Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Never known a boy like it


We´re in Spain at the moment. Very sadly Rafi´s grandpa, my dad, `passed away yesterday. We´re of course devastated by the loss, and especially for Rafi who loved his grandpa very much. My parents were getting ready to fly to join us for the holidays, and it was all my dad could talk about these last couple of weeks following an illness. My dad was incredibly kind and we were very, very close. He would always say, when talking about Raf, ´I´ve never known a boy like it´.

Very, very sad times.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Tuesday's at Nursery

Raf has been having some hard drop offs at school recently, with some crying and clinging. Of course as soon as we leave he's happy as Larry, but it is sad to see him struggling. So it was lovely reading his little journal this evening as he had a great day! Mind you, he almost always has a fantastic time at nursery - except when he's feeling under the weather.

"Rafi, Rory, and Sawyer did a fantastic job taking turns this morning! We have a new push toy in the classroom and the boys all love working their big gross motor muscles with it. We used the clock to time their turns, practicing number recognition and patience too!

For circle time we had special guest Miss Alyssa join us as she came for a visit during her holiday break from the Maine Maritime Academy. The kids loved seeing her and showing off their newly acquired skills :) We sang songs, did some fast movement songs, practiced deep breathing, Qi Gong and the Warrior Pose before marching with instruments to their favorite 'What is Yoga?' We also have started charging our new citrine wand with good chi by passing it around the circle and thinking happy thoughts.

Outside Rafi again loved digging around in the leaves and tossing up big armfuls! He also played with the bulldozer, ran with Sawyer and Rory and played on the slide.

What a great day!"

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Halloween!

This is obviously a little late, but we've been so busy the past few weeks and haven't had a chance to blog about Halloween! So a few pics and an overview of our day.

Raf doesn't go to nursery on a Monday but his school were having a Halloween party so we all headed there for a morning Halloween parade of all the little ones in their costumes. Raf was a scarecrow but because of a) his dislike of hats, and b) the size of his head - refused to wear the very funny hat that came with the outfit. Never mind, as his hair was perfect for the occasion! We took some goodies, and much to our shame and dismay, we were the only parents to bring 'bad' food: vegan chocolate 'spiders' and vegan sugar cookies decorated with all sort of bright, luminous sprinkles, which contained probably hideous dyes and preservatives. Eek.

Everyone looked so sweet in their outfits, and though Raf clung to me to like a little barnacle, it was funny seeing him with his little friends. Soon enough we were all headed outside so we could parade around the town. Given there was snow on the ground we didn't get too far, but it was a lot of fun. Raf sat in the buggy and insisted on holding my hand the entire way around. He also held the hand of is little friend sat next to him!




After the parade everyone had a nice snack (including the bad food we bought) and Raf started to untether himself from me. Toward the end he was having a good time with his friends, brothers Sawyer and Colby.


When we got home Raf had fun painting a pumpkin. It looked so beautiful afterward, and that weekend we made two very delicious pumpkin pies out of Raf's offering.



Sadly, our camera's battery died when we headed to Noah and Stacey's house for some trick or treating. I had to rely on my iPhone, which didn't do a very good job in the dark, but still, you can get a glimpse of Raf.

It was very funny because Raf doesn't really know what candy is and hasn't shown any interest, so Rich and I thought that he's be fairly reserved about collecting the sweets and goodies. But, this was far from the case! He bulldozed past everyone to get to the first house and had a lovely time filling his little pumpkin bag as we went from house to house. He had no clue what he was collecting, but enjoyed very much the process of going to people's houses and popping his hand in the bowl.




He didn't show any interest in eating any of the candy, either, though I suspect that next year's Halloween might be very different!

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Tuesday's at Nursery

"Raf had a fun day playing with his pals. He's really been learning a lot about cooperative play and taking turns. This morning we had an awesome dance party! Rafi always looks so happy when immersed in musical pursuits. Then we had circle time with some favorite songs, fitness, and discussions about feelings.

Outside, Rafi and Sawyer played in the leaves and on the slide, and he and Rory raced so 'fast' around the yard :)"

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Sunday with Raf.

It has been a very difficult week in the Poppet household and today we were due a nice day. We all woke up with little sniffles but decided that we'd get out of the house for a little expedition. First, though, I whipped up some pancakes with Rafi's help. He does like to help in the kitchen. Here he is pouring in some flour followed by a bit of stirring. Then, though, he heard a favourite song come on and he got down from the stool and had a bit of a dance.



The time for Raf's nap was rapidly approaching so I packed up some sandwiches and soup and we bundled Raf in the car and decided to check on the progress of our new house we're building and find a nice spot to have lunch outside. Of course Raf didn't fall asleep until we were almost at the house so after stopping briefly to look through the window we got back in the car and made our way to the Rachel Carson preserve in Kennebunkport. We had our lunch - though Raf was a wee bit distracted by another family at the next table.



The loop around the preserve is just a mile but I did fear that I'd be holding Raf all the way around as he was not at first enjoying his new shoes. But, soon he realized that he would be able to run the entire way without being encumbered with doggies and passing cars. He had a fantastic time! He was so fast! He's definitely running like a little boy now, and less like a toddler.










Raf had such a happy day. We all did! He was exhausted when he got home and ran around like a lunatic! Thank goodness for this little boy.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Mama, Mummy, Mummis!

Raf has really learned the power of the word "Mama". I've been moving to the spare room in the middle of the night as I've been a bit poorly, but of course Raf wakes up without me there. This morning, from downstairs, I could hear him shouting "Mama, Mummy, Mummy, Mamis, Mummis..." all variations on the same 'mama'. I was too sick to get out of bed, and it wasn't even 5am! Soon I could hear that Rich had gotten him back to sleep.

But the shouting of 'Mama' (or one of the variations) is something I hear all day and all night. Rich picked up Raf from nursery this evening, and as soon as they were out the house I could hear Raf shouting for 'mummy, mummy, mama, mummis, etc.' It is really sweet and endearing but it's a constant chant, it seems! After his bath tonight, Rich and I both were in the bathroom getting Raf dry and dressed, and, there again, he started his chanting. I'm going to have to try and catch it on film as it's incredibly lovely.

He also does shout "dada, daddy, da', but mostly it's mama, mama, mama!

One day I'll be too embarrassing for him and he won't even acknowledge that I'm his mum, so I'll take it for now.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Trip to the Beach

To cheer ourselves up we popped to the beach this afternoon, which is very near to where we'll be moving in just over a month (fingers crossed).

Here are s few of my favourite shots. Raf had a lovely time running up and down the beach, chasing his ball.




On trains and discipline

I don't think that Rich and I had our best parenting moment, yesterday. Somewhat unexpectedly we popped into the new big bookstore that's taken over from Borders. Now, Raf loved Borders. He loved playing with all the little toys and reading all the train books he could find, so we were excited to find that this new store has a very similar set-up. Except.... it sells Thomas the Tank Engine merchandise. Specifically, it has an entire podium dedicated almost entirely to very overpriced wooden Thomas trains and his many, many friends!

To say that Raf is passionate about trains would be understating how much he loves them. Thus it was no surprise when he scurried toward the trains and set his sights on having EVERY single train. Usually Raf is pretty good humoured about things and will make an attempt to secure many trains but will happily come away with just one, or even none. For instance, every time we go food shopping Raf puts at least 2 or 3 Thomas DVDs in the shopping trolley, and when we get to the till to pay we ask the cashier to put them back for us, and Raf is fine. Well, yesterday, Raf saw a wooden Gordon train and started shouting 'Gord, Gord, Gord', and taking as many 'Gords' as he could off the shelf and bundling them in his arms. I took some of the trains off him and he was really cross!

Trying to reason with a not very verbal 2 year old, I said, "Raf, you can have one Gordon", and then he proceeded to grab James, Percy, Edward, and Bash! Mind you, he only has little arms.... He was being quite loud and since I hate to be 'that' family, I again try to reason with him, 'Raf, you can have one train but you need to shush and put the rest back'.

This had no impact whatsoever, as more knowledgeable readers of this blog will have predicted. But we were left with a dilemma... should we buy this very over-priced wooden train when Raf is being a bit of a dink? So we hemmed and hawed as Raf still cried, and instead of buying it, we put it back and I did the walk of shame through the store with a very upset Rafi.

I didn't feel good about what happened and I'm left wondering if our expectations of him were too high, and whether we should have bought the train. By the time we were in the car and driving away he was actually fine. Of course now I'm planning on getting that damn train for him...!