Snapshot

After all the travel recently, I wanted to stop and do a snapshot of our little monsters.  Our focus for the next several weeks is on Elise's first surgery on July 12.  I'm nervous and emotional; I welcomed all the travel and business recently to help keep my mind off "it."  I want to be so strong to set a good example but I suck at it; I am shedding too many tears to feel strong.  Anyway, I know it will all be ok and for whatever reason, this is the path we are supposed to travel.

So, I'll start with Elise, our head full of corkscrew curled hair 1.5 year old Elise.   We often find Elise cuddling her baby doll and taking her for walks around the house. She'll always look back to say "bye" and blow us a kiss.  She said "jacke (jacket)" the other day for her first German word which makes sense with how much she likes to put on extra clothes and go outside.  She seems to really enjoy the eating experience in her high chair testing out different combinations, feeling her food, and then eating it with such delight.  She loves to play with Lily's toys, especially Barbies, but will get super frustrated now when she can't do something which does usually happen in Lily's room.  Gosh, overall I would describe Elise as super smiley sweet, happy, and independent.

 

Paul makes a lot of noise.  Paul says momma more times in an hour than Elise says in a week.  Crying, yelling, and random sound effects are the norm and in that order.  He's super active running around with this light on his feet prance/march style, playing with balls, and pushing race cars around. He's not a big fan of sitting in the stroller and prefers to help me push it while walking along side it with one hand on the side bar.  He loves books and lately will bring me a German singing book to me to sing over and over again.  He continues to amaze me with how he applies what he observes when it comes to picking up and cleaning.  He's crazy about helping with the wash, dishwasher, putting away clothes, wiping the table, vacuuming, and even picking up cat puke.  I want to crack the code on why he cries so much after waking up from naps and is usually so whiny/grumpy but I might have to that's how he is.  He does make me laugh a lot even if it's when he continues to stuff his face with way too much banana every morning.  No one is going to take your banana buddy.

Paul will still cry whenever he gets his face and hands wiped after a meal which is why I particularly enjoyed this little show he gave me after eating a pretend meal.  Couldn't embed this video, not sure why, so here's the link.

Paul wiping his face

4 year old Lily is busy slaying dragons, having sword fights with witches, and chasing pretend snakes.  My trip alone with her to Chicago was much more fun than I expected.  She can be helpful, dare I say mature, and fun even when she's sleep deprived.  Give her an audience and she's good.  Didn't expect her to take the microphone at Sonya's wedding and give a speech to everyone....by saying "I love Lolo (Sonya's nickname)." And I mean fun as in entertaining conversations, not just "why why why" and being silly and sweet.  We've never slept in the same bed and she loved falling asleep with me and then waking me up with a kiss.  She is still all about riding her bike and it's a constant battle to bring her confidence down and have her realize that some of the situations we are in riding around Munich are dangerous.  She still prefers to play alone instead of with Paul or Elise but is showing more signs of wanting to try some stuff out with them like chase.  She can be super sweet with them when she's not busy taking toys away from them.  She really likes to order her own food, pay, collect change, and keep the receipt.  We have introduced the concept of earning money and she's quite excited about earning money for clearing the table or doing pick up in any room besides her own.  Who knew 20 cents for a room could bring such joy?

And just a few more random recent shots.