A wash out

I don't think it has stopped raining for a second today so our annual visit to The Brussels Christmas markets with Olivia was a bit disappointing. We had planned to go ice skating (which we've done for the last two years), on the toboggan run which was a new feature last year and which Olivia loved and on the magical and baroque merry-go-rounds. However, none of us fancied skating through the puddles or sliding on the toboggan run and the merry-go-rounds were closed presumably because of the weather.

Olivia took it very well and it meant we did have a lovely wander around Brussels, despite the weather, and we got to visit Le Wolf which we've been meaning to do for some time. Le Wolf is a beautiful bookshop for children with workshops and all kinds of activities. Today Olivia selected an audio story and we all sat in the juke box room to listen to it. We also spotted some French audio books for her age, which we managed to purchase without her noticing, to be shipped off to Santa! We received Olivia's school report yesterday which made very interesting reading and at the moment it seems that French is one of her strongest subjects as she achieved above the grade level expectation in nearly all of the set criteria, with her teacher stating that she is an:

active student who bubbles over with enthusiasm and who has quickly taken a
leadership role in our discussions. Thanks to her very accurate aural comprehension, her extroverted and confident personality and her ability to quickly make connections: Olivia easily assimilates new words and expressions that she is able to extend to new learning situations. "Corvax regarde Jean et princesse. Il fâché!"

She clearly takes after her father.
By the way her PE report was amusingly average!

We then took Olivia to the Grand Place to see, what they call, the Traditional Christ Child's crib.This is a large stable complete with real sheep and models of Joseph, Mary, baby Jesus and the three Wise men. She knows the story of how baby Jesus was born, and today she asked when we could go and see him for real. She was quite clearly shocked when I told her he was no longer alive and so started the hundred million questions. EmmaF I'm directing her your way for some God-Motherly wisdom. Her other burning question at the moment is: how old is Santa?

Oops - just realised I haven't mentioned the above photo! It was taken outside one of the many many chocolate shops in Brussels and this is one where we had just purchased some gifts for the staff at Dexter's creche. It's his last day tomorrow before the hols and there's a little Christmas party tomorrow afternoon that we're all attending, so got to go and bake some cakes now!