Early Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has come early to our house. Actually, Thanksgiving is every day at our house. We are all thankful for one another. Rebecca and I are thankful we were blessed with Rachel in our forties and that we got pregnant right off the bat. Okay, Rebecca got pregnant. I helped a little.

Rachel is the blessing that renews itself every day. Sure, she can be a moody, headstrong blessing, but she is our moody, headstrong blessing. My mother and father warned me my temper would get me in trouble one day; they just never explained it would be in the form of my daughter.

We've had a new reason to be thankful lately. Two and a half months into kindergarten, Rachel has started to read. Not just your basic words; she is reading some fairly large words. For that, we can thank the Davis Academy and other factors.
Rachel has always enjoyed playing the "letter game." She suggests a letter starting with "a", then mom and dad provide two more and we work our way through the alphabet. Sure, we get tired of Rachel saying "nose hair" when we get to "n", but the important thing is she is learning. Sometimes it was an all animal version of the "letter game", sometimes it was all food. But it sure is paying off now.

A couple of weeks ago, I was reading to her from a book called "Poppleton." It's about a pig whose neighbor is a llama. I read her the first chapter and she asked to read the second chapter. My jaw dropped as I realized how many words she recognized. Now, when we eat out, she asks whether she can take a book with her. Thanks to school, she has a favorite author, Nancy Carlson.

We're also thankful she enjoys school and has embraced her Judaism. We're not jamming it down her throat. I don't think I was exposed to it enough as a child and I often felt "different." Rachel has a real sense of belonging, as Rebecca and I do.
For her consecration, she was given a miniature Torah, which is kept in a wooden ark she painted during a crafts day with daddy in Sunday school. The ark and Torah are in a corner of her bed and she recites the Shema every night before going to sleep. That's the most sacred prayer in Judaism, pronouncing the belief in one G-d. We did not make her do this. She took it upon herself.

On a lighter note, I am thankful dried Cheerios are not carcinogenic. I spent several hours this afternoon cleaning around the living room couch. That includes under the couch and its cushions. Let me tell you, I have never seen that many dried Cheerios and Cheerios dust in my life. If there were to be a worldwide Cheerios shortage, I would expect the Secret Police to be knocking on our door. Mixed in with the Cheerios, were about a hundred small beads, ten whistles, assorted natural Cheetos and two huge bags of raisins that have likely fermented and would make me drunk if I ate them, as well as two bibs, seven doll shoes, four rocks, two acorns, twelve dollars in change, mismatched Polly Pocket shoes, a Polly Pocket kitten, two pairs of school socks, four mismatched socks, one pair of shoes, one pair of plastic high heels and three books.

We're sure the "list of things to be thankful for" will expand in the months and year to come. I know Rebecca looks forward to Rachel enjoying more classic rock and no longer enjoying the high pitched voices on her "Backyardigans" cd. We bought the cd yesterday. It was played the first time in Rebecca's car today. Perhaps we'll "misplace" it in the former "Cheerios Graveyard" under the couch. There is finally room there.