Emma's big plans

I had a fun experience with Emma today. She is just about to turn 4, but going on 14 at least. She strives for independence in all that she does. It is challenging for dad and daughter I believe.

Today I took Emma to Kindergarten (pre-school in English) and on the drive over there I missed the first turn off. We usually take the first turn off in order to avoid waiting at the the traffic light at the 2nd possible turn off point.

She exclaimed "Dad you forgot to turn!" I responded "I was thinking of something else. Thanks for telling me. I was about to take you all the way to work with me!" and smiled.

Emma then went to explain that she did not want to go to work with dad. She needed to be in Kindergarten. Johanna needed Emma so she had someone to play with and the Little Pia needs Emma in case the Little Pia cries (there are two girls named Pia who attend Emma's pre-school). "And besides, dad", she gently reminded me, "I've already been to your work. I need to be in Kindergarten."

What a wonderful experience.

Ian's Big Day

OK, maybe it was dad's big day with Ian, but here goes.

I needed to run an errand today and decided driving would be too stressful, and decided to take the train. I then thought that would be fun for me and Ian together. And, I was right it was fun. We rode the train to the main station in Düsseldorf (Hbf) and then walked about 1500 meters to the computer store.

Ian was excited at two particular times: 1) When our trains tracks made the turn towards Düsseldorf and we were suddenly running parallel with several tracks, and 2) when we were walking in the big city. Both were related to the amount of public transportation we saw. Trains in the first instance and buses and street cars in the second instance. He doesn't say much, but pointed and grunted a lot.

When we got home he brought me some trains from our wonderful wooden train set that Spencer got as a gift from Grandma Wheeler and we played trains together. That was fun. We crashed the trains, let them ride down the little hills. It was a good time.