One way that we learn Everett’s perceptions of what is happening around him is when he makes imaginary phone calls. He will pick up a phone or an acorn or a strap or almost any object, hold it to his hear and give the person on the other end a synopsis of what is going on in his life at the moment. From this we know that he flew over the ocean to Swintzerland, then took a train to Austria to see Carrie and Anna and Sophie and Armin, which was the next leg of the trip. This was the first time we had seen Carrie since Everett was born and the first time Everett had been introduced to her family.

It was fantastic to see him and the girls together, and it was great to see him get his first taste of alpine adventures. The weather over the weekend was sunny and warm, so on Saturday night we drove to Hintersee and hiked for about an hour and a half, followed by meat, cheese, beer and pofosen at zer Reithütte. The next afternoon we drove to Gosausee and hiked around the lake. Everett walked a fair amount of it and only got in the stroller for brief periods after registering major complaints about it, while the adults wanted to have a nice walk and have him in bed at a reasonable hour. The only way we could get him to stay in the stroller was if Sophie pushed it. This is a perfect example of the dynamic we have observed between Everett, Sophie and Anna. He wants to do everything they are doing, including hiking around the lake, walking up hills, climbing rocks, etc. If they are ahead on the trail he wants to catch up, and if they are behind then he wants to wait for them. At these times it is best for parents to adopt a style more common to grandparents: try not to have any particular goals or destinations. Just go with it for a while and then switch activities. After the hike, Everett managed to stay awake for the entire drive home, finally getting to bed around 9pm and waking up at about 5:30am, which is not good behavior for keeping parents happy. I recall many times as a child telling my parents that I was not tired at bedtime, and feeling some sense of injustice that I had to go to bed under those circumstances. But now I realize that it’s not about whether the child is tired or not, it’s that the parents have had enough for one day and are ready for some time to themselves. Everett, like most children, seems to have a lot of excess energy to burn off:

The rest of the week flew by, as time seems to when caring for children. One day everyone went to Salzburg for the afternoon. Armin, Sophie and Anna went to the Haus der Nature, Melissa and Carrie went shopping, Chris and Everett went for a walk through old town. Then everyone met up at about 5 for dinner at the Augustiner, which happened to be delicious. Everett began getting exhausted and manic around 6. By 7 he was falling asleep in the car and by 8 he was home and asleep in bed.

From listening to Everett’s subsequent phone calls we learned the following:

-Sophie was hurt when she was stung by a bee.

-He and Sophie and Anna got a ride on the Bedtime Party Bus, which refers to the evening when Melissa and Chris put all the kids to bed while Carrie and Armin went to a school meeting.

-Morritz the cat caught and killed a mouse.