Friday, December 31, 2010

Christian candy envy

Why don't Jews decorate?! It's an age-old question. Don't get me wrong, I love Hanukkah, but Christmas really does have all the advantages in terms of decorations, music, and non-greasy food. I'm seven months pregnant and have a sweet tooth, so.... we caved, and bought a gingerbread house kit. Next year we've decided we'll buy blue and white candy to make a Hanukkah house, but I have to say.... forget that it's supposedly a Christmas thing, it was extraordinarily fun to do together as a family!


Oy vah voy, where to start?





Daddy suggests we begin by squeezing the icing into the decorating bags.






Can't interrupt decorating to look at camera... must concentrate.





Perusing the choices in order to make the best selection.





One can't properly decorate without first taste-testing, you know.





Learning how red and white combines to make pink.






Putting on the finishing touches. A boy's work is never done.





The final product. Front door.




Side one.




Back of the house.




And last side. The green "X" on the roof was Xander's very own creation.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Vacation hodgepodge

I forgot to say earlier, on Christmas we bypassed the traditional movie and Chinese food, but I did go to Unitarian Universalist services led by a friend of mine who I met through this summer's CPE. I found it fascinating, but not quite for me. The readings were beautiful, but it seemed too new; it lacked the tradition and ritual that I love in Judaism and Catholicism both. It also was so universalistic, it had no particularism whatsoever, which I also found hard to relate to. I was still glad I went though, I'd always been curious about UU.

The video below is about a new book that claims to have DNA evidence on Ashkenazi (European) Jews' common origins. I bought everything he said in the beginning, but am not sure how much I believe from the last five minutes, about Jews' intelligence. Either way, it's still interesting to share.




And last but not least, these pictures aren't fabulous, but they're a taste of our life on vacation. Domesticity rules.


Getting a sudden urge of the cuddles after lunch.





Say "cheese!"




Contemplating life.




I'd never have believed it was possible: 32 pounds of cat sharing one bed.




Giggling at something or other.





Breaking out the Play Doh.




Making handprints.




Learning to chop Play-Doh carrot. After this came making shapes and letters, using tools to create imprints, and the ever popular favorite, seeing how much Play Doh can stick to one's nose without falling off.





Cooking said carrot.





Yentl was feeling social. This was hilarious - he tried to pull her out, she dug her claws into the carpet and insisted on staying. He finally said, very crossly, "No no no Yentl, no cook! My turn!"

Monday, December 27, 2010

Bedtime stories

One of Xander's current favorites is this interactive Thomas the Train book, where you read the story then turn gears and press buttons for sound effects. Well, Jonathan's been reading it every night for over a week. And a couple nights ago he got bored and the story started to change. I forget what he told the first night, but last night was about Thomas the union worker and his friends battling the evil owner Mr. Topham Hat so all trains could get fair treatment.

Tonight we asked Xander to pick a book, and of course it was Thomas again. So Jonathan opened it to the first page and said, "I think tonight this will be about new train immigrants learning to integrate into the world of Sodor Steamworks, and how their friend Thomas helps them come to grips with their new identity." He turned to Xander: "What do you think?"

And Xander looked up at him, all panicked, shook his head, and in his most vehement voice said, "Not THAT one!!!"

After we finished cracking up, Jonathan felt suitably chastised and read the story as written. :)

Saturday, December 25, 2010

New pictures

Checking out of the hotel in Indiana the morning of the wedding. Forget the excitement of the wedding - he got to ride on the luggage cart and press the elevator button!





Jonathan likes to make his cookies from scratch, so here we are helping by cutting up chocolate bars to make the chocolate chips. Note my real knife and cutting board; his is made of wood. He was very perplexed by the cutting process, so a moment later decided to give up and just eat the piece instead.




Fixing one of his toys with Daddy by extracting the battery. That plastic tool set we got him for Hanukkah was the best gift ever.




We were eating lunch and Xander finished first, so he was excused to go play. Yet he wanted to be with us, so he dragged his piano from the living room to the kitchen entryway so he could play us music.





Conducting very important phone business.




"The manager said WHAT? I don't think so."





Once business was over, he grabbed a real phone and proceeded to hand me his so we could call each other.




First official self-portrait.





I helped aim the camera for this one.




And of course, the best photos are the ones taken by somebody else!



I'll end with a fun story from the day:

We're trying to encourage him to say his name more, so I asked him, "Are you Mommy?"
"Nooo!" he said.
"Are you Daddy?"
"Nooo!"
"Are you Simcha?"
"Nooo!"
"Well, who are you then? What's your name?"
And he gives a big smile and says, giggling, "Yentl!"

Friday, December 24, 2010

RIP Cleo, 1985-2010

Cleo on my bed in high school

Not that this compares to grandparents, but the last of the cats I grew up with passed away last night. Sniff. She was 25, which is remarkable for a cat. She was always so sweet and loving, and willing to sit on anyone's lap as long as they gave her pets. Her purr was more like a deep rumble, a vibration rather than a sound. My mom's house just won't be the same without her.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Holiday singing

You might have seen one or both of these, but oh well....








Monday, December 20, 2010

Quick update

1) Mom just left to go home. I'm sad. :(

2) We went to northern Indiana for my cousin's wedding this weekend. It was a 5 hr drive there and back. Xander was a doll, but I hate the turn and burn. The wedding went great though, everyone was really happy with what I contributed. And it's always good to see family.

3) Today Xander has been really into hitting things. It's driving me nuts.
\\
4) I just saw the remake of The Karate Kid, and was impressed with Jaden Smith. Any movie recs from people? We're all about Netflix.

5) We gave the cats catnip for a treat and an hour later they were all meowing for more food. I think we gave our cats the munchies!

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Snow day!

Six inches of snow in Cincinnati means that it's a snow day for the local schools, my mom's flight in was cancelled and since rescheduled, and Xander and Jonathan are outside sledding. Before they left though Xander wanted to "teach Torah," which involved putting on lots of kippot.


At this point he has three on.





Very focused Jewish driver.





Dressing up for the wild outdoors. Yentl thinks the door is a popsicle; she's literally licking it.



Once they got outside, it was a little overwhelming. No pictures of the sledding itself - Jonathan couldn't take them and I wasn't fool enough to venture outside of my cozy haven!



Tuesday, December 14, 2010

He's got it down pat

Last night at dinnertime, Xander had just finished helping me set the table (he puts out his own plate, fork, and cup) when we sat down in our seats. Jonathan was behind the kitchen counter, taking an extra minute before bringing out the food. The boy glanced over at him by the stove and asked "Daddy?" I said, "Daddy will be here in a moment, he's just finishing."

He then looked straight at me and says, "Daddy cooking. Mommy teach Torah!" And then he nodded happily to himself, knowing that he had accurately figured out our household roles.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Best Jewish law decision ever

I've been trying to post the original letter/law decision for 15 minutes now, but it's a PDF so I can't figure out how to do it.

In lieu of the actual attachment, here's an article that explains what it is, and gives a transcript of the letter. If you don't want to read the whole thing, just scroll halfway down the page to part in gray. And if you can find the original letter, go read it - the guy even put funny footnotes to all the Hebrew terms.

Huffington Post: Balancing Jewish Birth Celebrations So They Include Baby Girls

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Miriam Merraro, 1911-2010

This was taken the last time I saw my grandmother, in Israel at Pesach

My grandmother Miriam was 99 when she passed away yesterday. Her life story was one for the books - she dropped out of 4th grade to go tend sheep in her Romanian shtetl. She lived in Bucharest as an adult and came to Israel in 1950, when my dad was two. Moving from Sfat to Yaffa, she made do with her Yiddish and Romanian, never fully learning Hebrew. Whether for good or for bad, I never once had a conversation with her that wasn't translated; I always wished I knew her better.

What I remember most is how happy she was whenever myself and my siblings would come over to her house. My father was the apple of her eye, and in her mind, we didn't fall far from the tree. Her joy at seeing my wedding album was unparalleled. She grinned like mad while reading a book to Xander. And she always, always kissed me on both cheeks whenever I walked in the room. She was a good woman, and she will be missed.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

I see dead people

So I just got an email from my brother requesting that we stop using the flash so much when we take pictures, because our complexions are looking unrealistically white and pasty.

Sniff. We don't use the flash when we take pictures! It IS real.

But it's 17 degrees out right now with snow covering the ground, and we haven't seen the sun in weeks. That's gotta give us some excuse, right? My Israeli olive-skinned side is having some serious issues right now....

Monday, December 6, 2010

Yay on three counts

1) Yesterday we went to the Children's Museum, and Xander had an absolute blast. Climbing, jumping, running, throwing balls, pushing things, playing with water... oh to be two.



Yes, I sound like an idiot. And he's saying "one more."





Here he is passed out in the car on the way home. Thank you mom for the annual pass!



2) When I was at my pulpit this weekend, Jonathan reorganized the garage!! This was a very big deal, consisting of sorting and putting away every non-child safe thing on shelves. So all lawn accoutrements are now safely out of Xander's range, meaning that we can now leave the garage door open so he can choose between his outside toys without us having to watch him like a hawk. As a bonus, it also means there's space to easily park the car inside, so we don't have to spend 10 minutes scraping ice off windows before we get in the car every morning.

3) My son is built like his father was at his age: tall and lanky. I love them both, but it is very difficult to find pants that fit that body shape, since 2T pants are too big in the waist and fall off, but 18 months pants are way too short in the legs. The solution? My stepmother. She sent me lots of Israeli clothes. I have no idea what size they are in American terms, but thank goodness for a people with small waists and long legs, since those are the only pants that fit him perfectly.

Now, off to go write a long boring philosophy paper on "Autonomy and Toleration." I'll be comparing the liberalist attitudes of Rawls to similar attitudes in.... yeah, you don't really care, do you? Neither do I. That's my problem. But it's due next week, so I should really get started...

Friday, December 3, 2010

Cracked me up


I already refuse to shop at Wal-Mart because of how they treat their employees. Now I'm thinking they need some better PR people, too. As the Facebook caption had said:

"Dear Wal-Mart,

You're barking up the wrong tree.

Love,

The Jews"

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Turkey Day and Hanukkah all at once!

Thanksgiving was November 25th, and tonight is the first night of Hanukkah. I hate it when they're that close together. It did, however, provide a great opportunity for my mom and Lynn celebrate Hanukkah early with us a few days early. The following pictures are of the long weekend, and are pretty much self-explanatory.



Wearing hats of Xander's choice: a gift bag for me, a makeup bag for him.





Hat close-up.





Cuddling on the couch.





Me in the car.





Taking a break from an early morning art project.






The wooden menorah was my first menorah at the age of two. It's actually made for crayons.





Menorahs in the modern age: putting in the shamash.





Very excited to have a hopping dreidel: twist the peg and the thing waddles on over to you.





Lynn gave Xander a ride-on toy that he loves. Simcha immediately claimed the box.




What a perfect place for a wrestling match!

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

My faith in the system is restored

A couple of weeks ago I wrote an email to the woman who schedules classes at HUC, asking that all my classes in spring be on the first floor. The classroom building has no handicapped access to the second floor, and it's getting harder and harder to lug my backpack up the stairs.

Today she sent out the schedule to everyone, complete with rooms. And YAY! She granted my request. :)

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Yay!

Mom helped me organize the basement this morning. Why is it that I can never seem to do these chores without help? Or at the very least company. But now I have a whole bin organized with "baby toys," I dug out the monitor, the wraps, etc and put them all in one place. It was frightening to realize that after finals I have one week break, then I go right into spring semester... which will end prematurely for me with a new baby. If I'm gonna do all this stuff before he's born, I better start now!

(Oh, and apropos of nothing, here's a random pic of Xander last month that I forgot to post. We call it his "New York attitude look.")