Geburtstag für Alex und Fasnachtfeier für Ella

Because of an unusual Friday schedule tomorrow (because, I assume, it’s the last day before a two-week vacation) his teacher arranged to celebrate Alex’s birthday this morning. We were told we could bring a treat for the class if we liked, so we dipped into our precious store of chocolate chips and brown sugar, mailed by Grandma and Grandpa Geels for the occasion, and Dennis made that all-American treat for the kids, chocolate chip cookies.

And that’s a story in itself: you all must know that Dennis is, and rightfully so, quite proud of his cookie-making skills.  But the first batch that he made for Alex’s birthday went horribly wrong. The eggs here are much smaller, the butter is unsalted, and I could only find baking powder, and not baking soda, at the grocery store. The resulting cookies were not up to Dennis Geels standards.

So he tinkered: three eggs this time, some extra salt, and, most importantly, a little web research, which revealed that baking soda, also known as sodium bicarbonate, can be purchased at the Apothecary.

At 5.10 CHF (or swiss francs) for a tiny jar, we won’t be using this to clean the house, but it was entirely worth the investment for cookie-making purposes. Batch 2 passed muster.

When Joey and I showed up in the classroom, the kids were having a little free-play session, and Alex showed me around.

Dennis was able to excuse himself from work to join the party, and I’m so glad he did: it was incredibly elaborate.  The kids put their toys away and then joined together for a little circle sing, and then the teacher announced that it was Alex’s birthday time (It appeared he was the only one in the class who was still 4) and told the class they would be celebrating, asked Alex to choose a little buddy for the birthday celebration. (Dennis thought that was cute: “Assistant birthday boy? If something goes horribly wrong, does he stand in for the birthday boy?”)

So Alex’s buddy Nikkos led him from the classroom with a book, and the rest of the children prepared the classroom for the birthday. It was amazing: there was a whole ritual order to the preparations, and the kids clearly knew exactly what came next, each step of the way: they set up a little table for Alex, arranged the presents, delivered a cape to him, lit five candles, closed the blinds, and then went and fetched Alex, who came in, shy but proud, wearing his little cape.

The kids sang “Happy Birthday” in four languages. Then, one by one, in turn, the teacher and every child in the class approached Alex and shook his hand, saying: “I congratulate you on your fifth birthday and I wish you all the best and good luck.”

Next (oh yes, there’s more) Assistant Birthday Boy Nikkos turned a music box for Alex that played “Happy Birthday,” and then Alex got a turn to do the same. Then Alex got to blow out the candles and open his present, a tiny plastic pinball toy, which, I’m sure, will now be a chief treasure.

Then the children, who had been sitting still and quiet as can be, all got up in unison and turned their little chairs around, sitting on the ground in behind them so that the chairs served as little tables. Alex and Nikkos passed out the cookies one by one. The children didn’t dream of eating them until everyone had been served and until they had thanked Alex and his mother for the treat. (Here, Dennis gave a little snort while I smiled serenely.)

After their birthday treat, it was time for the kids to have their healthy snack that their parents packed for them. I so loved how they got to eat dessert first.

And that, my dears, is how you celebrate a birthday in a Swiss Kindergarten. But you don’t have to take my word for it:

Alex wasn’t the only one who had an exciting day.  Ella’s class got to celebrate the beginning of Carnival season today.  The teacher clued me in that the children would be wearing costumes and parading around the streets, from their school to one of the local Kindergartens, where they would have a little celebration. Unfortunately, I wasn’t aware that the festival was in the afternoon, so I sent Ella in to school all dressed up.

After I dropped Alex off in the morning (but a half-hour before I was due back for his birthday) I walked up to Ella’s school and peeked in to see if I could snag a picture before the parade...and saw that Ella was the only one dressed up.  Oh, dear.  The teacher apologized for not being clearer, explaining that the festival was only in the afternoon, and Ella was supposed to have come in after lunch with her costume

Once upon a time Ella was blithely oblivious to being the only one in the classroom dressed up.

But no longer. So Joey and I hustled home for some pants for our princess.  (Joey picked this moment to pitch a “I don’t want to be in my stroller” fit. When I had fifteen minutes to fetch pants and hurry up to Alex’s class for his birthday. Brilliant. Some days I miss that minivan so very much.)

Thank goodness our kids are so resilient.  Although Ella asked me, “Mom, why does everything embarrassing always happen to me.” But she was strong and brave and she did get to party all afternoon.

The whole school turned out and sang in a circle, with classes taking turns beating drums and dancing in the center,

and then the lower grades marched off, throwing confetti, a class to each the four Kindergartens that feed into the grade school. Ella reported that they ate Fasnachts, which are rather like elephant ears and are the German version of Shrove Tuesday Pancakes, and sang more songs with the Kindergartners.

Ella was incredibly eager to go right back to the Kindergarten when she got home.  They had the most amazing playground there, she promised, and she knew she’d be able to find it again if I could just get her to the ice rink.  Sure enough, it was very easy to spot the path that the class had taken.

And you know what? The playground was pretty incredible, even by Swiss standards.  I have a feeling that, if the younger kids remember anything about this trip, it will be all of the incredible play spaces.

You can't quite tell how enormous the sandbox and boat are.
They could easily accommodate dozens of kids.

Ella, hanging out at the giant table and chairs.

The Giant couch (the back of which the big boys used as
a Fußball net, of course) faced the giant TV, which the kids
could climb inside.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of
the show Ella put on.  Joey preferred to hang out in the
control box.  He called it his "little house", and he really,
really, didn't want to leave it.

Faux ruins for the kids to climb around on.