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So in the midst of packing & saying good bye to our neighbours in our nice little block of flats, Tobias has had to say a few goodbyes of his own – but he is way too excited about the fact that he’s going to Kindi to be too sad about goodbyes. On the contrary, i’m the one feeling all blue – sigh.

He said goodbye to the Kangaroo Club when he has spent 1 happy year – learning more social skills & improving on his Swiss while still getting the English (it’s a bilingual pre-school).

Here are a few photos from there:

Working on crafts with his friends.

Riding in the garden with his friends.

Playing doctor in the playroom.

Oh one of the fringe benefits of him going to the Kangaroo Club is that i get to drive through some lovely countryside – here’s just a little peek:

Not great pictures but on days with good weather, i was rushing & this was a not so fantastic day weatherwise & there are not many places to stop for pictures but u get a little feel of the nice scenary.

Tobias also said goodbye to the daycare (Kinder Krippe Tubeschlag) where he has been going since he was 2.5yrs old & has spent a most wonderful time there – picking up lots of Swiss & having lots of different kids to play with (including one with special needs). i loved how the environment there is truly like a family, not like a business or an education centre – they (kids & carers) really do care for each other. It is sad to leave them – they have been a great source of information & support for us – me especially.

Here are some photos from his last day (they have a little celebration everytime anyone (kid or carer) leaves – on this day, they had 2 kids (Tobias & Johnas) & a carer. These were taken with my Palm mobile so the quality is just terrible but it was all i had as the batteries on the camera died on me.

Here everyone who is leaving gets to carry a little cloth bundle at the end of a pole & walk around as everyone else sings the good bye song – which includes things like we love having you & sad that you leave but send you on happily to *land (in Tobias’ case it was to Kindiland).

Everyone enjoying the goodies on the table – there were 2 cakes as one of the boys had his birthday & i had also baked a cake for the occasion (it was an almost vegan one – i did not have soya butter at home).

Tobias with some of the carers – a few have left since we have been there, there were also those who were not working that day.

i’m not sure if Tobias will come to miss his carers & friends from these places – maybe he will once it truly sinks in that he’s not going back anymore or maybe he won’t – but i sure will miss all these wonderful people who have made a huge difference in our lives – especially with adjusting to living here 😀 i love being a SAHM & won’t trade for anything but these people made it easier & kept me sane (need for mummy’s time).
From the bottom of my heart, i thank them all!
syc

Over the last months, moving & packing has occupied most of my brain cells – in the last week, i have finally managed to kick myself & get started on the actual process of packing – hurray! There is of cos lots more packing to do in the 3weeks to come & then the move & then the unpacking – sigh! Anyone wants to lend a hand? 😉

But now on to things of great fun – we have a new toy 😉 YEP! We finally got ourselves a Wii – we have been eyeing one since it 1st come out but could never part with the amount of money it cost. Last Sat we were out looking for something completely unrelated & saw that there was a special offer – the Wii & Wii Fit bundled together for a good price – so we jumped at it & now are proud owners of a Wii with the WiiFit board & WiiPlay – having great fun with it (it is taking time away from my packing – hehhehee)!

Presenting our Wii:
(notice that great joy on his face)

Here’s father & son having fun with it:

Here’s a video of Tobias playing bowling on Wii:

syc

About a week & a half ago, we went for the introduction day at Tobias’ Kindergarten. He starts in Aug 😉

Tobias was very excited – he can’t wait to actually go to Kindergarten. He woke early, no arguments over breakfast & dressing. Then we all (yes all 3 of us) set out to walk to Kindergarten. The kids here are expected to walk to school by themselves after the initial few months. Sometimes a mum will walk a group or the older kids will walk with the little ones or the little ones walk as a group. They teach independence early here. Everyone has to go to the Kindergarten in their village & all schools are at most a 20 or 25mins walk away (this is at kid-speed, not adult speed). This also helps to teach the older ones to care for the little ones. They prepare the kids well by having a police offier come & talk to them about traffic safety – some time within the 1st few months.

So this is how the 1.5hrs was spent.

We got there (we were the 2nd family there) – welcomed warmly by the teacher. i noticed sadly that half the garden of the kindergarten was given over to the construction happening at the neighbouring supermarket – hopefully they get it back after the construction is done.

Once most kids have arrived, they are all asked to take a seat – cute little wooden chairs, arranged in a circle. They played a cute game – a child gets to throw a large foam dice & everyone calls out the number of dots & counts along as the kid jumps over the dice that number of times.

Then the teachers introduced themselves – Frau ImHof & Frau Kasermann. Frau Imhof is the main teacher & Frau Kasermann teaches only on fridays as she also teach 1st grad in the school. Very nice ladies both.

The kids are then allocated them groups – one is SilverFish & the other is GoldenFish – Tobias is in GoldenFish group. After which they work on their cushion – the teachers have prepared huge cloth fishes in yellow for Golden group & blue for Silver group. The kids got to stamp "scales" on their own fish (using round foam pieces as stamps) It was very nice. The teachers will then let them dry over the holidays & stuff them, all ready for the kids to use come 1st day of Kindi 😉

There was another dice game & then the teachers gave out their letters for parents, their traffic safety triangle thingy which they wear when walking to school & a box of little round "scales". The kids get to pick either a black or grey fish to take home. The number of scales in the box equal to the number of days till the 1st day of school – so the kids are told that they have to paste a scale a day & when they have finished all the scales – it’s time to come back to Kindi 😀

At the end, we collected his "fish" timetable & other info sheets. It was nice to see that we already know some of the kids from our neighbour going to the same class as Tobias.

i’m so impressed by the efforts which the teachers have put in – it makes me feel more at ease about sending him to school 🙂 i don’t remember having such an introduction day when i went to Kindergarten – thot i must say that i loved my Kindergarten & fondly remember those days & the Rev.Mother.

Here are some pictures – i did not take pictures on the actual day cos i felt it was disturb the other kids – so these are done at home:

Fish Timetable

Grey Fish & Scales – putting scales on

syc