End of Summer Update

In exactly one more week, Vigo will be heading back to school. He has already been going to the school every day the past three weeks for Hort, which is something like day camp, so he's not got far to go to be back on a regular school hours schedule.

His best friend this year has been an Irish boy named Edward, who unfortunately just moved back to Dublin. Vigo was really sad about Edward moving away, but he seems to believe us when we say we'll go visit Edward's family in Dublin. We saw them off last week with a nice brunch. Here's Vigo with Kiran (in the middle) and Edward just before Edward hopped into the cab to the airport.



Vigo got to spend a lot of time with his other close friend, Leander, especially at the beginning this summer. He went camping with Leander's family for a few days when Erik and I were off helping Iris take the roof off her new house. They reported that unfortunately it "wasn't a frog year" at the lake. It's going to be interesting to see the groups of friends reform when school starts. Here are a couple pictures of an outing to the pool with Leander's parents, Vigo, and Edward.




In the past month, Vigo has become closer to a boy named Kiran. They've both been in Hort together and our families have gone to a couple free outdoor concerts together.



We've had a lot of sleepovers this summer! Up to 5 in a single week, with Kiran, Leander, Edward, and Markus. We've also been to the park a lot, and have had our share of picnics. Here's a nice picture of Vigo and Kiran playing video games together.



Vigo is still reading a lot. This morning before school he was reading in German for the first time I've ever noticed. He was reading Max and Moritz, which I think Dan gave him for Christmas.

We've been reading Harry Potter together as a family, taking turns passing the book around. We read a chapter or two almost every day, and are halfway through the third book. Vigo and I have also been reading another book series just the two of us, called The Chronicles of Mistmantle. Vigo reads out loud really well and it's a lot of fun. We take lots and lots of breaks to talk about the motivations of the different characters and make plot predictions. Anybody can interrupt the reading to make a point at any time.

Vigo and I have also been listening to audiobooks together. We finished the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio plays, which he totally loved and we're now listening to this great newish version of the Odyssey translated and narrated by Stanley Lombardo. I've got the Iliad for when we finish. All this talk in the Odyssey about the heroes of Troy has made Vigo curious. We usually listen the the audiobooks on Sundays, while we clean the house.

It's hard to believe that we have been in Berlin for almost a full year. We're thinking about trying to throw a party to celebrate.

Upside Down

Maybe about a month or more ago, Vigo started standing on his head a lot. He seems to have an unfightable urge to balance on his head several times a day.

This is something I used to do as a kid, too. I used to watch TV upside down. I probably spent 10 per cent of my time feet in the air at his age. It's so strange seeing another person doing something that you think of as a personal peculiarity.

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.