More Than Four Sides

Category: Family & Friends

  • Alphabetizing

    S has “Wall Words” that he has to learn. He’s in the Giraffe word group in his class. The other two groups are the Elephants and the Pandas. He’s starting to figure out how reading and spelling work, but it’s been harder for him than most other things that he tries to do; and he…

  • An Education with Carlo Collodi’s Pinocchio

    I learned about Collodi’s original version of Pinocchio about a year or more ago, when I mentioned on Facebook that we watched the Disney version with our kids, and my very well-read cousin (yes, you, R) told me of the “real” version. I love this version so much more than the Disney-fied, saccharine story. I…

  • Holidays over, back to routine (thank goodness!)

    Most people know about the Jewish High Holiday, kicked off every fall with Rosh HaShanah, followed 10 days later by Yom Kippur. In our area, the public schools are off for one day for both holidays (I cannot recall whether this was true in California). But, many people don’t realize that Yom Kippur is followed…

  • Dwelling in our Sukkah

    Sukkot – Festival of Booths, or Feast of Tabernacles, or Festival of Ingathering – is a Jewish holiday that R and I didn’t know about, or observe, until relatively recently (I’m old enough now that recent includes 10 years ago).  We certainly started constructing and eating in a Sukkah the last few years that we…

  • Thats What You Get For Wearing Crocs

    Thats What You Get For Wearing Crocs. I saw this on Facebook yesterday, shared by a friend who spends a lot of time in the sun, and it reminded me of a thought that has been rolling around in my head for awhile (ever since shortly after we returned from Ethiopia with the boys). We…

  • Missing Shabbat

    It’s Saturday, which means its Shabbat (the Hebrew word meaning “sabbath”), and I’m using a computer. My husband and I started becoming more “Shabbat observant” a few years ago. It had been a slow evolution from originally just lighting candles on Friday night, reciting “Baruch ata HaShem, Elokeinu melech haolam, borei p’ri hagafen” (Blessed are…

  • Gender identity

    My first child turned 30 (!) last year. When she was born, I had all kinds of ideas about her identity as a girl, informed in part by my own experience as a first-born daughter, and from classes I took on child development. My husband and I bought no clothes for her that were pink…

  • An intense read

    January First I ended up staying up until past 3am on a weeknight to finish reading this. It hit too close to home on too many levels. My sister and I grew up with a mother who continues to suffer from severe bipolar disorder, which has robbed her of so much in life. Like Janni,…

  • “I have a hurty froat”

    It became clear to us in the middle of last night why J may have been so crabby and clingy the last couple of days, when he crawled into bed with us, and his whole body emanated heat! He complained of a sore throat (pronounced “froat” by him) two days ago, but he had no…

  • So much going on!

    As often happens, I find weeks go by and I slack off on contributions here. It’s not that there isn’t plenty to write about – to the contrary, I’ve been writing blog posts in my head, but had no time to type them here. A few notable updates: – J is finally pretty confidently and…