Like the rest of the world, I am a HUGE Oprah fan. Her show gets TiVo'd daily at the HinJew household. If I get the chance, I watch it after the children go to bed.
If you have children and have not yet watched yesterday's show, go do it now. Really. Right now. You need to see it.
Until I saw yesterday's show, I had no clue that a Webcam is a pedophile's biggest dream-come-true. Merely plugging it in brings this slime into the bedrooms of our children where these perverts lure and manipulate our children into doing all sorts of lurid acts.
Yesterday's show highlighted a young boy, age 13 at the time, who plugged in a Webcam to enable him to speak to his friends online and, perhaps, meet some girls. He thought that the people he was talking to were 13 year-old boys just like him. They weren't. They were pedophiles and lured him into doing all sorts of things. Read his story now.
It's horrifying enough to learn this news. Yet it gets worse. With the help of a NY Times investigative reporter, they learn the identities of the boy's 1500 "clients". Many of them were pediatricians, teachers, guidance counselors, and other professionals with easy access to children. It truly frightens me as a parent to know that the people I trust the most with my children might hurt them.
But anything I say here cannot do justice to the excellent job Oprah and her team do in portraying the information. Please, watch it now.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
First Day/First Grade
Simi's first day of first grade went well. He brought home an empty folder, a skinned knee and no homework.
The highlights of his day included making a new friend and playing freeze tag at recess.
So...there it is...
The highlights of his day included making a new friend and playing freeze tag at recess.
So...there it is...
Scenes From The First Day of School
Observations from Simi's school:
A little boy holding his even littler sister's hand and taking her to her first day of class. He gets near the class and gives her a little push to the door ... then walks away to get to his own class.
A little girl taking her little brother to his first day of school. She gets him to the door of his classroom, kisses the top of his head, then pushes him into the room and walks away to get to her own class.
A mom trying to push a stroller (with an infant in it) and hold the hand of a toddler - in the mad crush of kids and parents - while taking another young 'un to the first day of class.
A little girl carrying a backpack which was bigger and wider than she. By the looks of it, the backpack must have been REALLY heavy.
The gym teacher helping a little girl find her classroom.
A little boy holding his even littler sister's hand and taking her to her first day of class. He gets near the class and gives her a little push to the door ... then walks away to get to his own class.
A little girl taking her little brother to his first day of school. She gets him to the door of his classroom, kisses the top of his head, then pushes him into the room and walks away to get to her own class.
A mom trying to push a stroller (with an infant in it) and hold the hand of a toddler - in the mad crush of kids and parents - while taking another young 'un to the first day of class.
A little girl carrying a backpack which was bigger and wider than she. By the looks of it, the backpack must have been REALLY heavy.
The gym teacher helping a little girl find her classroom.
First Grade
Today is Simi's first day of first grade.
It's been an auspicious start to the year. Simi is not in the classroom we anticipated and the school is completely unorganized this year. For example, we haven't received any word on bus routes/times, so we had no idea where to wait for the bus, the bus number, or what time to be at the stop. Teachers said that last minute changes occured to cause students to be moved around as late as last Thursday. It's just a mess.
Simi's Kindergarten teacher speaks very highly of his first grade teacher and she has certification in teaching academically gifted children. She and the assistant teacher seem very nice.
As I was driving Simi to school on his first day, I flashbacked to his first day of Kindergarten exactly one year ago. Simi seemed nervous today, but much less nervous than he did last year. Simi also didn't seem as excited about the experience as he did last year. Although I didn't cry this year, I certainly felt like I wanted to.
As we entered the classroom, the teacher very nicely introduced herself to Simi and told Simi to choose a seat wherever he wanted. Simi just stood there and froze. I helped him find a seat. Simi introduced himself to the other children in the class and I watched him get started in putting his name on his bookmark. He wasn't as engrossed in the activity as he was last year.
I passed by the computer lab on my way out the door and was quite impressed by the equipment. Shiny new-looking Apple computers awaited students use. Nice.
Interestingly, just a short while ago, a charter school where Simi was waitlisted contacted me. Simi has a spot at their school - to begin in two weeks - if he wants it. Sigh...
I can't wait to hear how his day went.
It's been an auspicious start to the year. Simi is not in the classroom we anticipated and the school is completely unorganized this year. For example, we haven't received any word on bus routes/times, so we had no idea where to wait for the bus, the bus number, or what time to be at the stop. Teachers said that last minute changes occured to cause students to be moved around as late as last Thursday. It's just a mess.
Simi's Kindergarten teacher speaks very highly of his first grade teacher and she has certification in teaching academically gifted children. She and the assistant teacher seem very nice.
As I was driving Simi to school on his first day, I flashbacked to his first day of Kindergarten exactly one year ago. Simi seemed nervous today, but much less nervous than he did last year. Simi also didn't seem as excited about the experience as he did last year. Although I didn't cry this year, I certainly felt like I wanted to.
As we entered the classroom, the teacher very nicely introduced herself to Simi and told Simi to choose a seat wherever he wanted. Simi just stood there and froze. I helped him find a seat. Simi introduced himself to the other children in the class and I watched him get started in putting his name on his bookmark. He wasn't as engrossed in the activity as he was last year.
I passed by the computer lab on my way out the door and was quite impressed by the equipment. Shiny new-looking Apple computers awaited students use. Nice.
Interestingly, just a short while ago, a charter school where Simi was waitlisted contacted me. Simi has a spot at their school - to begin in two weeks - if he wants it. Sigh...
I can't wait to hear how his day went.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Asher Update
Asher's great energy continues. It's obviously the vitamin supplements we're giving him that's making the difference. I'd never guess that something as simple as a multi-vitamin would make such a major difference.
So now the conundrum is....do we scope or not? According to the protocol set by the specialists, Asher should be scoped every three months because the damage is occurring inside his body and symptoms may not be readily noticed. So, according to these guidelines, Asher needs an endoscopy at July's end. Thing is, it's incredibly invasive and it hurts Asher and there is evidence that general anesthesia damages the mitochondria. Seems to me like after every scope, it takes Asher at least a week to recover.
The doctor at Duke suggests we not scope unless symptoms suggest it. But how do we know the culprit unless we scope? How do we know if all the vitamins and supplements and additional food are true passes unless we scope? What if damage is occurring and we don't see the symptoms?
So...do we scope...or not?
So now the conundrum is....do we scope or not? According to the protocol set by the specialists, Asher should be scoped every three months because the damage is occurring inside his body and symptoms may not be readily noticed. So, according to these guidelines, Asher needs an endoscopy at July's end. Thing is, it's incredibly invasive and it hurts Asher and there is evidence that general anesthesia damages the mitochondria. Seems to me like after every scope, it takes Asher at least a week to recover.
The doctor at Duke suggests we not scope unless symptoms suggest it. But how do we know the culprit unless we scope? How do we know if all the vitamins and supplements and additional food are true passes unless we scope? What if damage is occurring and we don't see the symptoms?
So...do we scope...or not?
Monday, July 07, 2008
Milestones
It's been a big week for Leila here in the HinJew household. She's moved out of nappies and into training undies. She's very excited about it and showing everyone her new pink underwear. She says now she goes pee pee on the potty just like her boys. Well, Leili, perhaps not just like the boys.....
She has also made the long overdue transition from her crib to her big girl bed. She and I made the trek to the store to pick out new sheets for her new bed. She excitedly picked out sheets with the Disney princesses on them. I wasn't surprised; she's so into princesses these days. I suggested to her that we buy the Tinkerbell sheets too, so that she'd have a spare set. She didn't really care about Tinkerbell and just went along with it to make me happy. So now Leili is in her big girl bed and wearing big girl underwear.
In other Leila news, she insists we call her "Leila". We've been calling her "Leili" for nearly her entire life. Now, when I call her "Leili", she replies, "I not Leili. I'm Leila!". OK then.
My baby is growing up....
She has also made the long overdue transition from her crib to her big girl bed. She and I made the trek to the store to pick out new sheets for her new bed. She excitedly picked out sheets with the Disney princesses on them. I wasn't surprised; she's so into princesses these days. I suggested to her that we buy the Tinkerbell sheets too, so that she'd have a spare set. She didn't really care about Tinkerbell and just went along with it to make me happy. So now Leili is in her big girl bed and wearing big girl underwear.
In other Leila news, she insists we call her "Leila". We've been calling her "Leili" for nearly her entire life. Now, when I call her "Leili", she replies, "I not Leili. I'm Leila!". OK then.
My baby is growing up....
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