Mail call

Today was an excellent day for letters.

For Alex, there was a thick envelope stuffed with cards from his beloved preschool friends, as well as a letter from his teacher.  Oh, you should have seen his face, but unfortunately I couldn't find my camera in time. Alex sent his school a letter a couple of months ago (and it took several weeks to arrive, for some reason), but I hadn't been able to convince him to sit down and write another one.  "I'm waiting for them to write back," he told me.

And indeed he was, for as soon as he paged through the pictures, he told me "I'm ready to write them back now!" So we spent most of the afternoon putting together a little package for his friends.

Ella looked on, covetously, at Alex's pile of notes, and asked "If I write his class, do you think they'll write me back, too?" (Once a week, on Wednesdays, her class would finish before Alex's, and she used to love going and playing big sister to all of the little kids in Alex's class.  At one point she made them all little toys out of clay, and they treated them as treasures, as only 4- and 5-year-olds could.) Not waiting for an answer, she scurried to her desk and set to work on a a letter as well, dashing it off before she had to run back to school for the second half of the day.

Alex could write his letter in leisure, however; it was a nice chance to think back over what we've done here, as he chose what he wanted to tell his friends.  And while he was happy to let me write the bulk of the letter, he really wanted to do the signature line: "Mom, how do you write 'I love you so much?'"

I won't tell you what all he wrote in his letter because I want it to be a surprise for his friends, but I can't resist showing you one of the pictures he wanted to send  them.  It's a picture of Ella casting magic spells next to a coconut tree. And it's raining out.

Alex the booby

But that wasn't enough for Alex.  He wanted to send his classmates a present, and since, he told me earnestly, he likes money best, they probably like money, too.  So he dipped into his allowance pouch and picked out some foreign coins for everyone, including his teacher from last year, who he still talks of dreamily. (Funnily, the last couple of times he got a chance to speak with her, he positively froze. Teacher Doreen is way up there on that pedestal.)

We also got an issue of NWF's Your Big Backyard from our friends Aaron and Chelsea...thanks, guys!  They wanted to give the kids some English reading material, and this was so perfect. Alex spent the rest of his afternoon happily learning about giraffes, and he insisted on following the magazines craft suggestion, making blue-footed booby feet for himself and waddling around the house, quacking happily.

Is there anything in the world easier to amuse than a 5-year-old?

Luxibus, the glow-in-the-dark
Supernano

And finally, our grocery store, Migros, is (finally, finally!) ending their gift-with-purchase promotion, and offered to help kids complete their collections: they were able to mail in their duplicate nanos for trading with the ones they still needed.  So today the kids got this little guy, the only nano Ella wasn't able to barter for in her classroom.  And no wonder: unbelievably, he's being sold for about 25 CHF on ricardo.ch, the Swiss version of Ebay.  But not one of the kids would consider selling him, no matter how many chocolate eggs he might be worth.  He glows in the dark, after all.

If any of you happen to feel like dropping the kids a line and adding to their joy, our address is

Wasserschöpfi 32

8055 Zürich

Switzerland

You might just get a picture of a monkey or a wizard or a rainbow in return!