Swiss Omas, Babies, and Hats

A couple of days ago I put the baby in my Storchenwiege wrap and headed out with the girl to a coffee shop for some coffee and gelato. After we were done, I rewrapped the baby because it came a little loose and a grandmother-type smiled at the baby before offering to help. (hilfe - pronounced hal-fe) I was almost done so I said no thank you and finished up fixing the wrap.

I am a big believer in hats for babies because either they don't have enough hair to keep them warm in cold weather or they don't have enough hair to protect them from the sun in hot weather. Either way, my babies are always wearing hats. Except when I am putting the baby in the wrap. Baby E objects strenuously to wearing a hat while I am adjusting him so I had taken it off and set it on the table.

The grandmother stopped and made some comment about the baby's head being cold. I just smiled and said (in English) that he has a hat on the table and pointed to the hat.

Now a lot of moms I know would have been irked that this Swiss grandma was interfering as they like to do but I thought it was rather sweet. Maybe it is the fact that my kids don't have grandmas of their own, I don't know. I just like it when grandma-types fawn all over my kids. :)

Updates on the Kid

She can add small, positive integers in English and German although Daddy taught her hoch deutch instead of Swiss German. She also says: Frau [teacher] me te haufa. (can you help me?) Don't ask me how to spell it because I have no idea.

It's official! My kid knows more Swiss German than I do.

At school, they have small, wooden looms and she is learning to weave. Her teacher said that she is a quick learner and some teacher code for kind of geeky. w00t! I have a geeky kid, who would have thought?

Yesterday was my wedding anniversary but we couldn't celebrate because it was laundry day. So instead we are all going out to dinner tonight. Chinese food. It had better be good.

While the spouse spent literally all day doing laundry, I went shopping. I took a total of 4 buses, 2 trams, and 2 trains to get to the big shopping area in Dietlikon. While I was there, I picked up an IKEA catalog and a Hello Kitty razor scooter for S. I also bought a new point and shoot camera for me! Now that I have an easily portable camera, I will be taking lots and lots of photos!

Shopping tip: Media Markt is a good place to go for electronics. If it plugs in or runs off battery, they have an American-sized selection.

Also in Dietlikon are some outlet stores. There was a Globus outlet that reduced prices from eye popping to reasonable-by-Zurich-standards.

I am now pregnant enough that walking and shopping is painful so I headed home before looking for a sweatshirt. Maybe I'll get one online.

Reverse Trick or Treating

Hallowe'en is S's absolute favorite holiday and not because of the candy. Last year she dressed up as a cat and paraded around Dallas hearing repeatedly how cute she was. Unfortunately Zurich does not celebrate Hallowe'en as we do in the United States so we had to improvise.

S and I made orange rice krispy treats and used cookie cutters to make them into shapes. No Halloween shapes here, we used heart, duck, swan, and mushroom cookie cutters. Not particularly scary but fun none the less. Then we went door to door in our apartment building with S and the neighbor girl in their fairy costumes and handed out rice krispy treats. We explained ToTing and chatted with the neighbors.

The girls loved it and I felt a little better about S missing her favorite American holiday.

The Poop Button

Switzerland has the. best. thing. ever. Well, the best thing a four year old can ask for. The poop button. The toilets have 2 different flush buttons, one low flow button for pee and a tidal wave for poop. Introduce that to a small kid from the states with our pathetically pedestrian 1 handle toilet and wallah, instant fun!

Crappy mood

I am in a bad, bad mood and the kid's reluctance to cooperate isn't helping. The end.

Mommy - I see SMOKE!!!

was how I woke up this morning. S was in the kitchen screaming, Mommy, Daddy get up - I see SMOKE! I jump up, run to the kitchen and sure enough, there was smoke coming from the neighbor's chimney. Is it possible that my child has never seen smoke rising from a chimney before?

I went back to bed and let Daddy dole out the corn flakes.

The Cat Bite

Don't let your kids be bitten by a neighbor's cat. Especially if the neighbor hasn't had the cat vaccinated since he was a bitty kitty.

Kitty is now at the humane society under quarantine and being watched for rabies. Kid is taking antibiotics and had to have a tetanus shot.

Here's the thing. We are delaying vaccines for kid. The other day I looked up the vaccine schedule from when I was born and compared it to the current schedule. Our kids have over twice as many vaccines as we did when we were kids. The measles, mumps and rubella vaccines were combined sometime between the mid-70s and now into the MMR.

The Hep B vaccine is now required for newborns. Here's the deal, I was tested for Hep B when I was pregnant and it is a blood or other fluid transmitted disease. Why would I give this to my newborn? Why not wait until she was older and her body was mature enough to handle it?

A lot of people I know don't vaccinate their kids at all for various reasons. Some due to serious or fatal vaccine complications, severe allergies, religious or philosophical reasons. I, myself love science. I think it is great that my child won't have to go through certain things, like measles. I just don't think that scientists are infallible.

We were on a delayed schedule when we moved. Our excellent pediatrician was very thoughtful about which vaccines were important right away and which ones could be put off. We only wanted to give one vaccine at a time and none when kid was sick so her system wasn't overloaded. Then we moved and had to find a new pedi. We went through a few and TBH, I don't really like any of them.

I've probably done a little more research than the average parent and I recognize lies right away. As soon as I hear a lie, I will never trust the pedi again.

Well, today I heard a few mistruths and now I need yet another pediatrician.

Break out the tissues

S: Daddy, I don't want to go to school anymore.
Daddy: Why not? You liked it on Monday.
S: Because I miss you and Mommy when I'm at school.
Daddy: We miss you too but you get to see us right when school is over.
S: I love you and Mommy too much to go to school. I love you very much.

*wah* I wish I didn't have to send her but gotta pay the bills somehow.

Did I mention I got laid off?

I like doughnuts and Clifford

Says the girl. We are almost to the end of the two week period where Daddy is out of town. Yay! My tv-free, sugar-free girl is watching Clifford the Big Red Dog in the other room after eating a doughnut. As a friend said yesterday, while Daddy is gone we will have a bunch of 'yes' days. If she asks for McDonalds for dinner, I will have to say no.

Foot Licking Daughter

AG made friends with the neighbor cat and this morning she spent quite a few minutes copying his behavior. She stopped when I caught her licking her foot, the same as the cat.

The State of Affairs

Tomorrow the spouse is leaving for 2 weeks. Yikes! It will just be me and the girl for 2 weeks. Her school will be out for most of those 2 weeks too so I won't have enough childcare for work. Things will be getting done during nap time and after bed time I guess.

My back and various wounds are slowly healing. The one on my foot is the worst because it makes it hard to walk and impossible to exercise. No plank position for me.

I am a little nervous about it being just me and S. I still have to work and all that. Maybe I should consider using the tv. lol Just maybe. ;)

The Day With the Birthday Party

Today is Annika's birthday party at a bounce house. I am of two minds on these types of birthday parties. They are all the same and to some degree run together. But they are also easy on mom - not to be discounted. We had S's 2nd birthday party at a bounce house place and to be honest, I hated it. Her last birthday party was in the backyard and was 500x better. It was a lot more work for me though and 16 kids plus parents in the backyard was a little stressful. But there was a racecar cake. I am all about the cake.

It is 100 degrees outside and my kid wants to wear pants to the birthday party. Did I mention she hates having her legs exposed? She wears jeans under dresses (actually looks cute) and won't wear her school uniform culottes. She thinks capris are hideous pranks.

Today and my girl

This morning my girl woke up, looked at me and told me she was too tired to go to school today. So we played hooky. We met up with fun kids at the mall for a playdate and drama ensued. Mostly it revolved around whether S wanted to use the potty or not. That girl is loud!

Tonight I was listening to the girl in the hall talking:

Diet Coke, some beer, chips, cookies, a little popcorn...

We eat pretty healthy for the most part (and rarely drink soda!) but she proceeded to list all the unhealthy things we ever eat. Goofball. She said she was taking a little bit of food off the wall and eating it. Husband joked that we should let her watch tv because then she would have less boring imaginative play.

3 is the Golden Age in Parenting

lol

AG has always been a bad sleeper. One night W was out of town for a conference and I spent 2.5 hours walking her around in the Ergo. She had just fallen asleep when someone shouted hi to me from across the street and woke her. It was 11 o'clock and I had a baby in a backpack, I don't know what he was thinking.

I just told AG that she had to take a nap to have energy to make pizza dough with me this afternoon. She went and hopped in bed. *shock* I hear her annoying daddy (who is also trying to sleep) but we are making progress.

The Ergo was a lifesaver BTW and it saved in gas money. :)

Poor Pluto

S came home from school a week ago with a paper and yarn solar system. The first thing that I noticed was Pluto dangling on the end. As you may remember, scientists declared Pluto is not a planet. S was terribly unhappy to find out Pluto is not a planet. She even cried a little. I'm so mean to dash her dreams of having Pluto on her solar system.

Daddy just sent me a link to this t-shirt.

Uh-oh. Now she is upset that Pluto's feelings are hurt. I don't understand this parenting thing at all.

My timid child

So we went to a 4th of July parade this morning. The parades here don't have big floats and aren't as fun as the Solstice parade in Seattle but the kids like them. One reason is the businesses all throw candy into the crowds. The kids all bring bags to the parade and collect Halloween-level amounts of candy.

Not my child. She picked up about 6 pieces of candy and handed it to me to put in my purse. There was candy under her feet but she was more interested in waving the little flag someone gave her at the beginning of the parade.

About 6 months ago, S went to her friend's birthday party and they had a pinata. When the time came, the pinata broke open and candy fell everywhere. S walked into the fray and carefully selected one (1) piece of candy which she brought to me to open. I told her that she could have more than one piece so she went back into the mess of kids and picked out one more piece. That's it. Two pieces of candy.

I feel like she is missing out on the little kid experience by not participating in the candy grab. Oh well. I guess she will have her own unique experience.

Never mind on the bike

Took Agent Goofball to look at used bikes at the bike store. She didn't want a bike but she did want a basket with flowers that would usually go on the front. *rolls eyes* It was Made in China and flimsy plastic so I will look online for another basket.

Tomorrow we have a playdate with AG's best friend from school. It is supposed to be at the splashpark but right now there is thunder, lightening and rain so big, outdoor, metal playarea might be a bad idea.

I was supposed to go running tonight but the thunder, lightening and rain derailed those plans.

Today I got the books I ordered from B&N. An Indian cookbook and La Dolce Vegan. There aren't enough vegetarian recipes in the Indian cookbook so I might return it. I really want to make Mushroom Mattar so I looked online for a recipe and found about 5 million. Who needs a cookbook?

Finding a Used Bike

I think S is ready for her first two wheeler, with training wheels of course, so I've been scouring freecycle and Craigslist looking for a used one. Why used? Well there is the environmental impact and the outgrowing issue. There is also the Dora, Barbie and Princess issue. See, we don't do tv or characters (except one Cars shirt I got in a moment of weakness). If you go around to the stores, it is difficult to find a bike without a Disney princess or Spiderman. As someone else put it, she is a kid, not a billboard. Since I don't want to spend $200 on a Trek bike for my 3 year old, I am reduced to buying a used bike.

So I call the local used sporting goods stores. There are a lot of those around here. Finally I call the bike shop where the spouse bought the bike he never rides and they have 2 Trek bikes in the right size. The guy on the phone also said they have some boy bikes and that I shouldn't assume S wants a pink or purple one. As if! I am impressed he suggested a "boy bike" (read: red or blue).

Oh, and the reason W never rides his bike? It is plain old too dangerous around here. In the first week of June, 7 people were hit (2 killed) in 7 days by cars. W would have to cross a busy road to get to school. He did ride a few times but stopped when I suggested that we review his life insurance if he was planning on continuing. This might seem like an overreaction but I have seen too many dead bodies on the roads here. People drive 50 mph on the main surface streets, run red lights and basically drive like maniacs. Now I sound like my mother. Great.

3 am

That is when I heard 'mommy, I want some water.'

kid Falls Asleep at 7 - Now What?

After my cardio class at the gym tonight I called home to see what the herd wanted me to pick up for dinner. W tells me that S fell asleep while he was reading Chicken Little and what should he do because she won't wake up. We generally have a policy that should S fall asleep before 8, we wake her so that her sleep schedule isn't thrown off too much. Every time W tried to wake her, she pushed him away and said, "go away Daddy".

So we are letting her sleep. I know I am going to regret this at 4:30 in the morning. Did I mention I am just not a morning person?