What A Difference A Few Years Makes

September, 2006--Big's first Red Sox Game at Fenway Park, Boston:















January, 2010--Big's first soccer game, Ramat Gan Stadium, Israel

New Year, New Decade

New Year's Eve 1999 seems like it was just yesterday and it's hard to believe that it's actually been 10 years!
A lot has happened since that Friday night when we waited to see whether the Y2K bug would actually bring the world to a screeching halt (luckily it didn't).
We spent that New Year's Eve at my parents' house in Boston--Krazy went to bed early as he was in the midst of chemotherapy. We were engaged, but not yet married, on the brink of the rest of our lives...here are the highlights of the past 10 years:

In 2000...Krazy finished chemotherapy and was declared cancer-free...we got married...we moved into our first apartment...and then moved into our second apartment a few months later...I started my first real job at UBS PaineWebber

In 2001...I quit my first real job and moved to the non-profit world and mostly haven't looked back...Krazy got laid off...Krazy got a new job, funnily enough at UBS...September 11th happened and the world changed forever

In 2002...we moved from New York to Boston...we bought our first condo

In 2003...I don't remember anything particularly earth-shattering happening but I'm sure we had fun...I think we might have gotten a new car

In 2004...Big was born and our lives changed forever

In 2005...we celebrated 5-years of Krazy being cancer-free...we sold our condo and bought a bigger one...

In 2006...Little joined our clan...we made a big decision to spend a year living 6,000 miles away from home

In 2007...we headed out on our big adventure to the Holy Land...I started my MBA program...Big started to learn Hebrew

In 2008...I got my MBA...we decided to continue our adventures here in our new home...our decision caused some turmoil in our families...Big perfected his Hebrew knowledge and Little began to learn it as well...I lost my grandmother...I faced a huge fear and flew 6,000 miles ALONE with both kids to Boston

In 2009...we managed to put off major life decisions for another year...I tried my hand at being a work-at-home-mom and hated it...my beloved grandpa and my uncle passed away...Krazy began the process of starting his own business

Looking forward to seeing what 2010 will bring. I hope it brings us the clarity that we need to make some major decisions...to sell our house in Boston or not? To buy something here or not? To bring all our stuff here or not? To move back to the States or not? The answers will have to be revealed in the coming year, but I haven't a clue what they will be!!

Crepes

Inspired by MckMama and her snow pops I decided to say yes when Big asked if we could make a yummy dessert yesterday. A few weeks ago, he was looking through a cookbook and folded over the pages of things he wanted to make (or wanted me to make). Every once in a while since then he has asked when we are going to cook the things he chose. Usually, I have some reason why we can't do it, such as "not now because it is the middle of the night." Or "it will be hard to bake while you are in the tub."
Yesterday, I asked Big if he wanted to have some strawberries and he said yes and then he said "wait, one of the recipes has strawberries, can we make it??" I pulled out the cookbook and saw the the recipe for crepes filled with strawberries and whipped cream didn't actually look that hard and that we had all the necessary ingredients. He was pretty shocked when I agreed to this project.
We mixed together all of the ingredients for the crepes themselves. At some point, Little came to investigate what we were doing and he helped mix as well. The boys were amused by my unsuccessful attempts to flip the crepes, but what can I say? Gourmet chef I am not!!
Once the crepes were done, I gave each kid a crepe on a plate and I put out a big bowl of whipped cream, some strawberries and some chocolate chips. Big had a lot of fun assembling his, although it was impossible to pick up and eat! Little just ate the plain strawberries and had no interest at all in the crepe.















I just ate a leftover crepe for breakfast with strawberry-pomegranite jelly spread on it. Delicious!

I Heart Faces--Hilarious Outtakes

As I was choosing pictures to put in the annual calendar that my sister and I make for our parents and grandmother for Chanukah, I couldn't help but burst out laughing out loud at this one (totally worth clicking on it to see it bigger--one day I will learn how to post bigger pictures here):

My younger son must have just taken a sip of his orange soda and was making that "oh, this is bubbly and I wasn't expecting it" face just as I snapped the picture.

See more Hilarious Outtakes at I Heart Faces!

Glad I'm Not Traveling Now!

Christmas time when we lived in Boston always meant some sort of travel. We had off from work, the kids had off from school/daycare. The weather was crap. Having grandparents in Florida was a good thing! Being the not-so-good flier that I am, I always dreaded the flight (it's funny to me now how stressed I'd get about the 3-hour flight to Florida that seemed so long...now, that is NOTHING!)
I would pack my carry-on for the plane with enough provisions to last just in case the plane got hijacked or crashed on a desert island. Half the time I never even took anything other than snacks out of the bag, but whatever! I would plan my own outfit and shoes and the kids stuff to minimize the amount of time we'd have to spend in line at security taking off our jackets and shoes and whatever. I can feel my blood pressure rising just thinking about it!!
And the crowds and the inevitable weather-related delays. YUCK. And then the sheer joy of landing in beautiful sunny Ft. Lauderdale and knowing we had a whole week of no jackets and no snow in front of us!
Those days of a short trip down to Florida to escape the snowy mess seem to be a thing of the past, at least for now. First of all, it's way more than a short trip from here! Second of all, there is no snowy mess to escape from!
Surprisingly, I now find myself a much better and less scared traveler. Maybe it's because we've done the long-haul trans-Atlantic flight about 11 times (I just counted but I might be missing some) and I've just gotten used to it. Or maybe it's because I know how important it is to do these trips to go back and see family and friends so that outweighs my fears. I still don't enjoy the trip, but it's more a fear of how am I going to entertain the kids for a gazillion hours and less a fear of the plane crashing or being hijacked or other fun stuff like that.
Of course, when things like this happen, it reminds me that maybe some of those seemingly irrational fears are actually justified. Sadly, the main result is going to be more ridiculous rules and screenings that may or may not really be keeping air travelers any safer. It's going to mean longer lines and more delays at the airport. I'm just glad we are staying put for the next little while!

Forecast

This is why I love it here...weekends with the following forecast:














It is December but it is not snowing or even remotely cold! I did cut off the picture at Monday, because starting Tuesday there is a 40% chance of drizzle. Not rain, just drizzle. And it will still be 64 degrees.
This is why we get to do things like this in December:

Bilingualism

Apparently, we are doing what is called "raising bilingual children." I am finding myself completely and utterly fascinated by the process. If we were living in America, sure the kids would be in a Jewish Day School and would learn Hebrew there. But, our house would certainly not be considered a bilingual one. From my own experience, the Hebrew learned in Jewish Day School is not exactly the same as the Hebrew learned from growing up as an Israeli kid! Big's vocabulary at almost 6 years old already surpasses mine. He's had 2 and 1/2 years of living immersed in Hebrew, compared to my 12 years of Hebrew at school in America. And, of course, he actually sounds Israeli when he speaks Hebrew. I sound like the immigrant that I am!
I asked Krazy's cousin who has lived here for years whether it ever gets old listening to her kids speak in Hebrew. She said she is still consistently amazed at how easily and fluidly they switch between the languages. I think it will always amaze me as well. And if we end up not staying here, I will be sad when they lose their super-cute Israeli accents.
Over Chanukah, we were in the mall with my sister-in-law and her kids. We were eating pizza in the food court and my 11-year old niece didn't finish hers and wanted a box to take it home. Although she knew how to say that in Hebrew, she was shy and didn't want to do it. I, mostly out of curiousity to see if he would do it, turned to Big and asked him to go to the counter and get a box for his cousin. Without hesitating, he ran over and I heard him say loudly and clearly "b'vakasha, efshar l'kabel kufsah?" (please can I get a box?) He NEVER would have done that a year ago. His confidence is just incredible. As is his intelligence (not that I am a bragging mother, of course!) and ability to absorb and learn 2 languages at once.
His teacher pulled me aside yesterday to tell me how great he is doing. She said he is not only writing all the letters, but he can sound out words and figure out how to spell them. And most of the time he gets it right! He is starting to do that a little bit in English as well, but seems to have an easier time of it in Hebrew. I think that is primarily because the Hebrew letters are more consistent in the sounds that they make than the English letters so it is somewhat more straightforward.
Little is also making progress. He still speaks a lot of gibberish and says it's Hebrew, but I have caught him having conversations with himself that are actually in Hebrew. I go with him to a gym class that is entirely in Hebrew and while he doesn't talk much during it, it is pretty clear that he understands most of what is going on because he follows instructions for the most part.
I find his mixture of Hebrew and English to be charming. Yesterday he told me: "At Gan Frieda (gan means kindergarten and that is the name of his school) there was ein or." That literally translates to "at school there was there was no light." Apparently there was a black-out, but I love the way he said it.

'Tis The Season

Here are some random thoughts about the current winter/holiday season in no particular order...

If it weren't for various blogs that I read talking about Christmas plans and trees and gifts and all that fun stuff, I would not have even realized that Christmas is this week! There are no Christmas songs being played on the radio, no lights up in store windows and certainly no sign of any snow on the ground. While I truly love living in the Jewish homeland and I love that so much emphasis is placed on Chanukah, I can't help but miss a little bit of the Christmas spirit. I even a little tiny bit miss not being able to get "Feliz Navidad" out of my head after hearing it on the radio a million times a day.

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I've been feeling a little nostalgic for all things winter-y after seeing so many pictures posted on Facebook from the big snowstorm that the Northeast US had last weekend. I always loved waking up the morning after it had been snowing all night to see how pretty and silent everything looked. There is nothing quite like being the first person to make tracks in the freshly fallen snow. I'm sad that my kids aren't getting to experience the joys of a snow day...an unexpected day off from school where there is nothing to do but make snowmen and snow angels and then come inside with dripping noses and freezing cold hands and drink hot chocolate. I remember the first time Big went out in the snow and really enjoyed it. He was about 18 months old or so and it took him a little while to figure out how to walk in his boots because they were so heavy. I wonder what Little would do if he saw snow--he would have no clue what it was!

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The kids Chanukah vacation was last week and went by so quickly. My sister-in-law and 2 of her kids were here which was SO amazing. It seems that cousins, even if they don't see each other all that often, have some sort of innate bond that allows them to pick up where they last left off and immediately be close. Although she didn't bring her son who is Big's age, I loved watching him play with his older cousin and his baby cousin (I guess she's not that much of a baby since she is 2 and acts like a teenager). Little and his little cousin are a match made in heaven. She is a bully when she wants to be and I think it was good for him to get back a little of what he gives!

I'm BAAAAAAACK!

After a brief hiatus, I am rededicating myself to this blog! I'm not going to bother recapping the past few months in a long drawn out post. In a nutshell: the kids started school, we left the country for a month to go visit friends and family in the US and Canada, we came home and got the kids re-settled in school. Exciting stuff.
It's been good to get back into routine. Unfortunately, my routine includes job-searching since I quit my job right before we left for our trip. Job-searching is not fun, but I am trying to network as much as possible and am hopeful that things will work out soon. And, in the meantime, I am taking advantage of having my mornings free to meet friends for coffee and maybe even to stay on top of the laundry.
I am also working on some tough love with my kids. Maybe it was the lack of routine for the month that we were away or maybe it is their ages or maybe they are just rotten (but I doubt it!) but they have both been proving to be very difficult these past few weeks. Lots of whining, fighting and generally not listening to me. And I have bright red scratches next to my eye from a very angry Little who apparently really needed his nails cut.

****Clearly being back has not made me post more often because I just realized that I started this post a week ago and never finished it. I'm just hitting "publish" even if it's crap just to hopefully get me back in the writing and posting mode!!

I Heart Faces: Nostalgia

This week, the theme at I Heart Faces is Nostalgia. Every year as the summer draws to a close, I feel nostalgic. Both about the end of the carefree days of THIS summer as well as the days of summers past! There is nothing like spending an entire day outside running around in a fun park with good friends.

This picture says it all...

Happy Birthday Little!

Dear Little,

I am a day late in writing you this birthday letter, but you were more than a day late in being born so let's call it even! Yesterday, you turned three. Or "free" as you call it, proudly holding up four fingers on each hand. You can actually count fairly high--I've heard you get as far as 17 in more or less the right order and in 2 languages no less! You can recognize a few numbers and letters too. I think you maybe should be able to recognize a few more and sometimes feel like I'm not spending enough time on things like that with you.

But you are smart as a whip. Nothing gets by you. Especially if I am chewing gum or eating candy. You either smell it or notice my mouth moving from a mile away and come running to say "Also I want gum." Or you just help yourself from my bag.

You are so independent. You announce "I needa pee" and then off you go to take care of it by yourself, only sometimes coming back to me with your shorts around your ankles because you need some help pulling them up. And then you run back saying "I needa flush and wash my hands." You like to pick out your own clothes...almost always a shirt with yellow somewhere on it and "sebenteen shorts" (which are shorts with any number or letters on the leg).

Your favorite food by far is a yogurt drink. You have at least 4-5 of them a day. You are also partial to hummous by the spoonful, being the true Middle Easterner that you are. Although you certainly don't look the part with your beautiful white-blonde hair and bright blue eyes.

Sometimes I look at you and have no idea where you came from. How you got to be this perfect little boy. So sweet when you want to be and so sure of what you want, especially when what you want is "don't talk to me, Mommy!" You are truly a Daddy's boy in every sense of the word. When you wake up in the middle of the night because you have fallen out of bed you cry for Daddy. When you wake up in the morning, you run right for Daddy. When you fall and get hurt you cry for Daddy. When we ask who should put you to bed you choose Daddy. I love that you have that relationship with him and nothing makes me happier than the one random time that you say "I need Mommy!" (of course it only happens when Daddy isn't around but that is ok).

You were only 9 months old when we moved to Israel. You don't know of any other life other than the one you have here. Hearing 2 languages is normal to you. You love Yuval Ha'Mevulbal and have no idea who Elmo is. You play with your toy cash register and say "20 shekels please" because you don't know what "a dollar" is. But you can identify the difference between the Israeli Flag and the American Flag. And you know that going on an airplane means "we going to 'merica."

You love the beach, the pool, the sprinkler park, anything with water. You are fearless when it comes to jumping in the water or climbing up a jungle gym. But you are terrified beyond terrified of cockroaches and dogs.

You love books--sometimes you want them read to you and sometimes you just want them next to you in your bed. You also love motorcycles and cars and coloring (you know that we only color on paper but sometimes you get confused and think the wall IS paper).

Until just a few days ago, you couldn't pronounce the "sc" sound. It came out "ch." So "scared" was "chared" and "squirrel" was "chuirrel" etc. I'm sad that you can say it right now! You are growing up so fast. I love you more than anything forever and ever!!

Here is you just born:















One Year Old:














Two Years Old:














And Now:

Two of My Favorite Things--the Beach and a Clean Playroom!

This past week was the one week of the summer that I had both kids home all day every day. I was originally looking forward to it because my sister and brother-in-law and their two boys were supposed to be here. But, sadly, plans changed because of my grandfather's death and my sister and her baby didn't come. My bro-in-law and nephew were here for a week (the first part of which I missed because I was in Boston), but they left early Tuesday morning. So we had to fend for ourselves for the rest of the week. We did a variety of fun activities and overall I think the kids had fun, but I know they were happy to start camp again this morning. They do much better when they have routine.

The week ended on a high note with a weekend visit from our friends M&A and their 3 boys who live up north in the beautiful Golan Heights. We met them on the beach in Herzliya on Friday afternoon for some fun in the sun. I LOOOOOVE the beach and have gotten over being annoyed by all the sand that gets tracked into the house after a trip to the beach!

Here is Big and his friend S hard at work building in the sand:

It is interesting to note how 2 kids growing up in TOTALLY different environments can be SO similar. And how 2 adults who grew up in very similar environments can be so different. S's dad, M, and I grew up together outside of Boston. We went to the same school from Kindergarten through 12th Grade and lived in the same community. He is now living out his dream on a Kibbutz in the Golan Heights and working as an archeologist. He lives with his wife and 3 boys in a temporary caravan that is more or less the size of a postage stamp. While he and his wife are both American, their kids were all born here and are much more comfortable speaking in

Hebrew than English (although they understand English perfectly). They are truly integrated into Israeli society, with the only indication of an American connection being that their kids (thanks to grandparents) are fully decked out in clothes from GapKids, Children's Place, Gymboree, Old Navy, etc.

I, on the other hand, am totally shocked that I have ended up living in Israel (whether or not it's a permanent move is irrelevant...I never thought I'd be here for any significant amount of time!) The community that we have chosen to live in has a huge Anglo population and I find it easy to maintain an American identity while still living here. It is a HUGE priority for me that my kids speak English properly and without an Israeli accent and that they learn to read and write in English as well. While they do ocassionally switch into Hebrew when talking to each other, so far both of my kids are more comfortable speaking in English.

So, Big is growing up in Israel but in a clearly "American" home. His friend, S, on the other hand, is growing up in a completly different part of Israel in a clearly "Israeli" home. But the 2 of them are 2 peas in a pod. They always have been, from a shared obsession with Thomas the Train to Hot Wheels to Transformers and Legos, they are always into the same thing at the same time! It's great because although we don't seem them often, when we do, those 2 just run off and have the best time together.

In other news...I spent hours on one of my favorite activities--organizing the playroom! Even though it only takes about 30 seconds for all my hard work to be messed up, I get tremendous satisfaction from organizing the toys and putting everything in its place. What do you think about the results?

Beautiful Nature

I love when friends and family come to visit us here. Not only because it's always great to see people whom we don't get to see often, but when we have visitors we tend to do fun things and take advantage of all this country has to offer. Like yesterday, for example. My brother-in-law and my 7 year old nephew are here so yesterday Big and I joined them for a really great day!
First, Big and I drove down to Jerusalem to pick them up and then we all drove down to the Dead Sea. Big has been there before and on the way down he told his cousin all about how cool it is to float in the salty water. It was ridiculously hot and of course there was not an ounce of shade anywhere on the beach. And, while floating in the salty water of the Dead Sea is definitely cool, the novelty wears off after about 5 minutes and then it is just itchy. So we hung out there for a short while and then went across the highway to Ein Gedi, which is literally an oasis in the middle of the desert.
Our first order of business was getting some lunch which turned out to be ice cream. As my mother is known for saying "an ice cream sandwich can be lunch...it is a SANDWICH!" After we ate our nutritious lunch, we started our hike. I was a bit nervous about Big making it thorough the whole thing and I had visions of having to carry him and both of us falling off a mountain. I asked at the entrance whether the shortest hike was suitable for a 5 year old and was told that it was super easy and that it was only a 10 minute walk to the first waterfall, so if he didn't want to keep going after that we could just walk back.
My worries proved unfounded and we did the entire hike. It wasn't very long or very difficult (other than the steep parts on the way back down where I wished I wasn't wearing flip-flops!) but it was a lot of fun. It was probably close to 100 degrees so it was amazing and refreshing to stop and cool off at the 4 or 5 waterfalls that are along the trail. I vaguely remember doing this hike when I was in Israel on a summer tour in high school and again when I was here for the year after high school. So weird to be doing it again with my kid!!

My Grandpa

I've been away for the past week for a very sad reason. My mom called me last Wednesday night around 11pm my time. As soon as I saw her number on the caller ID I knew something was wrong because she never calls me that late (even though it was only 4pm for her). A number of thoughts ran through my head about what could be wrong and who might have died. But not for one second did I think it was Grandpa, and so I was beyond shocked when she simply said "Grandpa died." He was 91 years young. My Granny passed away in November after being sick for a very long time. Grandpa took care of her and made sure she had everything that she needed. It was nice to see him being able to enjoy life after her passing. He lived in an amazing assisted living facility in Florida where he had tons of friends and was actively involved in the community. I couldn't (and really still can't) comprehend that he was just gone. I'm so glad for him that it was quick and painless. He had driven his car (yup, almost 92 and still driving!!) around to the front of the building to pick up his friend to take her to the grocery store. Apparently, he got out of the car and just fell to ground and that was it. He had recently told my mom that he didn't want to be sick like my grandmother had been. He didn't want people to need to take care of him and worry about him. I'm so glad he got what he wished for. I just wish it didn't have to be so soon. The last conversation I had with him, the Friday before he died, we talked about our next visit to the US coming up in September. He was very much looking forward to it as were we.

After I hung up with my mom, I switched into planning mode. I had to book my flight, deal with work stuff, and figure out plans for the kids while I would be away. The funeral was set for Sunday, so I had a couple of days to get my act together. Luckily we have an amazing support network of friends here as well as a fantastic babysitter so I knew Krazy and the kids would be fine.

I flew out on Saturday night--Continental Flight 91 to Newark. Same flight I took in November when my Granny died. Packed flight. Middle seat. Overly concerned that the person sitting next to me would have swine flu and cough on me. I did take a few minutes to bask in the glory of traveling without kids. I am not the best flyer and I know my Grandpa was looking out for me and ensuring a smooth flight. I arrived at Newark at 4:45 in the morning and had 3 hours to kill before my flight to Boston. I finally made it to Boston and even had time to shower before the funeral.

While we were all sitting in the "family room" before the funeral, I just kept waiting for Grandpa to come into the room. I could see him and hear his voice so clearly. My aunt and I both spoke, but it was so hard to put into words what an amazing person he was.

My 4 days in Boston with my family went by too quickly and next thing I knew I was back on the plane. I had the most breath-taking view of New York City as we took off from Newark, but I cried tears of relief when I saw the coastline of Tel Aviv come into view 9 hours and 41 minutes later. It was good to be home.

Grandpa: September 5, 1917-July 29, 2009

We will love you and miss you forever.

Israel Advocacy-My Way

I must start this out by saying that is blog is NOT meant to be political in any way. Of course, I have my views on the conflict here in the Middle East and they may sometimes come across in this blog, but that's not typically why I write or what I like to write about.
I do think, however, that Israel tends to get a bad rap in the press in the United States and around the world no matter what the government or army or citizens of this country do. So, I will occasionally use my little platform here to spread the good word about this amazing country!

For example, only in Israel would the following have happened:
Imagine this scene, if you will...Little and I are in the car driving home from his music class. He is screaming at the top of his lungs about something and I am trying to get him to be quiet. For some reason, I decide to go home a different way than usual and I turn down a particular street. Immediately after turning onto the street, I think to myself "hmm, something seems weird to me...this doesn't look right..." Then, I notice the big giant arrow painted on the ground pointing in the opposite direction of that which I am currently driving! Yes, I turned the wrong way down a one-way street!! There were no cars coming, luckily, and I was able to quickly turn around and go the right way. As I started to turn around, I noticed to policemen on motorcycles. My first thought was "oh crap, I'm going to get a ticket." And then, as I watched them drive right past me, my next thought was "WTF?? Why don't they care that I was just driving the WRONG way down a one-way street??" They didn't even give me a "what were you thinking??" looking as they drove past!

The moral of this story is: Israel is good because traffic rules don't apply.

Hmm, maybe I need to rethink my definition of Israel Advocacy!

I ♥ Faces: At The Beach

This is my first time participating in the I ♥ Faces weekly photography challenge. I'm glad the theme this week is At the Beach because we love the beach and we go often!

Here is one of my favorite pictures, taken on the beach in Tel Aviv. He just couldn't contain his excitement!

A Not-So-Happy Milestone

One reason that I blog is to keep track of my kids' milestones. I don't have baby books for them (that's not totally true because I do have one for Big that I kept up pretty well until he was about 6 months old) and I don't have a good memory for things like that. I can remember my friends' phone numbers from elementary school but I can't remember when my kid first crawled!

Anyway, this evening marked a not-so-happy milestone for Big when he had to say goodbye to his best friend who is moving 6,000 miles away back to America. Granted, we all had to say goodbye to many people when we moved 6,000 miles away to Israel 2 years ago, but Big was littler then and didn't have the same kind of friendships that he and this friend have had over the past year since they have been here. They are just a few months apart in age and they look so similar that it is scary! They like all of the same things and they play so incredibly nicely together. This friend has slept over at our house (that would be Big's first sleepover--see that, another milestone!), knows the code to get in the front door of our building and knows where we keep the good snacks. He and Big were not in school together but would greet each other at every playdate with huge smiles and maybe even hugs. And then they would run off to do whatever they felt like doing without a care in the world.

I'm not sure how much Big understands about what "moving away" means. We talked about how his friend is "going back to America." Big understood that in the same way that he understands that we go back to America a couple of times a year and his response was "ok, so he's coming back soon." Who knows...maybe he will come back soon and maybe we'll still be here when he does. Or maybe he won't. Or maybe we won't. Either way, it's still hard when your best friend moves away whether you are 5 years old or 31 years old.

Whopping Dose of Mommy Guilt

Summer is an interesting time here in the land of Israel. Basically, the school year runs from September 1-June 30 every year, regardless of what day of the week those days fall out (unless they are a Saturday). From July 1-July 21 (again, regardless of day of week), most nursery schools/kindergartens run camps in the school with the same teachers. That was the case for Big and Little this summer. Yesterday was their last day. It's always a big ordeal to figure out what to do for the end of July and all of August as there are very few options and they are all very expensive. Someone told me recently that the month of August can cost more than the entire rest of the school year--and it's certainly true!! I paid a grand total of about 700 Shekels (that is approximately $184) for Big's entire year of Pre-Kindergarten. The month of August will cost me 1560 Shekels ($410)--more than double. How insane is that??
Anyway, I was happy to have found things for both kids for the next 2 weeks or so. Big is going to a camp run by 2 of my friends at one of their homes. It's perfect--many of his friends are going and drop off this morning was a piece of cake. He looked a bit shy for a minute, but then he ran off to play and didn't even look back to wave goodbye to me.
And then I took Little to his new camp. And here's where the Mommy guilt comes in. Little will be 3 in a couple of weeks and he is NOT so great when it comes to transitions and new places. He was so happy at his school and went every day with a big smile on his face and I felt fine leaving him there. His teacher was amazing and started every day with big hugs and kisses and I always knew that he was safe, loved and well-cared for there. When I was trying to figure out what to do with him after his school/camp ended, my friend A suggested that I send him to the place where her son J goes. J is just a couple of months older than Little and they are good friends. I thought that would be a perfect solution and I spoke to the teacher, Bella, and got it all worked out. Then I took him there this morning for his first day. He was, obviously, screaming and clinging to me and freaked out because he didn't know where the hell he was. Bella's response: "I really don't have time for this kind of crying today." Excuse me?????? I almost just turned around and walked out at that point, but I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt and assume that she is just your typical tactless Israeli (pardon the stereotype but it is so true...one day I will write a post on the culture shock I still experience almost daily after being here for 2 years!). The 2 other women who work there were both extremely nice (and Bella herself was fine other than that one comment) and were trying to get him to calm down and play with them. I had forgotten his bag in the car, so I left him screaming to go get it. I drove around the block a couple of times to take more time to give him more time to calm down and when I went back, Bella met me outside and said he had stopped crying and I should go. I left and cried the whole way home! I just feel so guilty for leaving him somewhere where he clearly didn't want to be and where I didn't necessarily feel secure that he would be well taken care of. I called my friend A who was appalled that Bella would have made that comment, but confirmed my suspicion that she is completely tactless and says whatever she is thinking.
I just called to check in and one of the other teachers said he cried for about 3 minutes after I left and now he is fine. She said he's not playing with other kids yet, but he is willing to play with her and he seems happy. I'm going to pick him up early and we'll try again tomorrow. Hopefully it will be ok. It's just not going to be worth it if it takes him a week to adjust and then a week after that, it's over!

What is it About Children's Performers?

I never had the privilege of taking my kids to a Wiggles concert or even to Sesame Street Live. We did take Big and his cousin to see Go Diego Go live in Boston, but that was very civilized with tickets and assigned seats. Tickets and assigned seats are just not done here in the Middle East! (Actually, they are done in movie theaters, which I don't really get. That and the intermission. What's up with that??).
Anyway, today was the day that Yuval Ha'Mebulval was going to be performing live at our local mall. He is only Little's favorite person ever. Most nights in the month of July, our mall has some sort of performance for kids. They set up a small stage and have an area blocked off for people to sit on the ground or stand. It's fine for most of the performances because they don't tend to be super-famous people and they don't attract a huge crowd. All except for Yuval. He is a crowd-bringer (is that a real term?). I (thankfully) had to work today, so my angel sent from heaven (a.k.a babysitter, but I will call her Angel becasue that's what she is) took the kids to the mall. She loaded up with snacks and drinks and got there about an hour and a half before the show was to start in order to get good seats. When I eventually got there right as the show was starting, I had to push and shove my way in to get to where they were, but they did have great seats! Angel was truly an angel today--I would say she went way above and beyond when Little announced that he had to pee and rather than risk loosing their spot, she gave him an empty water bottle to use!! I wish the mother of the kid sitting next to us had that kind of quick thinking because her kid just peed ALL OVER THE FLOOR. I guess the excitement was too much for him!
Check out how mesmerized Little was:














Wouldn't you be if you were watching this (excuse the picture quality--taken with my phone)?

Wordless Wednesday--Have Your Cake and Eat It Too!