Happy Halloween!

How We Spent Our Summer Vacation

Visiting with family

Swimming



Renewing friendships



Learning new skills




Taking a trip to Venice



Eating lots of pizza



And gelato



Mugging for the camera



Buying stuff




Exploring our new neighborhood



Getting very dirty

Breakthrough

Limited posting because I'm on vacation in the States, but I had to post this:



Annika pulled herself up for the first time yesterday, on the first step of my parents' staircase. Today, she commenced practicing and perfecting her new skill. And then falling on her butt and crying. And then trying again. The tenacity of babies (and toddlers *sob*) is amazing to watch.

Paying Attention

Sometimes in the crush of the everyday, I forget to appreciate my children. Katrina, especially, because weekdays begin with get up, get dressed, did you remember to go to the bathroom? are you dressed yet?, just a minute let me get the baby, hold on, packing your lunch, aren't you dressed YET? come on, it's been twenty minutes, here, choose your cereal, you don't want cereal, you want toaster waffles. whatever, just eat, hurry up we have to leave in thirty minutes, come on, no, you can't play your DS, you have to get ready for school, come on, brush your teeth, let's get your hair done, will you HURRY already we must leave in ten minutes, SHOES! where are your SHOES! No, you don't have time to go through every stuffed animal you have to find the one you want to take on the bus, get in the car Get In the Car, GET IN THE CAR!

And then we get to the bus stop and I give her a hug and kiss and she gets on the bus and I collapse in relief at having pulled it off again.

After school is a bit better, sometimes. Often, though, she's in tears before she hits the house because we don't have the right kind of snack or the neighbor girl's not home, or any one of a million "reasons" to have a meltdown. Transitions are hard for her, and weekdays are nothing but transitions. And late afternoon is still a fussy time for the baby, who can play pretty independently at most times of the day, but needs mom's complete attention at the exact same time dinner preparations are underway. And I have the schedule tick, tick, ticking in the back of my head all day...almost time to start dinner, so we can get baths on time, so we can get to bed on time...along with all the other and sundry details that make up a family's life, including our move starting this Wednesday when the packers come and "ending" in our new house on Friday.

So, I fall into the trap of not really looking at her, not really paying attention to the moment, because the next thing is pressing in so urgently. I'm thinking about her a lot, in that thrumming, mom-anxiety way: she's been watching too much TV, time to get her outside, what do I have for a healthy snack? does she have homework? how can I help her with homework with the baby crying and dinner cooking, and hubby has a conference call at 6 so we need to hurry things along...

On Thursday, the school had a musical production. The whole school participated. A Victorian Music Hall. And in a way, it had become just one more thing on my list for these frantic few weeks of the end of school, moving, and then traveling to the States for a long visit. Find Katrina a costume that looks vaguely Victorian--check. Get her fed early so she could get to the school by 5:15 pm--check. Pack snacks and quiet toys for the baby and hope that we could keep her quiet for the two-hour spectacular. Camera! Don't forget the camera! Good heavens, I must change out of jeans and a milk-stained T-shirt--check.

The baby behaved beautifully for the whole two hours. It helped that we stuck snacks in her mouth every time she opened it. And that the floor was carpeted so she could sit on it and look at/chew on a board book.

When Katrina's class went on stage to do their thing, I looked at her probably for the first time that day without that little agenda ticking through my head. And remembered how beautiful she is. And that I need to step back a bit more and just appreciate. There was a time when I thought I would never have children. And now look.



Just look.




I need to pay better attention to how blessed I am. How blessed this whole family is. How fast my "big girl" is growing. I was teasing her in the car the other day...that she was not allowed to get any older or grow any taller. And she said, "But then I won't be able to grow up and have babies!" My girl has problems with transitions, and the transition from only child to big sister was incredibly hard for her, I think. Now, though, a year on, and she is planning to have her own babies. "I wish Annika were my baby," she has said.



But that day in the car, she sounded so adult. "You want to grow up and have a baby? Would you want a girl baby or a boy baby?" "Oh, it doesn't matter. Either one is fine," she said. And I wanted to say again, Don't grow up so fast. But I didn't. Instead, I resolved to pay better attention.

Things I Have Pulled Out of Annika's Mouth While She Screams Like a Starving Child Chewing on Her Last Bread Crust

1. Small pebble
2. Piece of bark (at the playground)
3. Piece of blue yarn (from the debris of one of Katrina's many art projects)
4. Small square of Scotch tape (ditto)
5. Desiccated cherry pit with stem still attached (cherry tree + brick patio = cherries tracked in on bottoms of shoes)
6. Little tangle of hair
7. Dirt
8. Dried-up scrap of green bean that she evidently scraped from the tile floor with her fingernails
9. Scrap of paper napkin from under kitchen table
10. Pieces of board book that she chewed on until wet and then apparently peeled off and put in mouth (I thought board books were meant to be relatively immune to chewing? Isn't that the point?)
11. Lint and fuzz of every description
12. Paper of every description
13. A pink fabric star with white bead in the middle that fell off one of Katrina's hair thingies
14. Fake plastic coin from Katrina's play cash register (I'm sensing a theme here. Soon they will be banning older siblings as choking hazards.)
15. An inch-long broken-off stick of some sort. I still don't know what it was from or how it came to be on my kitchen floor.
16. Her glasses



Things I Have Given Up On

1. Food that she threw or dropped from her high chair in a fit of disdain--whyever would you think I wanted more of this, this, SLOP?--looks pretty tasty lying there on the floor under the table. Eh, at least it's food. I'm thinking of putting a bowl on the floor for her when she gets fussy sitting at the table.



Thing That I DIDN'T Pull Out of Her Mouth in Time--I Know, Because I Saw It, er, LATER

1. Purple sequin (from aforementioned art projects). Still glittering amidst the, well, you get the picture.



Random Cuteness to Get Your Mind Off the Sequin


Who needs TV when you have a frontloading washing machine with see-through door?



The real question is, Mama, can I eat that?



How about that?



Yay keys! I wonder what THEY taste like?

7 Quick Takes

--1--
We're moving in...oh, about two or three weeks. Yikes! We found a house closer to Katrina's school and to the base. It's a duplex with four bedrooms on the same floor; a smallish kitchen (true of nearly all German houses, though); a nice-sized family/dining room area; big windows that look out onto a grassy backyard with climb-able trees and some woods beyond; and a finished loft-like attic. We're looking forward to living in a place with a more reasonable layout than the one we've got. I will be sad to leave the little town we're in now, which has a playground around the corner and a wonderful woodsy park with a lake just up the hill. We're only 10 minutes away, though, so we can always drive to Baerenloch.

--2--
Annika finally started crawling a few days ago. It's been a very frustrating month or so for her. She could get up on her hands and knees and rock, but she couldn't figure out how to go anywhere. Or she would push herself backward with her hands while trying to go forward. Much frustrated screaming ensued. She's still tentative and slow, dragging her knees slightly, but she can go forward, as well as go from sitting position to crawling position and back again. About four hours after she crawled for the first time, she tried to pull herself up on the coffee table.

--3--
I was so proud of Katrina on Annika's birthday. Katrina was VERY excited (to the point of us telling her to CALM DOWN, for the love of Pete) for her sister. There was no evidence of jealousy, only being happy for her. Of course, Katrina DID get to open all of Annika's presents for her, so that might have helped.

Also, Katrina had it in her head that Annika would magically be able to say "mama" and "papa" when she turned one. So her greeting to Annika Wednesday morning was "Annika! It's your first birthday today! You can say Mama and Papa now! Can you say Mama? Mama?" And Annika obediently said, "mama," and Katrina applauded.

Of course, Annika's been saying "mama" for weeks. She doesn't appear to attach any particular meaning to it, though. But hey, she's not saying "papa" yet. Katrina said "papa" first, so I guess it's my turn in the sun.

--4--
When you have a sensitive, intense child, it is hard to know if the other kids are truly picking on her, or if it is just her interpretation of events. The other day, Katrina complained that another girl called her a "crybaby." Why did she call you that? we asked. "Because I was crying," she said in an injured tone. Why were you crying? "Because [two of the boys] were singing really LOUD and it hurt my ears so I was crying a little bit and then she called me a crybaby."

And then we tried to figure out how to put it to her gently that, maybe she should have walked away from the loudness and NOT cried.

I'm a little worried about her little heart being regularly broken because she has no "armor". No concept of self-defense socially. I don't know how to teach her that, though.

--5--
I'm a bit addicted to Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook. I figured out why...it's fast-moving, and totally absorbing. An ideal way to forget about the laundry that needs folded, the stack of I-don't-know-what on the coffee table, the insanity that is moving, the planning of Katrina's birthday party, the insanity that is traveling with a 7-yr-old and a 1-yr-old on a transatlantic flight in a month...


--6--
I put it off as long as I could.



We picked them up yesterday. She's smiling here, but she is not pleased with the glasses. If I can get them on her and then distract her right away, she'll keep them on for a while. Until she tries to rub her eyes. Then she starts crying and pulling them off. They hit the kitchen floor this morning while she was eating breakfast. Good thing they're plastic.


--7--
Time to go wake the bespectacled one and take her for her well-baby check-up. Let's see...cake on Wednesday, glasses on Thursday, shots on Friday. Turning 1 is so fun! I wouldn't blame her if she were mighty suspicious the next time we give her cake.



Cake? What diabolical plan are you hatching NOW, mother?

For more quick takes, go to Conversion Diary.

First Birthday

I've been writing two posts...in my head. So, looking back at the past year will have to wait. But here's what happened today!

This is at 6:50 am. Annika woke up at 5:30, Katrina at 6:15. Katrina has been looking at Annika's birthday packages for a week. She begged to open "just one" this morning, so I let her.





After dinner, we opened the others. Or, rather, Katrina did.



Yummy!



She wasn't too sure about the squishy icing at first. But all it took was one taste.



Oops. Dropped some. Must squish it in my lap.



Yay, cake!!



Ew! She's all messy!





Wait a minute! Where'd the cake go? I want more cake!



WANT MORE CAKE!!

Growing Girl

This is how Gerber packages its food for toddlers. One jar = one serving.



Annika's dinner the other night consisted of about a half-cup of peas and this:



Yes, the entire can (sans syrup). Just for comparison:



Plus random bits off of my plate when the rest of us ate dinner. Maybe she's hitting a growth spurt. And I'm sure that that many peaches must put hair on your...



Uh, never mind.



Don't you make fun of my hair!



And don't mess with my peaches. I mean it.

7 Quick Takes

--1--
Today is "Funky Hair Day" at Katrina's school. I am SO not good with hair, but I gave it my best shot and Katrina was happy, which is all that matters. It helps that we ran out to the 1 Euro store yesterday afternoon and found spray-on temporary hair color and hair glitter. There was a note on the hair color that it could stain blonde and fine hair. We did a test last night and it washed out, but I'll be crossing my fingers that she won't have red streaks for months to come.




--2--
I've finally instituted a regular afternoon nap for Annika. She had been napping at about 10 am and then not tired again until abut 2:30 or 3...which is when we have to go pick up Katrina from school. So the poor baby was cat-napping in the car or not napping at all in the afternoons. I picked up Weissbluth again and realized the problem was that the morning nap was too late. So, moved it back to between 9 and 9:30, and putting her back down at 2. I probably should try to move that back to 1:30 or so, but haven't gotten there yet.

She has stopped falling asleep on me, though, so it is books, bottle and singing, and then crib, with screaming. Unlike Katrina, Annika generally cries for about 5 minutes and then is OUT. Katrina had the capacity to cry for 30-45 minutes. It was awful, but we were out of options by the time we did it. (Around 12 months, as a matter of fact.)

Except for yesterday afternoon, when Annika cried for about 20 minutes before snoozing. Then I had to wake her to pick up Katrina and found Annika had pooped before falling asleep. Mean mommy.

--3--
Annika is also eating mostly table food now. I'm trying to keep her gluten free for a few more months yet (did the same with Katrina), which is actually difficult. Typical toddler food is bread and crackers and pasta. GF bread is really too dense for a baby. But GF spaghetti is downright yummy...and just as messy as regular spaghetti.




--4--
I'm recommitting to writing every day. Not necessarily here, although I do want to start posting more frequently. Since Annika's naps are more predictable now, and (ssshh! do not want to jinx it) she seems to be sleeping through the night with some regularity, I am less brain-fogged, as well. I do have a piece of fiction that I've been tinkering at on and off for a number of years, and I just want to see if there's anything there. Even if it's bad, I want to COMPLETE it. Completing things is a big deal, because I am a great idea person, and a great starter, but not so great with the follow through. 15 minutes a day writing, every weekday, during the morning nap. You heard it here. I managed three days this week. Ahem. But three is better than none!

--5--
We're looking for a bigger house to rent. Baby has moved from tucked into a corner of our room to tucked into a corner of hubby's office. Along with the guest bed. But we are particular as to where we want to move, either staying in the same town or moving into the same town as Katrina's school (where rentals go like hotcakes). It's a risk, as hubby's contract is kind of up in the air. But we've finally learned that hubby's contract is ALWAYS up in the air. We regret not moving when we had the chance last spring. But it seemed overwhelming at the time, to pregnant, anxiety-ridden me. So we're trying again. My wants are simple...for all the bedrooms to be on the same floor so I don't have to run down the steps in the middle of the night, and enough rooms so that baby doesn't have to bunk in with the computers.

--6--
Thanks to an AFN radio spot, I learned that the German Spargel is exactly the same plant as the American green asparagus. It is white because the Germans bury it to keep it from making chlorophyll. Supposedly it has a sweeter, lighter taste that way.

Still am not eating ghostly fingers. I don't care how sweet it is.

--7--
Oh, yes, forgot the funniest story of the week. After several weeks of taking showers, Katrina decided one evening to take a bath along with Annika. Things were going swimmingly, according to hubby, who is Appointed Baby Bath Master. Until (for the first time in her short life) Annika pooped in the bathtub. Katrina never moved so fast in her life. OUT of the bath and into the shower, along with a solemn vow, "I am NEVER taking a bath again!"

So far, she hasn't.


For more quick takes (probably with fewer poop-related stories), check out Conversion Diary.