EJ goes to nursery school at a temple, and as such, is getting a wonderful knowledge of Jewish holidays and customs, as well as a weekly Shabbat service with the rabbi, complete with stories, songs and snacks (a.k.a., the perfect Friday activity for any three-year old).
I couldn't be more thrilled about this, because as my Jewish friends know, I love Jewish culture. When we lived out in DC, we very happily attended holidays hosted by our friends, Tasha and Aaron, and for gentiles, we sang those prayers with gusto (I'm proud to say I can break into Dayenu with the best of them!) We also belonged to a prayer group at our church that had a yearly Passover Seder, which, next to our group's Mardi Gras party, was one of the highlights of the year. This meant that, for at least four years, Mike and I celebrated TWO Seders and ONE Easter every spring. If Passover was good enough for Jesus, why would we pass on prayer, brisket, good wine, and excellent company?
When we moved to Chicago in 2004, our Passover attendance abruptly ended, and I was really sad about it. I love the holiday. Last year, though, my friend from grad school, Carolyn, invited several of us to her home to celebrate, and it was as wonderful as I remembered. She's not in Chicago at the present time---interestingly enough, she is in DC, so all our Passover hosts are in one place at the moment---but with EJ bringing home drawings of the Seder plate, and asking questions like "when are we having our Seder?" I'm still feeling the spirit.
Today she composed this story at school, a little holiday post from EJ, with a shout-out to her favorite babysitter, Kate:
On Passover, I eat special food like apples, matzah brownies, carrots, Kate broccoli, and Kate comes! I like her, she's my best babysitter who makes me mac and cheese.
On Easter, I collect eggs from the Easter bunny. He hops. Hop hop hop.
By, EJ
"Kate broccoli," for those not in-the-know, is just regular ol'steamed broccoli. A few months ago, out of the blue, EJ decided she didn't like all green vegetables. It happened practically overnight. We would make her favorites, and she would barely touch them. If she did eat them, she would declare, "Hey, I like these!" but sadly, wouldn't touch them the next time they were served. All this changed one night, though, when I left some steamed broccoli for Kate to make while Mike and I went on date. Apparently, when broccoli is made by Kate, it is magically delicious, because she ate it all up, and asked for more "Kate broccoli" the next day. I grabbed on to this idea, and started regularly serving "Kate beans," and "Kate peas," too---whatever works! Mike almost sabotaged this newfound eating without realizing---one evening, just was we were about to serve dinner, EJ walked in as Mike was pouring steamed broccoli into a bowl. She asked, "Is that Kate broccoli, Daddy?" and because he didn't know the story (shame on me), he said, "No, Honey! Mommy just made this!" Crying and whining ensued, something like. "But...but...but I don't want to eat MOMMY BROCCOLI, I only want KATE BROCCOLI." At this point, I jumped in and yelled, "Oh, It's fresh Kate broccoli, EJ! Daddy just didn't know." Once again, all was right with the world.
As for her hopes for a Passover meal, I have a brisket cooking in the oven right now, and I can make some nice charoset in a flash. It's no Seder, but it will have to do. Mac and cheese isn't very Passover-friendly, but I suppose exceptions can be made for a Catholic three-year old.
As for the Easter eggs, EJ was lucky enough to go to our neighbor's house last Sunday for an early Easter egg hunt. Jill, our neighbor's daughter and EJ's friend, had her grandparents visiting for the weekend, so the bunny made a special trip so all the grown-ups could enjoy the fun. As much as I'd like to say that I have effectively talked to her about the religious importance of Easter, there is simply no competing with finding matchbox cars in pretty plastic eggs and playing with friends when it comes to memory-making. Afterward, we made deviled eggs with some of her dyed finds (most of which the kids had cracked during the hunt and needed to be eaten right away), and she declared, "I JUST LOVE THESE---PLEASE MAKE ME MORE!"
Now, if I can just work "Kate broccoli" into deviled eggs...I'm sure that's in my "veggie-hiding" mommy cookbook, somewhere.
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
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1 comments:
I finally got Nutmeg to eat a cracked Easter egg today. In general she considers dyed eggs TOO PRECIOUS to ever peel and eat, but of course between her and her sister they can't help handling and cracking these eggs within a day of dyeing them.
I think your welcoming attitude toward EJ learning Jewish traditions is cool and very interesting. As an atheist, I steered clear of any preschool that had religious content in the classroom. I thought, that would be too confusing at a young age.
Maybe I was wrong. Then again, if you are in agreement with the Jews that being religious is a good way to live and there is a God, I guess that's not as big as a leap as it would be for us to send our kids to a classroom where they are taught to pray before meals, etc.
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