Last Saturday, I even got my "au-pair exam", accidentally as both parents couldn't be with the kids for one whole day. From breakfast till bedtime, Gunnar and Malte would be under my responsability and have to be entertained non-stop. Now I would really experience the joys of a real full-time mother.
Strength arrived already on Thursday, when Anna came into town! She was on her way to Magdeburg and stayed until Friday. Earlier this year I had met her in Hannover, but know she could finally meet my family and see Neustadt. She liked it all and it was very good seeing her again. She even bought the children a "Petterson and Findus" book..
So the next morning, the test started at half past 9. The kids were in a good mood because of a nice lantern walk on friday and my promise of taking them out today. So breakfast and teeth brushing went fight free. Until half past 10, we played a little upstairs and I read them Anna's book. It was the same story as we had seen in a puppet theater recently, the story about how Findus came to Petterson, so the kids liked it a lot. Then it was time. Getting them to put on their jackets and shoes can take quite a while, but in 20 minutes we were ready to go and waiting for the bus. "Busje komt zo, busje komt zo.." I sung the kids, what of course was quickly transformed by Malte in "Arschbus kommt so." Because I was in a good mood too, I told him that, only for today, he was allowed to swear as much as he liked, but NOT at Isabelle. I thought by swearing all day whithout comments he might get tired of it and hopefully grow over this child-puberty phase of Arsch, Scheiße and verdammt noch mal. How a four-year old ever got in this phase is still a mystery to us.
"Busje fahrt zo, busje fahrt zo..." sung Gunnar in the bus. "Treintje komt zo, treintje komt zo.." I continued on the station. And indeed. Around 11h40 we arrived at Hannover Bahnhof. We took the elevator because of the pram. "No not that button, are you stupid?!" said Malte and some people were raising an eyebrow.. Isabelle would wait for us "under the tail" of the horse of Ernst August. I had asked some people if they would join us to Sealife, and I was very happy she would. Unfortunately she texted me that she was late, now I had to entertain the kids for 50 minutes in a train station.. what to do? I decided to go to Virgin, where they had some childres books. That was good, we also could sit there. But after a while, Gunnar suddenly said: "must pee". Nooooooooo! Gunnar is now over his diaper phase. We had taken his "mobile toilet" with us, but there was no way we could use that here, without possibility to empty it. So we had to go to McClean. They had a special toilet for wheelchair and pram owners, but it was occupied, and another woman was waiting for it. So we waited and waited, because normal toilets cost 1 (!) euro. When we were finally finished, it was 12h30 and Isabelle was already waiting for us now. But we managed to find each other. At first the kids were shy, but that would soon end. I bought them a bretzel, we searched for an elevator, took the metro and then we finally arrived in Sealife.
Navigating through small hallways with a pram and two kids on my hand, meanwhile admiring the beautiful fish, sharks and rays, meanwhile making pictures and conversation was somewhat stressing too, but happily Isabelle, the kids and I enjoyed ourselves a lot in the great aquarium zoo. Funny enough one year ago I was in Sealife too, but then in Scheveningen.. :)
Gunnar was fascinated by all fish, especially the sea horses, and Malte couldn't wait to see the sharks. At the end we had a little drink (I shared my Icetea with the kids) and tasted some "pepernoten" that Anna had brought me (whouhou!). Then we went back to the train station. The kids were really comfortable with Isabelle now and in the metro they even started to playfully swear at her.. oh, so terrible!! Happily Isabelle worked in a Kindergarten..
In Hannover, we passed by the "magic well" with the
music, where Gunnar and Malte danced a little at. Then Gunnar discovered some leaves lying around trees. Nature has a magical attraction on children too, it appeared again. I had to tear him away to get him back into the pram, because Malte was now complaining about toilet needs (and I had asked them in Sealife, grrrr). Meanwhile Gunnar was crying like a maniac, because he wanted to walk in the leaves. We also discovered that we had lost his sleeping rabbit... a disaster. But once in the pram he fell asleep almost immediately, so tired was he. So after visiting McClean again, we decided to go home.
Isabelle stayed with us until the train had come. "Where is Isabelle?" asked Malte repeatedly, as he was missing her already. I feeded him some organic gummy bears (I agreed with him that they tasted weird) and read him a book. In Neustadt, we looked for a bus, but of course they didn't go on saturday afternoon. "Dreimal Scheiße", I murmed.. Malte looked up, surprised. "Yes!" I grumbled. Now we had to walk the long road back home. Not a problem for me, but for Malte, without kiddyboard.. To make it even worse, Gunnar had woken up, demanding a toilet. I had no other choice than to put him on the pot and throwing the pee in the bushes. After a while, Malte started to complain of being to tired to walk. Gunnar didn't want to walk either. So I tried to put Malte toghether with Gunnar in the car. Gunnar didn't like that and the pram got really heavy, but somehow we managed to drive. It started to get dark and I distracted them with some Sint Nicolas songs.
When we got home I made a mistake. I lifted Gunnar out of the car, but then the car lost its balance and tumbled behind, with Malte still on it. Crying, crying, crying. But he was ok. Philipp was already home and he took over the kids for me for half an hour so I could prepare dinner. That was so great, he even put on the dutch K3 Cd. The pizza was not a salami pizza so the kids didn't eat much of it, but at least finished their Kartoffelpuffer. Philipp also helped with the teeth brushing and then I read them the last pages of Anna's book. I asked Malte if he had a nice day, and he said yes! He cuddled me and didn't want to let go of my hand, what reminded me of Kirsten when I say her goodnight. But he quickly fell asleep. Gunnar needed some more time, I had to sing many songs and it wasn't until 20h30 that I could leave the room without him noticing it. I cleaned up the kitchen and toke a long shower. Hèhè.. At about 22h30, Rainer came home. I was released! :)
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