This still isn't Wallyworld....

Imagination

2012-01-28T21:25:00.001-08:00

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!

2012-01-23T12:42:00.000-08:00

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!

2012-01-22T12:24:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-14T22:45:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-06T10:53:00.000-08:00

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:

When in Rome, eat as a Roman emperor would have

2012-01-03T11:46:00.000-08:00

So now begins the daunting task of blogging our recent adventure to Italy. I am starting arbitrarily with the culinary aspect of the trip, just because that is what I am in the mood to do.

Here is our little guy, enjoying his last taste of Germany in the airport. Mmmm butterbrezel...

On the first day, we journeyed to the Testaccio district, in part to visit the market, where we could get some of the ingredients for our evening dinners. If anyone can identify these crazy crustaceans you win a prize! I was happy that we could pick up some real buffalo mozzarella, though the tomatoes did not seem to be at their best (duh, it's even winter in Italy).

The other reason we ended up in this somewhat obscure district, was to visit this restaurant:

Which dates to the late 1800s when this was a slaughterhouse district, and bears some of the authentic Roman cuisine from that time. For example, this head cheese appetizer:

For my main dish, I had the classic pajata rigatoni. For those of our readers who are the sensitive type, I would recommend not clicking the link. On reading the description, even I had some stirrings of regret. But it was frickin' delicious.

Even Liam's dish was amazing. I think I could be happy for the rest of my (consequently short) life just eating this simple pasta with butter and parmesan.

The next day we ventured to the more pedestrian tourist area of Rome, past the Coliseum, down to Trajan's forum (more on that in a later post, suffice to say I took more pictures than reasonable of his triumphal column, probably because I am too influenced by Mike Duncan's podcast).

Anyway, we planned on lunching at a place called Enoteca Provinzia Romana, whose hook was providing food gathered from the local province of Rome (for locavores, see). I had the anchovy torte (foreground), while Sarah braved the porchetta. Both were delicious, and Liam picked a winner again with his mortadella bruschetta (i.e., open face bologna sandwich)

We indulged in desert (in large part because it was raining, hoping we could ride it out). Chocolate Mousse with persimmon sauce:

Then, it was Christmas Day, so we headed down to the Jewish quarter for lunch. We went to Nonna Bete (recommended by Anthony Bourdain!) We had the sampler for appetizers, which included the Jewish style artichoke, fried salt cod, stuffed zucchini flower, rice balls and cheese. All of which I would recommend but the rice balls were amazingly good.

For the main dish, Sarah had the vegetable lasagna, Liam had the gnocchi, and I had ravioli with orange sauce. I won this one.

The next day we had a crazy adventure. One sight I wouldn't recommend seeing in Rome is the Polyclinic. 'nuff said. After passing by the Spanish Steps, we headed to lunch (without a plan). We were basically in tourist trap central, but I think we did pretty well considering. It somehow had a Viennese/German theme, and was decorated like a German brauhaus. We had the option for schnitzel and "german" beer (Becks), but instead had Calzone type things, and a very decent Italian beer on tap. Mine was a classic Calzone, sausage, tomato sauce cheese, arugala. Sarah's was filled with zucchini flours and cheese. This stuff was so good, I am suspicious about the "theme" menu.

Right next door was a chocolate/ice cream shop, with a line out the door of people speaking Italian, so we thought we should check it out.

Liam approved!

That about did it for Rome, now on to Tuscany!

Das Hexenhaus

2011-12-21T20:36:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we partook in the great German gingerbread house tradition. I picked up a kit at the bakery that included all of the pieces-- even the figurines of the witch, Hansel, and Gretel.

The directions on the back of the box only make sense AFTER you put the thing together, or, well, if you had building these things all your life.

First, you have to make the "glue"-- a mix of egg whites, sugar, and a little vinegar. "Whip until it is very foamy"--- uh-huh.

Then it seems really impossible that the house is actually going to stay together, but you have to have faith! Even though it takes about a day for the egg whites to dry out and become hard, the stickiness will keep the thing from collapsing.

Aaaahhhh! The witch is HUGE!

Backblog: St. Nikolaus Day

2011-12-19T22:25:00.000-08:00

(Check out the Blues Explosion Dance Party Below!)

St. Nikolaus Day. Yes, We hid a present in Liam's shoes and put them outside the door. No, we did not remember to do it before he woke up in the morning. Ha ha! Babies don't know the difference anyway.

On the way to daycare, we saw St. Niklaus outside the bakery and he gave us a packet of cookies. Of course, I forgot to take a picture. And at daycare Liam got a piece of chocolate ("co-co-la") and another book! St. Nikolaus must be a librarian in his spare time. Or a dentist.

This was almost our Christmas card picture:

Holiday Blues Explosion Dance Party

2011-12-19T07:39:00.000-08:00

Fun at the farm with falcons

2011-11-26T10:37:00.001-08:00

One of the advantages of having children is that one can pursue one's broken and abandoned dreams through them, pushing them to succeed in the arena of one's greatest failure, and sending them blindly down paths that one was too timid to take in one's own youth.

For example, Sarah and I have always wanted to have a goat farm, but for one reason or another, it has just never worked out. Could this be the reason that our weekend excursions with Liam are so often agro-centric?

This past weekend was no exception, as we ventured out to Krewelshof which, aside from being a working goat farm, boasts the #1 restaurant in Lohmar (out of 4).

Behold the tower of gourds:

For some reason Liam saw the need to poke each of the pumpkins that had rolled off of the pyramid.

Ohhhhhkaaaaaaay....

Luckily we got there in time to see the spectacle of this animatronic, pneumatic creepy music playing thing, before it was locked up for the day:

I don't know if Flight of the Bumblebee was ever meant to be played on the accordion and tuba, but these ladies went to town, and things got pretty avant garde in a few places.

They had rabbit hutches, which Liam enjoyed, and where he met a girl that spoke his own language:

Ok, enough of the good, clean fun. Now to return to the dark side of this post: Falconry.

Just a man and his bird. His bird that is a merciless killer. No offense to conventional hunters, but the best you can say in your case is that you had more or less good aim. But ask a falconer how he got his dinner: "I told a bird to do it, and it did what I said". Now that is bad-ass.

Alas, I never had the chance to see if I have what it takes to be a falconer, but perhaps my son....

Conveniently, on the very day we visited Krewelshof, there was a falconer in residence. Imagine that.

Unfortunately, the guy gave a first impression that did not exactly inspire confidence:

I did learn one valuable lesson from him. Do NOT stand directly behind a nervous eagle. Trust me.

Things got a little better when he got the falcon out:

For some reason he encouraged the children to smell the falcon, I did not partake. Liam was also a little too small to put on the glove and hold it, but there is always next time. At first he seemed interested:

But in the end, he seemed generally non-plussed:

Never mind, he's still getting a falcon gauntlet for his next birthday.

St. Martin's, the Haircut, and Spinach Sauce

2011-11-19T22:31:00.000-08:00

Walking through the night with our cool lanterns. Apparently just for the fun of it and not to actually partake of any St. Martin's activities. Poo on you, Koeln.de

But the lanterns are cool, huh?

He's kissing the chicken comb.

We gave him his Weckmann when we got home, but he mostly just carried it around. I guess he's just not used to eating food that looks like people.

Hair a little too long and James Blunty?

Whoa! And this seems to be the haircut that I am able to do. I'm afraid other styles are beyond my abilities...

Spinach, spinach sauce!

Cuteness on the Fly

2011-11-14T12:11:00.000-08:00

Might you be wondering what I do when Liam is cute and I don't have our camera? (The camera with whom we are fighting at the moment. Bad camera! It lost our pictures for St. Martin's Day! Liam touched a horse... well, the horse kind of touched him. And all of our beautiful chicken lantern pictures, now you will have to see the ones we took today when we tried to go to a St. Martin's thing in some day care near us, but it turned out that there was nothing happening. We weren't the only ones standing around with lanterns in the dark, at least.)

On All Saints' Day in the park.

At Kaffee Brause in the neighborhood-- home of the "Kinder Cappuccino", ie foamy milk in an espresso cup. And oh my heavens, he sat there in his chair and spooned up every last bit of foamy goodness,

Playing in the leaves with some older girls.

Apparently the only way he will eat broccoli is if he rips a bit off by himself. Very self-sufficient, this kid.

Sour Citrus Sipping

2011-11-13T00:43:00.000-08:00

I swear my baby doesn't have scurvy.

chicken video

2011-11-12T23:09:00.000-08:00

for your continued viewing pleasure...

the words! Karneval, sort of ignored! And how do you make a chicken lantern?

2011-11-12T10:43:00.000-08:00

Liam wants to say so much-- in addition to the ubiquitous "turtle, turtle", he is now very seriously pointing to pictures and things and repeating after me when I tell him the name. Beetles, Zebras, Monkey, Cupcakes, Tea-- he LOVES to smell tea. He points at our tea shelf and loudly sniffs, and when I reach up to get a container of tea he bounds up and down in his chair, grinning wildly.

The season fo Karneval started on Friday, but we just went about our day as usual. The 11/11 is quite a strange day. Some people dress up and drunkenly roam certain designated streets, while others go about their normal days. The "celebrators" are mostly college students, but some older folks --- the die-hard Kölnern--- also join in, and you meet everyone on the metro. Liam was vaguely interested in the costumes,but that's about it.

The holiday that I am excited to celebrate is

ST. MARTIN'S!

I have to put it on my list of things that I love about Germany. Children carry lanterns, and meet in groups (usually the neighborhood day-care , pre-school, or elementary school) to act out the story of St. Martin. During the performance, the kids who are watching eat Weckmann, a little brioche-y kind of bread made in the shape of a person. Then, and I#ve heard conflicting reports on this so maybe it varies between regions and neighborhoods, you walk around your neighborhood singing the St. Martin's songs and receiving candy from businesses.

But why don't I let You Tube explain it for me?

And here is an example of the performance the kids do:

Go to 3:30 for the big number..

Mind your Ps and Qs

2011-11-05T01:20:00.001-07:00

A Boy and the Leaves

2011-11-02T21:49:00.000-07:00

A Boy and his Bug

2011-10-27T21:51:00.000-07:00

We call him Grassy.

It's too cold for the little grasshopper outside, so we are taking care of him for a while. But I think he might need to hop soon...

Oooh!

More Liam, Liam, Liam

2011-10-18T12:37:00.001-07:00

Hi there. It's a shame that when Liam gets really interesting, I have less and less time to blog. I've cleverly combined a piece of directing/choreography with my research module at school, but I'm still devoting a LOT of time to it. I've set myself a mountainous reading list---and then the rehearsals start. Anyway, on to our Liam!

He's like a little tornado ripping through the apartment everyday. Well, that's not quite right, more like a bulldozer. It's a slow and systematic destruction.

He sleeps with a small soft baby that he calls ba-ba.

After initially waving in a rather grown-up fashion, he's now doing that baby finger wave. He tends to say bye bye (actually "tschüß") everytime we finish doing something as well as to say goodbye to people. Of course, I tell him to say bye bye to something I don't want him to have anymore. Go figure!

His favorite words are cheese, juice, tschüß, tooth and cheers!--- at least I think those are different words. They sound REALLY similar.

He loves liverwurst. I have to ration it.

Here's the Baby:

And here is his New Winter Hat! (this is what I can do when I don't have school work at night. I have a pretty cool sweater planned, but I have to also work in the evenings again... hmmmm.)

RAWR.

New Painting. Good thing we have lots of blank wall space.

Liam eats breakfast just like papa! (I guess Jer doesn't like his picture taken at 6:30am.)

The Big Book of Cologne History

(suspenders plus hippo=awesome)

Sir Walksalot

2011-10-06T13:06:00.000-07:00

You may have heard allusions to Liam's vertical locomotory ability through different channels, but these events had heretofore been rare and rather short lived (mostly of the step-step---grab, or step-step--plonk variety). So, not really easy to document for our audience, and really, let's be honest, not too impressive anyway.

But, today is a new day, and apparently we have a new Liam. A Liam that walks around like it's no big deal. Yes, his gait may be reminiscent of that of a muppet dinosaur, but he is our muppet dinosaur and we are proud.

Schwetzigen 2010

2011-10-01T11:39:00.000-07:00

So, remember when I went to teach a workshop and Liam was 7 weeks old? I just found the photographs-- taken by the excellent dance photographer Günter Krämmer. I ran into him a few weeks ago when I did Alles Was Tanzt again, and I was looking for photos of that, but instead I was transplanted back to a magical moment when I could minuet on stage during a dress rehearsal in full costume with a (only moderately ridiculous) wreath of flowers in my hair and Liam sleeping in my arms. Kind of delicious, no?

(and someone needs to give that poor girl a petticoat)

"too! too? too!"

2011-10-01T11:07:00.000-07:00

Mostly what I want to tell you is that Liam can no longer go into the bathroom without developing a burning desire to brush his teeth. "Too?" he says. "Too!" It's real communication-- sure, he's said cheese, but that did not actually coincide with wanting to eat cheese. Well, he also says "bye" and "night-night" sometimes, I'll admit, but that hardly compares to the consistency of the last few days of teeth-brushing obsession.

He's kinda-sorta walking more and more, taking it easy and allowing us to savor each step. Now he prefers walking while holding my hand to crawling at the playground. Today he stood up on his own quite a bit. He also likes to stand up (and sometimes take a few steps) on the mattress, so when he inevitably falls down it's funny.

And last Sunday we went to the Zoo:

Liam woke up with wicked cool bedhead this morning:

And yesterday he was the Bracelet Boy:

(I just realized that picture is sideways- too lazy to turn it now)

This week in Liam

2011-09-24T11:48:00.000-07:00

"Hey, Mom, this is soooo much more comfortable than taking a nap at day care."

"I will conquer all levels of this German play house!"

"Yes, welcome to my lair."

"Oh my sweet heavenly lemon ice cream...."

"is MINE!!!"

Lazy Blogging, part 75643; or, Hey! Video Time!

2011-09-12T05:53:00.000-07:00

Please enjoy these two gems, and know that we have spared you the 15 different videos we have taken of Liam dancing in his chair with food smeared all over his face to a wide assortment of musical styles. But you can imagine.

This one is at Sue and Daria's house:

And this one was the evening before we left... you can see the chaos and care that went into packing a bag that we no longer needed by the time we got it.

Phone pictures of mediocre quality

2011-08-18T21:43:00.001-07:00

but the cuteness is all in the subject.

Mnomana

2011-08-17T23:14:00.000-07:00

As the Exterior Part of the human Figure gives the first Impression, it will be no unpleasing task to adorn that with the aimable Qualities of Decency

2011-08-17T21:56:00.000-07:00

and genteel Behaviour… and thereby distinguish the polite Gentleman from the rude Rustic.

Oops, sorry, Francis Nivelon tried to hijack my blog post.

So I am in the thick of writing another research paper, this time about etiquette in dance manuals from 1450-1920. Kind of suspiciously the same dates as the Library of Congress American Memory Dance Manual Collection that is conveniently online with scanned pages of 200 dance manuals. I'll admit that two German books are my limit... Anyway, enough with this blah blah blah nonsense, would you like to know what Liam is doing?
(ok, now I have bullet points and I don't know how to get rid of them)

(oh, right, that's how)

Our boy is now in day care! I was finally able to get him into the brand-new and just-for-people-at-the-Hochschule day care. We've been doing the acclimation period last week and this week. The first week we stayed there together for one hour and then two hours, and this week he started out alone from 8:30-11, and for the rest of the week he's there 8:30-12-- including lunch but not nap. Normally, they take care of the kids from 8:30-2:30. The space itself is pretty fantastic with lots of great toys that we don't have: a large wooden store with lots of fruits and sausages (ha! Germany!), big soft building blocks of different shapes, a cozy reading nook with drapery, and lots of things to ride on or roll around on--- kind of hard to describe, but I'll try to take pictures on his first real day. The two women who take care of the kids are fantastic, and in Germany you have to have studied early childhood education to work in the public day care.

Here are some other things we've been doing (I broke the camera-ummm- or let's just say it is not working right now, so I had to take pictures with my phone):

(AAARGH! The phone doesn't connect to the computer. OK, well, I'll just show you my phone when I see you)

Liam's eating his own breakfast cereal-- he loves unsweetened grapefruit-- he'll eat a piece of steamed broccoli or two---cheesy pasta!-- and he also now shovels his yogurt in himself-- and today, Pasta with Tomato Sauce (really hard to imagine that a kid would eat that)

The walking is coming along-- yesterday he pushed the kid's cart all over the grocery store, and I was giggling like a maniac.

To continue the explanation of the long duration of the dinner hour

2011-08-03T13:18:00.000-07:00

The music is really quiet, but it's Pavement. He's the indie rock baby.

Liam's European Summer Adventure: I love Paris, in the Summer, when it Sizzles Moderately

2011-07-29T11:35:00.001-07:00

Parlez Vous l'anglais? L'allemand? Non?

with Sue and Daria!

They hung out with us in Cologne for a week-- we barbeque-ed, ate ice cream, saw the chocolate museum, and they took care of Liam for a day when I had (surprise! what?) class. Somehow we convinced them that Cologne is charming (oh, ok, I still like it here), but every place is charming with our little guy.

Then we went to Paris!

outside our hotel room

We could see each other out the windows.

f-8">div>

Bonjour, mama!

We stayed in a fantastic 17th c. building with a crooked and winding spiral staircase (on the 4th floor)-- it had painted tiles on the wall, and THEY BROUGHT BREAKFAST TO YOUR ROOM.

Sue and I loved it, but as Daria (somewhat exasperated) stated, "You guys like old things". Liam actually slept relatively well in the hotel crib, but maybe that was because one day we had... The Day With No Nap. It wasn't as horrible as it could be, but I don't want to repeat it any time soon without an energetic 11-year-old and an experienced mom by my side.

The first day we met up with my cousin Meghan-- she's studying fashion design for a month in Paris-- and took Liam to the carousel and the playground.

We ate fabulously well-- I had lamb sweetbreads, chocolat chaud with citron-thyme ice cream, macaroons (basil-passionfruit! grapefruit-rose! blackberry!), a fish terrine, croissants upon croissants, a sausage that used to not be served to Americans (yay, more innards! Hey, there's no place like Paris for organs and glands), and a brilliant salted-caramel ice cream.

We did not, however, eat the Eiffel Tower made of macaroons.

Liam had a taste of the chocolate by first dipping his frog in it and then his spoon. He also DEVOURED the little pot of carrot ginger cream soup that they gave each of us, roundly rejecting my jar of German baby food. Of course I tried to replicate it here, but oh Maman, you are no French chef.

Daria and I made up a dance, took it to the Eiffel Tower, and performed it-- I just have to add some music to our video.

And of course in The Day With No Nap, I walked Liam up and down in front of the Sorbonne fruitlessly. The kid wants to learn, I guess.

Art Thursday

2011-07-21T22:57:00.001-07:00

Liam really let his creative juices flow yesterday. First, he composed his first choreography, "Chair Dance 1 Geminiani".

Then the world of visual art beckoned, and he created his first finger paint masterpiece. Some of it was a knee and diaper-bottom installation, though. Next time I'll invite you to the opening.

(I know it's like sooooo first-time mom to document baby's precious first finger paint smearing, but I like it and it really brightens up our hallway.)

Liam's European Summer Adventure: Love, Italian Style

2011-07-17T00:26:00.000-07:00

A few days after Göttingen, we high-tailed it down to Lake Como with my parents for a mini-vacation.

A few general observations:

1. There are many assumptions about Italy-- and the coffee totally lives up to its hype.

2. Eating dinner at 6pm is difficult.

3. Vacation apartments are MUCH better than hotel rooms.

Day 1

We took the EARLY flight from Cologne to Milan, and spent a good half of Saturday actually travelling to the small town of Menaggio. First stop- Milan airport to Como-- no problem. We piled out of the train to the first panini shop. Then, it was time to get on the bus around the lake- it was raining, I was trying to get Liam to take a nap, and the breathtaking views were somewhat menacing by virtue of the almost total lack of guardrails to prevent a plummet into the lake. It ended up being a pretty rainy day, so we hung around our apartment, drinking prosecco.

He does sleep sometimes.

Day 2

Villa Carlotta!

We took the cute tourist train (powered by a tractor!) (think a kid's train set come to life) over to the villa, which had astoundingly beautiful gardens. And, like most of Lake Como, there were Hydrangeas galore.

Then we headed back on the train to go to what I thought (in my bad Italian) was some kind of bone church (like Kutna Hora in Prague), but what turned out to be just a regular church that wasn't even open. Now we had to wait an hour an a half for ou little tractor-train to come back, but meanwhile we were treated to the sights of Italians of all body types and levels of undress sunning themselves in a public park. We seated ourselves a bit out of the blinding sun, and Liam made friends with another kid. (although nothing can compare with the numerous naked German children my parents happened to see in various parks...)

After getting back to Menaggio, we walked through the fancy-pants outdoor market to get to a restaurant, but it turned out that they didn't serve dinner until 7, so it was panini time again.

at the lake in Menaggio, waiting for our tractor-train

Day 3

We went to a cooking class! We took the ferry across the lake to Varenna, and a taxi picked us up to drive us (and the other Americans/Englishpeople) up the mountain to the TINY village for our class-- more winding streets and guard-railless fun for my poor father in the front seat. The class was 5 hours long, I discovered at Liam's lunchtime that I had left his food on the boat, and I learned exactly what I had been doing wrong when making risotto (letting the rice dry out too much between spoonfuls of broth). It was fun, though, and I just have to scan those 10 pages of notes for my dad-- the chef luckily had a 7 month old granddaughter, and her mama gave us some Italian baby food. Liam agreed to eat the fruit. (Note on Italian baby food-- they have jars of prosciutto and rabbit!!). The food was, naturally, astounding, I could have eaten a LOT more, but I didn't want to be such a piggy. After the class, we took another ferry ride to Bellagio where I bought Jeremy some cufflinks, my parents picked up a Pinocchio doll for Liam, and the boy ate salad Caprese.

outside the restaurant

Day 4

Time to go to Milano! Silly person that I am, I thought we would have at least half a day to spend in Milan-- but they way back is looooong, especially if you mess up. But first, we took the boat all the way back to Como, which was relaxing and delightful. Then we were all set to go to Milan on the train-- just one connection!-- and I dragged my parents running through the train station in Saronno only to hop on the wrong train. The train to this charming town:

It was about 100 degrees, and the only seats were in the sun. I did talk to the station guy in Italian, though.

By the time we hit Milan we were all WIPED, so we went to the hotel, found Liam some yogurt and a banana, and tried to get some dinner. NO DICE: in Milan the restaurants don't even open until 7!! We managed to find something, Liam puked up yogurt in the Burger King, and after putting him to bed I had dinner with my Fairy Queen friend Marco. That was lovely, but I wish my parents could have been there with me. Next time we all go on vacation together, Liam will be able to stay up a little later...

It was a great trip, in spite of all of my nonsense. The weather was GORGEOUS, that lake was so beautiful, the tourist tractor-train was perfect, and the boat rides were breathtaking. And we were there together.

Daria and Sue!

2011-07-12T13:05:00.000-07:00

Some photo impressions-- more later!

But it's clear that Daria and Liam are having a real love-fest...

This is why dinner takes an hour

2011-07-02T12:03:00.000-07:00

Spoiler Alert: He doesn't actually eat the tomato.

Liam's Birthday Picnic

2011-06-29T22:29:00.000-07:00

I think Liam is starting to actually talk, although these early attempts are hard to distinguish from the general baby babble. BUT, it seems that he says the usual Mamamama and Dadadada and Nana for both banana and my mom (Nan!). I think he actually said "Nein" to me a few times, too. Ha! Mr. Bilingual already. Plus, he might or might not be saying "Na"-- the German "hey". He's kissing Jeremy goodbye and blowing kisses to his grandparents on skype. And of course crawling EVERYWHERE.

His birthday cakes were a hit-- wit the adults! I made a yogurt cake to try to tempt him, but he ate one strawberry from the top, and wouldn't touch the rest. Not even to smear frosting on his face.

The Extended Summer of Visitations

2011-06-25T13:00:00.000-07:00

Can you tell that our lives have been too full to blog? It's really a shame that when interesting things happen and there is so much to blog about... I don't.

And it's hard to write about Göttingen this year. It was precisely magical. Of course I was a bit concerned about Liam and working and etc etc, but he did beautifully, bonding with Kathy and my parents and continuing his love affair with our Miriam. He's become quite adept at eating by himself (when in the mooooood), crawling super fast with a waggling behind, getting up and down suitably sized furniture, ripping up magazines, and imitating everyone to our perpetual delight.

But the real thing is... is that in Göttingen I feel like I came back to myself. After being pregnant and a new mom for so long, going to school and reading at night, writing papers in snatched nap hours and babysitting time, I was feeling a bit dry and dull. Who knew that a moderately stressful, full-time-including-most-weekends job would revitalize me. But of course I was doing what I love with people that I love with other people that I love around me. Seeing an opera take shape, being responsible for the recording of the stage movement, taking care of the hundred little details that are always surfacing with the production assistant was just so stimulating. AND we did a dance show in a historic schnapps factory-- the local newspaper even called my Venus "enchanting". It's a bit hard to come back to normal, as it always is after a tour.

Luckily, the summer is full of visitors and visting!

We've already seen Kathy and my parents, obviously. (more about our trip to Italy with my parents later! Or maybe they would like to guest blog...)
We had a surprise visit yesterday and today from Justin and Hazel, Jer's cousin and his charming wife. They're taking a year to travel the world after quitting their jobs and selling all their possessions, and just happened to be swinging through Germany.
Sue and Daria are coming in the beginning of July!!
(in August I have to write a big paper)
And in September we'll be in America for Jeremy's brother Ken's wedding.

Liam is a really good traveller. Let's hope he stays that way.

Happy Birthday LIAM!

2011-06-16T23:24:00.000-07:00

Our boy now:

And a year ago:

There are too many ways in which you are the most amazing baby ever.

ooof!

2011-06-11T23:46:00.000-07:00

Sorry it has been a month! Göttingen is always crazy busy and this year:

Miriam! opera opera opera Papa! Grandma Gigi! dance show put Liam to bed opera nap Nan and Grandpa! bed nurse dance show nurse opera nurse pump dance show dance show costumes costumes Venus Columbine put Liam to bed

Here's some pictures---

Miriam and Liam

2011-05-10T12:28:00.001-07:00

from the last few months...

Liam in Göttingen

2011-05-10T12:10:00.000-07:00

Everything is going pretty well-- Liam just looooves Miriam, so he's having a good time here. I'm in rehearsals all day, making sure the right arm is high on "valor", but Liam and I get to have lunch together. Miraim seems to be holding up very well, considering that napping is now VERY hit and miss.

You didn't expect him to sleep well, here, did you??

We had such a beautiful glimpse of a decent sleeping pattern right before we left...

But, anyway, there is a park right outside the door, and even a backyard-- so much green!! Göttingen is a charming town, and the weather is mostly gorgeous. You should come visit!

Here are some pictures that Miriam took--

(I have to remember to bring a camera with me, so I can get a shot of Liam crawling on the raked stage in the rehearsal room. Oh, and all of the singers just ADORE him.)

(AND he is entranced by the harpsichord. Hahahaha- score a point for baroque dance)

Why does the bunny have red eyes? Why?

Not freaking out about Monday

2011-04-29T01:19:00.001-07:00

Would you care for some grass?

Perhaps a folder divider?

Never mind, I'm going to read my magazine.

Liam is taking morning naps LONGER than an hour, and it is really messing with my head.
I'm almost finished with my latest paper for school.
I finished my bag o' muesli this morning.
Everything is falling into place for

GÖTTINGEN

IN 72 HOURS

FOR SIX WEEKS

Yikes! I'm just hoping that by vacuum-packing our clothes that we will have enough room for the toys and baby medical supplies and baby tent and my coffee maker and shoes and blah blah blah list of hundred things to fit in one suitcase.

It's going to be quite an adventure-- our beloved babysitter Miriam is coming for the first two weeks, then Jeremy and Kathy, then my parents. I'm going to be working A LOT, but usually there is an hour and a half lunch break for some nursing and cuddling. It's Adventure Time people.

10 months!!

2011-04-18T13:16:00.000-07:00

The big thing this last week:

Crawling!

Sitting for more than three seconds at a time! Completely voluntary sitting (as opposed to when I will place him on the floor in a sitting position)!
He sits a lot with one leg stretched out and the other tucked behind him in a vaguely uncomfortable looking yoga-like pose.

The sleeping at night still has its ups and downs, but it is still soooo much better than a month ago. He wakes up at 5am pretty regularly FAMISHED, and I'm enjoying that one snack and snuggle time so much better than 11pm, 1am, 3am, 5am, etc.

random, part 386

2011-04-13T00:32:00.000-07:00

Liam is sleeping on my lap with a bit of a grumpy fever--- we blame the tooth that is lying in wait while the others have dutifully popped out. Mr. Upper-Front-Right, he's a sneaky one. I'll take him to the doctor tomorrow if this keeps up...

But what I really wanted to write about is how happy we are that playground-BBQ season has started. Liam, on his second outing to the sandy playground, no longer shoveled handfuls of sand, rocks, and sticks into his mouth, deciding instead to harass the unfortunate other baby who wanted to play with us. Well, whose parents wanted to play with us. The little guy (not really that little-- his head was probably twice the size of Liam, and he must have weighed 10 pounds more...), at 7.5 months, was just chillin' on the sand on his tummy with his pacifier. Liam proceeded to pull out his pacifier, stick his finger in his mouth, and crawl all over him. (I tried to prevent the first two, but he is so darn fast!)

He's also started giving me the bits of finger food he no longer wants-- picking something up and putting it into my outstretched hand.

Uh-oh-- waking up!

Here are some various and sundry pictures, including

The One Time He Ate Beets

And Then He Looked Like My Brother!

BBQ Licking the Tent, Reading, and Papa's Shoulders

Goat Cheese and I Love Me

2011-04-09T09:46:00.000-07:00

Videos from the last couple of days:

Liam makes a new friend

and eats goat cheese.

current culinary delights

2011-04-07T12:49:00.000-07:00

Sand

Goat Cheese

Sleep Success

2011-04-05T01:33:00.000-07:00

Ok, the big news is

LIAM SLEPT 10.5 HOURS STRAIGHT LAST NIGHT!

He slept through the night!!

Of course, I woke up at 4 and was pretty much awake until he woke up at 5 to nurse--- but we both snoozed after that until 7:30. IF thus becomes a regular deal (IF IF IF--- I'm jinxing it right now), I'l be able to get used to sleeping ALL NIGHT again. And then bluebirds will braid my hair and unicorns will serve me breakfast. You might be wondering what worked for us after 3 months of elusive sleep-lengthening efforts? No Mama. I pumped some milk and Jer gave it to him when he cried. Wheeee!

He's also clapping, apparently crawling for real (Miriam witnessed it yesterday while I was at school!), and reading like a maniac. In the past few days he's been making a bee-line for his bookshelf, and he actually flips through the books when he's not chewing on them.

Here are some pictures from our super-warm weekend bike trip:

Lazy mom's video time

2011-04-01T01:13:00.000-07:00

(I should be reading some Hayden White narrative history Annal vs. Chronical blah blah blah for school on Monday, but I decided to update the blog-- while Liam sleeps on my lap AGAIN--because it's been a long time. I don't want to lose my faithful readers...)

The baby gate was a pain, so we thought empty water crates would do the trick. WRONG.

Liam's Theme Song

2011-03-18T13:57:00.000-07:00

I hate to Nap
and I cannot lie
you Mama just can't deny
when you put me in the crib and give me a kiss
and then I just cry!

I am so tired
but I cannot sleep
put me in the crib I make a peep
and another and another and another and another
I never count no sheep!

More sleep
is required
some people say my brain is wired
with trying to crawl and talking to ya'll
I am so inspired!

9 months

2011-03-17T13:20:00.000-07:00

Liam! Our little guy!

What's happening now?

1. excited hand flapping and laughing

2. lots of babbling and squeaking

3. I finally figured out that he will listen to an entire book on my lap in a chair-- sitting on the floor presents too many opportunities to creep away and roll under the couch.

4. The weather on Tuesday was so beautiful that I gave him lunch in a cafe on our way to the library. He ate almost all of the red lentils and applesauce that he absolutely hated the day before. I had tried my trick of mixing it with yogurt and he acted completely betrayed. But sit him surrounded by new people and music... Or maybe he is gearing up for the 9 month growth spurt.

(I shouldn't get too carried away. In keeping with the four day rule, I gave him lentils 3 days in a row and last night a tremendous fart woke him up at 10:30. Oops!)

My beef/apple/squash was also a big smash today. (I didn't make the beef-I'm not going that far...)

He likes a bit cinnamon in his fruits and rosemary on his roasted squash. Our little gourmand!

5. He's still creeping around, but he will pull up to standing on everything. He doesn't really like to sit on his bottom, but he will lean on his side like a tiny playboy.

6. The elusive baby kiss (he may or may not have given me one a couple of months ago after a heavy campaign of "Liam kiss-- SMACK!-- Mama kiss---vague slobber against my cheek". This time it was more of a slobbery cheek suck. I'll take it.

Unrelated note: I think I have a nutella addiction.

Here's our bike trailer!I was all gung-ho to try it out yesterday, but attaching it to my bike was a bit harder than I expected-- the bolt wouldn't budge, and the weather was not so nice.
We're hoping to use it this weekend.

Aaaack! This is it!

2011-03-13T01:12:00.000-08:00

It was the first really warm Saturday, and we took a walk to a new cute street I discovered, where, of course, all the shops were already closed, and there was a line 10 people deep at the ice-cream parlor- it looks like Liam and I will have to go there during the week! Especially this week, since it is our last week together before a massive 5-hours-a-day workshop at school the last 2 weeks of March, and the first week in April I have 4 days of classes... I also have quite a bit of revising work to finish up for this semester, but as Liam is not a reliable napper (see below), I have to do everything after he goes to sleep at night. But I do digress.

Tickle time!

The teeth continue their recalcitrant way out. We were able to get up close and personal this morning and inspect the tiny bits of whiter stuff that is now visible to the naked eye:

As you can see, he's grinding them with his established teeth, causing a frequent Popeye sneer, aka The Tooth Face. We are now in Sleep By Whatever Means Necessary mode, meaning yesterday he only took one 45 minute nap ALL DAY. And today the morning nap is once agan on the chopping block. Hey grandparents! Good luck in Göttingen (insert evil laugh). Good thing he's cute.

Pajama Parade

2011-03-12T00:14:00.000-08:00

Pre-Pajama

Ommmmm baby.

Brussels part 2

2011-03-09T01:19:00.000-08:00

Uh-oh-- I just heard a squawk from Mr. Morning Nap... I'll make this quick:

1. Fries-- Yes yes yes! We even stood in line at Maison Antoine with all the other good tourists-- FOR AN HOUR. We had the bad luck of being in the line with a school group and assorted other jokers who were getting huge, heavy plastic bags filled with multiple portions of fries. By the time we realized what happened we were already in it for too long to quit. You know the line is too long when Liam's afternoon nap begins and ends in the line. But the fries were good, and the cafes nearby let you bring in the fries and drink a beer.

2. Baby technology-- we LOVE the use-it-on-any-chair fabric baby seat. Only the museums had actual high chairs, so it came in very handy. Plus the squeezy spoon and the crazy baby travel tent. We also opted not to bring the stroller on this trip, and it's the last time we can do that-- 4 hours of Liam in a wrap is now a bit... tiring.

3. Chocolate-- we forgot to buy it.

4. French baby clothes-- check. (and less expensive than the clothes around here!)

5. Jeremy found the best Asian food I have yet had in Europe.

Now Liam is looking at the computer, like, " Why don't I see my grandparents?" and whining, so gotta go!

Pass the Frites!

2011-03-05T11:24:00.000-08:00

We are in Belgium! And because a certain SOMEONE in our family goes to bed at the ungodly hour of 6:30, I have plenty of time to type up a little something about our day.

I'll start with yesterday--- Jeremy came back from Lake Tahoe (the entire trip took almost 24 hors!), and Liam and I went to meet him. Liam was ecstatic! Papa! The Peekaboo Master! And, wouldn't you know it-- he slept normally last night! He woke up twice to eat, and then went right back to sleep in his crib. Pure Papa magic. (or the tooth has settled down, but the timing is awfully convenient, no?)

We caught the 8:45 train to Brussels-- after coffee and breakfast for all, not too shabby. Liam loves looking at people, so the first half of the ride was taken care of, and he slept the second half. After getting out in the Brussels South station, we spent a fair amount of time wandering around, trying to find a map and a locker for our bags because we couldn't check into our hotel yet. After that, we made it into the antiques/flea market/art gallery hipster central of the city where we found pita sandwiches with four dipping sauces for lunch. My horrifying French (what? one semester in NYC seven years ago doesn't do anything?) aside, we managed to order what we wanted and I had a water with violet syrup. It tasted...perfume-y. Liam ate his lunch in the restaurant, too, and his distractability doesn't make things impossible anymore.

Time for Liam's second lunch! Maybe something carroty?
I packed all of Liam's foods (with the awesome squeezy spoon that makes all the mommies in our playgroup jealous), but I left it all in our bag back at the train station. We found a grocery store with a couple of jars of baby food, but NO SPOONS! I almost fed Liam with the handle side of a plastic fork, when we spotted an ice cream truck. With waffles! And the waffles come with a free ice cream spoon, if you ask nicely. Then we high-tailed it over to the nearby Magritte Museum to feed the guy in a pretty fancy cafe with baby high chairs and everything. Poor Jeremy had to drink another Belgian beer. The Magritte exhibit itself was pretty great, much more than I thought they would have. And Liam fell asleep again!

We're staying in a studio apartment kind of hotel which is perfect if you have to stay in in the evenings. Jeremy ran out for fries and baguettes and cheese and paté and hummus and more waffles while I put Liam to sleep in his crazy travel tent. It took an extra bit of effort to get him to go to sleep in there, but he's now been asleep for a good hour and a half. I kind of doubt he'll stay in there all night, but we'll see.

Tomorrow-- brunch and the science museum! And chocolates! (I don't think they allow vegetables here)

Blasted Tooth! Come OUT!: or, the last day before Jeremy gets home.

2011-03-03T05:08:00.000-08:00

We are surviving the papa-less week over here. It's been a bit dull-- especially after I put Liam to bed and it is QUIET. Luckily, Liam ramps up the excitement in the night. The tooth situation seems to have settled on pain, unless he is waking and crying and needing to be held every 2 hours for no reason-- but let's just not even think about that. It's the tooth. Last night he wouldn't go to sleep unless he was holding on to my arm!

And related to the Tooth, Liam is even kind of grumpy today... our sunny, sweet boy?!?! But all the usual suspects are probably also at work-- Jeremy away with a smidgen of separation anxiety (he actually cried when I left him with Miriam today-- first time!). Phase. Phase. Phase.

Today is the beginning of Carnival, and we are doing NOTHING. Our neighbors gave Liam a cute little reindeer shirt, so that is his costume for the big exciting indoor activities I have planned for today. It's just too drunken and smoky and overstimulating out there. Maybe next year we can go to the kid parties, but my vote is to get out of dodge. We are getting out this time, but not until Saturday. We're taking the train to Brussels! Jeremy gets back Friday afternoon, and he'll probably be a jet-lagged mess, so I'll have to take the pictures of the peeing boy statue.

(Jeremy has the camera in America)

a tooth, how about another tooth, and another one-- wait you missed the tooth coming in over here

2011-03-01T00:52:00.000-08:00

Oh babies, and their mysterious sleep destroyers.

It's a lot like the great bottle fiasco of Fall 2010. I try a hundred different things, and in the end, Liam does it or he doesn't. We never got him to drink from a bottle, and the weeks before he could drink from a sippy cup were pretty hairy. In the same vein, we've been working on eliminating bad sleeping habits (nursing to sleep-- EVERY TIME-- replaced with music and book reading rituals), but sometimes he just can't sleep. So, I am trying to be flexible, let him nurse for comfort sometimes when he needs it, sleep with him when he needs it, but generally try to hold the line about sleeping in his own crib without too much screaming.

We've been thinking Liam is getting another tooth--- for the past two weeks, off and on. It's one or all (!) of the top four center ones and MAN are they taking their sweet time. I saw a bit of white where the side incisors will come in, so Gott sei dank! Maybe that means I can sleep in my own bed within the next week.

I bet he misses Jeremy, too.

But it's not all sleep woes around here, he gave me a wet willy yesterday, and every time I try to record him with the camera, this happens:

Liam, the destroyer, part 2: no box can hold me!

2011-02-24T06:02:00.000-08:00

Jeremy is leaving for a conference on Saturday for SIX DAYS! I am a little terrified, but I have already planned out my streamlined dinners (soup- for three days! pasta with peas! Jeremy hates peas!), so I can do my work for school and the Göttingen opera at night, thus making some kind of getting-work-done-lemonade. Our fantastic babysitter is coming three times as well, making it less likely that I will lose my mind. AND I can focus on our mini-trip to Brussels right after he gets back.

But Liam is going to miss his papa. You should see the way he army-crawls over to the door when jeremy comes home in the evening.

Baby Banana Grabber

2011-02-21T23:16:00.001-08:00

8 months

2011-02-17T00:47:00.000-08:00

Liam is eight months old today!! He is, of course, an amazing and beautiful child. And so chompable! That belly!

His sleep is SLOOOOWLY improving, just in time for the 8-10 month sleep regression (oh, yes, I have read a bazillion baby sleep websites), teeth! and more teeth!, and separation anxiety setbacks. But we are on the right path, and I am happy to wake up and feed the little lamprey twice a night for a while yet, if it means I can get 3-4 hours of sleep in a row. He doesn't get super fussy--per se-- when he doesn't get enough sleep, but he is extremely bright and smiley when he does.

Since the naps are also starting to become more predictable and I no longer have class on Wednesday, I've been able to take him to a playgroup. The first time, he was stealing all the toys away from the other babies and then creeping away with 2 toys clutched in each hand, but this time there were a few more older babies and he had to contend with toys being taken away from him. He was just like, "huh? ummm, ok."

Mashed banana does make a great hair product.

I keep forgetting to bring in the video camera before he starts chomping and mashing. And because it is not so warm yet, we have designated a banana outfit instead of stripping him nude.

This t-shirt is from Uncle Kris and Aunt Stephanie, and it says 12 months, but I cannot imagine a 12 month old who would be able to fit in it! Because the bug is hiding it, I'll tell you that it is-- a picture of a button-down shirt with suspenders, glasses held together with tape, and a pocket protector. I don't know WHAT Kris and Stephanie are trying to tell us.

A view from the safely-lowered-all-the-way-to-the-bottom crib.

Jer and I went out to dinner last Saturday, and Liam approved of my fancy-pants shoes. The kid loves red and he loves shoes, so this was the best moment of his young life.

the new trick click

2011-02-15T00:11:00.000-08:00

Liam has started imitating me! I find this to be actually the most amazing development yet-- I can see his little brain whirring as he tries to do something.

We're also starting finger foods-- time to strip him down to his diaper and get out the tarp.

Oh. No. Yay?

2011-02-11T00:07:00.000-08:00

Someone is very pleased with himself.

Mr. Excitement

2011-02-05T09:33:00.000-08:00

Liam is starting to really like playing all by himself, ESPECIALLY in his baby jail. What a nut! Sometimes I can wrangle him into reading Pat the Bunny with me, but otherwise he is off exploring.

In disappointing Germany news--- the woman at the butcher shop scammed me!!! I asked for a quarter kilo of beef in two pieces, and the scale read 500g. Upon gently reminding the woman that I had asked for a QUARTER kilo of beef, she said in a huff, "yes, a quarter kilo is 500 grams". I became flabbergasted and doubted my metric abilities, and paid up for the HALF kilo.

(1 kilo= 1000g)

Bad, bad, bad. You win this time, lady. For shame, taking advantage of a foreigner.

(PS- the word for quarter in German sounds nothing like the word for half. I'll admit I have an accent, but that wasn't it)

silly time

2011-01-31T03:23:00.000-08:00

Folks, I won't lie to you, the last weeks have been a hard slog--jet lag, teething, and I had a huge paper due. Now the paper is done, the teething seems to be under control again, and Liam is actually SLEEPING pretty well. To celebrate, we took some silly pictures this morning.

Planes trains and automobiles- Christmas 2010

2011-01-30T07:46:00.001-08:00

Click here to view these pictures larger

A sprinkle before the Christmas pics deluge

2011-01-21T09:41:00.000-08:00

These mittens are fascinating! Who could believe it, my thumb is separate from my fingers! Thanks, Aunt Ann!

More FOOOOOOD!

Mr. Seven Months

2011-01-19T12:21:00.000-08:00

Liam is going strong my friends. Waaaay strong.

Even though I am eyeball-deep in work for school (if writing 2 sentences takes half an hour, it's time to wind up the work session, no?), I have to list for you our little monkey turtle's many astounding achievements. Photo coming soon. You can't expect me to do everything!

1. CREEPING!

over to the curtains to pull and roll

over to my shoes to try and bite

over to the computer while skyping to pound on the keyboard

2. POUNDING!

on all flat surfaces

3. HEAD BUTTING!

mostly into my teeth or eyes

4. FOOD! In the HIGH CHAIR!

apple, pear, and peaches (sadly only an American treat)!

carrots! and today's special: avocado!

Spelt cereal! (We are a spelt kind of family)

also beef and cow's milk (only mixed in cereal)-- as per the pediatrician's recommendation

5. TOOOOOOOTH! (resistant to picture taking or any viewing)

First steps out of the wormhole

2011-01-15T13:01:00.000-08:00

Christmas

was so much fun, but coming back was

NOOOOo JET LAG

I tried to make coffee without putting water in the machine 2 times this week.

Huh?

Please enjoy some videos, my friends.

(thank you so much everyone for all of the love and small mountain of toys. Liam loves to bite ALL of them.)

Oh yeah, not a good idea to leave books on the floor.

Christmas Videos (part 1)

2010-12-26T13:29:00.000-08:00

Papa makes dinnertime fun!

I like to rip!

St. Nikolaus

2010-12-15T10:37:00.001-08:00

does not ask what you want for Christmas.

At the Christmas market

2010-12-13T12:37:00.000-08:00

America on Thursday! Whaaa?

2010-12-13T00:51:00.000-08:00

And it's Monday.

We are so excited for all of you--- or most of you-- to meet our little Liam. I am really hoping that he will be the happy little guy that you've seen in all of the pictures and videos. That is, I hope the flight over doesn't destroy him (or US). Of course, he is in the middle of a sleep regression right now (not that he was ever a really good sleeper. There, I just admitted it. And admitting it is the first step to solving the problem, right?)

Of course, what I am really hoping is the jet lag knocks him out and we can start again from sleep square one.

Really, this post is just to let you know that if we look rather bedraggled, it's because of sleep issues and you should give us a hug and tell us that it will get better.

eat, eat, stomp, stomp

2010-12-11T12:09:00.000-08:00

We are working on our pre-bedtime ritual... right now it involves toe-eating, book stompin', and Spanish Renaissance dance music. But NO LAUGHING.

Classic first bite. What is this crap ?!!?

As you might notice, Liam is mesmerized by the camera.

Liam, in all his various guises

2010-12-07T09:52:00.001-08:00

pre-bedtime almost nude toe-eating

It's never too soon to learn to play piano!

He's in a bit of a twelve-tone phase right now.

The Liam hat

(now that I know Liam is one of the most popular names this year, I can sell the pattern and make a fortune!)

I love turtle!

2010-11-29T01:50:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving!

2010-11-27T13:12:00.000-08:00

Let's face it, celebrating Thanksgiving in a foreign land is kind of bizarre. However, if facebook is any indication, such is the power of Thanksgiving that non-Americans who have spent time in our fair land keep the flame of it a-blazin' in their hearts.

Some of the Pros and Cons of making Thanksgiving in Germany:

Cons:

1. It is not a holiday. You won't have the day off, the Friday off, and don't even think about skipping out early on Wednesday.

2. The butcher might call you on Tuesday night to say that you can have the turkey you ordered for Wednesday on Friday (ooops, sorry), which will cause you to run all around town trying to buy up enough turkey parts to feed 19 Thanksgiving-curious Germans.

3. Of course, the biggest con of all is that your family is not there. Yuck.

Neither Pro nor Con

Because it is a workday, you have to have the dinner in the evening. It's odd to stuff yourself and then go to bed-- rather than stuff yourself, take a nap, watch West Side Story, and then see if there is any pie left.

Pros

1. The lack of a whole Turkey (see Cons #2) can prompt impromptu Turkey Leg Confit-making.

2. In Germany it is very easy to get pure goose fat (see Pros #1)

3. Everyone is really excited to celebrate a Real American Thanksgiving, meaning that you could have 19 people stuffed into a usually decent-sized living room.

Potluck is definitely the way to go. Everyone brought an übertraditional dish-- our table was groaning under the weight of stuffing, pumpkin pies, cranberry sauce, baked pineapple, green bean casserole, etc, etc, etc-- with a Turkish pumpkin dish and tiramisu thrown in for local color.

We mostly played Pass the Baby, though (unfortunately without flash):

And some pre-Thanksgiving snaps:

"Yay, the hat fits, Mama!"

the Eisbär a commeth

2010-11-19T08:54:00.001-08:00

Whee! I finished my reading for the evening 8 minutes early, so I have time to write the blog!

Liam is now.... gasp... 5 months old. (I shouldn't gasp now because...double gasp... he is just going to keep getting older and older...) He's a champion roller now, and as such he rolls from his little co-sleeper crib into our bed very night. Unfortunately, our bed is not big enough for real co-sleeping, so we have made the leap to buy him his very own crib. Yikes! I'll miss having the little guy right next to me.

Also-- if you see us on the street, don't be scared. He's not a real bear--

(The Germans go NUTS for Liam in his bear suits. It's like having a celebrity strapped to my chest.)

Brown Bear.

Polar Bear.

Our Lovable Baby Nerd

2010-11-15T10:38:00.001-08:00

Drinky Boy!

2010-11-13T11:19:00.000-08:00

Liam likes to drink from a sippy cup! YIPPEE!

(the bottle really never worked and the medicine dropper thing only worked a couple of times. A novelty act, apparently)

Le Liam, the sequel--- When the Croissant Beckons

2010-11-07T12:14:00.000-08:00

Hello Cool Cats and Kittens, Liam here. It's a lot easier to write on the blog, now that I can sit at the computer.

My puppy and bear agreed to be my editors on this piece. Thanks for keeping me on target, guys!

Here's what I like to do on Sundays:

Goooood morning, Mama!

Then, I put on my monster pants and inspect Papa's dental hygiene. Time to floooossss!

Then I try to eat a croissant, but Mama is SO MEAN (like I said before), she won't let me have it and instead makes me dance around.

(Grandpa Cha cha, I tried to make a nice Beach Boys video for you, but it didn't turn out so well.)

I spend most of the day looking real cool.

Then I roll around and wiggle around and I get REALLY MAD that I can't crawl yet.

Le Liam

2010-10-28T23:52:00.000-07:00

Are you trying to tell us something, little guy?

5 minutes before bed

2010-10-24T23:46:00.000-07:00

Wha?? It's been 2 weeks?

2010-10-18T03:57:00.000-07:00

And Liam is now 4 months old!!

Well, the last two weeks have been mildly insane. I started school, which means Liam is with a BABYSITTER or Jeremy a few days a week. Eek! Luckily she is very experienced, but in the first week we were still trying to use the bottle, thinking that Liam would eventually get used to it, and he was WAILING by the time I got home. The poor lady had to call Jeremy on the second day to help. That following weekend Jeremy and I really put our heads together and came up with a two-fold plan of attack-- dropper and formula. The formula was definitively nixed, but Liam found drinking a teeny bit at a time from a medicine dropper pretty entertaining. So, for your edification, if you want to feed Liam, you must sit him in his seat in the kitchen and gently squirt milk into his mouth-- but beware!-- you must also remain standing the entire time. Crazy baby.

A different kind of craziness has also surfaced... because of an intestinal problem (ah, the common and all-consuming diaper fixation!), I am trying to figure out if Liam is intolerant to cow's milk (if he does, chances are that he will outgrow it by age 5)-- goodbye morning milky coffee hello tea and calcium supplements and way too many sardines!

Classes are going pretty well... I'm allowed to write in English, so naturally I feel more comfortable doing that then when we have discussions in German. I gamely try to participate but my efforts are either greeted by 1. confusion 2. a "hmmmm" or 3. a request to return to the topic at hand. oops.

But guess what? Liam can roll over! Wheeee! It's on, everyone!

Ooops again.

Go back to sleep, baby!

at the temple of milk...

2010-09-30T12:55:00.000-07:00

We're headed off to Dresden tomorrow!

Before we can post a picture of Liam napping in the Most Beautiful Milk Shop in the World, here is a little diaper and drool to tide you over. He is soooo close to being able to roll from his back to his stomach-- left side only.

Cräzy Sätürdäy Wräp-üp

2010-09-27T08:45:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday was THE DAY, ladies and gentlemen. German exam in the morning and performance for Kölner Musiknacht at night. I was going to have to be away from my Liam at least 7 hours, and his bottle drinking skills were not yet perfected. Aiiiyeee!

Well, luckily Jeremy the Superdad tricked the boy into drinking a relatively large amount that day. The exam? Not so bad, if I do say so myself--- But this exam was very serious business. You had to hand over all cell phones and of course no use of dictionaries was allowed. It covered all 4 aspects of language fluency: reading comprehension, selective listening, writing (we had to write an essay) and speaking in formal and informal situations. The last part was recorded on CASSETTE TAPE! They did let me pump during the break--- even if it was a little embarrassing to ask the examiner, it made me much more comfortable... Jeremy, Liam, and I met up at the train station where we booked a trip to Dresden for next weekend (!!), and then we all went to the performance space. I kept trying to feed the little guy, but everything was too exciting for him. He watched the dress rehearsal without making a peep-- perhaps it's not surprising but the boy loves him some live music.

Here's what happened last week:

And this is from today! This is the third time---I was too slow with the camera the first two times.

a couple of videos

2010-09-22T06:28:00.000-07:00

Now that I've torn Liam away from the keyboard--

Here are some videos from last week. Enjoy!

and to expand...

2010-09-21T00:18:00.000-07:00

Hi folks, Liam here. I decided to take it easy on Mom last night, and only wake her up every 2 hours. (The white noise they put in the bedroom was a good idea.) She was all grateful, like, "sweet, sweet sleep!". That's how you train Mommies.

I was unimpressed by Mama's "new skills piling up". How lame. I decided that I better just tell you myself all the amazing things I can do.

First of all, if I grab your hand, clothing, or hair and pull it into my mouth, it means I love you and I love to CHOMP. Chomp! Chomp! Oh, the delight! I also like to chomp on my giant squid and my puppy, but Mama won't give me the alpaca bear to chomp on because she is mean.

Also, I don't like to be swaddled anymore, so don't do it. If you do, I will have little crying explosions every 10 minutes, so there.

I can move the baby gym this way and that. Me strong, strong man!

And finally, I have the astounding ability to laugh and cry at the same time. For example, if Mama is trying to dress me, and I decide that I am hungry NOW NOW NOW but Papa is doing a funny dance for me, then laughing while crying is indeed the most reasonable option.

Till next time, everybody!

3 months

2010-09-20T01:19:00.000-07:00

I don't have the brain-power to write a coherent entry because Liam now likes to wake up every 45 mins at night... During the day, he is still the cutest little guy and the new skills are piling up! And the sweaters I made are now a perfect fit (even if monkey buttons has short sleeves...)

fyi-- we really only sit him on the couch to take pictures...

This Week in Liam: Fill in the Captions

2010-09-10T01:02:00.001-07:00

Post-o-Mania!

2010-09-03T05:12:00.000-07:00

Don't expect this kind of treatment forever, folks, but before school starts I'm taking it a little easy. I mean, I am still rehearsing for a performance on Sept 25th and studying for my German exam that will take place ON THE SAME DAY, but hey-- I cleverly will be performing dances that I have performed before. Cheat! As for the German exam... well, I'm trying put in an hour of concentrated studying a day. Our little guy likes to go to sleep at 7pm, so that isn't too hard.

Liam is amazingly easy-going. He thinks yoga is funny mama entertainment-- especially with all the crazy breathing. When I was rehearsing the Harlequin dances, he helped me understand what was funny. I do the bulk of my rehearsing during his morning nap, but if pressed for time, he will oblige by watching me for 10 minutes or so. And he lets me take a shower!

Our challenges are still a bit of nursing distraction when not at home (although it is getting better) and a refusal to take a bottle. Eeek. So now we are buying all kinds of different nipples and bottles-- various flow levels, etc. etc. ad nauseum. Being good scientists, we are also trying to use controls to figure him out (but of course, if the main problem is time to get used to the bottle, all of this is NONSENSE)-- frozen vs. fresh milk, feeding positions, and I should really not be anywhere near the experiments. He took the bottle fine before and during Schwetzingen, but now the little guy has wised up. Bummer.

If you haven't read Jeremy's Utrecht entry, do it now!! He's much funnier than me.

In lieu of being clever, may I present to you... Tummy Time!
Watch for the moment when he becomes hypnotized by the ladybugs on his quilt...

Poor Liam...

2010-09-02T13:20:00.001-07:00

...with parents like us, he doesn't stand a chance.

The Little Dutch Boy

2010-08-31T12:53:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-26T12:50:00.000-07:00

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.

2010-08-22T10:07:00.000-07:00

Turntable Taste Trial

2010-08-21T12:49:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-20T00:03:00.001-07:00

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

2010-08-17T11:36:00.000-07:00

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)

2010-08-14T12:26:00.001-07:00

New Videos!

2010-08-14T12:10:00.000-07:00

one short and one long...

from today...

July 22nd

Schwetzingen

2010-08-10T05:31:00.001-07:00

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

2010-08-06T06:25:00.001-07:00

Click here to view these pictures larger

...and for the next 2 years

2010-07-30T23:50:00.000-07:00

I've been accepted in the Tanzwissenschaft MA (dance studies) program at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln (music and dance conservatory)!

I was holding off announcing anything about that until I was sure that it was going to happen, but now it looks like all systems are go.

Of course, it might seem completely insane to go to graduate school immediately after giving birth to the ball of adorable-ness that is Liam Lynch, but this is the first time that they are offering the program, and I have been wanting to get my graduate degree for SO LONG. Plus-- it's free! Well, not really totally free-- I still have to pay 200€ a semester in student fees, but I don't have to pay the normal 500€ that they (recently started!!) charge students because... I have a child. Nutty.

The program combines work in dance research, choreography/dramaturgy, interdisciplinary work, and dance management. I'm looking forward to having time to develop new ideas about working with 18th. c. dance research, and I definitely need to learn more about grant writing and dance business stuff.

Jeremy and I are splitting the child care because the lab is very flexible, and we are looking into hiring someone one day a week.

I do have to pass a slightly scary German exam, but I think it will be ok.

There you have it! Of course, I am pretty nervous about all this working out, but I figure it is more or less like having a full-time job with a baby, and lots of people do that, right? Plus, Jeremy is the best. And, it might help us be able to move back to the US with the possibility of me being gainfully employed...

This still isn't Wallyworld....

Imagination

Dance!

Squirrel Sweater, Kale kills House, and Liam animation

Gluttony under the Tuscan Sun

When in Rome, eat as a Roman emperor would have

Das Hexenhaus

Backblog: St. Nikolaus Day

Holiday Blues Explosion Dance Party

Fun at the farm with falcons

St. Martin's, the Haircut, and Spinach Sauce

Cuteness on the Fly

Sour Citrus Sipping

chicken video

the words! Karneval, sort of ignored! And how do you make a chicken lantern?

Mind your Ps and Qs

A Boy and the Leaves

A Boy and his Bug

More Liam, Liam, Liam

Sir Walksalot

Schwetzigen 2010

"too! too? too!"

This week in Liam

Lazy Blogging, part 75643; or, Hey! Video Time!

Phone pictures of mediocre quality

Mnomana

As the Exterior Part of the human Figure gives the first Impression, it will be no unpleasing task to adorn that with the aimable Qualities of Decency

To continue the explanation of the long duration of the dinner hour

Liam's European Summer Adventure: I love Paris, in the Summer, when it Sizzles Moderately

Art Thursday

Liam's European Summer Adventure: Love, Italian Style

Daria and Sue!

This is why dinner takes an hour

Liam's Birthday Picnic

The Extended Summer of Visitations

Happy Birthday LIAM!

ooof!

Miriam and Liam

Liam in Göttingen

Not freaking out about Monday

10 months!!

random, part 386

Goat Cheese and I Love Me

current culinary delights

Sleep Success

Lazy mom's video time

Liam's Theme Song

9 months

Aaaack! This is it!

Pajama Parade

Brussels part 2

Pass the Frites!

Blasted Tooth! Come OUT!: or, the last day before Jeremy gets home.

a tooth, how about another tooth, and another one-- wait you missed the tooth coming in over here

Liam, the destroyer, part 2: no box can hold me!

Baby Banana Grabber

8 months

the new trick click

Oh. No. Yay?

Mr. Excitement

silly time

Planes trains and automobiles- Christmas 2010

A sprinkle before the Christmas pics deluge

more videos, to satisfy your seven month curiosity

Mr. Seven Months

First steps out of the wormhole

Christmas Videos (part 1)

St. Nikolaus

At the Christmas market

America on Thursday! Whaaa?

eat, eat, stomp, stomp

Liam, in all his various guises

I love turtle!

Thanksgiving!

the Eisbär a commeth

Our Lovable Baby Nerd

Drinky Boy!

Le Liam, the sequel--- When the Croissant Beckons

Le Liam

5 minutes before bed