Sleep Eludes Me

Life, Sleep

Last night was a rough night.  I was already tired from staying up too late.  So I vowed to get to sleep early.  Yeah, right.  I wound up watching TV and reading articles online until midnight.  Finally, I shut down and tucked myself in for a nice, long, uninterrupted sleep.  What was that about uninterrupted sleep?

JSL woke us up once with a coughing fit.  He and I have been having these for weeks now.  No fevers or any other symptoms.  Just really heavy, congested-sounding coughs.  And, of course, he refuses to take any medicine.  (And, of course, I keep forgetting mine.)

After the second JSL-cough-wakeup-call, I pulled JSL into our bed.  Then we had a restless sleep until around 5am when NHL woke up.  He had had a nightmare.  I encouraged him to go to the bathroom and then go back to sleep.  He woke back up (or, more accurately, shouted questions at us since we don’t think he really went back to sleep) at 5:30am, 5:45am, 6am, and 6:10am before we finally dragged our tired selves out of bed, set him up on the couch and I pulled myself into the shower to get ready for work.

Now I sit here exhausted and thinking, “I really need to get to sleep early tonight.”

Yeah, right.

And Then What?

JSL, Parenting

IMGP0929_CROP Lately, I’ve noticed a trend with JSL.  If I try to explain to him what we’re going to do or why something would be bad, he asks the same question over and over: “And then what?”

To give an example from the weekend, we went shopping.  While in the fitting room with him and NHL, they began fooling around, trying to play “Hide and Seek.”  Obviously, this wasn’t a great idea.  First of all, there are no hiding places in a fitting room.  Secondly, it interfered with our getting the clothes tried on quickly.  Finally, and most importantly, hide and seek is not a game to play in stores.  It’s a thin line from a successful “hide” and getting lost.

After NHL was done trying on his clothes, he went with B while I tried on a new pair of PJs on JSL.  I decided to have a talk with him regarding hide and seek and stores.  It went something like this:

Me: “You shouldn’t play Hide and Seek in stores.  You might get lost.”

JSL: “And then what?”

Me: “And then Mommy and Daddy wouldn’t be able to find you.”

JSL: “And then what?”

Me: “And then we’d be sad.”

JSL: “And then what?”

Me: “And then you’d be sad.”

JSL: “And then what?”

Me: “And then you’d cry.”

JSL: “And then what?”

Either JSL was looking for a full story complete with “Once upon a time” and “Then they lived happily ever after” or he was trying to wear me down.  I’m not sure he got the point of our talk.  Especially when, a few minutes later, he decided to play Hide and Seek with his brother as B paid for the PJs he had just tried on.

Aloha Friday: Holiday Foods

Aloha Friday, Food, Holidays, Judaism

It’s sometimes been said that the Jewish holidays revolve around food (or the lack thereof).  We eat apples and honey on Rosh Hashana, fast on Yom Kippur and don’t eat bread on Passover.  Chanukah is no different.  Since, on Chanukah we celebrate one day’s worth of oil lasting eight days, the traditional foods involve items fried in oil.  Sure, they might not be the healthiest foods for you, but potato latkes and jelly donuts are quite delicious.  We even have a sort of Christmas day food tradition.  Since they are the only places open, we go to a Chinese restaurant.

My Aloha Friday question for today is: What are your family’s food traditions for this holiday season?

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the McLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha Friday by Kailani at An Island Life

Aloha #66

The Dirty Little Secret About Chanukah

Holidays, Judaism

Last night was the first night of Chanukah.  After lighting the candles, we gave the boys their first present: matching Phineas and Ferb shirts.  They were completely and totally… underwhelmed.  JSL kept insisting that we were supposed to give them TOYS!  Apparently, clothes don’t count.

The thing is, though, you really aren’t supposed to give and get presents on Chanukah.  That tradition only formed to appease Jewish kids who were sad seeing their Christian friends getting gift after gift under the Christmas trees.  The real traditional activities involve eating fried foods (potato latkes and jelly donuts), gambling (spinning the dreidel and making bets using coins, M&Ms or peanuts) and giving gelt (money).

Jewish kids shouldn’t despair, though, because there is a gift-giving holiday on the Jewish calendar.  And it’s much better than Christmas.  (No offense to my Christmas celebrating readers.)  Purim.  First of all, you’re supposed to give and get presents.  Secondly, you get dressed in costume (like Halloween).  Lastly, you get drunk.1  Yes, you read that right.  It’s considered a good thing if you get so drunk that you can’t tell the difference between “blessed is Mordechai” and “cursed is Haman.”2

1 The reason you’re supposed to get drunk is that wine is equated with joy in the Jewish religion.  Purim was to be a day when the Jewish people were slaughtered but they were saved.  Since we’re so happy that we weren’t all killed, we celebrate.  To paraphrase Rabbi Tuckman from Robin Hood: Men in Tights, we celebrate until we get vashnigyered.

2 For those who don’t know the Purim story, Haman is the guy who wanted to kill all the Jews and Mordechai was instrumental in Haman’s downfall.

Happy Chanukah To Everyone But Yahoo!

Holidays, Judaism

This time of year, I get used to people saying “Merry Christmas” and just assuming that everyone celebrates that particular holiday.  I also get used to the Chanukah aisle being an afterthought in many stores while Christmas takes over practically the rest of the store from before Halloween until New Year’s Day.  Still, I was not prepared when I signed into Yahoo Mail and saw this:

yahoo-no-chanukah

P1010822According to Yahoo, there are no events from Wednesday, December 1st through Friday December 24th.  Nothing of note happening there.  Of course, the 25th is Christmas and the 26th is when Kwanzaa starts.  Do you see something missing?  Something which just began tonight?  Yes, Yahoo has completely omitted Chanukah!

I’m not expecting a full listing of all the days.  I wouldn’t even raise a fuss if they listed Chanukah as starting tomorrow.  But to leave it out completely?  To act as though Chanukah doesn’t exist?  Not cool, Yahoo!  Not cool.  No gelt for you!

To everyone else: If you celebrate Chanukah, then have a happy and a healthy Chanukah.  If you don’t, feel free to eat the traditional Chanukah foods anyway: Potato Latkes and Jelly Donuts.  And remember, gambling is a big Chanukah tradition.  (Spinning the dreidel for coins, M&M’s or peanuts.)  Gambling and eating fried foods?  Now *that’s* a holiday!

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