A Movie, Smores, and Stargazing

and now finally, bedtime. And speaking of bedtime, this evening, after anxiously waiting for over a month for it to be released, the whole family ventured out and saw Adam Sandler's Bedtime Stories. What a delightful treat. Simply adorable.

One of the scenes have them roasting marshmellows and making smores - which gave me the idea to finally take advantage of our outdoor fire pit upon getting home. The weather wasn't too cold and David was able to get a roaring fire going. We had the marshmellows and graham crackers but no chocolate bars, so I did the next best thing and melted bakers chocolate and had the kids dribble ok pour the chocolate over the marshmellows and soon we all were very happy with our smores.

Boy were they delicious and of course what are smores without chocolate and roasted marshmellows all over the children's faces and hands. I tried to take pictures, but it was a little too dark.

Next we put on Chanukah music, turned off the lights inside and on the porch and sat under our blankets, stargazing.

These moments are what memories are made of.

They Grow Up So Fast

Ever noticed that you only seem old when you look at OTHER friends' children and how they have grown? It's natural to not to noticed your own children's growth, I get that, but I always feel like a ton of bricks just fell down on me, whenever my friends' children age is brought up, or see recent pictures, or just hearing about their life.

Of course it makes sense to know that Sandy's daughter is 14 - duh, she was five years old when my daughter was an infant, afterall Natalie is 9 1/2 years old now, but the shock value is still there. I don't feel like I've have changed all that much, but in these children's life, so much has - their body, their personalities, their experiences and outlook.

Whenever I do look at pictures, or see a friend's child who in a blink of an eye, now has the body of an adult instead of a child, I always make a mental note to stop and really enjoy my children, in the present, before, they too, grow up before my eyes.

I did that the other evening with my daughter, and I was blown away by how tall, how curvy, how beautiful and how awesome she truly is.

Parents Guilt

How many of us are guilty of doing this to our children?




Sometimes is never quite enough
If you're flawless, then you'll win my love
Don't forget to win first place
Don't forget to keep that smile on your face
Be a good boy
Try a little harder
You've got to measure up
And make me prouder
How long before you screw it up
How many times do I have to tell you to hurry up
With everything I do for you
The least you can do is keep quiet
Be a good girl
You've gotta try a little harder
That simply wasn't good enough
To make us proud
I'll live for you
I'll make you what I never was
If you're the best, then maybe so am I
Compared to him compared to her
I'm doing this for your own damn good
You'll make up for what I blew
What's the problem ...... why are you crying
Be a good boy
Push a little farther now
That wasn't fast enough
To make us happy
We'll love you just the way you are if you're perfect

Noah's thoughts

Some recent thoughts by Noah -

We are now entering into new territory - what does "Gay" mean? I am assuming this word has been tossed around at school lately and not in a good way. He thought Natalie called him "gay" and he got upset. When I asked him what it meant, he "forgot" but knew it was something gross. I was dishearten by this comment, though I know he really doesn't understand it's meaning and only know of it as an insult - so naturally he would be upset if called that. So, David and I tried to explain what it means. David must have mentioned about couples (2 men) living together, because Noah then asked, "Like the show 2 1/2 men". So we had to be even more clear by what we meant, even when we said, 2 men who love each other. So we said, like the way Mommy and Daddy love/like each other. Then he got bored and ran off to play with his paper airplanes that he is having fun building.

In other news, Noah told us that when he grows up, he wants to be an artist (pause) .... a good one. That was really cool to hear from him.

He also just got his report card and is not only doing 2nd grade math but is in top honors for it (he's only in 1st grade.) His reading is also in the outstanding level. Starting this next marking period, the first graders will now be graded on punctuation, capitalization and spelling. GO MCPS!!!

Quote of the Day

"The food is bad. It's makes people fat, especially children."

Commenting on why you can't have "dinner" at McDonalds. I am writing this as everyone is getting ready to head out for dinner. Noah wanted to know where we are going (he's in a sourpuss mood because he can't continue riding his razor, in the dark, with the older kids in the neighborhood). I told we are going out to dinner and he asked me where - so just to be silly, I said McDonalds. He then went on to tell me that "you can't have dinner at McDonalds." So I said "sure, lots of people eat dinner at Mcdonalds, why do you think you can't?"

That's when he said - "Because it's bad food. It makes you fat, especially children, so we can't eat there."

So there you have it - some more wisdom from a 6 year old.

Guess we will just need to find another place to celebrate our anniversary - family style!

Noah

He's been so funny, adorable and just plain amazing with all his questions and jokes that he makes up. I must remember to write them down because I can't seem to remember what he asked me. Some of them have to do with G-d, such as "where was Hashem born?" and other questions are about bugs, animals and people such as these "why do grown-ups work so much? Why don't they like to play?"

Our Yom Kippur dinner was filled with jokes from the kids with Noah leading them off with jokes that he made up. Now this is one that I remember. It's just so clever. (ok, he's six and I am just a little bit biased)

"Why didn't the egg cross the road?"

answer:
- because he was chicken

: )


Oh man, we have a little comic on our hands!!! I just love it!

Why Doesn't Hashem Shut Off the Electricity?

So, I was just asked by Natalie if I believe in Hashem (G-d). I told her that I do but there are times that I don't.

She then went on to ask why they teach that Hashem will punish you for something, if indeed one doesn't actually get punished, such as using electricity on Shabbat. "Mom you know how you aren't suppose to use electricity on Shabbat, well my friends say that if you do you will get in trouble and Hashem will punish you, but that's not true."

I couldn't answer that but I did try to explain why electricity was not allowed on Shabbat - not it's actual relationship but the reason to question if it's allowed or not.

I explained to Natalie and Noah that whenever something new is invented or is being use, such as electricity, a decision has to be made to see if it's similar to the original laws and how its to be applied. The people who decide that are these very special Rabbis and it is they who decided a long time ago, that electricity is not permitted on Shabbat based on the original laws.

They wanted to know why HaShem wasn't present in those decisions. Why it is left up to the Rabbis?

Noah asked again, "Why do the Rabbis make that decision? Why doesn't Hashem make that decision?" Then Noah said something really clever - "Why doesn't Hashem just shut off the electricity on Shabbat? If you aren't allowed to use it, then why not just shut if off?"

I thought that was a very insightful and excellent question for a six year old. I didn't have an answer to that, but I did tell him that I was really proud of him for asking. That it's a great question.


I posed these questions to some friends in the community and asked what would be the best way of answering Natalie and Noah in an age-appropriate manner.

Though this isn't really in child-speak - it does help to answer their questions ....

"When Hashem gave the torah to the Jews, it was given to us to keep to live by. Unlike Christianity, which is a series of dogmatic laws, which you are not supposed to question, Judaism considers torah a "living torah", a developing element of our lives. We are commanded to study and to question, and to discover the reasoning and make the intuitive leaps that connect the past to the present and the future. The Rabbis that make the decisions that we live our lives by are not "divinely ordained". They are men that have dedicated their lives to the study of torah, and, through their knowledge, can make those connections between the origins of the laws and how to apply them to modern technologies.

I'm amazed that a six year old would ask a question like Noah did - I agree that it's very insightful of him. Here's the reason Hashem doesn't just do it for us: Free will. If Hashem just shut off all the electricity for us, he would be taking away our ability to choose what to do, to make the choice between good and evil. And the whole purpose of our lives is to make that choice between right and wrong. Otherwise, we wouldn't be making the choice to follow what Hashem tells us to do, but being forced into it. So it doesn't really matter what the punishment is, or if we're being punished at all. The point is the ability to make that choice."