Last Friday, after synagogue on a very hot evening, my car would not start. I pressed the button, it turned all the electronics on (radio, power to the GPS, fans, windows), but it didn't actually start the engine. After a few tries, I called AAA. (This had actually happened once before, but after I waited a minute and tried again, the car ( Read more... )

Jonah always asks me to tell him stories in the car. Today, it was the story of a Lego boy named Jonah who built his own house but then needed money to buy food. I asked him what job he would want. First, he said "the cheapest job". After some prodding, he decided his character went to work with Ima, where he "kept her desk safe while she went to ( Read more... )

Last night, Amitai and I attended a fundraiser for Jonah's school. While we were there, I chatted with his math teacher and got to ask a question that has been on my mind all week: What on earth could you test kindergarteners about for four (half) days? She said it really was everything - reading, math, science, social studies, and so on. Jonah ( Read more... )

Today, Jonah had day 1 (of 4) of Ohio state testing. I'm not sure what they can ask kindergardeners for four days, but it sounds like at least some of today was listening comprehension. Jonah's response to being asked whether it was easy or hard was "both." Our real question is whether he ended up drawing lightsaber battles on the test sheet.

Jonah brought home the following writing, presumably from around Martin Luther King Day. The italics are what he filled in:
I have a dream. My dream is:
I want to be a Jedi.
I can help my dream come true by:
my Dad can help me.

No word on how Amitai plans to help, outside of the Star Wars online game.

Part of Jonah's spelling homework is writing each word three times. Jonah is making his letters big and small, having them push and kick each other, and drawing pictures of them falling into the water onto surfboards ( Read more... )

I will probably make a more substantive post about our trip to Israel, but I am going to start with some observations about Israeli driving. (Throughout all of this, I will observe that Israelis seem to be very skilled drivers - I saw no accidents during all of what I will be recounting ( Read more... )

Yesterday, Amitai; Jonah, and I went to Animal Kingdom. Jonah's favorite thing was a triceratops ride (basically, the Dumbo ride, but in a cute triceratops); we went on that twice. Amitai's favorite was "It's tough to be a bug" (Jonah noted that it was a bit scary, but he liked it). I was impressed by the "Finding Nemo" musical/puppet show. ( ( Read more... )

Last night, Amitai, Jonah, and I were out late at the Temple Beth Shalom quiz night (which our team won). Today, Amitai has a bridal show, and Jonah had Hebrew School. As I drove Jonah from the synagogue to the bridal show, Jonah looked ready to doze off in the back seat. Suddenly, he piped up to say something about Pokemon and add "I love ( Read more... )

Today, Jonah is going to have surgery for the first time. It is routine, outpatient, and laproscopic, so not really worth worrying about (beyond the general anesthesia/"every surgery has risks" part). But it is a new experience ( Read more... )