Sunday, February 10, 2013

Moments

As Alex mentioned that we did survive the great winter storm of 2013, with no loss of power or sanity! Whilst we are all feeling a bit of cabin fever - though digging out today prior to the plowman coming this afternoon in brilliant blue skies helped those feelings lessen. Also a bit of snowshoeing meant we got some more fresh air. We are not great winter people - though we try to see the beauty in these days whilst counting down the days to warmer times with no ice/snow/cold to contend with. Indeed we are nearly through the worst winter months for another year - and as we have noted in earlier posts - with illness and many other things 2013 hasn't been great so far - with the exception of Rafi and Charlie - and while both have been ill for seemingly most of the last five weeks - continue to make trying times a whole lot better. Indeed, moments of fun with the boys put everything into perspective...here a few regular things I've done with both of them...which despite trying moments are also great moments to experience with them, especially Raf at his age as his world gets bigger... Bat Bikes For the last few weeks - Rafi and I (and recently with Charlie in tow) have headed off to the local recreation center for 'open gym' for the under fives. There is a bouncy castle type thing, toys of all descriptions and at the far end an area for small bikes (peddles on the wheels deal). Usually Raf hasn't been too interested in the bikes though recently he has been more interested in the 'bat bike.' It's black, got buttons to press and stands out in contrast to the lighter colored ones which he hasn't shown any interest in. Previous weeks he has had this bike as much as he wanted - alas last week it was a point of contention with another little boy who was older, bigger and with friends. So for the majority of the time we were there - it was back and forth, trying to appease both boys as especially the older boy was trying to boss the situation - his Dad was over the other end with his younger son and was seemingly oblivious to the argy-bargy (English term), that I was trying to manage whilst trying to occupy Charlie who was not too happy at this point!! There were tears, slumps to the floor, pushing, offers to give the bike back then riding off, whilst I was trying to explain the concept of sharing mostly to Raf - who was dealing with it well as time went by. The other boy's Dad came over once - and shook his head and then went away again - not really helping as I was counting down the minutes and wishing they could possibly invest in a second or third 'bat bike' since other kids also joined in towards the end!! Oh boy! Library Every Saturday - Rafi and I head to the local library for about an hour after he has finished his gym class. Rafi loves to be read too - and having a new library over the last year (our old town didn't have one), has been great. It also has a train table with Thomas trains - which occupies Rafi's attention nearly all the time. I usually pick the books to read - since Rafi will randomly pick ones close to him with 'this one!' He does look at the fish, bash on an old type writer, manhandle a large soft toy penguin but it's the trains that he will spend most of his time with. As with the bikes - other little boys also gravitate to the table and depending on the week - it can go smoothly or need intervention. A certain CJ aged about six is into trains like Raf but seemingly doesn't like the reality of Rafi being so close and determined to play - and this can lead to much frustration for CJ. Rafi is usually unaware that his love of trains is driving someone else bonkers! The other boys Dad tries to help the situation with 'sharing' comments though that usually means CJ getting upset with his Dad and despite efforts to turn things around they usually leave under a cloud. Raf will usually be the last kid there - reluctant but happy to leave so the librarian can go home for lunch... Goodnight everyone!

2 comments:

  1. Rafi woke up and said, 'I love library books and I love library trains'. Funny boy.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This blog is going to be a great log of when the boys get older. I bet you two are already reading back over things going, "I forgot that he did that!"

    As far as your comment, Alex - I wonder if Rafi had been dreaming about the library. I always wonder about what kiddos dream about.

    Thanks for taking the time to share.

    ReplyDelete