April 2006 Archives

There was a carnival in town, right beside the river. You could see the ferris wheel when crossing over the bridges on the trains. Chiara had a great time riding on her first kiddie rides. She loved especially the little roller coaster ride, she rode in both a boat and a train. On the first ride in the boat, she was a little confused by the fact that the boat was moving. The second time she rode in the train, but she got scared and wanted to get out. Unfortunately, the ride was going so she couldn't. She was wailing by the time the ride was over. Of course, after we had explored the rest of the carnival and were ready to go home, she saw the roller coaster ride again and wanted to go again. We explained that since she had gotten so scared, that we didn't think that was a good idea. We had to make a quick exit from the carnival and sit in the neighboring park for awhile and talk about how she had been scared. She still talks about how she rode in "Thomas" (the train).
These four videos are all of Chiara on rides at the carnival.
These are videos of Chiara singing and talking. First in a restaurant with Todd and then in the bathtub. Also the last video is of Chiara hiding like she likes to do.

More pictures of Chiara exploring Cologne. We found a park near our apartment that has a very nice play area with a large sandy area. It is across the street from a beautiful synagogue. We also visited the zoo again, this time to see a brand new baby elephant. On Easter Sunday we had an Easter Egg Hunt in our apartment.
The first two videos are of our visit to the zoo - seeing the penguins and then the baby elephant. The third is of Chiara at the park. She has learned to say "rückwärts und vorwärts" from a library book.
Chiara always spends some time with Todd on the weekends, and this weekend they found a cow. Chiara liked saying moo to it. She also likes the little carousel at the park and she is practicing standing on one foot. And walking in Daddy's shoes is always popular.
And here is part of the Easter Egg Hunt that we had at our place.

In the first picture Chiara is out exploring Cologne. Behind her is a museum of the city of Cologne which we intend to check out soon. Chiara also likes to be wrapped up and cradled like a baby when she gets out of the bathtub, and sometimes she relaxes at the dinner table (maybe a bit too much!).
We were invited to Bertold and Nicola's for coffee and cake on a Saturday afternoon with their families. It was a very nice time for all of us. Chiara met Hannah, Nicola's niece who is about the same age. Unfortunately they didn't play very much together because Hannah was afraid of Todd and spent most of the time in the kitchen. Chiara liked seeing Rosalee (Ulrich and Nina's baby) again, and was mostly good about sharing books and toys with her. We were celebrating Nicola's birthday and the video is of Chiara wishing Nicola a happy birthday.