Off to Israel with the boy

Will post when I return in two weeks. If you're in Cinci, call my husband to say hi. He'll either be very lonely, or very happy to play video games without anyone to bug him. Possibly, both at once. :)

Truly excellent things in life

My brother just sent me a link to a package deal for the Harry Potter theme park. I wanna go!

Jonathan got me a new book as a birthday present, and I finally got a chance to read it: Nefertiti, by Michelle Moran. It was quite fun! It brought the Egyptian world to life, incorporating known events and historical figures into the lives of fictional characters. I had studied Amunhotep/Akhenaten in school because he wrote Hymn to the Aten, an ode to a sun god, that's strikingly similar to Psalm 104. Akhenaten reformed the Egyptian world, tearing down all the old gods in favor of what is thought to be the first historical monotheism. Nefertiti was his wife, and is best known from her bust that still survives today. The book followed them from the time before they ascended to power as teens until death, and it was extremely imaginative. I'm thinking of checking out the sequel.

Also, last night we made two batches of chocolate toffee matzah to take to seder. This morning when we got up the house smelled glorious. Mmm....

Communication

Xander made up a sign today! After getting dressed this morning, he gave us the sign for food and pointed downstairs. Sure, we said. Then Jonathan asked him what he wanted to eat. He held out his right hand and lightly tapped the knuckles with the fingers of his left hand, while holding both hands completely flat. What does that mean? I asked. He repeated it again, looking determined. It took a couple of guesses, but Jonathan finally realized he was mimicking cracking eggs on the edge of a pan. When Jonathan said the word "eggs" Xander let out a cry of triumph and repeated the sign. Then he signed "bananas." "You want eggs and banana for breakfast?" Jonathan asked. Xander made his yes sound happily, then headed for the door.

When we were actually making the eggs, and especially when Jonathan cracked them on the edge of the pan, Xander repeated his egg sign and was very excited that he was understood. When the eggs were finished we set him down in his seat and he began to eat. About halfway through we asked if there was anything else he wanted - and he looked at the fridge and signed "yogurt"! So we had a very nutritious breakfast this morning, courtesy of Xander: scrambled eggs, bananas, and vanilla yogurt.

Things that were funny at the time, but that will be even funnier later

1) Dumpster diving in the pouring rain. Xander wears cloth diapers, and I always bring a cloth bag to put the dirty ones in. Well, the other day I forgot it, so I asked his caretaker if she could just put them in a plastic grocery bag. She did so. Then someone else thought the bag was trash and threw it away. Jonathan and I spent 15 minutes outside getting soaked... but we found the bag! It had 5 diapers in it, so we saved around $100.

2) We went to Ault Park today with Rachel and Evan. The babeleh shared his pushcart beautifully, and didn't even complain once when Liam pushed it around. Then it became so popular that no less than 4 other toddlers wanted to play with it. We only had problems when another little boy tried to pile it high with mulch, and then didn't want to take the mulch out. His mother was very apologetic.

3) I saved a crayon from the washing machine. We have now reached the age of all those Erma Bombeck books that I used to laugh at, thinking it would never happen to me.

4) At the beginning of our walk outside, I wore my jacket, Xander wore his, and he walked in front of me pushing his cart. By the end of our walk, it was hot and Xander was tired, so I carried both our jackets, the boy, and his cart. I will say that I am getting good biceps...

5) I think I overscheduled next week. Monday is first seder at a friend's in Cincinnati. Tuesday I lead second seder at my pulpit in Indiana. Wednesday I pack. Because late Wednesday/early Thursday Xander and I leave for Israel! Does anyone have any tips for long plane travel with a toddler? We've been to California and New York twice each, but those trips were nowhere near as long as Tel Aviv (13 hours total air time). I wonder how much he'll sleep, or if there's such a thing as too many toys.

And these aren't necessarily funny, but I thought they were interesting enough to share: NY Times articles on what it means to be "white" and the Obama seder.

This website made my day

Eternal Earthbound Pets, USA: The next best thing to pet salvation in a Post Rapture world

"You've committed your life to Jesus. You know you're saved. But when the Rapture comes what's to become of your loving pets who are left behind? Eternal Earth-Bound Pets takes that burden off your mind.

We are a group of dedicated animal lovers, and atheists. Each
Eternal Earth-Bound Pet representative is a confirmed atheist, and as such will still be here on Earth after you've received your reward. Our network of animal activists are committed to step in when you step up to Jesus."

You have to read the FAQ, too... these people are brilliant. I bet they're raking in money hand over fist. I only wish I had thought of it first!

New York pictures

Here they are! 83 out of the 600-something we took. Thank Jonathan for going through them.

My very favorite ones:

Taking a buggy ride in Central Park

Waiting for the ferry to take us back from the Statue of Liberty

And all the rest are in a slideshow right here.

I realized too late that while we have great pictures of Nicole and Joe, we didn't get any of Mark and Mara! Oy! Our wonderful hosts are picture-less. Our sincere apologies. Most of the time we hung out with them was in the morning or at night, when we were all in PJ's and didn't want a camera anywhere near.

All in all, it was a great visit. I'm so glad we went!

Spring!!!

If you're ever planning on coming to visit us, please come today. We just did a major spring cleaning, inside and out. Vacuuming, dusting, organizing... and then raking the prickly things on the lawn, mowing, trimming, and more. Three garbage cans, two lawn bags, and a recycling bin later, our house is super spiffy for Pesach.

Enjoy it while it lasts...

Insanity is tapering off

My past week -

Monday: return from NY.
Tuesday: school til 5, then evening spent prepping pulpit work and Wed class.
Wednesday: school til 5, quick dinner, temple by 6:30, teach adult ed til 8, home at 8:30. Prep pulpit.
Thursday: school til 4, then daycare calls to pick Xander up, he has a stomach bug. Dinner, then First Aid/CPR certification class til 9. Home, prep pulpit.
Friday: prep pulpit, drive to pulpit, services, dinner. In hotel by 10:30.
Saturday: teach adults, teach kids, youth group. Drive home, get home at 5:30. Dinner, put baby to bed. Am now blogging.

The upside: I had an amazingly productive week and got a billion things done. The downside: I haven't put Xander to bed three times this week. He and Jonathan are actually quite bonded now... he's pretty much spent all his free time with him since Tuesday (not to mention the three days of my conference last week), and tonight, he took Goodnight Moon away from me to give to Daddy to read. It was adorable. I don't begrudge them the bonding, he's spent so much time clinging to me, this is a nice change for all of us. I just can't spend this much time away permanently!

By the way, at youth group today I taught my very favorite Passover song ever:

"Make charoset, chop chop chop.
Apples, nuts, and cinnamon.
Add some wine, it's lots of fun,
Make charoset, chop chop chop."

We used it as our "recipe" today, albeit we used grape juice instead of wine, and added sugar.

And last but not least: when I got in tonight Xander and Jonathan were just finishing dinner. I went upstairs to change into jeans and a ratty t-shirt, when Jonathan brought up the idea of going to Steak n' Shake for dessert (I can never turn down a buy-one-get-one-free milkshake.) As we walked into the restaurant, I commented on how crappy I was dressed, and said, "wanna bet I'll turn into my mom and see like eight people we know tonight." No sooner had the words come out of my mouth - literally, they were still hanging in the air - when we saw someone waving out of the corner of our eyes. It was our next door neighbor, her two kids, and her grandkids, calling us over to their table to see hello. Jonathan looked at me and we tried hard not to crack up... all together, there were EIGHT PEOPLE at that table. We couldn't have planned it better if we tried.

HOME

We are back from New York, one day and two cancelled flights later than we had originally planned. Hundreds of pictures (or at least lots and lots) to come later. In the meantime, a few quick notes:

1. Carnegie Deli rocks. Best pastrami and corned beef I've ever had, bar none.
2. The subway lulls Xander to sleep as easily as the car does.
3. NYC really is the city that never sleeps. We got home one night at 10pm, when Cincinnati would be dead. It looked like noon out there, there were so many people.
4. Diversity is amazing.
5. Dirt is not.
6. It's really hard to navigate the transit system with the stroller. But putting a 25 lb toddler on our backs only works for so long.
7. The Statue of Liberty is greener in person.
8. Central Park is more impressive when the trees have leaves. But Xander loved it, cuz we got to pet the pretty horsie who took us around in the buggy.
9. Hot dogs, pretzels, pizzas, black and white cookies, deli, Indian, diners... we ate our way through the city. I think I went up a size.
10. Everyone is so stylish there! I rarely saw a woman from NYC not wearing boots. My tennies were still comfy though.
11. When it rains, it rains.
12. My conference on intermarriage was great. But not as much fun as touring.
13. Museum of Natural History, FAO Schwartz. Museum of Modern Art, Toys R Us. Times Square, Rockefeller Center. 5th Ave fancy stores, 7th Ave kitschy stores. There was something for me, for Jonathan, for Xander, and for everyone else.
14. NYC is expensive. People's rents are ridiculous. Not to mention buying a sandwich in Manhattan.
15. Everywhere we went, there were enough fruit stands that we could easily supply Xander with bananas. That is what most counts in his world.

Off to translate Alfasi's commentary on the first part of Tractate Avodah Zarah....

Monkeys, cats, and roller toys

All of the parenting books suggest that if you try and get your child attached to a "lovey," a stuffed animal or blanket or something, that it be small, portable, and easily replaceable. That made sense. So Jonathan and I introduced Xander (for months and months now) to a stuffed tiger, a teddy bear, and a mouse. But no. He refused them all. So what does he suddenly latch onto this week? Behold Blue Monkey.

The monkey is the first thing Jonathan got him, he won it at Dave and Buster's at his guy baby shower. Of course it's what Xander loves! Blue Monkey goes everywhere with him now.

He gives it lots of hugs. And then Mommy and Daddy have to hug it too. Monkeys need love just like the rest of us!

These were the Legos close up, by the way. Jonathan had fun. Xander handed him colors and they went with an Egypt theme: pyramid, obelisk, and river yacht.

It's been 17 months, but Osher's finally coming around!

Xander looks happier than Osher does, to be admitted, but they're cuddling nonetheless.

This is the roller toy he so loved at the mall. Yes, his outfit is sportswear. But it's warm, matching, and actually looks quite good with his skintone. :) Besides, we don't want to predispose him to geek-hood any more than we already are (meaning, with us as parents, he stands no chance of being normal).

In the morning, about ready to go off to school. Imagine what I look like at the end of the day. :)

Now it is off to New York for a conference. I get to celebrate my 29th birthday locked in a room of rabbinical students discussing interfaith marriage. Woohoo!

Recs

Straight from the Heart: A Jewish Perspective on Mothering Through Nursing by Tehilla Abramov is really quite fascinating. The author is Orthodox, so provides all the halacha (laws) on nursing. I loved all the information that's given from the Jewish sources: I don't have any of the quotes on me, but apparently the Talmud says that women are allowed to nurse until the child is 4 years old, 5 if sickly. The only thing I didn't like was that it's very pro-stay at home moms (what a shock, in that community). I felt a bit excluded as a hippie mom who loves parent-child bonding but who also likes to get my needs met outside of my mothering role.

Xander's been sleeping a lot this week, so I've also been getting to explore fun things online that I'd been curious about: e.g. I've always been fascinated by Temple Grandin, who put a face to autism and thinking in pictures versus language. TED does some amazing interviews, they just had her talk last month. Click here to watch.

I spent some time the other night entering all the genealogy data I have into an online family tree. And it got me interested more in the details of Mormonism, especially because a close friend was raised Mormon but has since left the church, and a branch of my family is actively practicing in Utah/Idaho and I don't know them well at all. There are some fascinating websites out there by ex-LDS members, like a tell-all. I'm learning so much about what LDS members believe, how they practice, how Temple rituals were influenced by the Masons, etc. It continues last year's obsession with the Amish, started off by reading this book on rumspringa. I find that the deeper I get into the rabbinical program, the more I'm intrigued by other religions that are heavily ritualized. Even as a kid I was always into compare and contrast questions at school... my mind just loves to compartmentalize, I guess.

Ah, I hear coughing... back upstairs.

He's much better now!

Just very cranky...

Since I'm up anyway....

Might as well download some videos. These are from last week. Don't knock us for his outfit - it was laundry day. The PJ bottoms were what was clean at the moment!

He loves to dance along to music, even if it's only to animal sounds!

Croup redux

Severe croup again, came out of nowhere. He was just a bit cranky yesterday. So the doctor gave him a breathing treatment, two steroids, and said if it gets any worse tonight to take him to the children's hospital ER. Everyone think good thoughts.

Purim in Richmond

Again, these photos are in a few parts: the first set is of Xander "helping" us with our luggage in the hotel. Then there are some pics of my and Jonathan's costumes when we were getting dressed up. Next is the Purim schpiel (but not that many pics for privacy reasons). Lastly is the McDonald's that Xander played in on the way home.

Click here for slideshow.

Purim in Cincinnati

Purim was celebrated in three parts this past weekend: one, at my pulpit in Richmond. Two, at the temple religious school carnival. And three, at the Purim parade at daycare.

The Richmond pictures take up half my hard drive it seems, so I'll get to those later. But here is a link to the last two events: first is the carnival. Note the picture where I took off my headband, but the mark is still there. Xander was a lion both times. There a few pics of him "roaring"... he wasn't such a huge fan of the top part of his costume. Click here for the link.

Also, some random cute ones:

Wanting to wear a tie like Daddy.

Climbing!