OK, I swear, I won’t just keeping making the ‘look how freakin’ adorable my baby is’ posts forever! But, I just had to do one more first!
We went to a really fun wedding today for our friends Tobi and Moni. They live in Regensburg, but they did their church ceremony somewhere off in Bavaria about an hour from here (Matthias was in charge of getting us there, so I don’t even remember the name of the Dorf), and they had their reception in a castle near the picturesque church. It was really cute, and the weather was perfect!
I spent a lot of time wrangling Clair since she is at the age when she needs it so I didn’t any photos of the location. We actually spent some quiet time out side of the church during the ceremony, but I had left the camera seated next to Matthias so I don’t have one shot of the church. I have some of the happy couple and a bunch of Clair rockin’ her new outfit.
Before we headed out this morning, we got a care package from my mom. First, she made some cookies for Clair, which she will be sharing with her little buddies today. Second, Clair also got her bear, hand made by grandma, with her name on it (she has been applying her new kissing technique to it all day - opened mouthed, very friendly)! Mom also sent a couple of clothes that she had from me! The one dress was made by my second cousin Noreen, and it fit Clair perfectly. Not only that, it looks a bit like a Dirndl so we decided it would be awesome for the Bavarian wedding. It came complete with a bonnet. Amazingly, she actually left the bonnet on most of the day. I think she new how cool she looked (due to everyone cooing over her I suspect).
Without further adieu, look how freakin’ cute my baby is!!! (Matthias doesn’t look so bad either!)
It seems that Clair’s babbling isn’t so totally random these days. She is doing her best to imitate us some times. I didn’t really notice it until recently, but there are a few ‘words’ in her babble now.
A few weeks ago, the word ‘Ahh pee’ or some variation kept popping up; it was very distinct from the rest of her babbling and she repeated it often. At one point, she put an ‘h’ in front of it, and it definitely sounded like ‘happy,’ which is a nice thing to hear from a baby though I didn’t expect she actually meant to do make that sound. Yesterday, I realized that she is imitating me saying ‘Happy baby’! On the car ride back from Beckum, I said ‘Happy Baby’ from the front seat and I heard ‘ahh-pee ba-boo’ each time I said it (until she got bored). Last night as we were going to bed, she said ‘ahh-pee da-da’ (da-da is her new expression for daddy which may or may not actually represent Matthias). She made a a new expression - Happy Daddy!!
She has been practicing a bit more today, and I hear random ‘baby’ and ‘happy’ as she putters around the house. What a nice first word- HappyBaby!
I can’t believe how much she is changing. During our trip to Beckum (photos and story may be coming), she learned how to put her hands over her head when someone says ‘Sooooo big’ (in English or German), she started nodding her head (always with a big blink), she started reaching for people and things that she wants (including pointing), and she tripled her crawling speed! She has also started wanting to eat my food and drink from my cups. I think she getting sick of baby food from a jar because she prefers ‘real’ food. I think the baby food really lacks flavor, so maybe her palette is developing. Either that, or she just wants to be part of our stuff.
She was bouncing off of the walls in Beckum, but she is totally relaxed here at home today (thank God!). I was really afraid she would keep that energy from now on. I read somewhere that kids act differently in different environments, so maybe her crazy self comes out at Oma and Opa’s house. Let’s hope it stays that way
I just saw an ad for Kurhotel Alpenglueck, which is a movie whose location is the great hotel we stayed at in Tegernsee! I didn’t know I had proclaimed ownership of the place until I saw it on the TV and shouted, “Hey, it’s our hotel!” So, if you have some time on Thursday night, it’s coming on Das Erste here in Germany (sorry US readers…).
There is a really great article in the New York Times clarifying why empowering women around the world is really a critical issues despite the fact that it is often put on the back burner when it comes to international policy. It’s a bit long but totally worth the read.
We have no steps in our apartment, and Clair hasn’t ever really played on stairs. Matthias took her to a coffee shop with him today. He set her on the floor figuring he had a couple minutes to look at the paper. Clair had other ideas. She immediately darted for the stairs and went right up them with a look of triumph on her face! How did she figure that out? Here’s a time sequence…..
Christina over at Amiexpat just wrote a great post about the German Health care system. It is the best summary I have read (thanks for all of that research Christina), and I actually learned a lot about the system from it. I have had great experiences with the system here (if not with every doctor I have met).
They treat health insurance here like they do car insurance in the US - everyone must be insured. If you are interested in some knowledge about one kind of socialized medical system, it is a good read.
In honor of my mom’s birthday today, Clair took her first steps! She only walked a couple of steps to Matthias, but she totally did it on her own. Of course, once we pulled out the camera, she lost all interest in walking and became obsessed with the glowing red light of the camera. So instead, here is a video of her practicing with her walker (formerly, her baby gym).
“This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the U.S. Department of Energy.
I then took a shower in the clean water provided by a municipal water utility.
After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC-regulated channels to see what the National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like, using satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
I watched this while eating my breakfast of U.S. Department of Agriculture-inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined as safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
At the appropriate time, as regulated by the U.S. Congress and kept accurate by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the U.S. Naval Observatory, I get into my National Highway Traffic Safety Administration-approved automobile and set out to work on the roads build by the local, state, and federal Departments of Transportation, possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level determined by the Environmental Protection Agency, using legal tender issued by the Federal Reserve Bank.
On the way out the door I deposit any mail I have to be sent out via the U.S. Postal Service and drop the kids off at the public school.
After spending another day not being maimed or killed at work thanks to the workplace regulations imposed by the Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health administration, enjoying another two meals which again do not kill me because of the USDA, I drive my NHTSA car back home on the DOT roads, to my house which has not burned down in my absence because of the state and local building codes and Fire Marshal’s inspection, and which has not been plundered of all its valuables thanks to the local police department.
And then I log on to the internet — which was developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration — and post on Freerepublic.com and Fox News forums about how SOCIALISM in medicine is BAD because the government can’t do anything right. “
I just saw an ad for 
