Monkey Time

I almost forgot to post these pictures of the monkey I made for Liam before I went to Switzerland:

Waiting for Liam to wake up.
(I tried to flip this two times. That's my limit stupid iPhoto!)

He likes it! At least for a while...

Oh, dear, is it May already?

Hi Everyone--

I have a feeling this blogging thing is only going to get worse-- we fly back to Germany tomorrow and I have to hit the ground running. Turning in my application to write my thesis, actually writing the thesis, getting ready to move to the motherland, etc, etc, ad nauseum.

But perhaps this can be a place to record the Liam-ness of Liam.

Today, while walking back to apartment from Sue and Daria's:

Liam: owah mouth.
Mama: oh no! We better brush your teeth.
Liam: owah alligator.
Mama: owah alligator? (he also said this another time in the past couple of days...)
Liam: Alligator crying.
Mama: oh no! What can we do to make the alligator feel better?
Liam: (this  kind of open question is not suitable for toddlers)
Mama: does he need a hug?
Liam: yes!
HUG
Mama: does he need a kiss?
Liam: yes!
KISS
Liam: Alligator crying!
Mama: We better give him a hug and kiss.
HUG KISS
(repeat 10 times)
Liam: Elephant crying!
HUG KISS
Liam: Camel crying!
HUG KISS

etc etc etc

(pictures in a couple of days) (but not of any alligators crying)

Things you should know about Switzerland (Zürich Edition)

I've spent the last three weeks in Zürich and Switzerland, dancing the role of the fool/maid/general comedia dell'arte baroque dancer in the short comic opera "Der Handwerker als Edelmann" or "The Craftsman as a Gentleman"-- you know, one of those ha ha someone is trying to rise above their class kind of things. He's much more sympathetic than the Bourgeois Gentilhomme, though.

But I digress.

It's been actually really great. I'm staying in a beautiful house with generous hosts (no cooking! no cleaning! all the cheese you can eat!) and my very own bathroom. The audiences for the shows (9 shows! in 11 days!) have been pretty good, laughing and having a good time at the old-school gags.

I just can't overemphasize my amazement of how much food costs in Zürich---

I don't know if Jeremy really conveyed the insane expensiveness of food in his previous entry, but let me make it easy for you: a Burger King value meal costs $12.66. A plate of pasta in a restaurant: $22.

I began to lose sense of the normal. And when I say normal, well, what I am used to-- It might be completely true that with all the hidden costs of producing food that a plate of pasta should be $22. Maybe we should all get used to that and only eat out once a year. Butter churners unite!

Oh, dear, I seem to have lost the thread. Here look at some pictures of the cool stuff I saw in Winterthur and Zürich:

This "grafitti knitting" was done by a middle school class! This kind of thing (but not so spectacular) has been showing up in Cologne too-- mostly on bike racks and telephone poles.

Oh, the Easter Bunnies. So very very many chocolate easter bunnies in so many adorable and ingenious creations. I had to restrain myself from buying them to bring to the US for Easter (!!) because I was afraid they would be destroyed in transit.

outside the jeweler's

outside Winterthur City Hall

random rubber ducky congregation in the public fountain

Swiss Mister

As you may know, Sarah is working in Zurich for most of the month of March. Since she is and will be missing me so much, I decided to visit her this weekend. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a sitter for Liam for this time, so I decided to bring him along too.

As a conscientious world traveler, I try to “…do as the Romans do”, so the first thing I did when I arrived was to establish a tax collecting settlement on the shores of lake and give it the name Turicum...

Of course I am joking, that is a ridiculously literal interpretation. In reality I try to adapt to the local customs where ever I am. So the real first thing I did was to buy an apple and a crossbow, and then I headed out into the forest with Liam…

Ok, we really just met mama at the train station and had a beer:

The first day we walked around a bit, we first we needed some food, and hit the first appealing restaurant in the nähe. We went to a noodle place, and learned that Liam is crazy for Udon!, and can sometimes appear to be able use chopsticks.

we then walked the rest of the way down the hill to the lake. We walked around a while, and Liam went down for a nap. What are mama and papa to do?

It's a tough life, I know.

This is how we like our guy to wake up:

We found a playground nearby, and Liam became the abacus master

The next day we went to the zoo, Liam's favorite type of place

Hello snakes

Hello peacock

It was stork city in and around the zoo, and gave us a good opportunity to teach Liam about how he was born.

Bathtime, Liam!

But seriously, I am not sure how essential any of this information is.

Some Swiss delicassies for lunch:

They only cost an arm and two legs!

After lunch, we learned how to make electricity on a pig farm:

Hint: it involves poop

On the Monday, we took an incline to the top of a hill, and hiked

The incline lets out at this hotel.

If you ever want a $10 coffee and to feel completely out of place, this place is for you

Liam is a freak for sausage:

Liam's Karneval

Karneval is finally over! Those 6 days can really drag on if you are a no-fun poopy-pants like me. (oh heavens, Jeremy is gone and I really don't interact with many grown-ups at the moment...)

But the fact that Karneval drags on so long is what makes it so surreal-- I love it when I get on the subway with other people going to work, etc, and one or two people will be decked out in clown make-up or have butterfly wings on or somebody is wearing a pink wig and no other costume parts. The whole thing must be some kind of color theapy for gray Cologne.

Anyway, I can't tell any stories about the riotous time Liam had going back and forth through the purple spangly streamers at Jeremy's lab party because I was on the party train. Toot toot! Picutre this-- a refurbished old tram car with bar, bathrooms, tables, and, well, a hundred Ladies of a Certain Age. Dressed as Clowns. Drinking Kölsch and Schnapps. Let me tell you, 45 minutes into that ride two bathrooms were not nearly enough.

On Saturday- after Jeremy left to go to Chicago- Liam and I went to the playground. Now I thought that Saturday was one of those in-between Karneval days because the HUGE parade is on Monday. But as we played, we kept seeing groups of people walk by dressed in extravagant costumes. So I made a quick decision to run home, throw on our costumes and go see what was happening.

Oh no! Liam's deer costume was still wet! I had to think fast--- I duct-taped some of his foam letters to our jackets, put some red circles on our cheeks-- we were the Letter Clowns! Spelling is so Funny!

It turned out that Saturday was the Cologne Schools Parade. Liam and I hung out at the beginning of the route with the other little kids where it wasn't so crowded. Children came up to Liam and handed him candy.

Sunday we avoided the big parade.

Then on Monday, we went to the neighborhood parade. More kids throwing candy! That's when Liam learned "Kölle Alaaf" and "Karmelle"- two very important words to know in Cologne.

Papa is in...

and Liam would be fine living in either place.

(sidenote: Two diaper videos in a row! Those Bumgeniuses are looking pretty good, no?)

Liam the yoga guy

this is a little embarrassing because I am in my pjs... but it is too cute to keep to ourselves.

Karneval Time!

Let's go to the forest, where Diana hunts, a Bayern guy lives in his hut, and the baby deer runs free.

s

(I tried to flip this picture 5 times. I don't know what the malfunction is.)

We have 10 pictures oh im going through the streamers. After the party

no comment

Party deer.

After the lab party Mr German Guy and the baby deer met up with me for some street bratwurst.

He almost ate the whole thing! (Stupid iphoto rotation lies!!)

Hey! Do you like pictures of blurry and/or filthy children?

Somehow, it has become almost impossible to take a picture of Liam on the loose. They mostly end up like this:

He doesn't quite understand the concept that in order to SEE the pictures on the camera you have to TAKE them first.

We managed to get one Mr. Cool Hat picture:

And then I decided to make a cake! A cake for which I started to buy the ingredients, well, um, I think 2 years ago. But the important thing is that now Liam can be suitably entertained by making an unholy mess on the table with cornstarch and water while I bake an insane but pretty delicious green tea/ red bean cake roll. Best of all, the filling is totally bowl-licking good.

Liam was also trying to eat with chopsticks---( I would like to tell you that he wasn't eating his peas off a completely filthy table, but, well, the digital camera don't lie. ) I think with a little practice, he can do it! We have to get a pair of the kid-learning chopsticks that Daria had!

Imagination

Suddenly, all of the little stuffed and plastic animals are HUNGRY! Luckily Liam is here to help them eat.

Also, the baby is learning how to walk. It is impossibly funny to see her wobble and fall down.

And speaking of rip-roaring comedy, "On Top of Spaghetti" is a major hit around her. Liam will add a charming sneezing counterpoint, too.

Jeremy is on his way to Nashville. Eeeek! Pretty exciting--

I have to give up on keeping track of all of Liam's words, but I have noticed a cool rhyming pattern. He seems more likely to remember and re-use words if they rhyme-- or almost rhyme-- with words he already knows. Like: Tummy, Honey, Bunny. When Liam hands me a book to read he says "Das hier", which actually could still be the English "that here", but in a toddler accent...

Dance!

And I forgot the cutest word-- dance! Usually said double, as in "dance! dance!"

I took Liam to see an informal showing at school a couple of weeks ago where he sat perfectly still on my lap while people were dancing-- of course, it was a showing, so there was a lot of talking in between pieces. But since I talked to him beforehand about not talking during a DANCE performance and we are going to see people DANCING and Dance Dance Dance, he managed to pick up the word.

We do have evidence of his amazing new dance! dance! moves, but, unfortunately for you, he was stark naked. And playing his keyboard. To funk. We'll see if we can get a movable fig leaf going...

The phrase "come on" popped up this weekend. And when Liam says it, it just sounds so cute, mostly because he seems to be saying it to himself with such joy. Come on!

Liam loves walking. This definitely works best if you don't actually have to go anywhere because there are basement grates, puddles, stoops, and every single store window to explore.

But sometimes you have to stop for a cup of milk foam (just to let the baby take a rest).

New words:

Camel

Tummy

Aufräumen (clean-up)

Anziehen (put on-- like shoes)

Igel (hedgehog)

The German is catching up!

It's hard to really keep track now because he repeats EVERYTHING. I'm trying to note the words that he uses independently.

Squirrel Sweater, Kale kills House, and Liam animation

The sweater that I began in November for Liam (it was such a warm fall! I forgot winter was coming!) was finally finished last week! Luckily it just turned cold here...

without

and with pants.

Then the kale decided to destroy the gingerbread house.

And Liam fended off his dinosaur.

Maybe a bit of a rough week---

Gluttony under the Tuscan Sun

After we had had our fill of Rome, we hopped on the fast train to Florence. Upon arrival, we stowed our bags, and headed to forage for lunch. We had a highly recommended panini place on the agenda, but due to various map difficulties, we ended up winging it again, and again found a gem. The owner was a jolly fellow (in the Santa Claus sense), and the food was delicious.

We got some bruschetta for an appetizer:

In the above picture, I am just finishing saying the name of the topping: lardo!

I had the spiced beef with olives, which was sublime, and Sarah had the salt cod.

Liam was being his usual charming self, and the owner dramatically sliced him a hunk of cheese that lasted the rest of the day.

You may have noticed that I haven't said much about dinner. This is due to the incompatibility of a certain somebody's bedtime with going out for dinner. Here is an exceptional evening in, enjoyed with ravioli stuffed with walnut and truffle paste, and octopus and potato (seems to be a typical dish in Florence). I guess the waitress thought I was going to eat all of it myself, because she only gave me one set of silverware. Luckily we thought Liam wouldn't mind if we used his stuff.

Day two in Florence was steak day, and what a steak it was:

That's a little more than a kilo of perfectly rare T-bone, and things got a little crazy:

I don't recall eating anything else the rest of that day. So it was on to a couple of small but interesting Tuscan towns, on the way to Pisa. After getting completely turned around and disoriented, and walking across the entire town of Pisa, we stumbled into this unassuming pizzeria. Again, gold! I had a pizza with artichoke, ham etc... Sarah and Liam had the carmelle filled with ricotta and spinach, with some beans and potatoes. They somehow don't look like much, but they were really perfectly prepared.

Oh, yeah, and hot!

Well, that took a while to write.

Here is a bonus Liam video: