How much is too much?

Children's after-school activities that is.

Right now, Itai has rollerblading once a week and a private English lesson once a week (since we live in a Hebrew-speaking country where he won't be taught English until 2nd or 3rd grade). In theory, we also have playgroup once a week, but with everyone's complicated schedules this year that's a bit hit or miss. I'm fine with this level of activity. He's got a few things, but also has time to play with friends or just chill out.

The thing is, he now wants to add a children's yoga class. He went to a trial class last night and really enjoyed it. On the one hand, I like the idea of yoga for him. Strength and flexibility, but combined with gentleness and restraint. It fits well with my underlying bleeding heart liberal hippy-dippy values. It's also right around the corner in the same studio where I hold LLL meetings.

But, when does "enough" become "too much"? For him? For me, who has to shlep him around? For Maya, who then gets dragged around to all of these things? They're all good, they're all beneficial, but are they all good and beneficial all together.

I'm not sure how I'm going to handle this. First, I think I'll find out whether he can drop the skating if he wants to, just to know whether that's an option. He does really like it though, and it's great for his coordination (he's not the world's most athletic child you might say). I'm planning on dropping the English as soon as he's got enough of a foundation to actually read, but he's definitely not there yet. And now there's yoga... He's already got a yoga activity in his afternoon program, but he's towards the higher end of the age range there so I think it's not as challenging/interesting for him. This class is from 5-8, so a good fit.

It would give me more one on one time with Maya, which is good, but it's in small enough blocks that it's hard to make good use out of it. Though, in another month or so the weather will be a lot nicer and we could spend that 45 minutes at the playground next door to the studio, or go out for an ice cream or whatever.

I've read a lot lately on how children are becoming consumers of activities, rather than active participants. I've never tended towards the overextended end of the scale, and don't want to find myself there through inertia, but at the same time without some kind of framework the tendency is for the kids to come home and want to do nothing but stare at the tv. Not exactly healthy there either, and no fun to fight about. (You'd think that "hey, let's bake cookies together" or "let's play a game together" or something like that would occasionally appeal more than watching the Festigal dvd for the 8,000th time, but somehow it rarely seems to.)

What to do. What to do.

I think I'm going to ignore the whole thing think it over for a few days, and then see if he's still even interested in the idea. How's that for good mothering - the ostrich approach. Why do today what you can ignore until tomorrow.

Saturday in the park (but not the fourth of July)

The weather today was absolutely gorgeous, so we decided to take advantage of it and head for Park Afek, a beautiful park about 10 minutes from our house, for a picnic with some friends. We had a great day playing, picnicking and exploring the park's 400 year old fortress.



(And as a funny aside, Maya was explaining during breakfast this morning that milk comes from cows. We were drinking orange juice, so Jay asked her where orange juice came from. Her answer?... A very definitive "from roosters". I nearly peed myself laughing.)

PS If anyone's got an easy way to manipulate pictures within the text so that I can format them in some way that isn't both difficult and ridiculous (and I'm normally pretty savvy with page layouts) I'd be grateful if you'd let me know. Either I'm missing something, or blogger is making it ridiculously hard to embed photos within the text.

PPS Yes, it's true. I'm a redhead now. I got sick of the blond highlights and decided something drastic was in order. I love it.

Life's petty annoyances

• Getting phone calls from a computer (and a Russian-speaking one at that, and no, I don't speak Russian)
• The fact that all of the rolls in the 32-pack of toilet paper I bought were not perforated correctly, making it a pain to rip off what you need
• My apparent inability to eat saucy Thai noodles without splashing sauce all over my chin (not a good look Muriel)
• Which goes together with poor quality kaffir lime leaves, which are all broken, meaning that you spend half your meal pulling little bits of leaf out of your mouth
• Architects. In particular, transit architects. Why oh why can't they ever seem to follow basic, simple, well spelled out instructions and must instead bravely forge new paths where paths were never meant to go. (sorry, work vent).

Nothing huge in the grand scheme of things I'll grant you, but annoying all the same.

Miracles never cease

Two amazing things happened today:

My contractor actually showed up to finish all those annoying little odds and ends that accumulated over the past few months. He's been having (legitimate) health issues and kept cancelling on me, when he wasn't cancelling because he was busy working down south, or because the lintels still couldn't be repainted because the walls hadn't yet dried out enough (we had major water issues remember)... Anyway, he and his partner showed up today and completed my entire to-do list, including two extra things I asked for as a favor, with no question of any money changing hands, though I did insist on giving them a bag of dates from the box we'd received when we visited the kibbutz last week.

And thing number two I'll whisper quietly so as not to antagonize the potty training gods. Maya has been dry after school and all evening for the past two days! She's been completely trained all day at school for months now, but at home it's been a disaster, and that's an understatement. Yesterday morning as I threw up my hands in despair her teacher offered to draw a smiley face on her hand (which is a reward she really loves) the following morning if she stayed dry all evening. She did really well and couldn't wait to get her smiley this morning, and then stayed dry all afternoon and evening again today! She actually GOT UP IN THE MIDDLE OF A VIDEO not once but twice to go use the bathroom. I thought I was going to pass out I was so shocked. I've known for months that she can do it, because she goes of her own initiative all day long, but it certainly wasn't happening around our house. Fingers crossed that a few days (weeks, months, whatever) of positive reinforcement from her teachers will finally do the trick! (You're getting the irony here, right? The fact that her teacher has to reward her for behaving well at home...) Who cares, I'll take it wherever I can get it. I am SO ready to be done with the constant cleaning. Please please please please please let this be it. I wonder what kind of sacrifice would be best to offer to the potty training gods. I'd burn a diaper as an offering, but god only knows what kind of toxic crap I'd be releasing into the atmosphere...

Holy Crap - Tantruming Toddler Thrown Off Plane!

As someone who's flown countless times with young children, and tried my damnedest (and succeeded, if you don't count that one hellish trip back from Maine alone with Maya, who'd already been cooped up in a car for 4 hours before we started) to keep my kids reasonably quiet and well behaved on planes (or for that matter anywhere in public), I really hope that there is more to this story than there appears! What a nightmare for the poor parents, to whom I'm going to give the benefit of the doubt and assume were also doing their utmost to keep things under control. I'm sure their tantruming child was making life miserable for everyone around them and certainly needed to be dealt with, but come on, how many people haven't been in a similarly difficult and embarrassing spot at least a few times. Throwing them off the plane and BANNING them for the next 24 HOURS seems more than a bit extreme.

International Ice Cream for Breakfast Day

What, you've never heard of this holiday? Then read on, because you're definitely missing out.

About 35 years ago a tired and frustrated mom of 6 in Rochester, NY was looking for a diversion for her family's cabin fever during the cold and snowy winter. She hit upon a novel idea and declared the first Saturday in February to be "Ice Cream for Breakfast Day". It was a hit (how could it not be?) and soon became an annual event, with more and more participants each year. Over the years, the mom's children and their friends all grew up, and many started hosting their own "ICFBD"s. As happens, people move around, and before you knew it ICFBD was being celebrated not just in Rochester but around the world. There's even a website now. I learned about ICFBD from a dear friend here in Israel who was a guest in those early years. She's hosted on and off for years, and even her parents have gotten in on the act and often host their own gathering, complete with their own ICFBD scrapbook.

This year my friend decided she wasn't up for hosting, so I decided to pick up the mantle. The hoards will descend on Saturday, 3 February, at 10am. I'm expecting between 30 and 40 people (no one wants to miss a chance at ice cream for breakfast!). It's sure to be a calorie-laden, sugar-loaded madhouse. I can't wait. And if you find yourself in the neighborhood, just pick up an ice cream or a topping and come on along, the more the merrier.

And if any of you decide to adopt this tradition, I'd love to hear about it.