Breaking a phobia

So, I mentioned before that we've read a lot of books with porcine protagonists. Well, I'm starting a band with that name. No, wait, that's not right. I meant to say that there are lots of wolves in those stories as the bad guys.

And so, Austin developed a fear of wolves. Lupophobia? He's said that he's had nightmares about wolves, and before bed he asks me if there are wolves in the house.

I've tried to explain that wolves don't live around here, that wolves don't eat people, and all that, but he's still scared.

So I borrowed Never Cry Wolf from the library. It's a beautiful film by Carol Ballard based on the memoir by Farley Mowat. Mowat spent six months in arctic Canada studying wolves to see if they were truly behind the loss of the caribou herds. In fact, they weren't, and Mowat's book helped change the perception of wolves from scary to admirable.

Ballard's film is an amazing blend of drama and natural footage.

Anyway, after watching half the movie, Austin has been talking about how he wants to go north and spend time with the wolves.

The place to be seen

Went to the Boston Children's Museum this morning with our neighbor. While there we met one of neighbors who also has kids at the same daycare and Julie met a colleague of hers from the hospital. And I saw Jeff D! (No full names here to prevent Googling!) From high school. He looks pretty much the same. And apparently I do, too, since he recognized me first.

Strange evening

So tonight, after reading stories to the kids, Julie and I both fell asleep. This was around 7:30.

Well, eventually we got up, watched a video and then cleaned up the kitchen. Julie threw a pear core into the compost. "Who ate a pear?" I asked. We looked at each other, perplexed.

"Must have been Mari," Julie said. "She did say after her bath that she wanted fruit."

"When did she eat it?"

"Remember Austin came in and woke us up, and telling us that Mari was downstairs? He was laughing about it."

"So she came downstairs and ate a pear by herself at the table?"

To cap it off, we had brownies for dessert and she had two bites before she put her piece in Boo's food bowl. She prefers fruit.

That's why we call her "The Fruit Baby."

Politics

Okay, I'm an Obama man. I was so excited when he won Iowa. I feel like I can tell my kids that they really could be president one day.

And then Hillary won New Hampshire. I'm even more excited. On February 5, I get to cast a vote that will actually make a difference in a national contest. This is the best!

I'm hoping that the flukes that gave us this voting schedule will make clear the need to reform the whole primary process and we can wean ourselves off of the pandering to ethanol, etc. that the current system demands.

Sorry, back to kids and culture next post.

Kosher Matzo Ball soup?

lI had a weird revelation a couple weeks back when I made matzo ball soup. The matzo balls were made with egg, and the soup was made from chicken. Isn't this prohibited under the "do not boil a kid in its mother's milk" rule? Is Matzo ball soup trayf?

Where's a rabbinical scholar when you need one?