Giving in to the iPhone

I did it. I couldn't handle resisting it anymore. I bought the iPhone. I actually can't believe I made it this long without buying it. Of course, I did wait until I could utilize someone's Apple employee discount. ;)

PHD will think I'm crazy for having spent so much money for a phone. That's when I'm just going to blame it all on Robert Avrech. (I'm kidding....sort of.)

Shabbat Shalom.

LO talks and talks and talks and...

I ran into LO's teacher for the first time yesterday. He was on leave for the first month of school and has only been back a short while. When I walked into the office he turned and said to me, "Your daughter is so bright and is such a good girl". I was a little surprised since the substitute that was in the class while he was on leave had some problems with LO because apparently LO thought it was necessary to talk ALL THE TIME. I explained this and he said, "Oh, no she always just sits at her desk and is so quiet." He went on, "But today I must have opened the flood gates because I got her to talk and she was so excited."

I got a little nervous about what she might have babbled on about but then he explained that somehow they got on the subject of Israel and he said that all of a sudden LO perked up. Her teacher is not Jewish but he is a Zionist, so the two of them talking about Israel must have been quite a conversation. He showed LO where Israel is on a globe. And she saw Egypt and took that as an opportunity to tell him about the story of Moses and how he led the Jewish people out of Egypt. Then she told him about the Red Sea. And apparently she went on and one and on.

Nice to know that my Hebrew School dollars are being well spent.

And now...the news

Just found out that LO is going to be the school news anchor. She'll be broadcast over all of the televisions in her school in the morning telling of school news, lunch menus, and the weather. She originally wasn't planning on trying out, but one of her friends was trying out and talked her into trying out as well. It came as quite a surprise when she found out that she was selected.

I can already hear her now..."The weather today will be HOT, humid, and we're all going to schvitz. Today's lunch is ham and cheese sandwiches and that's NOT KOSHER".

Lily's Bat Mitzvah Project

I was reading something on the Families with Children from China website the other day and I ran across a posting asking the families for help with a Bat Mitzvah project. I was not only thrilled to come across another Jewish child who was adopted from China but excited that LO would be able to help this girl with her project.

The girl's name is Lily and she is looking to collect stories from other Jewish Chinese girls for her project. I e-mailed Lily's mother and she asked me to help get the word out about Lily's project. I know that there are several of you who have mentioned to me that there are adopted Chinese girls at your shuls and it would really be a mitzvah if you could spread the word to those families.

LO is already working on her essay for Lily's project and I promise to share it here as soon as she finishes it.

Here is the link for more information...Lily's Bat Mitzvah Project.

The Birds and the Bees

Remember earlier this month when I had one of those unexpected parenting moments? Well, this must be the time for those moments because yet again, LO managed to catch me off guard.

Apparently one of the little girls in her class has already begun experiencing that time of the month. It started while she was at school and her mother had obviously talked with her about it because she felt the need to explain it to all the other little girls in the class. She gave some gory details to LO which were not totally accurate and managed to totally gross LO out. Another little girl in the class decided to chime in with this wise information..."When you get the period and you are older, if you hang out too much with boys it means you are pregnant." Talk about needing to do some damage control.

I was so totally NOT READY for this conversation. We're talking about a child who makes me giggle when she tells me, "When I grow up I'm going to go to China and get a baby just like you got me." She used to think that China is where all babies come from and that's where everyone goes to get a baby (I guess it never dawned on her that not all children are Chinese). Then she met someone who was visibly pregnant. I explained that there was a baby inside the woman and then LO was afraid of the woman because she couldn't understand why the lady ate a baby!

Oy, can't I just continue being content with just making sure that she knows she cannot ever date or marry someone who is not Jewish. Isn't that enough? There should be some parenting book that tells you when you need to do this stuff and how to do it. I am still not sure if what and how I explained this all to her was the right way to do it. I guess I did the best I could do...but now I am sort of guarded...what the heck will she come up with next?

On another note...it's raining AGAIN. A lot of the roads are flooded. A lot of the traffic lights aren't working. Next time for Sukkot we might take Jack's advice and build an ark. Actually at this rate, we may need that ark sooner than next Sukkot.