"Mommy," Raphaela informed me very seriously yesterday afternoon, "almost everything that you put in my lunch box for school is Chametz."*
"Pita? Chametz! Waffles? Chametz! Croutons? Chametz!"
"When have I given you croutons for lunch?"
"Never mind, Mommy. Fruit Bars? Chametz!"she continued, "even the Cheerios that we eat for breakfast is Chametz."
"This is serious indeed," I answered.
"So Mommy," Raphaela concluded, "you have to remember not to send any of those things in my lunch box during Pessach."
"Good thing you don't have Gan during Pessach," I smiled, "because you would have very little to eat."
=============================================================
Chametz = leavened food, and forbidden for the week of the holiday.
Showing posts with label vaccinations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vaccinations. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
New Gan II
Headline, front page, this morning's Israeli papers (27/8/13)
GOOD LUCK!
The 2013-14 school year opens today: 2,129,562 children and youth start nursery and elementary school today
The Minister of Education says, "Today is a holiday, excitement is in the air."
The next vacation? Next Week [Rosh HaShanah]
==================================================================
For the past several days, Raphaela has been sleeping with her new back pack and water bottle, bought specially for the start of the new school year. Last night she got ten hours of sleep, while I could not fall asleep until almost midnight because of nervous excitement.
Raphaela's first day at the new Gan began with the security guard at the gate (Benni) handing each child a heart-shaped chocolate. Only in Israel...
Her class has 34 children, and she is one of the older children, one of the "first birthday parties of the year." At least half of her classmates are bilingual Hebrew/English, and have at least one native English-speaking parent.
Three of her classmates from this past year join her, as well as two children from the Montessori Gan, which Raphaela attended for two years. As well, three other children she knows will attend the afternoon English program.
The class room is bright and airy, and we spent the morning sampling the toys books and puzzles in every corner. I will admit that I had a few emotional moments, realizing that Raphaela has matured so much in the last year, and that today represents a milestone for both of us.
Raphaela has one energetic head teacher and two assistant teachers. Normally there would be only one assistant nursery teacher, but because there are at least two children who have food sensitivities and allergies, they assigned a separate medically trained assistant teacher to the classroom. It is the responsibility of the individual families, the Jerusalem Municipality and the nursery staff to make sure that no one goes into anaphylactic shock.
Given the recent push by the Ministry of Health for all children under the age of nine to receive the Oral Polio Vaccine, we explored the bathroom and I reminded Raphaela to be sure to wash her hands. It's natural, children in nursery will expose each other, and the more hygienic the safer.
The children participated beautifully in their first morning meeting, and the parents seems lovely as well. We have already begun to organize a time-saving and aggravation- avoiding program: to arrange for a healthy breakfast to be provided at the nursery and by the nursery, rather than having to pack a bag full of snacks each morning.
Indeed, today is a day of celebration for mothers and fathers (who briefly get their lives back, before the Jewish holidays) and for the kids, who get to meet a new group of friends and experience the routine they crave.
GOOD LUCK!
The 2013-14 school year opens today: 2,129,562 children and youth start nursery and elementary school today
The Minister of Education says, "Today is a holiday, excitement is in the air."
The next vacation? Next Week [Rosh HaShanah]
==================================================================
For the past several days, Raphaela has been sleeping with her new back pack and water bottle, bought specially for the start of the new school year. Last night she got ten hours of sleep, while I could not fall asleep until almost midnight because of nervous excitement.
Raphaela's first day at the new Gan began with the security guard at the gate (Benni) handing each child a heart-shaped chocolate. Only in Israel...
Her class has 34 children, and she is one of the older children, one of the "first birthday parties of the year." At least half of her classmates are bilingual Hebrew/English, and have at least one native English-speaking parent.
Three of her classmates from this past year join her, as well as two children from the Montessori Gan, which Raphaela attended for two years. As well, three other children she knows will attend the afternoon English program.
The class room is bright and airy, and we spent the morning sampling the toys books and puzzles in every corner. I will admit that I had a few emotional moments, realizing that Raphaela has matured so much in the last year, and that today represents a milestone for both of us.
Raphaela has one energetic head teacher and two assistant teachers. Normally there would be only one assistant nursery teacher, but because there are at least two children who have food sensitivities and allergies, they assigned a separate medically trained assistant teacher to the classroom. It is the responsibility of the individual families, the Jerusalem Municipality and the nursery staff to make sure that no one goes into anaphylactic shock.
Given the recent push by the Ministry of Health for all children under the age of nine to receive the Oral Polio Vaccine, we explored the bathroom and I reminded Raphaela to be sure to wash her hands. It's natural, children in nursery will expose each other, and the more hygienic the safer.
The children participated beautifully in their first morning meeting, and the parents seems lovely as well. We have already begun to organize a time-saving and aggravation- avoiding program: to arrange for a healthy breakfast to be provided at the nursery and by the nursery, rather than having to pack a bag full of snacks each morning.
Indeed, today is a day of celebration for mothers and fathers (who briefly get their lives back, before the Jewish holidays) and for the kids, who get to meet a new group of friends and experience the routine they crave.
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Israel Polio Scare II
After much deliberation, listening to the official Ministry of Health explanations and filtering out the useful information, I have come to understand that only children who have already had the dead (inactive) polio vaccine will be given the weakened live polio vaccine. The live vaccine stays active for up to six weeks.
Before Raphaela's surgery around the age of two, I felt her immune system was too weak to handle the slew of vaccines regularly offered to children, and I did not finish the series. Raphaela is, as someone said to me yesterday, "one of the unwashed masses for whom this hysteria has been initiated," so it appears that my daughter will be receiving the regular (IPV) vaccine instead. I must protect her as best I can before she starts school and may be exposed to the live virus through contact with other children in the new Gan.
The weekend newspapers said that we Jerusalemites were terrible terrible people, with a compliance rate of only 2%. They reported that all the nurses specifically hired to deliver the vaccine were sitting around, twiddling their thumbs in boredom. The Ministry of Health threatened than any child not properly protected against the disease would not be allowed in school (which starts this Tuesday) for six weeks. The New York Times featured a page two story about the spread of polio in third world countries, where politicians/dictators deny their population the vaccine.
Sufficiently frightened, I decided that I would take her to Tipat Chalav [the municipal Israeli Well-Baby Clinic system] on Sunday. After a brief work day, Raphaela and I drove to the nearest center, only to be greeted by parents and children overflowing into the street, numbers being assigned and the warning of at least a two hour wait. We received number 484, and they were only in the mid 430's, and so we settled-in on the floor with my iPad and played games.
At a certain point a whole group of children were gathered around our iPad, and one of the mothers offered to exchange a food run for baby sitting, since I had completely neglected to bring any food for the long wait; I happily agreed to the deal.
Two and a half hours later, I explained to the nurse that my daughter (for reasons I did not wish to explain) actually needed to start the regular IPV series, rather than receive the live polio drops. The nurse offered me a three for one bargain, she would consider putting in Hep A and Hep B at the same time, and I very firmly refused. Research has shown that bundled vaccinations cause more damage than a stand-alone version.
All morning long, my amazing and intuitive child had been asking me, "What is the doctor going to do to me?" And I had dodged artfully. Now she understood that she really wasn't going to enjoy this doctor's visit, and she started sobbing and running away, and hid in a corner of the room. It took five minutes for me to immobilize her, and once the nurse injected the vaccine, I then allowed myself to cry with her. Frankly, I am surprised you all didn't hear her screaming.
The nurse assured me that it will be "this craziness in Israel" for the next three months, and then invited me to come back after the Jewish holidays for her second dose. The nurse suggested that maybe I should bring my husband next time, or an extra pair of hands for help. (And presumably, my husband would not cry like I did?) I was barely listening, just trying to get us both out of there so I could comfort Raphaela in private, and not scare the other children.
Then we went to the store and I got Raphaela a fantastic treat; as most parents will agree, bribery works. But when I offered her a Chiropractic adjustment, something I regularly recommend to my clients after their children get vaccinated, she refused.
Before Raphaela's surgery around the age of two, I felt her immune system was too weak to handle the slew of vaccines regularly offered to children, and I did not finish the series. Raphaela is, as someone said to me yesterday, "one of the unwashed masses for whom this hysteria has been initiated," so it appears that my daughter will be receiving the regular (IPV) vaccine instead. I must protect her as best I can before she starts school and may be exposed to the live virus through contact with other children in the new Gan.
The weekend newspapers said that we Jerusalemites were terrible terrible people, with a compliance rate of only 2%. They reported that all the nurses specifically hired to deliver the vaccine were sitting around, twiddling their thumbs in boredom. The Ministry of Health threatened than any child not properly protected against the disease would not be allowed in school (which starts this Tuesday) for six weeks. The New York Times featured a page two story about the spread of polio in third world countries, where politicians/dictators deny their population the vaccine.
Sufficiently frightened, I decided that I would take her to Tipat Chalav [the municipal Israeli Well-Baby Clinic system] on Sunday. After a brief work day, Raphaela and I drove to the nearest center, only to be greeted by parents and children overflowing into the street, numbers being assigned and the warning of at least a two hour wait. We received number 484, and they were only in the mid 430's, and so we settled-in on the floor with my iPad and played games.
At a certain point a whole group of children were gathered around our iPad, and one of the mothers offered to exchange a food run for baby sitting, since I had completely neglected to bring any food for the long wait; I happily agreed to the deal.
Two and a half hours later, I explained to the nurse that my daughter (for reasons I did not wish to explain) actually needed to start the regular IPV series, rather than receive the live polio drops. The nurse offered me a three for one bargain, she would consider putting in Hep A and Hep B at the same time, and I very firmly refused. Research has shown that bundled vaccinations cause more damage than a stand-alone version.
All morning long, my amazing and intuitive child had been asking me, "What is the doctor going to do to me?" And I had dodged artfully. Now she understood that she really wasn't going to enjoy this doctor's visit, and she started sobbing and running away, and hid in a corner of the room. It took five minutes for me to immobilize her, and once the nurse injected the vaccine, I then allowed myself to cry with her. Frankly, I am surprised you all didn't hear her screaming.
The nurse assured me that it will be "this craziness in Israel" for the next three months, and then invited me to come back after the Jewish holidays for her second dose. The nurse suggested that maybe I should bring my husband next time, or an extra pair of hands for help. (And presumably, my husband would not cry like I did?) I was barely listening, just trying to get us both out of there so I could comfort Raphaela in private, and not scare the other children.
Then we went to the store and I got Raphaela a fantastic treat; as most parents will agree, bribery works. But when I offered her a Chiropractic adjustment, something I regularly recommend to my clients after their children get vaccinated, she refused.
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