Aachen, Father's Day 2009

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Father's Day

For Chris' second Father's Day, we took the train two hours west to Aachen (also called Aix-la-Chapelle), which borders Belgium and Holland. Aachen had a quarry in Neolithic times, was a source of hot springs used by the Romans, and home to Charlemagne around 800 AD. He lived in a palace and built a wonderful cathedral that is still standing today, though it benefited from Gothic add-ons. When Charlemagne died, he was buried here, and his body and other important church relics are still objects of pilgrimage for many. Because of Chris' love for history, this city was a perfect place to go to celebrate. (Another silly detail is that "Charles the Great," Christopher Charles, and Daisy Charlotte are all connected by name!)

I will post some pictures to our blog through Shutterfly. During our train ride, we read the current favorite book, "Daisy to the Rescue!" many times and snacked snacked snacked. In Aachen, Daisy loved running around in the courtyard by the old town hall and Charlemagne fountain, eating an ice cream cone (Eis! Eis!) and chasing pigeons.

Play Group

Also known as "Eltern-Kind Spielgruppe." Daisy and I joined this group which meets every Thursday morning for an hour and a half at a local church. It is a 15 minute walk from our apartment. There are 5 other mom-baby pairs that attend and one facilitator named Silke. She pulls out different toys every week and provides the structure of song time and snack time. Daisy and I practice the German song lyrics and hand motions at home, so she gets very excited when it is music time. Snack time is another story: all the other babies (around 16-18 months old) sit politely in their chairs and eat their food. Daisy takes one bite and runs back to the play area, maybe seizing her moment when the beloved baby buggy is free. It is obvious that Daisy is the sole child at home; besides giggling and chanting "Baby! Baby!" and chasing the other kids, she is not used to sharing. Recently, she has been screaming when someone else plays with "her" bucket of autos, batting their hands away and even pushing. Most of the time I intervene and try to teach sharing, but our facilitator wants me to let the babies work it out for themselves. Over the weeks, I've noticed Daisy grow more assertive. The first few weeks, Daisy would hand over her toys to more aggressive babies. Now, at least she's sticking up for herself, I guess.

Here are some pictures of our play group last week. I ran out of batteries in my camera before snack time and song time. Maybe I'll take a video next week!

Berlin Pictures

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Hamburg Pictures

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