Learning to talk, and learning German

Posted on November 11, 2011 by admin

Liam is learning to talk. Other than getting “mama” out a few times a couple of months ago, he hasn’t really said anything consistently. In the past month, he’s learned “No!”, but that’s his answer to absolutely every question you ask him, so although he was “talking” it didn’t really count as communicating.

But, he’s moving on from there. First, we started noticing that the “no” that means no and the “no” that means yes have a definitely different inflection. Then, in the past few days, he started following Bailey around the house yelling, “Vuh! Vuh! Vuh!” (which is the sound a dog makes, if you didn’t know). Now, he’s added, “Dah!” (dog) to his canine monologue. It is so cute. And, in addition to occasionally chasing Bailey around shouting, “Dah! Vuh! Vuh! Vuh! Dah!”, which we now understand, he also looks enthusiastically in all of Bailey’s hiding places if you ask him “What sound does a dog make?” (because I guess he wants the answer from the source). He’s been a great communicator for a while (more of a pointer and gesturer than B was) but it’s really fun to see him adding actual words (more or less) to his repertoire.

Benjamin’s doing the same thing. Just this week, he’s started to use words and phrases we don’t understand. We’re not sure how to separate the actual words from the nonsense words (he’s recently started inventing words, too, which I think comes from a combination of hanging out with Liam and being bombarded daily by a lot of words that are effectively nonsense to him). The other night at the doctor’s office, though, he said to Liam “Schau ma, Liam!” (or something like that) when showing him a new toy. The doctor immediately recognized it and told us he was telling Liam to “look here”. Since that night, it’s the only way I’ve heard him address Liam if he wants to show him something. His pronunciation, too, of words in German is impressive (his ü is way better than mine).

I’m impressed, with both of my boys. Learning a language is a lot of work, and they’re both doing great.

Lanternen Abend

Posted on November 10, 2011 by admin

Benjamin’s school hosted a “lantern evening” tonight. Other than assuming that lanterns would somehow be involved, we really didn’t know what to expect. I suspected there was going to be a performance of some kind, because Benjamin had been talking about “practicing his song” at school this week. Excited about B’s first school “concert”, we went to the school this evening and assembled in the garden to see what would happen next.

The teachers had made paper lanterns for each child (complete with real, actual candles!) and each of the kids had helped to make his or her own costume. They all lined up and then got arranged in a circle, and began to sing. There were three songs, none of which I understood, but each of the kids had a part to play in the performance, which mainly involed the kids taking turns walking around in a circle and the teachers doing most of the singing.

It was great. Benjamin was a cat (the cutest cat EVER, for the record) and was part of the first group to perform in the first song. He did great during “his” song, but when the props came out for the second song, he burst into tears and cried for me, so I ran around the circle to hold him for the last two songs. (Turns out, in the dark, he hadn’t been able to see me and was “worried about me”.) Liam wanted nothing to do with the singing and spent the entire performance toddling around the playground with Dan in tow (on the plus side, as long as he was wandering, he was relatively quiet).

I’m so proud of my little guy. I know it’s a “mom thing” to be proud of our kids, whatever the situation, and there’s definitely that aspect to what I’m feeling, but I’m also truly impressed by him. I know plenty of adults who would balk at participating in a performance where the entire show (and much of the direction) was in a foreign language. Until relatively recently, he wasn’t too thrilled about school at all, so to see him out there, participating in his class activity, and enjoying it (at least the first part) was really amazing.

After the show, the kids all got to run around the garden in the dark and play, which was a lot of fun for them — Benjamin particularly seemed to enjoy getting to show us all around his school play yard.

(This evening also brought back very fond memories, for me, of a tradition called Lantern Bearing which we celebrated at Sweet Briar.)

Apparently, these “lantern evenings” happen in schools all around Vienna, across Austria and throughout Europe. It’s part of the celebration of the Feast of St. Martin (who I had never heard of, apart from the island) which is seen as the first part of the Christmas season, the beginning of a 40 day period of fasting or an excuse to drink wine and eat goose, depending on your view.

Benjamin did great, and we all had a great time. This was another very Austrian experience, in that we don’t (to my knowledge, anyway) particularly celebrate St. Martin’s Day at home, and at the same time, really universal — my pride in watching B, his excitement, and even his tears, are the stuff of preschool performances, wherever they happen.

School is great

Posted on November 8, 2011 by admin

For the first 6 weeks or so, when I would arrive at school to pick B up, he’d look at me (rather forlornly) and say, “I want to go home”. For the past few weeks, I’ve suspected that this has been more of a habit than an expression of actual sadness — if I sneak up to the window in the classroom, I can get a peek of him playing happily with the other kids, and the teachers have been reporting that he’s been joining in the group activities and playing enthusiastically with the other kids. Lately, on the way home, when I ask him how his day was, he invariably says “It was great!” He’s been adding to his list of friends almost daily — he recently told me that he has the same number of friends as he does fingers.

Today, when I got to school and peeked in, he was playing with a little girl, building a Lego train. When the other kids alerted him to my presence (they always do, which is why I have to be sneaky if I want to see what he’s up to) he turned around and said, “Mommy! Come see!” It was the first time he’d ever beckoned me into the classroom, rather than running to meet me at the door. I went to check out his Lego train, and got to meet his new friend, Felicity, and then I told him it was time to go. At which point he asked if he could add just one more car to the train . . . and then just one more . . . and then just one more . . . at which point, the effort of fighting to keep Liam in my arms (he wanted to play, too) caused me to pull the plug on his fun.

On the way home, he told me all about his great day and how he wants to go back tomorrow. Later, over lunch, he told me he was a little sad. I asked why, and he told me, “I didn’t have a much time at school. I wanted to stay a bit longer.”

I’m so glad he feels this way. This is what I’d been hoping would happen — that he wouldn’t just tolerate school, but would actually look forward to it. That he wouldn’t count the minutes until I came to pick him up, but he would want to stay a little longer. I want him to have fun, make friends, a learn a little. I feel like we’re starting to get there.

Mommy takes a break

Posted on November 7, 2011 by admin

This weekend was a long weekend for us — Dan had today off of work. So, naturally, by about 10:00 this morning, we still had a ton of things on our “to do” list, and I was already exhausted. When we have long weekends, I have a bad habit of trying to cram too much stuff in — that extra day seems to stretch on eternally in my mind’s eye when I’m planning, but I find it usually just leaves me more exhausted than I am in a regular weekend, and frustrated, too, because I had this fanciful idea of what would be accomplished that didn’t come to pass.

First thing this morning, we had a doctor’s appointment for a heart screening for Liam . . . which was a bit of a fiasco because the hospital had lost our appointment, which no one actually told us, so we had to wait in the emergency room for 45 minutes while they figured things out, only to be sent to the cardiology department to be lectured on the fact that we needed an appointment (which is when we figured out what must have happened). This is one of those things that is infinitely more challenging about living in a country where you don’t speak the language: these missed connections happen much more often, and when they do, they’re less likely to be resolved easily. Chances our, the incorrect appointment might well have been our misunderstanding in the first place, but we find that rather than explain the problem to us (that they have no record of our appointment) everyone passes the problem of explaining along to the next person, leaving us irritated (why are we waiting in the ER for 45 minutes when we had an appointment?) and confused (why is everyone being so weird?). We did finally get to see the cardiologist, and Liam’s heart is just fine (good to know) but after starting and our day, bright and early, with a heaping dose of confusion and frustration, I just did not have it in me to go forward with our plans for the day.

So, I gave up. We were supposed to take the kids to the zoo to meet a friend, but I just could not get excited about it. I was feeling really tired, and already daunted by the big week we have ahead of us. All I wanted to do was sit, read and have a cup of tea. So, that’s what I did. Benjamin was already excited about going to the zoo, so Dan took the boys. It seemed like a crazy idea when we first thought of it, and I felt preemptively guilty (could I *really* bring myself to skip a fun day at the zoo with my kids?) but it was GREAT. I got to relax and take a little time for myself, and the boys had a great time at the zoo with Dan. They don’t seem scarred by it, and, surprisingly, neither am I.

We still didn’t get a lot of stuff on our list done this weekend, and I’m still pretty worn out. But tomorrow, when I’m exhausted and trying to get my week back on track, I’ll feel a little better knowing I at least took a stab at being rested for the week. And the flamingos will be there next time.

I want to be a firefighter

Posted on November 3, 2011 by admin

Actually, I have no desire to be a firefighter — I’m nearly pyrophobic. As a child, I used to lie awake at night worrying about the possibility of my house burning down while I slept, was petrified of any open flame (including birthday candles) and actually had to be personally escorted out of the classroom, by the teacher, every time we had a fire drill.

I’ve gotten over it to some extent. I can handle birthday candles and fires in fireplaces pretty well, at least.

But tonight, at dinner, Benjamin announced the inevitable: that he wants to be a firefighter when he grows up. And Liam can be his baby firefighter and help him and ride in the back of the truck. And he might get a Dalmatian to ride on his red firetruck. And his friends can be firefighters, too, but they’ll be firefighters at the airport and use the green fire truck.

I know we’ll most likely go through many life ambitions over the course of his lifetime (I’m still coming up with new ones for myself) but there’s something very sweet about this one. As his protective mother, I hope he chooses something else. But, when he told me, I responded (sincerely) that I will be happy with him being whatever he wants to be when he grows up. Right now, I’m just happy with him being Benjamin, and I’m so glad he’s still little.

A free cookie

Posted on November 2, 2011 by admin

Yesterday evening, I took Benjamin out for some “B & Mommy” time. I usually go out, twice a week, on my own, for an hour, to get a cup of coffee. Lately, when I go, he’s been asking to go with me. I’ve been planning to do more things, just he & I — now that he’s in school, it’s rare for us to spend some time together when I’m not also wrestling Liam. So, yesterday, we went together.

We went to my usual Starbucks for “coffee” (I told him he could either have hot chocolate or warm milk). I walked, he rode his bike. He was so excited to go out in the dark on his bike, and to go with me to get coffee. We had a really nice trip over, and when we were in line, and B was debating his options, he caught sight of the cookies in the case. He decided that rather than warm milk or hot chocolate, he’d really rather have a cookie. When it was our turn to order, I asked for his cookie, and the manager, who was standing beside us, leaned over the counter and whispered something to our order taker. Then he turned to us, “I think, since yesterday was Halloween, we’re going to give you that cookie for free.” Benjamin was pretty excited (even though he has no real financial stake in his cookie supply). I thanked the manager, and so did Benjamin. He replied, “No problem. Besides, you’re in here almost every day.”

In my defence, I’m really not in there every day. I go in twice a week, that’s it. (I swear.) But, to a Starbucks crew in the center of the tourist section of Vienna, I imagine that an English speaker (trying to be a German speaker) who comes in regularly over the course of six months is pretty memorable. (Everyone there already knows my orders — extra impressive because I don’t get the same thing all the time, but they know the choices I select from.)

My first thought was, “Wow, in Vienna, of all places, I’m a regular at Starbucks. Yikes.” It’s a little predictable, and a lot American. But, in thinking about it, I’ve decided I don’t mind. I like my Starbucks. It’s isn’t about the coffee — I don’t require my normal American drinks or anything (the things that I get I could get anywhere in Vienna, anyway). I do love the location — it is the only place at Michaelerplatz where you can sit outside, drink a coffee, and watch Vienna. But even more, the people there are really great. They’re friendly, they’re helpful, they let me practice my German on them, and they’re never impatient or irritable when I resort to English. They’re good at what they do, too — tour buses literally unload in front of the shop, and I’ve been impressed, on several occasions, with the skill and ease with which they deal with the orders (and the myriad languages they’re faced with).

So, I’m ok with being a predictable American who’s a regular at Starbucks in Vienna. I like it there.

Christmas comes early

Posted on November 1, 2011 by admin

Halloween is barely celebrated here, and Thanksgiving doesn’t exist. There have been beautiful advent calendars and Christmas sweaters in the shop windows for weeks, and preparations are well underway for the extensive Christmas markets that will soon be open. Unlike at home, no one is embarrassed or exasperated about it — without Halloween and Thanksgiving, there’s really no reason NOT to start the celebration of Christmas.

As if on cue, the weather here today felt like something out of Dickens (minus the snow). This evening in Vienna was cold, foggy and damp. Walking through Michaelerplatz, watching the horse drawn carriages go by, I could easily imagine the opening scenes to “A Christmas Carol”.

Our Halloween pumpkins are still in good form, but soon, it’ll be time to deck our halls, too. I’m very excited about Christmas — it’s the time of year I’m most looking forward to experiencing in Vienna. Culturally, Christmas is bound to be very different here — I suspect Austria will celebrate more religiously than I’m used to at home. And the secular icons are different, as well — they have Saint Nicholas here, rather than Santa Claus, and the Christmas tree tradition is executed differently.

I’d better find out the salient differences, because with Benjamin being in school, he’s going to hear about them. He’s has already started his mental Christmas list for Santa — and one for Liam, too — and he told me this evening that he’s concerned that Santa will be able to get in to our house, but maybe not out again. He’s planning ahead. Me too.

Halloween, Austria style

Posted on October 31, 2011 by admin

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I love Halloween. I have so many memories of it from my childhood — picking and carving pumpkins, dressing up and going trick-or-treating, going to creepy houses, on spooky hayrides, or through haunted forests, or just staying home and giving out candy. I like it all. Benjamin has experiencesd enough of Halloweens at this point to remember it, and to look forward to it this year. So, although we really didn’t know how Austriants celebrated Hallloween, it was important to me that we do something to make the occassion.

Benjamin really wanted to go trick-or-treating, but after our first investigations, the prospects looked pretty dim. This time of year in Austria is much more about celebating fall than it is about celebrating Halloween. But, we persisted, and finally found out (through an American coworker of Dan’s) about a little bit of trick-or-treating done in Vienna. It took a while to get the details, but we finally found out exactly where to go.

So, we set about making things happen. We made treat bags for the kids (as our treat pumpkins are apparently in storage at home) and dug out costumes. Dan came home a bit early from work, and we got everyone dressed and ready and headed out. We took the tram, then took the same tram again (got a little lost), hopped on a bus, rode it out to the end, and trekked up a really big hill.

We’d been told that the houses participating in trick-or-treating would be decorated and easy to find. The first house we tried — no one home. But, we continued up the hill and came upon an entire neighborhood of homes decorated in pumpkin lights or jack-o-lanterns. By the second house, Benjamin was bounding up to the door shouting, “Trick or treat!” before the door was even opened. By the time we were through the one neighborhood, we had successfully visited about a half dozen houses. Benjamin had a fantastic time, and Liam, who was enjoying his first trick-or-treat (he slept through last year) had a great time and kept his costume on the entire time. We walked back down the hill, got on the bus, walked for a bit, got on the same bus again (not lost this time), got on the tram and came home. Then, we lit the pumpkins and had the boys try out their trick-or-treat skills here at home. It was a successful evening.

Trick-or-treating defintely seems to be an American thing: every house we went to was inhabited by Americans, and most of the trick-or-treaters we came across were English speaking. But it’s catching on here — we saw a few groups of German-speaking kids going from house to house, and a few of the houses we went to this evening had run out of candy (before 8:00), so I’m guessing that they had more people come by their houses than they did last year. We saw a few costumed kids on the way back, as well (including one little girl with quite a bucket full of treats). The Austrian kids seem to be as in to the “tricks” as the “treats” — we encountered “silly string” and shaving cream all along our route.

We didn’t really experience an Austrian Halloween — we experienced an American Halloween transplanted here. Mostly, we want to try to experience local culture while we’re here, but for today, my kids got to have their Halloween, and so did I. I’m happy we did it, even if it was a little American. We all had a good time, but Halloween is definitely something I miss about home.

Standard Time

Posted on October 30, 2011 by admin

We have Daylight Saving Time here in Austria, just like in the US, but it ends a week earlier, so we’re now 5 hours off from Eastern Time, instead of 6 . . . until next week, when we’ll be back at 6 again. (I apologize, in advance, for anyone I call or text at an inappropriate time back in the States this week.)

Theoretically, this means that we got an extra hour of sleep last night, but since Liam is simultaneously teething and congested with a cold, there was very little sleep to be had around our house last night. We will, however, be appreciating the shift in hours that the cessation of Daylight Saving Time provides — at least temporarily. The kids have been sleeping in later and later in the mornings as the sunrise gets later. This is great — it is a fantastic change from what we were experiencing in June and July: morning waking times around 5 a.m. — however, since I have a hard time making myself wake a sleeping child, we’ve ended up with some rushed (and late) mornings recently. Hopefully this will help get the kids up, and Dan to work, on time, more easily. (For a while, at least.)

I can tell, though, after just one day of this schedule, that the evenings are going to take some getting used to. By 4:30 today, dusk was starting to settle and it was truly dark by about 5:15. For trick or treating tomorrow, it’ll be perfect — nice and dark before we even go out. But dusk at 4:30 in October feels a little ominous — we have nearly 2 months of decreasing sunlight ahead of us. It’s already noticeably different than what I’m used to. The light here is beautiful — it’s like having morning or afternoon sun all day long. The sun is never quite overhead — “high” noon really isn’t.

Soon, we’ll be getting up and leaving the house in the dark; often coming home in the dark, as well. As we move further into winter at this latitude, I know that each moment of sunlight will become increasingly precious to us. We’ll be looking forward to the days of 5 a.m. sunrises very soon.

Retz

Posted on October 29, 2011 by admin

Today we took the train to a very small town called Retz, which is apparently world famous for its Pumpkin Festival. It was a long train ride which took us well beyond Vienna — we were about 5 km from the Czech border when we arrived at the Retz train station. We had a great time at the Am Himmel festival last weekend, so we thought we’d give this one (which was supposed to be bigger) a try as well. From Retz, we took a shuttle bus (three fully loaded tour buses ran every hour) to Obermarkersdorf.

It was certainly bigger. There were nearly 60 shops, kiosks and food stands, several marching bands, a couple of regular bands, floats, a carousel, a bouncy house (actually, a bouncy fire station), a pumpkin maze and (according to the brochure) over 1000 carved jack-o-lanterns (I think that’s a very conservative estimate).

The town is darling. It’s the epitome of a little Austrian town, with narrow winding streets, cute little homes and a stream running through the middle, crossed by several footbridges. In this case, the front yard and windows of each home was adorned with a pumpkin scene. The theme this year is “around the world” so each home chose a country or region of the world and decorated based on that theme. Some of the displays were stunningly elaborate. We saw the North Pole, the Orient Express (accompanied by pumpkin Japanese Lanterns), the Loch Ness (Pumpkin) Monster, a bull and a matador, the Eiffel Tower, a pumpkin blacksmith who was actually moving, a massive pumpkin pyramid, a very long pumpkin train, and a pumpkin gondolier along with his pumpkin customers — all of whom were actually in a gondola, floating in a pond.

We met up with some friends on the way, and some more when we got there, and together (and separately) tried a variety of fun (and, in most cases, pumpkin inspired) dishes. My favorites from today were small apple/pumpkin fritters, coated in powdered sugar, and also the pumpkin cappuccino. We also successfully scoured the festival for another jar of pumpkin seed pesto (because the jar we purchased last weekend is already gone).

Benjamin and I took part in several of the kid’s activities — we got through the pumpkin maze (actually a hay bale maze with pumpkins) easily and then decorated a glass lantern which we then lit and carried through the festival, hanging from the stroller. (Yet a few more for the long list of things you’d never do in the States: decorate a glass lantern with a 3 year old, light a lantern for a 3 year old, attach said lantern to the stroller and walk through a festival crowded with people.) Decorating the lantern with B was fun (he opted for lantern making over pumpkin carving) and we’ll be keeping it to use for trick or treat . . . or just late night trips in the wagon. (Liam, unfortunately, chose the time when we were in the kid’s section to sleep, so he missed out on that part.)

We had a great time. We saw lots of fun things, we ate good food, we hung out with fun friends, we did fun activities . . . and then it was time to go home. We caught the shuttle bus back to the train station . . . and then discovered that we had over an hour wait for our train. In the cold. With two kids. Who didn’t get real naps today. And were hungry.

But, amazingly, we finished our day with a great hour in the train station and a nice ride home. At the train station, Benjamin made a few friends (some adults and another kid), showed off his speed and spinning ability, and challenged the other little boy to several races back and forth. Liam practiced his walking. Once on the train, Liam took a good nap with Dan while Benjamin and I talked about our day and looked at the pictures we took. In all seriousness, the grumpiest person at the end of the day was me. My kids were amazing. They enjoyed the day enthusiastically and kept their good spirits throughout. I am amazed and impressed by them.

Retz’s renown for putting on a good Pumpkin Festival is well deserved. We all had a lovely day in the Austrian countryside and we’re all feeling thoroughly festive and geared up for Halloween.

A Mommy Abroad

Our big adventure, as a family of three.

Category Archives: Kids and Parenting