Faith – A Bit of This A Bit of That

November 5, 2017

Your Favourite Things – Faith

TV programme:  Anything horse or unicorn related.
iPhone App: You have a number of horse games, where you raise a horse from a foal.
Meal:  Peanut butter sandwiches (this is a default because you dont like anything else).
Fruit:  Bananas.
Vegetable:  Carrots.
Breakfast:  Chocolate cereal. Duh!
Drink:  Strawberry Banana juice.
Toy:  Does the iPad count?
You love: Horses!!

Something that happened yesterday: We went to watch Aaron ride his new bike, you took your scooter with but spent most of the time hanging upside down off the handrail on the steps. My little monkey!

September 4, 2017September 4, 2017

Wooooosh!

That’s the sound of another year flying past us.

On 1st September Aaron and Faith started their new school year.

Aaron is now in Grade 4 and Faith is in Grade 2.

For Faith this means she is now part of the main school, she gets to play where ever the rest of the school plays. The Grade 1’s were restricted to their own playground that they shared with the Grade 0’s, so this is a big step for her.

It also means there is no more sandpit for her to play in which means no more sandpit coming home in her shoes and pockets. Yay for me!

She is also going to aftercare every day, where they will hopefully help her with homework since I am useless with most of it.

So far she is loving being in ‘big’ school.

Aaron, on the other hand, no longer has aftercare. He is now in Grade 4 so both the school aftercare and the private aftercare say he is big enough to look after himself in the afternoons.

::puts head between knees, takes deep breaths::

My baby is almost 10 and is now coming home from school all on his own. Making himself something to eat. All on his own. Doing his homework. All on his own. Looking after himself until one of us gets home. All. On. His. OWN!

But I think this child will be just fine. No, I know he will. He is a smart, independent, compassionate boy.

Here’s just one of the reasons I think this child is awesome!

Yesterday when he went home, the downstairs neighbours dog was outside. He called me to ask what he should do. I told him to knock on the door and if no one answered to try open their garden gate or try pick her up and put her over the fence.

They were not home, he couldn’t open the gate and she was too heavy (and growly) for him to lift, so I told him to leave her, I was sure her humans would be home soon and its not the first time she has been out, she never strays far and waits near the door for them anyway.

He wouldn’t hear of it. Told me it was too hot and she couldn’t stay by herself. So he coaxed her into our place, gave her a bowl of water and she then proceeded to climb on my couch and lick and bite herself for an hour, leaving a big wet slobber patch and half her hair all over my couch.

But my sweet, kind hearted boy refused to leave her vulnerable. He makes my mama heart so proud.

Here’s to a new school year. May it be as awesome as my children are!

March 26, 2017

Your Favourite Things – Faith

TV programme:  You love She-Ra and He-Man.
iPhone App: You have a music app that you use to create songs on Abba’s iPad.
Meal:  As long as it involves chocolate its your favourite.
Fruit:  Apples and bananas.
Vegetable:  You love eating trees (broccoli) and clouds (cauliflower).
Breakfast:  Chocolate cereal. Duh!
Drink:  Strawberry juice.
Toy:  You love the new headphones we bought you. Now you can listen to the music you make without driving us nuts.
You love: Chocolate, your taggies and swimming (You cant wait for the pool to open for the summer).

Something that happened yesterday: We went to see the new Beauty and the Beast, you loved it but every time there was a scary part you grabbed my hand and put it over your eyes. You also have such a sensitive soul, you cried when the bad guy dies.

May 25, 2016May 25, 2016

Oh the guilt!

Oh the guilt! The guilt is strong in me today.

On Saturday, Faith took a tumble on the grass. She landed on her right arm (the same one she broke before). She told us it was sore, but there was no bruising or swelling and she could move it, so we figured it was just bruised.

Oh the guilt!

On Sunday it was still sore. It was also still not swollen or bruised and she could move it. So we gave her a bit of Neurofen and she was okay.

Oh the guilt!

Yesterday morning (3 days later!!) she complained to me while we were getting dressed that her arm was still sore. We finished getting dressed and I took her to school. I fully intended to mention to Paul that she was still sore and maybe we should take her to the doc but I forgot.

Oh the guilt!

By the time Paul got home last night she was really miserable, her arm was sore and she refused to use it. So he took her to casualty where they x-rayed it and yes, she has a fracture in her forearm. They gave her a temporary cast and a sling.

Oh the guilt!

I feel awful that we didn’t take her right away. Or at the least the next day when she was still complaining it was sore.

Rule of thumb is that if they complain about something being sore and then forget about the pain when they wake up the next day it wasn’t something bad, if they still complain, check it out. And I didn’t check it out! Dammit! I should have checked in out!

Oh the guilt!

She is, thank heavens, fine. She was a bit concerned about going to school this morning and a bit overwhelmed by all the kids coming to check out her cast. But all in all she was happy. She picked up a marker in her left hand and just started drawing, no issues, so I don’t think she will have any problems not using her right hand.

Now if only I could let go of all the guilt!!

May 11, 2016May 9, 2016

Your Favourite Things – Faith

TV programme: Paw patrol, Peppa Pig, Avengers cartoons.
iPhone App: You enjoy Dots on the iPad and you like plating Minecraft with your brother.
Meal: Not pizza! You really dont like pizza and will eat pretty much anything other than pizza.
Fruit: Apples and grapes.
Vegetable: Sweetcorn and carrots.
Breakfast: As long as it has chocolate in it you love it. Nothing’s changed.
Drink: Juice and water.
Toy: Your brothers light saber, the little Star Wars figurines that come in the yogurt packs we buy and your Elsa doll.
You love: The park, especially the swings. You enjoy riding a bike. Your taggies, especially the pink one. Wearing dresses and skirts.

Something that happened yesterday: You walked into your classroom, in fact the building where your classroom is all by your self. You’ve been doing this for a few weeks now and it makes me realise just how big you are really getting.

December 13, 2015

Neighbourly Neighbours

On Thursday afternoon, while on the way to a work fun evening, I received a message from our babysitter that she was ill and wouldn’t be able to fetch the kids. The problem was that, because it is Chanukah holidays, the kids finished their after school program earlier than usual and there was no way Paul or I could get to fetch them on time.

We panicked. Paul called a variety of our friends who have kids at school with ours but they were all unavailable. Aunty Roro (who has been my saving grace before in an emergency) was not at home either. In the mean time, I had hopped on a bus to get back to my office so I could catch my regular bus home and Paul was at the train station waiting for the next train.

The after care teacher had called me to see where we were as she needed to leave and a mom who was at the school waiting for her kid to finish an extramural said she could wait another 15 minutes with my kids. At this point I was at least 1 hour and 15 minutes away and Paul was an hour away.

That’s when Paul had a genius idea. He contacted our neighbour who has 3 children, 2 older boys and a girl Faith’s age. As it turns out, the oldest boy was able to run up the road and pick up Aaron and Faith and take them to their apartment.

When Paul got there about 45 minutes later they were all happy and playing and pretty much unaware of the crisis.

I’m not sure what we would have done without our amazing neighbours. We took them some yummy donuts as a thank you and from now on, Aaron will have a key to our apartment just in case they need to walk home from school. I’ve said before how hard it is not having immediate family close by but I can say that our neighbours and friends are a huge part of a village that is raising our children.

September 6, 2015

Z is for…

Today, in the bath, Faith asked me what happens when we stop breathing.

I didnt want to outright say we would die, I mean she’s only 4, so I said that if we stopped breathing our brains wouldn’t work anymore.

She thought about this for a moment and then said, ‘If we didn’t have brains we would be… zombies!’ This was accompanied by hand/claw gestures and growling.

At this point was so proud of her I could have squealed*.

Faith chose this pic to include in the post, in her own words, 'Awww Hello Kitty Zombie is soooo cute!' — Faith chose this pic to include in the post, in her own words, ‘Awww Hello Kitty Zombie is soooo cute!’

She then goes on to say, ‘And I like the word zombie, you know why? Because it sounds like zzzzzzzzzzzzz. Also Z is for Zod from Superman.’

Paul and I definitely did something good with this kid!

*Fine, there was actual squealing.

August 31, 2015September 2, 2015

School meet & greet

Two months of school vacation is almost over! At one point I really really didn’t think we would make it through in one piece.

But here we are, a day away from the new school year.

Last night we had the kids orientation meetings.

Faith has moved from her small kindergarten (Gan – גן) to the equivalent of Grade R or Grade 0. And she is now going to the same school as Aaron. Quite a few of the kids from her Gan have also moved to the new school and there are a few kids from other kindergartens that are joining them. There are about 25 children in her class. Her teacher seems really sweet and friendly.

When we got there the children had to colour in an apple (or a pomegranate, I’m not sure, its the first project for Rosh Hashanah) with their name on it and the parents had to write a note for the kids on a little cut out of a dove that will be given to them when school starts. Then all the kids went into the main classroom with the teacher and she read them a story about starting school. When that was finished the children had to go and find their lockers and look inside. Inside each locker was a note from the teacher wishing them luck and a sucker. Really really sweet. By the time the 45 minutes were up, Faith was quite comfortable and had picked out the friends she knew from before and made a few new ones.

A bit later we went to Aaron’s meeting in his new classroom. We were supposed to bring his stationery with but something got lost in translation. Oops. One of his friends shared his though so that was good. It seems that all the kids from his 1st Grade class move up to 2nd grade in the same class, which for our anxious boy is a good thing as he doesn’t have to make all new friends again. Speaking of anxious, he is already starting to worry about the new class and the new teacher (who is very sweet) and the work he will have to do. We have tried to explain that he will be fine, that he knows all the kids and that he knows the alphabet and the math that he needs to know. I’m sure he will settle quickly. The teacher was very sweet, when she had them all sitting she asked them who had a sore tummy (which is one of Aarons anxiety symptoms) and quite a few kids put their hands up. I think its a great way for the kids to see that they are not alone.

He was quite excited when he got home. They both were. I think they like the idea that they are going to the same school too.

So school starts tomorrow. I’m not sure who is more excited/anxious/nervous/happy, me or the kids!

May 28, 2015

Our First* Play Date

*First play date at our house. The kids have been to many play dates at their friends but we didn’t have any furniture or any of their toys so we put off play dates at us until now.

So the day before yesterday each of the kids invited a friend over.

Neither of the friends speak English. And I barely speak Hebrew. But that’s OK. My kids speak both English and Hebrew. Yes, you read that correctly. My kids are bilingual! I have never been more proud of them. They were thrown in the deep end and they have swum!

Back to the play date. Aaron and his friend were fine. They played games, played hide and seek, ran around, ate ice lollies and generally looked after themselves. Faiths friend was also OK, they painted pictures and coloured in a Frozen colouring book and then they had a disagreement about playing something.Her friend started to cry and I could not console her. I just didn’t have the words in Hebrew and what words I did have went straight out my head. We landed up calling her mom to come fetch her and while we were waiting she cried herself to sleep on the couch.

My heart was breaking. I felt so helpless. Poor child was so upset and I could not comfort her.

This was a motivation for me to keep learning more Hebrew. Especially when it comes to kids. In fact I am more intimidated by the kids than the adults. At least with adults they understand that my Hebrew is minimal and they either speak English to me or help with the Hebrew I don’t know. Kids on the other hand cannot fathom that I don’t speak Hebrew and that I cannot understand them. They think its hysterical when I look at them blankly. My kids roll their eyes and translate for me. I am definitely learning on the fly with these kids.

Bottom line is that I need to learn more Hebrew and we will keep having play dates because that’s an awesome way for me to learn 🙂

April 15, 2015April 14, 2015

Your favourite things – Faith

TV programme: You watch a variety of things on YouTube, most notably Frozen videos.
iPhone App: You like playing Two Dots on my phone.
Meal: Schnitzel. Corn or chicken, you dont care as long as its schnitzel.
Fruit: Bananas and apples and grapes. Oh my!
Vegetable: Sweetcorn, carrots and cucumbers.
Breakfast: As long as it has chocolate in it you love it.
Drink: ‘Red’ juice, just like Aaron.
Toy: You have a little Lego genie figurine and a Boba Fett figurine, they go everywhere with you.
You love: The park, especially the swings.

Something that happened yesterday: The day before yesterday you went to play at a friend without me going with you. Granted, Aaron was with you and the friend is the neighbour across the hall and you were running between the two apartments so I was close, but you went there on your own and that is huge!