Mordechai was off all of last week. He stayed home the first few days with Namie, my sitter, making projects and hanging out. On Thursday, Dovid took him to Brooklyn to play first at his cousins' house and then to Meema and Zayde's for the afternoon. My sis-in-law, Rena, who lives in Israel is staying there now with her three kids, Yechezkel (3), Goldie (2), and new baby Yosef. Mordechai played with the two older kiddies and kept them occupied in the little pool set up on the deck. When Meema came home, she asked Mordechai how things were going. He confided, "Everything's okay. I pretty much let Yechezkel do what he wanted 'cuz I didn't want him to bite me."
A little while later, everyone was in the living room and apparently there was an unpleasant odor in the room. Uncle Akiva suggested to Rena that Goldie might have a dirty diaper. Mordechai was heard to mumble under his breath, "It's about time somebody noticed!"
Thinking back to last Shabbat, when Yosef had his bris, I remember another cute thing Mordechai said. Bear in mind that he is still getting over the trauma of witnessing baby Shaya's bris. He announced in a very decided manner, "I don't like brisses. Kiddushes are good but I don't like brisses." After a thoughtful pause he added, "Well, the food part is okay but the bris part is bad."
This past Shabbat we were at Savta's house. Mordechai insisted on bringing his goldfish with him. I wouldn't mind at all except that he drives me nuts while I'm driving to slow down and stop driving "bumpy" because I'm going to make the fish dead. On Friday night, he started calling his fish a gold "dag" (Hebrew for fish), quite proud of his cleverness. I offered that it might even be called "dag zahav" (Hebrew for gold fish). Savta decided to take the opportunity to practice a little conversational Hebrew. (For the record, Mordechai barely knows a few words and has no conversational skills in Hebrew at all. Quite a shame.) She asked, "Mee natan l'cha et hadag hazahav?"* Wanting to respond in Hebrew he leaned over to me and whispered, "How do you say morah** in Hebrew?"
* Hebrew for "Who gave you the goldfish?"
** Morah is the Hebrew word for teacher and is also the title of address they use for their teacher, as in Morah Hannah.
8 comments:
Please treat the goldfish nicely. Some of us have a special affinity for them... :)
In Israel, the room next to me had a goldfish named... Ezzie Goldfish, of course.
hey ayelet,
oh so nice to find out that rena had a baby. Whats her number i would love to speak to her.
LW
There is a "first time" to everything. Today I came across your blog for the first time, and it would be real cruelty not to comment on your great blog. So here it is. I loved reading your posts. Keep up the good work.
Thanks for your service.
Bye.
Ezzie: Actually, I have developed quite a liking to the fish. And actually your name works great for a fish :)
LW: Call quick cuz she'll be off to camp any day: 258-2289.
Anon: So good to have you - welcome! Thank you for your kind comments and please do come again. (No need to remain anonymous, though. You can sign in as "other" if you don't wish to get a blogger account.)
Rebecca: I knew you'd love that one! (btw - I'm Bert. Ugh! Not nearly as uptight and geeky! I hope...)
I have so many fond memories of childhood, and they included goldfishs, turtles and the salamador that froze since we kept him on the drafty windowsill. I even remember, Uncle Shmully asking his rebbe, if the goldfish food was chometzdick? We loved feeding the fish, and gramps reminded me when the fish grew so, that the small glass fishtank was no longer useable. Enjoy your dag zahav, love to the cutest kinderlach. M & Z
Great blog.
That's all.
Hey Meema! Thanks for dropping by!
Anon - no need to be shy. Introduce yourself! Welcome and please come again :)
So sweet!
I rember the goldfish years.... ahhh.
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