Wow, it's almost Christmas and so much has happened since I last wrote. We have been enjoying our boys so much and let me try to update you on what is going on.

We enjoyed our trip to Canada very much, and stayed with our dear friends as well as the nonnie and had fun with my folks in Cuba. It was too long away from Daddy though so we won't be doing that length of trip again for awhile. Frunty seems to be generally fine as long as mommy is around whereas Pit cried for daddy the first few days and then subsequently, asked for him and whined here and there...understandly so, he is really daddy's boy. So the reunion in Frankfurt was fantastic and we had fun at the hotel with the bowling alley and pool and driving back to Brussels with our new, awesome car...gold and fast! And catching up with Mowgli too once we got home.

Frunty is really enjoying school as far as we can tell and when he gets there in the morning, I often see him give a hug to a friend or two. His best friend seems to be Leo. Part of the reason, I think, is because they talk to each other in English and that gives comfort throughout the day. Frunty loves doing artwork and as soon as he arrives, he greets his teacher Marie Catherine, puts his collation in one box and lunch in the other and usually sits down and starts drawing. Right now he likes drawing transformers.

Afterschool we tend to go the pool at the club and play in the indoor playground called Aspirini Land which is fantastic with this rainy weather. Frunty is really doing well with swimming on his own and was just given a test to see where he would be placed if/when he started swimming lessons. He was placed with the 6-8 year olds even though he is only 5 1/2 and has never had formal lessons. We have just goofed around a lot in the pool and also, on holidays, Grampa and Nonno have shown different things too. Frunty also loves just coming home and playing quietly in the front room, helping us prepare dinner (making chicken nuggets) and we occasionally do yoga. He loves doing different positions and looking at our yoga book to learn more.

One area that we are booking on with Frunty is sitting at the table and he can now do this very well after we really talked about sitting calmly and eating well. Frunty really responds well to discussing things and loves the bedtime rules and looking at the chart to see what comes next. Now he knows it off by heart. Frunty has some anxiety before birthday parties and seeing St. Nicholas so we have been talking about this and doing some role plays. Also, at school, he complains of little kids beating him up during the recess time. We are doing role plays on self-defense and he no longer complains so I think it must be working. He knows we are on his side but want him to defend himself when we aren't there and so we talk about this and hopefully it is sorting itself out. In the new year, I am looking at signing Frunts up for a martial arts course.

Pit is a solid "chunk" of a kid now and has grown so much recently. He loves getting dressed and always makes sure his socks are pulled up very very high and that his sleeves are pulled down properly after washing his hands. He is completely toilet trained which he did on his own six months ago and even dry most nights. He is really funny and goofy and enjoys making silly faces all the time, especially if someone puts him on the spot.

His favourite past times seem to be going to the Little Gym and usually he wants to go by bike or pousette although the weather dictates by car often and then he gets a bit angry. At the Little Gym he is very far advanced compared to other children his age in terms of physical abilities. He can already somersault on his own, get on the parallel bars and swing and jump off (often landing on his two feet) and is eager to try anything and everything. Because we were in Canada for a month, we are now making up lessons and go twice a week. On Tuesday Pit has Amina and on Thursdays, Pierre. It is great to have two different teachers. I find that Pit really likes Pierre and will try to throw a ball on his head and do other silly stuff and goof around more, allowing Pierre to kiss him at the end of the session. Lately, Pit wants to do different activities with mommy not looking. This is a big, independent step. I turn around until he calls me later to look.

Pit also plays very well on his own at home, sitting in the front room quietly. I find this front room has a really lovely energy and obviously this is so since both kids feel calm and happy in there. I sometimes sit beside Pit and read a bit, something for me, and Pit rarely asks for tv, just plays calmly. He also loves the pool and wanted to try without waterwings one time recently but then got scared in a deeper part and so is back to wearing them. But at least he tried. Pit puts on his goggles and floats around, practising kicking, blowing bubbles etc.

I am really thrilled with their progress and how Frunty is responding to talking about how he is doing and feeling. I used to ask him what he did at school and he would say nothing, or he couldn't remember. I was no asking properly and now that I do, he tells me all about his day and sings songs and other fun stuff. And Pit has very few angry spells now since we right away talk through it and so we don't even seem to have temper tantrums. This whole thing with telling a kid to be quiet when he gets angry or "fix your face" does not work with my boys. It just suppresses their normal, natural feelings of sadness or anger or frustration. We find out why their faces are looking sad or worried or whatever, validate their feelings and then have them work on finding a solution on how we can feel better. While Pit is a bit young for this, just comforting and validating his angry feelings for example, seems to work and with Frunty, going through the process is really have great results. I am really proud of myself for being a patient, loving mom to takes time to help them help themselves.

Daddy is doing a super job too with working more from home, traveling less, and supporting me as much as he can. He is now making focaccia and soon the house will smell like heaven. Gotta go and enjoy!

Again I find myself trying to catch up with all the fun things going on with our kids who are growing like weeds and just had their hair cuts by Da-da so look even older. Since I last wrote we really enjoyed the rest of our summer together and made sure we did a lot of great activities together. I wrote a list of things we wanted to make sure we did at least once a week and we really did stick to it. Here is the list:

unstructured play in between naps
face painting/dress up/puppets
dancing/music games
yoga/eye exercises
baby massage
adventure by train/tram/bus with picnic
puzzles/read stories (stories daily as usual)
games/crafts
ball games/tag/swim/park/scooter
snuggle on couch while watching movies
blowing bubbles/fishing for plastic fish
bake a cake or bake/cook something even just a blender shake sometimes
invite friend over/go to friend's house

Some weeks we only face painted once, other weeks several times. We also managed to go see Ratatouille twice (once in French/once English) and Shrek 3, twice as well, both times French. It sounds busy but we had a lot of time at home too, just hanging out. I enjoyed every minute and I think the kids had fun too. Sometimes Dad-da took a day off or half day to participate too.

Gramma and Grampa arrived at the end of the summer and we all took off to Cyprus where it was 39 degrees and sunny. Finally we experienced summer! We enjoyed their three weeks and the kids had a ball visiting the lolly truck everyday by the hotel!

Frunty is back at school and Pit and I are back into the fall routine of Little Gym, French Club, the odd playgroup or music morning and lots of visits to the club which has an awesome new indoor play zone and still, very warm pool.

Frunty is enjoying school and gave his teacher, Marie Catherine, a big hug immediately upon entering school. She said all his friends were really eager to have him join their class as he was two weeks en retard due to Cyprus. Albert's daddy has started a soccer team for the kids and last week we went to the first pratice. Frunts loved it and can't wait to go to Coach Eirik's team again and I will get him shoes this week. He outran, even in his old sneakers and wet grass, the other kids, even the older kids. He was incredibly fast.

Tonight at dinner we started talking about what to do in the case of a fire as we had just visited Seneffe and a police security day. Frunts seemed to know a lot about what to do, like crawling along on the floor to not breathe the smoke. I said, "yes, the smoke can make you very sick" and he said, "it can make you die". We asked him where he learned all of this as the theme at the show this weekend was street/transportation safety and he replied, "I saw it on the map on the plane" (meaning the little info, laminated leaflet that is in the pocket which shows you what to do in the event of fire.) Daddy and I laughed in amazement and said, "blogworthy". I know we fly a lot but it is amazing what goes in because I have seen him study that little leaflet.

He also knows the song "Hoppa Hoppa" that Gramma sings and sang it to her on the phone. She couldn't believe it and neither could we as I think she just taught it once and now when I do "hoppa hoppa" to Pit, Frunts sings the song. They are real peaches and cream, these two and we treasure them as each day passes. They still seem to get cuter and cuter, that's for sure.

Today after the pool, I was walking along the sidewalk, pushing a sleepy baby in the pousette, Frunts on his scooter. I decided to say a prayer out loud for some reason, I don't know why. I asked Frunty if he then wanted to say a prayer and without hesitation, he said,

"Help people who don't have God in their feelings and thank you for the spirit. Amen"

(Frunty, age 5, unaided)

I was really touched, it made my day. I leave you with a poem we say before we do yoga together:

"You are the infinite ocean,
In whom all the things of the world
Rise and fall like waves.

Oh child,
There is nothing to gain,
Nothing to lose,
You are already pure awareness."

Ashtavakra Gita, 15:11-12

I wanted to note something based on my last entry which described Daddy working a lot lately. I want to make sure that it is duly noted that any time that Daddy spends away, he makes it up to us by taking a day off, or working part-time from home. There is flexibility in his job which means that Daddy can and does always make sure that we feel that family is the most important thing even though sometimes we have to be a bit patient. I mean, you cannot quit a job just because sometimes you have to travel. But you can alter your lifestyle so that you are away as little as possible and when you are home, you are there for your family 100% or more.

We just came back from a business trip with Daddy for two days in Paris. So, case in point. Sometimes if we go too, then we enjoy an adventure as well and then we are all together. One day, when Frunts and Pit read this blog, as they may do, I hope that they remember this. I also think living in Europe has helped in a lot of ways. With so much holiday time, we have a great deal of time together which is the number one thing kids want!

Well, how to have fun with your little ones? This is how this whole blog started. Number one way. Spend time with them. Doing nothing, doing little things, doing big things, being together, being lazy, being not too busy, just being...a family. That is how you are going to have the most fun of all! Yes, it is hard work sometimes, very draining, (especially learning how to discipline them and validating their feelings etc. ) very challenging. At other times, plain amusement and joy at watching them grow and discover and best of all, laugh their heads off!

It seems now that Pit is learning table manners from his older brother. Frunty has always had a history of being difficult at the table and we were much relieved when Pit turned out to be easier to feed. That is, until recently. One evening, Pit started to refuse to sit nicely at the table and eat his food. The Mommy eventually told him sternly to sit down properly and eat his beef strips. He shouted "no!" and grabbed a piece of meat to throw at the Mommy, but just before letting go of the food in his tiny hands, he had second thoughts. He shoved the beef strip into his mouth to cave-man-like rip off a chunk AND THEN threw the food across the table! His aim was excellent and it was quite difficult for us to scold while holding back giggles at the sheer drama of the scene.

Even though it feels like the fall, we are enjoying our summer together. Taking each day as it comes means that we have done the simplest things like going to the park and GB and the club pool to more adventure-type activities like going to see the movie, Shrek 3. It is fun taking it easy, staying in our jammies, making homemade pancakes not just on Saturdays, drawing pictures on the sidewalk with chalk, running beside Frunts as he scoots along on his new toy and watching Pit somersault on his own!

We have had a lot of rain so far which makes staying home, one of Frunts favourite activities, guilt-free. The kids love play-doh, drawing a lot, making paper airplanes and doing crafts with stickers. They have fun swinging together on the two ropes hanging down in the livingroom. I try not to turn on the tv much and luckily they don't ask for it. We like to read books too and sometimes I find the kids go in the front room and grab a book or the Lego and get started on their own...taking time to wake up in a calm way. It sure is a lovely change from waking Frunts up for school, getting him dressed quickly, forcing Pit awake too, grabbing the dog and power walking to school...

Today we will go to the club for swimming and playing and then I'll put the kids in the play zone as I would like to try a Tai Chi class for the first time. We'll then have dinner there. Daddy has been in the States and now that he is back, he is doing a lot of team building stuff at work which means he gets home late. We miss him but Daddy is working very hard for all of us and the kids know it so no complaints. Gotta get crackin' for the pool. Hope you're all having fun too.

Today was a really busy day. In the morning, Pit and I went to a skin doctor at Edith Cavell hospital. He was super chouette, Dr. Cantella, from Sicily and we enjoyed our time there blowing bubbles in the waiting room. Pit is starting to get it down pat. We took the tram there and back and it was a new, super duper one so easy to get on and off with wide doors and on street level, great for strollers.

At noon we picked up Frunt's and friend, Leo, and brought them home for a quick lunch followed by trip to Town Hall where they had to practise their performance to get ready for tomorrow's spectacle. They did great and Frunty particularly gets into the dance really well. He seems to enjoy it and does not seem to be shy at all, considering he is on a stage with bright lights shining on him. Good for all the kids.

Afterwards I took the three of them to the club and put them in the play zone while I passed out in the sauna, steam room and light therapy room. One hour of bliss. Then I picked them up and we all went swimming. Kids did great although I got attacked a lot by the three of them...splashed mostly! Straight homeby 6 pm for spaghetti dinner and this time had enough meat to feed a lion!

I figured some things outs while in the light therapy room about how I replace the wooden strawberries for the Haribo candies for the game, Le Verger. It seems so obvious now but did not at the time. Funny how visualization does seem to work.

Gotta go. Hope everyone reading is as tired but as happy as I am.