Practice Makes Perfect, Or At Least Shows Improvement

Still here. Life has been busy. Last week is a blur. Nathan had the day off on Wednesday for his "Settling In Report" (AKA parent/teacher conference). His teacher reported that he is settling in well. Though he can sometimes appear shy, he does answer questions well in a group and does need to work on raising his hand and giving others a chance to answer some questions before "shouting out" the answers. He is doing well socially--we are very aware of that. He has more social functions than anyone in the family. He is doing well with his reading and writing. When I asked him if there was anything he wanted me to ask his teacher before I went to the conference he said, "Ask her why I'm so good". I think he misunderstood, but apparently he feels that he does not have a behavior problem. We have noticed a lot of changes in him this year and find some of them frustrating, but mostly we are realizing that he is just growing up. He has the sometimes unfortunate job of being the first kid and is finding that we are learning as we go in this parenting process.

Our littlest princess started behaving differently last week. I spent a lot of last week holding her during the day for her naps and comforting her. Yesterday and today she has been miserable by her standards. The fact that I am typing this and that I have had lunch and gotten some laundry done today even with Miss Sarah not feeling 100% just goes to show what a sweetheart she is. She is trying so hard to feel good, but she just does not.

I was supposed to have my second French class this morning, but sick children are not welcome in the creche (nursery) of course, so we are spending the day at home with our germs. I did get to practice some French with an unsuspecting telemarketer from France. He seriously talked with me in both French and English for 25 minutes about taking holidays in Corsica. He wanted me to "use my imagination" because I have never been to Corsica and give him "points" from 1-10 rating different things there. I must say it was the strangest conversation I have ever had, but I couldn't bring myself to hang up because it was adult conversation and I did look at the map so I would actually know where Corsica was. A warm beach sounds nice right now. I am sure all of my American family and friends are thrilled to know I contributed to the French impression that Americans are geographically challenged, but I AM! I freely admit it and I was even geographically challenged in the US.

It is the middle of October and I have not put up our Halloween decorations though I fully intended to at the first of the month. We were told that Halloween is not really celebrated here, but I am finding that not to be true. Stores are fully decorated, not only for Halloween, but we also saw a toy store already decorated for Christmas. We have three trick or treat outings planned in the coming weekend and next week. The kids will be on fall break here on October 31st so the trick or treating all takes place beforehand, but there is a large enough English speaking community here to provide multiple opportunities to celebrate. We have not seen a pumpkin patch, but after our soggy experiences at pumpkin patches the last two years in Michigan, I can imagine here would be more of the same. We have been blessed with three days of sunshine in a row, but the ground does not dry up and it remains very cool and sometimes cold. Last week the weather seemed to be preparing for Halloween. We woke up each morning to thick fog and spider webs all over the hedges outlined in dew. Pretty creepy. We do have one huge spider living outside of guest bedroom window. He is the only Halloween decoration up so far and though I would be perfectly happy to send him away, he is thoroughly fascinating to the boys in the family.

We can't believe that it is already the middle of October and we are so excited about our upcoming visitors. We are expecting Aunt Carole in less than two weeks and Cousin Stephanie is coming to celebrate Miss Hannah's 3rd birthday and a makeshift Thanksgiving with us from Denmark. We leave for England at the end of the month to see our friends again. Daddy will be making a very quick trip to Michigan in November and we are getting more and more excited about our trip to Texas each day.

Yes, we are still here getting used to being parents of 3, parents of a kindergartner, a traveling dad, a stay at home mom, expats, and however many other new titles we have acquired. We haven't mastered any one of them completely, but in all fairness we are taking on an awful lot. Hannah is practicing becoming a three year old who doesn't take naps. She is also learning that big brothers find little sisters more annoying once they go to school. She continues to treat Sarah like her own personal baby doll. Nathan is practicing being a busy 5 year old with a very full social calendar. Sarah is practicing too many things to name, but for the moment one of them is not crawling. She is not interested. Other than sweet little Sarah's illness we are all doing well. The three days of sunshine have helped. Well, my time is up. Time to snuggle and cuddle a sick little baby some more.

Pictures: Hannah loving her baby while Mommy loved on Sarah; Our favorite Ninja Turtle and his sister minus pants--why don't my children like pants?; Our spider guest/Halloween decor--note the cross on his back and yes, he is that big; Hannah enjoying lunch with Mommy while Sarah napped--she was just saying, "Mommy it is funny when people burp. Watch, buurrrp! Extuse me! Hee hee hee!"; and Finally our sick little Sweetpea waking up from a nap...breaks your heart doesn't it?