dad catching up - 2010 events

Wrote this in late October...the day after my 46th b-day, waiting for my mom and Petru in front of the Wenham Train Museum. Now I'm typing on the computer (feeling an awful lot closer to 50!) and it's December, on the eve of St. Nicholas Day.

It's been awhile...I'm a lil' frustrated with the picture files on my preferred computer and I guess it kept me from sharing any Petru news for some time. Summer's gone, I know, a stunning observation from the foliage capital of the world...but many fun memories of surf and sand linger. Petru was at Camp Seaside (his daycare's summer program) three days each week. The first few week's were tricky as I worked mornings at a science camp (teaching Exploring with Engineering to 2nd and 3rd graders). Petru enjoyed the various "sitters" we arranged as well as extra mommy time. He even made a lighthouse with his grandfather (Papi) one of those mornings...while I helped the 2nd graders make towers and bridges.

Once camp ended for me, there was more time for outings like the Science Museum and riding together on the bike to Harvard Sq. to check out their unique playground (and frequently intercede when the children disagreed about how to run the troughs and dams). We also went swimming outdoors at the Waltham Y where a parent I know commented that I had a "little cling-on child" similar to hers in water behavior. Petru kicked and splashed, but most memorable for me were the neck scratches of little hands clinging-on as I tried to ease him away from my body into a floating position. Petru showed no fear when wrapped in an innertube and allowed to float about freely, but these devices are usually not allowed. Ana -Maria managed at times to "trick" him into games in the water and he'd forget for a minute that he was no longer holding on to one of us.

Another swim spot was Walden Pond. Here Ana-Maria got accustomed to "open water" swimming in preparation for her half-ironman triathalon, and Petru and I took hikes around the pond. "Let's go see Henry's house!" was what Petru said before scurrying off on the trails around Walden. We would also stop at the RR tracks of the Fitchburg line where Petru found a rusted train part that became a musical bell (he's always curious about the sounds he can make by banging on things...and quickly turns the sound into an imitation of a train crossing - arms swinging down for gates and hand aloft, opening and closing to show the flashing signal light).

Summer wound down. Petru's 5th b-day party was held at Jump-on-in, a party place full of inflated slides, jumping houses, and obstacle courses. At the end of August, we made our family trip to Romania where Petru visited Dracula's castle (5 minutes walk from Buni's house in Bran, a town in Transylvania), jumped on the trampoline and sang Beach Boys' songs, saw a circus, visited with his cousin Bianca who showed him the fun playground by her house in Bucharest, and noted the different varieties of street signs and traffic lights in a foreign country.

When we returned, it was time to start kindergarten (the subject for another post) and Petru chose his Bran castle t-shirt to wear on the first day. More to come on this blog (I promise!) and thanks for reading.

A few Petru-sisms

all from November/December 2010

# Petru called a friend "stupid" and he got sent to the principal. She helped him write the word "stupid" on a piece of paper, and told him to put it in his pocket and look at it rather than say it, when he gets the urge. The she gave him cookies. How awesome is that? ACC is the best, I tell you. Petru told me about this at home, but realized he lost the paper. Next day, he went to the principal and asked for another note, which he put in his pocket.

# Petru told me that he told teachers at school that "cam tampit' (means stupid in Romanian) means please.

# He is very excited that St Nicholas is coming on Dec 6th. This is a Romanian tradition which we follow. Chris told him that kids who are not good get coal (not part of the romanian tradition..). Petru almost started crying. When I asked him why he is sad, he said "I am a little worries, I might get coal".

# This morning he collected all our shoes because "They are bigger and St Nicholas can fit more presents in it".

Kindergarten

We decided to keep Petru in kindergarten at ACC. He loves it, and he has made great strides in independence. The program is focused more on social emotional development, which is what Petru needs. Being an only child, he is very bossy. He is learning about the effects of that, however. The other day he got whacked in the head by his pal S., which made me happy; he needs to see the effect of his behavior onto others.

Things that he can do now that he could not do before kindergarten:
-easy drop offs.
-arranges playdates by himself - I often get emails from parents telling me that Petru asked them to email me about a playdate at X time and Y day.
-easy bed times.
-recognize all letters, read and write a bit.
-count to 1000.
-count by 5.
-understand shapes.
-play games and handle losing sometimes. By the way, he is very good at games, and has the ability to think ahead about moves. He also can cheat in a v clever way, but he understands now that he is not supposed to do that.
-dress himself.
-put shoes on.
-wet his hair at bathtime.
-use playground equipment almost as well as his peers.

Things we are struggling with:
-his nutrition - although he now is able to try new things, his diet is pretty limited. We used to have struggles with his dinners, but now we have a calendar and right down every Sunday night what he wants to eat during the week. Everyday he checks the calendar and eats whatever it says he should eat. His favorite? Nicola's pizza.

-hitting - still hits us when he is frustrated (he told Chris one day, in frustration: "When you stop the car, I am going to hit you!"; also to Chris, one night after he hit him and I came in with pretzels saying that daddy bought them for him : "Daddy, you should have told me you got pretzels, I wouldn't have hit you"; and to me, when I questioned him about hitting at school: "Mom, I don't hit at school, only at home"). He is making progress with this, though, and he is able to use his words and breath instead sometimes.

-being oppositional - if you tell him not to do something, he will go and do it. teachers at kindergarten have taught us great tricks in terms of communicating with him on this, and we are making progress.

-trying out new things.
-ability to sit still when not engaged fully in the activity.

Personality:
-happy
-funny
-great sense of humor
-very sensitive
-caring
-affectionate.

Oh, and he's got a good head on his shoulders, too!

Other summer happenings

in bullet points:

* spent lots of time at Walden Pond and at the outdoor pool at the Waltham YMCA
* enjoyed long weekends at the beach at Grandma's house.
* watched Petru become interested in running. More recently he said: "I want to run fast like you, mommy, I want to pick a hard race, I think I can do it". That's my boy!
* took lots of trips to the Dover Children's museum.
* spent time with Grandma and Papi while Chris and I had a get away in Vermont for my half ironman.
* struggled with the decision of whether to send him to public kindergarten this year. We decided against that, and it was the best decision.

Trip to Romania 2010 - in restrospect

We finally made it to Romania this summer. It was a great trip. Aside from the plane ride, Petru had an absolute blast. OK, he had a blast in the plane as well, we not so much.

We left US on August 31st, the day after I completed my first half ironman (yes, had to throw that in). We spent a night in Bucharest, had dinner with cousin Bianca, had a run around a lake (me) and a long play session at a playground (Petru), and left for Bran, 4 people and 2 dogs in a tiny car. The trip went surprisingly well. At Bran we were treated like kings by mom, who cooked, cleaned and pretty much did anything humanly possible to make our stay as comfortable as possible. There was a conference in Cluj for me, and Chris and I travelled together, while Petru stayed with mom (somehow, he managed to convince mom that he "needed" the biggest toy in the store, and she obliged, of course). There was a trip to the place where I used to go as a little girl to pick up raspberries. There were endless trips to Sanda's restaurant for pizza and fries. There were visits to Dracula's castle, and lots of time spent on the trampoline. There was lots of visiting, which Petru did not particularly enjoy, mostly bc of the language barrier. There was a train trip with Petru to nurture his fascination with railroads.

On Petru's part, there was frustration with smoking (P: "You should not smoke, it is bad for your health"), with people not carrying for the no smoking signs in restaurant (P: "There is a no smoking sign, you should not smoke"), with people crossing the railways in front of trains (P: "It is dangerous).

It was a great, relaxing trip. Petru even started to speak some Romanian. He even told Chris: "Daddy, I feel sorry for you because you don't understand when Buni, mommy and I speak Romanian".

Happy 5th Birthday- in retrospect

We celebrated Petru's birthday in style this year. By style, I mean by spending money. For the first few bdays we got away with having simple gatherings at a nearby playground. I would have gone for the same thing this year, but Chris (yes, you read it right) suggested we have the party in an indoor gym type place with lots of inflated slides and other kid friendly paraphenelia. It ended up being a blast. And, of course, I made a cake by request - train cake this year. I am surprised as to how much I enjoy making these theme cakes for him, even though I resent everything kitchen related.



We've also had a celebration at home.