Happy Halloween!

Yesterday was a long day, but it was fun. It was Friday, so I had Pauline all day. I also had the neighbor to take care of for almost 3 hours. Her name is Jette, and she's 7 weeks younger than Pauline. She is so cute! She was really upset at first when her mom left, but Esther and I took the kids upstairs to play with their dolls and everything was fine. Jette loves dolls, apparently. They spent most of the time playing with dolls and Legos. After a while Pauline was looking for something else to do, so we went down stairs and I brought out the colored paper and scissors (the safety scissors that cut zigzags and stuff) for them to play with. Pauline generally just cuts little pieces off of the paper, which is what she did this time, but Jette doesn't know how to use scissors. I tried showing her how, but she couldn't figure out how to open the scissors once she made a cut with them. So, I figured I'd cut something out for her and she could color on it. I used a green piece of paper that I had already cut into to make her a heart, and she loved it. She got so excited when I showed it to her, that all she wanted to do for the rest of the time was to watch me cut out hearts of all different sizes. She wanted them all to be pink, though, because that's her favorite color. After a while Pauline got bored again (she's like a little boy) and wanted to play with clay, so that's what she and Jette did until Jette's mom, Britta, came to pick her up. Britta was happy to hear that Jette only cried for a couple of minutes and that she was really sweet and well behaved the whole time. I wouldn't be surprised if we have more play dates with Jette.

I went with Pauline and Esther when they went to pick up Gustav from Kindergarten because Esther was going to go to the home improvement store where I could get a pair of rainboots. When we got to the Kindergarten, though, Esther realized that she had completely forgotten about a little gathering that was supposed to be happening at the elementary school playground next door. Instead of going to the store, we hung around there so that Gustav could play with the other kids and Esther could socialize with the other parents. I got to meet a couple of the kids that will be at Gustav's birthday party next week, so that was nice. There were a few boys that were playing around in pirate and skeleton costumes. Pauline was walking to go play with something, but then when she saw them she came running back and buried her face in my legs because she was scared. She just stood there and held onto me for a few minutes before she felt safe to venture out again. It was really sweet. While I pushing Pauline and Gustav on a little basket swing, this little girl named Julia came over and wanted to ride on it, to. So I put her on there with the other kids, and she held onto the swing with one hand, and Pauline with the other one. It was really cute.

When it was time to leave, Gustav wasn't ready to go so his friend Dominik's mom was going to bring him home a little later. By the time he got home, Esther and Olaf were just stepping out to go to dinner in the city with their friends. Gustav got so upset. They had to back out of the door, telling him they'd be back later, and I had to lock the door behind them and take the key away so Gustav couldn't open it. It was time to get the kids ready for bed, so I started boiling water to make noodles for dinner and took Pauline upstairs to get ready. Every time we have to change her diaper we have her sit on the potty and she pretends to go to the bathroom. Last night she actually peed in the toilet. I think that was the first time. She took a little piece of toilet paper to wipe herself with, and she was confused when it was wet. That was pretty exciting, I guess.

In the meantime, Gustav stood at the front door, holding the doorknob and screaming until he literally cried himself to sleep. I went downstairs after I was finished with Pauline and he was passed out on the floor in the doorway. When I went to wake him up to take him upstairs, he immediately started crying again (but it was more of a whimper) as if he had never stopped. He didn't give me any trouble while I got him cleaned up and changed into his pajamas. He just wanted to stay on his sofa, so I left him there while Pauline and I had dinner. After I put Pauline to bed, I carried him from his sofa to his bed and they both slept soundly until after Esther and Olaf got home. Amelie slept in my room next to my bed :-)

Today they bought some candy at the supermarket for the trick-or-treaters, though they themselves do not celebrate Halloween (a lot of people over here are still able to recognized that it's a purely consumer-driven holiday because it's not engrained in cultural tradition yet). Gustav was asking at breakfast why the other kids had to come to the door dressed as ghosts, because it scared him. I didn't even realize it, but I was coincidentally wearing my Ghostbusters T-shirt today, and he doesn't like that there's a ghost on it. So Esther cut up a couple of old bedsheets to make little ghost costumes for Gustav and Pauline so that instead of being afraid of the other kids, the other kids can be afraid of them. They look so freaking cute!!

I went to Frechen again today for a little bit. I've been wearing one pair of shoes basically the entire time I've been here, so I bought myself a couple pair of boots. I also bought this really funny children's book that Esther was reading to Gustav this morning. I wasn't really paying any attention to it until I heard Esther say "Pferdeapfel" meaning horse apples. I asked her if she actually just read about horse poop (and then had to explain to her what poop meant) and she did. The book is about a mole who is running around trying to figure out who pooped on his head. And this is actually seriously a children's book, not a joke like that fart book I bought that one time. It made me laugh, so I had to have it. Oh, and I got a clock that actually has a light on it this time, so now I can actually see what time it is.