Wednesday, March 7, 2012

windsday

lunch!

today the wind finally settled into my bones. i'd been impermeable to it up until now. when, after our long trip to the pladsanvisningen to sign william and henry up for 'school', greg remarked that he just couldn't get warm, i nodded, "huh. really. hmm..." i couldn't relate.

when, last weekend, during the grocery excursion extraordinaire, a walking tour around downtown roskilde was deemed out of the question because i'd left my coat at home, despite my consistent and unwavering assurances that i was not cold, i was left frustrated. it really didn't feel that cold and i had no idea how to convert 3 degrees celsius into a number that might convince my brain to convince my body that i really ought to be cold. after all, i have been living in wisconsin for the past 8 years. my blood is thick this time of year. but it must be trained on wisconsin weather still, readying itself for spring since madison has been in the 60's the past two days, because today, after we returned from a visit to a kindergarten/nursery on our list, i was cold to the bone. and looking outside, i really didn't want to go back out. i turned up the heat and sat against the radiator during henry's nap. later in the afternoon when william suggested a burley walk to the park, i put on my long underwear and tried not to think too much about the sun shining down on madison.

the "school" we went to today, egegÄrden, seemed promising in the sense that william did not want to leave, and said, "there are so many fun toys, i don't know what to play with next." also, it's close to our current location. but there is no telling whether that is where william and henry will end up. i have no idea our chances and am interested in finding out if i like something better-- although, william is sold. he was already calling it his school. "what?! mama! that's my school!" as we passed a different school with a similar looking playground. i liked that henry would be taking his naps (should he nap there) outdoors in a pram-- like a true danish baby. and that the drop-off time is flexible. well, we open at 6:45 and do circle time at 9:30, so i guess we'd just want you to arrive sometime before 9:30. that is very appealing to a family like ours, who constantly struggled to get william to school on time back in wisconsin. lunch is provided-- great. outdoor time for two hour stretches-- good, good.

and yet, my impression is that there are so many good schools here. i can be picky. and there is a forest school not far from roskilde that i'm really interested in. but it is a private school, so we'd be paying the full tuition price, unlike the public kindergartens or nurseries, which are subsidized by the government. but the forest school is essentially an outdoor classroom-- all of the time, no matter the weather. doesn't it sound ideal?! yes, i understand my hypocrisy.

in any event, we have to time to search a bit, because we probably won't be getting a spot in a "school" until the beginning of may at the earliest. this is apparently when the older kindergarteners start transitioning to their future life at "school" and move to some sort of intermediary place that people keep referring to as an "after school" program. as usual, i don't really understand it yet.

well, a couple of indoor pictures today...





4 comments:

Sheila Tow said...

That is what Grandma Quick would call a "Dutch lunch." Had one of my own recently.

Anonymous said...

There was a Mothering Mag. article about forest schools many years back...I remember thinking it sounded awesome.

Kit Nat said...

I would love to work a a forest school and that lunch looks fantastic!

greg|regan said...

Mom-- yes! I've been thinking about the fact that I'm in Denmark eating many Dutch lunches. I'm in the wrong part of northern Europe.

Kat-- there's something like one in Milwaukee: http://www.schlitzauduboncenter.com/natpre.htm but that would be a bit of a commute.

Natalie-- does England have forest schools?