Hockey Jay

Jay and Michael had a Papa Day today. Next week Nils gets a Papa Day. Then again, I could say that Nils had a Mama Day. Except that he slept for most of it (yay for me!). They went to a hockey game. The arena was sold out. In anticpiation of this, Michael got Jay some ear mufflers so he wouldn't be overwhelmed.

I got a call after about 2 periods- Jay was dead tired and ready to come home. Michael arrived home with a sleeping Jay (he is still asleep) and laid him down on the sofa. Here are some photos from the experience.

Jay just explained a little of it to me. I guess there were a bunch of penalties because "a lot of hockey players had to go into time out."

Poor Nils

Nils' Kindergarten called on Thursday to tell me that he had fallen and hit his head. They thought I should take him to the hospital for stitches. Expecting the worst, I got there and he was playing and still running around and there as virtually no blood. (How?)

Poor Nils needed three stitches in his forehead. He was in a great mood, playing and joking around. Until the needle came. The it was all over. it took three adults to hold him down and one to stitch him up. Thank goodness he only needed three- I was tired! Wish me luck on Thursday when we do the same procedure in reverse.

I was lucky the Kindergarten called when it did. Just fifteen minutes later and I would have been pretty far away. Luckily, I was just climbing into the car when it happened. Or else he would have had to go in an ambulance. (Don't tell Nils, he might be upset that he didn't!).

And the accident? Apparently a bunch of the kids were running in a no-run zone (hallway). Of course it was my kid who fell and got hurt. Maybe they learned something!

Checkups

The boys had a checkup this week and got an A+ for health. how is this possible since they never eat anything that is not processed? It must be my undercover veggies and the many, many Euros I spend in expensive mangoes....

So Jay is the curve. Exaclty dead on. You cannot get more average than him. For those of you who think the word average is a bad word, it is not to me. We are thankful that he is so healthy. His height, his weight, his height-to-weight ratio, everything, are all on the 50% curve. Nils is dead on for weight, but at the 97% curve for height. I would have never described Nils as light! He is 6 cm (2.25 inches or so) taller than Jay at the same age but only 800g (1.5 lb or so) heavier.

Both are doing what they should and more for their ages. The doctor commented on how independent Nils is and how well he speaks. If only he could hear how he babbles on and on at home! He was also impressed with Jay's German. He hasn't seen Jay in a year, before Jay was in German Kindergarten, and Jay's spoken German has improved incredibly over the past year. I always joke that Jay is Bruce Willis in Unbreakable: he is never, ever sick. I thought he would constantly be home in bed once he started school, but that is not the case. Good for him!

Wow, has it really been since January 14? Remember back when I used to blog twice a week? I discussed this with Linda and were in the same boat: without photos, we feel that there is nothing that you guys would really be interested to see.

Anyway, I can at least give an update. Since my last entry, we've celebrated Michael's and my birthdays. Yes, our family's birthdays are certainly clustered together! Michael also started his new job in Jaunary. So far, so good. He travels about one to two night a week, so it is a bit of a (small) adjustment for us. But this is also his busy season, so he would have been travelling just as much at his old job. We'll see how it goes when the selling season dies down.

We've been keeping ourselves pretty busy. I've been shuttling Jay to his German Kindergarten 5x a week and Nils 2x to the German one and 2x to the Enlgish one. Jay also has art school one afternoon a week and we also have some regular play dates during the week. So a week can fly by witohut us even noticing!

I'll try to get some photos up soon. Carneval just ended yesterday (yes, it is now Lent- where did the time go?) and the kids dressed up for Kindergarten. Jay was a banana. His Kindergarten had a healthy food theme and his class chose tropical fruit. He wore brown and I printed a Chiquita sticker for his chest. Brown is his favorite color right now, so it didn't bother him that he was an overripe banana. Nils was a leopard. Cheers!

A Zillion Photos

Here are some long overdue photos. First we have Jay on his bike at Christmas- tiger stripes, yay!

Next we have Jay and Nils wearing leopard PJs that I made (the first thing I've ever sewn!). My mom taught me some sewing basics during her visit.

You can see her next to Jay with his birthday cake. He loves cheesecake and she's famous for hers, so she made his birthday cake. We had his party on the weekend. You can those photos next.

Above you can see what we did. We decorated cookies (Jay's friend Carolin did a great job, we had to post a photo. We also had a marshmallow eating contest. The kids had to eat chocolate covered marshmallows without using their hands. Yes, we had a sugar theme!















Last of all we have Nils-he loved the marshmallow, just not the rules! Uh oh....

Happy 4th Birthday to Jay

Jay is four today. Michael is (unfortunately) on a business trip. No, there are no photos. (sorry!) Jay stood up on the bench and said today at the breakfast table "I'm four but I don't look any different today though. I still look like I'm three."

I'll post more this week- really!

Difficult Questions

Yes, I am slacking- Linda put me to shame. I will get around to actually taking photos so I can post some this week. Grandma is visiting, so we should be able to get a few! Anyway, Jay turns 4 in a couple of days and his questions are getting more and more complicated. Here are a few:

J: Mommy, did God make everything?
D: Yes, he did
J: Who made God?

D: Uhhhhh.... that's a question that some grownups spend all their lives trying to figure out. Nobody really knows.

J: I think God built Himself.

J: Mommy, is Opa in Heaven with God?
D: Yes, he is.
J: Is your Grandma in Heaven with God?
D: Yes, she is.
J: Does she know Opa? Are they friends?

D: *Gulp* You know, there are so many people there that they might not know each other yet.

J: Mommy, does Nikolaus bring me presents?

D: Yes, he does.

J: And Santa too?

D: Yes

J: Are Nikolaus and Santa the same person?

D: You know, everyone has a different idea about that. Some day you will decide on your own if they are the same or not.

J: What do you think?

D: That's private, you need to think and make up your own mind.

J: The Christkind brings presents too.

D: *Loud sucking-in-air noise*