No Papi

Papi is at the Men's Retreat this week--we sure miss him!  I guess this is a trial run for the hip replacement.  Ugh. 

It seems like every time Papi leaves and Elliot gets sick.  This is the third time this has happened.  The third time!

 

Nolan wanted out of his bed, but Mommy had to take a picture.  He wasn't happy with me.  Elliot climbed in there by himself.

At 6:30 this morning.  Elliot got in our bed.  Nolan was in our bed from 5:00 to 5:45 because he was just carrying on in the boys' bedroom.



Nolan is starting to throw tantrums!  He started doing it last week, but I chalked it up to "He is not feeling good."  Ha!  Today, I just started laying him on the floor and he can cry it out.

Elliot didn't feel good at all this morning.  He would lay on the bed, then lay on the floor, then go back to the bed. :(

We had to get bread this morning and we got free entertainment through a street sweeper.

Misc.

 

Even though he wasn't feeling good, Nolan was super happy to be wearing the sunglasses--we got a big smile every time we put them on!

 

 

 

Birthday--Part 3

We headed out to Heinrichsort for Oma's and Elliot's combined birthday party.  We got to spend a good portion of the afternoon outside, which was nice.  Elliot got to pick plums!  He might have picked a few apples too.  Actually, I am sure he did!  He was eating one when I came back from a short walk around the village with Nolan.  I was trying to get him to sleep in the buggy.  He slept like one minute.  One minute. 

 

 

Just Busy!

Things are just busy around here!

 

 

He likes eating by himself...

The first bath together!

 

Birthday--part 2

A special package arrived today!  We really enjoyed building things!

 I helped him build today, but I am sure he will get the hang of it very quickly!!



 

Elliot is FOUR!!!

How did this happen???  We have a four year old in the house! 

This morning at breakfast

 

Cranberry muffins for Kindergarten

He got some sweet cards and presents from our nice neighbors.

From a neighbor lady

Such a pretty card from the Harris family!  Thanks!!

The hat lasted about two minutes!

Afternoon muffins with good friends.  See the butterfly????

All four boys playing in the trees!

 

 

Andre and I got Elliot a scooter--very practical when we are walking to Kindergarten! 

 

Weekend

On Saturday morning, I headed to a children's flea market to get a few things.  We have just about everything we need, but there were a few things that were missing.  We had a craft afternoon for the children on our block after naptime.  I think it went pretty well--we missed the good weather by one day, but oh well.  We were able to do it the hallway/entry way of the neighboring house and that was nice.  We had 7 children plus their moms.  We built bird feeders!  I didn't get any pictures because of the cramped conditions and I don't want to put other children on the blog without asking. :)

Here are a couple of videos from the weekend!

 

His whole body is moving, but you can tell from his face how much fun he is having!



Day of WOWs

 

I know Nolan is getting bigger, but on Friday, it was just WOW.  It was a jump in his development or I am just now noticing!

We dropped Elliot off at Kindergarten and I didn't want him to go to sleep--what do I do????  I give him a rice waffle, of course.  I just asked, "Do you want something to eat?"  He swung his head around so fast and his little arm went up to get his rice waffle--he totally understood me.

We got home and he took a nap.  After that he wanted to play with this train.  You can take it apart with a plastic screw driver.  He had the train in his hand and kept motioning me that he wanted a toy box with a TON of toys in it.  I put it on the floor for him and went in the kitchen.  I could hear him taking things out.  I thought he was just basically dumping everything on the floor.  Nope.  Here he came with the two plastic screw drivers that went with the train.  I was just blown away.

In the afternoon, Elliot was sleeping in our bed and Nolan was already up and headed into our bedroom.  I was again in the kitchen and I heard Nolan just having a big time in there laughing.  What was going on????  He had gotten on the bed by himself!  He was in the middle of the bed trying to wake Elliot up!

Why do they have to grow up so quickly???

Great Conversation, Bad Timing

Elliot and I had a great conversation.  I just wish it had been at a time when I could have answered more thoroughly.  But isn't that how it goes with kids???  They has the important questions and the moment last about one minute--you just do the best you can.

We were at church.  Andre was speaking to prepare our brothers and sisters for the Lord's Supper.  I was holding Nolan trying to prevent a rodeo.  Elliot sitting/standing next to me.

Elliot:  Can I drink out of one of those little cups?
Mommy: No.
E:  Why not?
M:  You have to believe in God.
E:  I believe God.  (I had to smile.)
M:  Yes, I know, but you have to be baptized.
E: What is baptized?
M:  That is something for when you are older.
E:  I am old.
M:  Really old.
About two seconds later.
E: I have to go potty.  (Andre is praying at that point.)

End of moment.

I just gave it my best shot.  Why couldn't we have this conversation at home sitting on the couch? It would have been so much better. I had to whisper, folks.  Try to have a great conversation WHISPERING.  Sigh.  Like I said, bad timing.  Maybe next time will be better.  Right?????

Progress

 

I am so blessed to be at home with the boys!  I am able to take Elliot to Kindergarten and pick him up, I can spend time with the boys, read to them, play with them, etc.  I guess what I enjoy the most is when they make progress!  Both boys are doing great. 

Elliot's progress is greeting people and telling them good-bye.  It is a very important part of the culture here and I admit that I have not been very diligent in teaching this.  I am doing it the American way--just "Hi, everyone. Bye, everyone."  I have tried at church to get him to say "hi" to everyone, but he is usually very busy playing and when he does say "hi", he doesn't give much eye contact.  Well, Kindergarten has changed that.  We could not leave yesterday until he had said good-bye to a few people!

Nolan's progress is here in the videos.  He is getting really good at stacking things and putting small things in bigger objects.  He started pointing!  Just really cute. He started clapping, too!  He still doesn't wave though.  He just beats his hands on the window when he see Papi on the sidewalk. :)

 

 

 

14 Months Old!

Nolan is 14 months old today!  And two molars popped through!  He has six teeth on top and two on the bottom.

There's that dimple!

Is so excited to be able to drink out of this water bottle!

 A huge box came today with my mother-in-law's birthday present.  It is a cushion for her deck chair--it filled about a fourth of the box and weighs maybe two pounds.  For that big box.  But hey, the boys will have fun in it!

 

 

 

Taken on last Saturday--getting rid of our energy!  Running around the circular flower bed.

 

 

Elliot's 1st Day of Kindergarten

We have the first day of kindergarten in the books!  Kindergarten is the German word for day care/pre-school.  For the young ones (one year old), it is day care.  The older the child gets, the more it turns into pre-school and pre-K. It is a false friend in German and English--so NO, I did not spell it wrong! :)  Elliot will be four this month, so it will be more pre-school for him.  Kindergarten is a huge part of the system here--they have Kindergartens all over the city.  We picked one that is close to his elementary school.  When he starts school, he will already have little people he knows.

 

We are actually very late in sending him.  In this part of Germany, most of the children start at one year old.  The rest start before or at three years old.  We are very thankful we could keep him home until almost four!