I know...

it's been quite a while. There's been so much going on I don't even know where to start. Shabbat dinner at our place with all the other MBA Israelis: 14 adults and six kids. Get-together at a friend's house with a real Christmas tree. Birthday party for Ariel, the expecting father from next door. Chanukka party at Libby's, with lots of delicious, home-made souvganiot, levivot (here better known as latkes), and other anti-diet dishes. Christmas shopping for my family. Interviewing with different agents and companies. One of them is a company that just got bought up by Symantec. That really made me smile. They are looking for a short-term contractor to finish up their upgrade guides, but because of our travel plans I am not an ideal candidate. However, the hiring manager mentioned they might need some help move their docs over to the new Symantec template after the release, and she would like to work with someone who is familiar with the process. Besides, I have an interview with the Tech Pubs Manager at PayPal next week. They don't have a current opening, but an interesting position for which I could be a great fit may open up at the beginning of next year, and she wants to meet me. So there's hope, it seems.

Yair throws off his diapers every day when we get home from school to put on the Spiderman underwear we bought him last week. He's usually doing fine for a couple of hours but then gets distracted and wets his pants. It has been like this for about a week and a half without any progress. He's not completely ready yet, I guess. But the time will come, I know that much.

He is still struggling with the new language. The other day at bedtime, he said to me: "Mama, I don't like kids who speak English." His German is fluent by now. Ever since August, he has been making progress at an incredible speed, without me asking him to make an effort. And because he is suddenly able to express himself without any problems in German, he grabs the phone from me whenever he realizes it's someone from Germany. Finally, he is ready to speak to my family. I guess that will be the best Christmas present of all. But English is still an issue -- and why shouldn't it. It takes time, even though I think he understands already quite a lot. Today we were listening to an interactive story of Dora the Explorer on the Internet, and when Dora shouted "Watch out!" he looked at me and translated for me. That was really cute. He also says "Done!" when he finishes something in school, and there are lots of other little words, phrases, and sentences he already knows. Exactly how many, we cannot know.

Oh, and I am beginning to feel really bad about the emails I owe people. I can't seem to find the time. Funny, isn't it, now that I am not working. Just know that I am not not in touch on purpose. Soon we will be in Israel for three weeks, and we will have to meet, so please plan with it!