Wenn es im Winter stürmt und schneit, haben wir eine Flasche Glühwein allzeit bereit - life in Germany and Austria

[LinzerTorte]

As I couldn't find a suitable poem mentioning Glühwein, I composed my own. Please don't laugh.

All welcome - anyone living in Germany, Austria or anywhere else who would like to chat.

The one good thing about the German postal service is that you can post things much closer to Christmas and still expect them to arrive. Can't believe there's a minimum size for cards, though! Do they refuse to deliver small envelopes as well?

I always found it hard to relate anything DD did conclusively to teething. Just before a tooth comes through you can see it in the gum, not the edge, the shape of the whole tooth. DD got her first tooth at 9 or 10 months, though, as did a lot of my friends' children, no idea why so consistently late. I think 3 month olds chew their hands whether they are teething or not, but increased drooling is supposed to be a sign (not that I saw it with DD).

I read a study online at some point where they had recorded a set of supposed "teething symptoms" in a group of babies at a nursery and looked to see if those symptoms occurred regularly on "teething days" (defined as

Have looked up that study and it was very small. This was bigger and found that drooling and chewing are associated with teething.

Postage is so expensive, just sent a parcel off to UK and it cost 17?. Thank goodness I decided not to put a bottle in aswell!

I'm exhausted from being on the phone. Do any of you get that? When I have to make phone calls (official ones) I get all tense, I imagine if I still smoked I'd be puffing on 2 at once right now.

Aww, teething is so hard on the little ones and you can only comfort them as best you can. First it just bothers them abit then it hurts until the teeth come through, my 2 got red cheeks and drooled alot, always had to have a bib on, or one of those little scarves round their neck!

Hmm he doesn't seem grizzly so probably not teething - I am clueless about when these things are likely to start. He probably couldn't hold a teethng ring properly so I'm guessing he's too young and like you said ladder probably just likes gumming his fists.

admylin I'm exactly the same with official phone calls in German! I find I have a real sense of achievement though once it's done - especially if it was successful.

Why did I say it was fine for dh to go

off for a few days on holiday on his own next week

Yes, gator once the phone calls are done it's great to have it out of the way!

Well, my tree is up - fairy lights are on and now just need the 2 dc to come home from school and put the decorations on. Then I'll have to get into a Christmas mood won't I? The feeling isn't there somehow despite having made the gingerbread house and posting the presents off to UK.

Cinders, how long is your dh away?

he is going to be away
tues to thur

sliding down mountains
mind you he is as tall as the fir trees

so I would hate to get in his way
not that I have ever dared

the ski lifts are enough to scare me

and ds now has to see the school counseller

sigh,,,oh well

Oh Cinders, I hope your DH isn't away for too long.

admydteltoe Maybe once your DCs have decorated the tree you'll nbe in the festive spirit. Otherwise get a mug of Glühwein and a few Lebkuchen down you & crank up the Christmas music! (Says she who has been in a Christmas mood since October....)

I just opened the door to the postman with a bag of frozen peas stuffed in my bra

X-posts, Cinders. I have a mental picture of a giant DH slaloming round all these tiny fir trees and tiny people now, scarf flapping in the wind behind him as he zooms down the mountain!
Good luck with the counsellor.

ladder Sorry, I meant to say the minimum size for envelopes but wrote cards as I was thinking of Christmas cards... I've just put my small cards into bigger envelopes so that they meet the min. size requirement.

admylin I'm a complete coward when it comes to phone calls but, like Gator says, it's almost worth it for the sense of achievement afterwards.

Cinders I wouldn't be at all happy about DH going off skiing on his own either (although if he took the DC, I wouldn't have quite as much of a problem with it!). A friend of mine was telling me not long ago about how she managed to fall off a ski left and had to be helped up by a passing teenager, which has only confirmed my decision to stay away from the ski slopes!

Have just picked up DS's friend and his little sister. They would normally take part in the English lesson, but their mum said they didn't want to and would it still be OK for them to come? I didn't want to say no at such late notice but I sense it's not going to go well, esp. considering how it took me a few minutes to persuade the other two to take part last week. I've told them all they have to stay out of sight, but I'm not too optimistic about them being able to stay quiet. DS has already said he wants to stay in the living room to keep watch over the Christmas tree, which already has presents under it, but I've said I'll put the presents away (probably for the best anyway) and make sure that nothing happens to the tree itself.

afternoon!!
am really amused at you gator for answering the door with frozen peas in your bra. I remember dh looking at me like I was mad as I had my hand in the top of my coat in tesco massaging my boob cause it was sore while trying to stop BF! but needs must!

cinders - he'll be back soon enough. WHy does your son need to see a counseller?

admylin - is it maybe some Christmas music you need ? A bit of Mariah Carey?? Glad your dd got a therapist - I'm sure she'll come on so much quicker once the therapy starts.

ladder - your right there was only a smidgen of snow off the motorway but in Oberhof there was well enough for sledging. I'd checked the webcam before we left tho so knew there was snow. Did wave at you as I drove past your junction!

Hi coco - nice to "see" you again. Your ds may be starting with teething - all mine got their first teeth when they were 5 months. I think there's not much to do about it altho Calpol helps if they are a bit poorly with it. Thats also something I import from the UK - have never bought kinder paracetamol here.

Have been for the last bits of Christmas shopping this morning - got dh the aftershave that he used to wear when we first got together. Maybe it'll remind me of times when I didnt need to go to bed at 10pm and get up at 6 every day!
But spent too long looking for a wee present for dd's secret santa at school - its for an 11 year old boy and to be less than 5 euros - I dont know 11 year old boys - still havent found anything. Might have a look in Kaufland tomo when I go food shopping. Maybe a big bag of sweets will do??

Canella, dd has had a boy in secret santa before - we got a bag of chocolate nikolaus and chocolate baubles and a note book and pen, one year she got an older boy (the mentor from the class) and she got him a stapler and hole puncher desk set. this year we bought for a girl and she got her a fancy note book, 2 pens and a cherry lip vaseline thing and a bar of Milka chocolate, cam eto exactly 5?.

Poor dd, this year she was given 2 packets of chewing gum as a gift at Wichteln and one of the other girls got exactly the same. Some dc don't make an effort or maybe their parents don't bother so send them off to the shops with their 3?.

Linzer, so have you lost a pupil for just this week or don't they want to join again? Hope they all behaved. Very wise to remove the presents as that would be too much for smaller dc to cope with! Oh, the temptation!

I used to import Calpol but got onto baby nurofen after getting itfrom the Berlin doctor once, it's available over the counter too and tatstes OK so no problem getting them to take it ( has a good applicator included instead of spoon), also helps with fever.

girls are so much easier to buy for than boys. Thanks for the ideas. But thats a really rubbish gift your dd got.

linzer - so how did it go? sounds like it might have been "challenging" to say the least.

Ds1's annoying friend is here again - the class are learning the recorder and the teacher said that ds1 should help his friend practice so his mum has dropped him here for 15 mins. Its a fecking waste of time! he's done it twice wrongly(A,A,C,C,A,A,A,A,C,C,A,A was the notes they had to do) then is wandering round the room looking for things to play with. Even ds1 is losing patience with him and he's normally really patient with him. Tempted to just send him back home now. (realise this all makes me sound like a really bad person but he winds me up!)

Hmm, yes, challenging is one way of putting it! The first five minutes were quite hard work; we were singing a couple of songs and one of the boys decided it would be quite amusing to spit at the same time as he was singing (not properly spitting, but enough for me to make him wipe the floor with a cloth) and the other one just wanted to sing kack, kack, kack instead of the proper words (I got him to sit down on the sofa until he would take part properly). It did improve after we sat down at the table and they sang If You're Happy and You Know It without any problems later on too, but I was struggling to stay calm for the first five minutes or so! Yes, it looks like I may have lost one of the three boys unless he changes his mind - I've just asked him and he said he'd rather play, which is fair enough (I think he also finds the other two boys a bit wild).

Canella I get really wound up by one or two of the DC's friends as well, so know how you feel! At least it's only for 15 minutes... or was that just the recorder practice and he's staying for longer?

admylin I give the DC Nureflex too (is that the same as the one you have? it has a dosing syringe) but I don't think we can get anything OTC here so I always stock up on Calpol whenever we're back in the UK just in case. Have just checked and we have both Nureflex für Kinder and Nurofen for Children (as well as Calpol) in the medicine cabinet, which are the same thing (even the design of the packaging is the same), but it says rezept- und apothekenpflichtig on the Nureflex.

We're off to DD1's class Adventfeier in about half an hour, but I must admit I'm not feeling very sociable today... could do with some Glühwein, but I don't expect there'll be any alcohol. Maybe a coffee will help wake me up.

that english class sounds like my worst nightmare linzer - I'm not very tolerant of other naughty dc. I'm sure we werent so naughty to other adults when we were little. I was always a little bit scared of other dc's parents. Think you deserve some Glühwein.

Thankfully ds's friend left after the 15 mins - his mum had just dropped him off for that time while she went to pick up her other dc. I feel sorry for her at the moment - her dh works away lots and the ds is even harder work at home. She's been to the Kinderarzt about him and they think he needs to be seen by a kinder psychologist. Sadly there's a 9 month wait for an appointment. I feel bad that I'm so irritated by him but he is so disrespectful to me when he is here that any good intentions I have before he comes are gone within the first 5 mins.

Anyway... dd came home moaning about her English lesson - she had her spoken English corrected by the teacher! . DD had said "they're not new" and was told that was wrong. It should be "they aren't new." but the "aren't" was to be said "arrent" as opposed to how I'd say "arrnt". (confused yet??)
But she was also not allowed to say "you're not" it must be "you aren't" - I'm sure they're both grammatically correct?

Linzer hope you atleast got a nice cup of coffee at your dd's fest. We have no invites to anything at school this year (phew) not even for choir, they're doing Christmas songs in music lesson on the last day but no invites to parents!

Canella, my 2 can send your dd sympathy and understanding, they've both had it. Dd just had some things marked down again in a test that were correctbut not accepte dby the teacher! Very confusing though, "you're not" or "you aren't" - doesn't make a difference to me, not the meaning anyway! What would the queen say?

admylin Lucky you! I really don't enjoy that kind of thing - had a nice chat with one of the other mums (when DS wasn't trying to drag me away), but otherwise I felt a bit awkward as I'm not really friends with any of the parents - I know the mothers from DD2's class much better.

No coffee either... only fruit juice, mineral water, hot dogs and biscuits, none of which I was tempted by. I almost wish I hadn't bothered going, if it hadn't been for DD1 singing a couple of songs with the class. I was particularly annoyed about the fact that both the teacher and Werklehrerin were presented with a small present for doing their jobs that they get paid for whereas I got absolutely nothing (not even a mention) for the English lessons. It wouldn't have annoyed me with DD2's class, but the parents of DD1's class always used to give me something at Christmas and in the summer until last year when I went down from teaching weekly to teaching fortnightly (not sure whether it's connected). The ironic thing is that I now spend far longer preparing the lessons as I teach on my own, whereas it was much less work with DD1's old teacher in the first and second years.

Canella I know; I wouldn't have dared behave like that with other parents when I was younger, or even with my own parents. I'm just at how little respect I'm shown by some of the children I teach.

Grr to your DD being corrected by the English teacher - you'd think they would know that it's grammatically correct (yes, both are) even if it's not the version that they teach. And I don't think the e should be pronounced in aren't either. Do you pronounce the r? I don't, but all the teachers seem to pronounce the r's at end of words, etc. (e.g. car) and it sounds wrong to me, although I suppose it's an accent thing rather than an actual mistake.

Your advent thing sounds a bit dry to me - things like that here usually involve glühwein to make it less painful. I'm jealous of admylin and her invite free festive season.

I think I do say the "r" but think thats a scottish thing - I definitely still have my accent altho its been compared to Mrs Doubtfire recently .

I think the Queen wouldnt use an apostrophied word - one probably enunciates every word when one is the queen .

Will pass your dc's sympathies onto my dd admylin - she was properly frustrated before.

Morning...

Linzer those English lessons do sound stressful! I hadn't realised that they were in your own home til recently. Having DC in the house who are not at the lesson can only add to it! Big ggggggrrrrrrr at the parents and teacher for not bothering to get you even a token present for the lessons you teach in school - it is amazing you do those for nothing at all, not even thanks by the sound of it! Do you think you'll keep doing it?

Canella that friend of your DS sounds very trying - I hate, hate, hate recorders too (so squeeky, like finger nails down a chalk board) and am determined my DC will not learn recorder - I'd rather guitar or piano or even drums! :)

I can't believe the English teacher correcting your DD - yes I agree what your dd said was correct. I have heard of non native speaker German English teachers correcting native speaker children before but of course some native speakers do make grammatical mistakes so you never know, but in this case your dd was clearly right! Will you say anything? I think I would find it hard not to go in and have a word, but it might do more harm than good in terms of marking dd out I suppose...

Coco hello - my baby still has no teeth and will be 8 months on Boxing Day, but all my kids get their teeth late ish (dd only had 4 teeth when she started walking - she looked very comical). On the other hand a friend's little boy was born with teeth, so it can go either way! The teethers you cool in the fridge are good if they are old enough to hold them, and dentinox gel, otherwise calpol (I import that too but have just finished my last bottle due to baby's run of colds and bugs recently) or similar baby suitable pain relief medicine esp at night if it is really bad, and I have some globuli (sp?) that do seem to work for a few mins at least, which the pharmacist recommended.

Another night of limited sleep here - it has nothing to do with routine as he goes to bed fine, he just doesn't stay asleep! His nose seemed to be getting better the night before last and his sleep was a little better, but last night was pretty bad again - foolishly I let myself hope he would sleep better as he ate lots of solids yesterday for the first time in weeks! Ah well, they're not babies long and all that... and he is very cute and clever :) He can cross a room in 3 seconds flat commando crawling in his grobag and has a very cheeky grin!

Sorry to hear about your lack of sleep, 5more - you do sound more positive about it today, though. You just have to remember that it doesn't last for ever... and it sounds like his cuteness is making up for it.

One of my friends who teaches English said she finds it far more difficult to teach children in her own home than at school/KiGa etc. I've already learned to get the room ready for them (close the lid of the piano, put the metronome out of reach - one of the boys insists on playing with it no matter how many times I tell him, etc.) but I do think they egg each other on and would be better behaved on their own/in a different group (the problem is that they're the only two children of that age that I teach). Ah well, I just have to bear in mind that they behaved OK for about 80% of the lesson and forget that highly annoying 20%.

I was still fed up about the Adventfeier this morning, although DH has just taken me out for coffee to cheer me up as he has a meeting here in town this morning, so that helped. I just find it a bit odd that they've suddenly stopped acknowledging me - it really wouldn't bother me if they'd only ever given a present to the teacher, who obviously puts in far more hours than I do. It's slightly annoying that the Werklehrerin, who only teaches half the class for one lesson a week, gets a present (it's really not about the present itself, I hasten to add - even a word of thanks would have been nice), although DH pointed out that they would have invited her so would have had to get her a present really. I think the teachers are quite grateful - at the end of last year they gave me a card and voucher for the stationery shop, as I print out a lot of handouts at home - but the sudden lack of recognition from the parents in DD1's class does have me a bit perplexed.

never try to wonder what people think

well I try not to ...

am this morning thinking I have been a tad more of numpty re
dh and the sliding trip

as he is home late most nights at the mo

ds is struggling at school
not with the work

with behaving
sigh yes his one of the naught ones
although last year he was gifted and had help with a project

Glad your DH took you out for a coffee Linzer , nice to be appreciated by somebody!

Cinders I think the German school system is not very friendly towards anyone who is not average, and that includes clever children - is that why your DS is messing about a bit do you think? My dd has a very old fashioned teacher close to retirement, and though she is friendly and dd likes her, dd is often having to to stand behind her chair or even once write lines for talking in class, sharpening her pencil in class (a terrible crime) or wriggling on her chair - and dd is a very eager to please child! It is very easy to be a naughty one in a German class I think, as things a British teacher wouldn't even comment on are naughty here!

My DH goes on a ski trip every Jan with 2 of his old school friends, and a motorbike trip every late spring too - you have to let them have a bit of freedom a couple of times a year I think The only year I minded was when he had been on a 4 day work trip, came home to get changed and went straight off for the long weekend of skiing, and my eldest was 3 then and had a bad stomach bug for the duration of the work trip while the 1 yo was full of energy and healthy, then they swapped and the 1 yo got ill and the 3 yo full of energy the day he went skiing, and with all the fever and vomiting at night and healthy toddler to entertain in the day for 7 days in a row I reached the end of my tether and called him to come home early from the ski trip as I just needed to sleep! Otherwise though I quite enjoy a few nights without anyone snoring although of course perhaps it would be better if he went on a stamp collecting trip or something else without the risk of physical injury!

Yes, that was my first thought too - that your DS might well be bored, Cinders. Schools here really don't seem that great at dealing with children who don't work at the average pace. Even DD1 brought home a very intricate map of our area that she'd drawn in class the other day as she said she was bored (I'm sure she would have finished her work beforehand), and I know that one of the cleverer boys takes in a book to read.

Lol at a stamp collecting trip, 5more. Tbh I don't think that DH would want to go away without us, although he does quite a lot of travelling for work so does get away fairly regularly (not that it can be classed as a holiday, of course).

All three of the DDs' teachers have been close to retirement age (one retired last year, DD1's current one is retiring next year), and two out of the three were/are very strict - I must admit I find it easier teaching in those classes where the teacher has zero tolerance for chatting when I'm talking. (Not that I'm suggesting your DD is talking when the teacher is talking, 5more - I don't have a problem with the children talking to each other if they're filling in a worksheet, for example). I also wonder how much wriggling I should allow - again, wriggling on a chair wouldn't bother me but a couple of the children just can't sit still during circle time. I asked DH whether he thought I was being too strict with them after he'd watched the film of last week's class (I sometimes have the feeling I'm constantly telling two of the girls to sit up/down; they would lie on the floor if I let them), but he said no, I'd just lose control of the class otherwise.

I hope you enjoyed your coffee, Linzer! It's so nice to spend time together out of the house (and DC-free too, I'm guessing!)
Those English lessons do sound stressful - I can't believe you aren't even thanked for the lessons in school. Do you think you'll continue with them?

5more I really hope you get some sleep soon. You sound like you have the stamina of a superhero. I love the mental image of commando crawling :)

Cinders Do you think your DH would reconsider his trip? It sounds like you need himat home at the moment.

Canella Do you think you will take the issue up with your DD's teacher? It seems really off that she would be corrected when she's not wrong (or even when she isn't wrong :) ) Was it you who mentioned a while ago that a DC had been marked down in an English test for using (correct) vocab as the class hadn't learned it yet? How utterly demoralising!

I am a dairy cow. I am STILL constantly filling up with milk. One side is almost twice as big as the other. I've ordered a second lot of the tablets that are supposed to stop milk production from the pharmacy (Dr gave me a prescription, but had already prescribed them for me a month or so ago when I was having lump issues). I'm keeping the frozen pea people in business, pumping myself full of sage tea at every opportunity, only bfing when I'm about to burst & not letting DS empy me & am still constantly lactating - just call me daisy....

I hope the tablets kick in soon, Daisy Gator. And that you don't have any more frozen pea/postman incidents! Did you ever get the gel inserts I mentioned? Those might be quite good to use now, although obviously not worth buying just as you're giving up bfing. Frozen peas would probably be colder, too.

I would seriously consider giving up the English lessons (DH thinks that I have a valid excuse now that I'm teaching English privately too, although I could also claim that I'm too busy with translation work I suppose) if it weren't for the fact that the DDs really want me to continue - and I've spent so long filing all my lesson plans, making flashcards etc. that I can use again that it seems a bit of a waste to give up now! Most people seem very surprised when I tell them I teach for free; I'm actually quite happy to do so, but a bit of gratitude wouldn't go amiss occasionally. To be fair, the teachers do thank me after each lesson - but I was fuming as I sat there last night and watched the teacher and the Werklehrerin being presented with their mini-Adventkränze, muttering "a thank you would have been nice" - it's just so weird the way they've started leaving me out. Honestly, if DD1 hadn't been so happy playing with her classmates there, I would probably have got up and walked out. (Overreact, moi? ) As it was, I committed the cardinal sin of leaving without saying goodbye to anyone (apart from the mother I'd just been talking to) - I can't be doing with all this communal hand-shaking and was in a "stuff them all" mood anyway!