Makc

[There was 2m of snow on the ground in Buffalo earlier this week. Not so much in Nova Scotia : ) ] That's a good thing. I spoke with my father in St. Catherines, ON, and he said that they only have 20 cm of snow on the ground... We had sun today. The forecast was for rain until Thursday and it really poured yesterday but today was a beautiful day! We had arts class and the teacher had prepared for the rain and we made umbrellas ; ) Tomorrow is either aquarium or swimming day : ) Hm. We used to go swimming every week a year ago and when they closed the pool for maintenance we did not restart. I have been having trouble scheduling it. One of our local gyms have free swim on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 3pm and 5pm and this is what we used to do. Sunday morning in a newer bigger pool maybe fun too : ) It is going to be less than $10 for both of us...  Nothing much new on our side. We signed up for Holiday Sing Along and many of the parents that we go to music class with are very excited about singing carols : ) It is good that Max will have some exposure to it. ...I am not sure that we are going to buy a Christmas tree. We have an autumn tree at the moment. We made it out of paper at the end of the summer. Max cut all the leaves and some of the trunk shapes and we taped it on the wall together. It is quite nice : ) We would find pretty leaves outside (or inside the apartment...) and we would stick them on the tree. My plan is soon to remove the leaves and put some white for snow and we are going to have a snow man, too : )) That's the plan. A friend of mine is building a Christmas tree out of felt so that her daughter can redecorate it all the time. It is a neat idea. I am looking forward to buying some felt myself. Max loves playing with it and we can have some fun with it at home. I just have to get to it. : )) 

Excerpt from a letter to granddad: 

Max was at the dentist on Saturday for the first time. They were very impressed by him. They sat me on the chair and him on top of me and then lowered us and he listened to all their instructions and let them manipulate as they needed to very patiently and calmly. They even used the rinsing tool and the sucking device; then flossed his teeth. All were very excited to do all this in a 2-year-old without a hitch. He must have been impressed himself though - when he was telling his father about the experience, he did not forget to mention the bzzzzbzzzzz (devices) ; )  The cost: $70 (for a 15 min checkup!?). We wanted to do it because it is recommended that they see a dentist after they turn 1 and because I did not have good habits this way... The dentist said to come back in 6 months... I don't know about that : ) Have to put Max on the insurance!

We went through a cold weather spell. It was negative temperatures here with a blue sky for a week. I unintentionally froze Max few days ago and now he refuses to go outside : )  It is a learning experience for everybody!

On Thursday, Max and Chris were on their own for bedtime for the first time, too. And they seem to have both enjoyed it : ) I was at an open house at Start Smart Preschool: https://startsmartpreschool.ca/ If it all goes according to plan I get to register him in January and he attends it next fall. Preschool has been the hype among my friends these last months... I want to sign up Max for preschool too but because I like some of the programs. Here is something else we have in mind for him when he turns three: Dinosaur Preschool for learning Mandarin:  http://go.vsb.bc.ca/schools/secord/Programs/Documents/Dinosaur%20Preschool%20brochure%202014-15.pdf : )) Later - French immersion: http://www.vsb.bc.ca/programs/early-french-immersion

Currently, Max attends Buddings on Tuesday and Thursday mornings: http://buddings.ca/. It is a great place. Too bad that it is a 20 min drive from home but it is the only place that would let me book and cancel with an hour notice. On Mondays he is at StrongStart: http://www.vsb.bc.ca/strong-start-centres. We did 5 days a week of StrongStart last year and he loved it but sadly this year I cannot schedule work so that I take him there regularly. One of the mother of last year is watching over him on Monday. She is Japanese and has a 4-year-old daughter who goes to Japanese school Tuesdays and Thursdays...

I think it is safe to say now that Max knows the basic colors. He also knows that he is speaking two languages. I still only understand about 20% of what he is saying especially if it is out of context. Chris does much better. He has had practice with me : ) Max talks all the time these days too : ) Even attempts at few songs - wheels on the bus, do-re-mi, zoom-zoom... : ) He is playing with pronouns too. It is the cutest when he shouts "I did it", "I fix it", "I find it". : )) He is almost better than me with letters - if it was the Bulgarian alphabet and language, he may have taught himself to read by now : ) 

Favorite game of the month: basketball ; ))

Excerpt from a letter to granddad: 

Nothing much to report from here. Busy as usual. Max and I are signing up for Holiday Family Sing Along with our favourite Robyn (which Max pronounces Robots ; ) and it took me a while to make the connection). We made a pretty awesome poppy and a Canadian flag on Saturday that Max was very happy to wave around. He now knows what a poppy looks like and can say the word but although the teacher tried to explain the symbol I doubt that many of the kids got it. I was surprised that my friend was upset that the teacher told the kids that many people died... 

I have to remember to take a picture - I haven't yet and I will forget... 

It is true that the raining season has started here but it is still mixed with a lot of sunshine. We are having fun. We avoided two out of three rounds of colds but this last one has had us beaten for a day or so. Bee wax does miracles for red noses ; )