Odyssey of the Mind

Rachel's on a team! An Odyssey of the Mind team has formed at McKinley, with Rachel's friends Libby, Simone, Sammy (from Summer Laureates) and some other kids, including boys. Libby's dad David is going to be the coach. I believe they start meeting next month.

Simone is part of the Buddy Trio. I love that Rachel's clique consists of all the smart girls at McKinley.

My thoughts at 3 a.m. today...

I posted this on Facebook early this morning:

Just when I was getting all sentimental about babies and thinking how nice it would be if I had a second one, I was reminded of just exactly how kid vomit smells at 3:20 a.m. on a Saturday. So, that's something.

I was up late last night paying bills, getting my checkbook in order, sorting through magazines, etc. -- stuff I like to do before getting ready for a trip -- and so I had only been asleep two hours when Rachel knocked on the bedroom door (Drew had gone to the gym) and said, in a teary voice, "Mom, I threw up." I leaped out of bed and went to her room and there was vomit everywhere -- the carpet, the sheets, the pillow, the bathroom floor, the bathroom rug, the toilet, the sink. It was mostly carrots, the last thing she ate before going to bed last night. As I grabbed a sponge and started scrubbing away, she apologized and then said, "You're the best Mom EVER," while crying. I tried to soothe her, and took her downstairs to the dining room and made her eat some applesauce. About that time I called down to Drew, who had come home from the gym, taken some cold medicine and was watching "The Producers." He took all the soiled laundry downstairs and put it in the washing machine while I calmly (and sleepily) explained to Rachel why applesauce works well when you've just thrown up. She finished half of it, then willingly went upstairs to bed. I followed, and well ended up turning in at around 4:30 a.m.

Luckily we slept late this morning. I had to transcribe some notes for a story I'm working on, which I did for much of the day after around 1 p.m. (I had hoped to start on this task three hours earlier than that, alas), and then Drew and Rachel went to get her a haircut, shop for holiday dresses and then they came home. We had pizza for dinner and watched a movie.

I hope whatever it is that was bothering Rachel is now out of her stomach. Grandma reminded me today of the time I threw up on her and Grandpa's bedroom wall when I was little. Rachel found that story so delightful that she made me tell it over again -- word for word -- while she cracked up. I think it amuses her to know that Mommy was a lot like she is when I was little.

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A talk about God

When we signed Rachel up for Hebrew school, I was under the assumption that she'd go to school every Sunday, learn about Judaism and how to read Hebrew, and that would be it. We'd discuss things when she had questions, much like regular school, but otherwise it would be another activity that she really, really wanted to do and that I've always wanted to provide for her.

Apparently, I was wrong.

Our synagogue, Rodef Shalom, really encourages parent involvement, to the point of having one program a month for parents. It's not mandatory, but we are strongly encouraged to attend. The program last week was about God, and our feelings about a higher power. Drew adamantly refused to go and I couldn't blame him. Frankly, I thought it was kind of intrusive. I don't think it's anyone's business what/how I think of God, and I have no interest in hearing anyone else's view, either. But the program included activities involving our kids, who were brought out of class (sneaky!), so it would have looked strange if I hadn't been there.

The parent discussion took place in a circle, and the leader, who is the cantor, started out by saying that everyone had to talk at least once and told us that whatever was said in the room would stay in the room. That alone made me refuse to talk; the cantor tends to move these discussions along instead of letting the group linger on what they want to linger on, so I was predisposed not to participate, anyway.

The discussion focused on different people's views of God -- a lot of them reminded me of what people would have said in Portland -- and I found the whole experience uncomfortable and not particularly enlightening. I also didn't agree with the cantor when he said that all little kids are inherently spiritual (although I think Rachel has a deep feeling for Judaism that comes from I don't know where, since we've never pushed it on her, but it doesn't seem to be connected to a feeling about God) and that since this is a synagogue, they will be teaching kids about God. Of course that's true, but it bothered me that there doesn't seem to be any room for people who don't believe.

What was encouraging is that the cantor said that there are many different religious beliefs and that the synagogue teaches that, that Judaism isn't the one right answer. I liked that -- I want Rachel to have a very strong knowledge of and love for Judaism, strong enough to counter peoples' misperceptions of the religion but elastic enough to learn about other belief systems.

Rachel's busy schedule

A sample from last week: Veterans Day greeting retired soldiers at the airport with her Daisy Scout troop; accompanying the other student council representatives to a warehouse to box up food for the homeless (Wednesday); a playdate with her friend Kira (Thursday, while Drew attended a Girl Scout cookie meeting, since he's in charge of cookie sales -- Go, Cookie Dude!); a playdate on Friday afternoon with her friend Sammy (she met her in Summer Laureates and Sammy also attends McKinley; they spent much of the really cold afternoon in Sammy's treehouse, with pillows and blankets to keep them warm); a new members' dinner at the synagogue; a sleepover at Ivy's house Saturday night; a playdate with Ivy on Sunday after swim lessons and then another playdate afterward with her friend Sidney.

On Friday night while he was reviewing this schedule with me, Drew said, "the weekend hasn't even started and I'm already exhausted." You betcha.

Catching up...

So, after last week's drama of having my cellphone stolen on the Metro (it must have fallen off while Rachel and I were heading to Federal Triangle, but a police officer who helped me called the number and someone answered it, so it is definitely in someone else's possession), I've gotten a new cellphone (same number). My sliced finger is healing, I've worked hard to get extra sleep and I am (hopefully) on the mend.

Rachel's Daisy Scout troop was greeting veterans at the airport for Veterans Day when my phone went missing. I wish I could share pictures of how cute she looked with her homemade sign. The vets were all quite old -- from WWII and Korea -- and one was so charmed by Rachel that he leaned over in his wheelchair and kissed her hand! She couldn't get over it.

Afterward we hung out at Dunkin' Donuts at the airport, took the Metro in to the District -- which is when I discovered my phone was gone -- and I was so discouraged that we headed to the Sackler Gallery and collapsed on a bench outside. Rachel napped on my lap for an hour while I dozed on and off.

Then we walked 4,509 miles to the Lincoln Memorial (kidding -- it was, indeed, quite a walk) and browsed through the gift shop before I hailed a cab to Drew's office and The Post. Rachel stayed with Drew until it was time for him to leave. She had books and her advanced-level math workbook to keep her happy.

More word problems

Drew and Rachel were driving to Michael's, the craft store tonight to get materials to make a poster to greet veterans at the airport tomorrow for Veterans Day -- it's a Daisy Scout thing -- and Rachel asked Drew to give her some word problems.

He started off with simple problems such as, if I have 12 blueberry pies, and if my relatives come over and eat 12, how many do I have left? By the time they got to Michael's, they were up to: What's 2x times 3x squared? Rachel even got the concept of CUBED. He explained to her about what cubed means and she got the concept very quickly. "X rectangled? X triangled? Something shaped!" she exclaimed. But when he said "X cubed," she replied, "Whoa!" then added, "Oh, I get it. Because a cube is made up of lots of squares. So, it's more than squared."

I am running out of steam for word problems. David Lednicer, we need to you to come back because Rachel is definitely ready for a lesson in fluid dynamics.

Lovely Sunday

...we all slept in from our extremely late night on Saturday. Drew drove Rachel and I to religious school -- only to find that we hadn't been paying attention to synagogue newsletters and it turned out that there was no choir rehearsal this morning (two days after a performance, ya know....) So Rachel and I hung out a bit until Drew arrived to pick me up and take me to brunch (a Sunday morning tradition).

We were finishing up at Einstein's Bagels and got into a conversation with the woman and her 4-year-old sitting next to us. Turns out they live in Arlington and the kids may end up at McKinley next year if the school boundaries change. And...the woman and her family are members of Rodef Shalom and her daughter is in Rachel's class! Small world. To make it even smaller...the woman, Stacy, has a friend named Lisa who owns a used bookstore in...wait for it...North Portland! I told Drew we need to stop in there next summer and freak her out by saying, "We know your friend Stacy in Arlington!"

Then we picked up Rachel. Drew dropped us off at Rachel's tennis lesson (it was a 60ish degree day, gorgeous for being outside, and all I wanted to do at the end of her lesson was all take a walk in Great Falls Park. But, I had to go to work. Sigh) while he went home to rake leaves. Then they picked me up and drove me to work, got back for Rachel's swim lesson (resuming after weeks of not going for various reasons), then home.

Baltimore

Spent most of Saturday indoors watching my gals -- the ladies from my former chorus, Pride of Portland, COME IN FOURTH PLACE IN THE WORLD in international competition. Congratulations, women!! Why did this have to happen AFTER I left the chorus?

I did have mixed feelings as I was walking to meet Drew and Rachel for dinner. Luckily, Dad had the absolutely perfect response, "Think of it this way, Lis. If you'd been there, they would have come in third."

Really, it was exactly what I needed to hear at the time. Thanks, Dad!

I brought Drew and Rachel to the after-chorus party, and Rachel worked the room -- she has several grownup-looking conversations with people, and when a couple of the quartets go up to sing, she sat behind them on the risers, chin in her hands, looking intently at them. Oh, I hope this settles in and she decided she wants music in her life when she grows up. I love the idea of someday coming to HER performances when both of us are, um, older.

We ended up leaving the part way late -- 10:30! and luckily Rachel fell asleep in the car.

As she was getting ready for bed, she said to Drew, "I'm wouldn't want to be rich."
"Good," Drew replied bluntly. "Because we're not."
"Because if you had to store all that money," she explained, "you wouldn't have enough room for BOOKS!"

True, dat.

A lesson in tolerance

One of my pet peeves is parents who let their kids play with electronics in synagogue (and in church, too, I suppose, although I'm not in churches very often). There was a family I knew and was friends with in Portland; they were members of our chavurah, and I liked them a lot until one night I saw the youngest kid sitting on his mom's lap during a service and playing something on her smartphone, and it instantly changed how I thought of them. Harsh? Yes. But I've been taking Rachel to services with me since she was about 2, and she has never, ever needed the distraction of a smartphone or any other device.

Tonight there was a young mom in front of us with three girls, one of whom was probably 2 or 3, and she let her play with an iPad during the entire service -- and it was a family service, meaning the standards were lower anyway. I wouldn't have cared much except Rachel notice and started leaning over and seeing what was going on, and I tried to get her to hold back, but she kept looking. And I got more and more annoyed, but pretty sure that saying something would not have been appropriate.

Toward the end of the service Rachel all of a sudden started saying she was hungry and whining for challah. We went to the table for the Oneg Shabbat and I grabbed some crackers and slipped them into my pocket after giving Rachel one and eating one myself.

On the last song, one of the mom's daughters, the one with the iPad, started whining that she was hungry. The mom said they'd get food at the Oneg but she'd have to wait. So, I reached in my pocket and gave the girl a cracker -- and then her bigger sister, and then the oldest one. The mom thanked me profusely and explained this was the first time she'd gotten through a service with all three kids. And then she said, "thank you for not judging me for the iPad."

It was a smart preemptive move, and it left me feeling terribly guilty because I HAD judged her. Apparently her husband was traveling and she was on her own with the three kids. "I know a single mom with three kids," I said as we parted. I felt really bad for my reaction, especially because one obedient little girl is a lot easier to handle than three. Hopefully giving her kids the crackers made up for my evil thoughts.

Rachel's first singing performance!

...sadly, not with Sweet Adelines (although they are in town tonight, competing internationally in Baltimore, and I get to watch them tomorrow). She has joined Shir Joy, the synagogue choir, and today they sang for the first time at family services. They have special T-shirts; hers is light blue with a collar, a Polo shirt, with "Shir Joy" near the left shoulder.

They did pretty well, although at this age it's not very musical; it's more like shouting than singing. She didn't look particularly excited during the performance, but then told us at dinner that she wants to join the older kids' choir, Shir Harmony, when she gets to be of age.

It was delightful to watch and wave and make faces at her to try to get her to smile and look enthusiastic, until she gave me a severe look and dragged a finger across her lips to tell me to stop. Which I did at once.

Nicknames for the club members

...Simone is Scout, since she's in Girl Scouts and, Rachel said, is a good Scout.
...Sydney is Flash, because she can run very fast.
...Rachel is Patch, because she can sew.

"You don't know how to sew!" I keep telling her. And she insists she can because she has watched a movie in which sewing was featured. She thinks the issue is just that I won't let her use a needle. Any sewing classes for kids out there??

The Buddy Trio

This week, Rachel and two of her friends, Sydney and Simone, formed a club called "The Buddy Trio." Simone is the president and Rachel has written the handbook. It's called "Buddy Trio Guide," and here's what it says:

Contents:
1. how to Be a member
2. what we do
3. How to join
4. Are pets (should be "our" pets -- me writing this)
5. Our Rules
6. our tree House

(apparently Simone's dad is going to build a treehouse for the girls to use as a club meeting place. "What should we contribute?" I asked at dinner tonight. The consensus from Drew and Rachel: snacks.

1. How to Be a member
To be a member you Must Show that you are Loyal to the club. You must pas a test to get in. You must Follow three Rule. You must know us well. You Must follow the Three Ruls At All Times. You Must be Actave and Alert At All Tims. You Must think well At All times.

2. What We do
We do a lot of things. One thing we do Is Make Secret Notes to aChather (each other -- me writing this) And to Other Peple too.

That's as far as she's gotten. Rachel did reassure me tonight that grownups are automatically members of the club. Presuming they like us, I suppose.

A note from Drew about Rachel and Shakespeare

This is a note Drew sent me earlier this week from one of Rachel's enrichment teachers:

In other news, I got a call this afternoon from the woman who teaches the "STEAM for Curious Kids" enrichment class. She wanted some info about that Shakespeare book that we bought Rachel this summer -- seems Shakespeare came up in a class and Rachel knew so much about him and the plays that the teacher thinks the book might be good to get. She also said she loves having Rachel in her class -- says she's very smart and curious and likes to contribute ideas, but is well-behaved and respectful -- (paraphasing) doesn't just jump in whenever she wants, but waits her turn and then says her piece.

New book idea

Rachel and I are putatively working on a book called "Patriot Girls," about 6 orphaned girls during the Revolutionary War who act as messengers for General George Washington. We've got the characters' names, (the girls, that is) and now have to outline the plot. And then add dialogue. And then, you know, write the thing.

Rachel has already decided there will be sequels: "Daughters of Liberty" and "Stars and Stripes." And there will be another series after that called "Patriot Pets."

"I'm not sure I like the marketing idea of her extending the brand," Drew said last night. I could only laugh. And sigh.