New Haircut

End of the School Year

Vigo has only about two more weeks of school left. Next week is his big class trip: three days in the woods. All the kids at school are buzzing about this. One difference between school here and in the US: children are allowed and encouraged to bring their pocket knives. They will be put in the care of one of the teachers, who will pass them out to the kids at the appropriate moments, and teach them some proper knife handling skills. Luckily for Vigo, he found a battered old Swiss Army knife on the street a while back.

Yesterday we went to Vigo's portfolio presentation, where he showed us his work and explained the marks he had given himself on his self-evaluation. I found that he was a bit hard on himself in some cases. He's doing well in school, despite having missed three full weeks (not in a row, at least) over the past month or so. He had a tough time recovering from the strep germ that caused his scarlet fever. He seems to be doing fine now, at last.

Vigo is struggling a little bit right now with the fact that his best friend Edward is moving back to Ireland at the end of the summer. Another good friend of his, Ruby, is leaving to go back to the US this week. Being in an international school, the families tend to be a little more mobile than in other schools. Hopefully as the school matures, the student body will become more stable. The picture attached to this post is from the little good-bye dinner we had with Ruby's family on Wednesday night. Ruby and her sister Lucy are the two blondes next to Vigo. On the Left are Sam and Katherine. Sam and Katherine's family live right around around the corner from us and Erik has become very good friends with their father Guy.

I bought a cheap tent while I was in France last week and Vigo has it set up in his room. He's been sleeping in it since Sunday. Sam seems to like to sleep in the tent, too, and Vigo is delighted to have her with him.

For most of the summer, Vigo is going to be going to the school summer daycare program, where he'll see a lot of his friends. We're also getting ready to spend a week in Dessau, camping out and helping Iris to pull the roof off her new house. I'm eager to try out the snorkeling gear I found in the basement in Paris in the small lakes of Dessau. Vigo is adament about going "mountain climbing" one time this summer. He still says that Vermont is his favorite place in the whole world so far. I think we should be able to figure out a long weekend somewhere mountainous enough to satisfy him.

For most of the next two months, though, we will be home enjoying Berlin. We encourage everyone who can to come sleep on our floor and enjoy it with us. It's beautiful, hot, and the sun is up both late and early.

I know it's way too brief, but here it is anyhow...

These are some of the pictures we have to choose from for school pictures. I'm impressed by his jumping style!



I've been in Paris the past week, while Erik and Vigo have been in Berlin. Vigo's visit to Paris was a bit spoiled by another ear infection. The third one this year! We're going to talk to our doctor about this and maybe see a second doctor, too.

Otherwise, Vigo is doing great. He does miss his friends back in Somerville and wishes we could make another trip back there this year, but until Erik and I start making money again, that's not going to be possible. I just got a cheap, light, tent and we will spend all summer in Berlin with a few camping weekends thrown in. Hopefully a week in Dessau, too.

We just started reading the Harry Potter books, which are a lot better and more enjoyable than I expected them to be. We're also reading the Mistmantle Chronicles, which is super high drama and really nicely written.

Vigo and I recently went to see Swan Lake, which was danced by children. Some of the dancing was pretty, well, it was done by little kids... but the girl who danced the lead was beautiful. And the music was great as well. Vigo most loved the owl's entourage of bats.

The Marshmallow Test

I know it's been months since I've written anything of substance. This is going to be disappointingly short, I'll warn you right off.

Most of you have probably already heard about Walter Mischel's marshmallow test. If you haven't, here's a great show about it on Radiolab you can listen to.

The basic idea is that kids who manage to delay gratification do better later in life than kids who don't and the kids who manage to delay gratification do it by finding strategies for not thinking about temptation.

The other day Vigo and I were on a long walk and I told him that someone had done an experiment where they said to kids, "You could have one marshmallow now or two later." I asked him what he would do. He got very excited about the idea of marshmallows and he said, "Well, I wouldn't even have to think about it for even a minute. I would definitely choose to have two marshmallows later, because two marshmallows is better than just one."

Then I told him that the next part of the experiment was that the guys left the kids in the room all alone with the marshmallow for a really long time and waited to see what the kids would do. I asked him if he thought he would be able to hold out.

Vigo said he thought he could. I asked him how would he pull it off and he immediately replied, "I dunno. Maybe I would sit under the table."

Good answer!

The Viking Genes

A few people now have sent me this movie trailer because the 13-year-old Swedish boy in this movie reminds them of Vigo. Check it out. Vigo is cute when he's 13.

Funy Accents

This morning, as I was getting dressed, I was talking out loud to myself in a funny accent. In saunters Vigo, and says, "Why are you talking in a funny accent?

"I'm just talking to myself. I've heard you talk to yourself in a funny accent plenty of times before," I reply.

Then Vigo says, in his excellent British accent, "I don't talk in a funny accent. I talk in an English accent."

Our Visit to the US

We were in the US January 31st until February 8th, during Vigo's winter vacation. During out layover in Newark, Vigo got to try his first Shirley Temple. He was very impressed.



Back in Somerville, we borrowed our old car and drove up to Vermont, to stay for a few days with Justine, Michael, and Sienna. Erik and Vigo (and some days Micheal) went skiing and I hung out with Justine and Sienna at the house. Vigo had a half day of ski school and then went out on the slopes with Erik. Vigo was very proud to have come down his first real black diamond, only falling about five times, he told me.

All the time Vigo didn't spend out in the snow, he spent doting on Sienna, who was 8 months old at the time. He really found her fascinating and just showered her with attention. He was disappointed every time she went for a nap or to sleep for the night.




Vigo also did a little bit of shoveling, and got caught in an "avalanche."



After our time in Vermont, we spent almost a week in Somerville, visiting old friends. Unfortunately, I was having so much fun the whole time that I forgot to take any pictures. All I have are some cute shots from Photobooth, by Vigo and Shane.




Vigo was a little bit worried that our old next-door-neighbor Thomas, with whom he used to play pretty much every single day after school, might not recognize him. But he had nothing to worry about. He fell back in with all the old pals as if he had never been away. Loden and his mom Jen were so kind as to schedule Loden's birthday party to coincide with Vigo's visit, so he got to see almost all of his classmates.

We even managed to get out to Boston to have a nice long brunch with Derrick and Nina and Inka and Lumi. Vigo has always been very keen on little Inka, and she follows him around adoringly in return. The two of them at one point set up a tent around the feet of Lumi, who at the time was a little under 8 months old, and spent some time entertaining her peek-a-boo-style.

Our friends Judy and Dave let us invite some friends over to their house the Saturday before our departure, and this was one of the highlights of our visit. We just generally had a wonderful time during the entire vacation. It was nice to prove to Vigo that I wasn't lying when I said that we'd be back to visit and that he'd get to see all of his friends again.