Snowboys, snowman

Christian's first time in the snow. I think he'll like it more when we get him a snow-suit that fits properly and he has a chance at mobility. Because Christian is all about the mobility.



Alex preparing for the snowman. It looks like he's burying Christian but he's not, really. Not totally, anyway.

Ta da! Quite the artiste, no?

And seriously, check out the date. We haven't even gone trick-or-treating yet!

SNOW!

That's all.

Overheard at our house

Alex, on showing Christian how to use a spoon: "Here, Christian, I show you. The bestest way is like this."

The Nachwuchs* are coming! The Nachwuchs are coming!

Alex comes from hockey people. His American grandfather - my father - was a hockey fan and a coach my entire life. His American grandmother - my mother - was variously secretary and treasurer of the local hockey association and an all-around hockey mom extraordinaire back before anybody cared about hockey moms. His American uncle - my brother - played hockey from the age of I'm guessing five until eighteen and then after that on and off in an adult league; he refereed and coached as well. His American mother - that's me - played hockey for a season and have been a life-long fan of the game; I also worked as a time-keeper and score-keeper. Alex's Swiss grandfather - Reto's dad - has been an SCB season ticket holder for over forty years.

The SCB runs a hockey program for kids - SCB Future - and for children under six they run a hockey school. In which Alex, the scion of these two great hockey dynasties, is enrolled. And hockey gear for three-and-a-half year olds? Way cute. Hard to get them into, but way cute. (And since when did Reebok start making hockey gear?)

If you look at the tights in the shot below you can see the SCB logo on the knees.

The jersey, she is a little big, no?



We'll just tuck it in.


Ready to go.


Bonus action shot!


The first day of hockey school went okay. He's only skated with me before; last winter he started learning how to skate by holding my hands as I skated backwards in front of him. Suddenly he's in hockey school with seven other kids sharing two teachers


(that's Alex in the yellow looking at the camera and not paying attention) and learning to skate by holding on to a "Töff"** - a support bar, I guess. He did okay, I guess, and said he had fun, he guesses, and wants to go back next Saturday. So we'll see. I hope he keeps going, because I think he'll enjoy it - once he skates well enough to skate and use the stick at the same time I think he'll have a blast - and because holy cats! is he cute on the ice.


Now the only question is, NHL in the US or NLA in Switzerland?

* Variously translated as offspring, next generation, trainees, new recruits, next generation. One of those great German words that doesn't have a good one word English counterpart.

** Literally a motorcycle.

Chestnuts!

Every year the Tierpark (our little zoo that is not officially called a Zoo, it is called a Tierpark, or animal park) asks the children of Bern to collect horse chestnuts and acorns for the animals. Today was Chestnut Drop Off day at the zoo, and let me tell you there were a WHOLE LOT OF PEOPLE collecting chestnuts for the Tierpark.

We did our part as well. Ever wondered what 23 kilos of chestnuts looks like? It looks like this:

Yes, we collected 23 kilos of chestnuts (that's roughly 50 pounds, which is almost the combined weight of Alex and Christian). We didn't even bother with acorns; the chestnuts were so much more satisfying somehow, and I love their rich warm brown shells. Alex earned 4 Francs 60 Rappen for his 23 kilos of chestnuts. He decided to save half of it in his kangaroo bank and put the other half towards a Matchbox ambulance.

Christian helped a little too.


I suppose a wee bit of that 4.60 should go in his bank.

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And apropos of nothing, is Christian not The Beautiful?

Photo-dump

I might have mentioned something about Christian's hero-worship of his Big Brother Alex.

Here's Christian standing at the bottom of the stairs, rattling the baby-gate (yes, he climbs stairs. yes, he's a menace) and calling out "Ah-leh!" "Ah-leh!" after Alex went upstairs to get something (and, protective big brother that he is, closed the baby-gate behind him):

Kind of reminds me of what Alex used to do when Reto would leave for work:




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Here's Christian practicing his smoking technique:


We'll have to break him of that early.

* * *

Here they are in matching pj's:

(Sometimes it's hard to tell if Alex is hugging him or mauling him.)

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I call this one "Master Builder and Apprentice":



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Alex giving Christian a ride:



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That's all the cuteness for now.