We have some happy chickens living just a short walk from our house. I’m sure they don’t appreciate the view of the vinyards, orchards, Lake Zurich and mountains that surround them.
Bea yells shickens, shickens as we walk by – it’s her way of saying hello.
I’m overdue in thanking all the ladies that comment on my blog. As soon as I push the publish button I say to Brian, start the timer. Meaning how quickly will Aunt Sandy make a sweet comment on that most recent post. Then there is Aunt Garlene – she always has something reassuring to say. Just knowing that I’ve got some readers is great. It makes me feel closer to my family – it brightens my day. So thanks to Sandy, Garlene, Donna, Kim, Christine, Laura, Jennifer and Lana and everyone else who reads my ramblings and looks at my endless photos of two little girls.
We’re starting the timer…
File this under the “it’s the small things that matter” category. When Brian gets a coffee at a Kiosk he picks up one or two sugar packets for me. Kiosk is kinda like 7-Eleven in that it is everywhere – at all the train stations. It’s not exactly like 7-Eleven because it’s clean and there are no ancient hot dogs rotating in a machine. Anyway, the sugar packets each feature a different picturesque Swiss city. The colors are cheery and the back of the packet shows where the city is located on a map. These make me happy and Brian knows it. Here’s what I’ve accumulated so far.
Brian likes to walk into the room and exclaim, in a southern accent, I do deClaire!
Ha.
So, I do deClaire. Look who has been sitting in her high chair. Just for a little while each day. You can see she’s working really hard at getting those toys into her mouth. She’s even making her feet into little feet-fists. After a while she gets tired and she leans to one side – or should I say the lump oozes to one side and gets floppy – yeah that describes her.
She’s proud of herself and we are all very proud of her.
Today we went for an outing to the Zoological Museum at the University of Zurich. It was cool – basically tons of stuffed animals displayed in a sparse and modern building. Plus, they have stations where you can press buttons to hear different bird or animal sounds. Buttons are good for three year olds. The space is really packed full of animals and they gaze back at you wherever you look. I think Bea was a bit scared of some of the animals – like the wolves with their big teeth and the strange ones like armadillos and bat skeletons. She loved – looking at and listening to the birds. When we were done looking we bought a nice coloring sheet and then headed for ice cream. A good outing – we’ll be back for sure.
Sometimes my girls help me make my bed.
Nothing exciting is happening here. Here’s a video from this morning. Claire has been sounding like a kitty and check out Bea’s camera face. Note to self – get a video of Bea when she’s not expecting it.
Oh and we went to another Chilbi (it’s like a fair without the animals). There was a ride that swung people up and around on a big 100-foot pendulum. It looked scarier than the Demon Drop at Cedar Point. Bea stood there staring at it for a long time and then pointed and said she wanted to go on it. Brian and I looked at each other with raised eye brows and then broke into a big laugh. I guess it’s so funny because she refused to go on the littlest kiddie rides last time but she was excited to ride the ferris wheel – and now this. So here’s Brian recreating the ride with Claire’s car seat:
What are we going to do with that one?
That is Brian’s schedule this week. His work has been crazy busy recently. We’re hoping he can take a breath soon.
Bea learned the word schnecke at her spielgruppe. Schnecke means snail and spielgruppe means playgroup.
So today we made schnecke cookies – pink ones of course.
It’s a new and rare moment when Bea agrees to have her picture taken. After I finished making a dress for her today she was inspired to run around in it. Knock on wood… I feel like we might be getting over the hump of adjusting to being a big sister and dealing with some other typical three-year-old issues. And I’m noticing little hints of confidence that energize us all.
At the end of the day when all the frustrations have had a chance to slide off my back I reflect that she’s a good girl. A very good girl.
Oh and it’s another Oliver + S pattern. It’s the Playdate dress. This was the pattern that all along caught my eye and I was most drawn to this dress when I discovered Oliver + S patterns. It has a yoke that went together beautifully and I made the pockets pink. I thought for a few moments, while I was making it, that the pattern was too babyish but now that it’s done I like it. I wish I could just sit down for a week straight and make clothes for my girls. It satisfies me to no end.
Laowai 