Playgroups

This week is the week that all of the play groups and activities begin again for the year.  It happened that the week after we moved to Switzerland was the last week for most of these activities before they took a summer break.

So yesterday, we went to a Kindermusic class.  I was excited about this class because I thought it would be a great opportunity for Claire to be in a structured group setting.  The class, however, did not live up to my expectations.  There were far too many children in the class and it was complete chaos.  Also, it took us 25 minutes to get there and 25 minutes to get home when the class was only 45 minutes!  Fortunately, we had not yet enrolled in the class and I decided afterwards that we would not enroll.  One great thing that came out of this class was that I met a mom from Indiana who just moved to Switzerland a month ago.  She has a one year old daughter and we are planning to get together to play tomorrow.

Today, we tried another playgroup that is right here in Vevey at an English church.  After a short 5 minute walk, we arrived at the church and were immediately welcomed by the leader of the group.  Claire was delighted to see all of the fun toys in the room and got right down to playing.  Lots of other moms and kids arrived shortly thereafter.  Claire played with play-doh for the first time, she colored a picture of a butterfly, she enjoyed the music time, and story time, and she definitely made some little friends while we were there.  My heart smiles so big when I see her walk up to another kid and hand them a toy while babbling in the toddler speak that they both seem to understand.  She still gets overwhelmed when the rest of the kids get crazy, but she seems to enjoy the company of other kids much more now than ever before.  After 2 hours, the session was over and we headed home for lunch and a nap.  We will definitely enroll in this playgroup.

This weekend is a big weekend for us as we are finally moving into our permanent apartment!  I am so happy to get out of this temporary apartment.  On Saturday, one of my friends will watch Claire for the day while Gordon and I begin the move.  I hope that we'll be sleeping in the new place Sunday night.

Claire had her first Swiss doctor appointment this Monday.  To my surprise, her appointment was pretty much exactly the same as her appointments in the USA.  The doctor said she's healthy and right on target for everything.  She got 2 shots and took them like a champ.  It seems that doctors are the same everywhere because we had to wait 45 minutes for the doctor to see us!

With all of these activities beginning and us moving into our permanent apartment, it feels like our summer-long vacation is ending and real life in Switzerland is beginning.  I hope the real life here is as good as the summer was!