Today we took the cars over to Peter’s to see about selling them. There was a couple there--with a little kid--who arranged to buy Guitarman’s. That was fast!
Mine didn’t go today but hopefully will before Guitarman leaves. Wow, it’s weird to think that our time here will be done soon. I know there are things I will miss about being over here. But I’m excited to get home, especially with Schatzi coming. I think I’d be a bit nervous delivering here. With the complications we had with Wee Laddie it’d make me pretty nervous to have that language barrier to worry about.
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Friday, December 7, 2007
The Cake of Pure Evil
We were maybe going to have some play time with Starfruit & Cutiebug today but, after 2 days in a row without a nap, Wee Laddie woke up at 6 am. Ugh. And since he was in a time-out before 8:30, I decided this was not such a good day to try it.
We went to meet Guitarman for lunch (he was on shift the last 2 days so couldn’t eat with us). Wee Laddie was happily eating his kuppelkuchen (some kind of German cake) when he suddenly announced he didn’t like it and wasn’t going to eat it. Huh?? Then he started acting a little weird, like he had a bad taste in his mouth or something. Then he’d put his hands over his ears, then out to the side and shake them. We tried to get him to eat/drink something to get rid of the taste he didn’t like but that didn’t seem to work. Then his face started turning red and he got some welts on his chin & cheeks. Aha, allergy of some kind. Then he puked.
So while Guitarman went & helped him rinse his mouth out, I went to find out what was in the cake so that we can avoid it in future. Took a little while ‘cause they get their cakes at a local bakery so they were calling to find out but could only get the answering machine. Their baker said it was chocolate Bisquick and buttercream, which sounds so innocuous (and like something Wee Laddie had likely had before) but then they said also hazelnuts and marzipan. He may have had almond before but I don’t think he’s ever had hazelnuts. I’ll have to ask the pediatrician about it when we get back. I’d like to actually know if he’s allergic, but that seems best tested at the doctor’s office in case anything goes wrong.
It was a little scary, as I kept worrying about his tongue swelling up or him having an anaphylactic reaction. (*see update below) He had one allergic reaction to something once before but I don’t remember the circumstances... and I think we decided it was a contact allergy.
Anyway, I thought we’d best hang out on base in case we needed to head over to the clinic, so we went to the ACS (Army Community Services... they're the ones I've been facilitating the sign language class through) offices to say our goodbyes. Wee Laddie seemed to get back to his normal self pretty quickly. So we chit-chatted with our friends over there for a bit & took a few photos to remember people by. I figure that’ll help Wee Laddie adjust since the photos of people from back home seemed to help him so much while we’ve been here.
*Update: Turns out that this reaction actually was an anaphylactic reaction. Contrary to the popular notion that it always involves compromised breathing, anaphylaxis simply means that it's a severe allergic reaction, often involving more than one body system. And since he had vomiting (GI) and hives (skin reaction), that means two systems. We are lucky that the reaction didn't get any worse. The ones that come on fast like that sometimes get dangerous very quickly.
We went to meet Guitarman for lunch (he was on shift the last 2 days so couldn’t eat with us). Wee Laddie was happily eating his kuppelkuchen (some kind of German cake) when he suddenly announced he didn’t like it and wasn’t going to eat it. Huh?? Then he started acting a little weird, like he had a bad taste in his mouth or something. Then he’d put his hands over his ears, then out to the side and shake them. We tried to get him to eat/drink something to get rid of the taste he didn’t like but that didn’t seem to work. Then his face started turning red and he got some welts on his chin & cheeks. Aha, allergy of some kind. Then he puked.
So while Guitarman went & helped him rinse his mouth out, I went to find out what was in the cake so that we can avoid it in future. Took a little while ‘cause they get their cakes at a local bakery so they were calling to find out but could only get the answering machine. Their baker said it was chocolate Bisquick and buttercream, which sounds so innocuous (and like something Wee Laddie had likely had before) but then they said also hazelnuts and marzipan. He may have had almond before but I don’t think he’s ever had hazelnuts. I’ll have to ask the pediatrician about it when we get back. I’d like to actually know if he’s allergic, but that seems best tested at the doctor’s office in case anything goes wrong.
It was a little scary, as I kept worrying about his tongue swelling up or him having an anaphylactic reaction. (*see update below) He had one allergic reaction to something once before but I don’t remember the circumstances... and I think we decided it was a contact allergy.
Anyway, I thought we’d best hang out on base in case we needed to head over to the clinic, so we went to the ACS (Army Community Services... they're the ones I've been facilitating the sign language class through) offices to say our goodbyes. Wee Laddie seemed to get back to his normal self pretty quickly. So we chit-chatted with our friends over there for a bit & took a few photos to remember people by. I figure that’ll help Wee Laddie adjust since the photos of people from back home seemed to help him so much while we’ve been here.
*Update: Turns out that this reaction actually was an anaphylactic reaction. Contrary to the popular notion that it always involves compromised breathing, anaphylaxis simply means that it's a severe allergic reaction, often involving more than one body system. And since he had vomiting (GI) and hives (skin reaction), that means two systems. We are lucky that the reaction didn't get any worse. The ones that come on fast like that sometimes get dangerous very quickly.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Last Kids’ Club
Today was our last Kids’ Club and we said our goodbyes to Jeannette and Ashley. I have sort of mentioned to a few others, just in passing, that we were leaving but we certainly didn’t make a big production out of it. Partly ‘cause there aren’t many people that we’re that close to... partly because this population is so transient anyway that it would feel weird to call attention to it.
I've been taking some pics around the base. Not sure if that's legit or not--security issues and all--but I want to have a personal record of it (I won't be posting those anywhere) so I can show Wee Laddie when he's older in case he remembers any of it. But he's starting to get annoyed and doesn't want me to take pictures of certain things. Like the gym where they have Kids' Club. Not sure what's up with that.
We did also pop into Kristen’s office to say goodbye. She’s one of the first people I met when we first got here... her son, Ben, is a year older than Wee Laddie and we were all at Hotel Yogurt together back in January.
Today was the 2nd day in a row with no nap. 15 minutes in the car doesn’t count, despite what my son might try to tell you.
I've been taking some pics around the base. Not sure if that's legit or not--security issues and all--but I want to have a personal record of it (I won't be posting those anywhere) so I can show Wee Laddie when he's older in case he remembers any of it. But he's starting to get annoyed and doesn't want me to take pictures of certain things. Like the gym where they have Kids' Club. Not sure what's up with that.
We did also pop into Kristen’s office to say goodbye. She’s one of the first people I met when we first got here... her son, Ben, is a year older than Wee Laddie and we were all at Hotel Yogurt together back in January.
Today was the 2nd day in a row with no nap. 15 minutes in the car doesn’t count, despite what my son might try to tell you.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Strawberries in December
Went back to the Weihnachtsmarkt in Nurnberg… this time with Starfruit (this is the moniker she suggested for herself, by the way) and Cutiebug. It was very fun. We did a little bit of actual shopping then played around at the Kinder Weihnachtsmarkt.
Starfruit took this first picture.
And here's Starfruit and Cutiebug.
Cutiebug was quite enamored of the fabulous strawberries I bought. The whole way home in the car she kept asking, “Mo’ tawbay, peese?” (More strawberries, please?) It was adorable and I’m quite impressed by her full sentences, Little Miss One-and-a-Half. It got dark while we were driving home and Wee Laddie started playing a Peekaboo game with Cutiebug to entertain her. And himself, of course. Those two are very cute together.
Definitely gonna miss them.
Starfruit took this first picture.
And here's Starfruit and Cutiebug.
Cutiebug was quite enamored of the fabulous strawberries I bought. The whole way home in the car she kept asking, “Mo’ tawbay, peese?” (More strawberries, please?) It was adorable and I’m quite impressed by her full sentences, Little Miss One-and-a-Half. It got dark while we were driving home and Wee Laddie started playing a Peekaboo game with Cutiebug to entertain her. And himself, of course. Those two are very cute together.
Definitely gonna miss them.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Lifestyles
After this experience, I have decided that it is a far bigger adjustment to go from city living to rural living than it is to move to a foreign country. (I’m sure that’s not always true, but it is as far as moving from the US to Western Europe.) The truth is that the lifestyle differences are more of an issue for me than the language barrier. I mean, you can get quite a bit accomplished just on gestures and smiles and a friendly attitude.
The big problem for me, here, is how to entertain my son. Sure, we’ve got all the playgroups & stuff but we do the same stuff week after week. After week. And as fun as they are, they get old. I used to be able to pop him in the car on a rough day and just run over to the Children’s Museum to let him run around for a couple of hours. Or we could meet some friends at the zoo or a play area somewhere. I just don’t have those resources here and it’s very wearing sometimes.
The big problem for me, here, is how to entertain my son. Sure, we’ve got all the playgroups & stuff but we do the same stuff week after week. After week. And as fun as they are, they get old. I used to be able to pop him in the car on a rough day and just run over to the Children’s Museum to let him run around for a couple of hours. Or we could meet some friends at the zoo or a play area somewhere. I just don’t have those resources here and it’s very wearing sometimes.
Monday, December 3, 2007
The New Tenant
I’m a little sad about leaving Germany. This part of it is clearly not for us, despite the fact that it’s lovely, the local food is great and the people have been incredibly friendly. I still think we might have had a totally different reaction had we been living nearer a big city. And there are a few people from here that we will definitely miss. Not many, but a few. Hopefully we’ll be able to stay in touch with these people and maybe reconnect geographically sometime in the future.
A woman came to look at our house tonight. She was here with another woman who appeared to be her assistant, as she was doing a lot of “ma’am”ing. She seemed to really like the house and is planning to call the housing office tomorrow. Get this: It’s going to be just this one woman living here. She’s a GS employee and apparently gets a really large housing allowance. This place seems pretty big for the three of us, since Wee Laddie can ride his bicycle and/or motorcycle around in the living room... it seems enormous for just one person!
Wee Laddie too a reeeeaaaalllllly long time to fall asleep. Maybe he’s anxious about the move? (It probably was weird for him to have someone looking at the house and us talking about her living here.) Maybe I need to re-think the nap thing. I should do a nap log to see if no-nap days are always quick-to-sleep nights.
I scheduled a hair appointment for right after we get home. I’ll have to wait to see about an OB appointment. We’ll still be on the out-of-network insurance until Guitarman’s back at his old office, so the coverage will be weird.
A woman came to look at our house tonight. She was here with another woman who appeared to be her assistant, as she was doing a lot of “ma’am”ing. She seemed to really like the house and is planning to call the housing office tomorrow. Get this: It’s going to be just this one woman living here. She’s a GS employee and apparently gets a really large housing allowance. This place seems pretty big for the three of us, since Wee Laddie can ride his bicycle and/or motorcycle around in the living room... it seems enormous for just one person!
Wee Laddie too a reeeeaaaalllllly long time to fall asleep. Maybe he’s anxious about the move? (It probably was weird for him to have someone looking at the house and us talking about her living here.) Maybe I need to re-think the nap thing. I should do a nap log to see if no-nap days are always quick-to-sleep nights.
I scheduled a hair appointment for right after we get home. I’ll have to wait to see about an OB appointment. We’ll still be on the out-of-network insurance until Guitarman’s back at his old office, so the coverage will be weird.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Nürnberg Weihnachtsmarkt
Went to the Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas market) in Nürnberg. Before Guitarman and I moved here, we’d read about these markets and planned to one day take a holiday cruise down the Danube and stop at all the markets.
I didn’t do a good job of looking up directions or anything online, so we totally lucked out that my randomly selected GPS destination was pretty close to the whole thing. There’s a little artisans’ market in one section,
then a few blocks away is a Kinder Weihnachtsmarkt with carousels and things in addition to booths with gifts, ornaments, food, etc. Then there’s the main section, the Kristkindlemarkt. They were all absolutely JAMMED with people! We took the stroller in case Wee Laddie got tired of walking (or if we needed it to keep track of him in the crowd), so that made navigation a little tough. It was too insane to actually shop, so I’m hoping to go back during the week to get a few little things.
We also completely lucked out with the weather. It’s very grey here and has been raining & snowing pretty often lately. We felt a couple of sprinkles, but did not actually get rained on. Hurrah! It wasn’t even actually that cold, although we were pretty well bundled up. Not that Wee Laddie looks like it here:
I decided that I just couldn’t be here at a Christmas market, in Germany, and NOT try Gluhwein. It was different than I expected. I was expecting it to be cinnamony, but it was more of a fruity/sweet taste. Maybe that’s just ‘cause I got the Heidelbeere (blueberry) kind. But now I can look up online how to make it and that can be one of my “life souvenirs” from our time here.
I didn’t do a good job of looking up directions or anything online, so we totally lucked out that my randomly selected GPS destination was pretty close to the whole thing. There’s a little artisans’ market in one section,
then a few blocks away is a Kinder Weihnachtsmarkt with carousels and things in addition to booths with gifts, ornaments, food, etc. Then there’s the main section, the Kristkindlemarkt. They were all absolutely JAMMED with people! We took the stroller in case Wee Laddie got tired of walking (or if we needed it to keep track of him in the crowd), so that made navigation a little tough. It was too insane to actually shop, so I’m hoping to go back during the week to get a few little things.
We also completely lucked out with the weather. It’s very grey here and has been raining & snowing pretty often lately. We felt a couple of sprinkles, but did not actually get rained on. Hurrah! It wasn’t even actually that cold, although we were pretty well bundled up. Not that Wee Laddie looks like it here:
I decided that I just couldn’t be here at a Christmas market, in Germany, and NOT try Gluhwein. It was different than I expected. I was expecting it to be cinnamony, but it was more of a fruity/sweet taste. Maybe that’s just ‘cause I got the Heidelbeere (blueberry) kind. But now I can look up online how to make it and that can be one of my “life souvenirs” from our time here.
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Thanksgiving, part Deux
When Wee Laddie woke up this morning he was talking about a dream he’d had with a fire alarm at the movie theater. (Fire alarms have been a frequent topic of conversation around here since this one and this one at the PX in Graf.) And he said that his mommy got him out, but I wasn’t his mommy in the dream. So I told him that dreams were weird that way. It’s incredible to me to have someone this age be able to talk about his dreams and kind of understand (at least by appearances) that they’re just stories in your head and not things that really happened.
In the late afternoon we went to Charlie and Telise’s for a late-Thanksgiving/early-Christmas dinner. It was lovely and Telise did the whole thing... turkey, stuffing, potatoes, the whole shebang. Yum.
She also gave us a copy of her painting of Wee Laddie, which is just such an awesome thing to have. What a treasure.
In the late afternoon we went to Charlie and Telise’s for a late-Thanksgiving/early-Christmas dinner. It was lovely and Telise did the whole thing... turkey, stuffing, potatoes, the whole shebang. Yum.
She also gave us a copy of her painting of Wee Laddie, which is just such an awesome thing to have. What a treasure.
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