Kindergarten

Last week we brought Ben to the German Kindergarten in our village.  Although Americans think of five-year-olds when they think of "kindergarden," in Germany the word indicates a preschool of varying ages.  This one has kids as young as six months old.  In this photo, Ben is playing in the gym room with his teacher.

The school has several different rooms and the kids can mostly move about however they want.  There are also structured activities that they may participate in if they wish.

The gym room has a ball pit, just like Yabadoo!  Here's another teacher who's taking photos to post on the school's website (I included a link on the right side of this page).

This is known as the construction room.  Ben's teacher knows quite a bit of English, but many of the teachers only speak German.  Some of the other parents speak some English, and Ben's American friend Zach goes here.

I don't know the name of this area but there are lots of puzzles and games.  There's an experiment room, a napping room, and an infant room that has a baby gate.  The older kids are allowed to play there, and I saw several toddlers in there.

The school is a good fit for Ben.  The teachers are great, and they are easing him into attendance: the first day, Mike & I brought Ben and let him run around for not even an hour.  Another day, I took him but stayed in a room where Ben could find me if he needed to see me; he played for an hour and checked for me several times.  On Monday I did the same thing, but he played for two hours.  Today was the same, and on Friday I will drop him off for an hour but stay at home (just a few blocks away) in case he has a meltdown.  He has the freedom to choose his activities and can take breaks to be in a quiet space when he needs it.

We have already seen changes in Ben.  He is generally in a better mood, and he is better at playing with his toys at home.  He is also eating better!  He has been such a picky eater in recent months.  After eating breakfast at the school, he has started eating yogurt again, and he's more willing to eat chicken, turkey, and even salmon loaf (I have never gotten him to eat any kind of seafood).  We brought him to a speech therapist last week (more on that later) and when we told her about these changing in his eating habits, she said that he is probably socially motivated and is now more interested in foods since he saw other kids eating different foods.  Yay, peer pressure!  We're also noticing him trying to talk more.  I'm sure that his school experience has something to do with that, but we're also seriously limiting his TV/computer and pacifier time.  He seems to be adjusting to this new routine pretty well, and we are very happy about that.

More Christmas

His reaction to one of his presents...

...an easel from Nana and Pap.  One side is chalkboard, and this side is a magnetic dry-erase board.  He loves, loves, loves the magnetic letters and numbers.  But most of them end up on the floor.

Eating dinner at a German restaurant in the new BX mall.

 

Playing in his nursery after bathtime.  We had been looking for a nice big rug to fill the space in that room and we found this one on base.

 

Pancakes made by Nana, and a special one for Ben.

Ben had such a great time at Yabadoo that we went back with Nana & Grandpap.  Here's that big swing that Ben was looking at longingly the last time.

The sliding rollers.  Still his favorite by far.  Got a kick out of how he'd put his hands up to his mouth every time.

Back on the swing, this time with Daddy.  It was more fun that way.

He convinced Nana to climb into the ball pit with him.

He took the numbers out of every foam block.

Getting a treat from Grandpap.

Actually sitting at the table during dinner.  I usually just let him graze because he doesn't sit still for long, but I guess he'll do it for the grandparents.

Christmas with Nana & Pap

My folks flew here a few days after Christmas.  We had saved all the birthday/Christmas presents they mailed to us so they could see Ben open them.  And since we didn't want to overwhelm him with the MASSIVE amount of gifts, we gave a few every day.  That kind of backfired: he looked for presents every day.

He really likes this spinning top.  It makes a whistling sound when it goes really fast.

Hmmm...which one should he watch?  Trying to decide between the DVDs Aunt Janie sent to him.

Fraggle Rock it is!  He played both DVDs  A LOT.

Playing with my hand-carved Santa Claus nesting dolls, a gift from Mike.

Just like last Christmas in Pennsylvania.  Except this time Ben didn't crash the computer.

Most of the Christmas markets here close a few days before Christmas, but we found one that was still open in Kaiserslautern.  Unfortunately it very cold and rainy so it wasn't much fun to walk around.  We found a covered booth that served gluhwein.  Yum!

Two peas in a pod.

He loves this jack-in-the-box!  He can easily turn the crank and smiles every time the little bear pops out.  Then he tries to shove it back down.

It takes a lot of concentration to screw up a camera, but he'll do his best.

Checking out his new workbench.  At first all he wanted to do was try to sit on it.  But now he plays with all the little tools.  We find painted wooden screws all over the house now.  Last time I found one in my slipper.

Too many pictures!  And presents... I'll post more later.

Yabadoo

Our friends threw a birthday party for their 3-year-old right after Christmas.  I was sick so Mike took Ben.  The party was in a place called Yabadoo, which is pretty much a huge room with giant padded equipment.  Ben ran Mike ragged.

Revving his engine.

Mike said Ben L-O-V-E-D this slide and went on it a bazillion times.

Most kids would think the fun part of this area is shooting the balls OUT of this contraption.  Ben was only interested in putting the balls back IN.

Yes I know this is upside down but I'm not changing it.

Testing out a trampoline.

Taking a break for lunch with the big kids.

Apparently he really liked the ball pit.

 

Watching some kids get swallowed by an alligator.

Little kids envying a big kid on the awesome swing.  Mike said the place was pretty cold, and the floor was freezing.  Yet Ben refused to keep his socks on.

This wasn't anywhere near the play area, but Ben just had to check it out.

EXHAUSTED.  Mike was, too.  I have no idea how he got any pictures while chasing Ben.

Christmas

 A German toy from his stocking.  I won't post pictures of every single present being opened.  Just picture Ben ripping wrapping paper with a serious look, smiling, then chucking whatever he just opened.

He couldn't quite start to tear the paper himself and recruited Daddy to help.

Ben liked the Connect Four at Thanksgiving so much that Mike bought him his own.

Looking promising...

...yep, this thing looks awesome!  This was a present from Aunt Katie and Uncle Brian.

After opening the last gift (we had to coax him because he was losing steam) he popped in a baseball DVD that Mike had just opened. 

Watching baseball with the same reverence that his dad has.  Plus he was super-tired.

After a bit of a rest, and when I got a chance to assemble this thing, he hopped right on the bike from Aunt Katie.  He knew right away to put his feet on the pedals.  But he also figured out that if he sits directly on the giraffe's back and not the seat, he can get closer to the screen on the back of the giraffe's head.

A couple days after Christmas, wearing my fuzzy slipper socks as mittens.  This was not the last time he'd do this.

Self-portrait of Ben's feet.  This one's for you, Laurie.