Geno's Words

Today Geno had his first appointment with Tabea Ziegler, his speech therapist. She stated that she has taught for 11 years with young kids and has been working in this office taking care of the needs of children from age 0-7. She stated that the services are all provided free of charge from the canton of Zug and that today she would ask me some specific questions about Geno. She was here for an hour and a half. She plans to come and do therapy play with Geno for the next three Thursdays at 10:30 am, and then meet with us again to see what our plan will be from there.

She stated that she thinks from what she could tell today, that Geno is just a little bit behind. He has the beginning stages of stringing words together, and that most children will be speaking understandably and conversational by three.

I really felt comfortable with her as well. She gave me a couple of pamphlets with checklists to fill out, and these should help guide the process. The manual is called the Vademecum which is an overall view of the physical, linguistic, and social development of a child from birth to the third year. It is typically used by doctors, nurses, child advisors, special educationalists, psychologists, and therapists. This helps them gain an impression of the activities of the child in his familiar surroundings and from the rate of development as seen by the parents.

These are the words Geno can say so far:
Animals:
1. Cow
2. Pi (pig)
3. Mow (mouse)
4. Bee
Animal Sounds:
5. Moo for cow
6. Woof (ooo,000) for dog
7. ooo,ooo for Monkey and scratches his head
8. Du Du (Quack)
9. Meow for Kitty
10. Tweet for bird

Rar (roar of lion)

People:
11. Ma (Mom)
12. Daddy
13. Char-ee (Charlie the dog)
14. Bar-ee (Coretta)
15. Poo (Winnie the Pooh)
Other words
16. Wow
17. Ah-oo (when something bad happens)
18. Owie when he hurts himself
19. Poo (poop)
20. Goo (good)
21. Mow (milk)
22. Two (used to tell us he is two years old)
23. Two (also used for toes)
24. Peas (please)
25. Done
26. No
27. Yeah (Yes)
28. Party
29. Car
30. Tee (Teeth)
31. Mmmm (for things he likes to eat)
32. I
33. Go
34. Pee
35. Ba (Ball)
36. Boon (balloon)
37. Woa

38. Bee (also for baby)

39) Blue

40) Chee (for cheese)

Here's a picture of Geno and I waiting for the therapist. When I ask him to smile, he always puts his finger to his face.

Expat-Expo in Cham

Today the Bieter's and the Burkert's decided to walk into Cham for the annual Expat Expo. Here is where many businesses come to share their products that are geared towards the English speaking community in Switzerland. Once we arrived, we were given a gift bag and walked around to the various booths at the event. There were vendors selling jewelry, photography, promoting their International Schools, food, wine, pastries, and many more.

A clown came around and handed balloons to all the kids. The biggest thrill for the kids was the American Market Store that sold things such as Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, Mountain Dew, Root beer, instant oatmeal, oreos, and many other products.

Another store called Peace Foods serves several American desserts that are all natural as well as organic fair trade coffee. there cheesecake looked especially good.

Ronnie and I tasted different wines from Italy, Argentina, and Spain and sampled wonderful cheeses and relishes. I ended up buying two different kinds of cheddar and a chili relish while there.

The biggest highlight for Coretta was when she received Paul Wood's autograph and had her picture taken with him. He is nationally known freestyle soccer player. He performed for the audience as well. Coretta will be hopefully taking part in the inter soccer summer camp available as well.

Coretta entered a drawing at a chance to win a big stuffed animal and I entered to win a free photography session for the family by Foto Emotion. Yes, Nick, you heard me right. For the family. What I liked about her sessions is that she tries to capture your family in a natural setting and you can also get your pictures on canvas as well. Here's a short video of Paul Wood, Mr. Urban Soccer Freestyle.

Coretta's Conference

Today Coretta had Spring conferences. These were in the format of student-led, and she did a great job. Mrs. Wunderlin, Coretta's teacher, had different stations set up for the students to share specific parts of the curriculum.

The first station Coretta took me to was the Energy Unit. She showed her brother and myself how to make a light bulb light up and shared with us the differences between conductors and electricity.

She then brought me to the station where she shared her art work lesson where she taught a kindergarten student how to make a dolphin portrait. She had to create the instructions and explain it to her student. It turned out great.

She then brought us to her Portfolio Station where she shared all the work she has done to date. She not only shared her poetry, math, writing, science, and art, she shared what she felt was her best work and why. She even created a crossword puzzle for me to complete that dealt with synonyms and homonyms.

We then went to the Target Station. Here we looked at what her target goals were in the beginning of the year and had to create new target goals for the future. She wants to consistently keep improving her German and her times tables.

The complete conference lasted an hour. We celebrated her accomplishments by eating pizza, one of Coretta's favorite foods. Great job Coretta. You make me so very proud to be your Mom.

Paris: Thursday Day 1

Today was the day that Coretta and I would make our journey to Paris via train. We had to catch the 8:38 bus in Hunenberg and had to catch three more trains that eventually dropped us in Basel for our direct connection flight. All is going smoothly until we board the Paris Est train. We were running late, so we jumped on any car and it took us a long while to find car thirteen. While the train was moving, it proved difficult to maneuver, and Coretta even got caught in one of the doors. Once seated things went much better.

Four and a half hours later, we were in Paris and caught the metro 4 towards Port de Orleans. From here we walked a few blocks to our hotel and checked in. We then ventured out in the Latin Quarter where we saw the University of Paris which was right across the street. Sadly, they did not allow visitors however. Connected to the University of Paris Sorbonne is the Church of Sorbonne. The Church of Sorbonne is one of the oldest university buildings which was constructed between 1635 and 1642.

The next historic monument we saw was the Saint Michael Fountain which was constructed in 1860. This was used as a program of transformation and enrichment of the city in during the second Empire.

We also wandered into many neighborhoods along the Seine River including the Saint Germain and Ille of Saint Louis.

The Latin Quarter actually got it's name from the Middle Ages where students in this area spoke Latin. This area has been synomynous with intellectuals , artists, and bohemian culture ever since. It was in my opinion one of the best places to stay, second only to the Montmarte area.

The Monmarte area is where the jazz age flourished during the 60's and many people particularily African Americans found refuge here from the harsh oppression they faced in the United States. It is here that the Grevin Wax Museum is and other boutiques for shopping.

Coretta and I decided to take a taxi here to pick up our Paris Pass and vouchers at the Hard Rock Cafe. Since Coretta had never experienced the Hard Rock Cafe, and we were in the neighborhood, we ate there as well. She bought a t-shirt and received a free hard rock cafe shot glass. The Champs-Elysees is also located in this area.

One historic monument in this section is the Arc of Triumph. It is really a site to see. This was erected in the 1900s, and ordered by Napoleon, as a memorial to the Great Army.

Overall, great first day! Here are a few more pictures if Interested. Just Click on the links:

Paris 1
Paris 2
Paris 3

Paris: Friday Day 2

Coretta and I woke up early and decided to have a full day of sightseeing and museums. We first went to the Louvre Museum. This museum dates back to the 1200s and has been labeled the world's most important museum. Everything from Roman, Italian, Greek, and Egyptian antiquities and paintings can be found here. Coretta and I especially enjoyed all of the oil paintings including seeing the original Mona Lisa. They had artists such as Van Gogh, Monet, and DaVinci. Pretty amazing place if you love history and art. Below the Louvre you can see parts of what the Louvre used to look like back in the earlier centuries. We also saw the Sphinx and the Venus of Milo. I was amazed that the Venus of Milo was actually discovered in 1820 by a peasant on the island of Milo in the Cyclades thus the name.

Once we finished at the Louvre some four hours later, we decided to spend some time in the Tuileries Garden outside. It was beautiful with many pathways and sculptures to look at throughput the park. We decided to have lunch here on the patio of a restaurant overlooking a man-made pond. Very beautiful. As we walked, we also saw the President's Palace as well as the Place de la Concorde. The Place de la Concorde was constructed between 1757 and 1779. The square was originally dedicated to Louis XV. As we walked through the garden heading to the Eiffel Tower we came across several other historic monuments. One of the bridges in particular was stunning. It is called the Pont Alexandre III. This specific bridge has a metal span 107 meters 350 feet long and 40 meters. It was built between 1896 and 1900 and was created as an alliance between the Russian and the French. The allegoric figures, the gold etching, and the decorative motifs make it a must see in Paris.

Once to the Eiffel tower, Coretta and I were amazed with it's overall size. In fact, it proved difficult when close to get the entire tower in a picture. The Effiel tower was created in 1889 for the World Fair. It was designed and created by Gustav Eiffel, hence the name, who was an engineer. Coretta and I enjoyed sitting out on the park benches, watching all of the people, eating ice cream, and trying to be sold cheap trinkets. In fact, the worst place to be constantly barraged with vendors is around the Eiffel Tower. I do not know how many times we were approached and bargained with. We found it quite humorous and needless to say their persuasion was lost on us.

As if we haven't already had a full day, we decided to head over to the Musee D'Orsay. This was definitely one of my favorite museums. They have sculpture, architecture, paintings, decorative arts, and cinematography. My favorite paintings were that of my favorie artist Gustav Klimt as well as the sculptures by Rodin.

That night we decided to eat some Italian and found a great restaurant that made great ravioli, lasagna, and stuffed pasta. Once fed, we decided to take a night stroll along the river and decided to take one of the many boat tours on the Seine River. We were to board our boat at 9:15 pm and the tour would last an hour pointing out all of the historic monuments along the way. Coretta and I made sure to be the first in line so we could sit on the top. We sat next to a Russian couple and their grandson who have visited Paris many times and gave us much insight to each monument. The one monument in particular that was amazing to see at night was the Eiffel Tower. It was as if it was glowing.

Great full day in the City of Lights.

Saturday: Paris Day 3

Coretta and I got up early and headed downstairs for some breakfast. Once done, we decided to start with touring the Notre Dame Cathedral.

The Cathedral was built on the site of a Christian basilica dating back to the Roman times. The actual appearance has changed throughout the years due to the ravages of war and time. The outside of the cathedral is beautiful and massive. The facade itself is done in the Gothic style complete with sculpture and gargoyles.

Inside the Notre Dame is just as beautiful as the outside. There are high arched ceilings that seem to reach up to the heavens. The south rose stained glass window is particularly beautiful and is stationed by the statue of Our Lady of Paris. Also found inside are statues to all of the saints such as Mother Teresa and Joan of Arc. Each area has a space for praying or for lighting a candle as you walk around. We the decided to spend 8 euros to tour the treasury. Here we saw ancient and decorative robes worn by priests as well as altar pieces, chalices, and other holy relics. Coretta lit a candle and prayed and received a gold coin of the Notre Dame.

Once finished there, we decided to tour the Memorial of the Deportation. It has been said that 200,000 french people that died at the concentration camps have been laid to rest here with their ashes.

As you walk in, it is as if you are confined in a concentration camp yourself. the only thing that you can see is the sky. Then as you walk to the right, you see the eternal torch burning in memory of those who died. Teaching the Holocaust to eighth grade students for the past eight years has made me curious to learn as much about that time period as I can. This museum was great and free.

We then decided to go to the Shakespeare and Company Book Store located along the Seine River. Sylvia Beach who was a daughter of a Presbyterian minister in New Jersey, always wanted to own an English bookstore in Paris. It has been said that this is where all of the expatriate writers and musicians known as the Lost generation which included the likes of James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sherwood Anderson, Andre Gide, Ezra Pound, and Gertrude Stein. It is here that you will see a bookstore like no other. The walls are covered from ceiling to floor with books. Chandeliers hang from the ceilings, musicians are playing, and upstairs has a sitting area with old antique books to look at. They even still have Sylvia's old type writer up there as well. Great find for any literary buff like myself.

Lastly, we decided to visit the College of Bernadines. It was here that we saw much religious artifacts and information about Saint Bernard. On the walls hung modern artwork depicting Jesus' suffering on the cross.

A lot to pack into a day, but well worth it.

Sunday: Paris Day 4

Coretta and I awoke around nine in the morning. Pretty exhausted from all of our travels to date, we decided to take it easy knowing that we could not board our train back to Switzerland until 6 pm. We first stopped at Starbucks for some breakfast and then decided to walk around one last time to take in all of the sites.

We decided to take in one more museum, that being the Conciergerie and then have lunch. This is located on the banks of the Seine River and is as old as the 13th and 14th century. In the 16th century this was the address of the state prison. Now it houses both the Conciergeri and the Palais de Justice. What fascinated me about the Conciergerie in particular, was that during the French Revolution, thousands of citizens (including Marie Antoinette) spent their last hours jailed here before they made their way to the guillotine.

The prison cells were divided into three different section: the poor section called the Rue de Paris, the room where prisoners could pay a fee and sleep on a straw pallet, and the cell of Marie Antoinette. Although there were many other cells, and views of what it would like to be a prisoner there, hers by far was the most spacious. She, however, had two guards assigned to watching over her at all times.

Another particular room was called the preparation room. In this cell one saw a bowl of hair scissors, and some clothes. this is where they cut your hair and prep you for your journey to the guillotine.

The prison chapel is located on the bottom grounds and houses some famous paintings. It is here that some known prisoners have taken their own lives.

Outside, the prisoners had a small open space where they could get some fresh air and sit. I thought that this was a quite interesting museum and worth the 12 Euros to see.

After the Conciergerie tour, Coretta and I went to have some lunch. We decided to eat at this Italian place right on the corner. They sat us upstairs by a window that overlooked the Notre Dame. Coretta ordered penne carbonara (her favorite dish) and I had mushroom ravioli and truffles in a creamy sauce. Very good food and good service.

After lunch, we decided to take the Metro 4 to the Part le Gare which is where our train back to Switzerland would be. We left quite early to allow enough time for us to find our station, have lunch, and people watch.

We made it back to Switzerland at 11:30 pm with great memories of Paris coupled with exhaustion.

Here is a video of a group of kids breakdancing near our hotel.

Rapperswill Castle and Knies Kinder Zoo Adventure

Today the family decided to plan another adventure closer to home. We drove to Rapperswil which is approximately thirty minutes away to do some sightseeing and bring the kids to the Knies Kinder Zoo. We arrived at the zoo a little after nine in the morning and were pleasantly surprised with all of the animals and play areas for the kids. Coretta and Geno both enjoyed petting the horses. We saw chickens, wallabies, zebras, goats, elephants, camels, giraffes, monkeys, rhinoceros, ducks, llamas, parrots, turtles, and even turkeys. Yeah, that's right. I said turkeys.

Coretta decided that she would take a camel ride. Even though she was scared at first, she really enjoyed it. We took in a sea lion show where they did tricks inside and outside of the water, and Coretta was even able to ride a horse.

The kids enjoyed playing in the park that had a life size ship that children could play in complete with masts as well as several playgrounds equipped with slides and climbing ropes. Geno went quite fast down one of the slides and we thought that he may have broken or sprained his ankle, but it turned out to be just fine.

Afterwards, we went into town to have some lunch and enjoy some time down by the waterfront. We decided to get some McDonalds for the kids and sit outside. After they finished, Coretta fed some of the ducks near the waterfront and we went up to the Rapperswil Castle. Here there were many amazing views of the city below as well as a cemetery, and a Polish Museum.

Once we made our trek down from the castle, there was a cute little park for the kids to play once again. Geno enjoyed going up and down the slide, choosing not to use the stairs, but climb the hill which at times would be so frustrating for him, he would flail himself on the ground and cry. He loved going through the tunnels as well. The highlight, however, for Coretta was going down this gigantic green slide. She must have went down about five times and would have done more if we had time.

We finished our full day with a stop at the gelato stand and drove back to Hunenberg and were home around 3:30 pm. Here are a few pictures of our trip and a video of Coretta going down the big green slide.