Die Kaffeestube - German and Austrian cyber Kaffee und Kuchen

[admylin]

Kaffeeklatsch for anyone in a German speaking country or interested in German, Kommt herein und setz euch!

Linzer hope the bday party goes well. Nice to have a river near by. I spent most of my childhood holidays splahing about in rivers and lakes (well,the lake district had plenty of choice)!

We've all hit a low - bored and fed up, 2nd week isn't even over yet. Have been out with dd to find some suitable stones for her to make grave stones for her gerbils and then she can take them round to her friend's garden. She's washed them and is going to paint the names on them.

The birthday party went well, although we didn't actually go to the river in the end as we had too many children to keep an eye on - we just went to the play area next to the river and had a picnic there. Two more children confirmed at the last minute (despite one more or less having said her DS wouldn't be able to come) and we also ended up with three little sisters (3 and 4 years old). Two of them were invited but their mother said they wouldn't want to come (they changed their mind) and the other was invited by her mother, who seemed to want three hours to herself. (Her son isn't a close friend of DS's and I didn't even know his little sister; I wasn't best pleased but lack that assertiveness gene).

Hope today is going better, admylin. It usually only takes a few hours days here for the fighting and general fed-upness to kick in! I think the DC are now getting a bit tired after their week at the summer camp; today was the first day that they asked to be picked up before 4 pm, and DS didn't want to go at all (although I'm sure that had something to do with the fact that he didn't go to bed until 11 pm last night, which is always a recipe for disaster).

Morning all! :)

Linzer I think they can guess the sex at about 16 weeks but it's much easier at the 20 week scan to find out. But I don't want to know, it will remain a surprise until it arrives and DP is the one who (hopefully) will announce it.

Trouble is the question is a bit more exact in German than in English. When an English friend asks "do you know what you're having" the standard (ok probably, a little, sarcastic) response will be "a baby" :o

And good to hear the party went well Linzer but at the cheeky mum looking for a bit of free daycare!

admylin I can't think of much to do in Hannover (no wonder your DC are bored) but there is now the Maschsee fest and I think they still have the open air cinema running... but I'm not sure about the films. Also, I hope it still counts in the summer holidays, but often on Fridays the museums do free entry.
Hmmm..... I remember summer holidays as teenagers being a bit long...

Oh, anyone else going to Britishflair in Hamburg this weekend? I'm planning to go on the Sunday, would have loved to make it to their "Proms style evening" on the Saturday, hey ho... maybe next year?

I did actually think of that when I asked the question Nutella, and almost asked if you would find out the sex in order to avoid a sarcastic answer. What's the more exact question in German? Here, the standard question is "wisst ihr schon, was es wird?" to which you could also, in theory, reply "eine Katze".

Britishflair sounds good, but is unfortunately a little too far from us. We'll be venturing up your way in about three weeks, but that will be a little too late!

Linzer can't believe how cheeky the parents are! Maybe they just know you won't say no! Glad it went well though.

Nutella the museums are a good idea thanks. I don't get the Maschseefest - it's just loads of stands with different food and drinks to buy or have I missed something? Oh, there are concerts maybe later on and one of the the local radio stations broadcasts live but it just ends up being expensive if all 4 of us go (and want to try eat and drink there).

Hope you have a nice time in Hamburg, might get some cooler air! It's too hot again for me. At 9am I sat on the balcony for half an hour with my paper and coffee and then had to come in as I was getting sunburnt!

Dh is going to work in Berlin for a couple of weeks so we might go and visit him for a couple of days. It'll atleast be a short trip and should stay under a couple of hundred euro including train tickets. His stay will be payed for by his old boss. Funny how that boss can pay upfront and never complains and this one still owes him 600? (that we could do with right now) for two conferences that he had to go to in Hamburg and Göttingen.

It just underlines how unreasonable his present boss is being, admylin.

I wasn't too annoyed with the one mum (whose DDs I'd actually invited); to be fair, she'd only said that she didn't think they'd come as they're very clingy at the moment. Her three all get on well with our three, who have all been invited to her DD's birthday party in a couple of weeks, for example.

The other mum I hardly know, and I do think she had a bit of a cheek. Her reason for asking whether her DD could come too was that "she's mad about her older brother". She did the same to a friend of mine, who wasn't over the moon about it (I think she just turned up at the party with both children), but didn't feel like she could say no.

We told her that we had a lot of children to keep an eye on but that she was welcome to stay with her DD. She said she could only stay for an hour as she had things to do at home (but still expected that her DD would be able to stay for the full three hours).

admylin there is a kids area (at the Maschseefest) but I'm not sure what age it's aimed at... Otherwise I haven't had a chance to look at the programme and see what's on. We didn't bother last year because it was a washout the weather wasn't great.

Linzer I must be awful to be pegged as so sarcastic via the interwebs :) I've thought it over and checked it with DP, sometimes the question is do I know what I'm having (did have the sentence in my head but it's just gone) so there is enough interpretation room to answer sarcastically... I'll have to remember to try it out next time :o

Our dog sitting ends today :( DP is rushing home early so he can say his goodbyes. Awwww his first ever pet experience, so sweet! We practically had a zoo when we were kids. I know he'll miss her (funny little toy poodle, not my sort of dog but she is very sweet), although it will be good for future pet negotiations :)

Nutella No, no, I hadn't pegged you as particularly sarcastic; I just thought it was the kind of question that it's easy to answer tongue-in-cheek. I used to quite like being sarcastic, but everyone here takes me seriously so I've more or less given up (other than with DH).

Just back from the toy shop (managed to exchange a Lego Star Wars planet - of which DS was given five yesterday - for two toy giraffes, despite having a receipt for the wrong planet) and Libro, where we bought the rest of the stationery that DS needs for school. Thanks to the fact that we already had quite a lot at home (I stock up whenever there are offers on) and to the voucher that I got from the the girls' classes for teaching English, it only cost me ?6.

The neighbours have invited all the DC to go swimming with them, so I should have an hour or so to myself now... must get on with some packing.

Linzer that's how I sort my friends , the ones that get my sarcasm I keep in touch with

But I know what you mean; it is hard to find people here that get what I mean but I met a lovely girl a month or two ago who despite being German seems to have a very good grasp of sarcasm, we have a very good chuckle together :o

Good work on all the exchanges at the toy shop!

Hi Ladies, can a "Swissie" hijack a bit of thread time with a question?

I'm looking for a furniture company that sells good quality kids furniture. Something along the classic lines of Aspace in the UK that is well made and ages well.

Money isn't too much of an object as I am carrying the guilt of DS living in a travel cot for ages and then a cheap IKEA bed.

I'd like to buy some decent drawers, wardrobe and a bed for him now and invest in something to last.

We are "over the border" shoppers to Freiburg, Lorrach etc so for price I'd rather buy in Germany.

Does anyone have any good recommendations?

I don't bother anymore with sarcasm! My own 'little German' dc can't cope with it and my dh doesn't get it either so can't even do it in my own home! How did you find the Swabians compared to the north Germans Nutella?

Linzer you're very organised getting all the stationary already! When do you go back to Wales? enjoy the shopping I could realyl do with a trip back but doesn't look like it'll be soon.

Innergoddess sorry can't help with a furniture company. we've got Dänisches Bettenlager and Ikea stuff as we're still only half settled! It's basic!!

Dh is now having second thoughts about going to Berlin after all as it's alot of work for him to fit in, atleast 12 hour days to get it all finished. He'd rather keep writing grant applications as that seems to be the only thing stopping him getting a better job. They want experience, publications and a list of successful funding. He only ticks the first two boxes.

sorry innergoddess I also can't help with furniture. I remember seeing some beautiful pieces in Nürnberg in various shops but haven't come accross anything here that I think is particularly special (Hannover)

admylin it's difficult to compare because I definitely have more contact to Germans here now that I can speak the lingo... But generally the Bayerish / Frankish (can't speak for swabish far off to the west of Nürnberg) we're much much much more polite. Everyone wishes you a nice day /weekend/ evening and it's slightly more rare here. They also say excuse me and sorry in Nürnberg when they bump into you. Here they shove past and appear to not give a toss that they've just elbowed you....
DP can make the better comparison and I know he is disappointed by how closed and unfriendly people here can be.

Nutella I find the friendliness/rudeness of the Germans (and Austrians too) varies so much from area to area. I suppose it's the same in the UK, but I never really noticed it as much.

admylin This week was my last chance to go stationery shopping before the last week of the holidays, when the stationery shop will get ridiculously busy, so I thought I'd get in before the madness starts.

Innergoddess The DC have Flexa beds and we're very happy with the quality, although I don't know whether I'd really describe them as having a classic look.

We're off to Bratislava in less than two hours so must get on! Due to arrive back at my parents' mid-afternoon tomorrow if the trains behave themselves.

Glad the party went well Linzer but at the sibling-hangers on! I've done 6 "without parent" child's birthday parties (and a few more with parents before DC turned 3) and when the guests are dropped off there is never, ever any suggestion siblings would stay, and the same for parties my kids go to (and DD seems to go to a lot) it is very much invited children only, never seen a sibling joining in or dumped on the host, unlike casual "play-dates" parties and invitations seem to be taken very seriously. Feel sorry for the boy whose sister was left on the basis his sister is "mad about" him too - does the poor lad ever get to go to things just for himself i wonder, or does he always have a tag-along :(

I find people here (Bavarian countryside) friendly, but have noticed it is much less friendly in Munich, but I guess that is an international city/ countryside thing. Before we moved here a German friend (who had lived in the UK over 20 years) told me not to be surprised if nobody in the villages even spoke to me, but I found it the opposite, people are very nosey friendly and in some cases ready very eager to have me look after their kids without even asking

We have just got back from a Donnikl kids concert with side shows - face painting, balloon modelling, bouncy castles etc. Was quite fun in the glorious sunshine, and DD had a ball, and was up on the stage when they asked for volunteers and in the ""kids only" front of stage zone dancing the rest of the time. DS1 roamed around a lot around the back, he's not really one for dense crowds, but still had fun - and I think DS2 got into a lot of the official photos as he was here, there and everywhere and I had to spend the whole time chasing him - he got photographed a lot in the front of stage space as he was by far the smallest and dancing with a big grin on his face and a donut in his hand! I had to send DS1 in to retrieve him a couple of times, and got him to sleep in the pushchair in the second half despite the noise and action! DH is asleep on the sofa, maybe related to the fact that there was, of course, this being Bayern, beer flowing...

Admylin I really hope your DH gets a grant soon, he doesn't seem to catch a break with the bosses/ admin side of his work! :(

Goddess we are looking for new furniture for DS1 soon (he's still in a toddler bed but nearly 5 and big for his age, her really needs a new bed) but haven't found anything much yet - this is something we have been looking at:

www.billi-bolli.com/

but I think it's going to be out of our price range. It does seem to be god quality judging by the stuff in the second hand offers section, but I haven't seen it "in the flesh". DD has a bunk bed which I think might be from the company Linzer linked to, though we bought it at Roller I think... It is very solid and seems good quality, just a good full size white painted wooden bunk bed, though she has "accessories" like a tent on the top and cushions to make the bottom bunk into a sofa.

Hi everyone.

We're back in Germany after 2 1/2 weeks in the UK and we have broadband back at last! I spent the end of last week catching up with the thread, but have already forgotten most of what I read .

norun's ds sleeping until 11 has stuck with me, though . DD has been sleeping until after 7 recently, but only because she's been going to bed after 9 most nights

Linzer I wanted to thank you again for the ORT books, especially since I wasn't terribly enthusiastic about them at first glance. I gave DD the third one while we were away and was amazed at how much of it she could read herself. Still, it's only a handful of words, and it seems a big jump to reading even Peppa Pig books. Did you have a lot of reading scheme books for your dc, or did they just get the idea and then make a jump to 'normal' books? I also have the Finger Phonics books that (I think) EnglishWoman recommended, but although DD loves tracing the letters with her finger, she's very resistent to trying to sound out unknown words at the moment.

admylin good luck to your DH with his grant applications. It sounds like he could really do with a break soon. Sorry to hear about the gerbil, too.

nutella I also co-slept with DD and had a Baby Bay-style bedside cot. I have to say I slept very badly with DD in the bed - she wanted to have her nose pressed to me, which made movement impossible, plus I kept waking to check she hadn't been smothered. I don't think I would have got much more sleep doing anything else, though.

goddess Paidi are supposed to be a good brand of children's furniture. We looked around recently to furnish DD's bedroom and didn't find anything that we really liked, though (apart from Linzer's Flexa bed). Furniture shops in Freiburg may well have a much better selection than here .

:) silken, sometimes it's even later than 11. But he goes to bed gone midnight, so we still get a decent amount of sleep, albeit a bit later than most. It is 1a.m. now and he is still wide awake. Little night owl. I don't see the point in forcing him to bed earlier if he isn't tired. With just him, it is easy to follow his body clock. Plus it suits DH and me anyway, means DH gets lots of DS time when he gets home from work.

We are just back from a very last-minute dash to London this weekend! Decided on Wednesday, drove Thursday evening, arrived in the early hours of Friday morning. Was able to pick up a few things from our property there, run some errands, chuck out all the junk mail, stock up on baked beans. Had curry two nights, Wagamamas, Pizza Express, yummmmmmmmm! :) And caught a bit of Olympic fever.

admylin, best of luck to your DH. Hope things land in his lap soon.

Hallo to everyone else!

Morning all!

Nohun Glad you enjoyed your trip - we have a full programme of food we want to eat every time we're back over, yum yum! It sounds like your DS' night owl routine works really well for you.

silken How was your trip? Yay to having broadband back. DS is a 9pm-7am-er too, most nights anyway.

TheEnglishWoman The kids concert sounds like fun. Are there a lot of events like that in the summer holidays where you are?

Linzer Have a good trip!

Nutella I've just had a weekend of muttering under my breath about BIL, SIL & DN's rudeness. It's nothing big, just little things that really irritate me. Maybe I'm just too English about certain things.

admylin Good luck to your DH for his grant applications. Does this mean you won't get your few days in Berlin now?

goddess Sorry I can't help at all on the furniture front!

DS took his first few steps (holding on) this weekend (on my birthday, in fact) - yay!
He's ridiculously clingy at the moment and spends a lot of the day clinging to my legs or wrapped around me in a full-body hug, but has just had a growth spurt, seems to have another 2 teeth coming and is trying to walk so I'm just trying to make the effort to sit and cuddle as much as he wants to.
I'm a bit worried about how much milk he is having - he's having 3 solid meals a day but is still having 5 bottles (about 800ml) and I wasn't sure if that was way too much milk. According to the formula packets and some people I speak to he should have dropped a milk feed for every solid meal he gets (he has dropped one) and some people (and the BLW book) say let him drop milk at his own pace. My mum even sometimes says both in the same sentence He's a bit chubby but that's not new, and he quite often gets a bit fatter just before a growth spurt. He has his next check-up in a few weeks so I shall see how it goes. I was thinking of bringing his dinner forward in the evenings then just giving him a snack when DH and I have our dinner and see if that helps.

Happy Belated Birthday, Gator, and yay for the steps! I say enjoy the clingon hugs! They don't last forever.

Gator yes enjoy the hugs while they last!! Saw your ds's latest photo and my now tall skinny teenager was just like that, really chubby with big hamster cheeks! Soon as those first steps turn into walking and toddling around the baby chubby fat goes as they burn it all in energy!

Silken and NoHun very of the chance to get food from home and stock up on goodies! Hope you had a lovely trip/visit. Linzer could be enjoying the shops right now back in Uk! Is everyone else on holiday still? We've got 3 weeks to go until school goes back. Hope to still make it to Berlin though.

Haven't been on MN or online much - trying to do a few day trips, busy the dc and dh is around forcing himself not to go into the office but it's hard going! He has gone in today to hand in a grant application as the boss has to OK it.

It's not so much hugging as desperate clinging at the moment. I have one pathetic, wobbly bicep on one side and one massive hard bicep on the side I end up carrying him on! I am enjoying the cuddling & the big slobbery kisses, I have to admit.
He's on a bit of a suicide mission today - I bent down to put something in the kitchen cupboard today and stood up to see him cruising between the oven and the knife drawer, then left him playing with his toys for 15 seconds max while I popped a cup in the kitchen and came back to find him at the other end of the room, precariously balanced on top of a crate of books reaching down into a tall glass vase that I thought I had nicely barricaded out of reach (while I decide whether to fill it or bin it). The boy is fast!

Hope you still make it to Berlin!

Yay for first steps Gator Hope the worst of the cling on phases passes with out taking the cuddly part with it! DS2 likes to command "UP!" and "Duddle!" but he only wants a 5 second cuddle before he commands "Down!" and then does a funny upside down beckoning gesture and commands "Cumon!" - or omits the instruction to come on and just laughs like a cartoon villain whilst looking back at me over his shoulder, in which case I know he is up to something - and then runs off at high speed! It is possibly easier than the clinginess, the jury's out I think! My older 2 are still cuddly at nearly 5 and nearly 7 though, DD wanted to sleep on me tonight they are not generally clingy though, DS1 can be if he's hurt, upset or scared, but not usually.

I know where you are with the little Danger Mouse - I literally caught DS2 as he fell off DD's bunk bed ladder today, and he is a terror at the pool when not actually in my arms being swum out of his depth - he prefers to run in and out of the shallows (beach style sloping bottomed Freibad) or his absolute favourite thing is getting in and out of the deeper part of the pool via the ladders, but not always the same ladder so I can just stand by supervising, he likes to go up one ladder, run full pelt til another takes his fancy, and then climb the hand rail aiming to fireman pole slide down it... It isn't ideal when also supervising one nearly 7 year old who can swim and wants to swim and to try to do lengths of the big leisure pool, and is obsessed with her new skill of under water swimming, but isn't a strong enough swimmer to take my eye off for more than a few moments yet, and one nearly 5 year old who is only just learning to swim but also doesn't want to stay in the shallows...

Just waiting for the dryer to finish so I can put the swimming towels in over night, we didn't get home from the pool til 6pm so couldn't hang them out - we usually go in the morning but DS1's swim course has started now and is mid afternoon, so we'll be back there again to day (he's going 3 times a week for the next 4 weeks, which in practice means me and all the kids will be swimming at least 3 times a week, which means a lot of towel drying, especially on the days of consecutive lessons! Will be worth it though as hopefully he will be able to swim properly by the end - this course worked for DD, DS1 did weekly lessons previously (which set us back ?300 for 2 courses of 10 lessons each, ouch) on which the kids were really babied and he failed utterly to learn to swim! This teacher is stricter but he seems to like her well enough too, so I hope he'll be an independent swimmer by the time we go on holiday at the start of September!

Wave at everyone - think the dryer's finished! Silken well done to DD on her reading, she's still really young so don't push it, and I think some kids have a natural tendency towards the sight words method and others towards phonics, in reality fluent readers use a combination of the 2 methods, with sight words for the familiar and phonics for the new, so it probably doesn't ultimately matter which method she picks up first! My DD preferred phonics and it took ages for any sight words to "sink in" but I think DS1 will go the sight words way, as the few words he knows he recognises as patterns I think, as he can't identify the individual letters except the first and sometimes last!

Gator, I am much stronger with my right arm, lugging DS around on that side, it really is a workout!

Nothing is safe, is it, ha ha! Mine climbs up the shelves in the fridge. He's turned the fridge off before, when we went away for he weekend, and we lost all our food. I now check the fridge every single time I leave the house!

Attic, I have no idea how you keep an eye on more than one in the pool without your heartbeat soaring the whole time!

Just waving hello from sunny Austria! On holiday for a week in the Alps in a lovely apartment that I can thoroughly recommend (and not just cause its got free wifi!).

Will catch up properly next week when we're back. Do we need a new thread soon - a part 2 of our Kaffee and Kuchen???

Just popping in from sunny Wales; I'll be back to catch up properly when the charger for my laptop has arrived from Amazon. I forgot to bring it over with me, which is severely curtailing my MNing time as MNing on my phone is far too fiddly and time-consuming.

I'll answer your question in more detail then too silken, but basically the learning-to-read experience has been different with each of the DC. DD1 couldn't read before she started school although I tried Jolly Phonics with her, and then had real problems at school (dyslexia related), DD2 learned to read from "normal" books without much input from me (didn't do any phonics with her) and DS is still a work in progress! I'm doing Reading Eggs with him, which he loves, but he still isn't reading fluently.

Thanks, Linzer and EnglishWoman for your input. I know dd is very young, and tbh when she's at kiga I don't find much time to "teach" reading to her - bedtime stories are, imo, not the time to be doing so. She's been at home the last two weeks, though, and on holiday with us for three weeks before that, so we have spent more time looking at books together, plus we discovered kids' magazine "workbooks" in the UK, which she adores as long as they are Peppa Pig. I don't know whether anyone else read any of that 1000 post discussion in Primary Ed about phonics - the proponents of phonics teaching were very persuasive and I got a bit worried about dd seeming more to be learning whole words, but you two have put my mind at rest a bit. I would be interested in hearing more of your thoughts, Linzer, if you get the opportunity to write them down.

norun I am exactly the same in being amazed at parents who can take more than one child to a pool at once. Wish the weather would improve so I could go with my one child, though.

Posting now as battery going.