Their first craft project

So the boys have been going to kindergarten for a little over 2 weeks. Those two weeks I stayed with them and we went from 9:30 to 12:45 every day. It was really hard for them to sit still in a circle but they are getting there. This week, however, I decided it’s time for them to be on their own. They know the place well enough and there is so much to do and they feel comfortable there. So far, so good. In fact, I think they are better behaved. The teacher said that they sat for 15 minutes in the circle, which is longer than when I was there. They also eat very well and can do everything by themselves. So awesome! I really, really like the kindergarten and know that they are in good hands, even when they don’t know the language. And the best part is that they’re really happy to see me when I pick them up. Elijah even gives me a hug and says “mama mama mama!” and his face lights up. So precious!

They have also had a spurt of new words. The past few months it seems like they haven’t said really anything new, but the last couple of weeks since they started kindergarten, they are surprising me almost every day. Rowan is the one that is saying new things and Elijah repeats. They switch all the time. Probably next month it will be Elijah saying a bunch of stuff. Anyways, so new words are “dirty shirt”, pumpkin, spider, and something else I forgot. I try to write stuff down but sometimes I forget to. They are also learning german, I heard Elijah say “Mama da” and they both say “bis morgen”, not all that clearly, but you can still tell what it is.

And yesterday, they brought their first “craft” home. It is a chestnut that they stuck some tooth picks in. It’s supposed to be a hedgehog (or igel), but they like to call it a spider. It is really cute! I love all the stuff that they bring home. I am looking forward to all the paintings and drawings and other crafts.

Rowan’s arm is back 100%. When he first got the cast off, it was still tender a bit, so we had to be careful, but a couple of days after that, he started using it like normal.

We also had our first “elternabend” where all the parents get together and talk about whatever. Since the parents are running the school, we have to do all the work. It was completely in German, but some of the parents helped us when we had a confused look on our faces. We did ok, we at least understood what they were talking about, but not all the details. Michael volunteered to be a music/english teacher, which should be fun. So he will do 1 hour every Monday (or at least most mondays). And that fulfills our obligation as far as “work” for the kindergarten. I think Michael will do great and the kids will really like him and a great thing to see after coming back from the weekend.

It is also cool because a lot of the people live in the neighborhood, we met two families that live just around the corner. And even the next day, I even ran into one of the mothers and we chatted a little.

Nothing else is happening. Oktoberfest is going on now so it’s really crowded in the city. We’ve a few days of beautiful weather, but today it’s rainy. Ah well, summer can’t last forever! Our friends from Seattle, Bob and Mardi are visiting us. They came last week and stayed for a couple of days, then went down to Garmisch to visit another friend, Matt, then went down into Italy. They will be back up here on Friday, where we will all go to Oktoberfest together and hang out. Should be fun!