Two months have passed since I last updated this blog and so much has happened that I wanted to record in fuller detail but did not. Too busy enjoying the moment. After my last post, Nonna and Nonno arrived for a three week visit and we took the kids to Tunisia while Daddy worked back here in Brussels. He had already planned his holiday for Ireland and we arrived home yesterday.
Updates on the kids are key and I'll keep it as brief as possible for Daddy because he is busy and doesn't always have time to read long paragraphs.
Frunty is really enjoying soccer lately and does some pretty fancy footwork. Because he is an excellent runner, he can cover great distance with the ball and is pretty quick and not afraid to fall on the ground as well. In Ireland, we set up the goal at our cottage and he practised a lot. We are thinking of a soccer camp (which will be in French naturally) sometime in the summer perhaps. The biggest accomplishment in these last two months occured on March 28th when Frunty swam for the very first time underwater and then on top, without water wings at the club pool. He is a beautiful little swimmer and taught himself. It just goes to show me that without pressure, a child will progress when they are ready in an enjoyable way. We are having such fun swim dates at the club.
Pit now knows about thirty words in English and has uttered his first sentence on March 11th. He said, "I gas" and pointed to his bum. Very funny indeed. He says many words in Italian too and counts to three in French when we are at the Little Gym. He loves swimming too with his water wings and enjoys jumping into the pool and the other day, he held onto his tiny, pink, plastic pig the whole time at the pool. At the end, he lost it and we scoured the pool. No luck. But a week later, Frunty found it at the bottom of the pool! Hilarious.
Frunty is very enthusiastic when we are out and about and is never negative when we say we are leaving for the airport. For other adventures, he is negative at first but warms up to the idea sometimes after a good breakdown. Then on the trip, he is nothing but positive, enthusiastic, curious, adventuresome.
Pit is really a goofy little guy. Very affectionate. Kisses all of us all the time, loves being massaged by us and his brother, makes funny faces, giggles, and usually says, "okay" when we suggest something to him. He is very particular about somethings like what he wants to wear and isn't afraid to say "no" and scrunch up his nose.
Both boys are snuggling in bed together as I write, fast asleep. They sleep together all night and at around 7 am one of us goes in to snuggle in the morning. Often Pit falls asleep again. Frunty still sleeps about 12-13 hours from whenever he goes to bed. He rarely wakes up with a nightmare or for some other reason and doesn't argue as much about going to bed anymore. I think he finally realizes how wonderful sleep is!
Now that the kids are asleep, it's time for some "mommy-time" as Daddy terms it when I can indulge...I'll therefore write about Ireland very soon. Happy Easter everyone!
Monday, 9 April 2007
Thursday, 8 February 2007
Today it was easy to get Frunty out of bed even though he hadn't had enough sleep by saying the words, "come look out the window, there's snow!" We woke up to a beautiful, snow covered landscape and were all pretty excited. It happened to be the day of Frunty's trip to the African Museum by tram to Tervueren and Pit and I were invited too.
Daddy took Frunty to school so he could leave with his class. They were supposed to take the bus to the tram stop but due to the snow, there were so many delays that they had to walk all the way to the tram stop. It took them almost two hours, I found out later, to get from the school to the museum. Some people might complain but because they had a beautiful walk through the snowy sidewalks of Chant D'Oiseau, I was happy that the children could enjoy the outdoors instead of staying in the classroom.
I haven't been too crazy about many of the trips by metro but I figured that this trip was safer with the bus/tram combo as it was more or less door to door. But I had already given permission and not known that they couldn't take the bus until it was too late. I just had to pray that all would go well and it did.
I decided to meet them there because I wanted to go ahead with my Thursday French club that I have organized at a nearby cafe. Since I get a "real" francophone to facilitate our group, I don't want to miss a rendez-vous and figured I could catch up with Frunty and his class later. It turns out that I met them at the museum just as they were going so the timing was perfect! I must have been only one or two trams after them.
We enjoyed visiting the museum, looking at all the stuffed animals and seeing the African masks. With carnival coming up, Mme Anne wanted the children to see the masks. (or maybe just get out of the school for a day?) I think she invited DeMille and me so we could see how fun these day trips were because she kept asking if we liked it and finally, asked us for the umpteenth time if we would let Frunty go on the two night, three day trip to the sea with his class in June.
The answer is still, unequivocably, "no". Yes, the day trip was fun in some ways but totally exhausting in others. Yes, it was interesting to see the African museum but frankly, there were a lot of moments when the children stood around waiting for each other to finish in the bathroom or waiting for the tram, or waiting to get our bags so we could go eat lunch etc. etc. you get the idea.
For the record, I am not poo-pooing such trips as long as they are almost 100% safe. We are dealing with 4 or 5 year olds on public transportation, out in the public and at one point, I noticed Laure, a tiny little girl take off out of sight and was able to bring her back to the group. There are just too many opportunities for something bad to occur so I dont' really think it is worth the risk, frankly.
Three days of that would be exhausting given that the nights might be full of children crying for their parents, wetting their beds, whining etc. Yes, I give the worst case scenario but it boils down to the fact that we dont' feel comfortably with Frunty going and he told us he does not want to go. End of story. For Mme Anne to continually pressure us is unnecessary. We are not going to let our little guy to a hotel with a pool by the ocean and to an amusement park for three days. Maybe when he is 13? I dunno. Maybe when it feels right?
Today the same teacher told Daddy that her heart is broken because she thinks that Frunty really wants to go because he said that I had already paid for his trip to the beach. What she doesn't realize is that Frunty's confusing this with his trip coming up with the nonni to the beach. Poor little guy. And let's say he isn't confused. He can be disappointed or sad or angry because he cannot go and his class is going (we don't know how many are in fact going). He can learn to deal with those emotions too and that is a lesson unto itself.
I would say that the topic of this ocean trip with Mme Anne is taking up most of the year and starting to grate on my nerves. The answer was, is, will be "no". Nothing more to discuss. I wish she would get that through her head. As much as we like her and Frunty adores her, enough is enough.
Daddy took Frunty to school so he could leave with his class. They were supposed to take the bus to the tram stop but due to the snow, there were so many delays that they had to walk all the way to the tram stop. It took them almost two hours, I found out later, to get from the school to the museum. Some people might complain but because they had a beautiful walk through the snowy sidewalks of Chant D'Oiseau, I was happy that the children could enjoy the outdoors instead of staying in the classroom.
I haven't been too crazy about many of the trips by metro but I figured that this trip was safer with the bus/tram combo as it was more or less door to door. But I had already given permission and not known that they couldn't take the bus until it was too late. I just had to pray that all would go well and it did.
I decided to meet them there because I wanted to go ahead with my Thursday French club that I have organized at a nearby cafe. Since I get a "real" francophone to facilitate our group, I don't want to miss a rendez-vous and figured I could catch up with Frunty and his class later. It turns out that I met them at the museum just as they were going so the timing was perfect! I must have been only one or two trams after them.
We enjoyed visiting the museum, looking at all the stuffed animals and seeing the African masks. With carnival coming up, Mme Anne wanted the children to see the masks. (or maybe just get out of the school for a day?) I think she invited DeMille and me so we could see how fun these day trips were because she kept asking if we liked it and finally, asked us for the umpteenth time if we would let Frunty go on the two night, three day trip to the sea with his class in June.
The answer is still, unequivocably, "no". Yes, the day trip was fun in some ways but totally exhausting in others. Yes, it was interesting to see the African museum but frankly, there were a lot of moments when the children stood around waiting for each other to finish in the bathroom or waiting for the tram, or waiting to get our bags so we could go eat lunch etc. etc. you get the idea.
For the record, I am not poo-pooing such trips as long as they are almost 100% safe. We are dealing with 4 or 5 year olds on public transportation, out in the public and at one point, I noticed Laure, a tiny little girl take off out of sight and was able to bring her back to the group. There are just too many opportunities for something bad to occur so I dont' really think it is worth the risk, frankly.
Three days of that would be exhausting given that the nights might be full of children crying for their parents, wetting their beds, whining etc. Yes, I give the worst case scenario but it boils down to the fact that we dont' feel comfortably with Frunty going and he told us he does not want to go. End of story. For Mme Anne to continually pressure us is unnecessary. We are not going to let our little guy to a hotel with a pool by the ocean and to an amusement park for three days. Maybe when he is 13? I dunno. Maybe when it feels right?
Today the same teacher told Daddy that her heart is broken because she thinks that Frunty really wants to go because he said that I had already paid for his trip to the beach. What she doesn't realize is that Frunty's confusing this with his trip coming up with the nonni to the beach. Poor little guy. And let's say he isn't confused. He can be disappointed or sad or angry because he cannot go and his class is going (we don't know how many are in fact going). He can learn to deal with those emotions too and that is a lesson unto itself.
I would say that the topic of this ocean trip with Mme Anne is taking up most of the year and starting to grate on my nerves. The answer was, is, will be "no". Nothing more to discuss. I wish she would get that through her head. As much as we like her and Frunty adores her, enough is enough.
Wednesday, 31 January 2007
Bravo, Pit!
Today was a first for Pit at the pool. He wanted his water wings on and was very eager to get into the water and then, much to my surprise, tried instantly to let go. Pit wanted to float on his own and did not scream or squeal just smiled and laughed. He was so excited to do it and whenever I put him on the hydrotherapy bed, he tried to get off in order to float again in the deeper water. Pit just did fantastically well. So today was the first time he floated without squealing first! (the squealing in the past was an excited but scared kind of way with a big smile but in a crazed kind of way...very hard to explain in words, late at night!)
Today was a first for Pit at the pool. He wanted his water wings on and was very eager to get into the water and then, much to my surprise, tried instantly to let go. Pit wanted to float on his own and did not scream or squeal just smiled and laughed. He was so excited to do it and whenever I put him on the hydrotherapy bed, he tried to get off in order to float again in the deeper water. Pit just did fantastically well. So today was the first time he floated without squealing first! (the squealing in the past was an excited but scared kind of way with a big smile but in a crazed kind of way...very hard to explain in words, late at night!)
Saturday, 27 January 2007
One more note:
We ended up staying one night just outside of Colmar instead of Fribourg and had a delicious dinner right by our hotel at a resto called, "Court Paille". And Daddy stayed the week in Monaco not Nice but spent a day traveling around our old haunts. Things have changed obviously since 1987.
Festival des Glaces is now a bar/lounge not an icecream shop anymore.
Fisher Gold is now a Chinese resto.
Our residence in Cimiez is for sale as luxury apartments therefore no longer used as a school by B&R who stopped their student programmes years ago.
The main road running through the centre of Nice has been completely ripped up as they are building a dedicated tram line. (That sure would have made things nice after an afternoon at the beach to just jump on the tram instead of hiking back to our residence!)
And Nice Etoile, the shopping mall, has been completely renovated/modernized.
The water though, Daddy reported, is still that beautiful, aqua blue.
We ended up staying one night just outside of Colmar instead of Fribourg and had a delicious dinner right by our hotel at a resto called, "Court Paille". And Daddy stayed the week in Monaco not Nice but spent a day traveling around our old haunts. Things have changed obviously since 1987.
Festival des Glaces is now a bar/lounge not an icecream shop anymore.
Fisher Gold is now a Chinese resto.
Our residence in Cimiez is for sale as luxury apartments therefore no longer used as a school by B&R who stopped their student programmes years ago.
The main road running through the centre of Nice has been completely ripped up as they are building a dedicated tram line. (That sure would have made things nice after an afternoon at the beach to just jump on the tram instead of hiking back to our residence!)
And Nice Etoile, the shopping mall, has been completely renovated/modernized.
The water though, Daddy reported, is still that beautiful, aqua blue.
I have been taking the children regularly to our nice, warm pool (35 degrees celsius) and it is really paying off. Frunty enjoys going completely under water with his goggles around and swims well with his water wings. We bought a pair for Pit too and although nervous at floating with them on alone, he now laughs after the initial scream. By the end of our swim on Jan. 25th, he was floating calmly. Pit forgets to close his mouth sometimes and swallows a bit of water but that is all part of the experience. On Thurs. I put him between the side of the pool and a little wall within the pool and told him to swim towards one side or the other. Both times, he made it over and hung on so I can say that Pit swam for the first time with water wings on, on the 25th!!!!!!!! Good job!
Afterwards the three of us take a nice shower together in the child-friendly shower stall and the kids love me spraying their toes, knees, tummies etc. with the shower head. Even though they are tiny, they have bellies that stick out. Frunty has an inny and Pit an outty (bellybuttons) and they love me to spray them with the shower head too.
I was going to sign Frunty up for swimming lessons but he is progressing well on his own without pressure and does each stage when he feels comfortable to do it. I think I want him to continue along that path for now and have a feeling that one day he'll just start swimming on his own without the lessons.
Another note, we got a babysitter last night, the live-in nanny of Frunt's school chum, Inkeri, from Finland. Pit ran to the door as we were leaving to kiss me and then took off with a squeal of delight. Because the kids see her everyday at school when she picks Inkeri up, I think they must feel like they already know her. Daddy and I went out for a lovely dinner near where we went with Aunt J when she was in town, near her Conrad hotel, and for dessert afterwards at another place near Sport City. Dinner was lovely, especially with red sticker (non-fumeur) on door. Dessert wasn't great but something funny happened. We were in a red sticker resto and a woman lit up and the waiter came over and took the cigarette from her and threw it out the front door of the resto. I am happy I have lived to see the day when it is no-smoking in Europe. Awesome.
Time to play a jeu de societe with the kids and Daddy. We are so happy to have him home after a week in Monaco.
Afterwards the three of us take a nice shower together in the child-friendly shower stall and the kids love me spraying their toes, knees, tummies etc. with the shower head. Even though they are tiny, they have bellies that stick out. Frunty has an inny and Pit an outty (bellybuttons) and they love me to spray them with the shower head too.
I was going to sign Frunty up for swimming lessons but he is progressing well on his own without pressure and does each stage when he feels comfortable to do it. I think I want him to continue along that path for now and have a feeling that one day he'll just start swimming on his own without the lessons.
Another note, we got a babysitter last night, the live-in nanny of Frunt's school chum, Inkeri, from Finland. Pit ran to the door as we were leaving to kiss me and then took off with a squeal of delight. Because the kids see her everyday at school when she picks Inkeri up, I think they must feel like they already know her. Daddy and I went out for a lovely dinner near where we went with Aunt J when she was in town, near her Conrad hotel, and for dessert afterwards at another place near Sport City. Dinner was lovely, especially with red sticker (non-fumeur) on door. Dessert wasn't great but something funny happened. We were in a red sticker resto and a woman lit up and the waiter came over and took the cigarette from her and threw it out the front door of the resto. I am happy I have lived to see the day when it is no-smoking in Europe. Awesome.
Time to play a jeu de societe with the kids and Daddy. We are so happy to have him home after a week in Monaco.
Sunday, 14 January 2007
Water wings!
What better way to recover from a long trip to the Alps which included skiing/hiking/tobogganning and snow ball fights to name a few activities, than to go to the club for some rest and relaxation. With one of my guest passes, Daddy came too. We put the kids in the play zone for an hour while I did the Body Balance class and met Daddy in the sauna afterwards. Then we picked up the kids and headed to the pool after our snack time. Frunty really loves going under water and had to take off his water wings to do so. We decided to put them on Pit who did really well. Drank a bit of water but did try to keep his lips closed. (It really just looked like he was biting his bottom lip!) We were able to let go of him and he floated on his own. This is the first time ever! Bravo, Pit!
This morning Frunty came up the stairs and checked in every single pocket of his Advents calendar. He still has trouble believing that Christmas is over even though we didn't have snow. He no longer asks if Santa is coming but by checking his calendar, he shows that he doesn't quite understand the concept yet. So adorable. We will have to put it in the cave with the other Christmas decorations.
Gramma and Grampa gave us a Cuisinart for Christmas so last night we had to make a blender shake, of course, as well as this morning. Then we grated carrots for a salad, squeezed a lemon for the dressing and then chopped up mushrooms and sausage to jazz up our pizzas. We like making "jazzy pizzas" as we call them but what's more, Frunty loves the Cuisinart and knows how to use it and showed me because he learned when he and Gramma made cookies a few weeks ago. What an adorable, little guy too.
I am so glad we got home safely from our trip and had such an amazing time with great weather. Sorry to hear that Daddy's sister's family were sick on their ski holiday, had bad snow conditions, and that cousin E fractured her wrist. Hopefully their next holiday will be better.
We are already day dreaming about our next trip too...but enjoying each day fully is also our goal and that we do. Doggie is having a dream in which he is clearly running like a mad-man, I mean mad-dog, as I can hear him behind me as I type, breathing really heavily in a fast way. He was happy to see us after a week at the Dog hotel and we gave him a carrot too. Cheerio!
What better way to recover from a long trip to the Alps which included skiing/hiking/tobogganning and snow ball fights to name a few activities, than to go to the club for some rest and relaxation. With one of my guest passes, Daddy came too. We put the kids in the play zone for an hour while I did the Body Balance class and met Daddy in the sauna afterwards. Then we picked up the kids and headed to the pool after our snack time. Frunty really loves going under water and had to take off his water wings to do so. We decided to put them on Pit who did really well. Drank a bit of water but did try to keep his lips closed. (It really just looked like he was biting his bottom lip!) We were able to let go of him and he floated on his own. This is the first time ever! Bravo, Pit!
This morning Frunty came up the stairs and checked in every single pocket of his Advents calendar. He still has trouble believing that Christmas is over even though we didn't have snow. He no longer asks if Santa is coming but by checking his calendar, he shows that he doesn't quite understand the concept yet. So adorable. We will have to put it in the cave with the other Christmas decorations.
Gramma and Grampa gave us a Cuisinart for Christmas so last night we had to make a blender shake, of course, as well as this morning. Then we grated carrots for a salad, squeezed a lemon for the dressing and then chopped up mushrooms and sausage to jazz up our pizzas. We like making "jazzy pizzas" as we call them but what's more, Frunty loves the Cuisinart and knows how to use it and showed me because he learned when he and Gramma made cookies a few weeks ago. What an adorable, little guy too.
I am so glad we got home safely from our trip and had such an amazing time with great weather. Sorry to hear that Daddy's sister's family were sick on their ski holiday, had bad snow conditions, and that cousin E fractured her wrist. Hopefully their next holiday will be better.
We are already day dreaming about our next trip too...but enjoying each day fully is also our goal and that we do. Doggie is having a dream in which he is clearly running like a mad-man, I mean mad-dog, as I can hear him behind me as I type, breathing really heavily in a fast way. He was happy to see us after a week at the Dog hotel and we gave him a carrot too. Cheerio!
Friday, 5 January 2007
"Gramma and Grampa have black and white hair. They are beautiful colours, right Mommy?"
Frunty, January 2, 2007
Today Frunty and I spent the day together. We went to see two movies, Franklin et le tresor du Lac and Happy Feet at Toison D'Or. During the first movie, Frunty's little hand found mine and I knew that a moment like this couldn't be any more precious. We enjoyed our time so much and had a waffle afterwards, freshly made at one of the trucks.
Pit and Daddy went shopping for our upcoming trip and also had a marvelous time. Daddy said it was a nice and quiet day. We are looking forward to leaving tomorrow! We will stay at the Winkelmatten Youth Hostel in Zermatt and on the way home, stop in Fribourg on Friday night and spend Saturday in Colmar. We haven't told the boys yet as Frunty would go through the roof. He has been looking forward to seeing snow for weeks now. Only problem is that he thinks when he does see snow that Santa will come...again. He told us that it wasn't really Christmas we just celebrated because there wasn't any snow! We tried to explain but he is really stuck on this snow/Christmas idea!
Frunty, January 2, 2007
Today Frunty and I spent the day together. We went to see two movies, Franklin et le tresor du Lac and Happy Feet at Toison D'Or. During the first movie, Frunty's little hand found mine and I knew that a moment like this couldn't be any more precious. We enjoyed our time so much and had a waffle afterwards, freshly made at one of the trucks.
Pit and Daddy went shopping for our upcoming trip and also had a marvelous time. Daddy said it was a nice and quiet day. We are looking forward to leaving tomorrow! We will stay at the Winkelmatten Youth Hostel in Zermatt and on the way home, stop in Fribourg on Friday night and spend Saturday in Colmar. We haven't told the boys yet as Frunty would go through the roof. He has been looking forward to seeing snow for weeks now. Only problem is that he thinks when he does see snow that Santa will come...again. He told us that it wasn't really Christmas we just celebrated because there wasn't any snow! We tried to explain but he is really stuck on this snow/Christmas idea!
