I shouldn't be amazed anymore. But I still am.

Yesterday I was listening to the car radio on the way to school. Below is what I heard, almost verbatim.

"It's 8:30am here on WARM-98, and here's the local traffic report with ----. ---, how are the freeways?"

"Thanks ----! Well, it looks like everyone's still on vacation. Traffic's very light and there are no accidents or problems to report."

"Great! Now, in terms of the weather...."

That was it. The entire traffic report FOR THE WHOLE AREA OF CINCINNATI. I cracked up.

The power of peaches

High chairs have arrived in abundance! Andi very kindly bought us an Inglesina Fast chair, the kind that attaches to the table. And the very same day it arrived in the mail, one of my adult students brought over a traditional high chair with a plastic tray. She had bought it for her grandchildren for when they came to visit, and they've since grown up, so it's been living in her basement. We'll use both, I'm sure, one at home and one while visiting places (or both at home, with one in the kitchen and one in the dining room). I feel so spoiled having two, and having two tables at which to use them!

Speaking of high chairs, yesterday was baby-food making day. I stuck carrots, peas, and peaches in the blender (separately!), and then poured the mush into ice cube trays. Xander so far is a big fan of mushed peaches. I guess anything is better than that avocado.

Classes are really wonderful. In Talmud today Dr. Cohen compared "Jacob the heretic" [a character in a tractate (passage) of text] to Roger the Shrubber. When I asked who that was, he was aghast that I didn't know the Monty Python reference. I told Jonathan and he was insulted, too, and told me that we now have to rewatch The Holy Grail. In my other class, we were assigned to write our "spiritual autobiography." I found it refreshing and deeply introspective, and I highly recommend it to anyone who's curious about how their sense of connection has changed or evolved over the years.

Hemingway the cat is here. And is panicked. He and Simcha and Osher are NOT friends. Yet. We'll see how it goes.

I'm growing up!

All right, I'm willing to give this food thing a try. The spoon's pretty tasty so far.




Avocado, you say? Sounds weird to me!

Ewww! What do you take me for?! I thought you people loved me!

Mommy, I don't understand why you don't like the dentist's office. She has very cool toys and says I'm cute!

When Mommy and Daddy hang out with Anne and Carl, I like to watch Ella and Abby. They're fascinating! Too bad they're moving away.




I can't even focus on my toys, those girls are too much fun to watch.

Sarah is nice. But she says I can't play with the clippers!

Hmm, a big boy bath. I'm still deciding if I like it or not.

Yep, it's fun!

Assorted musings

Homeownership = lots and lots of yardwork. It's taking hours every weekend, but it's actually pretty fun seeing our yard shape up. Jonathan mows every week, I'm an expert raker, and our friend Sarah has shown us what in the world we're supposed to be doing with our flowerbeds. We've weeded, pruned, and shaped the bushes. Next up is mulching.

Pretty lawn = outdoor picnics! We had dinner tonight on a blanket in the backyard. It was like very own drive-in. Only without the movie.

Outdoors = Osher going wild. He caught another bird. And played with it. We could hear it screech in pain, and its mate was going nuts in the tree above. We probably should have killed it (Osher broke its wing), but we didn't have the heart. Instead we captured Osher and brought him back indoors for the night. We haven't seen the bird since.

Summer classes = brilliance but tiredness. I'm taking "Heroes and Halachah," a Talmud class analyzing how Biblical archetypes are used in Jewish law, and "Accompanying Families on Their Spiritual Journey," a professional development course taught in New York (I and one other student are in the electronic classroom). The first is 9am-noon, the second 1pm-5pm. I'm quite happy with both classes, and will write a separate entry on them soon. But oy, it makes for long days.

Long days at school = Xander in daycare. He's staying with my friend Janelle while I'm in class. He's well taken care of, but he's still not with me. Sniff.

Recession = coworker getting rid of his cat = we might be getting a new kitty. He's an 8 year old sweet cat, and if he goes to a shelter they'll most likely put him down. We can't let that happen! And Simcha needs an indoor brother. He's coming over for a trial this weekend. I'll let you know what happens.

Odelia leaving = sad. She left for New York today. I miss her already. :(

New food for Xander = messiness and distaste. The child so far likes neither oatmeal nor avocado. I hope he doesn't plan on eating only milk forever. It's so not happening.

Messy food for Xander = bathtime. He's graduated from the baby bathtub to the main tub, and loves to "swim." His favorite bath toy is a red cup.

End of fall semester = ordination and graduation = students leaving. Carl and Anne are heading off to northern Ohio, and all my senior friends are moving far, far away. Good for them, bad for me.

End of Sunday school = cute cute gifts from third graders. One gave me chocolate roses. :) They really liked our last day, an "Israel cafe." The morning started with covering their hands and faces with Dead Sea mud. Then we cut up cucumbers, tomatoes, and onions to make salad, stuck it in pita with falafel and humus, and played "Israel bingo" (bingo with Israeli terms) while we ate. You can't go wrong with food, no matter the age group.

Teething pain = lack of sleep. You remember I said that we had gotten that sleeping ritual down pat? All out the window. What I wouldn't do for four uninterrupted hours of slumber.

And speaking of, I can hear him crying on the monitor.... bye!

FINISHED

The 18-page monster paper is over, hooray!

To celebrate I have a fun day planned tomorrow - sitting in on a baby music class at 9:30, teaching my adult education class at 11, visiting and hanging out with my friend who will watching Xander next week at 2, and then lounging til Tot Shabbat at 5:30. Xander, Odelia, and I shall sit and eat bon-bons in between events. Or at least lie on the floor a lot and watch the baby scoot himself around.

I am off to bed, but leave you with a picture of a smiley boy. This was taken at school last week.



(By the way, I've gotten some questions about his necklace. It's made of amber, and is a traditional teething remedy used in Europe. The natural oils in the stones supposedly sink into his skin and act as a natural analgesic. It's too close to his neck so he can't reach it with his mouth and bite it, but it's also loose enough that it won't choke him. If you're interested (or if you just think that I'm crazy), here is a technical academic paper from SUNY Stony Brook University that explains the benefits of the properties in the necklace. This is a link to a lay site that discusses the same thing.

One more to go

I took the Christian Testament final today. The paper on Job (as in Book of) is due on Friday. Then I'm done!

Until Monday, when my summer classes start from 9-5. Sigh.

Regular (and more interesting) updates to resume when I finish my paper.

STAR TREK ROCKS

Go see it.

Jonathan went to a free preview last night with people from work. I went tonight to a showing at the IMAX theater with people from HUC.

If we did it, you have no excuse.

Trekkies unite!!

Consonants and God. How's that for a title.

The baby said "ma, ma" and "ba, ba" today! He's babbling up a storm. And scooting backwards all over the place. So child-proofing is commencing: we've gotten 3 baby gates, and got special extension cords for his room and plugs for his room (he can't put his finger in them, they close down automatically when there's not a plug in them).

Pictures will be downloaded when finals end. My first paper came out pretty well I think, on feminist God-language (the words you use to talk about God, such as He, Lord, Sovereign, Ruler, etc.) I proposed keeping gender neutral language, but also keeping the masculine terminology. I like the personal nature of a "father" and "king" instead of "parent" or "sovereign." I just want to add in female terminology as well, like "mother" and "queen." In my opinion it's important to address God in the second person in order to be able to relate and feel connected, and I think that changing the metaphors around will be helpful. I realize that calling God "She" will freak some people out, but honestly, calling God "He" has just kept the male normative and contributed to the social and liturgical subordination of women for centuries. Why not mix it up a little? (That said, I also love the fact that liturgy includes non-gendered metaphors for God too, like "Source of all life," etc.)

The next paper is on Saadia Gaon, a medieval philosopher, and Joseph Soleiveitchik, a post-Holocaust philosopher, and what they think of the Book of Job. 16-20 pages. Wish me luck.

Hoodwinked for a good cause

Jonathan and I go to temple on Friday night once a month, for the 5:30pm Tot Shabbat service. The usual Shabbat service starts at 6:30pm, which, by the time we get home, is way too late for the baby's bedtime. Sometimes we make an exception, but not usually. Well, last Friday was Teacher Appreciation Shabbat... but it was also one of Jonathan's releases, a big work thing which meant that he started to work at 5pm and didn't finish til about 3am that morning. I knew that Jonathan would be stressed anyway, so I didn't even tell him about the Teacher Appreciation Shabbat so that he wouldn't have to feel guilty about not going.

On Tuesday my principal at Sunday school emailed me, asking for Jonathan's email because she had a computer question for him. "Sure!" I said, thinking that it was so nice that she wanted his advice. Later that day, when discussing her question, he asked me if I wanted to go to Teacher Shabbat. I was surprised, but apparently it had come up in conversation with the principal, and he figured why not, he could take some time out from work and we could go be more involved in the community. So we went.

Near the end of the service, in lieu of the sermon, the principal and rabbi handed out certificates to the seniors who were graduating and the madrichim (teacher's aides). Then they announced that every year, there was one award that was given to the best teacher at Sunday School, someone who "most exemplified Jewish values through teaching." And I found out that Jonathan and the principal had conspired! It was me! When the rabbi called me up I was actually standing in the back of the sanctuary, bouncing Xander, and I blushed so hard it seemed to take forever to get to the bima (stage). I went up to the front, and Xander promptly tried to drool on the plaque that had my name inscribed on it. When that failed he attempted to eat my certificate, and when I leaned him back he decided instead to try to reach for the wrapping paper around my gift (which was very cool, The Book of Customs, a book I didn't have!)

So, as the title says, I was tricked. But for a lovely, lovely cause. :)


[P.S. What Jonathan and the principal would have had to talk about in the Middle Ages: Medieval tech support]

Someone made a video about Simcha

Videos from last week