random assortment of things

In the afternoon, I go from teaching at a Catholic school to picking my child up from a Jewish preschool.  I think religious education is great (said as a not-religious person).  There's an emphasis on ritual, cultural and what it means to do the right thing.  I think it's rad that Theo knows how to do Shabbat dinner, and understands some Hebrew words.  I grew up with no religious instruction and am woefully uneducated on the most important text in the western canon (the bible).  Theo's school has mostly Israeli children, and at back to school night ,we were informed that there is a kid who is allergic to sesame, so no sesame can be brought to school.  One of the parents (in a strong Israeli accent filled with complete incredulity) said "But what about hummus?"  It was pretty great, as is this sign posted on every door:

The kids are learning the alphabet by bringing in a show and tell item that starts with a different letter each week.  This week was the first one, with letter A, and mommy was on her A-game because Theo brought in his accordion! (boo-ya)!

He now asks what letter goes with every single toy he plays with.  His school recently asked for parent volunteers to come read a story and do an activity, so of course I e-mailed his teacher right away (first parent!), took the day off from work, and obsessively worked on a craft project for 3-year olds to accompany the book I Want My Hat Back. It's going to be killer.  Here's a sneak peek:

 Practicing the use of the selfie stick.  I swear it is really going to change my family photo game.

 He's interested in it.

Here is the first space-themed cross-stitch project of the season--A gift for the astronomer I've worked with for the past year on the black hole project (can luminosity of both the object and the dust torus be used together to generate a predictive relationship between color and distance to the black hole?  ....maybe?).  I'm also creating space themed key chains for the other teachers I'm working with.

As a part of my professional obligation, I have been listening to Fareed Zakaria's, In Defense of a Liberal Education.  I can no longer effectively read due to my current parenting stage, so audiobooks and NPR is the only way new information is getting into my head.

Lastly, what is there to say about Charlie?  He has his two bottom teeth, and loves to giggle.  He's sitting up and is very engaged with the world.  He's so very different from Theo, whose mind is fascinating and beautiful.  Theo has a rich inner life and an overload of imagination.  We've probably made a lot of parenting mistakes, but we've really excelled at nurturing creative play and staying away from devices.  Theo has no idea how a cell phone works and no interest in any of our devices.  He likes instruments, trains, blocks and going outside.  I want to keep it this way for as long as possible, because I know the pull of video games and the Kardashians will come soon enough.  He has started going to "Ms. Karen's house" (which means he packs up a bunch of toys and moves them outside, where he "teaches" imaginary people stuff that he's learned).  He also makes us knock on Ms. Karen's door before he'll leave.  It's kind of magical, and my only regret is that we don't have an expansive backyard with trees and grass.