Erik and I went to the parent-teacher conference yesterday. Vigo is doing fine in school, and his attitude and behavior are improving all the time. He still has trouble shifting gracefully from one task to another and doing what he's supposed to be doing instead of what he wants to be doing, but don't we all.
Vigo is involved in a new afternoon club called D.I.Y. (Design It Yourself) on Tuesdays. He is totally nuts about this club and looks forward to it all week. It's run by one of the mothers at school, who s a designer. She joined me last weekend for Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art-School Cabaret Life Drawing Class and we had a good time. Vigo is also doing two electives at school, plus German club to catch up. One of his electives is reading Harry Potter in German and the other one I've forgotten already!
Vigo has also recently taken up knitting. He's working on a wrist band, with a button on it, and he's been going with me to the Monday-night knitting group in a cafe around the corner from home. They adore him there, of course. He knits a little, has a cup of tea, and then plays with the other ladies' toddlers.
We have been trying to find some good activites that would get Vigo doing things in a German-speaking environment. He's tried out tennis lessons the past two weeks, with a couple of his friends from school. It would be a great activity because it's inexpensive, a 20-minute bike ride from home on Saturday afternoons, and I get to hang out with a friend also speaking German for the 90 minutes he's in his lesson. Unfortunately, Vigo is saying that he doesn't care for tennis and would rather try something else. Erik found a rock-climbing class close to home, and I've been looking into gymnastics and pottery. Vigo is rather enthusiastic about pottery, which he has done a lot at school.
It's kind of funny that we live in Berlin and have to make an effort to get Vigo into a German-speaking environment. He has class for about half of the day in German, but when he is not in German class, he and his friends communicate in English. Even his German friends prefer to speak English with him. That said, Vigo is reading in German at his grade level and is able to do the work he is supposed to do. He really just hasn't yet become comfortable speaking.
Our social calendar has been rather full lately. Last weekend we went to the Komische Oper for the first time and saw a new production called Rote Zora (Zora the Red), based on a famous children's book. The opera hall was full of kids. It actually kind of smelled like diapers in there. Vigo loved the show and said that this was his favorite of all of the operas he's seen so far (all three).
We also went a couple weeks ago to a very fun art opening at Stattbad Wedding, where a friend of our friend Dan had a sound piece. Vigo particularly liked a couple of the art pieces. One was a train going around a track, coming from a different direction each time. The other one that really inspired him was an old bathtub filled with either milk or a milky liquid, with a video of water dripping onto a surface of water projected onto it.
Vigo and I also made another trip to Dessau, just us and Sam this time. We had a fantastic time there. We went apple picking and brought home as many apples as we could carry. We were eating apple pie, apple curry, apple sandwiches, and fried apples for a couple weeks!
For Halloween this year, Vigo dressed as a devil. He had very specific ideas about how his costume should look and we did a good job making it happen together. Of course he looked so adorable in his devil costume, the effect was not at all as terrifying as he had thought it would be. His friend Edward, who had moved away to Ireland at the end of last summer, came to town for a visit. That was wonderful, but also very sad for Vigo when Edward went back home again. He really loves and misses Edward. We are working out when we will be able to make it to Dublin now.
In the evening, we all went over to Leander's house. We had pumpkin soup and sausages and the boys got dressed up again and went out in the neighborhood trick-or-treating. Leander lives in a neighborhood that has been into trick-or-treating for years already. It was exciting seeing the boys go out on their own with their bags. They came back with a modest take. One person who was caught unprepared gave them bananas.
Erik's mom Elly is arriving on Friday, so I'm postponing Thanksgiving until then. You can totally do that when you live in Europe. I have a goose in the fridge, plus a pumpkin for pie, sweet potatoes, and cranberries. We're all looking forward to the visit.
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