Pillows Cases, Fridge Magnets, And Another Ear Story
Friday, January 16, 2009
I brought back a ton of treats with me. Among these, an instant all-time favorite: warm fuzzy pillowcases made by my friend Ari. Ari came up with the idea on his own and handmade them for his Bar Mitzvah project! Thank you Ari. The pictures really say it all.
I also brought back a bag of those classic colorful ABC, 123, fridge magnets that were a huge hit. The kids were fascinated with them and have been making all kinds of words and even doing math on the refrigerator. I found them in a box donated by Mrs. Laursen’s school but don’t know who gave them to us. Whoever you are out there… genius idea! Thank you!
The children’s favorite new books right now are Polar Bear Polar Bear what do you hear? And, Brown Bear Brown Bear what do you see? The boys have asked me to read these to them 100 times already and have almost memorized every word. What great books for kids learning basic English. Thank you to the Steinhorn family of Willow School!
The gifts that I brought back for the girls were headbands and little earrings. I didn’t have a lot of space in my bag and I got these at the last minute thinking I’d give earrings to the girls who have their ears pierced and headbands to the others. BAD MOVE MAGGIE! This morning K decided that she wanted a pair of earrings too, so she took it upon herself to pierce her ears and then strutted into my room to show me—like it was no big deal, like she didn’t do anything wrong! I looked at her horrified,“Okay, excuse me but you’re six—what makes you think that you can just take a safety pin and put holes in your ears?”
As it turned out G was her partner in crime who is oddly talented with these kinds of tasks and did like the perfect, most even piercing job EVER, although I know for a fact that she didn’t sterilize that safety pin. They both got a long lecture about infections, and sterility, asking permission, and piercing things, as I doused K’s ears with alcohol this morning. Little Miss smarty-pants K raised her hand in the middle of the lecture.
“Yes, K? “
“Well, Maggie where was I supposed to go to get my ears pierced anyway?”
I had to stop and think for a second. It’s not like there’s a Piercing Pagoda around here.
“To the doctor,” I finally let out before she could notice that I totally made that up and if I actually went to the hospital in Surkhet, where they’re combating things like malaria, and tuberculosis, to ask the doctor to pierce K’s ears, he’d probably think I was a lunatic.
In the end, I let her keep the earrings in, which in retrospect, was probably another bad move. (Moms out there are probably appalled.) I guess I did reinforce her behavior in a way, but heck, parenting isn’t easy. Next thing I know, M will have a safety pin stuck in her ear and G will be opening up a Piercing Pagoda in Surkhet.