Gosh, there are so many things going on right now. We still didn’t hear back from the Kindergarten yet. I’m guessing it’s a “no”, which is upsetting. I haven’t heard FOR SURE, but they told us that they would get back to us last week and didn’t. I’m trying to get in contact with someone who can tell me yes or no. But no luck yet.

In addition to that, we went to get the boys hearing checked. Rowan did great, he passed with flying colors. Elijah refused to put the thing in his ear and screamed. So we talked to the doctor and she was horrible. Michael was with me (thank god) and we both hated her with a passion right from the get-go. She told us to separate them in Kindergarten and to stop them from talking to each other. So then I came back and was like “yeah, IF they get into kindergarten and even if they did, usually they are so small that they don’t separate”. Obviously, she doesn’t know how ridiculously hard it is to get into one. I think she was telling us to send them to the state run kindergartens and granted, I haven’t looked into them, it is not what we want. It has a higher teacher-to-student ratio, and you don’t have the advantage of having different ages in one group, which I like. And then it was time to look in their ears. I told Rowan to go sit on Michael and he did, but then Elijah came charging after wanting to get up on Michael. Now, I know that if Elijah doesn’t get his way, there will be a scream and kick fest. So I grabbed Rowan and put Elijah up on Michael. Then the doctor said “oh, now you’re switching them. I can’t do my job if you keep switching them!” And it’s not like she started anything. So Michael was like “it’s a one time only thing, we are never, ever going to switch them again!” We were both rolling our eyes and cursing under our breath. And then she was like getting on Elijah and the fact that he didn’t want to stick a tube in his ear. So I said that we’ll try again. He refused to leave, so then she says “Oh, I guess you’re not going now, I will close the door since you’re not going”. Should she be a doctor for kids? I think not. She doesn’t understand how some 2 year old’s work. I decided to have a “kill her with kindness” attitude and it worked. When I went to talk to her, she seemed more forgiving. But still a jerk. So, we’re just assuming that Elijah’s hearing is also fine, and we’ll go to the speech therapist who can also coach me on what to do. Because aside from drilling them and reading to them, I don’t know what else to do. It’s amazing how long it takes for them to learn how to answer the question “What is your name?” I thought their minds are supposed to be sponges!

So then Elijah’s arm swelled up in the afternoon and had 3 distinct bites. We saw the bites last night, but it wasn’t swollen, and in the morning it was fine. I have no idea why it was such a delayed reaction. So I took him to the regular doctor and he said that it was probably due to him being allergic. It was unlikely that it was infected. So we got some cream and it was better the next day. I told him about Elijah not wanting to do the hearing test and he said “well, that happens a lot at that age”. What a difference. I mean, geez, I LOVE this doctor, so gentile and kind. And he gives the boys gummi bears so the boys love him.

Did I mention that Michael lost his wallet? He is still waiting to get his driver’s license replacement. He finally got his ATM card and was so happy to add something significant to his empty wallet. He also needs to get his heath card and some other card replacements. A lot of waiting!

We also had some friends from Seattle visit. They weren’t having the best time, due to their baby not adjusting to the European time. Poor things, they were tired! They are thinking of moving out here but have mixed feelings. There are lots of things that are good, but there are also some sacrifices that need to be made. Michael gave them a general tour of Munich and answered all of their questions. We had a really nice brotzeit on our roof before they had to go! They had family in Vienna that they were visiting as well.

What else…Michael’s friend Aidan is coming out in a couple of weeks for their big climbing trip. Michael is sooooo excited. He really misses his climbing buddies. Theron has been promising to come but never actually committed to coming (ie buying his ticket), and so we still don’t know if he will make it or not. So we’re still waiting on him. But I’m thinking not, because now it’s only 2 weeks and tickets will be super expensive.

Elijah’s tantrums have reached epic proportions and he is super stubborn too. I keep saying he has my stubbornness and Michael’s dramatic flair and that is a lethal combination. For example, today I wanted to take them to the playground. He fought me putting on his shirt, putting on his pants and then he refused to put on his shoes. It took me 45 minutes to just get his clothes on. So I gave up and told Rowan that we’re staying home. Poor fella, he started to tear up and his lip started to quiver and he said “no!” I almost cried, I felt so bad that he had to suffer, when he’s been so good putting on his clothes and shoes and waiting patiently for Elijah to do the same. Then I said “Let’s go when daddy comes home” and that seemed to have calmed the masses.

Rowan is such a sweetheart. When Elijah is in timeout and he trashes his room (meaning he messes the beds up), he opens the door and says “OH NO!” in a really concerned voice and then they start jumping on the mattresses and having fun. He is so even-tempered and almost always lets Elijah have his way. Kind of a peace-keeping force. The boys have gotten into the habit of holding my hand to guide me to where they want me to go. It’s really cute. And they say “mama, come!” or “mama, seet!”

They can almost say the alphabets. Rowan almost had it, but he ALWAYS forgets “L”, and sometimes repeats things in a circle. He can count to 10 now and is frequently counting things, but only up to 5. He can say 6-10, but it’s almost like he doesn’t know that is how it continues. He likes to count the hinges on the cabinet that we have the TV on. Elijah still needs prompting for alphabets, almost like he thinks that’s how you’re supposed to do it. I know he knows it, just refusing to tell me so.

Elijah gets into these talking conversations with himself, as if he’s speaking a foreign language only he can understand. He looks at me and says really long, complicated things and I’m like “really? wow!” And sometimes he will end with an English word or two. I wish I could get these on video, but the camera is the perfect plaything and they love looking at themselves and screaming.

I’ve been pretty good at weening them from the TV, and doing lots more reading and playing. They love reading books and their current favorites are “The very hungry catepillar” and their Lift-The-Flap books. They love the pop-up books too, but unfortunately, they are rough with them and it suffers. They don’t pop up so much anymore.

Every night in bed we have them say the alphabets as well as numbers and then they get their “underarm inspections”. They love it. Some words they know “acadoh” (avocado), “timeout”, “nein”, “roween” and “zhah-zhah” (elijah), “mama neet” (mama knit), “TV”, “monter” (monsters), leeleebahg (lady bug) and “ahnarsesuh” (underarm inspection).

Anways, that’s all the news fit to print. I’ll let you know the kindergarten news, if there’s any to tell.