Jasmin the Educator

Jasmin may very well be my second child, but when it comes to a talent for understanding the world and how it works, she is first rate! Jonathan my eldest, on the other hand, is more the expressionistic type, too busy imagining amazing sceneries to bother with the basics of how things actually work...at other times he can be the true scientists and investigator, with a natural curiosity. It is Jasmin however, who really gets things by instinct. she just knows! this know-how has earned her the title "house mister" in our home (or in Hebrew, baalat ha'bait - the owner of the house...meaning the one who knows and even dictates how things run!)

We are visiting family in Germany. This is our annual summer holiday. As a result, things are a bit more organised in our daily routine, as in, grandma cooks dinner and we all sit down to a family dinner daily. Also, my husband and I take time off and the kids stay with their grandparents. this means grandma runs everything in the order she likes.

Yesterday evening she told me that when she called the kids to dinner, all she had to do was call out "kids, dinner!" and Jasmin simply got up and shut the television and called her brother to come along... but Jonathan does not like having the TV shut (in any situation whatsoever!) and so he did not move. Jasmin returned therefore directly to get him. Giving him a lecture and shaking her warning finger at him, like the educator she became for the occasion. The one who knows how things are done, she scolded her brother for not coming to the dinner table. In Hebrew,  my parents' generation used to shake a finger and say NU NU NU! to express displeasure with children. Hence Jonathan received the finger treatment from his little sister, and as my mother in law told me, he immediately obeyed Jasmin after being called to order... and so dinner once again was served in peace.

We do not use the shaking finger much at home, but I am sure that Jasmins kindergarten teachers use the gesture to indicate great displeasure when a child strikes another or bites (well they are only 2.5 year old...). I use it only when Jasmin hurts herself, then the object into which she crashed (table, chair, floor) and caused her to fall and get hurt gets scolded, finger treatment included, for actually causing Jasmin pain. This calms her at most times immediately.

It would seam that Jasmin has assumed the role fo educating her older brother to better manners. He eagerly returns the kindness by repeating various rules to her constantly (you cannot take more than one cracker...you need to go to the bathroom...you need to brush your teeth daily...) proving that he indeed knows the rules , even if he chooses to ignore then more often than not! It may sound like my children argue and condisend each other at all times, but the truth is that there is a lot of love and warmth between them, each looking out for the other in their own special way. they play a lot and hug and kiss and are always happy together (unless arguing over some toy, or who gets to do something first...well, children will be children).

I have to write this one in Hebrew...Jasmin says "this is the Boom!"

יולי 2014 הימים ימי מבצע "צוק איתן" והילדים בכל זאת מושפעים...

אין דבר יותר שגורם לליבי להתכווץ מאשר השעה אחת עשרה בלילה כשביתי יסמין בת השנתיים וחצי עדיין ערה. שעה שהיא שוכבת בעניים פתוחות ואומרת "זה הבום". לפעמים היא יושבת ומלווה את האמירה הזו עם תנועת מחיאת כף, ככל שהזמן עובר היא מתעייפת ושוכברת אך עדיין לוחשת...זה הבום! כן הערב נשמע יירוט עצבני מעל לראשינו ולא היתה אזעקה, רק בום. והקטנה מכילה את המידע ומעבדת אותו...אומרת שוב ושוב "זה הבום" וממאנת להירדם... וליבי נחמץ. לא נותר לי אלא לחבק, לשיר ולהרגיע, להגיד שאמא פה...ולהרגיש חסרת אונים. לו באמת זה היה נופל עלינו, לא היתה לי היכולת באמת להגן על הילדים המתוקים שלי...זה גורם לחשוב על אמהות בכל העולם המרגישות חסרות אונים אל מול לחימה ואלימות. והקטנה שוב אומרת... זה הבום. ואני שואלת אם הבום מפחיד אותה והיא אומרת כן. אז אני מרגיעה ואומרת שזהו, אין יותר בום...עצוב לחשוב שאני משקרת לביתי...הרי יהיה עוד בום, מחר, עוד שעה...מי יודע? אבל מה עוד אני יכולה להגיד? אני שוב מחבקת, שרה שיר לילה טוב, אומרת לקטנה שלי שהיא מקסימה, גיבורה ומהממת...וסוף סוף היא נרדמה...

The Repeated Sylable

As Jasmin develops her speech, I have often noticed that she likes to repeat a certain sound to create a word. Despite her inventiveness, we (the adults in the family) usually understand what she wants. And what she cannot say with words she will make up for with amazingly clear and creative body language.

The repeating syllable examples
Fofon - means cucumber (MELAFEFON in Hebrew) but...
but... HALLO means Telephone (actually my cellular phone)
Zezer mean carrot (GEZER in Hebrew)
Niaiya means tomato (AGVANIA in Hebrew)
Babu or Bu means bottle (BAKBUK in Hebrew)
Sabobon means soap (SABON in Hebrew)
Tata means Grandma (SAVTA in Hebrew)
Mama measn mommy (by now Jasmin says the proper word  in Hebrew IMMA)


Body language
Wiyoo means to spin (I should lift her and spin or she makes her skirt fly during a spin), to show me which of the two options she refers to she either turns her waist to indicate the spinning dress or skirt, or she takes my hands and starts to dance in a circle with me, and even lifts her feet to hand from my hands, in the hope that I speed up and she will end up flying around.
Yer *along with finger showing a drawing motion on the other hand* means to draw (LETZAYER n Hebrew) usually in the context of my tablet app.

Other pearls
Lash means milk (CHALAV is Hebrew). This is her favorite drink. She even has a doll in the shape of a milk carton (Tnuva, the main dairy Israeli brand) that has been dubbed "Lash". Recently Lash is slowly disappearing to be replaced by the more mature and exact version Chalaf (only the end is still not exact). We are confident she will say is properly soon, she has use of it often enough.

The tone makes the music...Der Ton Macht der Musik

in German there is a saying "the tone makes the music", it means that the tone one uses when one speaks determines the true meaning of the said words. Jasmin can recognize the tone, but she can not yet always get the music right.

These days my husband is watching the "Mondial" football championship, when he watches a football game, he can get enthusiastic and even screams when a good goal is shot. When Jasmin hears these cries she responds by scolding my husband! waving finger (no no no...) and all, not to mention the correct tone (even though her words are still gibberish at most) - because she thinks he is screaming and one must not raise one's voice...

Pattern Recognition

Jasmin knows her patterns. she also knows where each design belongs. As she recently demonstrated with  a very vigilant comment about my new glasses.

As a homage to my husband, and admittedly maybe as a bit of a joke, I has eye glasses made in a similar pattern to the ones my husband usually wears. My husband is a stickler about his glasses and his favorite pattern of frame is a 1980's RayBan look with a half frame in thick black on the top and thin gold at the bottom.

When I first met my husband, I used to hate the glasses.I thought they were old fashioned and ugly. I have gotten used to them on him by now. The glasses were always an issue between us because he had the frame he was wearing a good 20 years and could not find a replacement in the first few years of our acquaintance and marriage. In addition, he finally lost them one night (close to Jonathan;s birth) after a long night watching a football match... In recent years RayBan decided to bring the pattern back and finally my husband got to replace his long lost pair.

As this pattern returned to the shops, it was also made in different sizes and thus became also available to women. It soon became obvious to my husband and to me that we could finally find this pattern not only in his extra large head size (14" glasses) but also in my miniature head width. and so, I had a pair of glasses made in homage to my husbands taste. I do not wear them often because of two reasons:
1 - because of the thick top black frame, they hurt my ears.
2 - despite the small size, I still think they are too big for me
my husband thinks I look really cool with them, creative and stylish. I can tolerate them only when I have really big hair (to compensate for the narrow width of my head and the large size of the lenses).
The serve thus as my replacement pair of glasses when the main ones I have need to be repaired.

Yesterday, I had to give my regular glasses for repair. I put the alternative homage glasses on. Jasmin noticed the change immediately. She demanded to know what is going on by asking MA ZE? ("what is this" in Hebrew). I explained that mommy has new glasses. Jasmin answered immediately - NO, it's daddy's (LO, ZE ABBA in Hebrew) indicating that she is used to seeing such glasses on my husbands nose...

It is a pity one cannot demonstrate the tone of voice she used when making these tow short declarations, the music of Jasmin's speech is adorable in general and amazingly perceptive and imitating of her surroundings.
This time her tones indicated surprise and even protest. After all mommy should not be wearing daddy's glasses, everything has its place. Order must be kept (in German the saying goes ORDNUNG MUSS SEIN and its a staple of the German culture!).

I thought that her remark was an indicator if great wisdom...but we know she is really smart and worldly...