Laurel Elisabeth Stevens

ed note: not meant to be a pity post, but just filling you in if you wanted to know what we've been up to. I should be writing about our sight seeing, but sorry, you get this first! (pictures have nothing to do with the story here--just good color!) It is the first day back to school for Elisabeth after a week long February break.  The first half of it was spent recovering from illness, illness that started during the last few days of school for Elisabeth.  It was sort of a repeat from right before Christmas break, only worse.    My scariest moment through the whole ordeal, well, there were at least two.  The first was last Thursday night when I heard Elisabeth up at about 1:30 AM.  She wasn’t calling for me, but she has changed since her last sickness (December, right before Christmas break).  She doesn’t necessarily wake me up just because she is up and uncomfortable.  That is nice, but it also alarms me sometimes.  This particular time I...

Elisabeth wrote this poem yesterday, with a little bit of spelling help from her German friends.  You can probably get the gist of it and see some similarities between English and German.  I was just a bit tickled, if you can't tell! Ich Bin die Kleine Katze  Ich bin die Kleine Katze.      Ich bin nicht groß  Ich  bin nicht schwarz. Ich bin klein und Ich bin braun. Ich bin die Kleine Katze. Ich esse Fleisch und Wurst.  Ich trinke Milch und Wasser. Ich bin die Kleine Katze Ich leibe meine Familie. Die leute in meiner Familie sind:meine Schwester, mein Bruder,meine Mama und  mein Papa. Ich leibe meine Familie.

Some of you have heard me complain and cry about Henry’s Kindergarten experience.  It has certainly had its ups and downs.  But right now we are in an UP and I’m grateful.  For the last week or so, as soon as we come back from taking Elisabeth to the tram to meet her middle school buddies who accompany her to school, Henry asks me, “When can we leave?  Will I have time to play?”  Morgenkreis or Morning Circle is at 9:00 and that is the official beginning of Kindergarten, but he can arrive any time after 7:30.  It starts getting busier between 8:20 and 9:00.  So these days we are sure to leave the house by 8:30 and sometimes earlier so Henry has “time to play.”  It makes me chuckle because he has time to play all morning, but there is something special to him about getting there before the bells ring.  I asked him if he wanted me to bring him right after taking Elisabeth to the tram.  That would be a bit before 8:00, but I think he still ...