Sunday, September 25, 2011

Apple Picking

I've been a terrible blogger this month, and I'm behind here and behind on reading others' blogs. I will catch up! I am back to work now, which is why I've been so terrible, but I;m going to make much more of an effort.

Today we had a fantastic day/ The truth is we are all so busy and we should have spent the day working and catching up. But what are you to do when, at the end of September, it's close to 80 degrees?! So this morning we headed out for a family bike ride on the trail and then all swam in one of our favourtie ponds. We'll post about that later because this afternoon we went apple picking....

We had such a nice time. Raf tried to pick up a big pumpkin, and the picked some plums and apples... though his very favourite job was pushing the cart and then eating all the apples. Here's our post about the same trip last year. How did Raf get so big!?

Last year











Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Books In The Bed

Going to bed with Rafi every night can be quite an experience, never knowing how the next hour or two will pan out. Historically Rafi has not been too easy getting to sleep, and his crib remains empty after we abandoned plans to transfer him there after falling asleep in our bed, since he wasn't lasting more than an hour there.
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So we head to bed - though recently Raf is usually clutching something - usually a train, after we have whittled down the armful of trains to one or two. I made the mistake recently of letting him take Al's phone up with him, thinking a few train videos wouldn't hurt and he would fall asleep to them. Well, I fell asleep only awaking to Al coming into the bedroom shocked to see - yes, Rafi still watching videos after at least 45 minutes of continuous viewing. Also another mistake has been leaving the I-pad in view, since he will repeatedly cry 'I-par' and I'm left trying to divert his attention to a pile of books I usually lay out on the bed beforehand. So we read, Rafi is at the stage where he will listen, point at the book's content and then hand you another book, and repeat until we get through the pile - I've been wise recently and reduced the pile as the reading minutes were getting quite high and Daddy's eyelids were getting very, very heavy. The Gruffalo is a current favourite, so we read that every night. At this point, Raf might be wavering or climbing up the bed frame, or grasping or spilling a water bottle he clings to, or trying to find the train he has lost in the bed. Every night is slightly different, and yet finally the wee boy falls to sleep, sometimes Daddy is not to far behind given a dark room. Other days, I slip out and we enjoy a few hours sans Rafi. Later, going to bed it's lovely to see a spread-eagled Rafi sleeping soundly and I just have to remove a few books from the bed before joining him in zzzz...

Monday, September 12, 2011

Bouncing with the Big Boys

On Saturday, we attended a work function for Al's colleagues - and there was a trampoline which caught Rafi's eye straightaway. However it was being used by many other older kids for most of the evening, though Raf was still going back and forth clearly happy to watch them as they bounced around and into each other with a lot of vigor. Until one parent suggested that they let Rafi on whilst they had a break - so still clinging to his trains we hoisted him up, as the boys sat around the edge. As you can see - he had a great time, falling over, collecting up his trains and spinning endlessly around...

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Sweet Rafi

I love reading the little journal entries Raf's teachers write in his book. I can just imagine him doing some of the things they describe. Here are a couple of entries from this week so far. I'm always brimming with pride when I read about his days and his blossoming friendships :)

"Rafi is so generous with sharing his things, especially special 'things' from home. He loves it when we read his favorite Peppa Pig books aloud in class and he offered to let Sawyer play with Molly his train in the afternoon :)

We did quite a bit of yoga during circle time. Raf seems to like the more active poses best, like 'cat/cow' and bear walking. He's doing GREAT with his deep breathing!

I think he found a friend in Mr. Kelsey in the morning - he was reluctant to let go his hand! <3"


And this is from today....

"Rafi was really interested in dramatic play in the kitchen today. The whole group worked together and had fun feeding the teachers lots of yummy treats! he was really attentive during story time especially liking 'Freight Train'. We made some homemade playdough for art. Rafi squished his into a ball then stuck popsicle sticks all over it - so cute!

Then he and Sawyer played peek-a-boo in the pop-up tunnels. They really enjoy other's company so much. Rafi made me smile today as he made kissing noises after lunch! He is so sweet and funny; we love having him here in class :)"

Friday, September 2, 2011

Life of (Lord) Riley..



As you can see, life for Rafi this morning was very relaxing! Taking off his shorts & nappy, grabbing the i-phone to watch Thomas train videos via youtube, he was very happy before we headed off to Kennebunk to ride a restored tram, though for our purposes it was a choo-choo train!