Do you think this will be enough to occupy Malka on a cross-country

Do you think this will be enough to occupy Malka on a cross-country flight?
Originally uploaded by shellipsm

We plan on whipping out one new toy approx. every 1/2 hour.

And the piece de resistance?

The animal crackers. SURE to please...

As in, a wooden horse...

Yup, that's right, folks. I had a Trojan on my work computer. ACK. We have three computers in the office. Mine, the "hub," the secondary office computer, that our accountant uses, and then the Rabbi's computer. After about a year of healthy use, it started slowing down all of a sudden. Then after a bit of a tune up, it lost the ability to become the network hub. We figured something was up. So I put all data onto a "Key thing-a-ma-jig" (with 2 gigs of memory) and crossed my fingers that a white knight would come soon.

And I've been using the secondary computer to do most work - IT can still get on the internet, but not the network. But it's an OLD computer. NO USB PORT. So I've put stuff, aka documents, either on disk, or the usb key thinggy, and gone into the Rabbi's office to print, or evaluate data. UGH.

But today! Today!

Imagine, if you will, three guys from the Sopranos magically appearing at your doorstep. All menacing like. Now imagine exactly the opposite of that. You know, like from those movies in the 80's. Except without the glasses. BUT. They ALL had those USB Key thinggies around their necks - EACH and EVERY one of them. And the leader had a shiny card-like size device that has 8 GIGS of memory. I was MUI impressed.

They've pretty much cleaned it all up, but we're still fixing the minutae, and crossing t's and dotting i's, but WOW. It's amazing what can happen when "the professionals" come in!

Just finished it.

Wow. It's all I'll say for now.

But for those that have been itching, ping (im) or e-mail me, and we can chat...

Does it make me a bad mother?

If I want Malka to go to bed early, so I can finish reading Harry Potter, does it make me a bad mom?

Also - seeking ASSvice. Malka's a biter. Yup. She bites. It is her emotional extreme reaction to things. if she's overly excited and happy, Chomp! If she's pissed off? Chomp. We've re-directed, done time outs, and she CLEARLY knows what she is doing. Sometimes, if I catch her just as she RUNS at me, mouth open, and if I am able to give her just the right look and stern "eye," she'll come and kiss me instead.

Dude. We are SO fucked when this kid becomes a teen.

But um yeah. I totally think being the parent of the BitER is harder than being the parent of the BitEE. Hopefully, she just bites US, and no one else. Here's a sample of her "love bites:"

Can ANYONE Solve this?

OK - Everyone EXCEPT Trista can play...

Has anyone EVER packed less than the ENTIRE CONTENTS OF YOUR HOUSE to travel for a simple weekend away with a baby?

Oy.

Almost time for total media silence...

AKA - there will be NO HARRY POTTER SPOILERS HERE!

Since I won't even begin reading the book until SUNDAY, I will not read the newspapers, watch the news, listen to the radio, or yes, READ MY E-MAIL or answer my phone until I have completed the book; you can safely rest assured that I will in NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM reveal ANYTHING about Harry Potter until AFTER August 8th.

Thank you. And if you happen to finish the book before I do? Please do NOT post spoilers here.

Cheers, and all that.

We have AIR, people!

Malka has been really good at the "step-step" kind of jump for quite some time. (you know the one leg, then the other kind of thing...) Anyhoo, today was a birthday party at daycare for her boyfriend, Leary, and Malka and all of the other kids were dancing like maniacs, and all of a sudden, I look over, and Malka JUMPED. As in BOTH FEET OFF THE GROUND. And she did this many times. I was all agog, and aghast, but Narda reassured me, along with Leary's Eemah, that "oh yeah, she's done that for a while now!"

Holy crap, folks, Malka can JUMP!

Not so many words, but she can JUMP!

Sadly, Leary will be transitioning into the toddler room starting tomorrow. Le sigh.

busy, busy, busy...

For most folks, summer is a time of beaches, lounging around, kids home from school, and vacations. For those of us in Synagogue administration, however, it's "Oh shit!" time - as in, "PLEASE let the Chagim be later this year..." But alack, and alas, they aren't. In fact, they are EARLY this year. As in Rosh HaShana is on September 12th. That means I have 8 weeks to go, folks. ACK.

So my time is getting increasingly busier and busier. Please accept my early apologies for not updating as often as I usually do.

Besides stewing about being an ENTIRE DAY behind the rest of the world in knowing what happens to Harry Potter (let me RE-state, just so that I can smugly say - I TOLD YOU SO, that I think SOMETHING fishy is up with McGonagal, Neville will die, and Harry will live, but in a Frodo way, have a massive sacrifice, like losing his magic or something. I also think Hagrid will bite it, I'm afraid. So just to set the record straight). But I WILL NOT be reading the internet, newspapers, listening to radio or watching TV until AFTER I've read the book. NO SPOILERS HERE.

We can have a friendly, lively chat about the book AFTER we return home from the wedding in Portland on August 8th - that should give you all plenty of time to read it. And really? If you haven't read by then? Then it probably doesn't matter as much to you if I talk about it here...

So um, besides that, we had a LURVELY blog/internets filled week/weekend. During the week, we got to hang out with the lovely Maya and her moms from California. Over the weekend, we had the wonderful Hannah and her moms stay with us, and we all hung out with Liam and his moms, and Phine and her moms, too! I'll try to find an ambiguous photo to post later for you. It was really great to hang out with other families like ours, and to just give Malka time to interact with kids from similar families, and it didn't hurt that all of the moms were really cool folks, too.

So now, back to the grindstone, and thanks for your patience in my slacking blog posts...

So, how was it, you ask?

Well. We had QUITE the adventure going to see HP&TOoTP. S (at the left in the picture) came over around 6 or so, and got to play with Malka Palka Pooka Palka for a nice spell before the Cheeky went to bed. Then we had a lovely glass of wine, I popped some popcorn (all WW safe, of course!), and we left the house with OODLES and OODLES and OODLES of time to spare. (as last time, we made the UNfortuante mistake of showing up ONLY 1 hour before hand, and sat 4th row, on the right side of the theatre - UGH - we vowed NEVER to sit that close again, we're WAY too old...)

Or so we thought. We picked up our tickets, bought some coffee (it WAS a midnight movie, after all), and proceeded to go upstairs to the "level between the lobby and the theatre" and ended hanging out with these loverly folks pictured above. Turns out, they are all theatre folk as well. We were all worried that we'd be overrun with screaming 12 year olds, but it was a cool bunch of college aged folks and up. Not many kids at all.

But I digress. Meeting the above mentioned folks was lovely, and it turns out they are in their own improv troupe - go check them out! So there we are, some friendly, patient, and VERY EARLY adults, waiting INSIDE the air-conditioned movie theatre, when the "management shuffle" began. No fewer than 3 or 4 employees, at 3 or 4 different times, came over to tell the large group of us conflicting information: "You can't wait here, it's illegal," "OK, you all have been here a while, I'll have to ask the rest of you to go wait outside, but you guys can remain." "I'm so sorry, but you can't wait here, please go outside." And back and forth for well over 45 minutes to an hour. By now, it's after 10pm, the line outside is AROUND THE BLOCK, and there's about 12-15 of us left inside, from the long wait. Then Andy, the "uber manager" comes over, and asks us again to leave. most do, except a small group of about 6 of us. (see picture above). Everyone else was being an ASS to poor Andy, who was just trying to do his job. We were simply being nice, letting him know that we TOTALLY understand the insanity of today, that he's just doing his job, if we were in his shoes, etc. etc. etc. And then we simply shared with him that we were willing to play by the rules, but we were receiving conflicting information from various employees, and as a result, would now have to join the end of the line, when clearly, we'd patiently been there for hours already, and was there anything he could do?

After a while, having told us to go wait downstairs, by the wall, he came back, and escorted the 8 of us upstairs, and to the VERY front of the line. So here's S and I, in our CHOICE seats, waiting to see Harry Potter.

The movie itself wasn't as great as movies 3 and 4, truth be told, but the acting was superb. I wanted a bit more of the fight at the ministry, it was just a wee too short for my liking. There were many many things I simply loved about it, and a few things I missed, but all in all, it was an enjoyable time, and the seats rocked the house.

I'm not going to write TOO much more about the movie, as I have a few friends that wouldn't be too appreciative if I did at the moment. And I must say, in light of how much hype there will be in 9 short days, I'll have to go Media silent until I've read it.

I wouldn't want to read spoilers.

WHAT was I thinking?!

One of Narda's dear friends has a family home upstate, and we've agreed to go there for a weekend. I'm totally psyched - get out of the city, enjoy some nature, it will be GREAT.

Here's the kicker.

It's the weekend of the 20th.

um.

I will be exactly 1 day BEHIND THE ENTIRE COUNTRY IN KNOWING WHAT HAPPENS TO HARRY POTTER IN THE FINAL BOOK.

I can't believe it.

What was I thinking.

At least, in 12 hours, I will be watching movie #5...

2 DAYS!

Instead of being subjected to yet another episode of Law and Order, we were I was skimming the channels and A&E had a HARRY POTTER SPECIAL! With SNEAK PEEKS of Movie Five!

I cannot wait!

As soon as I discovered it was on, I called S, and "Mr. S" answered the phone. He "knew" it was me...

Two days! And then just a few more until we know how it all ends. I'm excited and sad, all at the same time...

Finding the curve

So at Malka's 18 month appointment today, we learned that she is perfectly healthy.

34 inches tall
32.8 pounds
48cm head circumference.

She is no longer making her own curve, and is following the national standards for health.

She can kick the ball, say about 13 words, (and some in Hebrew, but we aren't sure...) She still signs, but her words are now replacing her signs.

She LOVES LOVES LOVES any and ALL fruit - including prunes and dates. She is not a fan of veggies, but doesn't mind if they are mixed in her mac and cheese or mashed potatoes. She LOVES Mexican food. She loves smoothies, and yogurt. She is also a big fan of steel-cut oatmeal, and the Shabbes wine...

She runs like many toddlers, "head first," and we are always afraid that she will crash into the sidewalk, but we stay half an arm's length away, just in case, but still giving her "room to run."

She is the joy of our lives, but man does she wear us out.

Happy Harry Potter Month!

I can't believe it's here - seriously - Book 7 AND Movie 5 ALL in one month.

It's too much, seriously.

S, from Infertility Sucks have a date - We're goin' Imax all the way, baby!