My First Haggadah

I printed some of the pictures from our little model-Seder last week, and used them to make a mini Haggadah-style picture book to help keep Freida involved during the Seder. While assembling the photos, I realized that I could use a harder lamination and that the book would likely end up being a long-lasting member of her little library - something she could reference and look through all year long, and, hopefully, as a keepsake for years to come...

I found the cutest (actually, the only cute) Seder-Plate illustration on Kveller from Design Pocket. I let Freida color it up and used it as the first page in the Haggadah, but it would make for a great coloring page for the kids to do the day before the Seder. You can download and print it here.

A few months ago, I helped my brother out with a linguistic job he was doing for Matisyahu (mazel tov on the newest little man!!). The religious reggae/rapper wanted a Sefirah chart made hip by using more modern, theme-related one-word ways to describe the 10 Kabbalistically-famous attributes (e.g. for "Kesser" we went with "Bejeweled"). Inspired by that minimalistic logic, I came up with 13 easy-to-read, easy-to-recognize words to navigate the many often-over-complicated steps of the Seder: Drink, wash, dip, break, ask, wash, bite, cry, remember, eat, search, thank, and sing.

Some colorful card-stock paper + card-stock frames, a little lamination job, and 2 metal rings later, the whole thing came out super-cute, and Freida is supremely proud and excited for Monday night!!

Chag Sameach dear Mamas!!

My Model-Seder Model!

We held an itty-bitty mock-seder at Freida's play table this week - just to prep her a bit and get her more interested, excited, and familiar with all the quirky Passover details. I'm a big believer in keeping the kids up and awake to witness and experience all the wholesome goodness invested in all that holiday tradition... but it's not always very practical - even with an extra nap. She's very excited that she gets to sing the Mah Nishtanah first (she's the youngest talking cousin), so I figure she'll be disappointed if she doesn't make it at least that far. Thought I'd up my chances of keeping her in the late-night game by peaking her interest in all preliminary steps. I also figured I'd print some pictures and make a little "Haggadah" to help her follow along. She totally surprised me by acting everything out! She even put on a full-fledged crying stint when I gave her the marror! She was definitely enthusiastic, to say the least. :)

Babysitter in a Box - Restaurant

Walk into any kosher restaurant the week before Pesach and find them brimming with tables of families trying to keep it simple by eating out in an attempt to avoid the last-minute kitchen transformation. While it may save our pre-holiday sanity, taking kids out to dine is not always the easiest of family pursuits - especially when the chosen joint is bustling with heaps of rowdy other children. Keeping the kids happy, settled, fed, and in their seats is likely quite the challenge. Here's a few things to up the fun factor on a public family outing when the menu reads BYOE.

1. Jaq Jaq Bird Chalkboard Placemat

Table tic-tac-toe gets an upgrade from pen and napkin.

2. Hint Mints

After dinner mints that slip into everything - from the slimmest of evening clutches to the most overstuffed of diaper bags.

3. Chopstick Kids

The little rubber rugrats fit over all sorts of chopsticks to tame stubby digits and keep them going for more Lo Mein.

4. Pocket Origami Prints

Reach into your jean pocket and unfold a wreath of Asian artistry - just waiting for shades of  teenybopper color!

5. mOmma Rocking Sippy Cup

When BYOB crosses BYOE.

6. Hello Hanna Get-Set Placemat Sets

With stickers to customize and icons to recognize, these placemats just might teach them a thing or two about dining etiquette... for robots!

7. Strawz

Let them get a little beverage-crazy with these DIY crazy straws.

8. Think-ets

A tiny little trinket tin filled with directions for unlimited game-playing on the go.

9. Food Face Plates

Give peas and spaghetti some serious personality - food never got this much face-time!

Bacterial Bath Toys

I'm totally one of those obnoxious women who's "Pesach cleaning" gleefully erupts into a full-on dirt, grime, and invisible-dust busting euphoria. Oh! How I love scrubbing and sanitizing my way to disinfection heaven! Well, this year, thanks to my new cleaning help(!), I somehow managed to lay low in the sterilization station, and happily put my own elbow grease into things that actually make a healthy daily difference! For one, bath toys. It's never yet happened to me, but the sheer look of horror of other mom's faces when they tell tales of dark-greenish slime spurting from squirty bath toys during a sudsy bubble bath with the babes has got me grossed out enough to pick up on some proactive prevention!

I soaked the stash of bath toys in a solution of 4 parts white vinegar - 1 part warm water, but first i filled each little squirty with straight-up bleach! Just suck it up into the toy, and let it sit in there for at least an hour while soaking with the rest of the bath toy bounty. Bleach will, no doubt, fight off any impending germ-y buildup - gnarly or not.

But most important, make sure to ALWAYS squeeze out the water from each little rubber toy after every single bath session. We made it part of the bath routine. Thankfully Freida likes being helpful. :)

P.S. People are always asking me how I have time to teach Freida so much etc. While I'm supremely lucky to be able to work from home, I just want to mention how involving a child in every-day tasks - no matter how much harder it may seem to be - will prove to be easy, gratifying, and effective. There is no good-enough reason why all the Pesach cleaning should be done when the kids are napping or out of the house for the day. It's part of the way they learn and develop as social little people. Watching Freida scrub up the toys immediately brought me back to my childhood - washing down the little tykes rocking horse with a sponge and a bucket of soapy water. I felt like it was yesterday. These little things are all part of "teach them to your children"...

Tubular Matzah Tunes

Somehow the Macaroons always seem to fill in a hipster holiday music void in our house! [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIAtJIHXqv0]

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