It's Cold Out There

But you'll keep warm on Daddy's arm.

Merry Christmas

We hope you all had a great time so far!



We started the whole Christmas Eve thing without the youngest member, because he was still napping, but Karl and Andrian just couldn't wait anymore. Cookies! Gifts! We even put our open fire infinite loop DVD in our player and sang a couple of Christmas carols.



After a week of misery Henri finally seems to be getting better. Apparently he got two infections on top of each other, the first being a throat infection, the second an otitis. And even though he still got a fever, he's in much better spirits now and we're hoping that he's fit enough to travel to Bensheim to meet the whole family clan tomorrow and the day after. Yay!

A Sick Child

...for a full week is not exactly what I had envisioned for the last days before Christmas. Humpf. Lets hope he gets better soon!

It's on!

Yup, it is officially on - the Christmas season smackdown. To be started with the unbeatable trifecta of glowing childrens' eyes, self-baked cookies and Christmas tree decorating.

Fred took the boys to the new posh market hall where they offered cookie baking for children. Somehow neither Karl nor Henri were taken by the ambitious, well-coiffed Munich girls stenciling perfect little stars and trees out of the dough. They preferred watching some commercials for a luxury travel agent on some jumbotron thingy. can't blame them. You gotta put your education before some pointless competitive arts and crafts endeavor.

Baking cookies with mom on the other hand - intense concentration was displayed. And some great seasonal fare created.



Also today on our way to the playground we decided it's much too frosty for swings and things, so we went and got our traditional early Christmas tree. Germans are kinda anal about having the tree decorated by parental units on Christmas day and not allowing the children to see it before they are led into the chamber of presents. What is this? Some kinda arranged marriage ritual in the nether regions of medieval culture?

It's of course much more fun to have a tree the week before and have it decorated by the boys. Henri was very proud of being part of this and kept on pointing out, which ornaments he had placed on the branches. Even the upper branches with the help of a stool. Go Henri! In the words of Paula Abdul - you sure made this holiday season your own.

Star No. 1

For the kindergarten parents-and-kids breakfast this morning the Sonnengruppe had rehearsed a little Christmas ballad. Karl and his buddy Daniele were the first ones to go as they were star No. 1 and 2. We were amazed and proud to see how confidently Karl performed and are now convinced that there's an acting career in his future.



I think he was proud, too.



Henri was examining the whole action carefully for future reference.



Daddy trying to get some attention from the star. Henri trying to get the camera (with a mouth full of cookies).

In Full Gear

Better safe than sorry – you never know what might hit you when you brush our teeth.

If you heard any noise ...

... it was just us boys. Fred had to attend a very festive birthday event to celebrate her best friend Maria in her old hometown Frankfurt. So Karl and Henri and I - partied hard, had some vaguely nutritional foods, went out to the country to see Opa Paul, Maria and Milena, baked some cookies, ate some cookies and generated more decibel than legally allowed by Bavarian zoning codes for residential areas.

Going For A Ride

While Karl was on a playdate with his BFF Ludwig, I secretly took Henri to the Christmas market at the Chinese Tower in the English Garden. Karl has been there many times before, but not this year and I know he really wants to go. The weather was about to get miserable (and I got totally soaked on my bike later) so there were very few kids and they let the carrousel just run for about ten rounds!



Of course Henri loved it – don't be fooled by his facial expression. Especially the Playmobil playroom where we went later on.

Even Monsters Need Haircuts

As you might have noticed especially in this post, both boys have been in desparate need of a hair cut. So on a very task oriented afternoon last week (we also got Karl his winter boots) we rode over to La Forbice where Francesco gave Henri his first real cut. Lots of Smarties and other sweets were involved.



Karl of course got one, too. After he had explained to us during breakfast how he wanted a haircut just like one of his Playmobil figures, Francesco actually put some zigzag action in his bangs (Andrian was not amused). He also wanted to shave out a ring all around his head, just like the Playmos have in order to put their hats on. We saved that for next time when Karl – as he already told us – also wants curls and a different color.



The title by the way refers to this really cute book.

Adventskalender

Even though I'm totally going to design jail some time soon for not finishing my work tasks, I'm still proud to have managed completing this design award worthy Advent calendar.



After a thorough inspection we started day one with some chocolate. Just to set the tone. Which means I'm not only going to design jail, but also to children's nutrition jail. At least I'll have good company there.



In other news: Karl had his big 4 year check-up today. Just like us, the doctor is convinced that we have some major genius material on our hands here. The most important thing of course is that he's as healthy as he is, weighing in at 15.9 kg (35 lbs) and measuring 103 cm (40.5 in) in height. He was so adorable during all those tests that I would have stolen him if he wasn't already mine.

Juicy Sunday

Glorious weather on the balmy side, the hip regional juicer turning his farm into a holiday market and two boys ready for some adventuring - reason enough to hit the road and to drive out to the lush hills of the "land of the five lakes".



First stop of course - the open pit barbecue serving some of the finest wuerstel since the invention of the pig. Plus some fries which could drive Belgium into bankruptcy (oops, sorry, no financial crisis jokes, Europeans are a bit touchy, now that we're about to lose our common currency and the romantic notion of a unified continent with it).

Then it was off to the various activities. Karl got his first workshop experience.



For a small fee you could get a piece of wood already pre-sawed in the shape of either a boat or a sword (guess, which Karl picked), a workbench and some tools. Obviously there was quite a few father-son teams all excited about some genuine male bonding.



Karl did pretty well considering that he is normally more into the theory than into the praxis of things. He got a kick out of rounding the edges with a heavy rasp. The carpenter made him a real leather handle. And so Karl paraded his self-made weapon around the apple orchards like a true knight.



While Karl and I were pretending to be anywhere near talented with sharp and pointy tools, Fred and Henri discovered a choo choo train pulled by a miniature locomotive with a real steam engine. It's as nerdy as it gets, but Henri couldn't get enough (no matter that he still needed parental guidance i.e. balancing, so lucky Fred got to ride around the choo choo train quite a few times).



Henri did not like the concept of finiteness. But off we went to the hills of the apple orchards.



He got over the end of train rides when he discovered that you can run really fast downhill smack into the arms of another parental unit and get both the thrill of speed and the kick of being held tight in one single run (notice his elder brother in full attack mode going against a horde of robber-knights in the background).

Later we did need a break.

Hangin' Out

So here's a post creating the illusion we're just hangin' out, although the lack of posts reveals the slightly busy nature of our current lives. There was not only Karl's but also Fred's birthday (a big one celebrated with the wiring of the largest sum we will probably ever wire, topped with a dinner at a fabulous popup restaurant featuring the menus of two multi starred chefs), there's the renovation of the house gaining traction (now fully ours, due to that wiring of money), Fred's new clients, the paper's various innovation projects, the social lives of little boys. But hey, here's to hanging out, which we still do, even if not always as a foursome. Let's start with Henri's and Karl's collaboration on a very traditional piece of avantgarde art (yes, there is such a thing, now that avantgarde is part of the history of a century past).

Which quickly dissolved in some solo projects.



This is not Karl's impression of Melancholia. Quite the contrary. He listens to his current favorite CD, which is an action packed adventure story of the Playmobil top agents, a world he has been diving into ever since he got the agents' headquarters for his birthday. And keeps on fueling his knack for the making up of ever more elaborate adventure stories.



So far it's a bit over the top for Henri, who prefers simple stories involving simple vehicles.



Karl in the meantime is so much into the top agents that he sometimes rebuilds the Playmobil world with Lego.



Once in a while we do get out of the house though.



Henri now very much shares his brother's taste for the luxurious cafe life of Europe, where you can share drinks and snacks and reads (and at our regular spot also toys) at a leisurely pace (oh, that shiner on his forehead? Henri had to recalibrate his navigational system, when we pulled out the extension of the kitchen table for a dinner guest, oops).

Although at the end of the day, somebody gots to clean up all that mess.

Happy Four!

Karl is four now!!! Crazy.

Weekend with Grandpa Paul

It was time to take grandpa "Opa" Paul out to the new house. Being an experienced house owner himself he gave Karl a quick lesson in seasonal groundskeeping (oh that pesky foliage, so beautiful when driving through New England, so sludgy when on the ground for a few days). Karl tried to relay his new set of knowledge and skills to his brother right away. Who was not convinced that a set of new kiddie brooms already justifies child labor on a mellow weekend afternoon.



The dispensing of cookies to reward the hard labor brought him back into the fold of the boys team though (mom used the opportunity of a free Saturday to juggle a myriad of chores from preparing an important presenation to stocking up on kiddie party supplies for next Wednesday).



After the visit to the house we stopped by my office, where Henri hijacked my desk for a joyride.



Karl in the meantime tested the sprintability of the premises, which included the reenactment of a famous bullfight. The day ended with a repeat screening of The Gruffalo, Henri's and Karl's favorite (and so far only) movie (full English version is on Youtube). As you can see the creature with the "terrible tusks and terrible claws and terrible teeth in his terrible jaws" doesn't just impress foxes, owls, snakes and little boys, but adults as well.



Nothing of course beats the classic medium of childrens' entertainment - a grandfatherly reading of fairy tales. In this case another Axel Scheffler gem, "Room on a broom". Dinner followed.



The day packed enough fun and excitement, so even hard-to-charm Henri was all smitten. Next morning at the kitchen table he repeatedly pointed to the chair Opa was sitting in, exclaming "Paul!" in a rather excusatory tone. As in "Where is he?!"

Bath Time

Karl likes to pose for pictures these days. I think this is a pretty creative pose, right? When there's going to be a Germany's Next Underaged Male Model show I'm totally going to register both my sons.

Nineteen Months

Henri's growth accelerator? Cookies!

Museum Visit (rather short version)

No office today, no kindergarten. So Karl and I picked up Henri from daycare and took him to see some art. Yeah, you know, some stuff just doesn't hold up with time. Minimalize this Ellsworth Kelly - two boys were very bored with your not so sophisticated reduction of all things material to simple shadows and lights. Karl wanted to go see the Carlo Mollino show again, which is all about fast cars, fast women and fancy architecture. We hear ya Karl.

Planespotting

It was a a boys day out and so we went. To the zoo, which was unbelievably packed due to unseasonably mild and sunny weather and the news that there is a new elephant baby. Well, the trunked cutie was not on display yet. Not that the boys cared. Monkeys, rhinos and look! Airplanes!



Of course going on a tour with daddy means a balanced diet with all five of the major food groups (processed meats, breads, liquefied fruits, frozen dairy, colored sugars). Riverside kiosk lunches tend to rank very high with the team. And a team they are. More and more. Last week Henri got to accompany me to the monthly pta style breakfast at Karl's kindergarten. Boy was he proud to hang and snack with the big boys.



And there are of course the first signs of ganging up. So far still on the cute side. Like looking at daddy upside down, which supposedly is one of the funniest things in the whole world from here to the north pole. As I was told.