Passau – November 2016

18.11.2016 – Rainier’s First Birthday

It has been my absolute pleasure to mother this boy for the past year! At a whole year old he’s walking, saying”mama” and “papa,” playing guitar and piano with papa, and dancing with mama. He loves toast, fruit, bath time, and his “Mein Erstes Buch zur Guten Nacht” book.

We had a great celebration of Rainier’s first trip around the sun with friends and cake.

Laternenfest 2016

A benefit of Rainier’s Kinderkrippe is that we get introduced to German traditions, like Laternenfest. Lanternenfest is celebrated to honor St. Martin, a soldier who gave a freezing beggar half of his soldier’s coat. To celebrate, the children walk with handmade lanterns (Laternelaufen) and sing songs about St. Martin.

According to Wikipedia, it is unclear why St. Martin’s story is connected with Laternelaufen, but theories include that the lanterns are “bringing light into the world” (like Advent wreaths), lighting the dark fall evenings, or connected to other festivals of light found throughout many cultures and religions.

Whatever the reason, celebrating kindness and light is something that we can get behind.

First Days

On November 2, 2017, Rainier and I headed out for our first days of school at the University of Passau.