Great definition for YM

From an excerpt from "eternity" by Michael Hanlon:
The Cambridge neuroscientist Simon Baron-Cohen (Sasha's father?) has described a new form of what biologists call assortive mating taking place in humans, namely that bright, successful men are choosing bright, successful women to be their partners. The alpha male no longer wants a dumb blonde; he wants an alpha female on his arm, someone attractive, certainly, but also educated at least to his level...
... this may be leading to problems. One such could be the rise in autism seen in so many countries in the last 30 years. This condition can be characterised by a sense of 'extreme male-brain-ness'. He believes that people characterised as 'autistic spectrum' are, in effect, hypermales, extreme systemisers, who in milder variants are good at lists, fact-checking, seeing linear relationships and putting the Universe into boxes.

Post-Pesach recouperation

So much has happened in the past few weeks. Unfortunately, i am too lazy to write about it all. Instead, I'll just point form the highlights:

• ECH is always complaining about about how messy things are in this house, yet whenever she takes a shower, she leaves the bathroom looking like it was hit by Hurricane Katrina
• YM literally left NR sitting in a carriage, unattended in the Hershey store in Niagara Falls, then got all mad because... (I don't even know the because, but I do know that it is somehow our fault)
• NR tries to be bossy and won't budge from her demands.
• GZ is cute. I like how he says "Abba" and "Amma!" He will occasionally repeat a word like "UP" or "CAT" if you get him in the right mood.
• Jennifer survived Pesach and I think she is a very nice person lately.
• Ted (me) am mellower than I thought I would be. I made more of an effort to enjoy this holiday despite having to clean the fricken house for three and a half weeks straight. I think the kids went hairy this year, while Jennifer and I learned to not get worked up too much.
  

Pesach preparations

Like last year and the year before...

• J gets anxious and starts lecturing everyone
• YM exemplifies the term "work to rule"
• ECH takes everything personally and tells everyone to leave her alone
• NR vyes for attention by acting baby-ish
• GZ sleeps badly during the day and grows impatient with everyone
• Ted tries (and fails sometimes) to not get angry at anyone because that would cancel out the mitzvah of the whole Pesach cleaning process

If Naomi didn't cry so much...

And here I am, complaining about the kids yelling and crying all the time, when it was crying that saved Naomi from being abducted on Shabbos.
I named this blog YELLING AND CRYING TIME as a bit of sarcasm, but now I wonder if I should rethink my attitude towards it.

Details of the man

Talking to Naomi today in the privacy of Bubbis’ bathroom, these are more details about the man who carried her at shul yesterday:(She seemed so sincere, saying that she was telling the truth)
· Wears glasses
· Has a beard
· Has grey hair
· Long hair
· Wrinkles in his forehead
· Was the nice man who handed out lollipops to all the kids during Simchahs Torah
· Wears blue pants and shirt

The Naomi incident at shul

Just as the Kiddush was ending and before the Sheva Brachahs were to begin, Jennifer and I rounded up Naomi (age 4) and Gavriel Zev (age 1 and a half) and were getting ready to head downstairs to leave. As I picked up our coats, I returned to the north third floor foyer to see David trying to lodge a chair to the outside door to keep it open.“Where is Naomi?” I asked Jennifer, looking around.“I thought she was with you?” she said seeing me carrying Gavriel Zev and thinking I was in charge of both kids. I popped my head into the upstairs room where the shul workers were setting up the tables for the Sheva Brachahs and called out “Naomi, where are you?”Jennifer popped outside to the terrace to look for her. Not seeing her, she returned to the foyer. Thinking Naomi took off down the stairs on her own, I told Jennifer to head down the North stairwell while I took to the South stairwell.
Arriving on the main floor, I looked to see if Naomi was around the front door, cloakroom or in front of the Sanctuary. I saw Jennifer down the hall near the Menora heading my way, then turn around and pick up a crying Naomi behind her.Jennifer questioned her as to why she went down the stairs herself and Naomi claimed that someone picked her up and brought her down against her will. Jennifer questioned her about who it was and leading on to nearby Dan Z., Naomi said it was him. Jennifer asked Danny about it and he said that it was not him.
Later at home alone with Naomi, I asked her what happened at shul today, trying to not lead her on with probing questions. Basically this is what she said, in her own words.A man, possibly wearing a blue suit or blue clothing, called her over to him in the North stairway by saying “Come over here.” She went to him and he picked her up and started walking down the stairs. On the way down, Naomi asked if he was bringing her to her parents. He said no.At this point, Naomi may have started to cry. The man brought her into the Ladies section of the Sanctuary, then came back out to the area around the carriages and Menora. Someone nearby, possibly seeing Naomi cry harder, told the man to “Put her down” which he did. He then proceeded to go into the single washroom, and I guess this is when Jennifer and I showed up and saw Naomi crying.
Later at Shalosh Seudah, I talked to David, remembering he was around earlier. He said he knew nothing of what happened to Naomi and was genuinely concerned about her. I am sure it wasn’t him.
Naomi said that the man was a shul person, meaning she recognized this person being around the shul.Who is it? Was this a benign, innocent event? Or was someone after my 4 year old, and was taking advantage of the commotion between a busy shul schedule that morning?
I was thinking of bringing Naomi to shul next Shabbos and seeing if she could point out said person. On Richard B.'s advice he recommend I asked the person what he was doing with Naomi, hoping that there would be a simple explaination. If the person is identified, Richard wanted me to let him know who it was.

Writing 101

Naomi wrote ABBA on a sheet of paper today. Then with a little coaching from Jennifer, she also wrote MOMMY and NAOMI between them. Quite the little speller!