Seriously, the summer vacation just flew by and I have a blog post brewing about all the fun things we did.
But in the meantime, Faith and Aaron have gone back to school.
Faith is now in Kita Gimmel (3rd grade) and Aaron is now in Kita Hay (5th grade).
Can they slow down just a bit please?
A friend posted these questions on FB and I grabbed them for my kids.
Starting with Faith
And now for Aaron
I’ve spoken before about how amazing my kids are in regards to learning Hebrew. How that, within the 1st few months of living in Israel, they were already able to hold a conversation with their friends, teachers and the cashiers at the supermarket.
The fact is that both kids are now fluent. They even know words in Hebrew that they don’t know the English for. Lots of dictionary looking up going on over here.
One of the things that struck me this week is that Faith tends to speak Hebrew when she is playing by herself. I often listen to her playing with her dolls or other toys and speaking in Hebrew to them and making them speak in Hebrew. She very rarely speaks to her dolls in English. She also sings in Hebrew all the time.
Its interesting to me because I don’t think Aaron would do it if he still played with his dolls and action figures by himself (he tends to prefer reading when he is by himself now).
When they play together, just the two of them, they will play in English with a few random Hebrew words or phrases thrown in. When they play together and they have friends over, they speak Hebrew mostly but they switch to English when they are telling each other what to do or fighting about something. I have to keep reminding them that they must speak Hebrew even if it doesn’t involve their friends because its rude to speak English in front of people who don’t understand.
Totally fascinating how they have adjusted.
Back in South Africa, when our kids were sick they either stayed home with our nanny, Aletta or if they were ok to go to school and then didn’t feel well, Nana or Bobba could fetch them and take them to their house or back to our house to be with Aletta.
If If they needed to go to the doctor, both Paul and I worked close enough to home to be able to pop out and fetch them and then drop them back home and go back to work.
Having sick kids in Israel has been one of the steepest learning curves we have faced.
No Aletta.
No Nana or Bobba.
We each work at least an hours bus and/or train ride away from home.
If the kids are so sick they cant go to school, one of us has to take a day off work to stay with them.
Luckily Paul can work from home if he has to and my boss and manager are very understanding about needing to take time off for sick kids.
Faith has been sick the last few days. Not enough to stay home (except for the first day) but sick enough that this is the third day the school has called us to fetch her just after lunch time because she is coughing (sometimes so much she vomits) and is just generally feeling yuck.
That means that I left work early the last two days and Paul left early today to fetch her.
Its hard without that immediate support system that we had before. But living in a country where a lot of people are in the same position we are in makes it easier. We also get to spend time with the kids when they are extra cuddly and clingy and just want mom or dad to be with them, which besides the sick part, is awesome.
Now for the little sicky to start getting better!
On Thursday Aaron was at a play date. They have a rather large and friendly dog who loves to play. Aaron is very aware of the protocol for greeting ‘strange’ dogs, ask permission from the humans, hand out first so the dog can sniff him and then play gently. The kids must have been a bit rough with the dog because Aaron got bitten on his arm. Thank heavens he was wearing a hoody and a long sleeve T. The bite broke the skin but didn’t bleed and we landed up having an anti-tet shot (which he has amusingly been calling a anti-TIT shot). Thank heavens the experience didn’t scare him off dogs, he is still eager to play with any dog we come across.
On Saturday we were at our cousins for tea and the kids were playing in the garden, there was a flower bed/rockery that Faith was climbing in and she must have tripped over a rock and she landed on her right wrist. It swelled up immediately and she wouldnt move her arm. So off we went to the ER and an hour or so, and a few x-rays later we discovered she has a green stick fracture in her wrist. She is in a soft cast for a few days and on Wednesday I will take her for a hard cast. Poor poppet was a bit miserable but she seems fine now and she has adjusted to using her left hand without any fuss. Such a little trooper!
Then on Saturday night, Aaron and I cleaned Ben the hamsters cage and played with him for a bit before bed time. Sometime in the night Ben managed to break his back leg and when Aaron took him out to play with him in the morning he noticed it. We rushed poor little Ben to the vet and were given three options, pin the leg and keep it immobile for six weeks, amputate or put the little thing down. The first two options were risky in that he may not have survived the surgery and they would also mean he would have been in pain for quite some time. I couldn’t put the poor boy through that so we made the decision to send him to the big hamster wheel in the sky. Faith didn’t seem to really care when I explained it to them, she was more interested with the picture of the anatomy of a dog on the wall. Aaron was a bit upset but he accepted that Ben wouldnt be in pain and that he was going to heaven. He was quite happy when I told him that Uncle Cliffy would look after him.
So, all in all an adventurous few days. Lets hope that when they say bad things happen in threes they are right and we are done now.
So Aaron, who’s is 6, has been asking me about sleepovers. Not at Nana or Bobba but with friends.
He doesn’t seem too keen to sleep at someone else but he wants someone to sleep at him.
I’m not keen on either!
When did your kids start having sleepovers?
Have you seen my new header? Look up.
The lovely Tanya at {Snapping Turtle Design & Print} designed my blog theme and kindly allowed me to bug her into updating 2 of the pictures in my header.
I cannot get over how big my kids have gotten!
Ps. If you cant see the new header hit ‘F5’ to refresh 😉
In less than 2 months the kids and I will be jetting off to Israel for my brothers wedding.
What the hell do I pack?
For me? For the kids?
Thank heavens the kids each get a full 20kg luggage allowance but still… what the hell do I take with?
The weather will still be pretty warm (end of Summer beginning of Autumn), so at least the clothes will mostly be light weight. Im more concerned with toys/fluffy bed companions for the kids.
Also, carry on luggage for the kids. How much stuff do they need on the plane?
I am taking the kids iPad and my iPad mini (which I am getting on the weekend). I dont know wether to take the LeapPad. I will also take some paper and crayons but what else?
Who has been on a long haul flight, with a 3/4 hour layover? Help me out here. What did you take with for your kids?
On Monday I took Aaron to meet my mom for a cup of coffee.
She bought each of the kids a small present. Aaron’s was a foam air gun. One of those contraptions where you put the rocket, dart or ball in the front of the gun then squeeze the handle and the air forces the projectile forward.
Both Paul and I had spoken to Aaron about not shooting the gun towards people, to make sure that everyone was behind him or to shoot towards the floor. We told him that even though the balls, darts and rockets are soft foam that they can still hurt someone.
The next morning I was in the kitchen when I heard Faith scream. I ran to the room and saw Faith clutching her face and Aaron holding the gun looking a bit pale.
I bent in front of Faith to see what was wrong and asked Aaron what had happened.
We have always told Aaron that we would not be cross with him if he had hurt himself or Faith and that we would rather know the truth about what happened in case we have to go to the doctor and we needed to tell him what happened. Aaron knows this. We have never shouted at him if there was an accident.
So when I asked him what happened he told me that Faith poked her finger in her eye.
I asked him a few times as did Paul and he insisted that Faith poked herself in the eye. We didnt push it. I told Aaron to go get dressed for school and he went.
Meanwhile Faith had calmed down and was able to open her eye and there didnt seem to be any damage.
About 15 minutes later Aaron came to me and told me that he lied, and that he had shot one of the foam balls into Faith’s eye. He told me that he was very sorry. Sorry that he hurt her and sorry that he lied.
I sat him down and we discussed that I would always rather he told me the truth no matter what and that if it really was an accident I would never be cross with him. I also reiterated that he must shoot the gun at people and that he should rather shoot at the floor.
I decided not to punish him. I think the guilt he felt was enough. He came to me. He apologised for both the accident and for lying. He went and said sorry to Faith and kissed her better.
Im very proud of him in fact. For an almost 5 year old, he was very brave in coming to tell me what happened and for taking ownership of his actions.
I think we are definitely doing something right in raising both him and his sister.
So I have been a very bad little blogger lately and for that I am terribly sorry.
I have kept up to date on all the blogs in my reader though even if I havent commented recently.
So, a little catch up…
Aaron is loving school! He adores his teacher and the kids in his class and aftercare too.
He does swimming twice a week which he loves (I know right!?), Kindermusic every Monday and on a Thursday he does PlayBall after school on the school grounds.
He is growing like a weed and I need to do a big winter shop for him soon because nothing is fitting him anymore.
Faith is getting cuter and cuter every day.
She still only has two teeth and she only says ‘Ello and oof (woof) and only when prompted repeatedly. Yet she makes herself completely understood and understands everything you say to her.
She has a temper of note and screeches like a pterodactyl if she doesnt get what she wants.
She eats everything and anything, especially of its on her brother plate.
She is standing up all by herself and is walking beautifully if you hold one hand. Last night we taught her to walk holding onto her Disney princess car/bike thingy. She was very proud of herself.
Faith also does swimming lessons once a week and I get in the water with her. She LOVES the water and complains bitterly when we take her out the pool or bath tub.
Both my beautiful children are growing and learning and keep us on our toes.
On Sunday is my anniversary. SIX years! And I am still madly in love with my hubband. Even though he sometimes drives me absolutely crazy!
We went to the Drakensberg Sun last weekend for a mini pre-anniversary break, just the two of us. It was amazing and relaxing and we both missed the kids so we left a little earlier on Sunday morning that we had planned so we could get back to them 🙂
Ok, I promise not to take so long to blog again. Pinky swear!
