… and then you can go swimming!
Alex, “reading” the safety instructions on the plane.
Archive for the ‘Parenthood’ Category
Reading 101
2010-06-08 21:15Sign of the Times
2010-05-29 18:09Arianna clearly and aggressively signs “milk” now. And by “aggressively” I mean she starts signing it, and if you don’t move immediately to help her get what she wants, she stares you down and very deliberately continues to sign it as if to say, “you moron, I’m signing ‘milk’ so plainly that a 1 year old could understand it… what’s your problem?”.
Earlier today she very clearly signed “more”.
Toddler FanFic
2010-04-12 20:27Alex is composing (fairly detailed and involved) Super Why! / Super Mario Sunshine / Super Mario Galaxy crossover fanfic using plastic Play Doh jars as actors.
News Flash
2010-04-05 12:59Arianna just took her first three steps.
Alex Plays Peek-A-Boo
2010-03-04 00:34Oldie but goodie from January 2006 when Alex was about 7 months old.
Not Quite Spring Cleaning in Switzerland
2010-02-27 10:45- After almost a year and a half living here, we finally have plans to teach some friend Tichu.
- You know that spring is (almost) here… you can smell the cows.
- For family pizza night, Alex made one with Cheerios on the crust.
- Good news: There’s now a smoking ban in public places. Bad news: It doesn’t seem to be enforced.
- When Alex is in the mood to watch Christmas movies or shows, he asks for “The Grinch That Swiped Christmas” or Ghostbusters.
Comprehension Time
2010-02-11 14:28
Alex: Mommy, what time is it?
Dina: Eight o’clock.
Alex: I don’t understand what that means.
Evolution
2010-02-06 21:10- Dora in English: Swiper no swiping!
- Dora in German: Swiper nicht klauen!
- Alex in German: Arianna nicht klauen!
State of the Wubba
2009-11-29 17:56- A couple of weeks ago, Arianna learned to hum when my finger was near her mouth in order for me to make her go “wubba-wubba”.
- She now grabs my finger, brings it to her mouth, hums, and shakes it back and forth when she wants to interact.
- Occasionally, she brings her hand to her mouth, hums, and shakes it back and forth. She is puzzled and slightly frustrated when it doesn’t have the desired effect.
Blah, Blah, Blah
2009-11-15 23:16Arianna has started using consonants in her babbling. As she sticks out her tongue a lot and blows raspberries, she frequently says “Blah, blah, blah.”
Milestones
2009-08-01 11:21Arianna can hold her head up for a fair bit of time, and can occasionally roll over from her stomach to her back.
iPAC 2009
2009-08-01 11:19Drove to iPAC in Barmstedt. 800km each way. With 2 kids, that means almost 2 full days of travel… which is *really* long when you go to the wrong Münden. Along the way, we saw Heidelberg, Würzberg, Hamburg, and the area that provided inspiration for the brothers Grimm, known as the fairy tale road. With kids and sightseeing, we average under 50km/h. This despite the fact that we were normally driving around 160km/h on the autobahn.
Saw lots of good friends. Probably served as birth control for Sola (drove with us there) and V (drove with us back).
All In A Day
2009-07-21 21:18You know you’re in Switzerland when…
- You smell a wood fire on the way home from work in the evening. Mmm…
- You have too much cheese and chocolate in the house. Yes… it is possible… but only in Switzerland.
You know you’re a parent when…
- You’re happy your kid pooped in the potty.
- You’re even happier because it means that he’s done pooping in the shower.
Alex’s 3rd Birthday
2009-06-20 17:12Why Babies Cry
2009-06-06 13:04As I was cooking lunch, I figured it out… babies cry because they can’t eat bacon for the first few months of their lives.
Outside x 2
2009-06-05 21:03- Thanks to the nice weather, our balcony, and the fact that I don’t really eat breakfast or lunch (I graze), I’ve eaten the majority of my meals outside the last few days. Very nice.
- A few days ago, we (me, Alex, Ari, Dina, and her parents) went shopping. Alex put away his little cart, returned the 2 CHF deposit to Dina, and, somehow, while Dina was putting the coin in her pocket and I was returning the cart, disappeared. Somewhere between 5 and 15 minutes later (time flies when you’re panicked) we found him. He was tired of waiting for us and wanted to go home. He went down the escalator, through the mall, and was outside, waiting on the stairs for us. “I had to wait for you because I can’t cross the street by myself. Hurry! Let’s go home.” At least he listens to us… right?
Vocabulary
2009-06-03 13:28- We can’t use “timeout” with Alex as that’s a punishment / distraction technique.
- We tried “pause”, but that doesn’t really work.
- Apparently, what works is “buffer”. Why? When we pause a show streamed from our SlingBox, we tell Alex that the video is buffering. He has mapped the word “buffer” to “pause”.
Arianna’s First Days
2009-06-03 10:32Huh? What’s This?
2009-06-01 16:27Both kids are sleeping soundly at the same time. No one warned me about this.
Alex Notes
2009-05-22 12:07- His vocabulary and sentence structure are getting better. Plus he’s picking up and using German words, especially with other kids.
- He saw me standing up to use the “big potty”, asked me what I was doing, and now insists on peeing into his little potty standing up.
- Every time he sees the easy-squeeze ketchup bottle in the fridge door, he insists on “fixing” it… turning it over so the spout is on top.