home sweet home

Here we are again! From Washington, DC...

The last months have been quite hectic and exciting: Daddy finished his PhD, went on the job market, and found work in DC. Mama wrapped up her job before maternity leave and had the baby grow "some" more [yes, you'll get a belly update too]. Charlotte grew like a weed herself - in size, goldie locks, vocabulary and toddler "wit" [she remains mischievous and cheeky in her terrible twos]. Penny said good bye to her beloved beach, took her first flight, and discovered East Coast squirrels & bunnies. We found ourselves a new home, packed up a household, bid farewell to San Diego, and unpacked some 327 boxes [or so the movers' record says].






Phew - so here we are!






 
The computer is finally connected again, the pictures are downloaded, and there are plenty of stories to tell. But you have not missed some of the big news yet: baby's due date is Thursday, August 8.

So we'll see what happens this week... stay tuned!

the wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round...

Right around Thanksgiving, Charlotte discovered the fun in singing... and has added a steady repertoire of songs ever since:

Her first tune was  

Old McDonald had a farm... EE-I-EE-I-O! 

(which must have been a milk farm, judging from Charlotte's favorite animal to include in each verse ;-)

... and was quickly followed by many more:

The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round...  (which Oma & Opa would call quite an "Ohrwurm" -

having had to sing it a **few** times during their visit)

Schlaf Kindlein schlaf

 

Twinkle twinkle little star

 

Kling Glöckchen klingelingeling

 

Schneeflöckchen Weissröckchen

 

Ich geh mit meiner Laterne... rabimmel, rabammel, rabum BUM BUM

Itsy, bitsy spider

Grosse Uhren gehen TICK TACK

Backe Backe Kuchen

 

Row row row your boat

5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed - JUMP JUMP

Häschen in der Grube

and, of course,

Happy (birthday) TO YOU

♬ ♬ ♬

we've got news, lots

Many of you already know, or could guess from our lame presence here on the blog...

We've been busy with a few things lately:



Daddy is wrapping up his PhD, and found himself a job that will take the family (back) to DC this summer.

Mama has been growing a new belly, for a new baby ;-)

And Penny has been hard at work teaching Charlotte the basics of how to be a good big sister...

...leaving Daddy to wonder if he'll be a lucky guy again that can welcome another girl into this life, or whether he'll get some male support in the pack come August...

 Stay tuned!

the view from Penny's sand-covered snout

just add water

Much like her four-legged sister, Charlotte is capable of making a mess anywhere and at any time.

[Mid-January, San Diego. Yes, we're voluntarily leaving this weather behind.] 

love is all around

Happy Valentine's Day!

Cognizant of the romantic importance of this day, Charlotte already started practicing last week: After the explosion in vocabulary over the fall months, she has been saying more and more 2-3 word sentences this winter. So on the eve of her 21 months birthday, Charlotte was ready for her first fully verbal declaration of love... exclaiming:

"I love you, Daddy!" - shortly followed by "I love you, Mama!" and
"I love you, Penny!"

It was one of those melt-your-heart and bring-tears-of-happiness-to-your-eyes parenting moments, at least for Mama. Charlotte whispered it into her ear as Daddy walked away... presumably in response to him giving her one last good night kiss, and to Mama reading her favorite bedtime stories, and to Penny for being - well - Penny.

We love you too Charlotte, so very much.

portrait of the artist as a young girl

Even at an early age, CSK's artistic proclivities were apparent. While contemporaries preferred bold bursts of bright color and abstract forms, CSK always displayed a more spartan approach to her craft. Canvases were left mostly barren, the bleakness punctured only by a simple brushstroke or two. Occasionally a completely blank painting was offered forth in a derring-do of social commentary: the viewer was left to contemplate the absurdity of imparting meaning to a naked, virgin canvas. Her series of paintings in which a heavily coated brush head was violently and repeatedly pressed onto the medium like a drill is thought to capture her rejection of the pointillism en vogue with her peers at the time. 

CSK's intense devotion to experimental art extended into the realm of performance. She viewed the catcalls about the danger of her more avant garde approaches and pieces as misguided and childish. Public viewings of her work often included sideshows in which the artist herself consumed paint by the fistful. By demonstration, art could never be dangerous. 

Her inspiration was rarely clear. When asked, she would sometimes say her only aspiration in life was "Bunga," the term itself belaying a philosophy that was orthodox only in its rejection of orthodoxy. A self-produced documentary about the artist's childhood ended controversially with the protagonist fading out of view while whispers of snow revealed a sled emblazoned only with the word "Penny."

the lion's share

Penny and Charlotte enjoy a symbiotic relationship, especially when it comes to food. [Maybe parasitic is a better description. I'll leave that to the reader to decide.] Charlotte eats, until she's done, and then she graciously distributes her leftovers to the pink tongue emanating periodically from below the table. This actually belies the true depth of Charlotte's concern for Penny's welfare: whenever Penny clears her bowl [which admittedly doesn't happen all that often], Charlotte looks over, points at the empty bowl, and repeatedly exclaims "More food, Penny!" You know, just in case the purveyors of said food weren't paying attention. The attention to Penny's diet even extends to desserts, as Charlotte likes placing cakes [kuchen] in front of Penny's snout. 

looking for me?

And...we're back. Well almost. [We still don't have all of our pictures back on the home computer since HP made a complete mess of the repair. Fortunately and very, very sadly, this was entirely anticipated, so Daddy removed the hard drive and backed up the pictures manually. Kind of makes it curious that HP insists the drive was dead-on-arrival (and hence no data transfer was performed) but that $20 and a trip to Fry's Electronics encountered no such problems. I guess "I'm too inconsiderate/lazy/ignorant to actually try to perform the data migration" does indeed make the drive DOA. But I digress...] More tales and tails to report in the coming days.

well groomed

 

Alright, another update is long overdue for this (not so annoying at all anymore) little sister: She also makes sure to brush and comb me really nice once in a while...

 

 

busy bee

Yes, we have been busy traveling around over the past two weeks for Thanksgiving, seeing family & friends, and celebrating a wedding -- but we are back now! And owe you lots of stories, pictures and updates:

First of all, the big reveal of Charlotte's Halloween costume is still outstanding. As you might remember, we found out a little too late what she really wanted to be... and thought the perfect outfit for this year would ring true to her nature: after all, she's a little busy bee these days!*


She had lots of fun buzzing around - at the farmers' market harvest festival and on her first trick-or-treat night (fueled by her very first taste of chocolate :-)

More pictures on that to come. In the meantime, you can guess what little (dressed-up Penny) helper she had in tow!

* For her first Halloween, Charlotte was befittingly a milk monster

it's a myth

You would think Charlotte is a daughter of Troy...
turns out she's more of a siren!

Her first report card highlighted that Charlotte is a people person... and also a 'strong and effective communicator.'

We've come to learn that this is daycare teacher code for vocally expressing her feelings, likes and dislikes ... aka "asserting her power with screaming" ;-)

Apparently, she "uses this scream as an attention seeking behavior [...] and enjoys the reactions that come with that noise"
-- yes, Charlotte, we heard you.

decoding Charlotte

Babytalk is (relatively) easy. They don't say anything. Well, they cry when they are tired, hungry, have a full diaper, or... just feel like it ;-) That can be quite the guessing game. Other than that, they coo when they are excited, and they babble to start experimenting with sounds. So overall the range of verbal communication is fairly limited in babies' first year.

Toddlers? Well, they're another story entirely.

(Now 1 1/2 year old!) Charlotte is pretty busy exploring the world and her vocabulary has been 'exploding' correspondingly over the past weeks. We can figure out what she is saying most of the time. When choosing between German and English, she uses whatever word is easiest to pronounce. She has a tendency to drop the last syllable of words, so it's often just a matter of paying attention to the context/her gaze and guessing how the word would've ended.

Lately though, we've been perplexed by two words. One has now been decoded.

Bunga. Bunga. Bunga. Bunga. 

She says it with excitement, pleading even sometimes. She says it for objects. She says it for herself. She says it while seated. She says it while standing.

Bunga. Bunga. Bunga. Bunga. 

Any guesses? Didn't think so. It would have been next to impossible to figure out. Fortunately though, she learned it at daycare, so they know what she's saying. Balls go bunga. A slinky goes bunga. Even Charlottes can go bunga. One can ask to go bunga, or one may make themselves go bunga. Just about anything can be made to go bunga for that matter. Even water. Any closer? 

Boing!

It should have actually dawned on us: Busy bee Charlotte loves to be on the go, loves everything in motion, and loves to move things...So bouncing balls, watching jumpy Penny and going on bumpy (lap) horsy rides are a delight for her.  

Not surprisingly, Go! Go! Go! is another favorite word these days...

fall flavors

Charlotte has been enjoying all the fall festivities lately.

 Climbing hay stacks at the pumpkin patch was great fun. She loved picking out a few pumpkins and has been busy carrying her treasured picks throughout the house ever since.







 



Her first real trick-or-treating yesterday was obviously an event for Charlotte.

Stay tuned for the report out on her (and Penny's) Halloween adventures!

am I on? am I on?

Lights? Camera? Now it's Charlotte's time to shine.

Cognitive scientists have been periodically observing Charlotte's kindergarten classroom over the past few weeks. (That's what you get when daycare is attached to a research university.) They're developing a robot that interacts with children (using Bayesian inference no less). As a result, the team needs to watch how children interact and behave. During the recent Open House event, the lead scientist recognized me as Charlotte's dad. She walked towards me and described Charlotte bluntly: "She's a real ham." Apparently Charlotte observes when she's being observed and puts on a show accordingly.

As if that wasn't enough, we had our 60-day parent-teacher conference last week. Charlotte's social, emotional and cognitive development was discussed (and graded!). [More on that another time.] Charlotte's main teacher described her as "a people person." We knew what she meant. I guess we can look forward to home videos where Charlotte appears from off-screen riding a unicycle while juggling.

PS: Some may remember this cartoon. It has been hanging on Nana's refrigerator for well over a decade now. Across the peacock's plume is written "Troy."

The commentary could use some updating...

girly girl

 

So both of our girls seem to enjoy boy things: romping around the beach, climbing on everything that's in reach... but Charlotte seems to like some of the finer things in girly life too.

As you might recall, she loves tutus - a lot! So the teachers at daycare let her walk home in the treasured outfit once in a while ;-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

tomboy

 

Speaking of latest fashion: Penny got a long overdue haircut. And Daddy felt it had to be short(er) and low maintenance this time.

 




Both of our girls seem to be more tomboys in nature anyway, so Penny lost some of her goldilocks to prove it in looks now...

Mama, who is already sad to have lost fluffy Penny (for a while at least), will not have any shears come near Charlotte though! After she's worked hard for nearly a year and a half on growing a beautiful mullet ;-)

letzter schrei

Die neuste Modekollektion vom Wickeltisch in San Diego...
einfallsreiche Kopfbedeckungen sind diesen Herbst hier ganz in ;-)

it's a zoo

 

Charlotte loves Penny, that's clear, and other animals too!

Especially farm animals. She likes the funny noises they make, and takes good care of 'feeding' them when they're grazing outside the barn.

With Pem-Pem, Moo-Moo & company we sure have a zoo at home ;-)

 

 

an old couple

Telling this (LOVE!) story is long overdue...

Charlotte and Penny have pretty much followed a typical romance of love-at-first-sight, madly falling in love, playful courtship, and -- ultimately -- deep affection and familiarity.

When we first brought Charlotte home, Penny was all over her! She was excited for this new bundle, couldn't take in enough sniffs, and wanted to be close by at all times. She loved to lie at Mama's feet during nursing, and wanted to cuddle up next to Charlotte whenever she had a chance. 

At the time, Charlotte wasn't aware that Penny had fallen in love head over heels with her little baby. She was pretty much oblivious to it.

Then the tables turned: Penny had gotten used to having the baby around. After all, the 'Eau de Charlotte' had been whafting through the house for a while now... As Charlotte became more aware of her surroundings and started to discover the world, it was all of a sudden HER that was crazy about Penny. That cute fluffy puppy was hers? All hers! To climb on, to pull (ahem, pet) hair, to play tug-of-war with, crawl after, and chase with the wagon. To Penny that sudden interest, after months of unsuccessful courting, was a *little* much. But she took it in stride. After all, it was her baby - to love and protect.

And now, well now both of them have fallen into a comfortable rhythm of having each other around and enjoying their company without having to tumble across the floor like on a giddy first-date. They've become pretty good at 'parallel play'. You know, when you don't have to talk all the time in a long-time relationship.

After all, they are an "old" couple now.

Penny happily shares all her balls and squeeky toys. Charlotte returns the favor by letting Penny cuddle up with her teddies, and takes care of her furry pal: making sure Penny is well groomed and warmly tucked in for doggie naps.... Of course, both enjoy exchanging doggie kisses. And Charlotte has finally started calling the 'wau-wau' by her
loving (nick)name:

Pem-Pem!

hände waschen... das ist fein

... das muss sein, das muss sein. 
Hände waschen... das ist fein!

Auch wenn andere Aspekte der Körperpflege nicht gerade zu Charlotte's Lieblingsaktivitäten zählen (wer will sich schon das Gesicht eincremen... lassen?!) -- Händewaschen macht einfach Riesenspass!

A. Dafür KLETTERT man auf den Hocker

B. Wasser MARSCH!

C. PLANSCHEN :-)

love is...

... when Mama wipes your bottom and 

let's you finish reading your book in peace ;-)

 

happy birthday, dada!

I have big shoes to fill someday... 

You are the best dada, with some great throw-me-in-the-air moves - Mama is just better at tickling ;-) 

And Penny's hair is more fun to brush... but that's another story.

WE LOVE YOU!

why need a fork...

... when you've got a finger?!

 

thanks a penny

Alright, alright! 

She also does share her favorite teddies with me for bedtime...