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."
Friday, March 27, 2009
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
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.
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.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
More Winter News
Recently, Erik and I decided to visit Boston during Vigo's February school vacation. We'll spend the first part of the week in Vermont, skiing, and the second part seeing our friends. All of us are really excited about it.
Vigo's eyes can finally be seen again, since Vigo gave himself one of his famous haircuts last week. He's had lots of compliments on the cut from the other kids at school.
Our calm little winter solstice party went really nicely. Vigo and I made bite-sized bottle cap cookies by using a bottle cap for a cookie cutter.
We all dressed up and walked up to the top of the hill in the park, where we discovered a couple of other groups, who were getting little bonfires going.
Vigo is eagerly beginning to plan his own birthday party, which is more than a month away. I won't give out any details yet, though!
Vigo's German is starting to blossom since we got a TV. We let him watch some cartoons in the morning before school every day, now. He still enjoys Caillou as much as he did when he was three.
We had a really nice Christmas with Erik's older sister Iris in Dessau. Iris is Erik's father's daughter from a first marriage, so we also got to meet Iris's mother, Berbel. Berbel made a delicious herring and beet salad for the festivities along with what seemed like a bottomless supply of homemade cookies! Vigo didn't mind too much not having other kids to play with and spent hours and hours putting together his new Lego set. I had an especially great time on Christmas Eve, when Iris and I walked through the dark woods to the boat house on the river where some of her friends were having mulled wine around a fire outside.
Erik and Vigo and I made Dan and Iris each a board game about themselves. Vigo was very excited to give these presents and he said something really funny about them:
"We made your presents ourselves. But don't worry, they look very professional."
Here's the game of Iris. I forgot to get a photo of Dan's.
On Christmas Day, everyone except for Vigo and I went to the opera. The Show was Fidelio and the production was set in a WWII concentration camp. We figured if we took Vigo to see that for his first opera experience, we'd never get him inside an opera house again.
A week or so after Christmas, I took Vigo to see a special kid showing of Hansel and Gretel at the Deutche Oper here in Berlin. He got a little bit scared about the witch in the first part and kind of wanted to go home at intermission. Here's a picture of him worrying about the fates of poor Hansel and Gretel during the break:
Once the witch actually come on and wasn't just peeking out ominously from behind the trees, he was fine and he really loved the show. He's excited to go back. Our next show will be Swan Lake in February. Here are a couple pictures from the show we saw, including the witch. The singing in this show was just super, too.
We had a free ice skating rink near our apartment for the holidays, but unfortunately we only managed to go to it one time. We also got a couple of sledding nights in, even though I wasn't able to find a proper Berlin-style sled because all of the stores were completely sold out. Here's a picture of Vigo and one of his closest friends, Leander, at the skating rink, and sledding with another of his closest friends, Edward.
We're all still having a great time getting to know Berlin, but we're also very excited to be able to make a qick visit back to Somerville!
Vigo's eyes can finally be seen again, since Vigo gave himself one of his famous haircuts last week. He's had lots of compliments on the cut from the other kids at school.
Our calm little winter solstice party went really nicely. Vigo and I made bite-sized bottle cap cookies by using a bottle cap for a cookie cutter.
We all dressed up and walked up to the top of the hill in the park, where we discovered a couple of other groups, who were getting little bonfires going.
Vigo is eagerly beginning to plan his own birthday party, which is more than a month away. I won't give out any details yet, though!
Vigo's German is starting to blossom since we got a TV. We let him watch some cartoons in the morning before school every day, now. He still enjoys Caillou as much as he did when he was three.
We had a really nice Christmas with Erik's older sister Iris in Dessau. Iris is Erik's father's daughter from a first marriage, so we also got to meet Iris's mother, Berbel. Berbel made a delicious herring and beet salad for the festivities along with what seemed like a bottomless supply of homemade cookies! Vigo didn't mind too much not having other kids to play with and spent hours and hours putting together his new Lego set. I had an especially great time on Christmas Eve, when Iris and I walked through the dark woods to the boat house on the river where some of her friends were having mulled wine around a fire outside.
Erik and Vigo and I made Dan and Iris each a board game about themselves. Vigo was very excited to give these presents and he said something really funny about them:
"We made your presents ourselves. But don't worry, they look very professional."
Here's the game of Iris. I forgot to get a photo of Dan's.
On Christmas Day, everyone except for Vigo and I went to the opera. The Show was Fidelio and the production was set in a WWII concentration camp. We figured if we took Vigo to see that for his first opera experience, we'd never get him inside an opera house again.
A week or so after Christmas, I took Vigo to see a special kid showing of Hansel and Gretel at the Deutche Oper here in Berlin. He got a little bit scared about the witch in the first part and kind of wanted to go home at intermission. Here's a picture of him worrying about the fates of poor Hansel and Gretel during the break:
Once the witch actually come on and wasn't just peeking out ominously from behind the trees, he was fine and he really loved the show. He's excited to go back. Our next show will be Swan Lake in February. Here are a couple pictures from the show we saw, including the witch. The singing in this show was just super, too.
We had a free ice skating rink near our apartment for the holidays, but unfortunately we only managed to go to it one time. We also got a couple of sledding nights in, even though I wasn't able to find a proper Berlin-style sled because all of the stores were completely sold out. Here's a picture of Vigo and one of his closest friends, Leander, at the skating rink, and sledding with another of his closest friends, Edward.
We're all still having a great time getting to know Berlin, but we're also very excited to be able to make a qick visit back to Somerville!
Monday, December 15, 2008
Monday, December 8, 2008
Vigo's Lego Wishlist
Vigo's lego
wishlist
- toa gali
- toa onua
- krika
- bitil
- gorast.
- tanma
- photok
- solek
- gavla
- radiak
- kirop.
- axalara T9
- jetrax T9
- rokoh T9.
boxed sets:
- 50 years of lego
- big brickbox.
- creator:
- convertible
- monster dino
- flier-set
- city house.
- etx alien-transformer
- mx commandocentral
- mx-41 switch fighter
- mini robot
- alien jet
- mini spaceship.
- gas station
- street sweeper
- lego city port
- airport
- police station
- policeman
- chum bucket.
star wars:
- at-te walker
- hailfire droid&spider droid
- jedi starfigter with hyperdrive booster ring
- rebel scout speeder
- imperial landing craft.
- desert hopper
- ram rod
- mud hopper
- red ace
- ring of fire
- speed racer & snake oiler
- cruncher block & racer x
- racer x & taejo togokhan
- grand prix-race
- crosstown craze
- speed chasing
- adrift sport
- zx turbo
- ez-roadster
- midnight sreak
- desert hammer
WARNING!
THIS LIST WAS TRANSLATED FROM GERMAN I DID MY BEST TO TRNSLETE IT
THINGS MAY BE WRONG
Party Time
Lots of fun things have happened here in Berlin since I last updated you all. Vigo's front teeth are growing in nice and straight and he is growing out of his pants, at least lenthwise. I think his waistline has barely budged the past two years! Here's a picture where you can really see how long he's getting. The other person in the picture is Erik's sister Iris.
Lately Vigo is starting to become very interested in swords, catapaults, daggers, shields, armor, and other weapons. He's interested in what the differences are between a Ninja's sword and a medieval knight's sword, for example. A couple weeks ago I took him to check out our local Christmas market and he fell in love with a wooden battle axe there. He went back a week later and bought it with his allowance. He spent over half an hour at this stand studying all of the toy swords, maces, and crossbows.
Vigo has also been talking to me about wanting to visit Paris. He can't remember anything about Paris, but he always tells everyone that this is where he is from. In late November, we had three friends come from Paris for a short visit. It was fun having visitors. We all love when guests come. It also gave us a good excuse to throw our first party. We invited a few people from my German class, a few people with kids from Vigo's school, and a couple other friends we've met here. It ended up being a great party. There was even a little dancing.
One of Vigo's closest school friends, Leander, ended up staying the night. Vigo's first sleepover in Berlin! Leander's mother is French/German and his father is German, but somehow they speak English at home and Leander speaks fluently, though he tends to sound like he just stepped out of a Dickens novel. One of his gems that weekend was said to our friend Pascal, who is a light sleeper: "Are you very fierce if you're awoken?" Here's a picture of the boys in the morning.
The next weekend, Vigo got to have another sleepover. Another good friend of his, Rosa Pearl, stayed here with Vigo and a really great babysitter while Erik and I went out with Rosa Pearl's parents to hear them play at a bar in Kreuzberg. Their band does experimental folk music, a little on the noisy side. Their names are Brian and Maryrose, and they're from New Zealand. Here's a picture of Vigo and RP at dinner time.
Last weekend was a little bit less exciting for Vigo. He was going to go over to Rosa Pearl's for the night, but she got sick and had to cancel. We did manage to squeeze in a park date with his friend Edward on Saturday. Edward and Vigo have a little bit more complicated a relationship than the one he has with Leander or Rosa Pearl. Edward has some rigid ideas about what kinds of clothes are for boys, and they don't include soft pink socks or shirts with glittery monkeys on them. It's caused some conflict and hurt feelings, but it seems like the bond of scatalogical humor, fart jokes, and pointing out penises everywhere is strong enough to hold them together! At the park they spent most of the time walking and talking to each other a mile a minute with lots of laughing. Edward's little brother John Jack was also there and Vigo found him totally charming. Edward finds the little brother understandably less charming. He told me, "He's not my little brother. He's my nightmare."
On Sunday, Vigo and I spent the whole morning making tiny sugar cookie houses for an Advent Party contest. We had to make 15!
Iris's cousin Ingo was hosting the party and the contest. Vigo took the cookie judging very seriously. Unfortunately for us, I didn't realize that there were considerable points being offered for organic and healthy ingredients. If only I had known! There ws also an exchange of junk you want to get rid of around the house which involved rolling dice and trading over several turns. Vigo came home with a flying skull, Erik a Christmas-tree shaped light-up outdoor decoration, and I got a wok cookbook.
For Christmas we're all going to spend a few days with Iris in Dessau. I can't wait! We'll take lots of hikes and bike rides in the woods. Vigo is starting to wonder when ski season is going to start. We're going to have to look into that more soon. I have heard from other parents at the school that the nearest place to ski is 3-4 hours away, which is about how far we were going last year. That's good news!
Vigo has an extensive Christmas wishlist that he has typed out. I expect he'll post it here before Christmas. He also has a very cute new stop-action movie of his math homework doing itself, which is almost finished!
Lately Vigo is starting to become very interested in swords, catapaults, daggers, shields, armor, and other weapons. He's interested in what the differences are between a Ninja's sword and a medieval knight's sword, for example. A couple weeks ago I took him to check out our local Christmas market and he fell in love with a wooden battle axe there. He went back a week later and bought it with his allowance. He spent over half an hour at this stand studying all of the toy swords, maces, and crossbows.
Vigo has also been talking to me about wanting to visit Paris. He can't remember anything about Paris, but he always tells everyone that this is where he is from. In late November, we had three friends come from Paris for a short visit. It was fun having visitors. We all love when guests come. It also gave us a good excuse to throw our first party. We invited a few people from my German class, a few people with kids from Vigo's school, and a couple other friends we've met here. It ended up being a great party. There was even a little dancing.
One of Vigo's closest school friends, Leander, ended up staying the night. Vigo's first sleepover in Berlin! Leander's mother is French/German and his father is German, but somehow they speak English at home and Leander speaks fluently, though he tends to sound like he just stepped out of a Dickens novel. One of his gems that weekend was said to our friend Pascal, who is a light sleeper: "Are you very fierce if you're awoken?" Here's a picture of the boys in the morning.
The next weekend, Vigo got to have another sleepover. Another good friend of his, Rosa Pearl, stayed here with Vigo and a really great babysitter while Erik and I went out with Rosa Pearl's parents to hear them play at a bar in Kreuzberg. Their band does experimental folk music, a little on the noisy side. Their names are Brian and Maryrose, and they're from New Zealand. Here's a picture of Vigo and RP at dinner time.
Last weekend was a little bit less exciting for Vigo. He was going to go over to Rosa Pearl's for the night, but she got sick and had to cancel. We did manage to squeeze in a park date with his friend Edward on Saturday. Edward and Vigo have a little bit more complicated a relationship than the one he has with Leander or Rosa Pearl. Edward has some rigid ideas about what kinds of clothes are for boys, and they don't include soft pink socks or shirts with glittery monkeys on them. It's caused some conflict and hurt feelings, but it seems like the bond of scatalogical humor, fart jokes, and pointing out penises everywhere is strong enough to hold them together! At the park they spent most of the time walking and talking to each other a mile a minute with lots of laughing. Edward's little brother John Jack was also there and Vigo found him totally charming. Edward finds the little brother understandably less charming. He told me, "He's not my little brother. He's my nightmare."
On Sunday, Vigo and I spent the whole morning making tiny sugar cookie houses for an Advent Party contest. We had to make 15!
Iris's cousin Ingo was hosting the party and the contest. Vigo took the cookie judging very seriously. Unfortunately for us, I didn't realize that there were considerable points being offered for organic and healthy ingredients. If only I had known! There ws also an exchange of junk you want to get rid of around the house which involved rolling dice and trading over several turns. Vigo came home with a flying skull, Erik a Christmas-tree shaped light-up outdoor decoration, and I got a wok cookbook.
For Christmas we're all going to spend a few days with Iris in Dessau. I can't wait! We'll take lots of hikes and bike rides in the woods. Vigo is starting to wonder when ski season is going to start. We're going to have to look into that more soon. I have heard from other parents at the school that the nearest place to ski is 3-4 hours away, which is about how far we were going last year. That's good news!
Vigo has an extensive Christmas wishlist that he has typed out. I expect he'll post it here before Christmas. He also has a very cute new stop-action movie of his math homework doing itself, which is almost finished!
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