Amy as a preschooler!

This week my 3-year-old starts preschool. It’s only two days a week, and only the mornings, but still–it’s school. We’ve been talking about it a lot. We called my mom to see if she could find a picture of me on my first day of school, and we ordered my daughter a new special dress online for her first day picture (don’t worry, it was cheap—I anticipate it coming home covered in paint and glue!) Her teachers are coming over for a home visit to introduce themselves and get to know Abigail a little bit. And I think my little girl is going to adore this whole thing.

My mommy friends and I have been talking a lot about how starting preschool works. There seems to be this universal thing called phase-in, where the children go for short periods of time, sometimes with only half of their classmates, to help them get used to the classroom, the teachers, and the routines of school. Parents are often expected to stay in the room or the building in case our kids get nervous and need us. It’s a gradual process to make kids feel comfortable. There’s no pulling off the band-aid here. Just a slow, gentle, easing-in. Read the rest of this entry →

• Posted in Preschooler
• Tags: havdalah, Preschool, separation

Shabbat is a very good thing, but all good things must come to an end, right? Luckily for us, even the end to Shabbat comes with some pretty great traditions. The havdalah ceremony brings Shabbat to a close each week, and is filled with special prayers, songs, and fragrant spices to pass around and smell.

For our New York readers who live in Westchester, we’ve just heard of a great opportunity for you to get the whole family geared up for havdalah. J-Baby, an exciting new program through the Rosenthal JCC of Northern Westchester, is hosting a “Plant Your Own Havdalah Spice Set” party in Yorktown Heights. It’s a great hands-on opportunity to plant herbs to take home for havdalah and beyond, and you can meet other young Jewish families while you’re at it. Hope you can make it! Here are the details:

• Posted in Parenting
• Tags: havdalah, new york, westchester