Last Friday morning, Aliya, Ben, and I donned our Morocco-wear and did 3 presentations on Morocco for the first grade classes. We brought a bunch of our Moroccan paraphernalia, a Powerpoint presentation, and a Moroccan snack (orange salad), and the kids really seemed to like it.

Aliya is going to do a simplified version (in Spanish) for Adlani’s class after vacation.
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I have to give this kid equal time along with Susan Boyle. He’s great!

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Even though it was 39 degrees and miserable for their first games, I’m assuming that it’s spring because the Absolutes and the Red Dragons are back in action. Aliya did REALLY well in her first game of the season and scored 4 goals. Adlani was recruited by the team of his Blocks classmate, Colin – the Red Dragons. We miss the Fireballs, but Adlani is starting to catch on and actually kicks the ball occasionally. He scored a goal in his first game, in the correct net!

Here is the aftermath of the first Absolutes practice with Adlani and Norah entertaining themselves in the dust pile:

Here are a few photos from Game(s) 1, when we froze our butts off until I took the girls to the car to thaw:

Since I always try to learn from my mistakes, today I: 1) didn’t give the kids a choice about where we were going, 2) left immediately after breakfast to minimize the risk that they would lose the privelege before we could get out the door, and 3) took Norah to day care.

We got to the aquarium about a half-hour before the Imax movie started, and breezed right up to the member services desk past about 200 people waiting in line for tickets. Then we headed directly to the area where they let the bravest of the kids touch sea creatures because that area is always insane. We beat the rush and the kids had plenty of opportunities to traumatize the starfish and hermit crabs.

There was hardly anyone in the movie theater and I humored the kids by sitting in the very top row. I haven’t been to an Imax movie in YEARS. The movie was Under the Sea, and it was awesome! It was in 3D, and it was realistic enough that Aliya reached out at least 20 times as if she could touch something in front of her and Adlani almost peed his pants every time a cuttlefish ate a poor unsuspecting minnow. It was a pretty benign movie…the shark didn’t devour anybody and the most traumatic part was when the turtle ate the jellyfish (Aliya whispered, “Doesn’t that hurt the jellyfish?”).

After the movie we went back into the aquarium so the kids could collect all 6 turtle stamps in their passports…I swear they didn’t look at anything except the stamping stations. It was SO FRIGGIN CROWDED – I’ve never seen it that bad. When we left, the line was zig-zagged back and forth inside the tent in front of the ticket area, all the way down to the street, and then turned 90 degrees and extended another 200 people toward Rowe’s Wharf. It was unbelievable!

We had lunch at Legal’s and they sat us right next to the fish tank. We bought a few books at the aquarium (including “Los Pinguinos” for Aliya’s classroom), so the kids had plenty to entertain them. They were very well-behaved and we actually enjoyed lunch. I even got to make some calls on the way home because they were both passed out.

Now if only the little monster would begin her transformation into a human being, maybe I wouldn’t need to be medicated for family outings. A mom can dream, right?

A giant tanker in the mist and the loooooong line for tickets. I would pay the $100 for membership just to move to the front of this line!

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Given my current frame of mind, this article caught my eye. I’m not saying that I condone what she did or that I would have driven away, but I can definitely understand how a parent could be pushed far enough that they leave their kids on the side of the road. At least she probably knows a good attorney. I wonder if they could arrest me for leaving the car AND the kids on the side of the road and walking home myself.

Police Say Mom Ordered Daughters Out, Drove Off

Usually, it’s an empty threat: “If you kids don’t stop fighting, I’m going to stop this car right now and leave you here!” But a mother from an upper-crust New York suburb went through with it, ordering her battling 10- and 12-year-old daughters out of her car in White Plains’ business district and driving off, police said Tuesday.

Madlyn Primoff, 45, a partner in a Manhattan law firm, pleaded not guilty Monday to a charge of endangering a child. A temporary order of protection was issued, barring her from contact with the children, who were physically unharmed.

Primoff’s lawyer, Vincent Briccetti, would not comment Tuesday on details of the case. But he said, “Madlyn is a great mother connected with a great family, and she is grateful for the outpouring of support from friends and family.”

There wasn’t much support from strangers, however. Mothers interviewed near the scene said they couldn’t imagine doing what Primoff did, though some understood the urge.

Iris Gorodess, 49, of Mahopac, who has four children ranging from 10 to 19 years old, said she sympathized with Primoff’s actions, right up to the point where she pulled away.

“I used to pull over and make the kids change seats. Also, I make sure the kids have their iPods and their games. And I have a minivan, so they’re not up my neck all the time.

“But I can’t see pulling away. That has to be too scary for the children.”

White Plains police said Primoff ordered the arguing girls out of the car Sunday evening as they were driving home. She left them at Post Road and South Broadway, an area of shops and offices 3 miles from their home, then drove off, the police report said.

The report does not say whether the girls had cell phones.

Police would not say if Primoff ever returned to look for the girls, but they said, without explaining how, that the 12-year-old eventually caught up with the mother. The 10-year-old was found by a “Good Samaritan” on the street, upset and emotional about losing her mother, police said.

The girl gave police her mother’s name and their address in well-to-do Scarsdale, and they asked Scarsdale police to check Primoff’s $2 million house. Shortly afterward, Primoff called Scarsdale police from home to say the 10-year-old was missing, said Scarsdale Detective Lt. Bryant Clark.

He directed her to White Plains police headquarters, where she was arrested.

Dr. Richard Gersh, director of psychiatric services at the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services in Manhattan, said Primoff’s behavior was not appropriate.

“It is a traumatic situation for a child to be abandoned by a parent like that. You can imagine what emotional issues might arise,” he said.
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