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.

Grinch I thought of you just now when I was reading an article in a parenting magazine about how to get more sleep - most of the advice wasn't really relevant for you, or rather for sleep-refusing toddlers, though (drink less caffeine, take a nap in the day, turn off electronic devices an hour before bedtime, etc.).

You wear a T-shirt in the winter? I have three layers on atm and am not particularly warm.

cheas Thanks for the Kindle advice. I also need to get through the backlog on my to-read shelf before I allow myself to buy one, but am thinking about asking for one for my birthday at the end of the year.

I eat cheese and yogurt every day - often twice a day but I'm more concerned about the lack of variety in my diet than too many dairy products. I would also be inclined not to worry about it too much if your DH cooks in the evenings. DH usually cooks at midday at the weekends (and we have an Indian takeaway in the evenings, so I don't need to cook at weekends), but it's usually something with meat in it so no good for me.

admylin Boston sounds good (not that I've ever been there), but being paid peanuts isn't great - there are so many things you take for granted here that you have to fork out for in the USA (e.g. prescriptions costing $70, health insurance running to thousands of dollars a year - although you may well have better health insurance than we did that covers family members as well). OTOH lots of things, e.g. clothes, are cheaper than they are here so it's swings and roundabouts.

outnumbered Thanks to you too for the Kindle advice; it sounds like the basic one is probably the one to go for. Maybe your lack of energy is weather related (I'm turning into an Austrian ); I always find my mood and energy improve once spring arrives. Plus, as admylin says, you've been having a stressful time lately anyway.

Piano lesson run calls - must go!

grinch I'm more worried about DH's health than my own, tbh. He's not overweight either, but he takes a cheese or ham sandwich to work, then snacks on cheese or sausage when he gets home and will only drink sugary soft drinks. My diet is better than his, as I eat more varied stuff for lunch, including salads and fruit, but when I think back to when I did most of the cooking, we ate a lot more vegetables - veg curries, dhal (which is comfort food for me, but DH finds meh), ratatouille, chickpea and potato curry, that sort of thing.

linzer yes, it's about the lack of variety as well, plus I eat yoghurt for breakfast most mornings. It's also partly about involving DD in family meals, especially as DH usually gets home at about 6.30 and DD goes to bed at 7.

admylin I was taught to use a sewing machine by a combination of my mum and school. The patchwork stuff I've done so far has just involved straight lines, so it's not particularly difficult to sew, but you're right that you need someone to teach you the basics of how to use a sewing machine first. I refer to the machine manual every time I need to change any of the settings, though. There are usually lots of classes for learning to machine sew/quilt making at the VHS if your dd ever gets a machine - she'll be glad of the skill when the oil runs out .

Linzer I also have the most basic of kindles - no touch screen though I do poke it with my finger quite often as I forget it's a primitive model . I have got several dictionaries on mine though, which is great for readiing books in german. I find the selection of books in english is quite good, the prices are not so great in comparison to amazon.uk prices though.

while on the subject of kindles- can't find how to share on the amazon.de website, so it might just have been a daft idea. But btw outnumbered I can't cope with anything heavy in the evening either. At the moment I am reading some "rubbish" in german - it was free and it is easy to read. I hope you get your energy back again...but as others have mentioned you do have a lot on your plate at the best of times, but even more with the recent job stresses.

admylin fingers crossed for the jobs. your de-cluttering sounds better than mine. Although I loved the everything that is not nailed down must go criteria weiss, I did not get very much out of the house, because asking a sick child if she wants to get rid of some toys is not a good idea - every drawing becomes important when ill. And my brother phoned to say they were coming to visit us so I went online to look for a flat where they could stay...it's 4 adults (my brother, his wife, my mother and my uncle) and 3 children! I found something for the and all is booked. First time in ages I will get to celebrate my birthday with my whole family!

grinch you poor poor woman. I really hope your dearest little one gets the message soon and all can peacefully get into a routine of sleeping at night.

cheas agree with others about dh cooking . You could have a joint think about your diet and maybe see if there are some non-dairy meals which dh can try to cook? But I am sure others would join me in banning you from taking over the cooking . your quilting skills sound most impressive - I am trying to get the courage together to go and get some wool to knit a scarf- i can only do scarves. But I get a bit nervous going into the shop (normally just go to get knee patches for ds) full of wonderful stuff which I can only knit in a straight line....

jenny how is your back? yours sounds much worse than mine. Mine is getting slowly better, though I have to be careful. regifting is totally okay in our house too - though my dc will often claim toys back, or not allow the other child to play with it "because it used to be mine", forgetting that they gave it away....

hello to everyone else, am at work on my late lunch break, in need of chocolate and my colleague ate all the nice chocolate and replaced it with discusting schokobananen - is this an austrian specialty only?

Linzer I have the basic Kindle (I got it for Christmas 2011 and it got me through a lot of looong bf marathons) and I love it. It isn't a touchscreen but it does have a dictionary (I think German, English, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese dictionaries were pre-loaded on it) and you can click on a word using the arrow buttons to see the definition, which I find really handy. It doesn't have a backlight either but I have this case for it which has a light and runs off the Kindle battery. I love mine and would definitely recommend it! The only problem I have had with it is that I let the battery run completely flat once and it wouldn't charge on the computer. My camera USB cable has a plug-socket-plug so I just attached that to the Kindle charger and plugged it into the wall and that started it charging again.
How's the igloo building going?

cheas Dhal really is a great comfort food, isn't it! I love the stuff. DS is 16 months now going on 16 years and thinks he rules the world! Today he worked out how to unscrew the nuts on his Lauflernwagen with his fingers (goodness knows how as I need tools to do it) and comes over every now and then to present me with an oh-so-perfectly-choke-risk-sized nut and a big grin on his face. Looking forward to the quilt pictures.

Grinch Sorry Saturday night was so awful. I hope last night was the start of a new, more-sleep phase.

platanos I'll happily swap some books with you - if I have anything you'd actually want to read, that is!

admylin Good luck to your DH with his applications. MIL is a whizz on the sewing machine and always says to me that if I see something I really want to buy but it's not quite the right size/too long etc then to get it anyway and she'll adjust it for me. She's done it a few times and I love her dearly for it! Maybe another advantage for your DD.

Oops battery is running out and DS is attempting to wallpaper the living room with banana skin so I'd best dash.

Hello to everyone I've missed!

afternoon!! I'm annoyed by how little time I get to post on MN at the moment - I manage to lurk but by the time I get to post then I've forgotten what I wanted to say.

cheas - beyond that your dh does the cooking. Unless its fried eggs or spaghetti, there's no chance of dh doing the cooking. I do think its not great tho to eat so much cheese based food - I think platanos's idea was good for you both to think about your diets and to come up with some new ideas. I'm on my New Year health kick and using Myfitnesspal its amazing how easily the calories add up. Would be more interested in kicking his soft drink addiction - dont know how he's not overweight from drinking them all the time. Well dont on the quilt making - cant wait to see it!

linzer - and I'm also of your indian takeaway every weekend. Need to organise a trip to the UK to get a fix (but only once I'm a bit slimmer ]. We bought dd a basic kindle for Christmas and she is really impressed with it. I agree with cheas that the fact thats its not back lit is a good thing for her young eyes. If I read anything on my ipod in the near darkness then switch it off, I'm completely blind for a few minutes in my right eye . The kindle isnt touchscreen but therefore the battery lasts for ages. Really wish I had one myself.

admylin - those jobs sound interesting but the poor pay not so. If he could have a job anywhere in the world where would he ideally like to go?

grinch - at your ongoing lack of sleep. I have been there (also with my dc3) - you have all my sympathy. We tried everything, every peace of advice that anyone gave but I think some dc are just rubbish sleepers to start off with. It did get gradually better but he got up at least once every night for a while until one night he slept through and then just slept through every night after that. The only thing we changed was putting him in the top bunk (obv not applicable for your little ds) - no idea why that worked. I really hope you find a solution - it is so exhausting every night ((unmumsnetty hugs)).

outnumbered - I'm also a fan of an easy to read novel - I want to get sucked into a novel without having to concentrate on every word on every page. My dsis is wholly responsible for this - she was a few years older and I was brought up reading her cast offs - far too much Jackie Collins in my teenage years . Although I have just read "The Sparrow" for a book club I'm going to tomorrow - a little too much religion and science fiction for me (not a fan of either) but really enjoyed the characters and the story. Hope your tiredness lifts soon - I agree with linzer - its the weather and January - it saps the life out of everyone.

platanos - glad your back/bottom pain is on the mend. Still take it easy though. My dh buys those schokobananen specifically because he knows no-one else will eat them. You are right - they are disgusting.

antique - you also have my sympathy for the terrible ones but they get away with loads of annoying stuff because they are so cute and funny the rest of the time. You just need to develop eyes on the back of your head .

weissdorn - nice to see you back . Your dd is just gorgeous - glad things are going well.

jenny - ow your back pain sounds sore. Can you get to a physio for some treatment? Gute besserung .

We've had tears from ds1 about his homework today - he has to learn this poem and just cant even get through the first verse. He manages most things at school really well but has the worst trouble with remembering facts and obviously poems. This doesnt bode well for the future since thats what lots of subjects are about. They flagged it up in his Vorschule assesment but we thought it would get better - its not. Think I need to google to see if there's someway to help him.

Ploom Our "JungeVHS" section of the VHS brochure is packed with courses for children to improve their memory - it must be a popular theme, have a look! My DD is brilliant at learning poems and songs by rote - only takes a couple of read throughs and she's got it, but she is rubbish at being organised and remembering things she needs to do/ take with her to and from school etc. (more than once we've "broken into" school because we know the cleaner, who lets her back into the classroom to get forgotten books needed for the previous night's homework, so forgotten twice in a a tow and too late to borrow from friends as they have all handed them back having done the work on the correct night) must be a different section of the memory for each type of remembering!

admylin sometimes when he wakes in the night he asks to get dressed or go downstairs, usually he asks for cuddles, sometimes he just cries - other times he talks non stop about elephants or cats or things being Kaput or about Oma or sandwiches or 100 other things (maybe whatever he was dreaming about before he woke) although his language is reasonably good for his age it doesn't help that much with the night waking! I remember DD (whose language was better at this age and was also a poor sleeper, though not as bad as Henry) explaining to me that her head was too busy and full of words, so maybe it is the same thing with him. We have a standard bedtime routine so hard to know what can be done about it. They all go to bed at the same time atm which may mean bedtime isn't calm enough (though the big 2 are on a get Henry sleeping star chart atm which involves them being very good and calm at bedtime from the moment we go upstairs, and putting themselves into bed after story with no further talking or getting up, in return for quite big rewards so bedtime is the calmest its been in a while)

Ooops my battery is running out and DD and her friend are insisting I go to the other room and watch them perform "6 or 7 songs" back to reply to others later! Antique your DS sounds very lovely, if a triffle high maintenance - but the best ones are, who wants a child who is complimented by being described as "placid" :o

Afternoon,

The DC are out playing with the neighbours' DC in the snow, so I have some unexpecting MNing time.

Ploom I can really sympathise with your DS; DD1 really used to struggle with learning things off by heart. Luckily they don't seem to do it as much at her secondary school; she doesn't always find it easy to remember facts/take things in either, but we're hoping that the auditory training she starts next week will help. I haven't heard of The Sparrow - is it an English-language book club you're going to?

Antique I really wish Kindles had been around when I was bfing as I read loads of books (I was getting through around 10 a week with DD1) but it used to be quite tricky to hold them open; I bought a bookweight, but it wasn't ideal. I like the look of the cover you linked to, but at the price!

platanos I was reading about how to lend Kindle books in the group I joined on Goodreads - I can't remember exactly how it works, but you have to e-mail a particular file to whoever you want to lend the book to... but have just googled and apparently you can't share books in Germany... typical!
Schokobananen really are disgusting, aren't they? MIL went through a phase of giving them to the DC, who didn't seem to mind them, but I wasn't at all tempted! They're on a par with Schaumrollen, which MIL also buys sometimes as a special treat.

cheas I've also tried to encourage DH to eat less cheese, as he used to have huge chunks with his Jause every evening. He claimed that it was OK as Austrian cheese has a much milder taste than British cheese so you can eat more of it , although I did try to explain it wasn't really about the taste. I really need to start cooking more vegetarian meals, as I don't bother cooking for myself if I cook meat for the DC - and I have exactly the same breakfast and lunch (yogurt at both, plus cheese at lunch) every day. I bought myself some tofu at the weekend for a bit of protein variety, but will just have to remember to eat it!
Btw not sure if you meant the minimalist thread on MN, but it's here.

ok, so the consensus is definitely let DH carry on cooking . I've just been shopping and bought salmon fillets and the ingredients for ratatouille - I think I'll make the ratatouille in advance and DH can do the salmon and potatoes. I reckon I can persuade him to make bean and vegetable chilli at some point as well. Dhal takes too long to cook anyway for DH to make it after work, but I might make in on Wed when he isn't here in the evening. I'll have to make it super-mild for dd, though, she's developed a preference for bland food while I wasn't watching .

ploom oh I wish I could talk DH out of drinking so much icky sweet stuff. He complains and complains about how he's gaining weight (currently 75kg, but he was 58kg when we met ), but he's getting worse and worse in what he drinks, assuming squash is better than cola/fanta/bitter lemon. I could probably force him back onto the squash by doing all the food shopping up to and past the point when his supplies of soft drinks run out - maybe I really should...

Maybe your ds1 is a kinetic learner? If he doesn't feel too stupid doing it, he should try to invent movements to accompany the poem, then doing the movements should jog his memory. Otherwise has he tried copying out the poem over and over? Sounds like you've probably tried to break it down into small sections already, but I would certainly just focus on the first verse if he's having difficulties even with just that.

platanos no schokobananen in this house, but they are dnephew's favourite .

I taught myself to knit more complicated things from a book. I really believe that knitting is very simple, it only consists of knit and purl stitches, after all, so I tend to think that anyone can do it. However, people keep telling me I'm wrong, so maybe it helps to have the bastel gene, or the ability to methodically repeat something ad nauseam, or maybe it's to do with being able to understand diagrams and convert them into 3d reality.

ploom that poem would be really difficult for me to learn too! Your ds has my sympathy but as you say, it is only going to get more as he goes up in years. Dd had some really long and difficult ones to learn in year 7 that took her ages. Could your ds maybe get together with a friend and they could try and do it together? That's how dd manage dit as doing it with me didn't help, she just got mad or upset whcih she doesn't do woth her friends.
If dh could go anywhere to work then I think he'd like the Harvard job just for the fame value! He keeps kicking himself for leaving Charite (fameous) for MHH (not so famous)!

Antique that kindle cover costs almost as much as the basic kindle! I think I'd like a kindle too but I'd want the UK offers on books and would get fed up if they weren't available here!

Linzer that goodreads website is great but I've had force myself not to go on it or I'd be there all day and my list of books I want to read would end up longer than my books I have read list! I started filling in my list of books I have read and I've got a long long list on amazon now of ones that I fancy!

platanos I've never tried a schokobanana! Aren't they usually at the markets next to the toffee apples?

Antique your ds sounds great fun! He obviously needs a tool set for his next birthday too!

cheas I remember having sewing lessons in school and even made a few things including a winter coat from a Burda Carina magazine! Wore it for ages in the 5th year! Only now I've forgotten it all so I'd be no help to dd. Might se eif there are some VHS courses on offer for her.

grinch sounds like your older two are being really good trying to help. Good luck tonight!

Dd fed up today as she got a 4 in a German test. It looks OK to me though and have told her she has nothing to worry about. Honestly, I don't get how it only adds up to a 4. Recently in music it was the same thing, she'd answered every question and over half had full points and the others only had 1 or 2 points taken off but it all added up to a 4.

Linzer I was when I
the price just now too. It cost half that last year (and I ummed and aahed as I thought it was expensive then!)
admylin The marking here sounds so random sometimes. I hope your dd isn't too upset.
grinch My thoughts exactly. At the moment he's running around at top speed with my scarf wrapped around him, laughing a really loud, dirty laugh

ploom Hope your ds manages some of the poem without too many tears - cheas' method sounds worth a try

oh dear, discusting??????? apologies for bad spelling recently.

I mean these admylin:
bananas
Don't waste your money on them

Finally I´ve found time to post. We got back from our skiing holiday yesterday, so have spent the day washing, ironing, shopping etc. I didn´t dare turn the computer on until I´d got everything done or I´d have been sitting here all day. We had a lovely time - good weather and lots of snow. Dh´s ipad wouldn´t let me log into mumsnet, so although I could keep up with the thread I couldn´t post, which was very annoying.

Linzer I´ve also got a basic kindle which is brilliant and I´ve got the same case as Muppet, but must admit I didn´t realise how expensive it was until I clicked on her link as it was a present from dh.

admylin I´m glad things are looking up a bit on the jobs front for your dh.

Weissdorn It´s great to see you back on the thread. Fingers crossed that the good sleeping continues.

Ploom Ds hates having to learn poems. It usually involves lots of tears on his part and bribery on my part to make him persevere, so you have my sympathy.

platanos I have to agree that Schokobananen are really disgusting. Was it you asking about paper shredders? I saw them on sale in Aldi today, but I don´t know if Hofer? have the same deals at the same time as Aldi, but might be worth looking.

A quick hello to everyone else - I´ve got to go - dd and ds are arguing and I want them in bed soon because they´re both still tired after the late nights on holiday

Sorry, hupa!

platanos Those bananas are awful! My DB loves them but I can't stand them :)

cheas I definitely don't have the bastel gene, but I can knit - although had to reteach myself for the MN blanket projects and haven't progressed much further than plain squares. I used to love knitting baby clothes, but got bored with anything much bigger.

admylin I can't work out the grading here either; sometimes I've thought that DD's work looks OK but she's got a 4, and sometimes it's covered in red marks and she's got a 2.
I also have to force myself not to spend too much time on Goodreads, but signing up to a couple of challenges has definitely motivated me to read more and get through a few of the books on my to-read shelf.

hupa Glad you had a good holiday. There's quite a lot of snow here atm so it's looking good for everyone going skiing in the Semesterferien (basically, everyone apart from us).

platanos Have you seen that it's British week at Lidl next week? I wasn't very impressed, however, as most countries seem to get a double-page spread and British week only gets one page. I haven't exactly missed ginger ale or fish & chips in the same bag either.

DS was very clingy this morning, refused to walk to school with his friend's mum and I ended up driving him (although he did at least go into school in the end, which he'd said he wasn't going to). They had to take their snowsuits in today and I thought that might make him look forward to school a bit more, but he said he didn't enjoy playing outside as one friend hit him on the head with a stick (accidentally) and another threw snow in his face.

hupa- great to hear you had a lovely holiday. did your dc get 3 weeks off at Christmas then? thanks for the shredder tip. I work above a Hofer and shall have a look. My colleagues are often amused with what I come back with when I pop down for something for lunch, and "accidently" go down the wrong aisle.

cheas - thanks to your encouragement I got some cheap wool and going to attempt a hat . I have several hurdles to overcome: my inability to follow instructions and my inability to concentrate (that is not really my fault, I blame my dc's constant "mamaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"s). Then there is that knitting language that I have yet to master....but with google's help I shall give it a go. And if all else fails, I can knit yet another scarf

grinch how is the sleeping going? there was an article in the guardian about it today, read it thinking of you, but it was useless. Honest, any of us could write something better...even while under the influences of sleep deprivation.

Linzer we don't have a lidl anywhere near us, and not sure I am going to go for a long walk for some ginger ale. I used to love it as a child - I love ginger and there are not many Spanish things with ginger in them so when I went to England I would have a ginger ale, ginger biscuits, ginger cake overdose. Hope ds is feeling okay now? was school okay for him today?

Antique looks like we can't share books . Maybe when germany and austria join the 21st century...your ds sounds like fun but I can imagine you have to have eyes in the back of your head!

ploom how did the poem learning go? Poor ds - how old is he again? I am also trying to eat healthily, some days I fail miserably though. It's the long afternoons that get me...and raiding the fridge as I cook dinnner.

I am at home as had to pick ds up early - he has a fever. The poor child gets everything going, and immediately gets a fever. He seemed cheery enough and is now asleep. I wonder what I can do to improve his immune system - he does eat fruit and veg, though perhaps I should increase the amounts. We are meant to be going to the Volkschule on thursday for the test and to get him registered. Hope he gets better before that.

off to google "easy hat" patterns

platanos good luck with the hat! My knitting skills don't go any further than a scarf and doll's blanket! Hope your ds is better soon.

Linzer good that your ds didn't refuse to go into school. Is he enjoying it otherwise? Saw the igloo pics on fb, well done! Did the dc build that all by themselves?

hupa good to hear you had a nice holiday. Not so good to have all the washing and shopping all in one go! Always the same isn't it, you get thrown right back into it when you come back from a relaxed time off!

Antique how is the decorating going? No, dd wasn't really too upset just sort of fed up as she had tried really hard.
The worst part of the test was that the teacher wrote something along the lines of 'you don't show the classic signs of dyslexia and you're doing well, however I'm still not pleased with your oral participation!' That's the best way to trigger dd's selective mutism - why did she feel that was called for on a written exam paper? Wasn't it bad enough giving her a 4.

Forgot to say ploom dd found a good way of learning things off by heart recently. She records her own vioce on her mobile then plays it back over and over and pauses it to repeat it, rewinds to check etc. Seemed to work well, although it was French vocab but a poem line by line would work too maybe.

Good luck with the hat, platanos. I bought this book when I took up knitting again - all the information is available free on the net somewhere, but I find the diagrams in the book very easy to understand and like being able to grab the book and find what I need very quickly.

Ravelry is a great site for knitters. There are lots of patterns, many of them free, plus you can see all the pictures other people have uploaded so you can see what the hat (or whatever) might look like in a different kind of yarn, or colour or on an overweight American with a mullet. I knit my Killing jumper completely based on photos and notes that people had posted on there. I don't find the knitting technique discussions very helpful, though, apart from the odd link to something useful.

linzer thanks for that link. Long thread to read, though. I like the idea of Simplicity Parenting, but I am not going to buy the book .

cheas I started reading the minimalist thread not long after it started, so it wasn't too overwhelming at the time. I too am resisting the urge to buy Simplicity Parenting!

admylin I think that once he's actually there, DS does enjoy school - it's just getting him to go in the first place (it was the same at KiGa). He's usually OK on the mornings that his friend comes to us, as they play a bit beforehand and I then take them all to school, but is much clingier on the mornings where he walks to his friend's house with DD2 and then on to school.
What a negative and unhelpful comment on your DD's test. I was very shy as a child and drawing attention to it really doesn't help, it just makes you even more self-conscious.

platanos Poor DS; hope he's on the mend soon. Do you give your DC multivitamins? Ours have multivitamin and Omega 3 tablets every day; I've no idea if it helps (although they're hardly ever ill, apart from DS with his allergy) but am sure it can't hurt. DS seems fine now, thanks, and he seemed to be OK at school (apart from not enjoying playing in the snow).
Btw I'd be happy to get you some British goodies from Lidl as I'll definitely be going next week - I can't remember now what delights they have, apart from ginger ale, baked beans and "coloured" cheddar, but will e-mail you later about meeting up and can let you know then.

I have about 20 minutes to kill before part 2 of my annual medical, so should really get on with something productive. But am quite tempted to make a start on my new book (onto no. 6 now; my 50 book challenge is definitely spurring me on).

Sorry admylin, forgot to answer your question - the DC had help from DH to build the igloo (while I stayed indoors in the warmth and read my book!).

Linzer I'd be interested to know the name of the omega-3 tablets that you give the dc. Are they from Austria? I've been looking for some here for dd but couldn't find any.

Dd's dyslexia teacher said we should explain the selective mutism thing to the German teacher. I asked her if she might say something as she wants to speak to her anyway about the therapy. She said she would so now I have to get a note ready to pas so on the therapist's e-mail address. It's to a German teacher so I don't want to risk having too many mistakes. Would this be OK?

Könnten Sie sie sich bitte mit die 'dyslexia teacher' von dd in verbindung setzen zwecks Information austausch an folgende E-mail Addresse: frau@office. Danke im voraus, mfg Ad.
Have to go and look up what the dyslexia teacher is in German. And is Information austausch one word maybe?

ad mit der, Informations-Austausch maybe as it would be hard to read as one word. Capital letter for Verbindung. New sentence for Ihre/Die Email- Adresse ist... Move "zwecks..." in front of "in Verbindung setzen".

Sorry if that makes no sense, but I spent too long reading the minimalist stuff this morning and need to get on!

hi all,
not really posting atm. still really tired, made worse by a horrible cold now. dh is enjoying his new job though, but he is getting home very late meaning I take all three boys to bed. they are not impressed, as they are really missing him. we decided last night that one day of the weekend will now be a Papa Tag, where dh does something with all three.

anyway, admylin I saw your post re the note, so thought I#d at least offer a suggestion.

Liebe/sehr geehrte Frau xy,
Könnten/würden Sie sich bitte mit DER LEGASTHENIETRAINERIN von dd in Verbindung setzen zwecks Informationsaustausch. Ihre E-mail Addresse ist: frau@office. VIELEN DANK im Voraus, mfg Ad.

hoping to be properly back on the thread soon

Not wanting to disagree with you cheas but I would write Informationsaustausch as one word. DD1's dyslexia teacher was called a Legasthenietrainerin, so "mit der Legasthenietrainerin" (assuming she's female, of course). I do agree about leaving out "an" and starting a new sentence for "Ihre E-Mail-Adresse ist".

We bought the Omega 3 tablets in the UK - there's a much better and cheaper variety of vitamins etc. over there so we stock up whenever we go back. I haven't seen them here and the multivitamins only ever seem to contain about four vitamins, whereas you can get ones with lots of vitamins and minerals (iron, calcium, etc.) in the UK.

x posts outnumbered - I was just about to say you'd be the best person to ask! Hope you're feeling better soon.