German + English

Tom went on a three hour walk/hike with the "big kids" in Kindergarten on Thursday. Usually they don't take kids that are still in diapers. Naturally, Sabine didn't sign him up or send him to Kindergarten prepared but Tom found a way to convince the teachers to let him go. He's much more independent than Max when it comes to trying new activities. He had a great time but was totally worn out and fell asleep on the couch at 7:30 while the television was still on I should mention (television usually keeps Tom awake). That left Max and I to plan all sorts of adventures. We pretended to be animals and built ourselves a cave. Max and Tom both love to help Sabine bake; they love Apfelkuchen. Max had a wonderful idea and decided we should make the imaginary Blaetterkuchen (leaf cake). What fun! The best part of the evening was listening to Max talk. He and Tom both only use cool English words like "fire station" and "asparagus" and "ellow" (that's the color). But Max has taken on a new approach to the language. He has combined the two. It might not be as enjoyable of a story if you do not understand the German language but I will quickly try to explain. When using the past tense in English, you add an 'ed' at the end of most verbs. When using the past tense in German, you add a 'ge' at the beginning of most verbs. For example, the verb 'to make' is 'machen' and the past tense is 'gemacht'. Max now uses the English verbs BUT forms the past tense as though they are German verbs. When I told him not to burn our Blaetterkuchen, he replied, "Ich habe den Blaetterkuchen nicht geburned" (I didn't burn it). Haha!

Alison, the former Au Pair of the Herzberg family, send the boys Halloween costumes and we had great fun last night playing in them. They are super cute monkey costumes made by Old Navy. They even have a banana sewn into the pocket. It makes me miss being a kid!