Axel, the boy formerly known as Boo, has outgrown his baby nickname and wants to be known as Axel. We chose something popular to German speaking regions because I got pregnant with Axel here in Switzerland 8 years ago and now we are back. Funny~ life can go full circle.

I tried and tried to convince him that Fritz  would be perfect but he has his own opinions now that he is
“all grown up”.

Axel is a very handsome boy. He is smart and brave. He loves to read, LOVES to read. He likes imagining up new inventions. I worry sometimes that he has not learned hard work because almost everything comes easy to him. He is a fast runner. I have seen him become so much more mature in the last 6 months. I wish I could freeze this age and keep it forever. I don’t know what I would do with out him, he helps bag groceries (we have to do it ourselves here), carry groceries, and sometimes he walks up to the little store around the corner and gets bread and milk for me~ all by himself!

He is outgoing and friendly. He is loud and can be so rambunctous especially in a small apartment with neighbors upstairs and downstairs, but thats pretty normal for an 8 year old boy. I can proudly say that he likes to sleep-in, and is not such an early riser. We will both miss summer hours!

He is kind and sensitive to other kids, once at soccer practice he cried because a littler child kept getting kicked and hurt and finally at the end of practice, the little boy got hit in the face with a ball and was crying and Axel had such empathy he cried too.

He thinks he is funny and seems to want to be funny more than anything. He tells jokes and does magic tricks (much to my horror).  He likes to spend (my) money, and lucky for me, he is very lucky at finding money- he has found about 32 chf laying around on sidewalks or in bushes in the last few months. He loves ice cream, and pizza, and french dip sandwiches and strawberries and kiwis, he almost always eats his veggies at every meal.

He just spent the last week of summer attending a little “summer camp” program that was organized by the local Canton. It was incredible ya’ll! The ferien pass was 30 chf and included 3 free days at several local swimming pools, some free mini-golf, free public transportation for 2 weeks and at least 5 “classes” or “field-trips”. Axel chose a few of his top picks and when all the assignments came he ended up with:

Hergiswill (town near by) Glass Museum– The children toured the factory and saw the glass in production. The museum is a regular tourist attraction and has a giant playground made of glass. The 7-metre-high marble run, a long slide (reinforced with fiberglass), a big quartz sand pit (quartz sand is the most important raw material in glass production) and other games offer children every kind of adventure.

Ludotech– this deserves a post of its own. Ludotech is a toy library~ Brilliant idea!

Concrete factory tour- He really loved seeing how synthetic stone and concrete products are made. They got a great snack and free hats and made there own concrete stone shapes.

Rescue dogs– he got to go up to a mountain training facility and learn about how rescue dogs are trained – he loved it and wants a dog so badly, but that will have to wait until we make good on our long list of promises for when we return to the states. Looks like we will have a bunny rabbit/ horse farm on the beach with trampolines and dogs everywhere~ that is their idea of a happily ever after, mine too probably, as long as it comes with someone to clean up all the poop.

Bat walk– Night walk along the lake searching for bats and using some fancy 4000 chf radar device. The kids got back to the meeting spot at 10 at night, he was soooo tired and soooo hungry and only got to see one bat and “it wasn’t that great” so we wont be signing up for bats next year.

Fairy tale hike through the Forrest-(this one is Friday so he hasn’t done it yet).

We are lucky he has enough confidence and courage to participate in an enrichment program like this even if he does not know the other kids and does not speak the language very well. These obstacles rarely hold him back. He is extraordinary.

Ya, Ich bin Axel. I will be a heart breaker.