So I was giving the boys a bath, but when we got to the tub, there was a dead moth in there. We all looked at it and I got rid of it (washed it down the drain). No big deal. And then it was time to bathe and Rowan refused to get in the tub. When I put him in there he was screaming to get out and I had no idea why. He just said “out out out” and cried the whole time. I washed him quickly and got him out. It was only then that he said “bug” and I realized that he was afraid of the bug coming back and kept looking at the drain and pointing and said bug. I don’t know why he didn’t say that when he was in the tub. He never had that reaction to any kind of bug before, he is usually curious and trying to get close to it but it flies or runs away. So I don’t know that the fact it was dead and went down the drain freaked him out or just that it was a bug. Every time he sees the tub, he says “bug”. I hope he’ll be ok for the next bath.

OK, so the sucky part about living in a place where there are seasons is that you need so many shoes. Well, for kids at least. I am the kind of person that can make do with 2 pairs of shoes. I have my boots for hiking, very cold days, and for anything wet. And then I have my trusty moccassins for everything else. OK, I also have slippers for when I go to Hawaii, but I usually use my parents’ ones, so that doesn’t count.

I’ve been applying the same philosophy to the boys, and I already thought that I had to buy a lot just to keep up with their growing feet. But since they started kindergarten, oh. my. god. I have to buy a ton of shoes. House shoes that they wear inside, rubber boots for rainy days, regular shoes for outside, and then now I was told I had to get winter boots, which will replace the rubber boots. Keep in mind, I have to buy two pairs of each. AND I have to buy everything again when their feet grow. I have a never ending stream of shoes to buy. Thank goodness for ebay where I can get things for a few euros. If I had to buy everything in the store, it would be at least 10 euros per pair. That’s a lot. This is in addition to their clothes which include their regular clothes, their mudpants, their snow suits, regular jacket, heavy jacket, hats, mittens and the list goes on. I am buried when it comes to clothes and shoes. Now I understand why relatives always give clothes to us as kids and I welcome any and all gifts, especially SHOES and JACKETS!!! At least I am thankful that they can share clothes, but that doesn’t reduce how much I have to buy as a minimum.

Now that the boys don’t have a bottle at night, they fight going to bed. It is so funny watching them with their stalling tactics. First they scream “NOOOOOOOOOO!” Then I read them 3 books of their choosing. Then all of a sudden every single toy is the most interesting thing in the world. I brought down thick blankets that my mom gave them when they were born to use as a cover and they LOVE it. They like rolling around with it and being covered. That helps some. They still like their green blankets too, but it’s almost as if the green blankets were tied to the bottles. But once their in bed, they fall asleep and don’t wake up until 8am.

Yesterday the boys were farting so much, I don’t know why, it could’ve been what they ate for lunch. After Rowan farted, I asked him “Did you fart?” and he said “all gone fart” and I laughed. So then he said it over and over and he was so proud that he could make me laugh. His speech has a noticeable improvement from a few months ago.

I’m trying to write down all the new words the boys are saying but it’s hard to keep track. Sometimes I forget to write it down or they say something and I wonder if I did write it down already or whatever. Today Rowan really surprised me because after he said good morning (guten morgen) to Sabrina (the kindergarten teacher), he then said really slowly and softly “schön das du bist” he forgot the “da”, but still I was really impressed that a) it was in german and b) he even said it at all. I don’t think they do that thing where they say that to every kid in the morning (in the circle), so I’m surprised he remembered. Also Elijah is enjoying saying good morning and shaking hands with the teacher. The first few weeks it was torture and he would scream through it. Elijah really likes structure and once he learns/understands it, he is a real stickler. He knows things need to be done in a sequence, he knows where things need to be put, he has to have everything just so. But it’s torture the first few days teaching him something different. Sometimes we manage to surprise him and he sits and listens, other times it’s screaming.

The other day there was a dental hygenist that came to visit and the teacher said that Elijah was so enraptured by the big toothbrush she had and enjoyed it a lot. I thought that was funny. The boys love teeth brushing. Today when they were playing with the toy truck “mater” from the movie “cars”, he has buck teeth, so I asked if it needed brushing. Rowan immediately got his toothbrush and started brushing mater’s teeth. So funny!

Today when I picked them up from school, Rowan was still sleeping and he looked so cozy. At home, they don’t like any blankets on top of them. But there, they are covered in blankets and they like it. I don’t understand. I don’t know if it’s because the other kids have it and they’re just following or what. That’s probably it.

I finally got the boys to start wearing hats, only because Frederik was wearing one. Elijah really likes his hat now and it’s so cute on him. Rowan will wear it sometimes, but most times not. sigh. I think it’s because of the crazy colors. Maybe if I get just a plain black one he’ll wear it.

So I’m back from London and had a great time. It was a nice vacation, but it was very lonely at the hostel. Everyone in my room went to bed at 10:00! So I wandered around in the day and then went to the movies at night. London is really, really expensive. I was converting everything to dollars so that was motivation to restrain myself from buying lots of stuff. The reason I went there was to attend the Knitting and Stitching show and that was fun, but also expensive. I also visited my friend Ingrid and stayed with her for a couple of nights. That was really fun too. She also has 6yo twins and I enjoyed visiting with them too!

The day after I got back, Michael left for the states to attend the memorial for his dad. He is going to be gone for 2 weeks. One week in Texas visiting his family and the next week he has to go to Boston and Montreal for work. All I can say is thank goodness for kindergarten!!!

The boys really like it there and have no problems with me or Michael saying bye. There are so many things that engage them and they really enjoy it. But they are really happy when I pick them up too. Every day when I pick them up, there are these 3 older girls that help them down and talk to me. It is so cute the way they very excitedly run up the stairs to tell them that I’m here and help them down the stairs and sometimes help them put on their jackets. The whole time they are trying to stroke their face (something that the teachers do to all the kids). Every time any of the kids see me, they turn around and yell “Rowan and Elijah”. Too funny! The boys also take their naps there, most of the days it’s ok. Some days they don’t sleep at all or only for a short time so those days I have them nap when we get home. After I pick them up, we walk to the park and feed the ducks. I’m trying to teach them “small pieces” but they ultimately throw 1/2 the bread piece in.

We also had our first speech therapy appointment yesterday - 40 minutes each. I had to entertain the one that wasn’t in the room so I don’t know what she does with them. At the end, she told me that my “homework” is that we have to practice “in” and “out”. The car is IN the garage, etc. They did really well though and there was no problems separating them. I think the kindergarten really helps with this.

And the big news…they no longer use bottles anymore! I was so sick of washing bottles and really, they are almost 3 and shouldn’t need it anymore. The last few months we haven’t been giving them milk, just the nipple that they use as a pacifier. And at kindergarten they don’t have bottles at all and it’s ok, so I figured it’s time. Last night was the first night and they both were super upset and cried for about 15 minutes. I told them that the bottles were broken and then they quieted down and said “oh, bahlow bokeen” and then went to bed. Rowan woke up in the middle of the night and cried a little, but then fell back asleep after a couple of minutes. I debated whether or not I should give them the bottle for a little bit when they got up, but then figured it’s best just to do it cold turkey. And sure enough, tonight when they went to bed, no fuss and Rowan said “bahlow bokeen” and lied down. Wow, I thought it would be at least 3 or 4 nights!!! I still have the bottles around, but will probably throw them out next week if there are no problems (which I don’t think there will be). I may keep the nipples and cut off 1/2 of it so if they ask for it, I can show them that’s it’s “broken”.

That’s pretty much all the news fit to print! We’re lonely but managing…

I got this set from IKEA and the boys love playing with it. This is the first time I set it up in a figure 8, and the boys played quietly for at least 30 minutes. It was amazing. Usually they’re fighting or getting frustrated that the trains fall off the tracks or whatever, but this seemed to be the trick. They really like the trains, I wonder if it will take over their fascination of cars? Probably not. Oh, and sorry about having no audio. The wrong mic was selected, damn computers!

Enjoying Oktoberfest

Rowan so happy to be riding!

Elijah so proud!

So I thought when I sent the boys to kindergarten I would have all this free time. Well, I haven’t had any! We had our friends Bob and Mardi visit - they came for a couple days in mid-September, and then they went to Italy, then came back up here for a longer visit. It was so much fun to see them again. They make me miss Seattle and all of our great friends.

We got a babysitter and went to Oktoberfest together and it was a lot of fun. This is the first time that I actually drank because we found the wine tent and the vodka shot area. I don’t drink beer, I tried and it makes me almost vomit. But I like almost everything else. And boy, a drink really helps make the crowd and rides really fun. We first went to the PaulAner tent because the Käfer tent wasn’t open yet. We sat next to a non-fun Canadian couple. Then we went to the Käfer tent and it was waaaay too expensive and crowded, so we went to the regular wine tent. I had a wine but it wasn’t good. Then had a shot and then went to ride some rides. I can’t ride the spinny kind, I can ride roller coasters and other stuff though. We HAD to ride the traditional Toboggan ride, which is a conveyor belt that you need to step on to get part way up a tower, and then you take the stairs to the top and then a slide down. The conveyor belt thing was the spectacle - there is nothing funnier than watching drunk people try to stand up on a conveyor belt. Michael didn’t do it, since he had to stay back and take photos/movies. Mardi nearly fell down, but someone came to her rescue (there are guys designated for that), Bob did an athletic stance and did it perfectly, and I, of course, fell right on my butt. Here is a movie. We also went on a water log ride, which is the most Bob and Mardi would do. It was a lot of fun and we got only a little wet. After that, we went into the Löwenbräu tent, where we sat next to a bunch of British guys. They were a lot of fun and once they found out about Michael’s “man bag”, they made fun of it the whole time. It was so funny to watch 7 strangers chant “man bag” and point to Michael. We were all tipsy so we laughed and laughed. We all had a great time, and Bob was saying that they didn’t even plan to come to Oktoberfest, but that was one of the most memorable times they had on their trip.

I really wanted to take the boys to ride some of the kiddie rides, so we went last Friday, since Michael’s work went and I could meet up with him. Unfortunately, by the time I found Michael, he already downed two maß’s (2L of beer), and was very tipsy. But he came along anyway. Rowan rode everything, he couldn’t get enough. Each ride we had to keep buying more tickets and it was hard to get him off. Elijah was more cautious and only rode a couple. I don’t know why he was so scared. He usually will go anywhere Rowan goes because he doesn’t miss out. But I guess maybe because it was a big contraption, it was scary. For both of them, their very, very favorite was riding the ponies. They loved it and Rowan would cry whenever we took him off and kept pushing our hands away saying “no off! NOOOO OOOOOFFFF!” I am so glad that we took them and they had a lot of fun. I was kinda mad at the vendor people because they charged a 1 euro pfand (deposit) on the bottles because they knew you probably wouldn’t bring it back. And I brought one back but not the other. It bothered me so much.

So, after Bob and Mardi left, the boys started to go to kindergarten until 2:15. So now they go from about 9am - 2:15, and they eat and nap there. I was really shocked that they nap since at home if it’s not super quiet and dark, they run around and play. AND they have no bottle! Wow, that is new. I had to go out and buy them sheets and pillows and covers as well as a few school supplies. Man, everything is expensive! Well, it’s not really, but when you have to buy everything at once (x2) it is! But it’s going really well and we are both counting our lucky stars that we got in!

So, why don’t I have free time? Besides running around getting stuff for the boys, I have to do the shopping, cleaning, and also do some work for the shop I’m helping someone set up. I haven’t had a chance to really rest. And on top of that, I’ve been sick and got Michael sick and Rowan too. Elijah is staying mysteriously healthy. But he will get sick soon too I think.

Tomorrow I leave for London for my “vacation” and attend the Knitting and Stitching show. This will be my first big knitting convention. I am so excited I get to pet lots of imported yarns!!! It will hurt the pocketbook dearly though.