Keeping With the Beat

The middle muppet is my serious little guy when it comes to school. All of his teachers comment on how he is a great listener, an amazing role model for other students and knows when to be serious and when to be silly. He is my little keener and while sometimes I have had to ask the teacher if she was talking about my son I am very proud of my brown nosing middle muppet.

This time of year the first grade students put on a Christmas Concert. It usually has nothing to do with Christmas except there is a Christmas tree on the stage and the children sing Jingle Bells and a We Wish You A Merry Christmas in Arabic at the end. The concert usually always focuses on the different celebrations around the world. The children learn about some different cultures traditions, sing songs and learn dances. This year the middle muppets class learned about Mexican, Danish  and Arab traditions. He came home gushing about Fastelavn, Piñatas and singing songs about Eid.

He would not tell his father and I anything about the concert, he was determined to keep it a secret. As we walked in to the school this morning I gave him a hug and told him that I would see him on the stage, he whispered in my ear that he was going to play a drum so to look for him. I figured that he would be one of a few children that got to play an instrument for his group. But when he took his place for his part of the concert there was only one drum and he was the solo drummer!! He did not stand there beaming like the other students in his class, but with a serious look on his face, waiting for his cue from the music teacher. As I watched him play his part I could see a hit of a smile on his face telling me he was enjoying himself.

After the show he posed proudly with his friends on stage, and he happily rambled on about all the people who were dancing and singing solos in the show. I told him how awesome it was that he got to be the solo drummer for his group. He modestly told me that he was not the only drummer that other people had played the drum for other songs. I told him that it was a pretty big thing to get to play the drum on stage in front of all those people and that he should be really proud of himself. As we arrived home and each muppet grabbed their back packs from the back of the truck the middle muppet said “You know what Mum, I am really proud of myself for playing that drum, I had a lot of fun up on stage and I think I am a pretty great drummer!”

I agreed with him and said that it is always good to be happy of the job that those around us do but we also have to acknowledge that we have done a great job as well! He gave me a super big hug and said “High five Mum, for you doing such a good job being my Mum.” I guess sometimes we just need a little reminder to be proud of ourselves.

The Day it Rained

This morning I woke up to three boys bouncing on my bed, they were all talking at once and from what I could gather they were excited because it was raining out side. The rain comes to Doha about 3-5 days a year and the last rain fall we had here was in May so you can say that the city was very excited this morning. The DJ on the only english radio station in Doha told everyone to drive safely and enjoy the cool wet weather. Sometimes with the rain fall the traffic can be madness, so like an Albertan on the first snow fall of the year I was dreading the drive in to school this morning. Surprisingly it went quite smooth and the muppets skipped off to school donning their hoodies and dodging puddles.

This morning I worked at the school and watched the rain continue to drizzle through out the early part of the day. An announcement came on over the loud speaker around mid morning, it was the assistant principal letting the students know that the rain had let up so there would be out door recess. I snickered under my breath that no Canadian kid would ever be told that they couldn’t go outside because of a few drops of rain. Soon after I had this thought it was lunch time and I made my way down to the lower elementary to pick up the youngest muppet from his class. As I walked though the out door walk way I noticed that the rain had decided to continue and it drizzled down slowly. The assistant principal made another announcement that it was raining too hard for there to be lunch time recess so the children would have to stay in doors.

I stood under the canopy at the front of the school with the other mothers who were fretting about jackets and umbrellas, wondering if their child’s shoes would be alright in the wet rain. These are things that we never really have to think about here! The youngest muppet came out of the school and I helped him in to his hoodie, I was just about to tell him to watch out for the big puddle when I heard from behind me a huge “SPLASH” There stood the youngest muppet soaked from the waist down with a huge grin on his face. “I love puddles Mummy!” he said laughing and stomping a few more times just to make sure he was good and wet. He had also made a few other kids good and wet in the process. After I dried him off and he had a little rest we went and picked up his brothers, by this time it was raining harder and the older two muppets groaned about not being able to go to the park. As we pulled in to the compound they saw two of their friends running through the puddles, “Can we do that?” asked the oldest muppet I said yes and told them they needed to get Crocs on at least and they were not to set foot inside the house until they were done playing!

The three muppets ran up and down the street laughing and playing with their friends, splashing in the puddles and spraying each other with the water. Completely soaked from head to toe they stood on the front step ready for dry clothes. As the three of them sat on the couch the youngest muppet said to the others “Do you guys remember the day that it rained and we splashed in the puddles?” the oldest muppet laughed “Ya that was like ten minutes ago!” the youngest joined in with the oldest laughing “Oh ya” he said “That was such a great day!”

Looks like the rain will be here for a few days so we will enjoy it while it lasts!

A Little Shadow

Today the youngest muppet and I waited for his older brothers in the school yard. The oldest and middle muppet get to do after school activities this year so we pick them up later twice a week. The youngest doesn’t mind too much since he gets to play on the big kids play ground at the school while we wait. Today I watched from the picnic table as he ran and played by himself. Then he noticed a little boy a bit younger than him on the see saw he wanted his dad to get on with him. The youngest muppet did not pass up an opportunity to play on the sew saw he ran across the school yard and jump on to the other end of the see saw before the father had gotten up off the step where he was sitting.

The youngest muppet and his new shadow ran through the playground laughing and playing. The little boy was copying everything the youngest muppet was doing and the youngest was showing off all his skills. They made their way to the swings and the little boy told the youngest that he couldn’t do the swings on his own. The littlest muppet told him to get on the swing and that he would push him, once he got the other boy swinging he jumped on his own swing and started pumping his legs. The little boy copied him, soon they were both swinging on their own and the little boy yelled to his father to watch what he was doing all by himself. The youngest muppet looked proudly over at the little boy and said “Good Job! You are a great swinger!”

The dad of the little boy came up to me and commented on how great the youngest muppet was with his son. “He must have younger siblings at home?” he asked I explained to him that he was the youngest of three and has been trying to keep up with his two older brothers since the day he learned to crawl! He has two really great role models who teach him to do things and encourage him… well most of the time. I asked the youngest muppet if he had fun playing at the park today and he said that he really liked playing with his new friend, “You know what Mummy?” he said to me as we walked through the parking lot “That little boy said that he wanted to be just like me, and I want to be just like Rhysie and Ryder, that’s pretty cool isn’t it mummy?” I agreed with him it was nice for him to have someone look up to him for a change.

What are you thankful for?

Today at sunset marks the start of the celebration of Eid al-Adha here in the Middle East and across the globe. The muppets spent most of last week learning in their classrooms about Eid and ended the week off with a big Eid party. Each muppet came home with art work and stories about what they had learned about Eid al-Adha, and the middle muppet said it best when he told me that it was a time for family and friends to get together and eat lots of food and share funny stories. It made me remember that a Canadian holiday was quickly approaching, Thanksgiving.

Since moving to Qatar we have yet to really celebrate a Thanksgiving, I always have good intentions about having friends over for a big turkey feast and it always ends up not happening for some reason or another. Since being at the American school the muppets celebrate American Thanksgiving in their classrooms and the oldest was appalled last year when on American Thanksgiving weekend I was not cooking a turkey! So I promised him that next year we would do it… but today as I drove past the grocery stores over flowing with people doing their last minute shopping for Eid I decided that pizza seemed like a good idea for supper instead of spending an hour looking for a parking spot with the three muppets.

We sat at the table and talked about Canadian Thanksgiving, I told them that when I celebrated thanksgiving as a little girl we would go around the table and tell everyone what we were thankful for. The oldest muppet said that he was thankful that we had make your own pizza night rather than turkey and that he was thankful for his family and his trash packs. The middle muppet giggled at what the oldest muppet and told me that he was thankful for his stuffed animals “Is it ok to be thankful for that?” he asked me batting his big brown eyes. I told that it was more then ok, but he could also be thankful for his school, his family and his friends. He agreed that those things were also good. The youngest muppet was next and he was ready to add his two cents in, “I am fankful for me being the birfday boy and for my flip flops”  he giggled. We finished our pizza Thanksgiving dinner and the oldest asked me what I was thankful for…

I am thankful for the pitter patter of six little feet running through my house everyday. Even though our life is usually full of noise, craziness and chaos, it is also over flowing with a huge amount of love and laughter. I am forever thankful for our friends who are like family to us and our family who is always supportive of everything we do. For the life I have been blessed with and for the husband that I get to share all my adventures with. I hope that all you Canadians have a Happy Thanksgiving filled with love, laughter and of course turkey!!

Maybe we will be able to celebrate with the Americans!

Wascally Wabbit

The middle muppet is our animal guy. He knew the name of every dinosaur by the time he was two and would run up to any dog big or small just to give him a hug. Whether it is the neighbourhood sketchy cats or the horses at the ranch he approaches animals so calmly and with such care that we think he might have a future as  a Vet, he on the other hand wants to own a Zoo!

The other night when it was time to head home from the playground I had loaded the youngest muppet and his friend in to the truck when the middle and oldest muppet decided that they wanted to walk home. The oldest walked one way and the middle guy decided to walk the other way to see which way was faster. The youngest and I pulled up to the house and the middle muppet was sitting on the step. “You won’t believe what I saw on the way home Mum!” He said excitedly “A Rabbit!!” Now in Canada we got used to seeing the rabbits out side my parents house and sometimes you would see the odd jack rabbit hopping down the street but it is not a normal sight in Doha.

The middle muppet told us his story that he saw the little bunny sitting by the tree eating grass. He must have been some ones pet because he let the middle guy go up to him and pet him. The middle muppet was so excited that every day this week we have had to walk home from the playground the way he went in hopes of seeing the bunny again. Tonight as we walked though the streets the middle muppet started to whisper excitedly that he saw his rabbit friend by the tree. The three muppets gathered around him moving in slowly closer and closer until the youngest muppet shouted “BOO!!!” The bunny darted out from the tree almost getting hit by a car and over to the next front yard. The youngest and oldest were in hysterics but the middle guy was not pleased and told them that they could walk the other way from now on! He would walk by himself and enjoy the peace and quiet with his bunny!