Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Kappayim L'Ariella!

Next week, Yaakov is Yeled HaShavua. I'm sure you seasoned parents of school-age children have alarm bells going off in your heads right now, because whenever your child is "chosen" for something, this means you will have to "do work, probably involving glue and permanent markers." In this case, we need to create a poster with various pictures of Yaakov, complete with cute captions.


First came the pictures. This is not like the olden days when you would ransack your old photo albums, steal pictures you needed, and then forget to return them, so that years later, as you're nostalgically leafing through photo albums, you start wondering aloud why the only pictures of you as a baby are blurry or have a big thumb on them. No, no, we are technologically advanced. So of course it took two adults - one of whom is even more tech-savvy than Dadz - a solid hour to figure out how to print things on our specialized photo paper so that the kids weren't missing the tops of their heads.


We got the pictures, thanks to "crop." Now, ladies and gentlemen, we arrive at the hard part - writing the captions. Although I was a teacher in my former life, it is one of my greatest shortcomings that my handwriting is abysmal. I don't have that nice, loopy, handwriting you recall from teachers of your youth. And that's in English, the language I actually write in. This, naturally, has to be in Hebrew. Print Hebrew, if you please, because it looks much nicer. I think the last time I wrote in print Hebrew I was wearing a charm bracelet and watching Jem.


So we called in special ops - Ariella. After a few false starts, we got into a good rhythm: We spread out on the floor, I drew lines for her, wrote out the caption if necessary (in script, of course) on a piece of paper, and she wrote them in beautiful print on the poster. Yaakov helped by occasionally adding his two cents ("This one has to say Yom Huledet Sameach! I'm having a birthday!") - although if his ideas were too wordy, Ariella and I nixed them. He also climbed on me a lot, since Mommy on the floor = jungle gym.


But the final product is beautiful, if I do say so myself. And I do. It looks really nice, and Yaakov was kind enough to say afterwards, "Thank you Ariella for doing that for me."


Samples below:






8 comments:

faith/emuna said...

wtg ariella and the whole family!
my son is also yeled hashavua but hes in 4th grade so he and his older sister are dealing with it (although they will be making kadurei shokalad in my kitchen thur nt)
the other day i was in a matnas and saw a wish tree for tu bshvat (a dead tree with painted popcorn glued on (to look like a shkedia) with cards with kids wishes) and one said something like 'i want to be strong like tarja' and i didnt get it and then the lightbulb went on. so you see your blog is very educational.
and bshaa tova! you really should have more kids bc you seem to get it about gan and school, took me alot more kids til i got it.

OneTiredEma said...

I cannot print at all. Like I can't even make myself make the letters. Except yud and vav, cause, you know. Thankfully Miss M had it all figured out within minutes, so next year she will be in charge when AM is yeled hashavua.

mother in israel said...

Either the concept of yeled hashaavua is unknown around here, or my kids have never been chosen.
-Hannah

Risa said...

Jem and charm bracelets! Thanks for a "truly outrageous" remark about your childhood. I miss the
80s. Such a simpler time of My Little Pony, Cabbage Patch Kid dolls and Rainbow Bright. At least Strawberry Shortcake has stood the test of time. (Or are they still wearing acid-wash Levis 501s in Israel?) Thanks to my older siblings, I was also listening to Def Leppard and watching Night Rider. (Liked pouring sugar, but for some reason the talking car really freaked me out.)

Gila Rose said...

F/E, I'm glad that aliyahbyaccident is finally starting to be recognized for the educational resource that it is.
As for "getting it" - are you sure you're not confusing that with "making fun of it?"

Hannah, no need to fret - they probably just don't do it. I realize now that's why the cap for number of kids in a class is 40 - they need to make sure there are enough weeks for every child to have their own.

mother in israel said...

Gila Rose,it's still not enough when you count in all the holiday.
I've been asked whether you are coming to our meeting on Sunday at Baila's.

MOMZWIFEOFDADZ said...

Risa, that's Rainbow Brite. And Gila, don't forget the big glasses and Bais Yaakov bump in your hair...

kathleen said...

I'm glad that I have two daughters who will probably write Hebrew way better than I ever will to do that kind of stuff for me!