Ex Patria

Days 12 through 22: Hurra, wir leben noch!

So, we are still alive.  That's nice.  We went through food poisoning, and when we got all better, I came down with the flu and then David got sick...  My Mom had to take over my house for four days before I could stagger around and pretend to be useful. 

 

This is an awful video of Milva singing "Hurra, wir leben noch" which means "Hurray, we're still alive" - that is basically us the past 10 days. Not to be negative, eh?

A few positive happenings:

• Jacob had 100% in both his first spelling and his first math test.  Go, Jacob.
• We had the first snow.  No, really.   Yes, it's still October.  The first snow was three days ago.  Very freaky.  Not as freaky as a giant storm system ripping your city apart, though.
• I had two lovely photo shoots.
• I cleaned out the closets.  That's not exciting but it's definitely positive.
• From the last of the apples, we are making apple wine.  That's definitely exciting and positive.

Um. Okay.  I'm sure there was more.

On the other hand, we discovered that Leah has a hearing problem.  That's potentially devastating but we don't know anything yet - the appointment with the specialist is next week.  She can hear - but if there's ambient noise, or if one talks quietly, she has real trouble hearing.  Also, she can't locate sounds - we tried that.  It's a recent development and I hope a passing one - she does have a bad cold, maybe that's connected.  However, we had her checked for wax (no) or fluids (no), so now we have to pull out the big guns.  Keep your fingers crossed!

The boys have a week of vacation.  Right before that, Alan's school had a big open house after months and months of renovations.  It's my old school and I have to say, they did a great job.  The old dark bunker is now open, light, and friendly.  I met a few old teachers and got confused whether some of the new teachers weren't in fact seniors - boy, when did that happen that the teachers got so young?

Anyway, some quick and inaccurate impressions from the past 10 days:

There were comic books...

 
Listening to old records...

Grumpy and Happy....

Crafting and drawing...

 And Leah's chaos after crafting - she likes to cut paper, obviously...

We hope to resume our normal schedule shortly.  No promises, though, eh?

Stupid TypePad ate not one, not two, but three of my posts. Now you have to wait.

Day 8

The day after.  Our stomachs are fully healed.  It's quite amazing.  Yesterday, I couldn't bear the thought of food.  Today, I baked.

Both Leah and Jacob went to school.

Alan and David stayed home, having been the most affected.  They are well but still a bit shaky, so I thought another day of rest would be welcome.  That meant I had to cancel my very urgently needed hairdresser appointment.  So, I'm shaggy until Friday.  Maybe I just won't leave the house much.

Leah got up at 6 am.  However, she was cheerful, and it's hard to be upset with a cheerful four-year-old.  She is also my little crafter.  At the moment, she's obsessed with writing and has to write her name and strings of letters on everything, all the time.  As my mother pointed out, she's also a very good cutter.  Since she was up so early, and doesn't go to preschool until 8:30, we had plenty of time.  So I printed out the cone dolls and Halloween cone costumes by Mr. Printables. Do you know Mr. Printables?  If you have a pre- or gradeschooler, you must go there right now.  Adorable, free printables.  We use this site a lot.  We made four or five of the cone dolls, and dressed them up as witches, pumpkins, skeletons, and added a cat and a bat.  Leah cut out her dolls and costumes very carefully (those things are smaller than the images on the website let on!), and blew me away by making the bat.  She insisted on bringing the batch to preschool, and so she did.

 Jacob and I picked more apples in the afternoon, and some of the very last blackberries.   What could have been more natural than making an apple-blackberry-crumble?  Alan and David declined - they are not cake eaters.  Jacob and Leah, though, gobbled it down.  "Hm", said Leah.  "I like those small things."  The crumbles, my child.  It was good, but next time, I think some cinnamon and some tiny bit of cloves would not go amiss.

Nothing more exciting ought to be happening today.  Early bedtime, yet again.  We all need some more rest.

Day 7

Jacob came to my bed at 1:00.  I had just woken up from a bad dream, all covered in cold sweat, with a pounding headache and severe stomach cramps.  Jacob complained about stomach ache as well.  I asked him whether he needed to throw up.  Nope, he said.  I tried to go back to sleep. Jacob tried to go back to sleep.  He couldn't, and lay in bed with his eyes wide open.  Something about that didn't seem right.  I went to fetch the vomit bucket (why, yes, we have a vomit bucket - don't you?).  I handed it to him, turned out the light, and only seconds later, I heard a wet sound...

He got half the bed, Doug's bedside table, the floor, the wall. A bit of the bucket.   It was pretty impressive.  Oh, and himself, of course.  I cleaned him up.  I pulled off the linens and covers and tossed them into the washer.  I scrubbed the floor, the wall, the table.  I gave Jacob medicine and tucked him in.  Made him drink some water.  He fell asleep.

My stomach still hurt.

I couldn't sleep.

At 5:30, I heard sounds from the bathroom.  David was the next victim.  Wash, rinse, repeat.  Only, he spared his bedclothes, so that was good.

At 6:00 my alarm rang.  I went back and forth whether to get Alan up for school.  When I tried to wake him, just to ask how he felt, I could hardly raise him.  I let him sleep.  I figured, if his brothers vomit, so will he.

At 7:10, the bus for school left.  At 7:15, I heard frantic running.  Good call, Mom.

At 8:40, Leah.

I still have stomach cramps, severe headaches, a dry mouth. 

David is feeling under the weather but has stopped vomiting. 

Jacob and Leah are their usual perky selves and spent the afternoon at my Mom's - it's very nice to have your Mom close by.   She brought some essentials, including a warm water bottle for Alan who was shivering with cold.

Alan would not stop vomiting.  Eight hours of vomiting 2 to 3 times an hour.  The moment I made him take a sip of water, he barfed.  I stopped giving him fluids.  He had watery diarrhea. I called the doctor.  He suggested to wait a few more hours, then he'd pull the plug on this.  Alan is very susceptible to stomach bugs, and he has been having an undefined, low-grade infection for the past weeks that we can't pin down. 

After eight hours, he fell asleep.  Finally.  He slept for an hour, and when he woke up he was hungry.  He ate half a rice cake, then drank some sips of water.  Later, he had some broth.  Right now, he's back to normal, but weak.  I'll leave him home for one more day tomorrow.

We think it was a bad case of fried sausage we had at a fair.  Neither of us liked it but I told the kids to eat up because we don't throw food out.  Lesson learnt. Sorry, kids.  I didn't mean to poison you.

Oh, me?  I still have those monster headaches.  Food poisoning is no fun.  My stomach still hurts but I feel much better.  I had an hour of sleep in the afternoon which helped a lot.  Now for a quiet night, and we shold all be back to normal tomorrow.

 

 

Day 6

Slow Sunday.  Lots of reading, playing games, napping (for Mom), drawing, pasting, collecting walnuts and chestnuts... It sounds a tad more wonderful than it was - add some four-year-old drama, some nine-year-old antics, some headaches and short tempers...  But I suppose that's normal.  We are learning to live without Daddy and that's tough work.  It's different this time - normally, half his "away time" would already be over and now, we've barely scratched the surface.  That's a rough thought for all of us.

Unfortunately, this may be something we might have to get used to.  Doug by himself would get a job in no time - he's fabulously good at what he does, just the pesky family with all those added expenses is weighing him down.  Not a very nice thought.  Not a thought we like to dwell on.  Our hope right now is for a job in the US but, you know, it's the economy, stupid. 

In the meantime, you'll be happy to hear that it was the maid, and she hid the ring in the nursery.  Happy Ending.

Day 4 and 5

This is my 501st post.

It seems adequate that Typepad ate the post that I spent all morning on "Day 4".  What with Leah throwing another of her needy whiny fits and the boys not cleaning up their rooms, I'm not re-writing it.  Let it be said that the most exciting events of the past two days - Friday, Saturday - were:

• We celebrated my uncle's 84th birthday
• David wrote a dictation
• Jacob lost a tooth and the tooth fairy bailed on him
• We went to the Ostheim Wurstmarkt (a slow food festival)
• We had a Google hangout with my brothers
• Alan and David read "The Mark of Athena" in a day each (no homework was done in those days but luckily, it was the weekend)
• We splurged $30 on a new satellite receiver and now I feel guilty about it.  I could live without TV, really.

Do you do Google+?  I find it confusing, mostly because I have no time to delve deeply into it.  Maybe I'm getting too old for stuff like that.

Happy Birthday to my uncle.  I told him he looks great for 39. He laughed. 

Day 3

Kid 3 came home elated: his homework continues to collect mouse stamps - 10 mouse stamps = one grab into the treasure box. 

Kid 2 came home grumpy.  He cheered up once we got to the apple juice press, and he discovered a centuries old linden tree that has a scab that looks like Sauron's eye.  Heh, made my day, too.

Kid 1 found his knit hat again.  Another kid had found it on the street and turned it in at the school.  Maybe there is yet hope for mankind.

Kid 4 was delightful and horrible in quickly alternating cycles.

In other news:  more apple juice, lots of walnuts, sewing both by mother and daughter (me for needs, she for fun).  Thursdays are always crazy busy but in a good way.   The kids discovered they have a week break at the end of the month.  Kid 1 has a test essay next week.  He may or may not have swimming (instead of gym) in school tomorrow.  He also lost his gym bag on the bus. 

Oh, I put gas in the car.  The price at the pump was 1.56 Euros per liter.  (Yes, US Americans, there is a hell.  For those mathematically challenged: that's $7.63 per gallon.)  As I paid, the woman at the cashier said, "Oh, look.  The price just dropped to 1.50!"  I had no words.  Well, I did, but I should not reproduce them in printed form.

I notice a lot of typos, that probably means I should go to sleep.  And that I shall do.  Good night.

 

Day 2

That's the day Doug arrived safely in the US.  He's in suburban DC, staying with his sister and her family.  This morning, he walked the dog.  Ah, suburbia.

We rose at 6:30 am as every morning.  A cold, clear morning and I almost - almost - forgot that it was trash day.  In Germany, that is an involved process - we have three different bins (compost, paper, and regular trash) as well as yellow bags (all wrappings, plastic, cans, etc.).   The paper gets emptied once a month (it's a big bin) and the other bins get emptied every other week.  Woe the person who has too much trash.  Anyway, I hauled the bins and bags out at 6:20 or so, under a starlit sky.  It was bitterly cold and a first frost had covered lawn, apple tree, and car.  Good thing I didn't need the car that morning!

Once the boys are off to school, and Leah in Preschool (which takes from 7:10 to 8:30 - all kids leave the house at different times), I usually clean up a bit.  Today, I went to take a few photos of my aunt and uncle.  It's my present to my uncle's 84th birthday on Friday.

Alan came home early today and for once, David also did his homework quickly and well. 

I tried to chop wood.  It didn't really work well, so I thought the axe was dull.

Then my Mom came and proved that the axe was fine.  It was just me.

Leah drew a lot of ballon faces.

I should take down the sunflowers but the tired old faces have their own special charm.

Jacob built a bow.

That plane flies to Daddy! (Wrong direction, kid, but I won't tell you.)

And there so very many more apples on the trees...

I also looked at a sump pump.  No, you don't want to know.  Alan helped the neighbors pick their plums and got 10 Euros and a box full of nails for his efforts.  No wonder that kid doesn't help me!

My Mom sponsored gym pants for the boys and skinny black jeans with a silver belt for Leah.  Everybody was overjoyed.

The evening books for the little ones were "How Farm Machines Work" and "Elephants Cannot Dance".  David is almost finished with Wildwood and loves it.

It's time for Bedtime Math.  Good night.

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.

61 days

Hello?

Heeeellloooooo??

Good thing there are blog feed readers -- otherwise a new post every few months [cough] surely would miss everybody by a wide margin.  It's been... very much too long since I last posted.  Sorry.

Things have happened, yes, but mostly they were not very nice things, so I didn't feel like blogging about them.  A consequence of these not-so-nice things is that Doug will be in the US for the next 61 days.  As I'm writing this, he's still here but barely - in an hour, we'll drive to the train station and off he goes.  We had lots of unhappiness in the last few days and I confess, I didn't handle the stress of saying good-bye for a long time very well.  Talking about modeling good behavior for the kids - yeah, well, not so much.

David left for school with tears streaming down his cheeks.  My beloved difficult child, he loves his Dad so much.  The others didn't cry but were noticeably glum.  Sigh. 

I can't be upbeat and tell the boys it will be fun but we won't be having tears every day and we are used to Doug being away.  We'll deal with it. 

Doug is not liking this whole thing, either.  I asked him what he was looking forward to and he had a hard time coming up with something.  I hope that friends and relatives will coddle him a bit! (Hint, hint.)

So here's what I thought I could do for him:  I'll be writing every day about what happened during that day (that's going to be kind of boring for the rest of you, sorry).  I'll also try to post one picture a day.  We'll see how that works out but for me, having a project of some sort will maybe help a bit.

Doug and the kids coming back from a walk in the woods.