Expat Life: Reading in English

I had the thought yesterday, "I bet Crosby has read more books at 11 than I've read in my entire life." While he's away at Autostadt (today with a one dad per three kid ratio for a total of 11 other people), I did a little sleuthing on his Libby library app which is conveniently connected to both the PDX and Berlin public libraries. (Expat tip: There might be ways to get memberships to other US-based libraries without physically going into the library. We just have PDX because we pay taxes there - and honestly we might get our money's worth through the library alone.)

I'd say the majority of Crosby's reading selections before 2024, so the first 800ish, were comic books and graphic novels. This month he's on track to read 20 chapter books. Most of the books are on Libby with a couple physical chapter books from the library. I also sometimes fill in the gaps with my favorite used book retailer, medimops, to spare Crosby the agony of the long library wait. 

We've tried to use Kindle unlimited to get some books that weren't available at the library but the licensing here leaves much to be desired. We also don't love the Kindle user experience. Why is it so hard to buy a book and then get it on the Kindle? Crosby mostly reads on his iPad, but we do load books on his Kindle for when he's reading in public. It's partly because a Kindle makes a kid appear "more available" to other kids for playing and partly to avoid public shaming (appearance of kids on screens). 

His bilingual public elementary school separates kids into "mother tongue" German and Spanish. The kids learn to read in their "mother tongue" in first grade. I jumped the gun, much to his first German teacher's chagrin, and started teaching him to read in English while he was in his last year of Kita using the book Teach Your Child Read in 100 Easy Lessons. 

Why did I teach Crosby to read instead of waiting until he started learning English in school in the fifth grade? He expressed interest in reading. Additionally, I'm not really a "playtime mom". I'm more of a "teach-you-life-skills mom". Reading together definitely scratched that itch and it was generally positive one-on-one time together. But let's be honest, the person who really taught Crosby to read was the author Dav Pilkey. Crosby and I got half-way through the reading book and then Dogman genius took him the rest of the way.

Since that time, I text my bestie periodically for the next good read. Here are our best hits in general reading order (mostly from Laurel but sometimes from other kids):

More Dav Pilkey: Cat Kid Comic Club, Super Diaper Baby

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney (fun for adults too)

Tom Gates Series by Liz Pichon

Captain Underpants (Still Dav Pilkey but there's a big jump from Dogman to Captain Underpants)

Bad Guys by Aaron Blabey (This is a rare exception where the movies are better than the books. But the books still entertain.)

Geronimo Stilton by Elisabetta Dami (This is originally in Italian but can be found in all the languages.)

Anything Chris Colfer: Start with the Land of Stories and then move on to the other 14 books he's written in the last 10 years. The man is a legend. 

Anything by Stuart Gibbs: Start with Spy School and go from there.

We generally try to read books in English if that is the original language of publication. However, Crosby's teacher suggested more reading in German to improve his vocabulary. He is considered native German as his German is stronger than his Spanish although of course he doesn't get much German at casa Biggs. He was into the Duftapoteka series although the author's other books were less of a hit. 

Hugo sometimes feels a bit left out as reading chapter books is still out of reach. He asks us to ban reading so that Crosby will play with him. Sometimes something will pull Crosby out of a book, for example, building a new Lego set. 

New Mom win - renting Legos with rent-a-project. They get played with for two weeks and then they are out of our house.

Hugo and I are still chugging along in his reading book. It takes twice as long as we need to divide the lessons in two because Hugo inherited my attention span.

Pairs well with Kaffee and Kuchen

We told Hugo the old adage, "If you can't beat them, join 'em." So he's turning to audio books. Here he is power listening (head on iPad) to Harry Potter while waiting for me to reschedule his allergy appointment because he caught his first school cold of the year.

The dude can listen for hours. It's making the upcoming many sick days seem (a little) less daunting.

The littles also have weekly reading times with some of our favorite people across the pond through the App Caribu. The set-up is annoying as it is intentionally confusing so grandparents think they need a paid membership when really they can just use ours (not cool Mattel). However, Caribu has some really great books and some lame ones that only grandparents are kind enough to endure.  

Hugo can get all the Biology lessons from his science teacher grandmother. Then Crosby has her read to him on FaceTime while Paul and I snuggle the two littles to bed. It's kind of like having three parents at bedtime...kind of.

Our new-ish discovery is the "Read-along" options on Libby (not really available at Berlin's VOBB). Sometimes the books can be a bit glitchy but Carmen generally gets her fill of unicorn books read to her when another reader isn't available. Here's a little screenshot of what could get you an hour of guilt free quiet in your house. 

You'll also want to select the correct languages. Otherwise, Carmen ends up listening to a lot of Mandarin language books.

We generally caught a real parenting break in the reading department. Crosby has forbidden me from reading any more books with him on puberty or books that have the potential to inspire. Sigh. (Pro tip: You've got to work in the puberty/sex books in before age 10.) His favorite reading partner is his dad. Paul happily dives into all of the fantasy stuff that isn't my jam. 

I have a grand plan to do some creative writing with Crosby this year but our weekly Tuesday afternoon date is mostly filled with studying. If you can believe it, we're mostly studying English. The dude inherited my spelling abilities, so we're learning together. As you can see from a recent study date, it's not all work around here.

Also pairs well with Kuchen. 

Book Report: Surprised by Joy

My beloved Anne Lemott mentioned a quote by C.S. Lewis in Surprised by Joy, his closest to an autobiography:

While I do most everything Anne tells me to do, I asked myself many times during this snoozefest of an audiobook, "Why am I reading this?". And then, bam, one of my favorite quotes of all time.

C.S. Lewis' childhood perception of adulthood: "Incessant drudgery under the threat of financial ruin."

This quote became a battle cry of sorts for me. While I will continue to parrot almost daily real truths to my kids about life. 

"It is not fair." 

"When we're so focused on what others have, it robs us of being grateful what we do have." 

"God doesn't promise us an easy life, only that we won't be alone in the hard stuff." 

Yes, there is drudgery. Yes, there can be financial ruin. But there are also:

Unicorns

Learning how to avoid getting arrested

S'mores

Stockbrot (literally stick bread)

Bouncy Mounds

And that's just all in one church retreat weekend. Parents - model that joy. Otherwise, your kids might turn out to be C.S. Lewis.

Book Report: Hallelujah Anyway

I'm slowly but surely making my way through this book:

We've got some third culture issues around here. Or maybe it's neurodiversity or maybe it's a combo. In any case, this book feels like work. I listened while getting my nails done as my usual manicure partners were not along for the ride, to varying degrees of disappointment.

That's his "I'm loving this" face.

After an hour of listening and taking notes about third culture kids, I was like, "can I just have something uplifting?" Once again, Anne Lamott delivers.

This chapter hit close to home.

I don't have to look far for my last dose of mercy. Paul looked at me after a week of juggling kids between his parents and declared, "I'm going to take the kids away for a night." What ensued was the best birthday ever.

There was a day of church, leisurely lunching, and frappuccinos with these girls:

POV: The look of moms whose kids are being cared for by spouses.

Followed by an evening of phone calls with some of my favorite people and a magical night of salsa dancing. Before you think I'm a monster who doesn't want to be with my family, I would like to mention there was a special pre-party put together by Bal with the help of some of my favorite little neighbors.

Rainbow cake flex

I was trying to fly a bit more under the radar this birthday as exactly a week later was the ten-year anniversary of loosing my mom to cancer. Nevertheless, celebrating my birthday with two close friends whose mothers are currently terminally ill with cancer felt much more "Hallelujah Anyway". And these people seemed quite ok without me. 

How To: Staatsangehörigkeitangelegenheiten

If you think the news from the US is crazy, can you believe Germany just naturalized these four unemployed people?

And two of them don't even follow the basic instruction to look at the camera in their native language.

A few stars had to align for dual citizenship to even be an option for our family:

• The former traffic light coalition government made it easier to become a German citizen by cutting the residency time from eight to five years.
• Prior to June 2024, only European citizens and a handful of others could be dual citizens of Germany. 
• In January 2024 the city of Berlin digitized and centralized the citizenship process. We have multiple friends who applied years ago by paper and continue to wait.

Our citizenship plan was almost three years in the making. Let's take a walk down memory lane shall we...

January 2023 - Paul took a seven-month, unpaid parental leave with the goal of learning German. Correction - it was my goal that he learn German. I learned that Paul, and some Bigglets who shall remain nameless, can do anything they put their minds to. However, if they aren't truly invested then I need to prepare for battle (for example pushing music for kids) or disappointment (for example German for Paul).

June 2023 - Paul and I dominated the citizenship test - both scoring 29 out of 30. 

June 2024 - I finally take my B1 language test in an effort to distract myself from the upcoming US election. I also had a breif meeting with our relocation consultant to see if she had any hot tips or info. 

December 2024 - We decide to apply without Paul. Paul didn't attain the necessary language proficiency. 

mid-July 2025 - We received an email request for current grades for Crosby, language tests for Hugo and Carmen, and paystubs for me (ahem Paul). I sent everything back in two days.

July 31 2025 - I received an invitation for citizenship with a pre-selected date of August 7th. Luckily we're not fully German yet, so we're in town in August. 

August 7 2025 - learned some new words through this oath 

For my fellow expats wanting to follow suit, the first step is scheduling the citizenship test. I believe this process has changed but is likely still overly complicated. We were so stoked that we managed to get a test date that we even took this commemorative photo in the random community college in Reinickendorf where we returned three months later for the test.

There are a few resources online to explain the process. But generally, the best advice is to submit an entirely complete application instead of following up with test results, etc as they come in. I'd also submit a cover letter if there's anything in your application that you would like to highlight and/or explain. For example, I highlighted that I have a masters degree from the Charité. I then explained why I'm not using it.  I also exhibited some good judgement by not showing-up for the final appointement wearing a dirndl.

It still only comes out on the occasional Halloween.

It's fitting that our citizenship came through in August which is my month of all the feels. It's my birthday month and it's also the month I said goodbye to my mom ten years ago. One of the last things my mom whispered to me as she was dying was, "I'm going to miss you." If my mom was still alive, we never would have moved to Germany. We took this opportunity to have an adventure because we could. But, I think like many people who immigrate, we wish things were better in our home countries. In summary, I'm very thankful to be a dual citizen. Also, now you know why I'm a little melancholy.

Nevertheless, we celebrated our new citizenship in the most logical way possible:

Döners - Immigrants best contribution to Germany?

Mild Home Make-over

Whilst Crosby was away on his annual weeklong school sleep-away camp, I had the crazy idea, "Maybe an 11 year-old should have his own bed."

 It's hard to give-up creepy, snuggle, sleep photo-ops but motherhood demands sacrifice.

As is my nature, I sketched up some elaborate plan that included what I will call the "Narnia door" whereby Crosby would enter through a hole cut-out through the closet. Paul, in his wisdom, suggested a much simpler version. We moved the huge Ikea Pax closet from the wall to the middle of the room to create a second "room" for Crosby.

You might notice that sweet robot shelf with eyes to the left. Paul thought having a shelf next to my desk would help with organization. #neurotypical But, just look how much fun we had bringing it home:

At this point, I figured I should stop bugging Paul and bring in our Berlin Uncle Andrew. It turned out to be excellent timing, because the box bike has its limits and Andrew has a Miles Van Rental Account.

Andrew and I bike/walked the bookshelf. Hauling the bunk required a van. 

My adoring fans are asking, tell me more about that fortress: 

We found a use for flat sheets and entertained the kids for 30 minutes.

The real crowning glory is this before:

and after:

Jokes. Crosby's room needs some TLC. Actually mostly just a bed frame.  I'm done with Ikea junk and kind of lost steam looking on Kleinanzeige (Craigslist equivalent). So, it might be fall when Crosby's room officially comes together. Today I added a little art work to his room to replace the feminine profile in our 'before' set-up.

The idea of writing the kids' baby dedication verse on some of their art work came to me during one of my ADHD med induced insomnia sessions. However, it turns out Hugo doesn't have a verse. #middlechild We'll just start with Crosby. 

 

And last but not least, our latest downstairs upgrade.

Is it a baseball mit or a clam? Whatever it is, it isn't Ikea.

The Center Will Hold

This blog is potentially a taste of things to come - ie less entertaining. Two days ago I started "performance enhancing drugs" aka amphetamines for ADHD. I've heard from some ADHD authors that medication made them less "themselves". I'll risk being 30% less funny if it means I have a better handle on parenting 'complex' kids as my current, light summer read would call them.

I planned an hour-long train adventure to our favorite hot springs yesterday and am happy to report no melt-downs by me. I'd be lying if I said I slept great last night, but generally we'll say Elvanse's got me feeling like.

Before I got some uppers, I found comfort in power "reading" Anne Lamott: 

My favorite part of this book was her description of her trips to India and Scandinavia. 

This book was at the top of my list after reading this NYT article. 

 She killed it again with the coda. Bonus points if you read this book and connect it back to my blog title.

There is a direct correlation between how much "reading" I do and how much overtime Paul puts in. #mommyisnothappy Also, there's Hugo's new face he likes to make for pictures.

We've still got some kinks to work out.

Döner macht schöner

I've subjected my nephew, Oliver, to some charecter building his seventeen years.  

Yes, crimped hair was cool in 2008. Thanks for asking.

However, his recent weekend trip to Berlin wasn't supposed to be one of those occasions. What do you do with little and big kids in Berlin? Eat, move, and take pictures along the way.

The first stop was picking up Hugo from school to take him to a birthday party. Oliver was a bit surprised about the "Lord of the Flies vibe" in Hugo's free time room. His mom, Danielle, waited outside with the bags and was impressed with the city scenery.

Once Hugo found his place, I rounded-up the rest of the crew to head to ice cream. Crosby introduced Oliver to Woodruff "Waldmeister" flavor and Spaghetti Eis. I introduced Danielle to ice cream as an appetizer.

We were blessed with rain upon Oliver's arrival. A blessing because Germans don't go out in the rain, so we could take Oliver and Danielle to the best Döner spot without waiting in line. We also got primo outdoor seating. 

The next day we planned an urban hike. Well, I had a repeat of this hike in mind...

However, a more grown-up Darth just went to the Grünewald a couple days earlier with his class so he was less excited. Thus, we did a more historic urban hike through the Tiergarten. 

We only go to the most scenic spots.

First we walked through the Brandenburg gate:

Then we walked through the forest:

Some shorter-legged participants might have done an illegal double electric scooter ride with a parental guardian. 

While their legs did not work for forest walking, they managed to find the energy to climb the 285 steps to the top of the victory tower. I stayed at the bottom to play paparazzi and have my legs complimented by an "Opa" doing Parkour nearby.

I spy cousins.

It had been at least two hours since our last meal so we head to Cafe am Neuen See for beer garden vibes and canoeing free babysitting. 

Jokes. We put Carmen to work.

Carmen really found her swing. So much so that she proceeded to do this for an hour-and-a-half in Paul's arms.

  

An epic melt-down might have proceeded this nap.

With Carmen well rested, the girls head to Neukölln for a dance performance while the boys had a Sushi bonanza close to home.

#cooluncle

Team Biggs head to church on Sunday while Oliver and Danielle checked out the Berlin Wall Memorial  which is conveniently located just a couple tram stops from our house. Later, we met-up in Mauerpark for Sunday Mauerpark shenanigans.

 After, we introduced Oliver and Danielle to the German tradition of Kaffee und Kuchen. 

Hugo proceeded to drink most of my coffee. Bedtime was real fun that evening. 

Danielle and Oliver trained to Amsterdam the next morning. I'm talking to him tonight on our weekly "character building" call. Was Berlin the highlight of his Euro tour? How could it not be?