The Cronins' Tannenbaum

Today, Jay and Ben were home sick from kindergarten.  So Karen got out the scissors and the glue and the boxes from Jay's Lego sets from his birthday and she and the kids made ornaments together. 

There are no photos of the children making the ornaments because Karen was playing full-table, man-to-man defense against the child holding the glue.  Looking back, she wishes she had a security camera installed so she could watch the replays and share them.  Thankfully, she did think ahead and put out backpapier so no glue got on the table.

 Then they hung them on the tree.   

"Owww!  Mom, I don't want to hang anymore!" said Jay, after hanging one.

"This is too pokey!" said Ben, after hanging one of his.  "Should we put on some gloves?" Karen asked.  "No.  I'm all done hanging ornaments." said Jay.  "At least hang the other one that you made, please."  "Oww!"

Zan looped his ornaments onto the candles with great precision.  He never said "Ow".  

They also watched Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  Zan laughed and laughed at Abominable.  "I like the movie where he gets really strong.  And stronger." said Ben, about How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  "Why does he get stronger, mom?"  "Because his heart grew 3 sizes so he really wanted to save all the presents and food and decorations and give them all back."  "But how does he get stronger?"  "I just told you, buddy."  A blank stare is all Karen got.

Celebrating Jay's Birthday at Kindergarten

Today, Karen and Zan brought a cookie cake to kindergarten during Jay's lunch.  "I left a few pieces at home, and one of them says 'Ben' on it," said Karen to Ben when he saw her at the kindergarten.

Karen got to see how lunchtime works at kindergarten.  All the children wait until it's their table's turn to fill their plates.  The teacher gives the first serving.  After they've eaten, they can go to the serving table on their own to serve themselves again. Many of the children go up for seconds.  Jay went up for thirds, fourths and fifths.  His serving scoops were pretty small but he did go back for more 5 times.  "It was lentil lasagna - I guess I should make that at home!" said Karen.

After the children are finished eating, they each take their own plates to the sink, where there is a step stool set up.  Each child rinses and wipes off his own plate and takes it to the dining cart and stacks it neatly.

Since it was Jay's birthday celebration, after dishes was dessert!  Jay sat at the serving table with his sliced cookie cake.  Everyone sang Happy Birthday in English and then Jay served each child a piece of cake, calling each one up by name (with the help of his teacher).  Zan helped.  It was a happy birthday, indeed!!

Jay and Ben Start German Kindergarten

Today, Jay and Ben started kindergarten!  "In Germany, kindergarten is preschool.  The elementary schools start in first grade and go through fourth.  Kindergarten is not academic in terms of learning to read or write.  Jay will be going to German first grade in the fall of 2015 so kindergarten is essential for him to learn German before he starts school.  Ben will attend first grade when he is 6 as well and in the meantime, he'll be learning German at kindergarten, too! Because Jay is going to the Grundschule next year, he has a practice day once per week on Wednesdays (with all of the other 5-6 year olds) in order to prepare him."  

"We can ride our bikes to school if we want to.  Today it's rainy so we're gonna walk," reported Ben.  

"We ate breakfast at kindergarten!" said Ben.  In the mornings between 7 and 8:45, the children have brotzeit, or bread time.  Jay and Ben both wanted to eat at school with the other children instead of eating at home.  

"Here [in Germany], the mother is usually asked to stay with the children at kindergarten for a week or maybe two, depending on how old the child is.  At the krippe, where the children are very young, it is sometimes 4 weeks of staying there with the child.  I think the teachers at the kindergarten will be okay with you only staying for 3 or 4 days since your boys are older.  You can talk with them about your goals and they will work with you.  Jay and Ben will do fine, I'm sure," said Ms. Mia*, the Cronins' German tutor.  Karen was at the kindergarten with all 3 boys for about two and a half hours today.  Tomorrow, she plans to arrive earlier so that they will have more time to play with other children before Kreiszeit, circle time.  

Jay struggled because he really wanted to be with Ben and he wanted to play legos but didn't have time before Kreiszeit.  Jay and Ben can play in any room together or apart for the first part of the day, but the children split up by age for Kreiszeit.  "I'm just glad he was upset about something that's easy to fix - we'll arrive earlier than we did today (and we'll know what we're doing) and they'll have much more time to play together and apart," said Karen.  "Ms. Lisa* sat by him and helped him calm down while I was with Ben.  The teachers here are really caring, of course, and I felt very encouraged to see her taking care of Jay," said Karen with a tear in her eye.  It was obviously not the easiest day for her, either!