Pit calls our bunny "Actually" instead of Ashley and we are swapping his name to Felix who was our original rabbit but because he was so wild, we traded him for the calmer one we now have.
We enjoyed a bbq with the Running Club, Moms-on-the-Run and Friends which I co-created with Bente. It was really very nice company and there were lots of cutie kids. The little ones enjoyed the trampoline and tennis court with various games while the big folks played a bit and discussed how our 20K run went last weekend. My sore throat has returned so it reminds me how crummy I felt running last Sunday. I am glad I don't have to run this weekend although I would like to do so.
I just feel really grateful that our club has taken off so well and that we have some super great guys and gals as members. We are thinking about the Paris-Versaille run in September as our next goal and it is only 16K. I think if we all keep on training, it'll be just fine. The Amsterdam half and full marathon sounds good too because it is flat so we will have to decide which one we will go for...I guess some of us could do both.
Gotta get to bed. Great day!
Saturday, 31 May 2008
Friday, 30 May 2008
After karate today, I told Frunts I wanted to take his picture with his teacher, Frederique. The way he put his arms around his teacher was very touching. It touched me. Frunts looks up to this teacher and told me in the car, on the way back to Annaya's birthday party, that he is going to try to get each and every belt but that he doesn't want me to wash them but understands now that I will have to do so. I am so happy that he is enjoying his karate which is supposed to help the nervous type.
We got back to the party where Pit had stayed and he gave me a nice kiss good-bye but didn't notice us return. He sat and kept eating his cake. He is such a sweetie and seems quite secure when we leave him at school as well. This is a dream come true for me...to foster a sense of security and confidence in my children. I work on this everyday, in lots of ways and so I love seeing signs of this in them.
Annaya turned three and it was a lovely party. Jess' folks from England, originally AFrica, are really sweet and I enjoy seeing them when they visit.
We miss Mowgli. Our kids gave Annaya a barbie with dog and named him Mowgli already. Hope she likes it. Gotta hit the hay. It was a busy day with the Little Gym, pool, party for Pit but fun. I had really hoped he would have fallen asleep before the party in the car but he was too excited I guess. Frunts was also tired tonight but got pumped up again with Episode 1. Boy are they into Star Wars right now!
May the force be with you.
We got back to the party where Pit had stayed and he gave me a nice kiss good-bye but didn't notice us return. He sat and kept eating his cake. He is such a sweetie and seems quite secure when we leave him at school as well. This is a dream come true for me...to foster a sense of security and confidence in my children. I work on this everyday, in lots of ways and so I love seeing signs of this in them.
Annaya turned three and it was a lovely party. Jess' folks from England, originally AFrica, are really sweet and I enjoy seeing them when they visit.
We miss Mowgli. Our kids gave Annaya a barbie with dog and named him Mowgli already. Hope she likes it. Gotta hit the hay. It was a busy day with the Little Gym, pool, party for Pit but fun. I had really hoped he would have fallen asleep before the party in the car but he was too excited I guess. Frunts was also tired tonight but got pumped up again with Episode 1. Boy are they into Star Wars right now!
May the force be with you.
Wednesday, 28 May 2008
It was a beautiful day today, weird with the sun and foreboding grey clouds yet it never did rain. The wind was lovely and not too cold. Just right. We walked from our home to the club for swimming. I enjoyed an hour in the steam room while the kids played in Asprini Land. Then Frunts had his lesson and we played in the warm pool. Pit is getting more and more comfortable swimming just around the step area, from side to side a little and diving a tiny bit for his ball. Frunty says he enjoyed his lesson even though his favourite teacher, Phillip, aka Sporticus, was not there and there was a sub.
Tuesday, 27 May 2008
Pit has started school and it has been a few weeks now! I already here him speaking French in the playground to other kids. It is amazing to watch the wee ones grow. Pit has picked up some funny things from school as well for example, all of a sudden, he wants to hold his doo-doo and suck his thumb. Luckily it is not a habit so he just does it once in awhile and Frunty does too, I think for fun. If it keeps up though, we will have to discuss the implications on the teeth.
On May 24th, Pit swam for the first time at our club's pool. Daddy put a ball in his mouth and went under water. Pit, who had been dunking his head for a week or so, went under water to get the ball at which point Daddy would move backwards and bit and Pit would swim to grab the ball. It was just so fun watching him do this.
Frunty is really doing well with his swimming, soccer and karate. I think next year he will just choose swimming and karate though even though we all love Coach Eirik from Norway, Albert's dad, it just gets to be a bit much. Afterschool is for unwinding and after a full day of sport/play/study, it is good to just take it easy. Frunty's karate teacher is the number one karate whatever you call it in Belgium and Luxembourg. Frederique is about 18 and his dad always comes on Friday to watch the lesson too. Frunt looks up to Frederique and I think he is a good role model. Learning a martial art is very good for anyone and everyone and when we settle, I will start myself. Our club doesn't offer a martial arts class for adults but just started with a self-defense class which I plan on trying.
As you all know, we put our dear dog down on May 15th at 10:30 am. It was a really traumatic experience and we have all suffered in our own ways since. Kids are more resilient so they are getting over this loss quicker. We bought them stuffed toy dogs which they cuddle. This was Pit's idea. I still find dog hair here and there and we haven't put away Mowgli's bowls, bed and other items. I can't write anymore other than to say that if you have ever lived with a pet for more than a decade, then you'll know how quiet the house has become and how heavy our hearts are now.
On a happier note, I completed the Brussels' 20K even though I was quite sick leading up to race day and had almost no energy during the hot, sticky route. My head was pounding and I had to walk a lot. I really should have been in bed but after 5 months of training, running up vineyards in Italy, around fields of gold Colza in France, through thunderstorms and severe wind warning, hopping over fallen down trees in Brussels, I was not going to miss this event. I know I could have done a lot better than my 2 hours 33 minutes but there it is.
I will write again soon. It's a good habit. I just find that I get busy living and enjoying the kids and that is fun too...to enjoy it in the moment. But on the other hand, I don't want to forget...not a second of it.
On May 24th, Pit swam for the first time at our club's pool. Daddy put a ball in his mouth and went under water. Pit, who had been dunking his head for a week or so, went under water to get the ball at which point Daddy would move backwards and bit and Pit would swim to grab the ball. It was just so fun watching him do this.
Frunty is really doing well with his swimming, soccer and karate. I think next year he will just choose swimming and karate though even though we all love Coach Eirik from Norway, Albert's dad, it just gets to be a bit much. Afterschool is for unwinding and after a full day of sport/play/study, it is good to just take it easy. Frunty's karate teacher is the number one karate whatever you call it in Belgium and Luxembourg. Frederique is about 18 and his dad always comes on Friday to watch the lesson too. Frunt looks up to Frederique and I think he is a good role model. Learning a martial art is very good for anyone and everyone and when we settle, I will start myself. Our club doesn't offer a martial arts class for adults but just started with a self-defense class which I plan on trying.
As you all know, we put our dear dog down on May 15th at 10:30 am. It was a really traumatic experience and we have all suffered in our own ways since. Kids are more resilient so they are getting over this loss quicker. We bought them stuffed toy dogs which they cuddle. This was Pit's idea. I still find dog hair here and there and we haven't put away Mowgli's bowls, bed and other items. I can't write anymore other than to say that if you have ever lived with a pet for more than a decade, then you'll know how quiet the house has become and how heavy our hearts are now.
On a happier note, I completed the Brussels' 20K even though I was quite sick leading up to race day and had almost no energy during the hot, sticky route. My head was pounding and I had to walk a lot. I really should have been in bed but after 5 months of training, running up vineyards in Italy, around fields of gold Colza in France, through thunderstorms and severe wind warning, hopping over fallen down trees in Brussels, I was not going to miss this event. I know I could have done a lot better than my 2 hours 33 minutes but there it is.
I will write again soon. It's a good habit. I just find that I get busy living and enjoying the kids and that is fun too...to enjoy it in the moment. But on the other hand, I don't want to forget...not a second of it.
Saturday, 15 December 2007
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!
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!
Sunday, 30 September 2007
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.
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.
Thursday, 2 August 2007
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
"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
