Day 1

A very mixed day.

Jacob came home from school and did his homework without greater trouble.  I had to cheer him on a bit but heh, he had to write about 200 "5"s, I'd be tired of them, too.  I later met his teacher, Frau W.  She's very happy with him and said he's behaving beautifully in class and is always eager to do his work.  That's nice to hear.

David, well, David.  He decided to return to his ways of old and sit for hours over his homework, dawdling, complaining, whining, and not doing anything.  Over the past years I've tried everything - cajoling, pleading, threatening, bribing... 

Did I ever tell you the story of how I weaned him off the bottle?  He was past 2 years old, and it really was time for him to let go.  But he didn't want to.  So I took the bottle and threw it out, and handed him a sippy cup with milk.  It had worked just fine for Alan, right?  "You're a big boy now, here's your big-boy-cup!"  He handed it back and flatly said, "I want my bottle back or I will never drink milk again."  Hah, I thought, how adorable!  All of a foot tall and such determination in his eyes.  Too precious, really.

It's seven years later and he hasn't had a drop of milk in all those years.  That's David.

I'm sure that trait will serve him well in the future but at the moment, there is homework to be done. So I sent him into the school room, closed the door and ignored him.  It took hours.  Hours.  I even served him his dinner in his confinement.  He emerged with the work done at 6:15, and in remarkably good mood.  I can't figure him out.  He spent four hours on homework that really should have taken maybe twenty minutes.  I would be too lazy for that.

I picked Alan up from school.  He was very amused because his class got locked into the biology room and they had to leave by way of the windows.  What could be funnier?  He also told me he thinks he should start reading books in German to improve his spelling and reading in German.   At home, he sat down and did his homework.  He continues to amaze me.  He learned about the geological periods today - you know, Triassic, Jurassic, Oleander... No, wait.  That would be Ordovician.  I could never remember them myself and now I have to fake it.  I had the feeling I needed to reward him for his responsible behavior and he's getting The Mark of Athena, the new book by Rick Riordan tomorrow. (Amazon.de Prime, I love you.)

That was our afternoon - lots of homework.  Leah came home from Preschool and the kids all had a snack -- we do a "goûter" when she comes home at 4 pm, inspired by Karen Le Billon's "French Kids eat Everything".  Today, it was a cakey snack called "Amerikaner".  Yep, Americans. Heh, we call our doughnuts "Berliner", so why not?  Amerikaner are black-and-white frosted soft cakes.  (David got his for dessert after dinner.)

After dinner, Leah wanted to play Plank.  It's actually called River Crossing from Thinkfun  -- while Alan was practising the piano, Jacob played Rushhour, David played Tipover and Leah played River Crossing.   A quiet evening.  Leah went to bed early, Jacob is playing Jenga (i.e. he uses the pieces to build a giant bridge for his cars), Alan and David are reading.  We finished our second 5l-pouch of apple juice. I almost finished Jacob's new hat.  There is the constant noise of dropping Jenga pieces.  Doug's plane is already half an hour late.

And so to bed soon.  Weekdays are short in our house.

Comments

[Doug (not Muir)]

Amerikaner auf dem Mars.

Just in case you haven't seen it already.

[Doug M.]

I just yesterday finally found the last missing Jenga piece.

Doug M.

[Doug M.]

Actually, this sounds really wonderful. Well, other than the homework thing.

Doug M.