Preschool

About a month or two ago it was a hot topic for me. Teodor started to show interest in other children, stopped being afraid of them, so I was thinking maybe we could give it a try from September. Not to mention we need him to hear more Russian because his dad is simply not present and talkative enough. We both feel like we should boost his speaking skills somehow and preschool seemed like a pretty good option. Another reason why I was considering it was upcoming autumn/winter with its beautifully depressing weather and Anastasia starting to crawl and take his toys.

First, we were thinking about the preschool next to our building, that would be a pretty smart choice, getting him there and back would take no time. But I've always felt it was a very old-fashioned place because one almost never saw the kids outside in the bad weather (are they in all autumn/winter long? probably yes, because when we tried that nursery last summer they were amazed I go out with T. even in the rain) and the teachers are old big ladies. Surprisingly, we both agreed it's a bit scary place as we both witnessed teachers interacting (or better to say not interacting) with the children. So this one was/is out of the game.

Next where I looked was a private sector...we checked several private preschool's websites. Programmes made to please parents, not children. 

OK, let's try Montessori, there is no pure/real Montessori children's house in Tallinn - WHAAT??? (I should start it :-p) Well, we could go with Montessori-inspired. We found one on the dad's way to work - that would be convenient as we don't have a car and it simply doesn't make sense to spend the whole morning getting him to the place, go home and immediately go to pick him up, right? But it is Estonian and it's going to move somewhere. The last option left was a place on the other side of the town (let's face it, Tallinn is not a city), which was quite nice when we tried it for two days last September when I started to work nearby. The teachers were friendly (to find a nice Russian teacher who is not scary is quite a task), the environment was ok...The tuiton would be doable if he went only in the mornings. 

Hm, other side of the town...then we need a car. We even went to check some cars. Ok, we can pay for the car. If we have a car, we also need car seats. A few hundreds euros extra. Going there and back's gonna cost money. Seems like we can still afford it. Oh, wait. We want to add more stuff into our e-shop (www.memme.ee). It doesn't look like we have enough money to have it all. In addition to our realization we are way too lazy to deal with getting him there and back, plus we have a nice, quiet days with some outbursts but generally things go fine around here.

We are now considering The International School of Estonia from September 2017 as they provide a huge discount on tuition for full-time teachers' children...meaning if he gets in (which is not sure), I will be stuck with teaching for another 18 years. Yay! The plan was to have a real shop besides the e-shop.

It's going to be probably a very academic place, I'd rather have him play all day long still at this age but getting in there and obtaining IB diploma just seems more important for the rest of his life than playing with play-silks. Don't know, nothing's set in the stone yet, just maybe that he'll stay at home with us the next school year. 

Bedtime stories

After some weeks of no interest in any kind of books, last week something big happened - I started reading him before going to sleep instead of nursing him (weaning off the breast becomes very real for him) and he listened. We started with the Three Little Pigs, a few days later we added Goldilocks and the Three Bears from A Collection of Stories for 2 years olds. He got the blue book around Christmas, I think, and he instantly liked it, there are nice illustrations, the rhymes are very well-translated, the stories are short...

This is Teodor's favourite part of the story.

Yesterday I came across the Little Mole and the Car story. I thought it might be a good idea to try to read him a bit, maybe to show him some pictures of cars...He instantly loved the book and we read it whole. A 60-page book. Then one more time. Twice today. I was shocked he can listen to it all, not sure how much he understands it because there are some words he doesn't know and he doesn't answer my text comprehension questions. Btw. I don't like the book.

Long weekend

I finally found/had time to take a selfie with Anastasia.

The longest day happened on Thursday and it's a big deal in northern European countries, so there was a public holiday on Thursday and Friday to allow people celebrate and then the next day to sleep it off.

I wish there were more public holidays in Estonia. It was so nice to have the kids' dad at home. I didn't have to take Anastasia with me for our usual morning walk with Charlie and the dad took over the afternoon walk. He also helped a bit with the household. It was pretty awesome. It was so nice to have him on hand when needed. Tomorrow's going to be a very painful Monday hangover.

We didn't do anything special, we are very ignorant towards all celebrations...we were just at home not doing much, just enjoying the family life. Yesterday we went to grill some sausages by the lake nearby. Don't have any other pictures than this one. But we made some great plans for the future. In certain way I can't wait for the kids to get a bit older, so we'll be able to travel (it is no fun for me to travel with two young children, especially if they both enjoy their routine at home).

My two crafting projects are done and I'm in the search for the material for the next project, a doll for Christmas for A. In the meantime I started to read Simplicity Parenting book. 

It is a very Waldorf-ish book with quite some words I don't know and I'm lazy to look up (but I've already learnt "squirky" and "dust bunnies") and generally the book isn't an easy read. I miss the "aha moment", otherwise I like it :-) Definitely there are some new, interesting information I can use further in my life. Despite the fact I am not the book's biggest fan, I keep reading it, so it can't be that bad.

Oh and we ate ice-cream, a lot of ice-cream during the free days.

When it's raining

When it rained for 40 days in Bible, they called it a disaster, we call it summer in Estonia. 

I saw this joke on Facebook about the UK, but I guess it can be used for any nordic country.

As you know from my previous posts, we are not afraid of taking a walk in the rain. Sometimes it seems like it is Teodor's favourite weather and Anastasia sleeps also well if well-protected from the rain. My big concern is now are his rain boots. We have MyMayu Explorer ones, which are pretty awesome but they leak a lot. I don't know if the sealing on the stitches is worn out or there are cracks in the sole (he used them a lot last autumn and the sole is very thin under his heel) because they didn't get wet so fast in autumn. The question is whether to buy usual rain boots or order another pair of MyMayu...I am actually tempted to try usual ones because they are cheaper, on the other hand I am worried if he would be able to walk in them properly...

I noticed he shows interest in arts again, so we spent the rest of today's morning painting (after an hour in the playground). Probably the sensitive period is on because it entertained him for almost an hour. The process art is really difficult for me, I am very focused on the outcome and I really hate that he mixes the colours in the jars. A lot of self-control happened on my side today and it seemed like he enjoyed experimenting with printing (another thing which fascinates him) and colour-mixing. 

Play-doh is another crafts he enjoys. I felt like he was preparing for Christmas :)

The period when nothing is good for him is reaching its peak. You know, when you ask him "Do you need to pee?" He shakes his head and throws almost a tantrum because you dared to ask. In five seconds he is getting worked up because you don't know he needs to pee. Sometimes it feels like he himself doesn't know what he wants and will be angry until he gets it. Kind of exhausting times. When he woke up from his afternoon nap, he was already cranky, so I decided to take out the parking garage set, which was hidden under our bed (for Christmas?) and put it together in order to keep our afternoon calm. We don't do screen times (still, can't believe it), so it is sometimes difficult to have peaceful afternoons/evenings/mornings/days... A new car toy can do the trick...it was not probably very "educational", but sometimes the goal serves the means...or not? Anyway, he likes the toy, he took the afternoon walk in the rain with his dad (more public holidays in my life, please), so I had finally time to do some toy exchange on his shelf, and generally the afternoon went fine. 

The ethnic waldorf cuddly doll

I can't believe it but my second project is finished. It took me only 6 months since I started. After half a year I am guilt-free, no head is staring at me asking "where's my body, for heaven's sake?"

I made three bodies for the head. The first one was too big, the second one too small and the third one would do. I first wanted to go with the too big body but then I thought I am spending my time on it, I need it to look at least a bit good. The third body is not perfect either, there are quite many things which could be done better (I could write a whole post about it), but I decided to go with a self-praise...

I still can't believe that something so nice came out of my hands. Yes, I am full of myself and not ashamed of it, like at all. After all those years when I thought/was told I am not made for handcrafts, I actually made two things which are nice and can be used. In addition to the fact I was able to finish them with two kids. 

A. watching her brother playing in the sand while wrapped in the blanket I knitted for her.

Lazy day

The weather went bad today and somehow the tiredness from previous days when we walked several kilometers per day caught up with us, so we stayed in. Surprisingly enough, the day went by really fast even though we were quite bored.
Teodor is becoming more and more like any other toddler, I think it is because I let him be bored now. And when children are bored, they do "silly" stuff like jumping from the sofa, climbing on their mother, annoying the dog,...We started the day with folding the laundry, so he was jumping in the pile, throwing the pile all around, then he brought his own clothes to his drawer. Generally half an hour work took us most of the morning. The rest was spent by playing with Lego and his trains.

The plan for the afternoon was to take a trip to the shop to get some food for dinner but before A. woke up, it started raining cats and dogs, so we made waffles instead and I hoped I'd find something for dinner in the freezer.
The afternoon was not any more interesting than the morning, but an hour before his usual dinner time, he decided to go outside. I guess, the boredom reached its peak or maybe he did know there are puddles outside? (because he knew it was raining?). Great news, his rain clothes still fit him :)

A pure joy in his face. A few seconds later, he tripped over, his face got wet but after he got over the initial shock, he just kept running. Where did my hysteric toddler go? I was stunned by his reaction.

He is also becoming a passionate dog-wearing person. When I told him today I was going to put A. in the wrap, he brought me his plush dog and pushed it against his chest (he doesn't talk much) to let me know he wants me to put his "baby" in the scarf. I finally started using the Omnifera with Ahinsa silk wrap. The handwoven I usually use is dirty and I just can't find a minute to throw it into the washing machine. Actually, that's the smallest thing, the ironing scares me so much that I'm putting it off. When I finally learn to make the know with the ring sling ring, I guess it's going to be my favourite wrap. Not its washing, though.

Ethnic doll - body

What kind of body should the head get was a question which was bugging me and since I couldn't decide whether to make a lovey or just a regular doll, the head was lying on our desk unnoticed for a really long time. Then I finished the blanket and decided to to finally finish the doll, so I can move to another project(s).

I decided to make a lovey, something like Teodor has, but the body came out a bit differently than I planned, too "doll-y" for a lovey and a bit over-sized for a doll. As I had no intentions to spend much time on finishing this one (I made it just to learn how to make the head and practise attaching the parts for the real doll I want to make for Anastasia), I decided to make a hybrid - I stuffed it lightly with wool, so it is partly lovey and partly a doll :-))

This evening I'm planning to attach the hands and feet and then I'm done. Yay! 

6 reasons why we don't use a stroller and babywear instead

Babywearig Teodor is one of the cutest things ever.

1. The carrycot is broken and it took us over a month to get the newborn insert for the seat from our basement - probably the most objective reason why we don't use the stroller for Anastasia.
2. It somehow feels natural to have her close in order to balance her alone naps in our bed during the day (she takes 3 naps in the big bed and 2 in the wrap on our toddler walks). If she was in the stroller, I would feel like I spend time with her but she wouldn't, she would be as "lonely" as she is in the bed. 
3. One could never be sure if she would fall asleep or not. 
4. It is easy to breastfeed on the go and nobody sees anything.
5. I have two free hands, one for Charlie's lead and one for Teodor - for some reason he loves to hold my hand now.
6. 6) It is more convenient to travel by public transport with her in the wrap and Teodor in the stroller. If she was in the stroller, I had to get the toddler and stroller on the bus, seat the toddler somewhere and then stand by the stroller while Teodor was not happy to sit alone. Luckily we haven't done this much, so I didn't experience how it would work in an over-crowded bus.

I can't wait till she is even more stable and to learn how to put her on my back, the front is still a bit uncomfortable when you have to manage a short toddler. I've tried once in the carrier but she was not happy, I guess the wrap is much better for the back carry.

Blanket

Drops Andes, 65%wool, 25% alpaca - perfect for Estonian summer :)

I've been off blogger for the past 14 days. The first week of my absence was because of our offspring's reluctance to fall asleep at a reasonable time, the other week I challenged myself to finally finish the blanket for Anastasia because I have so many other projects in my head but can't start them until the old ones are done. So the next thing to finish is the ethnic doll. It is so exciting to see actual products coming out of my hands, even though they are far from perfect.