Last bits of August and school starts again

After a fairly dismal rainy August we are back in the swing of things with the new school year.  The weather, surprisingly, has improved somewhat.  I still feel like we were short changed on summer, but such is life.

August was a busy month of preparations.  James getting back to work and getting ready for the school year, and Liam getting ready to go back to Asilo.  We did let Liam go to the second session of TASIS summer camp CDE program, which is 3 weeks long, and he had such a good time.  I think it helped a lot since the weather was so bad, to give him new fun things to do.  He was in a "minnow" and got to be part of a little Italian class and that was a good reminder for him before heading back to his regular school.  They did go on some fun outings to Swiss Mini and a farm where they made their own cheese.  They also made pizza at school and had a little Renn Faire. He did a fair amount of art and sang songs and such.  All in all it went over well, in part because his best friend Drake was there, and in part because people spoke English and that made it easier for him. Of course Eowyn wasn't a fan of all this.  Poor girl was stuck at home with me, running errands and other fun things.  We did do some fun art projects and such to keep ourselves busy, and we even had a mini weekend away for James' father's day/birthday gift.

Liam heading to CDE summer camp - first day! Eowyn didn't want to let go!

Open morning for us to see his camp and his Italian class - Eowyn was very interested

Closing day of summer camp - they had a little singing presentation with the whole CDE

Just before the crazy orientation stuff began we took the kids up to Splash and Spa as a last family day together.  It was so nice - especially with the kids much more confident in the water.  We all had a great time.  Unfortunately we were having so much fun I forgot to take photos!

Since then I've had a lot to get organized, and it's been just busy in that way things are before a rhythm sets in.  We are just now beginning to find a rhythm.  Liam is back at Asilo and his second year seems to be going better than the first.  With some of the older boys out of the school he doesn't have as much aggression coming out, which is a relief.  His camp had him stay till 3pm every day, so he got used to that, and has asked if he can stay at asilo till 3:30pm.  I still feel like it's a really long day for a 4 year old, so I have agreed that twice a week he can stay late.  This way he still has a nap time on the days he comes home early.  They do have nap at school, but it's short, and I know he isn't sleeping.  I thought he might be done with naps entirely, but what we saw when he was at camp, was that as the week went on and he hadn't napped he was just not able to keep it together.  So we are back to resting properly at least when he's home.  He now has all his younger friends at school with him too, which is really sweet.  He naturally tends to watch out for them and do things for them, which I love to see.

Otherwise I have started doing a few workbook things with Liam to try and give him a little bit of learning.  If he were elsewhere he'd be in Pre-K or K and they would be working on things like writing letters and such.  Unfortunately the Swiss system keeps it very much just play at his age, and doesn't allow for the curiosity that kids have to be explored.  Anyway, he's not super gungho but he definitely likes to work on things from time to time.  I also recently got Eowyn a couple of books she could "work" in too, so she can be just like him!

Liam's first day back at Asilo - he is still a Medio and Cristina is gone so it's Simona most days

My work this year is a bit different.  Somehow I managed to add a second parent class a week and it has been very well received.  This was the first week, but I have around 20 people in each class (some are doing it twice a week).  I'm really excited about that, though a bit disappointed to have lost my privates to those classes!  I am also subbing from time to time at the Yoga Roof - a yoga studio down town.  They approached me, and I felt like it would be nice to extend myself past what I do at TASIS a bit.  I am grateful that my summer was as full of yoga for me as it was.  Even after I got back I made it to class 2 or 3 times a week here - a real record for me!

Eowyn is now potty trained and sleeping in a big girl bed!  We transitioned her to her big bed near the beginning of August, just after our weekend in Piemonte.  The potty training started around the same time but the first week we were not very proactive.  It took about 10 days for her to get into the real swing of things, but after a few random attempts at going on the potty, I told her she could start wearing her undies.  It really did the trick.  She had a few accidents with peeing the first day or two and then we've only had 1 other pee accident since then, and it's been a month!  Unfortunately pooping isn't going quite as smoothly.  At least she isn't point blank refusing to poop on the toilet (like Liam did!) She will go on the toilet regularly.  The problem seems to be that she can't tell she needs to go until something is already out.  It's normally small, but it happens quite often.  We've definitely had many days with no accidents in that department, but it's not quite resolved yet.  None the less, we are very proud of her getting through this next phase, and not a moment too soon!  She was almost out of our imported diapers!  Oh, and she has been wearing a diaper at nap time and bed time, but never seems to use it at nap time, which is awesome.  She even woke up one day from her nap and said "Mummy you didn't put a diaper on but I didn't pee in my bed!"
So now we will see what the next few months bring!  I foresee wet diapers at night for a while yet, but there are worse things.  So many changes happening these days!

Eowyn spends a lot of time in the bathroom these days now that she potty trained!

Cool Cat!

Favorite Eowyn words that I can't bring myself to correct:
Snoodie - smoothie
backwehrds
Elavin - Evalyn

Postponed Papa's Day in Pieomonte!

For Father's Day this year I wanted to take James on a trip to Piemonte to this beautiful villa I found - Villa Pattono!  Because of the timing of things, we were in Greece for the actual day and of course had our big Canada trip right after that, so we planned it for August after we got back.  To make it even more fun we decided to invite the Doves to come with us and enjoy a long weekend there.  We left Friday at lunch and were there by mid afternoon, and then had 2 nights to have a good time.  The villa itself has been so beautifully restored.  It's exactly the type of place I like.  It also happens to have a wonderful spa and an amazing heated outdoor pool.  The weather was decent especially in comparison to Lugano, so we truthfully spent more time at the pool than anywhere else, because that was what the kids enjoyed doing most!

Liam 

Having a snack post swim!

Liam and Stirling Monkeying around at the villa pre-dinner

 We had a really wonderful dinner the first evening at an Agriturismo farm called Costa dei Tigli, in the town of Castigliole d'asti.  It was a little family run place and we were the only ones there.  The kids were playing outside on a little play set and we had a chance to sit and enjoy the many many courses of delicious food that came out.  The kids managed so well despite being up till 10pm.

Dinner at Costa Dei Tigli - the kids playing just in front of us

Breadstick buddies 

We had probably 8 different appetizers to try and were practically full before the primi and secondi!

As the night grew long, the kids became a bit wonkier!

 On Saturday we went into the little town where we had hoped to go into the castle that is there.  Unfortunately it was closed, so after trying to walk around a bit we realized the kids would just be happier to go back to the villa and swim.  James, Gavin and Gavin's dad went wine tasting during nap time, and then we spent more time by the pool.  Our dinner the second night was a bit further away and truthfully not quite as impressive as the first meal, but still lovely as we got to sit outside and enjoyed company and good food.

The Castle in Castigliole d'Asti

Peaking into the local butcher

Walking around the castle trying to find a way in!

Checking out the almost ripe grapes at Villa Pattono

Amazingly enough none of them picked the grapes

Some pool time - the pool was heated to 30 degrees and it was warm out, so it was easy to stay in for hours

The loft bedroom in our suite (we were upgraded because they were out of space)

Another guest brought his kitten with him and the kids were loving it! 

Enjoying some sibling time in front of the villa

Sunday morning after the lovely breakfast the villa provides we had one more swim before checking out and heading into town.  There was supposed to be an interesting market but it turned out to be a bit jankety.  So we stopped in at a local restaurant for a quick lunch and then got on the road to head home.  I love that the trip is just over 2 hours.  It makes it the perfect distance for a weekend getaway!