Levy, Levy, Levy

I don't know if I've mentioned (probably not because I haven't had two seconds), but Lev's introduction to public school has been wonderful aside from the fact that he is hitting everyone. We've figured out that he is probably hitting because (a) he cannot remember everyone's names and it's a way to get their attention and (b) he gets super excited and forgets his words all together. Either explanation is not an excuse. We are very blessed with a wonderful teacher who can see beyond the hitting and is working with me to get past this phase.

Yesterday, when we were playing in the schoolyard after gan, Lev's teacher, Racheli, came up to me and started telling me how she's so surprised and how he's one of the most creative children she's ever seen and that he does things that don't make sense for his age. She told me that the kids were making chains for their sukkas and Lev made a chain unlike any other. This morning when I dropped him off, she pulled me aside to show me that every child had made a regular, multicolored chain. Lev, using only green, had made a family tree style design, with a few chains, a flat piece of paper and then chains connected to either side of that flat piece. It's pretty cute. B"H that she is able to see creativity in him. We are really lucky.

Lev also has a new after school posse. He likes to hang out in the schoolyard and play with a first grader and second grader. It's obvious to see that the second grader isn't socially with it and the first grader is just a sweet kid who's looking out for Lev and doesn't want to wait the hour for his mom alone. I will say that it's difficult to hang around and watch how kids treat each other. I want to let things take their natural course, but I'm also an adult and I have to get involved if I see one kid bullying another. Kids are really mean. Any way, Lev loves hanging out with the big kids and speaking Hebrew in the afternoons :)

Estie is becoming an issue for me lately. She has a new tendency to walk off. It's happened twice in the past few days. Once I was totally sure that she was at the neighbor's place and when Shalom walked down to the main street to take out the garbage, Estie was standing next to the Dumpster. This means no more walking back and forth to and from the neighbor's place freely. I'm going to have to walk her there and try to get an adult to walk her back. A different day, we were at a birthday party of someone who lives on a main street. I looked at Estie, looked down to pour myself some water, looked back up and she was gone. She wasn't in the courtyard, the living room, the bedrooms. I went out the main street and saw that she had crossed a street and was holding the hand of a man who I, thank G-d, recognized.

In short, I tell a lot of bedtime stories about using our words and not our hands and about staying where your Mommy can see you. All this is going on as we prepare for Sukkot and a week off from school. I have a bunch of fun things planned and I'm hoping that between Savta Bubbie and babysitters who can join me and keep tabs on Estie while I watch the other two, we should make it to the Fire Station, Italian Jewish arts and crafts for kids, trampolines in the park and Sesame Street characters in the mall. Wish me luck and the ability to keep my sanity and my children in check!

Funny side story; Yesterday I was talking to a father of twins and a 1-year-old. He said "You know, I learn at the Yeshiva right next to your apartment..." Let me interject here that where we lived is more than just a city. It's a shtetl. We live on top of each other. When he says he learns at the Yeshiva next to my apartment, he is speaking of a building that has open windows approximately three steps from my front door. Right away I said 'So you hear me with my kids.' His answer "It makes me feel better that I'm not the only one." At least my lack of ability to keep my temper under control is making someone's day a little brighter :)