This morning I spied a little bit of light peeking around the houses & the trees as we left the house. I couldn’t capture it in my early morning photo, but it is there!  I promise.  The shortest day of the year is almost a month past, and it finally is showing up in our daily lives.  I think there’s something very wrong when the kids leave for school before the sun is up.  Plus, when it’s snowy and dark, it just feels extra cold to me.  Luckily my kids love the snow, and thankfully school, so much it’s not a big deal for them.

Dane is finally on his “normal” school schedule.  We’ve got our routine down and he seems well-acclimated to the new school.  The only sad part is the leaving at oh-dark-thirty (ahem, 7:30).  Because we leave so early the roosters are still sleeping.  And the roosters are the very best part of our new little village.  It’s possible every other house has a chicken coop, and a rooster.  When the sun rises, and I think for a good hour after, the roosters are crowing up a storm.  Dane loves this!

Our second day of school, this was still a short day, with mommy staying, we walked home shortly after sunrise.  Hand-in-hand, through the snow, talking about the school, when he realized the roosters were crowing.  He stopped, crowed a little himself, and jumped with joy when a rooster crowed right back at him.  The really funny part is, Dane crowed in German.  Yes, that is really a thing.  Animals make different noises in different countries.

I grew up in Holland, and our roosters say: “Kukelku!”.  In America its: “Cock-a-doodle-do” and in Germany it’s “Kikeriki!”  Now, it could just be the words each country uses to define the same sound across the board.  Maybe all roosters speak the same language.  I really don’t know.  I do know that when Dane crowed:

“Kikeriki!” that rooster crowed: “Kikeriki!” right back at him.  For 5 minutes.  While my toes slowly froze in the snow.