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Monday, November 14, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
Firsts
Today was the first day that Tara decided to go to 'work'. She picked up a shoulder bag, came over to me and said 'Tara, work', I asked her if she wanted to go to work and she said ja. I asked her if she had a long walk to work and she said, 'Nein, bathroom' 'Hans and Tara bathroom work', so she does not want to work alone.
The other first was her nursing her baby, she has done this for a while, but today she figured out that her baby needed to be inside her shirt!
On the language note, now backpack means three things, backpack, back pats, and I'll be right back, which she says only when she is going to leave the room and come back with something strange, like a pot or a pillow, she brings it to me and then laughs.
I ask her about the baby every few days, usually she shows me where it is and tells me it is nursing (I told her you nurse through your bellybutton until you come out), so I ask her if it is a boy or girl, and her usual response is 'Nein mommy, baby', yesterday its name was Jonas (our 11 month old neighbor), and she says she likes other names, but does not actually say any names herself, she just says 'yes' to everything, do you like the name x? Can you say x?...oh and today B was for baby, she usually goes for T is for Tara.
She is growing quickly, we outgrew all of the winter clothes that I brought for her, we're in 86-92cm, whatever that means in the US. I wonder if they don't even have these sizes, all I remember seeing is 2T and 3T, so are you really only supposed to grow once a year?
Here's to a great year
The other first was her nursing her baby, she has done this for a while, but today she figured out that her baby needed to be inside her shirt!
On the language note, now backpack means three things, backpack, back pats, and I'll be right back, which she says only when she is going to leave the room and come back with something strange, like a pot or a pillow, she brings it to me and then laughs.
I ask her about the baby every few days, usually she shows me where it is and tells me it is nursing (I told her you nurse through your bellybutton until you come out), so I ask her if it is a boy or girl, and her usual response is 'Nein mommy, baby', yesterday its name was Jonas (our 11 month old neighbor), and she says she likes other names, but does not actually say any names herself, she just says 'yes' to everything, do you like the name x? Can you say x?...oh and today B was for baby, she usually goes for T is for Tara.
She is growing quickly, we outgrew all of the winter clothes that I brought for her, we're in 86-92cm, whatever that means in the US. I wonder if they don't even have these sizes, all I remember seeing is 2T and 3T, so are you really only supposed to grow once a year?
Here's to a great year
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Österreich
It always seems like I have so much to say as I'm falling asleep thinking about writing, but then when I have the time to sit down, nothing comes to mind. Today Tara took a 45 min. nap as we were walking from the train station to our hotel in Salzburg, so that might have something to do with it.
The picture is Tara and I, I swear :) It has been about 2C, so 35'ish F, kinda cold, but manageable thanks to everyone who gave T their old snowsuits
If Innsbruck and Salzburg are representative of Austria as a whole, well I'd live here. We've been up the side of a mountain, one on which 3-4 yr olds were skiing cliff side hills like they're gonna be in the olympics next year, seen a few castles, taken many walks in old towns and done a tiny bit of shopping, mostly window. Right now our search focus is a kugelbahn, a marble cascading track toy, and maternity pants that are not 6 inches too long.
We had a very nice Christmas Eve, Germans celebrate starting at around 4PM on the 24th, with the lighting of the tree, have dinner and then do presents. We managed to find one of the only two or three places to eat dinner, and they closed at 6P, we had traditional Tirol dishes. Nate had a meat and potato dish with a sunnyside up egg on top. Tara got the best ravioli we've ever had, made in house and stuffed with spinach, chopped fine with great spices and not a lick of cheese (how nice for me!) Actually now that I'm in the second trimester I've been able to eat a bit of dairy, hot chocolate is top on my list. We spent Christmas walking around town, it was lightly snowing the whole day, we took a 2.5 hr nap and relaxed and then went and listened to the choir play in the square, Nate has taken to Gluwein, and Tara and I either share tee or heise schokolade.
Walking around European old towns is wonderfully relaxing, they close the street to cars during the day, so we can let Tara run, however if you've seen any of our pictures you can see that she usually chooses the mommy back or the daddy backpack over strolling on her own.
Monday, December 13, 2010
A two year old
So we had Tara's second birthday party and it was quite fun and almost overwhelming. We only had six kids over, for two 2-yr olds birthday, but that was enough. Tara and her friend Momo from next door share a birthday and were both born around 7P in their respective time zones. One is a perfect little angel, and one is, well, overwhelming at times (his mother will verify this :) )
It was fun this year, Nate's birthday was on Thursday, and our neighbor has the same birthday, so we hosted a dinner with cake on Nates birthday, and then on Saturday we hosted afternoon tea for Tara's party. Tara asked to go upstairs after about an hour into her party, I think having that many kids around is overwhelming when you are not used to little boys throwing things, parents having fun and actually talking, and everyone playing with all your toys. I bought playdough for the kids to play with during the party, and thank god we did not have time to take it out. I totally underestimate what a little boy would do with such a thing. I am quite lucky to have ended up with a first child who is very easy going, I had a disscussion with a neighbor tonight about how hard a difficult first child is when you have no idea what to do with a kid in the fisrt place. No wonder second children or usually more outgoing, friendly and generally at ease. It is really hard to figure out what they need sometimes.
So it has been snowing here everyday except two, one of which we just had freezing rain instead, since the beginning of December. So we go out in it a couple of times each day, long enough for Tara to get cold, 10 min's, and ask to go 'home'. We only go out to the parking lot, so I guess she associates the word 'home' with 'inside' and not the surroundings. Today she stood in the parking lot and would not come with me, she was repeating a word, which ment something she needed, but I had absolutely no idea what she was saying, it was difficult, but we were outside and one of my rules is that when we are outside, she walks, I do not carry her. So I just walked up the path and waited, she called and I called back and then she came running. I wonder what she was trying to tell me, hopefully she'll figure out a sign that gets the point across next time.
Having a two yr. old is pretty much the same as having a 1 1/2 yr old. There are a few more tantrums, but they are so cute. It goes a little something like this: She wants something, I say nein,, or give her some other option, she whines, I stop paying attention to her whining, she lays on the floor or on a chair for like 30 seconds and wails, there are sometimes tears involved, but not too often, and then I ask her if she wants to do a puzzle or read a book and she comes running over smiling. We really lucked out with this one, her spriit is at peace and is generally in a happy place.
Her vocabulary is budding and now she enunciates many of those words that all sounded the same a few weeks ago. Her work on learning her colors is coming now that we are playing with playdough and window crayons all day. She still switches blue and green as well as yellow and red, but she still knows the signs and always gets those right. As for home, we really miss it and now that we've passed the halfway mark I am thinking more and more about when we get to return.
How about a switch to food, does anyone else freek out when all their kid will eat all day for a few days, is yogurt? At least it is healthy, but geez, a few peas would not hurt you! We've been going through a series of yogurt for every meal, or else refusing dinner and only accepting cereal. I know I like cereal for dinner sometimes, but I thought that craving started in college.
Well it has been a very fun first half of December, one more birthday, my sisters, to come and then it is x-mas. We're going to go to Innsbruck, Austria. We are very quickly running out of time to see Europe, so this will take care of southern germany too. I don't think we'll get to all the places we'd hoped, but everywhere we've gone so far has been wonderful. Which takes me to one last story for the evening. One of T's favorite games is pulling the suitcase around the house saying "Pawis, pawis, mommy, daddy, Tawa" I ask her what she packed and sometimes we just go with the shirts on our back and sometimes we bring her babies along. It has been three months and she is still infatuated, I think she'll be studying abroad as soon as she is able.
It was fun this year, Nate's birthday was on Thursday, and our neighbor has the same birthday, so we hosted a dinner with cake on Nates birthday, and then on Saturday we hosted afternoon tea for Tara's party. Tara asked to go upstairs after about an hour into her party, I think having that many kids around is overwhelming when you are not used to little boys throwing things, parents having fun and actually talking, and everyone playing with all your toys. I bought playdough for the kids to play with during the party, and thank god we did not have time to take it out. I totally underestimate what a little boy would do with such a thing. I am quite lucky to have ended up with a first child who is very easy going, I had a disscussion with a neighbor tonight about how hard a difficult first child is when you have no idea what to do with a kid in the fisrt place. No wonder second children or usually more outgoing, friendly and generally at ease. It is really hard to figure out what they need sometimes.
So it has been snowing here everyday except two, one of which we just had freezing rain instead, since the beginning of December. So we go out in it a couple of times each day, long enough for Tara to get cold, 10 min's, and ask to go 'home'. We only go out to the parking lot, so I guess she associates the word 'home' with 'inside' and not the surroundings. Today she stood in the parking lot and would not come with me, she was repeating a word, which ment something she needed, but I had absolutely no idea what she was saying, it was difficult, but we were outside and one of my rules is that when we are outside, she walks, I do not carry her. So I just walked up the path and waited, she called and I called back and then she came running. I wonder what she was trying to tell me, hopefully she'll figure out a sign that gets the point across next time.
Having a two yr. old is pretty much the same as having a 1 1/2 yr old. There are a few more tantrums, but they are so cute. It goes a little something like this: She wants something, I say nein,, or give her some other option, she whines, I stop paying attention to her whining, she lays on the floor or on a chair for like 30 seconds and wails, there are sometimes tears involved, but not too often, and then I ask her if she wants to do a puzzle or read a book and she comes running over smiling. We really lucked out with this one, her spriit is at peace and is generally in a happy place.
Her vocabulary is budding and now she enunciates many of those words that all sounded the same a few weeks ago. Her work on learning her colors is coming now that we are playing with playdough and window crayons all day. She still switches blue and green as well as yellow and red, but she still knows the signs and always gets those right. As for home, we really miss it and now that we've passed the halfway mark I am thinking more and more about when we get to return.
How about a switch to food, does anyone else freek out when all their kid will eat all day for a few days, is yogurt? At least it is healthy, but geez, a few peas would not hurt you! We've been going through a series of yogurt for every meal, or else refusing dinner and only accepting cereal. I know I like cereal for dinner sometimes, but I thought that craving started in college.
Well it has been a very fun first half of December, one more birthday, my sisters, to come and then it is x-mas. We're going to go to Innsbruck, Austria. We are very quickly running out of time to see Europe, so this will take care of southern germany too. I don't think we'll get to all the places we'd hoped, but everywhere we've gone so far has been wonderful. Which takes me to one last story for the evening. One of T's favorite games is pulling the suitcase around the house saying "Pawis, pawis, mommy, daddy, Tawa" I ask her what she packed and sometimes we just go with the shirts on our back and sometimes we bring her babies along. It has been three months and she is still infatuated, I think she'll be studying abroad as soon as she is able.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
a developmental update
So I thought I'd write about Tara today, what she is up to and what I think about it. She will turn two in about three weeks and this makes me especially homesick. We will be, and have missed, a number of friends birthdays, but there is always next year :)
Tara now repeats any word you ask her to, if there are too many sylables she just adds a la la in the middle, and if she is too tired to try she adds a wawawawalala all sing songy and smart assed. It reminds me of how parents sounded on Charlie Brown, like she wants to get the point across that whatever you are saying really does not matter to her in the slightest.
She still signs, which helps a lot because as she is adding to her vocabulary she is not enunciating any new sounds. So daddy means dad and dog still; baba means puzzle, bubbles, blanket, yogurt; bish means milk (german pronunciation: milsh), please, dish. I could go on forever. I think I'm discerning some slight variations, but with her signing or being in context she really communicates quite well. I just notice when she is with another adult and is asking for something, they just have NO CLUE what is coming out of her mouth.
She does do something strange though. We are now requiring her to say please, so when she asks for milch, we do not respond until the please comes out of her mouth. When she strings two words together they come out separated, like they are different thoughts. If she is saying a compound word this does not happen, like highchair she just says straight through, but Tara's chair, or push please, or milch please has a long silent gap in between, like she has to think about another word to say, they are not linked yet.
Her favorite games seems to be puzzles and reading and rocking on her rocking moose. I'm not sure how long the puzzle thing will last, it is not a challenge anymore, she just puts the pieces in without seeming to have to think about it. Nate turned a puzzle upside down the other day to see if it would confuse her, but she just went about putting the pieces in their correct spots, saying 'updown' 'updown' for upside down. Tempermentally she is still the same happy girl, she tried to throw a fit the other evening when she was tired, she did not want Nate to touch her puzzle or something, she laid down on the ground, quite gracefully, no throwing of herself about. Cried for a few seconds, and I asked her if she was tired and wanted a snuggle and then to go to bed and she said 'ya, seep, beez' So we started bedtime and that was it for her tantrum. She does get whiny when I walk away from her to do some errand or pick up a bike or something and I just tell her to come hold my hand and no more whining. She is still eager to please, so I guess I'm still waiting for the first terrible two temper to appear.
Our breastfeeding seems to be at an end, a few weeks ago I decided to start asking her to nurse right after dinner, so we'd still have over an hour before bed, we did this for a few nights or a week and then I just 'forgot' to ask her and she did not notice and went to bed quite easily. The second night was not as easy, she asked to 'urse' and I told her that we were not doing that anymore, she snuggled for a while, but was okay at bedtime, and now it is just routine. A week later on a weekend I stopped the after nap one. Nate was home, so I just dissapeared for as long as I could and then walked her around. As soon as I sat, she'd ask, so we just stood and walked for a long time, then I asked her if she wanted to go blow bubbles with daddy, and that got the response I wanted, a jump from my arms and a run to the door. Apparently bubbles are as great as nursing, who would have thought! Yesterday was hard, the first day Nate was not home at naptime, but we got through it and hopefully now I can just tell her that we don't do that anymore. The wake up one is going to be the hardest and I'll just wait until she wants something else more. I don't even want to bear a week of unpleasant mornings for the sake of stopping, so we'll just wait to see what her schedule requires.
Potty training, may I reccomend NOT trying this in the winter, just don't do it, no point in stressing out, it is just SO MUCH easier in nice weather. Tara was doing great until we had to spend our days inside. For nice weather, just put on a long shirt or dress and they go when they want, it is fun, they want to pee in the grass and watch their friends do the same. Now she just tells me one second before it comes, or not until her pants are wet and she is standing on one leg with a dripping sock and says peepee, mommy. We go through like three pants a day, now we're going back to diapers anytime we leave the house and wearing them inside sometimes, there are just too many layers to take off in time.
Well nap time just ended early, so bye for now
Tara now repeats any word you ask her to, if there are too many sylables she just adds a la la in the middle, and if she is too tired to try she adds a wawawawalala all sing songy and smart assed. It reminds me of how parents sounded on Charlie Brown, like she wants to get the point across that whatever you are saying really does not matter to her in the slightest.
She still signs, which helps a lot because as she is adding to her vocabulary she is not enunciating any new sounds. So daddy means dad and dog still; baba means puzzle, bubbles, blanket, yogurt; bish means milk (german pronunciation: milsh), please, dish. I could go on forever. I think I'm discerning some slight variations, but with her signing or being in context she really communicates quite well. I just notice when she is with another adult and is asking for something, they just have NO CLUE what is coming out of her mouth.
She does do something strange though. We are now requiring her to say please, so when she asks for milch, we do not respond until the please comes out of her mouth. When she strings two words together they come out separated, like they are different thoughts. If she is saying a compound word this does not happen, like highchair she just says straight through, but Tara's chair, or push please, or milch please has a long silent gap in between, like she has to think about another word to say, they are not linked yet.
Her favorite games seems to be puzzles and reading and rocking on her rocking moose. I'm not sure how long the puzzle thing will last, it is not a challenge anymore, she just puts the pieces in without seeming to have to think about it. Nate turned a puzzle upside down the other day to see if it would confuse her, but she just went about putting the pieces in their correct spots, saying 'updown' 'updown' for upside down. Tempermentally she is still the same happy girl, she tried to throw a fit the other evening when she was tired, she did not want Nate to touch her puzzle or something, she laid down on the ground, quite gracefully, no throwing of herself about. Cried for a few seconds, and I asked her if she was tired and wanted a snuggle and then to go to bed and she said 'ya, seep, beez' So we started bedtime and that was it for her tantrum. She does get whiny when I walk away from her to do some errand or pick up a bike or something and I just tell her to come hold my hand and no more whining. She is still eager to please, so I guess I'm still waiting for the first terrible two temper to appear.
Our breastfeeding seems to be at an end, a few weeks ago I decided to start asking her to nurse right after dinner, so we'd still have over an hour before bed, we did this for a few nights or a week and then I just 'forgot' to ask her and she did not notice and went to bed quite easily. The second night was not as easy, she asked to 'urse' and I told her that we were not doing that anymore, she snuggled for a while, but was okay at bedtime, and now it is just routine. A week later on a weekend I stopped the after nap one. Nate was home, so I just dissapeared for as long as I could and then walked her around. As soon as I sat, she'd ask, so we just stood and walked for a long time, then I asked her if she wanted to go blow bubbles with daddy, and that got the response I wanted, a jump from my arms and a run to the door. Apparently bubbles are as great as nursing, who would have thought! Yesterday was hard, the first day Nate was not home at naptime, but we got through it and hopefully now I can just tell her that we don't do that anymore. The wake up one is going to be the hardest and I'll just wait until she wants something else more. I don't even want to bear a week of unpleasant mornings for the sake of stopping, so we'll just wait to see what her schedule requires.
Potty training, may I reccomend NOT trying this in the winter, just don't do it, no point in stressing out, it is just SO MUCH easier in nice weather. Tara was doing great until we had to spend our days inside. For nice weather, just put on a long shirt or dress and they go when they want, it is fun, they want to pee in the grass and watch their friends do the same. Now she just tells me one second before it comes, or not until her pants are wet and she is standing on one leg with a dripping sock and says peepee, mommy. We go through like three pants a day, now we're going back to diapers anytime we leave the house and wearing them inside sometimes, there are just too many layers to take off in time.
Well nap time just ended early, so bye for now
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Some videos
I thought I'd try to post some videos to she the grandparents and whoever else wants to see how much fun puzzles and splashing in the rain can be
Thursday, November 11, 2010
our first visitors
First I would like to say sorry, I've been out of touch a while and am feeling particularly neglectful of many of my friendships. I want you to know that I think of everyone who has ever been in my life on a regular basis and if I should be there to lend a helping hand, know that I'm thinking of you all the time.
We got our first overseas visit mid October, my parents came to stay and it was lovely. We started off slowly, resting a lot, and just playing in the parking lot. Tara took to grammy (aka me-me)quick as lightning, after 10 min's in our house they were up in her room playing together, without me!!! I don't remember what I did, I just remember being SO happy. Tara grammy, papa and I spent time in Nurnberg, Bamberg, Jena and Dresden, we also spent so time in the Frankfurt airport and trainstation, but I don't think I'll tell you all about that.
They were here over Halloween, Jena is just starting to have kids trick or treat (like for the last year or two), so they were all very excited, but had no idea what to do, most of them were either wizards (boys) or princesses. Tara was a marienkafer, a ladybug. I covered her backpack with red felt and pinned black spots to that, it was fun to make, but she did not want to keep it on very long.
My parents visit was an all too short three weeks, I don't know what I'll do until we have grandma and grandpa here in the spring.
After my parents left, Nate and Tara and I spent a week in Rome. Lovely people, lovely food and lovely weather until our last day, but walking around the vatican and center of Rome getting wet and grumpy was fun too. I'll have to say that I loved the pizza (many varieties without cheese!) and the pasta was great, but I'm now home cooking chickpea lentil curry and have plans for chicken and broccoli tomorrow night. I am thouroughly DONE with pig meat!!! I do not like it sam I am, I do not like pig meat or ham. I say that after a morning spent baking pigs in blankets for a little party tonight for Martinstag, of which I have no idea, other than little kids are carrying around lanterns with real candles inside (I hope this ends well, I'll let you know)
I've posted lots of pictures of Paris, Rome, my parents visit and our Jena friends folder has lots of shot of our complex and our friends. Tara is getting so big. She has always been independant, but now it is her way or the cry way (part of this is due to much spoiling from the grandparents :) ) She can now jump about 5 inches up or forward and her favorite game is what we like to call ribbit, she can jump for hours it seems. She still only speaks in two to three word sentences, no pronouns as of yet, if you ask her if she is a baby, or daddys little helper, or whatever, she responds with "NEIN (no), Tara" Her favorite letter for the week has been "F" and goes straght to it when we sing our ABC's.
I miss you all, and wish I could be there for all my mom's groups coming birthdays, and for all of those friends who are struggling.
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