The Little Dutch Boy

While Sarah was dropping some science on the Baroque dance world at her conference, Liam and I hit the town of Utrecht. It was quite an experience walking around with a cute baby strapped to me: normally I get the feeling that strangers on the street are vaguely suspicious that I might be homeless person (one of the few perks of my career path at the moment is that there is little incentive to worry about one's personal appearance, and cultivating a bit of "eccentricity" can be a plus). But with Liam, it was all smiles and coos. I was approached by multiple Dutch Grandmothers, who I assume were complimenting Liam (I am an expert smile-and-nodder, at least Dutch is a fun language to let wash over you).

The first thing we did after checking into the hotel and sending Mommy off to her conference was to sample the local cuisine:









What you are seeing on the left side of the picture is a typical Dutch delicacy, the Krokette. The inside seems be some sort of partially liquified meat, which is breaded somehow, then deep fried. Depending on your taste, they are better than or as good as they sound. I found out later that Liam had gotten to know the krokette very well; changing his clothes later in the day I found that my attempts to shield him from the crumbs were not particularly successful.


Fueled with gravy, I set out to explore Utrecht.

Here we are passing under the tower of the cathedral:

















Liam is ecstatic.



So you know we were in Holland, here we are by a canal:


















And near some giant wheels of cheese:


















Liam sez: "Wow. Fascinating."






Mommy!!!!!!









Liam sez: Yeah, yeah, I get it, it's old. Do I have to wear this hat by the way?



I am not sure what emotion he was experiencing on the walk home to the apartment from the tram, but I'm sure it was intense:

How to become an American Citizen

Did you recently have a baby in Germany? Are you an American citizen? Would you like the baby to be an American citizen and not a poor, stateless waif?

Just follow these easy steps:

1. Make an appointment to Register a Birth Abroad at the American Consulate in Frankfurt.

2. Buy a train ticket from Cologne to Frankfurt. Don't bother trying to figure out how long it takes to get from the train station to the consulate. Just guess.

3. Take several hours the night before to organize all of the forms and supplementary materials.

4. Wake up baby to take a passport photo. Be amazed that the swaddle keeps his hands out of his face as per passport regulations.

5. Catch the 6:55 am train to Frankfurt and fall in love with the special baby section of the train, far away from the pushy unwashed masses.

6. Make sure the train is delayed getting into Frankfurt. Try to contain panic caused by Step 1.

7. Run through the central station trying to find the subway.

8. Change Baby's diapers on the subway, moving the stroller at every stop to allow more passengers to get on and run the pee gauntlet.

9. Take a break to nurse Baby in the copious amounts of time stuck on the subway.

10. Get off at the correct stop. RUN.

11. Cut in front of everyone in line to go through security (haha suckers! Americans coming through!).

12. Make sure that you are awkward with the stroller, blocking the people behind you at the security checkpoint and taking forever to empty out the millions of stroller pockets.

13. Go to the special American citizens' section to wait for blessedly short amounts of time.

14. Make it back to the central station for the return trip with 10 minutes to spare.

Turntable Taste Trial

André 3000, yes. Kraftwerk, no.

We kept this video at adoring grandparent length, but if you want to skip to minute 3:04 for a smiley close-up, I'll never know.
Also, doesn't it kind of look like Liam is dancing in some sort of zero-gravity situation? Like he is plastered to the ceiling?



Elektronika fail.

Distracto the Wonder Pirate

Ay, Matey. I've plundered the deep and made the dreaded Kraken my pet. Nothing can stop me! Hahahahahahahaaaargh.

Liam has now moved into major meal-time distraction. Well, not so major that I have to crawl into an isolation chamber with him, but I do have to either 1. lie on the bed or 2. hold him standing up while swaying or 3. if I am lucky, sit on the couch in silence. This also means that it has become almost impossible to nurse outside. There was a MAJOR meltdown in H&M this week (I just want a pair of pants that fit me!)-- my friend Beate got a real earful. Anyone have tips? I've read about some kind of special baby necklace that helps them focus, and I want to research a little more how to nurse in the sling/wrap (the way I do it now, he is not very covered, so it doesn't help).

So no more watching TV or walking around a store. Oh well, maybe he'll grow out of it?

Mr. Two Months

Wheee, Liam!

I have to admit that I was basking in Hubris-Land at the beginning of last week-- oh, yeah, I know how to work the baby! I can keep him happy!

Of course...

BAM!

Liam has now decided to fully stretch his lungs at regular intervals. Previously, we had a good 5 minutes before the whimpering and fussing would escalate into full-blown wailing--- now the transition is almost instantaneous. And who can tell what is a wet diaper cry or a food cry or a bored cry? Not me. Maybe not yet? Anyway, we had a rough couple of days, but now things seem to be back on track. I'm keeping a log of his activities to see if there is a pattern, so that maybe we an ease into a easy-going sort-of schedule.

Liam is REALLY discovering the world around him. This is adorable when we are walking in the park, but not so great while nursing. It's actually already getting better, but a few days ago he would stop nursing to look up at me with a big smile, nurse a little more, look around for Papa, nurse some more, have a look at the ceiling-- and then start to wail because the milk wasn't magically flowing into his mouth. On Sunday, I had to lie down on the bed with him with the sheet pulled over us, just so that he could concentrate (thank heavens I only had to do that once).


Liam likes:

hitting dangling toys
his puppy and alpaca bear
going for a walk in the sling
horrifying 19th century German morality poems for children (spoiler- most of the kids die)

Saturday (shout-out to Grandpa Cha Cha)

New Videos!

one short and one long...

from today...

July 22nd

Schwetzingen

Boy, are we glad to be back home. It was indeed challenging teaching in Schwetzingen this year, but the problem was not with Mr. Liam. Of course not! Instead, the problem-- as it usually is--involved grown-ups. Our accommodations were not ideal and my students kept missing classes, and I have to admit that it took me until Friday to really get into the groove. If I teach at this festival again, it will have to be for only 4 days-- 7 days is just too much, especially when I am only teaching an hour and a half each day. Let's consolidate, people!

Most days were pretty rainy (ugh), but we did squeeze in a little garden time. The lions were very protective of our boy.

The 'sleeping-through-the-most-beautiful-places-in-Europe' series begins.

chilling outside the dance studios

Best Liam moments: He was FANTASTIC on the day of the performance-- sleeping through my dress rehearsal and being charming while hanging out backstage. I took him on stage with me for the teachers' bow at the end of the performance. Now I have the great 'you were on stage at 7 weeks old' story-- great whether he becomes a theatrical guy or not.

getting ready for the big debut! (and I made the wreath!)

Worst Liam moment: One day I forgot the bottle of milk for during my class and had to run back to get it. The poor guy cried almost the whole way there and back. Plus it was raining. Miserable.

Liam is VERY HAPPY to play with Papa again.

Liam in July 2010

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