Friday, September 21, 2012
Bump on Matthew's Head
Thursday, September 20, 2012
5773
A new year is beginning. Rosh Hashanna always gives me pause to reflect on the year that is closing, the year that is to come, and the many blessings in my life.
This year is no different, and yet like every year it is unique. The kids are in such a great place. When they were younger, as much as I appreciated and enjoyed every stage, I have to admit that I looked forward to an age that would be a bit easier and less laborious. Countless times I thought "this too shall pass", both as a way of coping with the challenges of the day but also to remind myself that the good parts of that stage would pass as well. I haven't thought that in a long time. Quite the opposite - i don't want this to pass at all. I want to relish it forever and hope that I remember the sweetness of this stage for all the years to come.
Samuel is fully school aged, or in his "second plane" of development from a Montessori perspective. Ever imaginative, dramatic and focused on what others think and feel - "these are the worst pants ever (in reference to corduroy pants he chose to wear when we said no sweat pants for Rosh Hashana). They make noise and everyone will hear the noise. And everyone will see my pants and talk about them, and think I'm stupid". He loves Lego and has changed his approach to building and playing with it. Before, he'd build it following the instructions and take it apart immediately to build something using his imagination. Now he keeps things built and plays with them intact. He loves anything science - experiments in the kitchen, MadScience camp, space, anatomy. His face lights up. He has lots of friends at school. we have great conversations based on both his curiosity and imagination. He still loves his stuffed animals, he puts them to bed on his shelf and gives them blankets (aka old pajamas), he pleads with us to take as many of them as he can anytime we go away.
Renee has such a pure laugh. They boys laugh more easily, but when she laughs its great. She loves being with me and often wants to be with no one else. At the same time though, we have terrible fights, over the tangles in her hair, at bedtime when i have the indignity to sing Matthew a song or tell him a story. She loves being in the kitchen and has a cookbook (Salad People - i highly recommend it) she loves to use. She has very strog gender affinity, she is a girl and she likes girls, boys are "yuck" and "stink", and she will not do any activity that has a boy teacher like trampoline, TaeKwon Do and the second part of camp. She is a total chatterbox, never stops talking and she never stops doing, whether its puzzles, reading, drawing, writing, she is always busy. She also loves beads which she calls beans "Mami, can we do my beans with the colours to make a bracelet". She has taken to looking at herself in the mirror and declaring that she she has "princess hair".
Matthew is so excited about so many things, everything from holding hands to being in a booster. he is now is a booster because in his words "i was growing so much yesterday, i focused on growing and i did". He loves playing with Samuel, one of their latest is playing "Deana jones" (as in Indiana Jones) where they chase each other around the house with Matthew shouting "Andy. Andy. Deanne Jones" to get Samuel's attention. He fall off his bike a few weeks ago at scrapped his chin, likely with the helmet strap. when the scab was falling off, he'd point to it and say "look Mami, the healing is happening and the scamp is falling off". One of his friends from school moved to Israel and Matthew misses him terribly, talks about him several times a day.
We have so much fun together. We had a great game of duck duck goose (changed to duck, duck, Luke and the you, you, Luke) with Samuel telling Matthew and Renee exactly what to say and do, and Matthew and Renee running in the same direction, all until they started rolling on the floor, kicking their legs and someone got hurt. They love swimming, octopus tag, what time is it Mr Wolf. The marble run game is also a huge hit right now and we've had many great afternoons of parallel lego play with them all working on individual structures and me taking turns helping each one.
At Rosh Hashanna, and at the beginning of every holiday, we say a blessing "baruch atah hashem eloheninu melech haolam, sheheheyanu vekyimanu, vehigiyamu lazman haze". Blessed are you Lord our Gd, King of the universe, for granting us life, sustaining us, bringing us go this season. To that i say amen.
Shana Tova Tikatevu.
This year is no different, and yet like every year it is unique. The kids are in such a great place. When they were younger, as much as I appreciated and enjoyed every stage, I have to admit that I looked forward to an age that would be a bit easier and less laborious. Countless times I thought "this too shall pass", both as a way of coping with the challenges of the day but also to remind myself that the good parts of that stage would pass as well. I haven't thought that in a long time. Quite the opposite - i don't want this to pass at all. I want to relish it forever and hope that I remember the sweetness of this stage for all the years to come.
Samuel is fully school aged, or in his "second plane" of development from a Montessori perspective. Ever imaginative, dramatic and focused on what others think and feel - "these are the worst pants ever (in reference to corduroy pants he chose to wear when we said no sweat pants for Rosh Hashana). They make noise and everyone will hear the noise. And everyone will see my pants and talk about them, and think I'm stupid". He loves Lego and has changed his approach to building and playing with it. Before, he'd build it following the instructions and take it apart immediately to build something using his imagination. Now he keeps things built and plays with them intact. He loves anything science - experiments in the kitchen, MadScience camp, space, anatomy. His face lights up. He has lots of friends at school. we have great conversations based on both his curiosity and imagination. He still loves his stuffed animals, he puts them to bed on his shelf and gives them blankets (aka old pajamas), he pleads with us to take as many of them as he can anytime we go away.
Renee has such a pure laugh. They boys laugh more easily, but when she laughs its great. She loves being with me and often wants to be with no one else. At the same time though, we have terrible fights, over the tangles in her hair, at bedtime when i have the indignity to sing Matthew a song or tell him a story. She loves being in the kitchen and has a cookbook (Salad People - i highly recommend it) she loves to use. She has very strog gender affinity, she is a girl and she likes girls, boys are "yuck" and "stink", and she will not do any activity that has a boy teacher like trampoline, TaeKwon Do and the second part of camp. She is a total chatterbox, never stops talking and she never stops doing, whether its puzzles, reading, drawing, writing, she is always busy. She also loves beads which she calls beans "Mami, can we do my beans with the colours to make a bracelet". She has taken to looking at herself in the mirror and declaring that she she has "princess hair".
Matthew is so excited about so many things, everything from holding hands to being in a booster. he is now is a booster because in his words "i was growing so much yesterday, i focused on growing and i did". He loves playing with Samuel, one of their latest is playing "Deana jones" (as in Indiana Jones) where they chase each other around the house with Matthew shouting "Andy. Andy. Deanne Jones" to get Samuel's attention. He fall off his bike a few weeks ago at scrapped his chin, likely with the helmet strap. when the scab was falling off, he'd point to it and say "look Mami, the healing is happening and the scamp is falling off". One of his friends from school moved to Israel and Matthew misses him terribly, talks about him several times a day.
We have so much fun together. We had a great game of duck duck goose (changed to duck, duck, Luke and the you, you, Luke) with Samuel telling Matthew and Renee exactly what to say and do, and Matthew and Renee running in the same direction, all until they started rolling on the floor, kicking their legs and someone got hurt. They love swimming, octopus tag, what time is it Mr Wolf. The marble run game is also a huge hit right now and we've had many great afternoons of parallel lego play with them all working on individual structures and me taking turns helping each one.
At Rosh Hashanna, and at the beginning of every holiday, we say a blessing "baruch atah hashem eloheninu melech haolam, sheheheyanu vekyimanu, vehigiyamu lazman haze". Blessed are you Lord our Gd, King of the universe, for granting us life, sustaining us, bringing us go this season. To that i say amen.
Shana Tova Tikatevu.
Monday, September 17, 2012
Dinner and Bed time conversations
A few random conversations from last week.
At dinner, Matthew "choked" on a piece of a tostada shell (I think he took a bite that was too big). After we had all recovered, he declared "Now I'm not chocked and my breathing doesn't hurt".
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Renee continues to be obsessed with rubbing ears for comfort and during bed time. It is not a gentle rubbing, I have calluses on my ear lobes, they have stretched enough that there are some earings that i cant wear, when her nails are long my ears have even bled - needless to say I've been trying to wean her off my ears but with limited success. One night at bedtime, Renee said "Let's talk. We'll take turns, I go first and then your turn. OK Mami, I like ears. You will be my friend if you let me rub ears, now it's your turn". I responded "Renee, it hurts me when you rub my ears". She said "OK Mami, my turn now. I really, really like ears. You won't be my friend. Pleeeaaase ears" with her hands trying every angle to get to my ears. Me: "Renee, no ears. It hurts". Renee "my turn. If you love me, it doesn't hurt", and so on for a few more turns.
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Me: Matthew, what's your Hebrew name
Matthew: i dont know
Me: Mo . .
Matthew: Moshe Shlomo
Me: Renee what's your Hebrew name
Renee: I don't know
Me: Ma . .
Renee: Mazal tov
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I was finishing up a conference call for work when the kids came home from school. Samuel wanted to talk to me so I asked him to wait a minute. He responded by saying "thats it. I quit this family". Thankfully he decided to stay.
At dinner, Matthew "choked" on a piece of a tostada shell (I think he took a bite that was too big). After we had all recovered, he declared "Now I'm not chocked and my breathing doesn't hurt".
---------
Renee continues to be obsessed with rubbing ears for comfort and during bed time. It is not a gentle rubbing, I have calluses on my ear lobes, they have stretched enough that there are some earings that i cant wear, when her nails are long my ears have even bled - needless to say I've been trying to wean her off my ears but with limited success. One night at bedtime, Renee said "Let's talk. We'll take turns, I go first and then your turn. OK Mami, I like ears. You will be my friend if you let me rub ears, now it's your turn". I responded "Renee, it hurts me when you rub my ears". She said "OK Mami, my turn now. I really, really like ears. You won't be my friend. Pleeeaaase ears" with her hands trying every angle to get to my ears. Me: "Renee, no ears. It hurts". Renee "my turn. If you love me, it doesn't hurt", and so on for a few more turns.
-------------
Me: Matthew, what's your Hebrew name
Matthew: i dont know
Me: Mo . .
Matthew: Moshe Shlomo
Me: Renee what's your Hebrew name
Renee: I don't know
Me: Ma . .
Renee: Mazal tov
---------
I was finishing up a conference call for work when the kids came home from school. Samuel wanted to talk to me so I asked him to wait a minute. He responded by saying "thats it. I quit this family". Thankfully he decided to stay.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
First Week of School
He came home on day 2 super proud of the venus tracing he did, and took it and the Jupiter and Saturn ones out of his lunch bag as soon as he got in the car on Friday.
Matthew and Renee had good first week too. Renee took another girl to the "peace table" (where kids resolve conflicts, have quiet time) on the first day of school to explain to her why she was wrong. She had a huge breakdown at dinner, putting food onto the floor and spitting in the pitcher of water. After that though she seemed to have a great week.
Matthew had a good week. He misses a friend who moved to Israel but is having lots of fun with a little girl whose mom I've known for 25 years. The week before school, he and Renee went to the camp at the school and everyday he asked if it was Tuesday and was disappointed when we said no. We thoughts he was excited to go back to school. Finally Tuesday came. When I picked him up at school he was in a terrible mood. Turns out he had been looking forward to Tuesday because that was Tae Kwon Do day at school last year, not really related to school.
Now we just need to figure out how we get to school on time.
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network
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