Passover

I must say, Elly rocked the seders. She may have a well-deserved reputation as a bit of a banshee, but come Saturday night's seder which lasted 3 hours and didn't even start until her bedtime, she rocked. She sat properly at the table. She listened, or played quietly with the plague frogs or her seder coloring book, or talked to me in a quiet voice. She sang "Ma Nishtanah" all by herself in front of not only relatives but also complete strangers. She let one of said complete strangers make her the assistant in all his Passover-appropriate magic tricks. She was very patient with her younger cousin, who required, well, quite a bit of patience.

Now, this is not to say that she was perfect. I did have to remind her of the rules from time to time. That said, she actually obeyed these reminders without fuss.

Dare I hope we are entering a new era, in which Eliana is slightly more cooperative? I didn't think so... but have gotten much encouragement from other moms of spirited daughters who say it gets much easier as they get older. I gave up on the maturing out of it idea long ago. Perhaps I was wrong to... but I'm waiting for proof as time passes.

The second night, I brought both kids. The second night seder consisted of my in-laws, my mom, Scott, me, and the kids. Both kids did great. Kes sang Ma Nishtanah, very bashfully, even hiding her face in my lap for part of it. Very cute. At the end of the night, someone gave Elly a compliment on her behavior, and she said, "I know! I'm very happy about myself."