Day 12 - Torture

• Every morning when the kids get up, we lie together in bed and cuddle, sort of. This sounds nice, doesn't it? Well most of the time it is. Except sometimes it's also Matthias' opportunity for trying out some new CTU interrogation techniques. Today he tried to force my eyeballs out of their sockets. I tried to explain to him that the optical nerve attaches them to my skull so it won't work, but he didn't listen (or knew better). I've still got my balls (the ones I'm seeing with) and some scratches on my eyelids. Some other torture methods he applies are more conventional such as pulling your hair as hard as he can when you least expect it - ouch!
  
• Siblings also tend to experiment with torture between each other. Yesterday Matthias said: "I want to hit my brother." We told him not to. "I want to hit him". "That is not a good idea, he'll hit back". "I want to hit him". "But he WILL hit back". He hits him. Brother hits back. Matthias falls on his head and cries. We say: "We've told you so!" (which by the way is the most universal truth and at the same time most useful sentence when raising your offspring).
• Today it was Florian's turn. He really annoyed Matthias by doing all the things to him he really hates. Matthias "reads" a book, Florian suddenly takes it away and throws it across the room. Matthias cries, I send Florian to his room and tell him to come back in five minutes. Florian is back, first thing he does is suddenly rip Matthias' sock from his foot and throw it across the room. Matthias cries, I send Florian to his room and tell him to come back in five minutes. Florian is back, I ask him whether he will behave now, which he answers in the affirmative. First thing he does is walk over to Matthias who is drinking water from a cup and push his hands, Matthias pours all the water onto his clothes and is soaked. He cries, I send Florian to his room and tell him to come back in TEN minutes.
• After that episode they eventually started playing with each other for twenty minutes. I couldn't believe it as I've always thought that this behaviour is unnatural for brothers and is only an urban myth that surely must have originated from some science fiction novel. I stood there mouth gaping and observed the scene.
• In the afternoon we went to "Zoom" (a kid's museum in Vienna). That is a really nice place and I can highly recommend it to all parents in Vienna as it has suitable activities for children of all ages (it's in the MQ).
  
• At the same time we were at "Zoom" the wife of Egypt's president was also there! (Apparently she wanted to see it to get some inspiration for building a similar museum in Kairo). That was really cool as there were big limousines outside as well as police and a LOT of bodyguards in suits (basically lots of Matrix style agents). That's quite fitting for a kid's museum because with children your time passes in constant bullet time anyway, at least that's what it at times feels like :)
• Evening: no jungle book today, but third end boss of Ninja Gaiden.
  
• Lunch: Chinese pork + rice + mango + pudding. Dinner: Chinese chicken + rice + fried Chinese cabbage.