Another Busy Busy Week

It's tough to even find a moment to blog, because life is such a whirlwind right now. And when I'm not driving somewhere, it seems as if I'm working on the MWJDS Yearbook non-stop. May is crunch-time for me, since I need to have it all done and off to the printer on June 1. So my right arm is completely cramped up from tiny mouse movements, and my eyes hurt from staring at the monitor. But it's looking cool!

Monday night, the kinds convinced me to take them out for dinner, since David was running late and I was not in the mood to cook. So after playground time and a little home time, we went to a restaurant around the corner, low-key and friendly. I love the Sole Francaise. Sofia was a bit loud, and the oys were fighting, but quietly.

Tuesday morning, Micah's class had a Parent/Student Learning Program. We talked about the mitzvah of protecting the earth, and the kids presented their Worm Cycle studies. It was nice, but Micah can get a bit demanding and argumentative (really?!), so it was a little frustrating. Plus Sofia kept finding a cup filled with little blue game chips, and spreading them all over the place.

Dropped her at school late, then worked on the yearbook for a few hours. Picked her up at noon, and went straight to a lecture by Aviva Gottleib Zornberg, an amazing author who comes to this area every year. E met me there to take Sofia home (whew!), so I was able to sit and listen. The topic was "Moses and Job" - apparently there's a theory that Moses wrote the book of Job, as he was very interested in the topic of problems.

At one point, she was talking about another book about depression, and said that kids who, as very young children, cannot really separate from that "perfect" relationship with Mommy are the ones who go on to get depressed. When she described it, it sounded so much like Micah!

After the lecture, I had to run home to get Micah's piano books. Then back to school to get the boys. Wwhen they got into the car, Micah was clutching his eye and crying. The teacher said there had been an incident with another child - he had "spit" in her face and she had "slapped" him (on further investigation, he had raspberried her, but the result for her was the same, and she had pushed him, but it certainly seemed like a slap to Mr. Excessive.) Ok. It turned out to be my friend's kid, and I figured if Micah spit at someone, then he earned a response.


Since it was nasty weather and we didn't have the usual extra child, I took them to Papa Gino's for a snack before Micah's piano lesson. Sam and I sat in the car during the lesson; he did homework and I took a short nap. When Micah came out after the lesson, his teacher said he wouldn't talk the whole time. He insisted he had laryngitis...it had only lasted that 30 minutes...

Tae Kwan Do, and then drop the boys home with David (who had arrived home early for a change!). Then I raced out to have dinner with my girlfriends. Nice.

Wednesday, more yearbook. Poor Sofia is a neglected child after school - I feed her, and I let her watch lots of TV (mostly "Madagascar 2" these days). Yearbook Yearbook Yearbook.

Picked up the boys - of course Sofia fell asleep, so she didn't get to play on the playground. After play, we went to the library, where Micah took out 10 books and I had to force Sam to read 2 pages of his book. Sigh. Oh, and Sofia went poop on the potty, with a lot of yelling.

Raced home, made dinner, and then we had to split up. David took Sam back to Newton for shiva, and I took Micah and Sofia to a different shiva in Holliston (my friend's mother). Micah brought a book and was very well behaved. Sofia explored the house a lot (it's a cool house), but was at least quiet during the service. (Of course, she was exploring the contents of a desk drawer... that'll keep her busy...).

The following is an email from someone else who attended the shiva, to the principal of the boys' school the next day:

This evening B and I attended a shiva minyan and when it came time to count the Omer there was much discussion around which day it was. 20-25 adults went back and forth until a small voice interrupted and announced the correct number. I kvelled when I realized it was a MWJDS student, Micah Rothkopf. You can be sure we let everyone know where he attends school. Michael Goldstein [our development director] would be proud of our champion moment.

It was really cool!

So late night there. Of course Sofia stayed up to watch Lost with us. David and Sam got home around 9:15.

Thursday was more Yearbook, some playground time, a it of housecleaning, a tutoring session with my Bar Mitzvah student, and dinner. Then I went to class, to talk about "The Blessings of a Skinned Knee" again.

Today, more Yearbook. Now I have to go get Sofia, then off to the boys' school. Since it's nice out, I'm sure we'll play for a while. Sam has tutoring this afternoon, and then we have friends coming for Shabbos dinner. Fortunately not much planned for the weekend, although David and Sam and I must start learning our Torah readings for A's Bar Mitzvah, and both boys have to finish/do their science projects.