
Yehuda and me: (beam with pride, blush with embarrassment) um....
Me: (I have to um, go to the bathroom...run to google, turns out she is right!)
Me: Amira, how did you know that?
Amira: I was reading a book about the first ever African American Woman astronaut and it said that. Why haven't more people walked on the moon since then? Have they walked anywhere else besides the moon? Why do they call them African Americans if they have lived here for a long time already and aren't really from Africa? Does it matter what part of Africa they are from?
Me: um, eat your soup please...
2 minutes Later...
Amira: Can you marry your cousin?
Yehuda and me: um.... well, you could, but it isn't a good idea.
Amira: Why?
We attempt to explain the gene pool and mutation and wow, when you think in high school and college that you will NEVER actually need to really know any of this stuff in the real world, it is just not true- all that stuff is preparing you to be a parent! Now I wish I had paid better attention.
Amira: How many languages are there in the world?
Us again: Um.......
She also likes to quiz me on the state capitals and world geography. I barely knew all the state capitals by the time I was in Junior High, forget first grade!
She told me this morning at breakfast: when I was younger, I thought the capital of Arizona was pronounced Phonix, not Pheenix. Her idea of something hilarious is that the capital of Oklahoma is Oklahoma City, how original. Loll.
Despite the feeling that I had better start studying again and get my brain into gear before she starts second grade, much less high school, I am so thoroughly enjoying this stage. She has such curiosity and a drive to know everything. And Yaakov benefits from it too. He can already locate many countries on the globe!
Last night she told us that she wants to be a scientist and a Doctor and wanted to know how she could do that. I told her she just had to keep reading and learning and paying attention and go to school for a long time and she could do it. And I really know that she can.
Parent teacher conferences are tomorrow night and I am very excited!
And in Yaakov news, he has learned all of his ABC's! I love that every time he sees a "Y" he says "Y" for Yaakov Y-A-A-K-O-V. (and I always think "Gooooo Yaakov!")
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Purim Roundup!
First of all, lots of thanks to all the wonderful people who commented/emailed me that they intended to comment! Keep them coming, please!
We are now recovering from a whirlwind Purim! We had a blast at home and in Philly with Atara and the gang and cousin Deborah and her gang. This is the first Purim that we have ever shared with family, and we absolutely loved it! We had a great time at Shul for Megilla reading, delivering our Shalach Manos and then hurried off to Philly in our best superhero fashion.
We are now recovering from a whirlwind Purim! We had a blast at home and in Philly with Atara and the gang and cousin Deborah and her gang. This is the first Purim that we have ever shared with family, and we absolutely loved it! We had a great time at Shul for Megilla reading, delivering our Shalach Manos and then hurried off to Philly in our best superhero fashion.
People were somewhat confused at my costume (Batgirl) since
a: I always wear all black, so no difference there
b: apparently the combination of my batman mask and glasses made me look more like Darth Vader.
a: I always wear all black, so no difference there
b: apparently the combination of my batman mask and glasses made me look more like Darth Vader.
Sadly (ha ha) there were no pictures taken of me in costume.
But Batman and Supergirl were super adorable!
Don't you think Atara looks great in a sheitel?
Ephraim as an elephant- too cute!
Chezzie as a Sefer Torah! And Yehuda as, um, SuperRabbi?
And now Purim is over which means that, gasp, Pesach is around the corner! But first, parent teacher conferences next week!
Sunday, March 8, 2009
What's your Super-Power?
In other words:
Delurk! Post a comment! Identify yourself! Become a blog follower!
It has come to my attention that not even my generally very loyal and ego-feeding family are reading my blog anymore. That could be because I have not really posted much recently, or it could be because they have not yet figured out HOW to post a comment, or because....you know, anything. But I will excuse it because I love you all. And I am super grateful to my ever-awesome friend Shirah for always reading!
My mother has decided also that everyone has a super power. While I have already identified mine (See Super-Yenta) and one of my mother's friends told my mother that her super power is the ability to get an appointment at 9:30 AM at any Doctor's office just by mentally telepathing the receptionist at any given office (very useful!), I am sure that there are many other awesome super power's out there!
So post a comment. Say hello. Feed my ego.
Purim is on Tuesday and we are all very excited. We are putting the finishing touches on our costumes (Super Hero family!) and our Shalach Manos (Hero Sandwich's- get it!?) and are very excited to have our first ever Purim Seudah with family! Yes, you read that right- our first! Since most of our family lives pretty far away, we are really happy to have my sister and brother in law only 100 miles (or so) away and will be heading to Philly for Purim!
Anyhow, I am pretty sure I have told this awesome story to everyone (except my brother and sister in law in Israel, and I don't know if they actually read this blog, but will hope so....)
Last week Amira, Yaakov and I were looking at pictures on Facebook of my incredibly adorable new nephew in Israel and writing comments under them. There was one picture that they both found hilarious and they were laughing and laughing and when they stopped, Amira said to me: "Mommy, that one is SO funny, you should write, like, Loll (she pronounced it like loll in Loll-y-pop), under it."
I was confused for 1/2 a second and then thought----- ohhh, LOL=loll! Ha! She reads everything, doesn't she?!
Now any time I hear something funny, I think "loll!"
Tonight at dinner Yaakov and Amira were bickering and in frustration I blurted out "If you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all." And they were quiet for a second, and Amira said "Yaakov, you are so cute." And I said- that's exactly what I meant, great! Yaakov, do you have anything nice to say? And he said "Yes, I am very cute."
Loll.
Delurk! Post a comment! Identify yourself! Become a blog follower!
It has come to my attention that not even my generally very loyal and ego-feeding family are reading my blog anymore. That could be because I have not really posted much recently, or it could be because they have not yet figured out HOW to post a comment, or because....you know, anything. But I will excuse it because I love you all. And I am super grateful to my ever-awesome friend Shirah for always reading!
My mother has decided also that everyone has a super power. While I have already identified mine (See Super-Yenta) and one of my mother's friends told my mother that her super power is the ability to get an appointment at 9:30 AM at any Doctor's office just by mentally telepathing the receptionist at any given office (very useful!), I am sure that there are many other awesome super power's out there!
So post a comment. Say hello. Feed my ego.
Purim is on Tuesday and we are all very excited. We are putting the finishing touches on our costumes (Super Hero family!) and our Shalach Manos (Hero Sandwich's- get it!?) and are very excited to have our first ever Purim Seudah with family! Yes, you read that right- our first! Since most of our family lives pretty far away, we are really happy to have my sister and brother in law only 100 miles (or so) away and will be heading to Philly for Purim!
Anyhow, I am pretty sure I have told this awesome story to everyone (except my brother and sister in law in Israel, and I don't know if they actually read this blog, but will hope so....)
Last week Amira, Yaakov and I were looking at pictures on Facebook of my incredibly adorable new nephew in Israel and writing comments under them. There was one picture that they both found hilarious and they were laughing and laughing and when they stopped, Amira said to me: "Mommy, that one is SO funny, you should write, like, Loll (she pronounced it like loll in Loll-y-pop), under it."
I was confused for 1/2 a second and then thought----- ohhh, LOL=loll! Ha! She reads everything, doesn't she?!
Now any time I hear something funny, I think "loll!"
Tonight at dinner Yaakov and Amira were bickering and in frustration I blurted out "If you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all." And they were quiet for a second, and Amira said "Yaakov, you are so cute." And I said- that's exactly what I meant, great! Yaakov, do you have anything nice to say? And he said "Yes, I am very cute."
Loll.
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