I have to make these updates more frequent. Our Munchkin develops so rapidly, I want to record all the new and wonderful things she comes up with.

Our Bean has just completed a change of Kita classes. After the summer holidays, she was still fine going to Kita, but visibly missed her beloved K, who had switched classes with a colleague. Whenever she’d see her during her Kita days, she’d go to her, snuggle and talk to her and then she had a very hard time understanding she couldn’t go wherever K was going. It was breaking my heart.

The Munchkin isn’t the type to wallow in despair or to sit in a corner and cry. She just wasn’t as happy anymore and always immediately came running to me when I came to pick her up – it’d always been hard to convince her to leave Kita before that point, because she was forever busy doing something or other.

After observing the situation for a while, I scheduled a talk with the Kita manager and requested a change of class – after a lot of hemming and hawing, I suggested the Munchkin could go and visit K’s new class (lots of older kids there) to see how she’d do in this different environment. Our baby loved it! She was so happy to be back with K and soaked up all things new like a sponge. She wasn’t afraid to interact with the older kids or take part in whatever activity they were engaging in (something that still delights all teachers in the new class), very clearly enjoying the possibility to learn from them. After this first day, K made sure our littlest didn’t have to go back to her old class. The manager was still reluctant to agree to it, but seeing how undeniably content our baby was, she really had no other choice.

About a week into this new arrangement, the teachers in the new class approached me to tell me what a sweetheart our Munchkin is. She apparently has boundless energy and a generally very happy and positive attitude. That’s my little girl! Now that she is content again at Kita, there’s no reason why she shouldn’t be her usual self.

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The Munchkin still hasn’t got all her milk teeth, but she started teething very late, so I guess that’s just to be expected. We’ve been to the dentist twice with her so far. She doesn’t like doctors much, but on both occasions the dentist was able to see what she needed to. Things are looking good so far, our Bean has never had a dummy, wasn’t bottle fed for any significant amount of time, doesn’t frequently get sweet things to drink or eat and her teeth have time to remineralize between meals. Everything else is up to genetic disposition, I suppose. We’ll be back to see the dentist in about five months. Unfortunately, I have horrible memories of dentists and have problems whenever I have to see one these days, so I very much hope our little girl won’t have to experience the same kind of trauma.

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Food is still a passion for our little girl, although her tastes change rather rapidly sometimes. It’s easier for her to indicate to me what she wants now, as she continues to expand her vocabulary. Just yesterday, when I thought she surely wouldn’t want a particular food and hence didn’t bother to offer it, she just asked ‘Munchkin some too’? and proceeded to eat (of course she doesn’t call herself Munchkin, but rather uses her own name).

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Some favourite phrases at the moment:

‘Eyyyy, top it!’ (where she gets the ‘ey’ from, I don’t know)

‘Munchkin like, Munchkin mine!’ (again, substitute her name for ‘Munchkin’)

‘Munchkin do it!’

“Meine Güte!’ (preferably when I am getting impatient with people while driving, I have to admit)

Honestly, our littlest tries to repeat everything she hears now and gets more and more communicative by the day. She frequently mixes German and English, but knows which language she should use talking to us and talking to her teachers, for example.

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Favorite activities: Music, drawing, any kind of physical activity like her Kita sports, or climbing structures at the playground, balancing on walls, jumping and dancing. She’s also mastered her learning bike – she was a bit suspicious of it for a while, but decided she wanted to give it another go last Sunday. Within twenty minutes at the park, she’d figured it all out. I was soo blown away by that!

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Dislikes: The word ‘No’, showers, people crowding around her.

Likes: Pretty much any fruit you give her, veg, yogurt, ice cream, straws, Elmo, elephants, trains, K, her auntie and uncle, blowing kisses, Lola (Lego, a change from ‘Lole’), her play kitchen, music and her learning bike. This list isn’t complete, but it’s a start.

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As far as her sleeping is concerned, the Munchkin has reverted to old habits. She needs me to help her fall asleep again – and I am happy to oblige. She’ll go to sleep by herself when she’s ready for it.

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I am off to look for some children’s music that doesn’t make my ears bleed. I managed to find a few artists so far, like Elizabeth Mitchell, Frances England and Lisa Loeb, but I am always looking for new stuff. Our Munchkin very much likes ‘Wheels on the Bus’ and the ‘Itsy Bitsy Spider’ right now, we’re trying to expand her knowledge of songs just a tad beyond that. Which reminds me, I have to look into a certain type of book for the Bean. Auuuuudrey???

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On to some recent pics!

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Our baby girl celebrated her second birthday on May 13. I am simultaneously excited and sad to see my baby grow up so fast. The heightened awareness of my baby’s fleeting childhood makes me hold on to those precious every day moments just a little tighter. When the Munchkin in the evenings decides that sleeping is not much of a necessity, when she tells me little stories in her own unique way, rests her little hands on my face, touches my nose, mouth, ears and tells me the names of the same, when she holds my hand and asks me to sing, I pull her that little bit closer, she snuggles in and eventually falls asleep. I fear that way too soon, she won’t want or need me to be there for her like that. I just know I will forever regret it if I do not enjoy this kind of closeness while it lasts. I would happily trade ‘me’ time for ten little piggies or an itsy bitsy spider any day.

My little one amazes me to no end. She seems to be picking up new words every day and talks a lot in both of her languages by now, which makes for interesting conversation. So far, she seems to be navigating her way through her bilingual existence quite effortlessly. She strings words together now, making it so much easier to communicate. I just love her ‘Mommy, come. Walk. Outside, okay?’ or ‘Da down. Lole. Play, okay?’ She very frequently ends her sentences with an ‘okay’, nodding her head and looking quite serious, which never fails to make me smile. Of course our Munchkin speaks in her very own language a lot yet, too, but I am assuming that is a normal part of her developing language skills.

Our Munchkin has a passion for food and so far, loves strawberries, apples and bananas just as much as cookies, cakes and chocolate. Her favorite food things at the moment are eggs, cherry tomatoes, salmon and pasta of pretty much any kind.

Our baby is funny, sweet and a whirlwind of activity. She almost manages to get dressed herself and even likes to tidy up after herself. She’s developed a love for books, music and dancing as well as trucks and trains of any sort.

Even though she was quite ill on her birthday, the Munchkin was in good spirits. She was so excited and happy to see her presents and the caterpillar cake. Unfortunately, she had come home with a high fever and severe tummy problems. Within a few hours of her, I was also affected. We only later found out that we’d all in one way or another contracted Salmonella – apparently three other children at our baby’s Kita had suffered the same fate.

The weather on our baby’s birthday wasn’t the best, either – cold and rainy. Between that and our illness, we unfortunately had to stay at home, scrapping all our plans for the day. I was just glad to get through the day with a comparatively cheerful little girl, given the circumstances. Hoping for better luck next year.

I’ll leave you with birthday pictures tonight.

The very hungry caterpillar

Birthday bunting

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About 94 minutes ago, I tucked the Munchkin into bed, kissed her good night and told her that I loved her. She gathered her baby close, kissed her good night and lay back down in her bed. At this point, the Munchkin usually snuggles into my arms and holds my hand, tells me about one thing or another and eventually drifts off to sleep. Today was different. My baby did not ask for my hand and seemed to be content just to lie in her bed. Following an impulse, I asked her if she wanted to go to sleep alone. She said yes. I obliged her, kissed her once more and then left the room. I have since checked on her three times, telling her to call for Mommy or Daddy if she needs anything, assuring her that we’re just next door. We haven’t heard so much as a peep from her. Honestly. The nerve. Where is the calling for Mommy? Where is the ‘I need you with me when I fall asleep’ kind of outcry? I am so not ready to give this part of my baby’s childhood up yet. I cherish the quiet time with her at night, I love her snuggles and adore her stories. I thought there was still time for me to enjoy all that. She’s only two years old, after all. Alas, my baby girl seems to be ready to move on. How I wish I could say the same about myself.

Things are finally slowing down here. After two beautiful days filled with sunshine and chocolate, we’re taking this last quiet (and rainy) day to settle down a bit. In that spirit, here are some pictures for you to enjoy.

Works of Art ;)

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It’s midnight and I still have quite a few things to do before I go to bed, so just quickly today, I want to show you our little strawberry. Thanks again, Audrey, for the hat instructions. Yours looks much prettier than mine, but I think it passes.

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I am very seriously mad – mainly at myself. The Lad, the Munchkin and I went to see our neighbour yesterday – said neighbour’s daughter wanted a shot at our Wii, so the Lad set it up at their place and played with her. D,  the neighbour, and I sat on the floor in the adjacent room and talked while the Munchkin played around us.

At some point, our little girl found a hand puppet and put it on her hand. She came over to us and showed off the puppet. Suddenly, she took it off her hand and threw it at D. D proceeded to tell her that one does not throw things at people (after I had said that to the Munchkin already, I might add), took the puppet and threw it at my baby’s head!

Luckily, this thing was a soft toy with no plastic bits that could have potentially physically hurt the Munchkin. But the look on our baby’s face was terrible. I was shocked and said as much to D, telling her that we do not deal with these situations in this manner. When the Munchkin throws things, bites or does anything else like that, we very decidedly tell her that we do not want that, that we do not hurt each other and potentially physically remove her from the situation. If necessary, we will do that again and again and again.

D responded by telling me that she has her own rules and that at least with her own children, but also in her apartment, those are the rules that apply. She said that children like our little one would never learn to defend themselves or be able to realize that what they are doing hurts others, if they don’t experience it themselves. To this I just replied that I find this eye for an eye tactic inappropriate and terrible and that I want our child to experience and find different ways to deal with conflict.

Apart from that, though, our daughter is actually in Kita and does experience how other children treat each other. She does learn to stand up for herself, but I DO NOT WANT this to happen by forcefully retaliating until someone gives in!

So I am really mad at myself now. I did not exactly have to start a fight, but I should have been more clear about the fact that D overstepped a line when she treated MY child that way. I should have stood up for my daughter more. She was so confused, she didn’t even know what to do with herself for a little while after that. My inability to speak up about this is symptomatic for my general treatment of situations like that – I never want to make a fuss, want to avoid disruption or fight. It’s awful, when you think about it. I usually end up feeling sick and develop migraines on a regular basis, because I am unable to just be CLEAR about what I want and what I don’t want.

By now I don’t even expect parents in our immediate vicinity to understand our views on child-rearing, much less to support or even share them. We have been frowned upon for babywearing, co-sleeping, breastfeeding, cooking organic baby food, respectful treatment of our child and who knows what else.

Naturally everybody has their own thoughts and ideas on all of these things. I don’t expect anyone to conform to our views. What I do expect, however, is the same amount of respect and tolerance that I show others. I would never dream of ‘disciplining’ someone else’s child because I think that’s the way to go!

If you’ll excuse me, I will go and look for my voice now.

Our Munchkin is 20 months old – she weighs 11.69 kg, is 83 cm tall, and has a 46 cm head circumference, if you must know – and I am already wondering what her second birthday will be like. Last year, we went to the Berlin Zoo and had a wonderful time. I am wondering whether we should make that a recurring birthday event. The Zoo is one of the very few places here where you don’t feel completely smothered by the city. A walk through the Zoo is a very refreshing change to an otherwise rather hectic city life – a life that the Lad and I seem to have more and more of a problem adjusting to.

Our Munchkin continues to be very active and inquisitive. She likes music and loves to dance and twirl. Her giggles lighten our hearts and her tantrums do not yet last very long. Our little girl likes to lean in and give kisses, and story time with Daddy is an absolute delight for her.

I am not sure where our Munchkin stands in terms of her language development, but she does try to ‘talk’ a lot, all the while mixing English, German and of course words of her own creation. Seemingly our baby should start using her own name and talking in two to three word sentences soon, but I do not see that happen quite yet. So far, I am not in the least worried about her progress in that particular area.

Here are the words she frequently uses these days: Baby, Mommy, Daddy, Nein, Kita, Kitty, Alle, All Done, Open, Book, Cheese, Hi, This, Bye Bye, Brush Teeth, Light, Night Night, Oh Oh, Tea. The Munchkin’s very German ‘Nein’ is definetely the most used word at the moment, usually delivered with a very decisive head-shaking.

It’s very interesting to see how our Munchkin deals with her bilingualism. Right now, she does seem to understand both languages equally well, but her teachers tell me that as a rule, she will respond to requests more readily and more sweetly when they are uttered in English.

The Lad and I both speak only English to her, but German is absolutely the more dominant language in her life at this point. I often wonder whether our little one might develop a preference for either one of her first languages later on.

Anyway, on with the pictures now!

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Picture time! Our baby will be 18 months old in 12 days. She is sporting 3 1/2 teeth by now, her current favorite pastimes are climbing everything that seems remotely suitable for it and putting things in order – I have honestly no idea where she gets that from.  Our little girl charms everyone with her generally cheerful disposition – wherever she goes, she smiles and is friendly with people. I love that quality about her so much, I attempt to soak up her positive and happy attitude and try to make it my own. Anyway, on with the pictures. I always try to reduce the amount of photos I want to show to three or four when I sort my way through the recent pictures, but end up using way too many regardless. I can’t promise that’ll change anytime soon, I am afraid.

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The last couple of weeks have been quite strenuous for us. When I collected the Munchkin from Kita one Thursday, I heard a little girl in her classroom cough quite badly. I felt reasonably sure then that we would be graced with the appearance of a cold sometime soon.

The Munchkin was restless throughout the following night, but seemed otherwise ok. On Friday then, her condition deteriorated after I picked her up from Kita. Her temperature rose up to 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) and I was unable to lower it for any length of time. She also developed a terrible cough and became increasingly lethargic. When she seemed to have trouble breathing and her overall condition worsened, the Laddie and I took her to the Emergency Room.

Turns out our baby was suffering from acute spasmodic laryngitis (spasmodic croup) and obstructive bronchitis, so her breathing pathways were basically blocked both ways. The doctor explained to us just how dangerous spasmodic croup can get and gave us a room on the pediatric ward of the hospital. We (the Munchkin and I) stayed there for four very restless and exhausting days. The Lad came to be with us every day from about 7:30 am and left when it was time for our little girl to sleep. Our nights at the hospital were filled with frequent visits by nurses and one alarm or other going off approximately every ten minutes or so, startling awake both the Munchkin and myself.

At some point during our hospital stay, the Lad voiced what I had been thinking about all the time, too: We have never been this scared for our daughter. I felt utterly helpless and useless, seeing my baby hooked up to the monitors, getting poked with needles, taking cortisone, inhaling every few hours. My poorest child. I took comfort in the fact that I was very close to her all through this time. The Munchkin spent the first night at the hospital sleeping on my belly. For the remaining three days, she snuggled up very close beside me at night – thankfully they had pushed two beds together for us, so our sleeping situation was similar to what we’re used to.

We arrived back home last Monday and the Munchkin spent the remainder of the week with me. Yesterday was her first day back at Kita and she seems to have missed that part of her routine a lot. Leaving the classroom on Monday, I read that scarlet fever is an issue at Kita right now, too. I guess I should get used to that kind of thing.

In other news, the Lad celebrated his 27th birthday on October 8th. Due to our stay at the hospital and the resulting stress and chaos, I was unable to make his special day truly special for him. We did spend the day together, but things were just really unorganized, messed up and generally lacking. By October 7th, a feverish cold had knocked me out, too, so I was basically rendered useless once more. I feel absolutely terrible about how this year’s birthday went for the Lad – I hope I will be able to make it up to him somehow.

Our Munchkin is asleep, the Lad and I will snuggle up now, have some homemade chicken soup, watch a movie and hope the next illness isn’t looming on the horizon just yet.

I just realized it’s been quite a while since I last posted pictures of our Munchkin, so I will dedicate this entry to new pictures. It’s incredible how much she’s changed in a few months! Huge amount of pics to follow

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