Morning
The first sound I heard this morning was Sara coughing. She is at the tail end of a cold, and her cough is the last thing to go. Sara's second cough triggered another sound: "Mom?" from Julia's room. With those two sounds I knew my day had begun. It was 7:15.
I convinced my feet to carry me to Julia's room. I put her door knob back on (it comes off for some reason, as do other door knobs here), and opened her door. She was in the front corner of her crib, smiling at me. She gave a little jump when she saw me. She wasn't startled, she was ready to go! She pointed over to her clothes and tugged at my arm 'till I flew her out of her crib and brought her over to her clothes.
I got Julia dressed, then Sara. We ate breakfast (fruit, cereal). To make any meal these days I grab two big plates and two small plates. I fill each plate then deliver them to the table. On some occasions, like this morning, Sara and Julia ate not only the stuff on the small plates, but the stuff on the big plates too. When Dan got up around 9:00 I told him I made him breakfast, and he didn't even look for it, it figured it was already history. He was right, so he sliced himself some bread and had coffee.
As Sara and Julia put there shoes on I filled our water bottle from the tap, grabbed some toys, and we left the apartment.
Dan thought the botanical garden would be a good place to visit so we headed up the hill towards the train station, through town, and finally found it. Right. That makes it sound like the walk there was without event. We lost Julia's hat (Dan re-traced our steps to find it, and did find it since someone else propped it up on a post). We stopped in a confectionary (they aren't bakeries here, they are confectionary) because Sara said she was hungry. It is funny how she is hungry right when we are near a place to get a freshly made bread treat.
When we walk to places in town we look around at everything. Just being here, wandering around with the people who live here, is part of the fun.
The botanical gardens were free. Once we found them, we walked right in. The first thing I noticed was how loud the birds were. I don't know how many song birds must live there, but with the city's sounds hushed, the birds sounds filled the air. You could not see any birds; just hear them. Lovely chirping. Happy sounds. There were only a few flowers, the draw of the botanical gardens in February were the well-placed rocks, the many shades of green in the moss, the leaves, and the lilly pads on the pond.
Sara and Julia became birds themselves. They broke free from Dan and I and their arms became wings. They trotted around the garden, giggling. Sara created "an adventure" and they repeated the "adventure" over and over. It was an adventure that looped them around the pond, up over a small hill, across a foot bridge, down a rock path, across stepping stones and back to the pond. Much of the adventure was tough for Julia's 1 year old legs, but with her "I can do it!" spirit and Sara to help, she kept up with her 5 year old sister with a smile in her eyes and on her face. Each time they crossed the foot bridge they had to walk down a small hill laden with large rocks, so Sara would wrap her arms around Julia, and lift her to the ground. Julia accepted Sara's help, and even raised up her arms to get it. It was heartwarming to see our girls enjoy something so much together. (They enjoy a lot of things together, but they just really, really, really enjoyed this!)
They didn't want to stop their "adventure" but we did explore the rest of the garden before heading out.
Mid-day
We decided to eat lunch out, so we stopped in a small place and ordered at the counter. They didn't have high chairs, so I had a wiggling Julia on my lap. She was interested in a fish tank, toys, and her food. After eating Julia bolted down the street faster than I could run. She somehow knows when we are about to put her in the stroller so she gets in a sprint while she can. We like to let her walk, but that can take a long time when we have a lot of ground to cover. (My fitbit pedometer says 7.01 miles and 44 flights of stairs for today).
Afternoon
Dan started work earlier today, to get to bed earlier, so we can maybe do a day trip to Bern (the capitol of Switzerland) tomorrow. We've been there a few times (once before kids; once with Sara).
With Dan working the sunny day was for Sara, Julia, and I to enjoy. Julia didn't take a nap, so we set out armed with 3 maps, 2 bottles of water, and the iPad.
I walked down, down, down to the old town. (It is so far down that there is a funicular too!) We looped around past the interesting buildings, the river, the churches, the medieval buildings, the stray cats, wrought iron scroll signs, cobblestone streets (nearly everything we walk on here has been cobblestones), and I looked around at everything. I enjoy walking with Dan (since we are all together) but there is something different about being alone with the girls - I am the navigator - so I pay more attention to where we are and thus learn a lot more about the area. I use all 5 senses, smelling the damp Earth, seeing the timbered buildings, hearing the church bells gong, tasting the bread from the bakery, and touching the strollers handle bar with an iron grip so I don't loose my grip and send the girls careening down a hill and off an edge. (It is very hilly here - crazy hilly - amazingly hilly.)
Dinner time
Dan had dinner going when we got back (a nice treat) so we ate our carrots, beans, pasta, lasagne, and corn. After dinner Julia ran around the apartment in her diaper and her shoes (she chose that outfit) and a huge grin. I finally picked her up and she kept running even though her feet were no longer on the ground. I wiggled her into her PJs and she has been asleep since her head hit the crib's mattress.
Sara and I are just about to start her bedtime list, and it is the end of another day.
Gotta run, I'm out of laptop battery!
END
No comments:
Post a Comment