[Nickarolaberry]

Chodesh tov mamas!

Come let's have a new thread...it's Kislev!

The triumph of light over darkness, of the weak over the strong, of the righteous over the evil....

Here comes Chanukah!

 

[Nickarolaberry]

Oops! My calendar says Rosh Chodesh. D'oh! Oh well.

 

[Nickarolaberry]

Oh.

Noone ever told me that before. See, you just illuminated my ignorance.

:

 

[Nickarolaberry]

Well, I give thanks every year that there's a holiday I can celebrate with my extended family that's not going to lead to religious arguments (as long as we bring all our food

.

I do understand not celebrating some "American" holidays in some ways, I guess, but on the other hand I don't see why it wouldn't be okay, religiously. To "davka" eat mac and cheese seems a little .... well, spiteful? That's not precisely the idea I'm going for but it brings across the point.

Noone is obviously forcing anyone to celebrate an American holiday, but why not? We live in America. We benefit from living in America, even with all its foibles. While the "original" Thanksgiving and the behavior of the European colonists may or may not have been on the up and up, the fact is that we do enjoy a standard of living (not just economic, but also political) that few in the world are privileged to share -- living, as most do, under tyrannies or worse.

I'm not a wave-the-flag kinda person or anything. But the truth is my grandfather, z'tl (may his memory be for a blessing) was a survivor and he thanked Hashem each and every day he made it here and Thanksgiving was his favorite holiday because he could celebrate being an American (he also loved July 4). He was brought up chassidish (and although he lost his faith during the Shoah he always remained shomer Kashrus).

 

[Nickarolaberry]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jul511riv Did you know that there was a kabalistic rabbi who, when asked for a bracha on the marriage of one of his students, offered him these two pearls. Indulge in two things in a marriage, said the rabbi. Intercourse and food.

This is just about as good a definition for a successful marriage as any I've ever heard.

:

:

Love it.

 

[Nickarolaberry]

I'm not a huge eggnog fan in general but the idea of pareve soy eggnog strikes me as kind of .... icky. Sorry.

I'm in a weird mood this morning. Was up very late last night working and the baby is teething madly so he was up many times in the night. The mixture of several awakenings and him basically using my breast as a teether make for a tired mommy, but I've taken a hit of caffeine (read...mug full of milky Elite instant coffee..yumm) so I'm bouncing around a bit.

I am taking a vacation today and SENDING OUT MY LAUNDRY. This is a treat I allow myself rarely but I figured, what the heck, it's Rosh Chodesh and the mounds of it were really starting to stress me out. It will come back to me folded and all I'll have to do is put it away. This frankly is my definition of luxury. I'd rather send out the laundry than even pay someone else to clean my bathroom (although I wouldn't mind that either but it's very rare that I can afford both!).

I exchanged something in Target the other day and got this Skirt and I just love it. It's long enough (sits low on the hips) to be plenty tznius, and the cut is really nice. I feel good in my clothes today...got the black and am wearing black opaque tights and black loafers, and a white ribbed turtleneck. For a change I do not feel dumpy. I may go back and get another color (brown) just because. At the store they're $19.99 not $22.99.

I don't love the cold weather but I love tights season. For some reason they're much more comfy on me than regular stockings, and I love being able to do the monochrome thing -- black tights, black skirt, black shoes or brown, kwim? It feels slimming to me or something. Okay maybe it's a reach but we all gotta feel good in our clothes somehow, right?

 

[Nickarolaberry]

elcome:

 

[Nickarolaberry]

Hey, thanks for asking.

I'm treading water at the moment. Each day I have to leave work for 20 mins. while I drive over to get dd at her school and drop her at home, then go back and teach for another 40 mins. It's not great.

Plus my class has been unruly to the point of chaos. I am at my wit's end.

I have been really researching homeschooling, this time with much more serious intent. For whatever reason i don't seem able to make that final jump, but it's finally occurred to me that I can do it, and probably better, than the school. It's that "fitting in" thing I'm having trouble with.

That, and the prospect of no break from my kids at all. Not that I need 8 hours, but a couple hours each morning works for me. Otherwise getting the groceries bought and the house picked up seems like a rather insurmountable task.

Sigh, we'll see. It's entirely possible I will lose my job anyway because of the running-out-to-pick-up-dd thing so at that point I won't be able to pay tuition and the whole question will be moot.

DD2 will be very sad though, she loves preschool. Dd1 is slowly becoming less and less enamored of school, being the big first grade girl with homework that she is, and it's sad to see. She just rolls her eyes now when we practice her Ivrit, and that makes me want to cry. She used to love it. Her favorite parts of school are pizza day and gym class.

: It makes my heart hurt actually.

 

[Nickarolaberry]

Mainly the issue with the Ivrit is, I think, they are piling on too many new things at once. She has a kriya (reading) book and she is making wonderful progress with letter and nekudot (vowel) sounds and loving that. She does fine with noun vocabulary and loves that. However they also have a verb ring (index cards with verbs in print and pictured on a spiral) and she gets 2 or 3 new ones a week. It's a bit much and she is getting frustrated trying to keep track of the verbs, what they mean, and whether they go with a boy or girl (Ivrit is masculine/feminine based).

Plus now her English teacher is on her case because she is starting to write English from right to left (since they do Hebrew in the a.m. I guess her brain is wired for it) and she has been writing English quite nicely for a year.

So instead of a good Ivrit b'Ivrit (language immersion) situation which is what I thought it was supposed to be, they are merely drilling it seems. BORING, even to me! Of course she doesn't know I feel this way.

Moreover in the English department, the math workbook is pathetic (I can't even figure out what it wants her to do, the concepts are not explained at all...just drilled in particularly ridiculous exercises) and the phonics workbook has made her hate reading now. She loves to read and is really reading nicely but this book is utterly absurd. Sigh.

I know the limudei kodesh is a problem as we go along, and that's the main reason aside from the community aspect that I haven't plunged ahead yet. It worries me. But for now, the parsha and Ivrit that she brings home are things I can manage. As we move along obviously I'll have to step it up and/or hire someone to teach her those things. But that's cool. A) I wouldn't mind learning how to learn myself; and B) Hiring a tutor would be a heckuva lot cheaper than all those tuitions in the long run (maybe).

Still, my biggest beef isn't all this other stuff; it's mainly that I think the day is absurdly long, the expectations of young children learning productively that long absurdly high, and the lack of attention to kids' physical needs (exercise, etc.) absurd in general. Even with my 6th graders, I think sitting close to 8 hours in class is ridiculous, much less the 7 that the 1st-5th graders have to do.

 

[Nickarolaberry]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mom2seven Is the English teacher new? B/c that is an incredibly common and well known "problem" in Jewish schools that sorts itself out with time. My 2nd grader still does it at times (or will ask me 'do I start on this side or this side?' when confronted with a blank page) as did some of my other kids at that age. *I* was the one worried about it with my older kids and the teachers are the ones who explained that it is common in this setting and not to worry about it. None of my older kids have a problem today .

Yes, she's new. Actually I think she's "ad hoc" meaning they hired her from being a sub at the very last second because they didn't have someone else. G tells me she yells a lot and I've been hearing that from several people (including one of my friends -- the mom of one of G's best friends who happens to work at the school and was walking by the classroom when she heard the teacher yelling, "what's wrong with you? if you would have paid attention you would know what to do!"

 

[Nickarolaberry]

Mazal Tov Yafa!

MV I can easily get you a case of Bazooka. Just let me know via pm how you want me to arrange it. All I have to do is walk to the corner store (there are some benefits of living in NY).

I adore my mom, I really really love her. She is driving me

s:. She has already "informed" me of all her Chanukah purchases for my kids. Now I don't mind so much the gifts, because she clearly gets so much nachat from giving them and I can't afford to really get them much, but this year she has bought such plastic JUNK. I told her most of it was going to live at her house and she got mad at me.

I don't want a My Pretty Pony Plastic Castle in my house! Ugh.

I gave her all these choices....I would love more of those big cardboard brick blocks to add to our collection -- we love those. I saw an awesome world map foam floor puzzle. I saw a cool collection of wooden "counting elephants." G always loves crafts or I suggested a great new cookbook (Kosher Kids in the Kitchen) and a mini-sized (but real) kitchen set -- apron, mitts, mixing bowls, etc. Or a nice dolly pram (not the plastic folding strollers that pinch fingers). Nerf balls for the baby. ANYTHING BUT MORE NOISY PLASTIC. She almost got that Elmo thing until I said if you get that I am going to sell it on ebay. She didn't like that.

Sigh.

For my nephew (newly a big brother) I did manage to scrape together enough to get him one of those cool animal cape towels with his name on it (Lands' End) since my bro and SIL are so generous all the time and really hit the mark with presents. It's a dinosaur, I hope he'll love it! I also found at Amazing Savings a wooden birdhouse with paints and a hanging chain to paint and glue together. He'll love that and it was $2.99!

 

[Nickarolaberry]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jul511riv : just felt like throwing tomatoes.

Was that just a general comment or directed at someone in particular?

 

[Nickarolaberry]

Andrea,

: Your little guy is so lucky to have a family that will advocate for him and adore him just the way he is!

Ruth, I don't think it's crazy to hs one and not the others. Maybe there's a local bochur or girl who needs chessed hours and can come tutor in some limudei kodesh. I can help you with the Ivrit (lashon only -- not limudei kodesh). You can find Rosetta Stone through the library (fantastic online language program, and they have Hebrew). I would be nearly sure that your local Chabad would also be able to find you some low/no cost tutoring help in limudei kodesh should you need it.

You could call Rebbetzin T also (in Commack) and see if she has any suggestions. I think she's amazing and she has become my "rebbetzin" even though I'm not out there (yet)!

 

[Nickarolaberry]

Dh has no sense of humor. He gave me the

: when I told him the joke.

How do I keep a 16 month old baby brother from pestering his 3 year old sister CONSTANTLY. He just pulled her drawing off the table and tried to eat it, spilled her crayons, stole her chocolate milk, pulled her ponytail, tried to get her shoes off, and threw her sneakers into the bath.

He will not be redirected or distracted. He is like a homing pigeon to her. It's crazy. She is so good about it usually but this morning she has reached her limit (understandably) and is now in full-throttle whine.

My kids are adorable, k'ah, but sometimes I don't know what to do with them. Now he is trying to get the+5 m2ouse52 +a
nd54
th54a
t is h
im51 ttttttt6yping.

3.

 

[Nickarolaberry]

Yikes Amy! Refua sheleima to both of you.

 

[Nickarolaberry]

Oy, mama, I went through that for days with my ds before I finally "went into" labor. But when I did, I was already 4 cm. along and it only took a couple hours of walking around to get to 10! So hang in there, your body is doing its work and it seems interminable but you'll get where you need to be.

s: and good labor vibes. Sending up some prayers for you and your babe.'

Chava, I'm sorry, I really needed that

:

: after a night spent with a crouping barking 6 year old, a 3 year old snotting and barfing on me, and a 16 month old who wanted to nurse all night. That is truly priceless.

Well, maybe now you can call one of those charities that comes to collect old stuff from you. They'll probably take it.

 

[Nickarolaberry]

I don't know, I might start to rethink my position on noisy toys. DS goes for anything that bleeps. He spent all of Shabbos bleeping my mother's answering machine (pushing the "NO NEW MESSAGES" button and the handset page button). I couldn't move the thing and my mother wouldn't because she can't really deal with rearranging her house and it was too much trouble to find another outlet near a phone jack (

.

Then he totally messed up my cellphone this morning and my mother's regular telephone handset (cordless). He just loves anything that bleeps at him. Maybe noisy toys would entrance him? He does like that Sesame Street pop-up thing where you twist the knobs or push the buttons and of course when the characters pop out of their spots they sing a little song. Gag. I had a non-noisy one, but SIL had this one and of COURSe it's the one he goes for every time. He adores it.

sigh. Maybe some noisy toys would keep him out of trouble for a few minutes a day? I dunno. I can't STAND them but I also am exhausted from chasing him down and fishing my stuff out of the toilet.

 

[Nickarolaberry]

I know what you mean, Ruth. I have similar (but maybe not as acute) sensory issues with sound. I am very sensitive to noise and have fine-tuned pitch (don't want to say "perfect" pitch but it's close) and always have. I can hear things very far away, so loud noises make me bananas.

Dh and I are constantly going back-and-forth over the volume of the music/computer/car stereo. Even road noise makes me a little batty. I have similar problems in high-crowd situations. I really can't take all the stimulation. It makes me exceedingly anxious and grumpy.

Thankfully we do have a basement playroom and I try to quarantine the noisy toys downstairs.

Not to mention that ds has done something screwy to my cellphone with the wallpaper and the viewable photos, as well as my contacts list. I have no clue what buttons he pushed or even the faintest idea how to get it back to normal. Powering off and on doesn't help; that's about the extent of my know-how in the cellphone department

Ds also does like things like blocks (well, he likes to throw them) and my cooking implements (he empties my drawers and shleps everything all over the house. I can't find my wisk, my turkey baster, or my good baking silicone spatula!). He is irresitably drawn though to technology and bleeping things. Sigh.

 

[Nickarolaberry]

elcome: Liba!

 

[Nickarolaberry]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ruthla Hang in there Nicole! I'm sure DS is going to be able to fix every mechanical and digital device in the house by the time he's a teenager!

No doubt. And I'm sure he takes after his daddy in the athletic department too. I'm a little concerned....MIL z'l used to tell me that when she heard dh (at the age of 2 or 3) start to count, she had to drop whatever she was doing in the house and SPRINT to where he was because when he got to three....he would jump! She found him on top of the dressers, on top of the dining room table, once on top of the fridge.

It's amazing he lived to grow up without major damage. I have a full time job keeping ds out of peril also. He's incredibly sweet-natured but so BUSY all the time.