2013 ist schon da! A new Kaffeeklatsch thread for the New Year - living in Germany and Austria

[LinzerTorte]

All welcome - whether you're living in Germany or Austria, have questions about life in those countries or just want to chat.

Previous thread here.

Antique Good news on the rash and that your weekend can go ahead as planned - very of your cinema visit. If everyone else thinks you're being over-cautious, I don't think you need to feel at all concerned about leaving your DS.

Ploom What's a Kappenabend - does it have anything to do with caps?! Hope you enjoy it, anyway!

Weissdorn We have the first two series of Downton Abbey on DVD (and my brother recorded the third series), but have only watched the first series so far, which I really enjoyed. I have a pretty good idea of what's coming up, however, mainly thanks to people posting spoilers on FB (I wish you could block any posts mentioning certain TV programmes; FB has also spoiled The Apprentice for me in the past!).

admylin It's difficult when they compare themselves to siblings, isn't it? I'm pretty sure that DD1 compares herself unfavourably to DD2, even though she's worked harder at school - or probably because she's had to, and yet still doesn't get as good grades.

The DDs were both pleased with their Zeugnisse, especially DD1, who pronounced it her best ever. She was particularly proud of the fact that she was the only one in her class not to get a 3 (or lower); she got a 2 in German, and otherwise all 1s. It's such a difference from her primary school Zeugnisse and so nice not to see her dispirited after the Zeugnisvergabe for once. I think DS was a little disappointed that he didn't get a grade on his Zeugnis, though!

Thanks everyone. Yes cheas seeing him in pain and not being able to help is the worst bit. If he cries because he is hungry or tired we can deal with it and do something to help, but not being able to help and seeing him so upset and uncomfortable is what DP and I struggle with the most.

Ploom we haven't heard from the ILs all week... DP has been mulling over it all the same. He sent an email at the weekend with some pictures and he never got a reply. Personally I think that they should have replied and ultimately they are making things worse for themselves because although DP is really hurt and will probably ring them over the weekend it isn't making him feel warm squishy feelings for them. it's going to be a while before it gets easier.

weissdorn that's a great suggestion. I have looked up groups in Hannover and most of them meet in the morning... DS and I struggle to be washed and dressed before mid afternoon - he has something against late morning sleeping so he is fed washed and dressed and then when I'm lucky I can eat breakfast but can't put him down.... Although today he did sleep in his bouncy chair while I showered (bad mummy... But awesome!)

Today I got my first proper smile... Sadly DP has been away in Frankfurt all day so he missed it. But I picked T up and he gave me a big smile that made his little spotty face light up. Awww it was great! :o

And weissdorn I'm going to come round and wake your dd in the night... It isn't fair! I neeeeeeed more sleep! I have heard another rumour that somewhere near 5 kilos they sleep better... Hmmm... Better go feed DS again :o

Linzer well done to all your DC! Very happy to hear that the zeugnisse didn't cause too much upset. It's such a shame that DC can be put under pressure to perform well. My younger brother always got the best grades in science maths subjects, my older brother in art and I was generally the language one so it was probably good that we all had very different strengths (although I did get As in my science GCSEs which I was very chuffed with :o )

admylin does your DD not have a subject where like me and my brothers she is stronger than DS?

So sorry I have been awol for the last couple of weeks. Have been busy with the physio for my back, which was excellent, have been suffering from general bleurghness off and on and then really got into reading 'The Sunne in Splendour', which was fab!

Hope everyone is ok and enjoying the holidays if you have them. Have I missed any major news? Hoping to feel like a human being some time soon! Have a great weekend. X

Nutella hate to break it to you but my DS2 is nearly 13kg and still takes 2 hours to fall asleep and wakes every 2 hours... My DD was over 4kg at birth and was also a rubbish sleeper til I night weaned her at 9 months, by which point I forget what she weighed, but an awful lot more than 5kg :D Don't worry though, your D will be a genius, the best ones don't sleep...

jenny glad to hear your back is better! But sorry you've been feeling poorly.

weissdorn I have been given a little book (more like a notebook) to record stuff in but at the moment I'd be tempted to write things like "you pulled so hard on my nipple today that I jumped and then you cried" or "this morning daddy was changing you and you weed everywhere so I had to get out of bed to help daddy because you started screaming when he tried to take your wet clothes off" or "I'm really sorry I made you scream when I sneezed while feeding you, and I'm really really sorry that I found it funny when you paused for so long between the first and second scream in a sort of frozen look of abject anger and outrage".... But perhaps I'll remember to write in it about his first simile... or I could just print this page of MN and post it in there
Awww I sound like a mean sarcastic mummy which I am but of course I love DS unconditionally.
Oh and he stares at my pinky-red pyjama top - the dr said red is the first colour they recognise so it makes sense now. Apparently if you draw a face in red on a bit of paper they will stare at it for seconds ages but I can't remember from what age...

DS will sleep more than 4 hours any day now.... Leave me my hope mrtumbles please! It's all I have.
Although I seriously hope you do have a sleep breakthrough with DS2 any day now! :)

Thanks for those recommendations Weissdorn was I the only one to develop a bit of a crush on Dickon in that book? Will look them out.

Loving the talk of recording all those milestones for the first one. S is 2 this week and I haven't got a babybook for him at all or the first two and I'm usually quite sentimental really!

Hope you are all having a good weekend - children sleep, babies feed contentedly, sickness buggers off to wherever it came from! X

weissdorn good luck with the running!
I think you're right about the baby book stuff so to make it fair I'm not going to record anything ... Actually my mum organised the few photos we have of us kids into some big albums. When I was looking through one I found my mum had managed to write my DOB wrong right day, right year, wrong month!

It is lovely to read the little milestones weissdorn and nutella! Hope ds feels better soon, nutella. My dc love looking at photos of when they were little. I used to stick a piece of paper with "I am XXX weeks old" on them, and then take a picture. But that was the old days when the camera did not tell you when the photo was taken!

jenny hope you are feeling better. how is the back now?

linzer I am rather puzzled at children in vorschule just having a mark. I am not sure about the different health systems either outnumbered. Or, to answer your question Linzer, why dd's physio is not covered. But dh's was not covered and neither was mine. We do get some money back, but not all. On the other hand dd's speech therapy is covered, but only if she does it through my Krankenkassa and would not be covered if she did it through dh's KK. . I shall specifically ask why it is not covered next time I am in contact with the KK.

Antique lol at the scarf instead of socks. I can relate to that one! I finished the hat....it's huge....I did not watch the instruction video to the end: where the woman says " you can even fit a full head of dreads under it". .

Oh dear.... time to go to work. the dc are on holiday and are (understandably) grumpy about having to be in the Hort, while all their friends are off skiing etc. So I said I would work fewer hours...but feeling a bit bad for them. Rabenmutter.

First day of the holidays, and the DC were all up at 6.30am (despite being impossible to wake at 6.45am on school days and despite having gone to sleep later than they would on a school night ). They've now decided that they're going to play school from 8-12 and have banned me from the living room. I could get used to this.

platanos If DH had gone to the physiotherapist that the Orthopäde recommended, the Krankenkasse would only have covered 50% of the costs - so he found another one where they covered 100%. I always assumed it was more to do with the doctor themselves (we had to find a Kassenarzt for DS's speech therapy to be covered, for example) and not the actual KK, but it sounds like that's not always the case from what you're saying... it's all very confusing!
I also feel like we're the only ones stuck here during the Semesterferien, although the DC don't actually seem to mind. The only family I know not going skiing have gone on a cruise. Even DH is jetting off to Germany later today...

Weissdorn I was quite surprised to discover how much I enjoy going running with a friend; I do run more slowly so that we can chat, but it makes the run go much faster as I'm not actually thinking about it!

Nutella If it's any consolation, I'm always getting DD2's and DS's years of birth mixed up; in fact, I'm sure I gave DS's dob instead of DD2's not long ago and DH had to correct me. And I'm not going to even start on getting their names mixed up - I usually go have to go through all three before I get to the right one.

Jenny Glad to hear the physio helped. I'd really like to read The Sunne in Splendour, but still have nearly 40 books on my to-read shelf so really, really mustn't buy any more until I've got through a few of them.

Must get on with some proofreading while the children are playing so well; I can't believe we've managed half an hour without any shouting or fighting!

Hello and sorry for having been absent. My cold has now turned into sinusitis and I am about to head back to bed. Will post properly soon, I hope.

Just came on to tell linzer that the basic Kindle (the one I have and really like) is on sale for 59? today only. Had an amazon email about it and thought you might be interested.

Right, hope everyone else is well and healthy

Aargh, don't tell me that, outnumbered! Hope you feel much better soon.

weissdorn/nutella I jotted down a few things about dd - when her first teeth came through, mainly. I can remember various other milestones by thinking back to trips we took and what she was doing, for example she had just learnt to commando crawl last time we went to Obergurgl. I agree about phone pics being frustratingly rubbish quality when you enlarge them, but I took zillions of pics with my big camera as well and intend to make photobooks for each year of her life. I finished the first one in time for Xmas 2011, but I'm about 70% through the next one and flagging a bit, partly because every time I look at the pics on the computer I see all the house building photos and remember that I want to make a book of those too. At least I don't have quite so many pictures from age 3 - think that might become a 3-6 album if I ever get that far...

antique I never got round to saying, but yes, it's better to start with a scarf and just get used to straight knitting before attempting socks. Germans knit differently to Brits anyway - do you know which you are doing?

Ooh, thanks outnumbered - shall go and investigate!

Thanks outnumbered dd is thinking of getting herself one with the rest of her xmas money. I'll tell her when she gets in.

Hope you get plenty of rest and feel better soon.

Quick question for Kindle owners - do I need the USB-Netzteil as well?

cheas why do Germans knit differently to Brits? I have been thinking I should teach DD to knit - not that I've knitted anything myself since I was at school - I guess she will probably learn at school though... She seems to do a lot of weaving at school in WTG slightly bemusingly! I assume its ready for post apocalyptic living when they'll need to make their own cloth... :o They sew a bit too, no knitting yet though.

Get well soon outnumbered

I never really kept up the baby books even for DD - hers is up to date til about a year I suspect, I seem to have followed the baby 1,2,3 baby book pattern as described :/

DS1 had croup the last 2 nights, he's really meant to be too old for it now, DH feels I should "get him tested" but I am not quite sure for what?

They don't get grades here til the Zwischen report in 2er Klass - 1st Klass was quite comprehensive written reports. We have school this week so I am guessing DD will get her first ever report with grades on Friday, but I am not sure... Wonder how that will go - I would guess at mainly 2s and 3s but really have nothing much to go on so we will see!

Linzer is that the cable or the plug adapter? If it's the plug adapter then no as you can charge it via the computer, or if you have a smartphone/iPhone etc with one of those USB plugs then you can just use that.

If you don't have one already though it can be handy as you can then charge it out and about, by your bed etc rather than just when the computer is on.

Although the battery life lasts for weeks anyway, so you won't need to charge it that often.

Bertie It's this (half-price today as well, but still quite a bit of money). It looks very similar to the plug I use to charge my phone, so I was wondering whether I could use that instead. It does say in the reviews that any USB adapter will do so I'm pretty sure I could get away without one, but just wanted to check.

MrTumbles I'd much prefer a written report instead of (or even as well as) grades; I saw DD2's friend's Zeugnis (different class) and her teacher had written quite a detailed report on the back, but we've only ever had grades. I'm sure your DD will do well; mainly 1s/1s and 2s seems to be the "average" grade in the early classes here - 3 seems to be reserved for children who get quite poor marks/are noticeably struggling in class.

Linzer I've just inspected the plug on dh's kindle charger and it appears to say "ipad" on it (very small print), so no, you don't need to buy one - you've got an iphone, right?

mrtumbles I don't know why Anglo-Americans knit differently to everryone else - the difference is in how you hold the yarn, not in the result. Continental knitters hold the yarn in their left hands and just wiggle the rh needle around to form a stitch, rather than "throwing" the yarn with the rh. It's more efficient than the way I learnt, but somehow I can't be bothered to practise it enough to make the switch.

Agree that weaving is rather random to learn at school.