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.

Carole and Tom with the boys

Michael’s dad, Thomas Soare, lost his battle with cancer and passed away last night (Sept. 25) in his sleep. We will miss him dearly, but we’re also comforted that he is no longer in pain. Michael will go out to Texas in mid-October for the memorial.

Tom was an amazing and charismatic man, always the optimist. One of my most favorite memories was when I got to see him direct one of his plays at SHSU, they were doing a dress rehersal and we were there visiting. I was so happy to be able to see him work and watch how all his students looked up to him and listened. It was so weird to hear people call him Dr. Soare, as I only knew him as Tom, our Dad and Grandpa to the boys.

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!

Rowan, my poor baby

Rowan, taking it like a champ

Oh geez, where do I even begin?

The boys started kindergarten this week and for the most part it has been very good. I like the place and the teachers a lot. The other kids there are so great, it really is fun to watch them. The boys enjoy going there, although the language is certainly a barrier. The teachers are very nice though and speak very slow and clearly to the kids. This whole week I am staying with them and helping out the teachers a little. We go from 9:30 to 12:30 every day. Once they get used to it, they will eventually go from 8 to 2pm.

We have the daily routine - we get in at around 9:30, they play for awhile. The kindergarten has TONS of great toys that the boys just love. One of their favorite things is an old typewriter and a phone (not plugged into anything). They pick it up and say “hello daddy!” Soooo cute! And they have other motessori “toys” like pouring water into a container, pouring seeds through a funnel, opening locks with keys, stuff like that. A lot of it is for older kids but I noticed that they have been putting out more stuff every day. The first day we went there was hardly anything, but today there was lots of new stuff. And they love it all.

Then at 10am, we have “morgenkreis” = morning circle. A little kid goes around ringing a triangle to signal that it’s morgenkreis time. Then the teacher has a little gong thingy (don’t know what it’s called), but it’s amazing she only rings it once and all the kids sit down and are quiet. Wow. Except for my boys, of course. The boys are so horrible at sitting still. It’s so embarrassing that they’re the only ones running around in their own world not paying attention. The other kids are really patient too. But today we sat them down in chairs and that seemed to work really well. I guess they see the floor as “play” and chairs as “sit”. Then we go around in a circle saying good morning to every one. Each kid says “guten morgen! schön das du da bist.” which means “good morning, it is nice that you are here”. Everyone says it except for you know who. Then the teacher has some kind of activity that she does with all the kids for awhile. The boys are slowly starting to participate. I think they just don’t understand what’s going on, but they will get it.

After that, they go outside in the garden area to play. At first look, it is very empty and dull, but when you watch the kids play, it is amazingly transformed. So many busy bodies doing all kinds of stuff. Pulling the table here and there, carrying around wood to build their “house”, playing chase, etc. My boys love the slide, but unfortunately, it is an extremely fast slide and I have to be at the bottom to catch them or they go flying off. I’m hoping that they will learn to use their legs to catch themselves. Rowan always goes first when I’m not ready and he’s crying at the bottom. It doesn’t really hurt, I think it’s just a surprise at how fast it is. They also have a little treehouse, a swing, a climbing area (that they boys are really good at, must get it from their dad), a sandbox, and a deck that everyone likes to sweep.

After playing, then they have lunch. They have to get their own porcelain (?) plates and get their food, get their utensils. Then they have to wait for everyone to sit down and then the teacher tells some animated story, then they can eat. Amazing. After eating, they put their silverware and dishes on the cart, then they have to sit back down and wait for the teacher to tell them they can go. I help out the boys a little (they are very bad at eating soup) as well as another kid, who stole my heart because he is a little angel and has the sweetest smile. The boy, Florian, is about the same age as the boys and I’m trying to get them to be best buddies. But of course, language is a problem. I noticed that he was sitting at the table, crying and I asked him what was wrong and he couldn’t say. So I asked him if it was too hot and he nodded. Awwww, poor baby! Then he refused to eat any more. Breaks my heart! The food isn’t the best but it is giving the kids a greater range to eat. They love soup and cucumbers apparently!

After that, they brush their teeth and I have been going home. I think what they do is the younger kids sleep and the older kids have quiet time, then they do an afternoon activity together.

Next week I’m going to start leaving them there for an hour or so and see how that goes. I think they will be ok. I really love this kindergarten and I think the boys will also like it too. I am so happy that we got in this year! We are very, very lucky.

Anyways, so after that, the boys usually take a nap at home and they are TIRED. No fussing and fall right to bed. Excellent! I am also tired at this point too so I cook lunch and maybe a small nap.

Today we also had a speech therapy appointment so we went to that too. I didn’t write about it earlier but they got evaluated and the woman said that they are SEVERLY speech delayed and need therapy. I always knew they did and I was kinda mad that everyone else before said that they are ok. All we did in this session was play and they recorded the kids saying words and my interaction with them. I probably did really bad. They will set up another appointment and discuss what I need to change, what is good/bad, etc.

So now to the meat of the story! After the speech therapy we were going back home. I didn’t bring the stroller because we were taking the train and I figured they could walk. It’s not a whole lot of walking on either end. And really, that wasn’t the problem. Rowan started playing with his hot wheels car on the doors of a real car and I told him to stop. He didn’t listen to me and kept on playing. So I took it away and that’s when he threw a fit and got stubborn and didn’t walk. After he threw his tantrum, which really wasn’t a tantrum, it was just more him not walking, he started walking and stopping, walking and stopping and then once, we were hurrying to cross the street and he threw all of his weight down (as to get out of my grip) but I was holding him tight. I didn’t know it at the time, but he dislocated his elbow. I couldn’t tell if he was just crying because he had to walk or if he was hurt. And then I held his hand and I KNEW. Something was wrong. He couldn’t do anything with his hand (it felt very limp). He stopped crying at this point and I thought it was ok, but then anytime he would move his arm, he was crying. He could move his arm slightly and I felt around and it didn’t seem broken but I have heard that it’s common for kids to dislocate their shoulders and/or elbows easily. So I decided that I couldn’t tackle the hospital with the both of them so I decided to go to Michael’s office. It was already past 5 so it should be ok for him to leave. He had the car too, so we zipped over to the children’s hospital.

We were getting on the train and at this point Rowan was constantly crying and Elijah was a perfect angel, not being stubborn at all, thank god. Gummi bears really do work wonders when in a bind. I helped Rowan onto the train and Elijah followed me. He decided to grab the handle of the train door and fell between the train and the platform!!! Dear lord, I just about had a heart attack but thankfully the gap wasn’t big enough for him to fall past his hips/waist, so I could pull him up. He was crying, but not hurt too bad. So there I was, in the train, both kids screaming, and EVERYONE looking at me. Yeah, picture of mom of the year!

We get out of the train station and we have to walk one block to Michael’s office. It was extremely slow and painful. Rowan was crying, I tried carrying him but then Elijah insisted on being carried too, which I can’t. So then he starts crying. So I had to put Rowan down, give them both gummi bears and try to hurry to Michael’s office. Just a half a block, oh please, oh please, I hope we make it. The prospect of seeing daddy was enough to satisfy them until we got there. They were so happy to see him that they stopped crying for awhile. Rowan was quiet in the car and we contemplated whether we should take him or not. I figured it’s better to be safe than sorry.

So we go to the hospital and got helped right away. The doctor didn’t think anything was broken so he reset his arm and heard a pop. Poor Rowan, it looked painful. He has one of those cries that is very silent for a long, long time and then a loud wail. The doctor said to wait around to see if his arm is ok so we did. It wasn’t. He was still not using it and everytime I touched it he cried. So we went back to him and so he told us to get an xray just to make sure. So we had to walk all the way across the hospital and go into a room that had a sign that said “just wait, someone will be here to help you” and we were like “huh? how do they know we are here?” but we just waited. And someone did come. And poor Rowan was so scared of the big x-ray machine but he laid there and cried his little heart out.

Then we had to walk all the way back and by this time, the ER is getting filled. I found the doctor, he said nothing looks broken, so he’ll reset it again. This time it took twice as long - I guess he was doing it slower to make sure he sets it right. And poor Rowan was in so much pain. I felt so bad for him. And we waited again. And still it hurt. So the doctor said that he needs a cast and I thought it would be one of those wrap casts that could be taken off. Oh no, it’s a plaster cast. It’s only a 1/2 cast though and it is only on until Tuesday. Everyone stared at us as we left, I’m sure thinking that we abuse our children. Rowan is the first person in our family to have a cast. Michael and I have never had one.

We were so tired at this point, all of us. We were going to give them a treat and go to McDonalds (or “nuggets” as they call it) for being so patient, but we just didn’t have the energy and they weren’t all that hungry. So we just went home and called it a night.

So that’s our story…