Some recent Adaisms

Things sometimes appear to get a little lost in the telling of the parsha in school. Ada loves to share everything she's learned in great detail. It took us a little bit to figure out some details in Bereishit like when Hashem blew a soul into Adam she declared, "Hashem glued a neshama into Adam." Or her description of the story centering around the "fake tree" which was determined to be a misrepresented fig tree!

Sometimes, though, I don't want to correct some errors because they sound so cute. Like when she says sepretary instead of secretary. Or when she urges her sister to hurry up by saying, "C'mon! Pick up the paste!" Nothing stops that girl from experimenting with new "fancy" words every day. Love it.

An older lady - a friend of Dovid's grandmother - complimented Mordechai on how handsome he was. She went on to say how important sons were. After all, she said, they carry on the name.

My son thoughtfully mused, "What's more important, the name or the religion?"

Ah, nachas!

Ada had a supply of potato sticks from the tearoom in a foam cup. Unfortunately, most of them accidentally spilled out onto the floor. After she collected them up, she announced that she would throw them out and replace them with a fresh supply. She began to pour out the potato sticks into a nearby trash can.

Me: Why don't you just throw out the whole cup and get a new one?

Ada: I'm trying to save the environment!

kidspeak

Ada's been having fun on the computer lately making collages in Publisher and lists of things (that we already have lists for) like her class list in Excel.  She's getting lots of great skills. Tonight she came and asked me how to make another "list." I was about to tell her how to open a new spreadsheet when she said, "Oh, I remember!"I raised my eyebrow in surprise. "Really," she said. "You go to start and then Micro-office and then click on elexus, right?" Sounds good to me!

Doing Hebrew reading homework has also become more fun because she has real words rather than nonsense syllables ( which were torture for both of us!). She has a good time recognizing all the words she's seen or heard in other places like davening or chumash. Sometimes we get some amusing ones like: עשיר . What's amusing about that? Well I was looking for אֵיזֶהוּ עָשִׁיר? - הַשָמֵחַ בְּחֶלְקוֹ . She said - no! It's like "a shiur."

Hurricane Irene

Ada: Mommy, this hurricane is so popular!  At the bowling alley, they were showing it on the TVs!

Ada's concert review

At Dovid Gabay's show at the Hudson Valley Resort tonight:

"He'd be good for a minyan!"

lol.

Alef-Bet adventures

Ada completed (for the third time in her academic career) the study of the Alef-Bet letters. The milestone was celebrated in lots of ways.

One day, the class had a show-and-tell where each kid brought something that started with a letter of the Alef-Bet. They were supposed to write the word on an index card provided for the purpose. Ada, of course, wanted to bring something for EACH letter of the Alef-Bet. She prepared a list (I helped her with ideas for just a few of them.) and then went down the list getting all the items together and checking each item off as she found it. I was blown away. So was her Morah, as I found out the next time I spoke to her.

Another day, they baked Alef-Bet cookies for their celebration. Ada told me she made the letters of her name and it came out like "Vayikra." I had no idea what she was talking about until she explained that the last alef was small just like in the word vayikra in the Torah!

Ada is thrilled to have a real Alef-Bet book (the classic early primer) and confided to me that having real homework makes her feel very grown up. The first assignment was to read pages alef through yud (1 to 10) and I was supposed to sign the chart indicating that she did her homework. There was also a section for comments. Ada announced that she wanted to finish the whole book and that, when she finished, I should write a note to Morah in the "Compliments." Over-achiever, perhaps? When she got up to page 15, she noted that the page number said tet-vav (which is the numerical equivalent of 15). She said, "That says tet-vav, like tu in Tu B'Shvat so it means 15!" Her analysis of the things she learns and her ability to apply them in other situations blows me away! Talk about higher level critical thinking!

Etymology explored

This past Monday, on Presidents' Day, I chaperoned Sari's class on a field trip to Boomers for miniature golf. Ada came with me because she had no school. For some reason, Sari convinced her to wear a school uniform for the occasion, which pleased Ada very much! Of course, she looked totally adorable. :)

The next day, we were chatting and she asked me:

Why is it called a "uniform?"

So I answered that it's because everyone is wearing the same thing.

Ada: Well, I thought that "uni" means one so...?

Me (beaming): That's right! How did you know that?

Ada: You know, like unicycle...

Me: Very good! Well, with a uniform, everyone is wearing the same thing so it's all one look.

Ada: Oh, I thought it was because everyone has to fill out one form to get it!

Therapy

Ada came home in a hysterical rage from school. She was mad at some kids in carpool who were teasing her (or some other perceived offense of which I can't remember the details - but which was either provoked or fully reciprocated). After suggesting some solutions and coming up against more anger, resentment and agitation, I switched modes. I pulled out my good ol' "How to Talk So Kids Will Listen" skills and started empathizing.

me: You're really mad at them, huh?

Ada: Yeah, I wish they would move far away!

me: Really? How far?

Ada: To China.

me: Or how about Africa or South America?

Ada (firmly): No. Not far enough. Only China - on the other side of the earth.

me: Wow.

Ada (brightening with the idea): Actually, I wish they would go to Mercury. They would burn right up! (giggling in delight) Or Pluto! That's not even a planet! Yeah. That's a good idea.

me (wide-eyed, nodding appreciatively): I see.

Ada (cocking her head to the side, thoughtfully): Is there another world besides our world?

me: Well it's impossible to know for sure, I think.

Ada: Oh. Well that would be best but, if not, then Pluto is okay.

Needless to say, by this time, she was just fine and the next minute was off to busy herself with some activity. Ten points for me. :)

spelling samples

Two samples that I discovered among my kids' writings...

Mordechai: ...this little piggy cried wii wii wii all the way home.

Sari: ftogrufer (Can't guess it? It says photographer!)

6 going on teenager...

Ada confided to me the other day the following:

I know how to make my hair in a bun. When I make my hair in a bun and I tie my sweatshirt around my waist, I look really old. Like, even 7!

The Joy of Motherhood

Ada: Do you like being a mommy?

Me: Of course! I love having you guys as my kids!

Ada: I can't wait to be a mommy...

Me: Oh?

Ada: Yeah. Then you get to boss your kids.

Ada: I wanna tell you something in secret.

I lean down.

Ada (whispering in my ear): Why do you always have to be so bossy?

My report card

Ada: Are you a proneshiful mommy?

Me: Am I what?

Ada (a bit louder in hopes of clarification): Are you a proneshiful mommy?

Me: Pro-nesh-i-ful? I'm sorry, sweetie, I don't know what that means.

Ada: You know, like, very awesome.... Like a proneshiful lifeguard....

Me: Oh, a professional mommy!!

Ada (brightening): Yes! Are you?

Me: Well, what do you think?

Ada: I think you are.

I've arrived. :)

Outreach

The girls were discussing how to interact with the other girls in their gymnastics group. Sari decided she will be friendly to everyone. She noted that most of the kids probably aren't Jewish but that's okay. "And," she added, "If they are Jewish, I'll for sure be friends with them! I can even teach them stuff that maybe they don't know!"

Never too young for harbatzat Torah. :)

A simple solution

On our way back from a trial gymnastics session, the girls and I were talking about recreational versus competitive gymnastics. I explained that sometimes a coach might notice that a student is really good and decide to ask them to be part of the team. We went on to discuss how we were NOT going to be on any teams because that means devoting hours every day to practice and traveling for meets, not to mention wearing leotards in public.

Ada thoughtfully suggested, "Sari, maybe we should try not to be so good."

BIG news

Mordechai and I were the only ones home as Shabbat was winding down yesterday. We got into conversation about the Twin Towers and terrorism and Israel and Arabs and then - oil spills. (As in, what's worse? 9/11 or the oil spill? He's always asking comparison questions like that....)

He said to me, "You know how I know the oil spill is really BIG? They were even talking about it on espn!"

Pre-K beauty tips

A while back, Ada announced one night that she wants to take out her pony holder before she goes to sleep. I thought it might make her hair pretty messy and unruly in the morning but she insisted that "Ayelet (a classmate of hers with thin straight hair) sleeps without a pony holder and that's how her hair always looks so nice!" Who am I to argue with a five-year-old's beauty secrets?

A few days later, I'm on the phone with Ayelet's mom and I related to her the conversation Ada and I had had and she laughed. Ayelet had been telling her mom that she wants to sleep with a pony holder because "that's how Ada does it and that's why her hair comes out so nice!"

Fashion faux-pas? I think not!

me: Oh, Ada! I told you - no stripes with florals!

Ada (looking chagrined): Uch, I forgot!

(Yes, she went to school like that.)

Yom Ha'atzma'ut

Sari woke up very excited to celebrate Israel's birthday. She asked me, in all her 7-year-old innocence, "Is this the date Hashem promised Israel to Avraham?"

(p.s. A friend pointed out that Avraham was born in 1948 - the "same" year that Israel became a state. How's that for confusing her further? Hee.)