Brothers

Christian, two months old today

Next stop, SCB Futur*

Alex's very first time on skates.

* For those not in the know, the SCB is our local hockey team - currently at the top of the league by a whopping 15 points - and SCB Futur is the hockey program for little tykes.

Welcome the newest little US citizen

Christian is officially a US citizen. His Consular Report of Birth Abroad of a Citizen of the United States of America and his passport arrived in the mail today.

You have to jump through a few hoops to get citizenship for your child born abroad, and a life-long talent for record-keeping comes in handy as well. Here's what we needed in order to register Christian's birth with the embassy:

1. Provide the original birth certificate. Sort of. The original Swiss birth certificate isn't accepted by the Embassy; you need to provide them with the international version, known as the "Extract of the Birth Registry Issued in Pursuance of the Convention Signed at Vienna on September 8, 1976." Fortunately I knew this from the first time around with Alex, so after Christian was born I just requested the international birth certificate from the hospital in the first place.
2. Provide both parents' passports, regardless of who has what citizenship.
3. Provide a copy of the marriage certificate. Fortunately Reto and I were married in the US, otherwise we would have needed to order the "Extract for the Marriage Registry Issued in Pursuance of the Convention Sigen at Vienna on September 8, 1976."
4. And here's the hoop-jumping part. Because only one of Christian's parents is a US citizen I needed to provide proof of my physical presence in the US for at least five years, two of which were after the age of 14. (If you think about this for a minute, that means that should Alex and Christian live their entire lives in Switzerland and have children one day, they will not be allowed to pass on their US citizenship to their children. They are required, however, to register for the draft when they turn 18 even if they never set foot in the US. And file tax returns for life. Yeah. Don't get me started.) Proof of physical presence can be school records, tax returns, pay stubs or the like. The Embassy will evalute the documents and decide if they're acceptable proof of physical presence. Oh, and a college transcript only buys you three years because they don't automatically include the summer months - you have to prove you stayed in the country over the summer.
5. To get the passport, both parents and the minor child need to appear at the embassy in person; the parents need to sign the application forms in the presence of a consular official. If only one parent appears, the non-appearing parent needs to provide a notarized letter of consent and a copy of a valid signed passport. This is so that I can't give ChristianUS citizenship without Reto's consent.

I used school records. I have every grade report I've ever gotten from Kindergarden through graduate school, and I brought the whole stack with me. The Vice Counsel handling Christian's application told me it was probably the most thorough documentation he'd seen in all his years of issuing passports. I'm all about the overkill in the face of bureaucratic hoop-jumping. We had to wait two hours to sign the forms and pay$147 US (if you use a credit card the embassy charges you in US dollars) - I had everything filled out in advance and really, all we had to do was sign and pay but it still took two hours because the embassy works on a first-come-first-served basis and we happened to hit a busy day. Christian was a trooper and only cried at the very end when he got hungry. And yes, I nursed him in the embassy. Changed his diaper there, too.

That was a week ago, and the passport and report of birth arrived today. The social security card comes directly from the SSA in the US and generally takes longer; I think it took a month or so with Alex.

So Christian is officially a US citizen. Here he is with his new passport.

Doorway

This building is near the church where I take Christian to see the Mütterberaterin. One of the many turn-of-the-century buildings that catches my eye in my neighborhood and makes me reach for the camera.

And what's a Mütterberaterin you ask? The Mütterberaterin (MB) is neither a licensed doctor or registered nurse; it is a specific position here in Switzerland that requires its own Ausbildung (education and training). A MB will be responsible for a specific geographic area - say, several towns in the country side or a particular neighborhood in the city. It's a great set-up. Generally the MB will weigh and measure your child, briefly check on developmental milestones (is he holding his head up yet? has he started to smile?), and answer any questions we might have. The MB is not meant to replace regular check-ups with the pediatrican, but between doctor visits you can keep track of weight and development and catch any looming issues early. Of course, for things outside the MB's area of expertise she will recommend seeing the peditrician, but a lot of what parents worry about fall within her training. Somebody with experience and a knowlege of child development - and first hand familiarity with the wide range of development that is still considered normal even if it doesn't follow the charts exactly - sees your child regularly and can pick up on anything that doesn't "seem right" and, possibly more importantly, reassure parents that something we think doesn't "seem right" is nothing to worry about. She can give advice on how to help baby sleep, what kinds of solids to introduce and when, what foods eaten by a nursing mother might upset a baby's stomach, what types of toys and games help develop particular skills and muscle groups, and so on. It's like having a baby book that gets to see and touch your child every two weeks.

And this is free. All free. Technically, since the MB is a government sponsored position, we pay for it through our local taxes, but we can visit twice a month 12 months a year for years and never pull a franc out of our pockets. Regular use is in fact encouraged. When we were discharged from the hospital we received a little health notebook (Gesundheitsheft) for Christian (Alex got one, too, when he was born). There is basic care and developmental information inside, pages to keep track of developmental milestones acheived, pages for the pediatrician to record regular visits (there is space for 11 standard checks from 4 weeks to 14 years), an immunization schedule, and two full pages for the MB to record weight, length, and comments. Clearly you are expected to visit the MB. I've taken Christian three times already.

Oh, and he's delightfully healthy and average, in case you were wondering.