Busy busy busy

Our summer vacation is already over. Chris and I are so busy with work right now... it's actually hard to describe. There have been many sweet stories with the kids and I think we also have many more (better) pictures somewhere, but they will all have to wait for a later date (September maybe? sigh).

A picture taken on and around a statue in front of the Ozeaneum (ocean museum/aquarium) in Stralsund.

When the kids were on vacation by themselves, Chris and I went out for dinner one night and walked almost all the way back home from Alexanderplatz.

The kids riding the train back with me to Berlin. That was our last hot day - in the last two weeks we have had highs of only 15-18 degrees Celsius, and basically constant rain. I really hope we get some summer weather back soon.

Sharing a swing on the playground today. Both kids have started their new year at daycare, and they both changed groups. Clara is now in Vorschule (Kindergarten). She is very very excited about it and has been happy to go every day (even though we have to get up early). There are only very few kids back yet, so she gets to spend a lot of time talking to her teacher, trying out all the toys, and getting used to the new environment.

Oscar switched into the Kindergarten (big kids' daycare) part, into Clara's previous group. He is now the youngest (together with his friend Lilli) in a group of 2-5-year-olds. I'm sure he will adjust well with time, and he also has a nice time with his teacher and only about 4 other kids right now. But he's not to happy to have to go to Kita every day now. I think he will be happier once they can finally go outside on the playground again - he loves all kinds of physical play. At least tonight at dinner Oscar proclaimed for the first time "fun Elgin" (= he had fun with his teacher Elgin) and then, also unprompted, "fun Levin", another little boy in the group. It seems that Oscar is really good with names! They also went to the gym room for the first time today, which Oscar just loved - he never got to do this in the little kids' group. He's so proud of his climbing. At home, he climbs onto the most precarious constructions and then calls out "Tall!", or tells me at bedtime "Oscar ladder climb climb, very very!" He can also climb out of his crib now, which is unfortunate since going to bed is not his favorite. There's just so much more to "play!", "read!", "climb!", etc.

It's hard to believe that Oscar is not 2 yet... in our minds he has been a two-year-old already for many weeks. He talks very very well for his age, and very much! Although he prefers English, he can switch to German (for example when he's suddenly afraid that Oma may not give him the bun he requested - so he translates just to be sure) and according to his teachers, speaks mostly German at daycare. And the moods - generally Oscar is very sweet, and can already express many wishes in words instead of screaming or tantrums... but let's just say that the mood swings sometimes seem very typical of a two-year-old as well.