Frühlingserwachen - spring finally seems to have arrived in Germany and Austria...

[LinzerTorte]

... or at least I hope so.

For everyone in Germany and Austria, and anyone else who would like to chat!

morning!!

hupa - glad the Untersuchung went well - i remember you said you were worried about his speech so thats really good that they're happy for him to start school!! there'll be a few of us going thro it in August/spetember!!

2and1 - wow 3 nights away in the Kiga - they must be brave staff doing that!! how many dc go? I think you've got the right attitude to it - its up to her whether she wants to go and if you try to force her then she might be upset when she's there!
about your dd starting school - i think in Bayern there is a Schuleinschreibung day like we have to today - but i think even after that you can change your mind about whether your dd starts school. A friend of mine here (who's dd had a november birthday) got as far as her dd starting school but within 3 weeks they realised it was too much for her and they took her back out. she then started the next year when she was 6 nearly 7 and is much happier. So think there is plenty of possibility to change your mind.

Thanks for all the reassurance about dd and ds2!!!! yesterday was a hard day!

Yeah 2and1 the Schullandheim is a place where they can go for a few days to do some lessons and some activities. Its only 30 mins from here so a nice intorduction to going away with school! She's 9 and a half and very independent for her age so she'll def not be homesick. But its just so weird that i cant have any contact with her - they werent allowed mobiles with them and i dont even have the number of the place to phone if i wanted to! Dont think i'll have ever gone 4 days without talking to her - feels strange!

About ds2 - i really hope he grows out of it. But its reassuring to know linzer that its not just me thats got 1 unruly child!!!!
hupa - i think he gets wound up about the slightest thing - i dont think he's hitting them for no reason but think the reasons are really small. for example - someone calls him a name! but the ds's are so rough with each other - despite me constantly saying no hitting, they were walloping each other yesterday because one turned the computer off when the other one wanted to!!! Altho ds1 never hits anyone else apart from his brother!!

So i've said to him that i am really proud of him most of the time but it makes me sad when he hits other children. Have told him i'm going to ask the bus driver every day how he had got on and will give him a sticker if he's not hit anyone. And if he gets a sticker then he can have some nintendo DS time. Does that sound reasonable?

Canella - sounds like a good strategy. I´m sure we could convince ds to jump off a tall building if it meant he could have extra nintendo ds time. I hope your son can be as easily bribed.

I´m really pleased with how yesterday went. I think the fact that we´d recognised that ds has a problem with his speech and language and have been doing something about it, meant that it wasn´t the big deal I thought it would be.

We´ve got gorgeous weather here today - I hope everyone else has been as lucky.

We could probably get DD1 to do anything if she was allowed a Nintendo! A friend of ours couldn't believe that we don't have one already and said that she thought everyone had one. I wouldn't mind DD2 having one, but DD1 has quite an addictive personality as far as screens are concerned (I had to put a lock on my iPod to stop her running off with it the whole time) and really doesn't need another temptation.

Canella That sounds like a good plan - it's more or less the same as what we were trying to do with DS, but it didn't really work as I rarely saw his kiga teacher when I picked him up. I told her what I was planning to do but I think she was a bit confused by the whole concept - sticker charts don't seem to exist over here. They've definitely helped with the DDs' behaviour though, encouraging them to do piano practice etc.

I've had quite an unproductive morning, as my neighbour brought her 3 year old DD for me to look after while she went to the doctor's (she had a cold and wasn't well enough to go to kiga). So she was here for about an hour, then her mum stayed for coffee for well over an hour when she came to pick her up. I managed to get all of about 20 minutes' work done after they left (she'd been here since 8.30 am) and then it was time to pick up DD2.

It's a lovely sunny day here today too, so I think I'll take the DC to the playground this afternoon - DS's friend and his little sister are coming to play, so I think the playground is probably the easiest option!

hupa - great news about your ds. I can´t believe that dr - sounds dreadful. will you have much to do with him once ds starts school? We have nothing to do with the school dr apart from the first meeting before dc start school.

canella - you sound like you are doing all the right things re ds. Would it help if you let the bus driver know what you are doing? Then he can remind ds on the trip. All my dc have gone through the hitting stage, and in some ways still are (although there is a no hiting rule at home). ds (who is 3.5) kindergarten told me recently that he had been hitting everyone. He´s stopped at kindergarten now...we introduced a special "boys don´t hit" rule as he was at a stage where he is proud of being a boy. But at home he still hits, becuase his sisters do when they are angry. dd1 drives me mad because she is 8.5 and hits him back, really hard. I send her to her room, but reading the above, I think I need to get tougher on this. One unruly child? I have three! Confirmed by professionals who have looked after them or taught them - all 3 have been described as lively, stubborn and know what they want.

As for the german learning - it is hard, isn´t it? My German is going backwards because I am not putting the effort into it. I guess we can only keep going at it. I wish I had learned German at school. I did French to A level and kept it up at uni, and then went and married a German and move to Austria !!!

3 nights away with the kiga? wow, that does sound a bit early. dd1 has a week away next year (3. Klasse) and is adament that she does not want to go. They have not slept over anywhere or stayed with gps either.

I have still not decided which dr to go to. But a shamanic session costs 100 euros iirc, sorry to disappoint you but I need a spring jacket more than a shamanic session with a gynae!But if I play the lottery and win, I´ll book an appointment and let you know.

Linzer- let me know what spar stickers are missing and I can see if dd has them.

x post Linzer. For your friend´s information we don´t have a Nintendo DS either!

thanks for the support - it really means a lot. do you feel the same - where you feel like the worst parent ever when they are hitting other kids when i really want to shout "I'M TRYING MY HARDEST TO STOP HIM!!!".

think he did better on the bus today but then the whiney girl who was sat next to him stole his empty sweet box (i want to say - whatever!!!) and he was a bit pushy with her! but he didnt hit her which is a step forward!

bananas - you must be a saint for coping with 3 hitters!! i'm pulling my hair out over 1!! But i need to get tough about this - he's big enough to understand!

Good idea to tell the bus driver! will do that tomorrow!

gutted your not going to the shamanic session - i'll never know what it is!

linzer - frustrating when you get nothing done but sounds like you had a nice morning! i was uber efficient this morning - got 3 loads of washing hung out and the whole house tidied!
and had time to scare the crap out myself watching a bbc documentary about the secret war on terror!!

holy moly - i thought my ipod touch had died!! it wouldnt turn on for the last hour! but i looked on the apple support on the internet and its gone back on! realise i'm too addicted to it - i'd be lost without it!

I don´t have one of those (ipod) either, but glad to hear it is working for you again. I am NO saint canella, I often get very cross with the dc and then regret it as it sets a bad example. But I am working on my parenting skills! Good to hear no hitting today! It´s hard when you feel judged, or can hear other people thinking "he must have learnt that at home"!!

Doing some reading for next week´s test to get into the course. Come across this beauty:

Umweltverträglichkeitsprüfungsgesetz

(according to Leo it is the Environmental Impact Assessment Act). I think that is the longest German word I have come across so far!

I love Leo!!

just for you bananas

boo

Great link Canella! I especially liked the bit about Germans having to put the verb earlier in the sentence; I used to struggle with that when I was proofreading patent translations and the verb often wouldn't turn up till half a page later.

bananas We've only just started collecting the Spar stickers (just as the Aktion is coming to an end) so still need about 100! DH managed to buy quite a few packets in Vienna the other day, but the Spars here have already run out. Do you still need any Billa stickers? We've got three (!) albums almost finished so lots of spares.

We had a lovely time at the playground yesterday - it's definitely the easiest way of looking after five children. We met up with another friend there and so there were seven children altogether, but virtually no quarrelling; I really must take them more often! However, it all went wrong when I took DS's friends home and they invited him to go swimming with them tomorrow. DD2 was desperate to go too so had a massive temper tantrum all the way home, which continued more or less until bedtime. I wouldn't have minded taking her as well, but we've already arranged for a friend to come over after school before they both go to ballet, and there's no way that the other mother could have taken her. She's brave enough as it is, taking four under fives swimming - I find it stressful enough taking my three on my own, and two can swim (well, sort of in DD2's case).

After yesterday's unproductive morning, I'm determined to get my proofreading finished today. I also need to prepare a few more bits and pieces for the English lesson later (DD1's class today), so had better get on.

That's really weird - I was just on FB (had to share your link, Canella!) and a photo of a friend's DH popped up saying that I may know him. We don't have any friends in common, I've def. never searched for him as I didn't know his surname and I've never e-mailed him. I never really believed that FB would suggest you as a friend to people if you've searched for them, but the only thing I can think of is that he's looked me up on there - I will have to be more careful who I search for in future!

LOL - what a great link Canella. If only it were true...sob sob. Also laughed at the bit on their front page about schools preparing for the Baby Einstein generation.

Linzer - I shall work on my dd. She has loads of stickers, and some are double or triple. I shall let you know what I get and post them to you (as in envelope and stamp post !). Your afternoon sounds great. I must admit I always take mine out as much as possible partly because it is good for them but also good for me as there is no quarelling. Shame it ended in a meltdown. How was dd2 this morning? Hope the work and lesson go well.

bebe- hope all is going well! Good to hear about the kicking. I loved that bit- feeling a baby moving around in there - of pregnancy...maybe the only bit of pregnancy I loved?

I love Leo too! It makes me smile to read that as DD has a friend coming round today...and he is called Leo. Sweet little boy and at least there will be no make up and nail polish baloney, I hope!

glad you all liked the link - someone else had posted it on her FB page and i stole it for here!! the other stories looked funny too!

sounds like you had a good afternoon out linzer but its rubbish when there's a big tantrum at the end of it! How is she today? Will she be having a paddy later when they go swimming? hope its all ok!! Those things pop up on my FB too linzer - think its just a random thing when you have a friend then it suggests friends of theirs to you! It does it to me quite a lot esp when there are 2 or more mutual friends! i just ignore it!

DS2 has managed 2 days on the bus with no hitting!!!! i told him i was going to tell the bus driver today about our plan but he tells me he'd already told him! an i believe him! i think he wants to stop hitting other dc too! so he's having some Nintendo DS time while ds1 is still at kiga! gives me a bit of peace after a very stressful morning german! there was a student teacher there and she was very ernst! lacking in a bit of sense of humour but probably because she was nervous! But the class is just so hard at the moment - getting fed up with it!

We havent heard anything in a few weeks since Tallpoppies had her baby - hoe all is ok!

That's great news about your DS Canella - your strategy is obviously working! Sorry to hear that your German class was so stressful; a good teacher with a sense of humour can make such a difference to the lessons, but it doesn't sound like you have one of those at the moment.

Re Facebook - the thing is, we don't have any friends in common and it just seemed too much of a coincidence. I wouldn't be too worried if he had looked me up (I've looked up people before just to see if they're on there), I was just wondering if FB suggests you as a friend to people if you've searched for them.

bananas I'll PM you about the stickers rather than boring the rest of the thread with the details.

DD1 is struggling a bit at school again at the moment and getting her to revise for this test on the Romans is really hard. DH wanted me to ask the teacher today whether the answers will be given to the children and they just have to fill in the blanks, or whether they'll have to answer the questions without any help (they usually have to do a kind of Lückentext) - but I completely forgot so I don't think he's going to be very happy. She got a 3 in a German test she had today and a "Schade!" for another Schulübung (which I think is a 4), so I don't know whether we should give up on the idea of sending her to Gymnasium altogether.

Forgot to say that DD2 was stilll a bit upset this morning about DS going swimming, but she seems to have calmed down (finally!) now - the fact that she has a friend over this afternoon is proving to be a good distraction.

Linzer - could he possibly have your email address? Maybe from organising some surprise or a wedding or a mass mailing. Some people obviously let fb search their email account to find friends - the second I joined fb about 4 people popped up as "you might know" and I guess they were the ones who had searched for my email address since there were 126 profiles with my name.

Well, he's never e-mailed me (or vice versa), but my e-mail address is on the class address list (our DDs are in the same class) so he could easily find it out. And I suppose he might have saved the e-mail addresses of all the parents for some reason. I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation - I'm just intrigued as to how FB would suggest someone when we have no mutual friends and no idea of each other's e-mail addresses (or so I thought until I remembered the class address list). But something tells me I may be spending too much time thinking about it.

DD2 is still crying about not being able to go swimming this afternoon - mind you, DS didn't help by coming home and immediately announcing that he'd had an ice cream at the swimming pool (adding "and you didn't" to DD2).

Morning all!

Hope everyone is being treated to weather as glorious as here in Hessen.

Linzer Facebook seems a bit strange like that. It started suggesting pupils I taught when I was a language assistant years ago, no mutual friends, nothing. The idea that you or they may have searched for each other does make sense. I think I just convinced myself that Facebook has some sort of magical power at the time

Canella Great link! Good news about your DS2 too.

Just having a quick tidy up - or at least I would be if I wasn't naffing about on the laptop - then off to pick up some hot chocolate to send to my brother. He's having huge problems with his girlfriend and is really down so thought I'd send him some goodies to perk him up a little while he is on his own.
Fingers crossed it all works out for the best.

Quick wave to Bebe as she seems to pop in and out sporadically.

Is everyone well?

It's a lovely sunny day here too. However, I think DD1 may be becoming slightly too Austrian as she went off to school in her winter coat, bobble hat and skiing gloves (you can never be too careful if it's under 20°).

I've also spent far too long on the laptop this morning (got drawn into the grandmother-at-32 thread who turned out to be a troll/her DH - but I always thought her English was too native-like for a Ukrainian). I sent off my proofreading last night so am work-free again (for now) and also get an extra hour to myself as DD2 will be going to a friend's straight after school, so really must make the most of it and not fritter away all my time on MN!

Sorry to hear your brother is feeling down BananaM; I hope he can work things out with his girlfriend.

Morning, sunny here too and my dd and ds also set off this morning in full winter gear! Dh wanted to put his light jacket on but then thought he had better go in his winter coat too!

Dh in Göttingen all week but coming back every night on the train. He told me the evening before the conference to see if I could book a hotel but the whole town was fully booked. It's 50? return ticket per day so I suppose it's cheaper than a hotel.

Enjoy the work free morning Linzer! BananaMed, how is the course going? Do you sit an exam atthe IHK at the end of it?

Failed to get marmite yesterday in town, even the English shop didn't have any - but they did have prawn cocktail crisps! By the way, the new pringles ketchup flavour taste abit like prawn cocktail...not that I'm indulging as I'm still trying to lose weight, they're dd's fave!

Oh! I got drawn into the Grandmother at 32 thread too a few days ago - didn't realise it was a troll. That seems like a bit of a pointless exercise to me.
The internet does seem to bring out the weirdness in people - just read the comments sections on the Guardian/Daily Mail websites!

It is very strange to see people dressed like it's the middle of winter when it's over 20° and the sun is shining. I sat in the park in t-shirt and jeans yesterday, puzzling over the number of Steppjacken passing me by.

Admylin There is the option to do an exam at the end of the course, it would be in Stuttgart I think. I'm in two minds as to whether to sign up for it as the home study course is assessed on the coursework you send in for marking at the end of each module, so I'm not sure whether the exam would be strictly necessary. The course provider (AKAD) is recommended by the IHK but the exams for this particular course are run by the provider, not the IHK, if that makes sense.

Linzer Enjoy your work-free morning!

Canella - great news about your ds. It´s really good he told the bus driver himself. He must really want to improve his behaviour.

BananaMad - what a lovely sister to be sending your brother hot chocolate. I hope it makes him feel a bit better.

Linzer - I´m always being sucked into mumsnet. I´ve just sat down and made a list of abour 10 jobs I should do today, but thought I´d I´d have a quick look in here and will no doubt still be here in half an hour.

Well summer must be on the way - I got stung by a bee when I was working in the garden yesterday. I´ve only ever been stung once before and that was when I was really small.

Ouch hupa, does it hurt? Ds used to get stung by bees when he was little, loads of times but luckily he isn't alergic.

I killed my first moskito yesterday buzzing about in my bathroom.

I have to do some dusting, where does it all come from? Can draw on the tv screen and the lamp shades are covered again.