Is it really July? It feels more like September!

Caden LOVES the fraction circles!

The weather this past month has been crazy in Germany.  We have gotten more rain this summer than the past few summers we have been here.  Also the temperature is a lot colder.  Some of my friends still have their floor heaters on! It's not that cold in our house and in fact I'd prefer to just have the windows open. Sadly we have all been hit with colds. It took me a week to get over one, then Collin got it, and now Caden is getting over it. When Caden's not feeling good he becomes quite cranky! My patience is being tested for sure! What I don't necessarily enjoy is all the rain and the cooler temperatures.  Summer is the time to get outside and enjoy sunshine and the pool.  Not be stuck inside.  I guess I should be thankful for the rain and cooler temperatures considering many of my Texan family and friends are suffering with extreme heat and drought.  I would just like to have a little more sunshine.  Germany is so gloomy most of the year and the winters are pretty dark and gray.

Given my circumstance I have become more organized and creative. I'll have to share pictures of our better organized living room and upstairs office/play room in a future post. Since I'm not a big TV person and we have limited Caden's exposure to where he's not really into television either, I have gone back to the basics. Caden loves books but has been refusing them during the day because he's afraid I'm trying to get him to take a nap.  We still read a book or two during the day but they are just usually short and he's quick to get down once the book is done. So what do I do all day with a non-napping 2 year old?  We go to the park when it's not raining or ride bikes. We also visit friends and have them over. Today we were blessed with nice weather this morning and early afternoon, then the downpour came.  First we played basketball upstairs for a while, then we went outside and Caden road his bike in our driveway and played with our neighbor's daughter, Mischa, then the rain came. Back inside Caden played with a magnetic fishing puzzle, he loves this puzzle, I made some fraction circles, and he loved playing with those, I also bought some bugs for his sensory box and we did a bug hunt/dig.  When Collin got home he even played with the bugs with Caden and read him the book Bugs, bugs, bugs!  Here are some pictures of our afternoon.

Eco Friendly Mowing

Last year we got a reel push mower for free.  Our neighbor was moving and she had one.  When we bought our electric mower (which turned out to be a piece of junk) almost three years ago, we had considered buying a reel mower then but decided not too.  We have a small backyard and as long as we don't let the grass grow very tall, a reel push mower is all we need.  Plus it doesn't polute the air, use energy, and is safe to use around small children.  In fact, this year Caden was able to help Collin mow. He's such an awesome helper!!

Green rice, anyone?

Playing with rice is tons of fun!

We have been having some crazy weather in Germany lately.  We have had more rain this year than I remember the previous two years during the summer.  The parks near our house turn into mud pits when it rains because of the sand.  I have been thinking of fun activities to do indoors with Caden and decided to make a sensory box. 

I bought 10 lbs of rice and dyed 9 cups green - so between 4-5 lbs. A few weeks ago we started doing the Hooked on Phonics for Preschoolers, which gives a good review of the alphabet and the phonic sounds.  He has been obsessed with letters since around 17 or 18 months when he started noticing letters on signs when we went out. He still loves our letter games but I wanted to do something more with him. I did some research and decided to buy the Hooked on Phonics for Preschoolers. Although it's pretty basic, at least it has him attempting to write the letters (fine motor skills) and reinforces of the phonic sounds (which will help him learn to read). Since we were on the letter "G," I decided to dye the rice green the day before.  I filled the box with objects that started with "g" or were green.  Caden had a blast digging through the rice and looking at all the objects.  One of his favorite books lately has been Goodnight Gorilla so I brought that out as well. 

The only downside of this activity is that rice will get everywhere, unless your child is older and/or understands better than mine.  I had to remind him several times to keep the rice in the container.  He wanted rice everywhere!  Thankfully he did pretty well except when I left to get my camera upstairs, he put a few handfuls on our couch.  Besides having to stay near him while he played, this was a great activity for him. He even cried when it was time to put it away because he wanted to keep playing with it.  When Dad got home, he asked to play with the green rice again, so we got it out to share with Dad that evening. 

Here are some pictures.

Our "G" and "Green" Sensory Box

He loved pouring the rice into things

When I told him to keep it in the container, he grabbed the led - does this count?

When I left to get my camera someone decided to put 2 handfuls of rice on our couch

To dye rice: Put dry rice in a large bowl, add a few drops of rubbing alcohol, and food coloring, mix and adjust coloring as needed. Dry on wax paper for at least an hour before storing.  You'll need more food coloring than alcohol. I got this idea from Totally Tots.

Caden's Head Injury - Trip to ER Surgery Center

48 Hours after it happened
-we cleaned it and put a new bandage on it

Last Friday, Caden, took a big fall.  We went to Collin's work picnic/training then drove to get our car's registration renewed.  Since they are closing a lot of the bases in Germany, we had to drive to Mannheim.  We were there 2 hours and will unfortunately have to go back.  Being stuck in a boring waiting room only lasts so long before a busy 2 year old has had enough.  The base we were on is closing and there is really nothing there except this office to register your car or renew it.  At first I took Caden walking.  We walked for about 30 minutes down a sidewalk and back.  Then Collin took him walking while I stayed inside the waiting room, still waiting.  And we switched off back and forth.

Before the injury happened, Collin brought Caden back inside where I was so he could run to the restroom.  I found out we still had about 6 people in front of us so I took Caden back outside.  After we walked across the street where two little girls were playing he took off in a full run down a ramp.  He was going really fast down this shipping ramp and when he was almost to the bottom he tripped and flew head first on the hard, hot, cement.  My heart broke as I ran down after him.  I picked him up and he his head was bleeding, both knees were bleeding, and his left arm was pretty scraped up.  I took him inside where I had hoped to find a bathroom to clean him up.  That bathroom was closed so I had to walk him up 3 flights of stairs.  Collin was up there and I quickly found out there was no soap and everything was pretty gross.  Meanwhile, Caden's head swelled up and turned black and blue.  A big knot was forming as the blood ran around it.

We got in the car and debated whether to go to the Army Hospital in Heidelberg or the Children's ER (Kinderklinik) in Heidelberg.  Both were about 30 minutes away.  Collin brought up the point that if he had to be referred we'd end up at the Kinderklinik anyway so we went there.  Caden continued crying but quickly fell asleep.  We knew he was tired but feared he may have had a concussion and I kept checking to make sure he was breathing.  We prayed the whole way there and trusted that God would take care of our sweet boy.



Caden having fun with Bernd - check out those knees

Our good friend, Bernd, who is German but lives in Texas, was overseas on business.  We lucked out and he was able to spend his last evening in Germany with us.  This trip to the ER made our visit with him a little shorter but we were so glad he came to see us.

When we arrived at the kinderklinik Collin ran ahead of us to fill out all the forms.  I carefully got my sleeping, injured child out of the car.  I ran inside and as soon as I walked in the door the lady was yelling at me in German to leave.  She told us we had to go to the surgery center which is another building about a mile away.

While I was putting Caden back in the car he woke up.  Once we finally found the surgery center, Collin ran inside ahead of us again to fill out the paper work needed.  Collin was still talking with the guy filling out information when Caden and I came in.  When we were done he told us to go sit in the waiting area (which is a hallway).  He said, "no need to hurry, it's going to be a while."  One thing that really frustrates me about German health care is how incredibly SLOW it is.  We waited over an hour!  There was only one other lady and daughter there who came in after us.  Her daughter fell on her neck during gymnastics.  This was this lady's 4th place to visit with her daughter and she's German.  We found out the children's doctor was on a break and the receptionist didn't know when he would be back.  And of course because of Germany being a socialized economy, nobody but the "specialized" person can see us. 

Thankfully Caden didn't need stitches and the doctor was very good with him.  The doctor cleaned the head wound and his knees.  He put a patch on his head to leave on a few days and told us to watch him closely for the next 72 hours.  I asked if I needed to give him anything and he said no.  Just watch his behavior and make sure he doesn't throw up or run a fever.  Then he filled out a paper and put it in an envelope to bring with us if a problem arrose.

God answered our prayers, it looks like Caden is fine, he didn't need stitches or surgery.  We also learned that if a serious problem arrises that we should just call the ambulance because then we could get care immediately and they would know where to take the ill or hurt person. 

4th of July Weekend

We love 3-day weekends.  Collin and I celebrated 7.5 years of marriage yesterday.  We had a wonderful weekend and wanted to share a few pictures.

Thursday night our friends, Jane and Matt, watched Caden so we could go to Collin's work dinner. The dinner was typical German and lasted over 3 hours. We left early. It started at 6:30pm and Collin didn't get his food until almost 9pm.  It was a nice evening but we were both exhausted.  We're used to eating around 5:30pm.  It was at a castle about 20 minutes from our house.

Saturday we went took Caden to Lusienpark.  That evening we made a homemade pizza and had our first family movie night.  We watched Flo the Lyin' Fly and had fun watching a movie with Caden.  I'm always thinking of ways for Caden to help me in the kitchen.  My friend, Nicole, gave me some of her yummy zucchini's from her garden so I made a carrot and zucchini, alfredo pizza.  I decided to see if Caden could grate the zucchini.  He did a great job and loved helping me.

Sunday we went to church and spent time as a family.  As I was looking at my pictures from this weekend I saw this picture.

Collin caught Caden doing this - playing with our light fixture on top of our kitchen table.  I also caught him yesterday morning climbing out of his highchair, onto the table, then down the chair.

Monday we took a day trip to Speyer, Germany.  We ate lunch in the cute town then went to the Technic Museum.  We road a few rides and enjoyed the exhibit.  We were planning on going to the firework show and events on base but ended up being too tired.  Overall we had a wonderful weekend.

Downtown Speyer, Germany

Collin teaching Caden how to use an excuvator

Space exhibit in Technic Museum

Collin flying through the sky

Caden enjoying all the trucks