Signs My Child is Bicultural

Etienne eats a croissant (which he calls "fishy" because he has always thought we were saying "poisson" instead of "croissant") with Nutella for breakfast and peanut butter and jelly (not grape jelly but strawberry jam) sandwiches for lunch. When I asked him in English today what he did at school this morning, he replied "I played with pate a modeler (play-doh) and made a galette (a crepe or cake)." I know it must be difficult to have everything at school happening in French and then try to relate what happened to me in English. I will tell him to say goodbye to Papa when Denis leaves for work and he says "salut Papa." He likes Tchoupi books as well as Dr. Seuss. He recognizes Titeuf and Samsam as well as Mickey Mouse and the Little Einsteins crew. He calls coke, "coca" (Xavier calls it "mama!" and to be fair he calls wine and beer "Papa!") Firetrucks say "pin pon pin pon" and roosters say "cocorico."

He knows to give kisses to say hello and goodbye but can also dish out hugs, "high fives" or "knucks" depending on the situation. He sings himself to sleep sometimes with the ABC's and others with "Frere Jacques." For Etienne, mac n cheese can easily be replaced by pasta with shredded gruyere or emmenthal cheese and "vache qui rit" cheese on baguette can be substituted for a bagel with cream cheese. He calls the Migros- Swiss supermarket- "Target France" and the "a" in France is not like our "a" in apple but like "ah." He likes m&m's as well as kinder chocolate and pain au chocolat as well as donuts.

I'm sure Etienne hasn't thought as much about this as I have, but to me it's pretty cool. Most of all he's just a three year-old who laughs, plays, goes to school, cries when his brother bites him, misses his cousins and his best friend Jake, likes to say "poo poo" and "caca" as if his life depended on it, is kind and sensitive, bold and daring, and we love him for who he is.

Living far from Family and Silverfish

What is: things I do not miss about San Diego, California, Alex? The first one is the biggest one and I am sure happy to be rid of those silverfish. A good friend from my UC Irvine days just wrote me an email with a list of good things about living in France including wine, cheese, duck, rabbit, quality of life, progressive social policies, beautiful landscapes, villages, and cities. Of course we know this, but we are trying to adjust, and I think the weather may be the hardest adjustment. I' m sure come springtime when we get to go visit the Iris gardens at the Swiss castle and swim in Lake Geneva in the summer we will be so happy to be here. We have already been to see Denis's family 4 times since October not to mention the lovely visit with Aisling and her family from Ireland. Plus, I went sledding with the boys on Wednesday in our own backyard. Etienne loved it, and I even convinced him to carry the sled back up the hill after awhile. Xavier was more in the "stand back and watch" mode. I tried to put him on the sled with me and with Etienne, but he was not interested.

This morning we drove Denis to the airport for a conference in Germany on snowy, icy roads and I had to drive back with Etienne throwing a fit because he didn't get to say goodbye a third time. When we finally got home, I got a text from Denis saying flights were grounded and he might not get out today. He is currently waiting in a 2 hour line to cancel his ticket and find out about other options. These are the weather inconveniences that we forgot about. On the other hand, I have a nice fire going in the fireplace and the boys and I are treating ourselves to a pajama day watching Disney movies... well the Jungle Book is on but they are running around the house like wild animals.

2010 en France

The Fellmann Family spent New Year's with Denis's parents and his mother's 3 sisters and spouses along with 3 of Denis's cousins. The older crowd parties harder than we do. They finally left when I excused myself to put on my pajamas at around 2:45 am knowing that Xavier would be up at 6:30/7 no matter what. Etienne did ring in the New Year staying up until about 1am and then asking me could he please go to bed. Denis was reminded of his childhood and celebrating with family, and that is priceless. Also, he and I were able to get away for 3 nights to "Les Violettes" hotel, spa, and gourmet restaurant in Jungholtz, Alsace. It's only about 1/2 hour away from his house, so I was comfortable leaving the boys (Xavier for the first time ever overnight). We needed the time together and the rest. It was wonderful!!!

Now we are back in Sergy and I am having trouble keeping the house warm. The main source of heat is the chimney, and starting a fire turns out to be more difficult than I thought. Denis usually does it in the morning and then I just add logs. But, for instance this morning I was out for 3 hours and came back to a cold fireplace and house. It's not so bad because he will be here in a couple of hours to tend to the fire tonight HOWEVER he leaves next week for 4 nights for a conference in Heidelberg. I know I am capable of dealing with the fireplace, electrical outages, shoveling the car out, etc. but I'm not sure I can do all of this while feeding, dressing, and bathing the boys at the same time. I'm in the process of gathering phone numbers in case of an emergency.

We have beautiful snow today and several children and their siblings have been arriving at the village school by sled. We are a little far and I am too cold to attempt this, but it is charming. Tomorrow is Wednesday and I am going to be adventurous and let the boys go outside to play. I must go by some sleds this evening though. The boys are back to sleeping in the same room and that means the parents are also sleeping in the same room. Routine gradually sets back in, and as I always say kids thrive on routine. One more month until our trip to Chicago- counting the days!