Karl is not like other boys

It's been a rough week for Karl. Not only did the competition move in last Tuesday. Karl also got the chicken-pox. Somebody brought the nasty virus to the day-care (we know who you are evil-doer, you just watch, we'll give you mumps when you least expect it!). So with perfect timing Karl started breaking out the day Henri moved in. Since it's a virus Karl was cleared of any suspicion of psychosomatic acting up. And since Henri is so newborn, he's safe (it's called Nestschutz in German, literally translated "nest-protection", making newborns somehow invincible Marvel Comics style). Still it was a difficult week, since the chicken-pox is about as contagious as bubonic plague. So not only is Karl banned from day-care, no way he can go to his usual hang-outs, the playgrounds, the childrens' cafe, the kid's museum. Some bad weather helped us find a deserted playground, otherwise it's been a pretty lonely affair for little Mr. Karl. A trip to Opa Paul was one of the highpoints though. No infectable peers. And so the two generations went to holler at some water fowl. Big fun.



Henri in the meantime has kept up his regimen of ordering food - LOTS of it - and sleeping in at all times of the day pretty well. He's gained more weight and confidence, started blinking around, obviously checking out, what's going on. He seems to like noise. When everybody's home and there's lots of commotion and stuff he can sleep, well, like a baby. If it's all calm and serene and he's alone with mommy he tends to make some noise just to keep things up.

Home

Alright. Time now officially flies. The rodeo has arrived. Who let the clowns out? Will come up with more cliche allegories soon. Sunday all grandparents showed their respects. There's something about grandparents and their grandkids, some mysterious cabal only grandparents and their grandkids understand. I think they're starting their secret communication the moment they first meet. Might explain why Karl's so obsessed with "Omi", "Opa Michael" and "Opa Paul". So he of course was thrilled having all the grandparents swirl around our family unit, bringing gifts and taking him places. All grandparents were deeply thrilled meeting Henri of course. Who was at his best behavior, meeting the extended part of his new family. So the days with Fred and Henri at the maternity ward went by in a breeze. Tuesday they came home to a fun and noisy farewell lunch with Omi. Karl took full advantage of the fun program. Not only had Omi picked him up from day-care the last days (big thanks again for the really mighty big help by the way, Karl's reaction is seen on the left), he got to hang out at the train station quite a bit. Some major trainspotting at work. Accompanied by the reading of a new kiddie textbook on trains, which is even greater fun, if you can watch the trains that the book explains right over on the next track. So now it's day 3 at home. Henri fulfills his traditional little brother role a bit overeagerly. We know second-borns try to emulate and imitate everything big brother does. Seems like Henri wants to also be as big as his big brother. that would at least be an explanation for his humongous, heavy-weight-champ appetite and his constant demands for food! food! more food! Which is no mere gluttony - in the past days he already gained 250 grams (for the not-so expert readers like myself - 150 gram weight gain in the first week would be just fine). So more on the tales of Big Karl and soon to be equally big Henri as soon as we figured out a way how to win the lottery, so we can buy incredible amounts of food for Henri.



Photos 4 and 5 courtesy of Karl and Henri's grandma.

Baby pictures

Baby pictures, baby pictures, baby pictures! Hey. We're the parents of a newborn. We are basically forced by instinct and nature to shower everybody in our vicinity with baby pictures. And you can't even read a fraction of the stuff into these pics that we can. We already see whole biographies and careers in these first burst of facial expression. So here's Henri day 3.

Karl & Henri (brotherly encounter of the first kind)

Alright. Despite the slightly saccharine vibe, this photo so far sums it all up. The first encounter of Karl and Henri was heart-breakingly sweet. Since Karl's more the jealous kind, who reacted to other babies and toddlers on the lap or arm of one of his parents with very vocal disapproval, we readied ourselves for intense sibling rivalry from the get-go. Karl sure surprised us by taking on his role as big brother in a quite poised manner.

He came prepared. First he gave Henri a really cool blue rumba style rattle. Next was a teddy bear shaped music box and then he topped it off with a big teddy bear. Alright, he had a very generous sponsor for the music box and the teddy (grandma), but the rumba rattle came from him personally. And every following visit he made sure the rattle rests next to Henri in his crib.



He was also quite affectionate. After he noticed that Henri has "a very small face and a very small head" and that actually everything about Henri is quite small and little, he refrained from the WWF style affections he normally bestows on his peers and tried with a very tender caress. Yaaa, we know, this will change. We might have to rescue little Henri from severe pummeling on a daily basis, turn into domestic blue helmets and will feel that raising two boys is more wrangling than caring. But hey, life might not be a pony ranch, as they say in Germany, but the rodeo's always been more fun anyways. So despite all the well intentioned warnings what having two boys will turn our lifes into, we naively enjoyed the sibling harmony and brotherly love we witnessed those past days.

Henri

So, as mentioned before: Henri Theodor - born March 19th 6:29PM Central European time, 53 centimeters (21 inches), 3765 grams (133 ounces). Mother and son are healthy and happy. So here he is, Karl's little brother.

It's fascinating how having a newborn in our lives both feels familiar and totally new again. There's these instinctive moments of knowing exactly what to do, because we've done it before. Then there's these moments, where we really try to remember how it was with Karl and we can't. We also can't quite decide, if Henri really looks like Karl used to look, when he was a newborn:



Or if he really looks different. Alright. All newborns look a bit alike. Shriveled and crumpled has definitely been a timeless look for newborns for about one or two million years. There's definitely some major differences though. Not only is Henri longer and heavier than Karl was first. He also really likes to eat, while Karl was never that big an eater. Henri likes to take it easy. Karl was super alert from the start. On the other hand Karl was a bit apprehensive the first moments of his life, while Henri started screaming before he had even fully arrived. Only one thing seems to be identical - we're overjoyed to the max. No been-there-done-that-moment beyond the routine of changing a newborns' diaper or gripping him with the proper support. Again - quite amazing.