Standing Strong
Written by The Laddie
I have felt terribly miserable and quite sorry for myself lately, so I didn’t really think I had anything worthwhile to contribute to this here blog. Seems a bit silly not to blog about personal and/or the more difficult stuff in our lives, in hindsight, since this blog is in fact a personal one – it would seem there’s no need for me to force myself to remain on a subjectively perceived appropriate level. So I’ll just take things as they come now and see where that takes me blogwise. Anyhoo, on to Baby News.
Our little Munchkin is so incredibly active right now, she pulls her tiny self up literally everywhere she can grab hold, walks along furniture and ‘talks’ a lot. She seems very interested in people, especially other little children, smiles and waves whenever she sees them.
On that note, I find the mentality of people in Berlin revolting most of the time. Our baby is so friendly and eager to interact and very often, people notice, but can’t be bothered to show any kind of friendly behavior. Yesterday, for example, the Laddie and I took the Munchkin to a park near our house. She was just really happy to be outside and contently looking at people, when she saw a mommy turn the corner with her little boy strapped in a stroller. My little girl stood up on my legs, smiled at the boy and waved at the mommy. The mother just looked at her briefly, then looked away again and walked past, never even changing her facial expression. My baby looked after her in a sort bewildered manner and eventually shifted her attention to something else.
This kind of thing really does break my heart. It happens more often than I care to admit, but I just can’t get used to this kind of indifference. It’s beyond me how anyone can behave this way. Whenever I see other children do things like this, I can’t help but smile, no matter my mood on that particular day. I personally find it terrible that my child is introduced to the ‘real’ world this young.
Berlin and her people have not presented themselves particularly child-friendly to me within the last year or so, if I’m honest here. Right now, the Laddie and I frankly feel sick of the Berlin mentality and the technicalities of big city life. I’ve had to keep the Munchkin on my lap all this time at the park yesterday, simply because there were things lying on the ground you don’t want to imagine your child getting close to. It’s so sad that we can’t go anywhere with our baby where she could play and crawl around freely, without her parents anxiously hovering over her all the time – it just feels so restrictive.
The Munchkin has just fallen asleep and I have tons of things yet left to do, so I will leave you with pictures of our little sunshine.
April 25th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
Hi there :)
I think that’s just SAD that anyone would not smile and wave back at a baby! Especially another mother. WTH is wrong with people?? I’m sorry you are stuck in such circumstances. Maybe there’s a nice mommies group you can join so your little one gets a chance to see friendly NICE interactions! Wish you lived here. My daughter would loooove your baby!
Anyway, just sayin’ hi… hope you’re doing ok.
May 3rd, 2009 at 6:10 pm
How frustrating. I find that in general people in large cities tend to be less friendly—like their ability to even register what’s going on around them is limited, for self-preservation. And I get it, to an extent, since I grew up in New York City. There’s a certain amount of energy you have to reserve just to survive and get around.
That said, to have a sweet BABY smile and interact with you and to not even notice is pretty sad. I would say that perhaps that particular mother was looking but not *seeing* what was around her in that moment, and to forgive her. But if this is a city-wide problem, I definitely understand you irritation!
May 25th, 2009 at 2:30 am
I’m sorry you aren’t happy there. Is there any chance for a change of location?
You might be able to get the dishes through the website (pfaltzgraft.com) or from Amazon.