Joyous Drop Offs

Dropping Meira off at gan in the morning is definitely the happiest time of day for me. Yes, it marks the beginning of 3 full hours of uninterrupted silence, but more than that, I get to see a room full of 2-4 year old Israeli kids go crazy over the arrival of my wonderful Meira. 

It gets better and better everyday too. 

I bring Meira at 9 when all the kids have already been there for an hour or two and are settling down for their morning circle time. In we walk and they all get up, jump up and down, and scream, "Meira! Meira! Meira!" 

I was always hesitant about naming my child a name with a "resh" in it (the R) since in my American accent I wouldn't be able to pronounce my child's name properly in Hebrew. While I do still feel like an idiotic immigrant when I say Meira, I have to admit that I absolutely love the way that it sounds in Hebrew. The trill of the R in Meira makes it sound much more beautiful that the boring R as we Americans say it. 

P.S. We also pronounce Hila's name like idiotic immigrants. It's supposed to be Hi-LA, and we say HI-la. We will be naming our next kid Bob, or some other one syllable name without a "resh."

Gan is Good, So Good

We are thrilled with Meira's new gan. We get such good reports everyday (which is really amazing considering how difficult she is getting at home) -- they say she eats and plays so nicely and is just maxima, maxima, maxima.

The best part of all is the attention she gets from the teachers AND the kids. The head gannenet (Zahava) said that every morning the kids all say, "Is Meira coming today?! Is Meira coming today?!" (she get's there at 9 and the other kids get there around 7-7:30). And then when she gets there, they're always so excited to see her. And then when she leaves (at noon rather than at 4 like the rest of the kids), all the kids gather around to say bye-bye to baby Meira.

And you thought sending a 1-year-old to a gan filled with 23 2- and 3-year olds was going to backfire!

Meanwhile, as I mentioned, Meira is becoming very difficult during the day when she's at home (whining, clinging, doing dangerous acrobatics), but she does continue to sleep like an angel, for her long 2-3 hour nap and at night.

Keep up the good work Meira!

The Wonders of Childcare

It has been a monumental 2 weeks for our little girl. Meira started walking, stopped breastfeeding (cold turkey), and started going to gan. Monumental, I should say, and quite wonderful.

I thought weaning would be traumatic for both of us, but it couldn't be clearer to me that it was the right time to do it (I just couldn't bear saying "no" to her all day long -- 3 times a day wasn't enough for her and I wasn't willing to feed on-demand anymore). Today she had her first cup of non-breast milk since she was 2 months old!

And now with gan -- what a change! Instead of her whining and complaining around the house for HOURS, she's out with other kids and playing. (They're all 2-4 years old, but still -- she has turned into the little gan mascot, their human toy.) The teachers say she is excellent and never cries. She's there from 9-12 and then comes home and naps for 2-3 hours.

She has mostly stopped crying herself to sleep (yes, after a full year of trying EVERYTHING) and now sleeps through the night.

My afternoons go a lot smoother when she's so well rested and after I've gotten a full morning of working and cleaning and relaxing.

Things are looking up.

The Hunger Games - Mini Review

The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games - Think Ender's Game meets Lord of the Rings meets The Giver. I couldn't put this down. I neglected all my financial/parental duties for a day. I look forward to reading Book Two.

The Secret to Making Good Quinoa

I discovered the secret to making the fluffiest quinoa ever when I started making quinoa before shabbat, realized I didn't have time, and then let the quinoa sit, soaking in water in the fridge, for about 36 hours.

Ingredients:

2 cups quinoa

2 cups boiling water

More water

Salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Rinse and pick through quinoa.

2. Combine 2 cups quinoa with 2 cups boiling water in a small pot.

3. Cover pot.

4. When cool, place pot in the fridge to soak for as many hours as you have time for. I did 36 hours (because I forgot about it) but probably 5-6 hours or overnight would be good too.

5. Add water to quinoa to cover completely (the original 2 cups will have been long soaked up) and add about 2 teaspoons of salt and 3/4 teaspoon of pepper. Put on stove and bring to a boil.

6. Cover and turn heat down to low and cook for 15 minutes.

7. Uncover and fluff quinoa with a fork. Quinoa should be soft and fluffy.