Oh, Calcutta!

We have never really needed a dryer since we had plenty of drying space and not so many people. But now, as a family of four and with the arrival of sandbox season, I feel like we live in Calcutta. (I credit my friend Liz for giving me this expression) We have laundry hanging everywhere- on the two drying racks, over the hallway banisters, on hangers, you name it. I can't really blame it on the sandbox. Since winter is so wet here, it can take three to four days for a single load to dry. And that is if I space it out. If I cram it on the racks, then add another day!

But the sandbox is now my scapegoat. We've been going through at least two tees, pairs of pants, and socks a day per child. And if we make it to the playground twice in one day (bonanza!), then add another set. How is it that, although we are never in our house when it is warm out, it gets dirtier so much faster?

I'm not complaining. I am very happy that it is finally warm enough out to go out with only a spare sweatjacket and a sand shovel. Okay, add two diggers, a bulldozer, two buckets, two shovels, a rake, a dump truck, snacks, and drinks for two kids and I feel like a dromedary (not Bactrian, Linda!). But I'm still happy we can spend our afternoons outside running around, even though it means I spend all my home time vacuuming sand and hanging laundry.

Enjoy this photo of our cherry tree out on the back terrace. I took it Sunday. Since them, it is in full bloom. Our Nashi (Japanese pear) tree is showing its first buds, along with our deep-red magnolia. And Michael has started sneezing. Ahhh, Spring!

Check out Mar 16!

We have a new old post. I started this post a week ago, but finally got around to uploading the video onto MySpace. Check it out.

http://stuehrenbergs.blogspot.com/2007/03/nilsa-at-mall.html

Family Day

Today was beautiful again, so we decided to take advantage of the good weather. Of course, so did everyone else- especially since today was an Spring Festival here in our part of town. The pedestrian area was full of booths with food (sausages, crepes, soup, Alsatian Flammkuchen) and drink (beer of course!), as well as arts and crafts for kids to do. Jay made an egg man. Basically, it is an egg for a head on a stick body with all sorts of pipe cleaners and other stuff glued to it. I was pretty impressed. I'll have to take a photo and upload it. Here's a video of Nils going down the slide. He is not the kid you hear crying in the film. http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2017692981

Before we went to the festival, we took a walk along the river to get some fresh air and a nap into Nils. Of course, since there were so many sights to see, it took a while before he fell asleep! Today was the first time we let him out of the stroller to play on the riverbank, so he was pretty excited. He got to throw pebbles into the water, just like his big brother. He also got to see a lot of river barges towing cargo, a ferry, and a lot of airplanes flying overhead. Overall, a pretty exciting day for a 15 month old.

At the festival, we met up with our good friends Marijo and her husband Sherin. We let the kids play a while on the playground before heading home for the traditional Sunday Kaffee und Kuchen (exactly what it sounds like) and more Lego train track extravaganza. Overall, a great day for everyone!

Pony Express

I was thinking yesterday about how things have changed and how I've taken them for granted. Before I started this blog, my family (sister!) used to always complain that I never emailed photos of the kids to them. I always responded that it was just a pain to go all the way upstairs to the computer to send them. But then I started thinking about communication and how it has changed how we live.

When I was a kid living in Holland in 1976-77 (is that right???), there was no VOIP, no Skype, no Webcam. Just Ma Bell and her monopoly. She could charge whatever she wanted for a phone call, and did. There was no email, just regular mail. And photos, all taken with a regular camera, had to be mailed. So I think we're pretty lucky that, even though I live an ocean away, I can still share so much about our lives with my family and friends.

Michael's family had a relative emigrate to the US a couple of generations ago. When that happened, it usually meant that you would never (or practically never) see those family members again. It was just too expensive and time-consuming. Now I complain if I don't get to visit home at least once a year. My, how we've grown spoiled as the world has grown smaller.

When I first moved to Germany, I moved to a small town with 20,000 residents. Coming from the NY area, it was a rude awakening. Stores closed at 2:00 pm on Saturdays, not to reopen again until 9:30 or 10:00 on Monday morning. As a couple without kids, we usually slept until 12:00 and had a leisurely breakfast, only to RUSH to the store to get basic food for the weekend. (The fridges here are too small to stock a lot of goods). Now that I live in a larger city and shops are open until 8:00 pm, I consider myself pretty lucky. And I like that everything is closed on Sundays. It helps keep at least one day a week just for the family and quality time together. Would I still think like this if I had never left NY? I don't know, but I appreciate how I can blend parts of my old life with my new.

Plegh

It is official- one of the kids needed antibiotics for the very first time. I think we did pretty well (Jay is 3, Nils is 15m). Nils has pink eye, so it's really only topical antibiotics. But it's the first time ever for either of the kids, even though Jay has been going to preschool for a year now. Amazingly, it's really not that hard putting the eye drops into his eyes. I'm sure that Jay would freak out and have to be held down by three adults. Kind of like when he gets an immunization- my payback for what I did to my mom! I vaguely remember running around the doctor's office with the doctor, nurse, and my mother trying to catch me to give me a shot. Now I know how embarassed mom must have felt- sorry mom!

Rainy Day Fun

Just last Sunday we were having coffee outside, the kids were playing and climbing trees, and we didn't need to wear jackets. Today we're trapped inside by the rain (snow by Oma, only 2 hours away!). Spring must truly be here if the weather keeps changing like it has.

But enough about the weather, how boring can a (one sided, so far!) conversation be if I only talk about the weather? We had a family weekend. No guests, no plans, no big agendas-- just the four of us. It was really nice to be all together for longer than a couple of hours. Today was a Father-Sons day. Michael and the kids (well, mainly Jay) built a massive, multi-level Lego train network. They are still playing with it, but it won't last long. Nils will soon start his favorite pastime: The Breaking Game. He's sitting on a train as I type this, and you all know how big he is...

Of course, it goes against my orderly nature to have such a mess take over the living room. It takes a lot of self control to not follow the guys and pick up spare Legos and put them away as they leave them in their wake, like the trail of bread crumbs that Hansel and Gretel left for themselves. I did succumb to the urge a couple of times, but mainly when there was less going on in the room so I could have enough space to tidy everything up without disturbing the precious Lego sculpture.

On another note, I have also included a photo of Jay playing dress-up (again!). This time, he is not an animal, a racecar, or any combination of the two. He is wearing a Japanese yukata, or robe-styled pyjamas. Our friend Andi brought it back from his band's tour in Japan and Jay likes to play in this as well. He even took off his sheep "costume" (see March 3 entries) to put this on, so he must really like it.

Nilsa at the mall

Okay, we don't have real malls here. Only smaller shopping arcades, as they're called here. One of them has a motion (shadow?) sensitive screen on the ground with butterflies, bees, and flowers. Children can walk over the surface and "chase" the butterflies and bees, watch the flowers bloom, and "jump" into a well to see the water splash out.

Nils' godmother, Marijo, took some videos of him playing with the screen on the floor. http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2017692475
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2017692852

We also have some photos. Yikes, I know his jacket is dirty! And to think I actually just washed it the day before...

Sunny Sunday

Spring has started here. Since we live in a part of town that everyone flocks to when the weather is warm, we had to go somewhere else today since it was absolutely gorgeous! We were invited to our friends Carsten & Susanne's house. Susanne and Carsten are like us- one is American and the other is German (guess which one!). They have two children, Katarina and Alexander. Basically, we had a 1, 2, 3, and 4-year old running around today. Whew!

Their house is in another place where lots of people go to be outside when the weather is warm. Their backyard is like heaven- lots of open, green space, trees to climb (and eat fruit from), a pond, and many molehills that the kids loved poking sticks into. I've attached some photos for you to see the fun that Jay and Nils had playing with Katarina and Alexander. Did I mention that they have a cat that the kids love to chase too?

You wouldn't know it from looking at the kids, but they are all one quarter Chinese. Susanne's dad is Chinese and her mom is American (like me!), and Carsten is German (like Michael), but her kids came out completely different looking!

Old MacDonald

Old MacDonald had a farm

E I E I O

And on his farm he had a hen

E I E I O

Nils is beginning to know his animal sounds. Maybe it's from all of Jay's playing (see Baa Baa Black Sheep entry). Maybe it's because his favorite book is an animal book. Or maybe it's because he loves to play with his "Oma Tiere," small lifelike animals that live in a barn. Even jungle animals. Hence, the roar.

We've posted a video here of Nils saying his animal sounds here. Bawk bawk for hen, mooo for cow, and a great, big roar for the lion. That same growl goes for tiger, monster, and all other animals at this point too!

Love, Diana

The video is not yet posted; I will add it this weekend when it's ready. Hopefully this one won't be sideways!

Update: Mar 5: The video was terrible! So we have to wait for Nils to be in the mood to be our trained trick seal and answer our questions.... hopefully we can get it done sometime this week, but he sure knows when he's in the mood to play the "what does a lion say?" game.

Baa Baa Black Sheep

Today Jay said he needed a little "Daddy time." Awww....

We have a zoo in our house. And it's not because we have a 3 year-old and a 15 month-old. Jay has a rich imagination. He can be a tiger, a monkey, a racecar, or even a tiger-monkey-racecar. (They have stripes, eat bananas and make engine sounds, if you're wondering). At any given moment, he is a different animal. He has a scarf that he ties around his waist to use as a tail- long for a monkey, doubled for a bushy squirrel tail. Best of all, he has a furry carpet inside his play tent that he likes to play sheep with. I've attached a couple of photos and a link of a video clip from today's episode. Enjoy!

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2012506304