Until Wednesday afternoon, we’ll see how it feels to be a family of four. I left Thom and Vin this morning at the train station with their teacher and classmates, ready for a trip to the farm.
Frau Hoffmann explained to me on the tram that this is usually a highlight of the year for her students. The kids spend most of the days outside playing on the farm with a few chores sprinkled in. Even though Thom and Vinnie were fairly confident they were going to be staying up all night, Frau Hoffmann said usually the kids are so tired, they fall asleep immediately. For her sake, I hope she’s right.
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Outside the tooth drama on Friday, we had a restful weekend. Errol cancelled our family day trip to Heidelberg. He was just there and is suffering from travel fatigue. He leaves again for England on Wednesday...
Thom and Errol went to the Blau-Weiss Wiehre end of the season celebration, and Thom was asked to play one last game Saturday afternoon. They won! While the men were occupied, Vinnie and I ran some errands and spent time packing for their school trip this week. It was tough to prepare for a three-day trip away with a Monday morning departure. We had to go over the packing list and what we needed early Saturday since stores aren’t open on Sunday. Hopefully they have everything they need! Errol practices excellent preventative care parenting. He checks the kids for ticks each night from May to October and always researches their ailments to make sure it’s not something terrible.
I enforce a lot of handwashing, but that’s about it. Unless someone is in real pain, I figure everything is fine. Errol came home on Thursday. After he brushed Neddy’s teeth, he asked: “When did Ned’s abscess come back? It looks really bad.” Ummm…. I didn’t notice…. He never said anything…. But, Errol was right. The abscess above his front tooth that we first noticed in Cologne in September was back. It had come and gone since the fall, and the dentist then advised to wait and see. It didn’t look good on Thursday night or yesterday morning. After school, the twins and I rode our bikes to the dentist. The dentist took one look and said, “It needs to come out.” Errol rode over to pick up Lee. Ned was a champ and breezed through the extraction. Just like when Lee was there last, the dentist prescribed strawberry ice cream for the cooperative patient. Neddy willingly complied later that afternoon. On Wednesday, the kids and I tried another Freiburg pool. We had heard tales of the glorious Strandbad.
It was quite the sight. Whenever a kid sees a waterslide, her happiness goes through the roof. There was also sand volleyball, trampolines, a playground, and an extensive kiddie pool. The downside of all these great amenities, was the crowd. We met our Virginian friends there, and we hardly got to talk since it was so difficult to keep track of our littles. We will definitely return to Strandbad, but I won’t go again with that adult to kid ratio. Thom has Sporthalle (gym) on Tuesday mornings, and the kids are disincentivized to take their backpacks to the gym. I usually take Thom’s bag and go with Vinnie to the school building.
The last two Tuesdays, I couldn’t since Errol was away. My solution was to put Thom’s incredibly heavy backpack in my grocery hand cart, and Vinnie drag it to school from their tram stop. The horror on her face! “We usually just see old ladies with those.” They’re right. I have since noticed that they’re not a trendy accessory. But, it’s incredibly helpful when you purchase lots of liquids from the grocery. Vinnie was forced to get over herself and took my hand cart to school the last two Tuesdays. Today I took my appreciation for the hand cart to a new level. It’s perfect when you have to leave your bike in town and grab groceries on the way home! No doubt, Vinnie would have been proud. Errol had some regrets about taking his big trip during the first week of the World Cup.
The kids for sure wish they could watch the games with their dad; but, if he were home, they never would have discovered these World Cup filters. They love them so much! Happy birthday, Errol! I’m reading Angela’s Ashes. It’s incredibly sad. I will only read it when I’m at the pool. I need to be in my happy place to keep reading through the heart-wrenching awful.
I love so many pools, but Lorettobad is pretty special. It has a ton of green space, three separate pools, and this adorable playground. Thom is always telling me I need to post about my offbeat food choices. Last week it was: “Oh, Mama. Salted iced cubes? You have to put that on facebook. Yesterday at the pool, he shook his head when he saw me dining on a cucumber, gouda taco. “Will you post that one? Please?” So, this is for Thom. He really cares about what everyone eats. In a very unfair turn of events this afternoon, a face painting booth was abruptly closed and Lee was the only Lord child who got his face painted. One can imagine how Ned especially reacted.
Lee loved his sparkly Spiderman face so much that he chose not to swim this afternoon and wept at the idea of washing it off before bed. This week the twins took a field trip to a clinic. Each student was instructed to bring a stuffed animal that was suffering some sort of ailment.
Neddy brought Marshall who happened to have a stomachache. Lee’s Zuma had an earache. The kindergartners rode the tram to the clinic and visited with a doctor and a pharmacist. Each stuffed animal received treatment and a prescription. The twins were excited to show us Marshall’s and Zuma’s x-rays and bandages. |
Anne Thomsen lordWritings on our year abroad. Archives
September 2018
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