Only child

Last night, Clara went to the playground after dinner with her Dad (because there's so little time to play during the day now with school and a one-hour commute each way). When they came back, she exclaimed: "Yay, no Oscar!" Oscar is on his first ever solo trip (without Clara, and without Mom and Dad), staying with Opa in Dresden for a few days. He's enjoying it so far, and so is Clara, it seems. She is really soaking up the double attention from both her parents, and getting to choose who gets to snuggle her at bedtime (while both parents are fighting over the honor!). She even brought up the topic directly last night at dinner, when she asked me if, when she was born, I had always thought I would have more children or if I had only wanted one. And why.

Oscar on a rainy day in Berlin last week

On the other hand, Oscar is not completely forgotten. We're missing him quite a bit (at least I am) - the house feels very quiet without his never-ending, almost-three-year-old energy. And when we mentioned making Tacos for dinner one night, Clara was very excited about that idea, but argued that we'll have to wait until Oscar is back. Also (since Oscar can't read I can mention it here - but shhh, it's a secret!), Clara is pretty excited about drawing on a blank jigsaw puzzle I got so she can give him her very own birthday present on Friday. We're getting ready.

It's nice to have this time just with Clara, especially at this time that she's still getting used to being in school. I'm so glad to have my sweet, friendly, happy little girl back - the last weeks and months have been very difficult. I guess Chris was right when he argued that the start of school was weighing on her mind. I'm happy to be able to forget all the fights and struggles and moods and tantrums we had in the last while and just get to concentrate on being with Clara. We're trying to make her time out of school count, because she misses her own free play time so so much. She loves school and is learning and doing new stuff each day, but she really needs to have time to herself (preferably at home) in order to recharge and do what she wants to do, without any outside demands. So we try to give that to her as much as possible, although my long-term plan is to still reserve at least one weekend day for family activities (yes, you DO have to leave the house at least once each weekend!).

This picture was actually taken in July during a visit of "Flat Archer". But it shows Alexanderplatz, and reminds me of the long commute through the entire city (and past Fernsehturm) that Clara has to undertake twice a day now.