Weinachtsmarkt

Yesterday His Holiness and I visited the Weinachtsmarkt (Christmas Market) in the Neumarkt. There are a number of such markets in Cologne and ours is by no means the grandest but it has a carousel and yesterday HH went for his first ride. In the past he has been reluctant to mount the grocery store parking lot fire trucks and trains that cost between fifty cents to one dollar per ride and seldom work. He enjoys sitting on them – but as soon as I insert the coins and the machine starts to rock and roll, he wants off. That was not the case however with the big shiny Weinachtsmarkt merry-go-round, with it’s brightly colored, perfectly painted and maintained fire trucks and police wagons and motorcycles … He sat there, all alone and confident, and rode round and round in the fire truck and when it was time to go, he asked if he could take a spin (my words not his) in the police wagon. When that ride ended he asked about the motorcycle but I wasn’t sure he was ready for that and was able to convince him that we would revisit these vehicles another day.

It was another milestone, not a huge one like walking or talking or riding a bike or taking the bus to school on his own or his first kiss – but I am getting ahead of myself. It was a significant moment because for the first time he sat in a moving vehicle, toy that it was, by himself and without crawling out of it while it was still moving, and he did it twice in a row. Last night as he was going to sleep and we were reviewing the day, he smiled broadly when I congratulated him on his accomplishments on the merry-go-round, and he reminded me of my promise to return for a shot at the motorcycle, another small milestone; keeping Papa honest.