the 90th minute

Until September 2007, when my oldest daughter was born, this blog covered daily life and politics in Israel, as well as Hebrew-English linguistic issues, from the perspective of an American-raised journalist and translator living in Israel. Now it mostly serves as the SmunchMonk&Bear news agency, a portal into the bizarre universe of the little people. Read more at: www.shoshanakordova.com.

Monday, February 13, 2012

You know you're putting in too much baby time when...

... you find yourself walking over to the bubbling-over pot of pasta and saying in what you hope is a calming voice: "Shaa, shaa."

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Too much vodka?

Perfectly reasonable question from Rimonit this morning, after I sang "This Old Man" with her on the way to gan: "Why the old man rolling, rolling every time and not walking home?"

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Things that make you go hmmm

Why do the gan contact list and the gan weekly newsletter both have to be called a 'daf kesher' (literally 'contact' [or 'connection'] page)? Could they not come up with a different word/phrase? Then again, maybe other ganim do have different words and just Rimonit's gan doesn't? Why can't Hebrew just have more words???

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Stupid reason to get a(nother) sore throat

= because you've been growling back at your baby

Ugh

This morning I hear Kinneret complaining that there's a tissue stuck to her pants. I call out from a different room that she should take the tissue off. (It's amazing how frequently that kind of advice works. I couldn't tell you how many times I've gotten a plaintive-voiced "toy fall down!" or "my spoon fell down!" and resolved the matter by suggesting that they pick it up.)

Anyway, next thing I know she's pulling off her pants. I start explaining that I meant she should remove the tissue, not the pants, but as I get closer I realize that one leg of her pants has been doused in slimey gunk - from which I deduce that "tissue on my pants" actually meant "I used my pants as a tissue." Just hoping I don't hear "toilet paper on my pants" any time soon...

Parental schadenfreude

is when you hear a little kid bellowing outside your window while all of yours are fast asleep (for the moment at least), and you find yourself mentally smiling... (and hoping you're not gonna pay for that moment of unearned smugness).

Speaking of which: Rimonit said she was tired because she hadn't slept well the night before. I asked her why she thought that was. Her answer? Because the night is long.