Farewell to the Hoopdis

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.

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.

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.

The Baby is How Big??

Another OB appointment today. It’s sort of weird to get an ultrasound every time. We ended up with another arm shot, ‘cause Schatzi really seems to enjoy facing backwards. He’s head-down now... facing a different way than Wee Laddie was when he was in there.

My belly seems absolutely HUGE to me (and, apparently, to Wee Laddie and Guitarman), but I’ve only actually gained 3.2 kilos (7 lbs, for those of you who are metrically challenged like me) so far.

The doc seemed concerned that Schatzi is growing too fast, and she made it pretty clear that she doesn’t believe me about my blood sugar numbers. That sort of ticked me off, as I take the health of my children very seriously. (It was Wee Laddie whose tiny presence got me to quit smoking, after all, and I also managed my blood sugar well with him.) I don’t get it, ‘cause my numbers have been really good. Like my one-hour readings are often lower than the goal for two hours after eating. I’m hardly eating any bread products at all and have been eating lots of salads and smaller portions of everything. I’ve had a few high readings in the past week, but other than that I usually get like 1-4 high readings per week (testing 4x a day). The doc was predicting a 10-pounder and telling me that not taking care of this now can lead to him having problems with diabetes later in life. So then she looks at the graph again and realizes she’s marked it on the wrong week... and says, “Oh, that’s not bad.” Grrrrr. Because at this point I’m all friggin’ stressed out about it (still, frankly, even though now she’s saying it’s okay… ‘cause I don’t know if she means REALLY okay or just semi-okay) and questioning whether or not I’m testing correctly or if there’s something wrong with my glucose meter. I’ll be so happy to get back to my regular doc.

After the doc, Wee Laddie and I ran over to Laaber to pick up Christina and Oliver and the four of us went to IKEA. I broke one of our bowls the other day and wanted to replace it before we leave. So we had lunch there and did a bit of shopping. Of course, they didn’t have the bowl I need. They have a similar one, same shape and very nearly the same color but it’s not exact. And they wouldn’t let me take the display bowl that WAS the right color ‘cause they’re getting more shipped in. Sometime. I’ve no idea when. Or how annoying it’ll be to replace one stupid bowl. And I should just let it go, but I suspect it’ll bug the crap out of me every time I look in the cabinet and realize that we only have 5 bowls but 6 of everything else. Like the spoon from our silverware set that went into the garbo. Still bugs me and it’s been like 7 years.

Weigh, not Organized

The movers came this morning to do an estimate of the weight of all of our stuff. Wee Laddie and I had Total Mom so Guitarman came home from work to meet with them. We are semi-organized, but there’s still lots to do. I guess it wouldn’t actually be horrible if things went as they are now... it’ll just simplify things a lot once stuff is in storage if we can get it more organized. I’m working on it in bits & pieces (partly so it doesn’t bog me down too much, partly ‘cause that’s kind of my only option what with a toddler to entertain).

Guitarman had a software group dinner tonight, so it was just me & Wee Laddie for the evening. Nap got off to a very late start, so we weren’t even back up until 6pm. (I usually wake around 5:30... must’ve been tired today.) We got up & had dinner and then I put him back into bed!

Best Seat in the House

Wee Laddie loves to watch TV like this...

A Bit of the Mundane

Guitarman was on shift today. Wee Laddie and I went to Burger King breakfast, but it’s not as much fun without Daddy there. We go anyway because it’s our weekend tradition and sometimes Guitarman can at least swing by and say hello.

When we got home we played for a while, then ate lunch & had a nap. And Wee Laddie didn’t even fight it too much today.

Believe it or not, that does actually happen sometimes.

The Downside of Potty Training

What do you do when you’re in the car, with a ways to go, and there’s nowhere to stop? Wee Laddie had to pee on the way home from base. It’s too cold to stop anywhere outside and there’s not really anywhere convenient where we can stop inside. We had to go home for him to potty, which means I couldn’t drive around ‘til he fell asleep… and that makes for a tough naptime.

And then, my darling Guitarman wouldn’t go pick up a döner kebap, which is what I really, really wanted for dinner since the nearest Chipotle might as well be on another planet. I’m on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

Wee Laddie has been saying some pretty funny things lately. Well, they’re not really that funny unless you think about the fact that they’re coming out of a two-year-old’s mouth:

“Maybe, but I'm not going to do that right now.”

“Stay there. I'm just going to go play by myself.”

“I'm just going to look. I won't touch them.” (in regard to the babies at Total Mom)

Memos & Morning People

Ugh. This morning Wee Laddie woke at like 5:30 or something (I’m not even sure what time it was, I was in such a stupor) and did not go back to sleep. It’s moments like this that make me wish my hubby wasn’t so pro-co-sleeping. But I don’t argue ‘cause it’s his one kind of crunchy, granola “vice” and it’s also a great connector for those two, I think, to have that time just being close. But anyway, Guitarman isn’t the one who ends up trying to keep Wee Laddie quiet and in bed until at least 7 am. I’m not sure whether he goes back to sleep or not... although he's mostly very attentive, he has been known to sleep through the sound of a crying baby before.

My child apparently did not get the memo: Mommy is NOT a morning person.

This pretty much set the tone for the rest of the day. Add to that the fact that Wee Laddie was completely squirrelly from waking up early himself, and you can imagine how friendly a bunch we were today. The trip to the grocery store was sort of a nightmare, although there weren’t any tantrums or anything... just a constant barrage of “no” and then, once he’d been banished to riding in the cart, trying to keep Wee Laddie from grabbing everything within reach.

Then tonight, it took until nearly 10 pm for the child to fall asleep. What is going on??

My Little Helper

Wee Laddie very much likes to dress himself so I usually let him… mismatches and all. Two different socks? Boots when it’s warm out? Whatev. So today, no big deal that he put his pants on backwards. At lunch Guitarman commented on it. I said that yes, I knew they were on backwards. Wee Laddie makes a remark about taking them off and putting them back on sideways. I laugh, ‘cause I’m trying to picture sideways. My son jumps up & drops trou right in the middle of the mess hall! Guitarman jumped up and stopped him… I was laughing too hard to be of any help whatsoever.



I’ve figured out a new way to get a few minutes to work on a project: let Wee Laddie wash the dishes. He loves to do it and it takes him ages so it gives me time to actually do something, as long as I can do it close by… because it makes me nervous, him standing on a chair or something. (I’ve been using his highchair for it since it has kind of a step on it.) So today I got a little knitting done while he did the dishes.

Now THAT is a beautiful thing.

Snow Big Deal

What I learned today: Do not stall about putting snow tires on when you live someplace like Bavaria. I suppose we got a bit spoiled last year with the remarkable lack of snow and the fact that our cars had the snow tires on already, it being January and all.

We got snow overnight so we took Guitarman's car to base this morning to have BK breakfast and check out the holiday bazaar. He said it was slippery and that he hoped we could get an appointment for the tires before we leave. I thought that remark was for dramatic effect since he has reminded me a couple of times about the tires...but no, the first available appointment at the car shop on base was December 8. Yikes. The woman there was unusually nice and suggested another shop and even called them for me. The guy said to come in an hour... they're in Parsberg. Readers who've ever tried to get anything done quickly in Germany (and especially on a Saturday, for goodness' sake!) are probably now sitting with mouths agape. But I swear this is true.

Anyway, we went home, Guitarman put the tires in my car while I shoveled the driveway... and off I went. Got stuck on the first hill up out of our neighborhood. Downside of living somewhere hilly. The upside of living somewhere hilly is that I was able to back down far enough to find a spot that went uphill, so I could get enough speed to get back out. Didn't get stuck anyplace else and, thank goodness, didn't run into any other cars at any corners on hills... but I was sliding all over the place. Not pretty. Been a long time since I've driven in snow in a rear wheel drive car.

No Kiss

No yoga today because of the holiday. I had an okay day with Señor Runny-Nose. Poor guy. We did go to have lunch with Daddy at the mess hall. Wee Laddie’s been doing this thing where when we drop Guitarman back at work and he asks Wee Laddie for a kiss, Wee Laddie’s like, 'No! No kiss!' and he’ll put his hand over his mouth. If Guitarman kisses him on his cheeks, he’ll wipe his cheeks off afterward. I think it’s one of those power things…like he doesn’t want Guitarman to go back to work (he does it in the morning, too) but since he can’t control that he refuses to do the part that he can control. As soon as Guitarman starts to walk away from the car, Wee Laddie’s saying, 'Bye, Daddy, see ya later!'

It’s pretty interesting to listen to the radio here. The stations seem to have general themes, sort of, but they play an odd assortment of music. Guitarman was commenting on how they play lots of ‘80s music (which is great for us) and then there’ll be some cheesy German pop songs mixed in. But we’ve heard some stuff that may not have been played on the radio in the states since the ‘80s… such as the German version of that Peter Schilling song about Major Tom, and the Nik Kershaw song about the tree by the river (I think it might even be called 'Tree by the River')… neither of which Guitarman had heard before. Now THAT is shocking.

Buddy, Can You Spare a Phonebook?

Finally went to Media Markt…it’s better than Best Buy (I say that because they have light fixtures, too, so I have something to do while Guitarman looks at CDs). We now want to buy all of our DVDs in German because then you get both German and English versions. They dub like crazy over here. I don’t know if it’s like this with most other languages, but I swear, they’ve got practically everything they have back home. You can already get the newer shows like 'Numbers' and that Patricia Arquette one and 'House.' It’s phenomenal.

We got 'Cars' for Wee Laddie, which Guitarman’s been wanting to do for a while. I kept putting him off ‘til we found it in German, which was today. Of course, then we also had to get a region 2 DVD player. I know I had a brief rant about this already, but I think it’s all just ego that prevents a worldwide standard for video. It seems that video people around the world should get over themselves and just embrace whatever’s got the highest resolution.

We also got a phone book! They don’t deliver them to your house like they do back home and nobody that I asked had ever even seen one! Well, we got a card in the mail a week or so ago saying that you could pick them up at Media Markt or at a post office. Interesting. I perused it when we got home. Not that I know what anything means, but I tried to find a few things, like our fave döner place and a pediatrician. No luck on either count.

The Wrong Threat

This morning before Guitarman left for work Wee Laddie told him, 'Mommy snuggle.' When Guitarman gave me a hug Wee Laddie went, 'Aaaaawww!'

Then when Guitarman left for work, Wee Laddie told him, 'Peace out.' Cousin Dyami would be so proud. :)

Had the first playgroup at our house today. It was nice…the kids played really well together and the moms are all really nice. And involved. There were 3 other mom-tot sets. We had a couple of minor skirmishes but the sharing went very well overall. I was very proud of the way Wee Laddie handled himself…he’s still not very used to sharing HIS toys with other kids. I made a big deal out of praising him for it and told Guitarman twice, to give Wee Laddie some positive reinforcement.





We were going to go to the mess hall for lunch but we had one of those moments where I chose the wrong threat (From the front seat: 'If you don’t hand me the pen 3-2-1, we’re going back home.') and then had to stick to it. I sure hope this Love & Logic stuff works. I can totally see why parents sometimes aren’t good at follow-through…I really wanted to go have lunch with Guitarman, not turn around and then have to make lunch for Wee Laddie and myself.

Sightseeing at Last

Since we keep going to Würzburg but not visiting the castle, we decided to do a little sightseeing there (well, we had to go anyway as the pair of speakers Guitarman thought he'd bought turned out to be just one speaker). We were planning to go to the castle but drove around a bit & ended up at the Parkplatz Residenz. I believe it was built for a bishop or something. (With Wee Laddie in tow our chance to actually find out what we’re looking at is a bit limited.) We didn’t go in but just walked around the gardens. They were beautiful. I want to go back in the spring or summer…I imagine it’s just stunning then.

Having some trouble with the slide show here, so if it's not working here & you'd like to see it, here's a link.

We had dinner at Burger King on the base (sometimes we do that ‘cause it’s open, sometimes for a stop for something at the PX and sometimes just ‘cause we’re feeling lazy, languagewise). Guitarman picked up a copy of Bavarian Times (a magazine they have on base) and they had an article about Würzburg. Turns out we were right outside of the building that houses the world’s largest fresco painting! Guess we’ll really have to go back now. Maybe when my mom comes to visit, since she might find that interesting.

We saw Paloma, a friend of Wee Laddie’s from the Friday playgroup. I pointed her out, then Wee Laddie talked about her throughout the rest of dinner. 'Poma cheeburger,' etc. So we went to say 'hello' on the way out. We got outside and Wee Laddie pointed at a car and said, 'Poma car.' I said, 'Oh, is that Paloma’s car?' He said, 'Yes.' I don’t know… he could be right.

Dishes and Closets and Trains, Oh My!

Went to IKEA. I love love love that store but holy crap, are they crowded on Saturdays! Yikes. We got new dishes. Partly because ours aren’t here yet (although they should be very soon), but partly because what we have now are Guitarman’s old dishes from his life with his ex-wife who shall remain nameless. I think ditching those will just about clear out all belongings from life with other spouses. That just can’t be a good vibe to have around, ya know?

And we got some more train track pieces for Wee Laddie. He’s really getting into putting the track together. All part of his increased independent play, which is very good for Mama. :)



We also got some wardrobes. Houses here do not come with closets. It’s nice from a furniture-layout point of view, in that you can put your furniture wherever you want… but it’s not so nice when you’re waiting for all of your furniture to arrive and all of your clothes are just lying on the floor in the meantime.

Renters here also are usually expected to put in their own light fixtures and they take them with them when they go. Somehow or other, I’m sure that explains the ugliness of the ones in our house: I think the landlord wasn’t expecting to have to put fixtures in for us, so he just grabbed whatever he had out in his garage. What it doesn’t explain (and what just might defy explanation altogether) is why he had these fixtures in the first place.

Son of Father Time

This morning at 8, Guitarman put Wee Laddie’s watch on him. Wee Laddie looked at it and said 'Eight o’clock.' He can’t tell time yet, of course, but it sure tripped Guitarman out for a second. Love it when that happens. Wee Laddie has also been popping up in the morning and asking me, 'Time is it?' Weird, the things kids pick up from their parents.

Today Guitarman had to leave early from lunch. Wee Laddie wouldn’t even say 'goodbye.' Ten minutes later he was standing up on the chair, calling out, 'Love you!'

A Narrow Miss

Wee Laddie didn’t sleep well. Sometime in the night he and I had a disagreement about whether or not we could sleep with his arm wrapped around my throat (I have trouble even wearing too-tight turtlenecks, in case you were wondering which side of the argument I was on). Ended up with me getting grumpy and him getting very upset. It later occurred to me that this is still a very huge, strange adjustment for him and I need to bear that in mind. I mean, our stuff still isn’t even here… it must be hard for him to feel any sense of security or stability. And, as all parents know, young children LOVE routine.

We were supposed to get our DSL installed today. This morning I asked Guitarman if they’d said afternoon or if I was just guessing that.. he said the thought it was afternoon. Then he pulled out the letters from T-Com and guess what? The freaking router is on backorder until APRIL. (yup, you read that right) So I just about had a nervous breakdown before breakfast, even. Perfect timing that I’d bought that dictionary last night or I’d never have been able to figure out what the letter said. Oh, or that they were in fact scheduled to come in the morning, by 10 am.

Long story short, I found out that they shipped us the router on 29 January so we should have it today or tomorrow. I’m supposed to call when we get it and they‘ll reschedule the installation. Thank goodness. Some of you can well imagine how upset I was at the thought of TWO MORE MONTHS of no internet at home.

The German word for relieved: erleichtert

Guitarman Heaven

Got a couple more inches of snow overnight. I woke just after 5 am, the snowplow came about 20 minutes later. Our neighbor started shoveling at 5:45 am. On a Saturday. Are you kidding me? Good grief, some people have no manners. I was still awake after 6 am and was thinking of leaving my two guys up there snoring in bed. I had just about decided what to do whilst I drank my cuppa, then Wee Laddie semi-woke saying, 'Grandma’s house, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.' And then he was really awake so I had to snuggle him back to sleep. I have a pretty hard & fast not-before-7 policy. If I’d gotten up it would’ve been all over.

Drove up to the Thomann music store in Tippendorf with Guitarman just for the ride. It’s a huge music store out in the middle of nowhere. They have tons of instruments, though, including strings, drums… even DJ stuff and whatnot. Guitarman seemed pleased with it. The guy that rang Guitarman up was British but has lived here a long time. Guitarman asked how long it took him to learn German, he said 6 months. He said most people go to the Irish pub with friends and watch CNN, but he jumped right in with an apprenticeship and had to learn. That supports my theory that we should mostly watch regular (German) satellite instead of AFN (Armed Forces Network, which is all in English). But I may be alone in that theory. At least at our house.

Had lunch at the Bistro Pizzeria Alberto right across the street from the guitar store. It was yummy but smoky… we’d only just gotten used to dining smoke-free in Denver and now we’ve gone back a step (says the ex-smoker). Guitarman tucked in Wee Laddie tonight, so I got a little time to myself. Happily, I didn’t have to spend it studying for the drivers’ test this time. Sadly, no internet at home yet.

3 words: Sponge Bob Schwammkopf

What, No Kitchen?

This morning a couple of guys came to 'fix' the kitchen island (not that they bothered to call first or anything). I say 'fix' because all they did was put a new back on it. It’s more substantial, but now there’s a strip along the back of it that matches the back but not the rest of the top, so it looks kind of weird.

And here’s where I’ll talk about German kitchens. Most German apartments/houses do not come with kitchens. No cabinets, no appliances… not even a sink. Sometimes not even a floor. (Because we rented through the housing office on base, ours did have a kitchen.) Those of you who have looked through IKEA catalogs are now understanding why half of it is taken up by kitchen cabinets & stuff, I’ll bet. Aside from the initial expense, I kind of like the idea of having your own kitchen move along with you. I’ve lived in so many places where I didn’t like the cabinets, or the lights or whatever other things… would’ve been nice to have my own stuff to put in. The only really tricky part would be how to have the kitchen fit from one place to the next. (More on closets & lights in another post.)

Guitarman’s car failed the inspection, so he can’t register it yet, which means he’s got these very obvious American temporary plates. Kinda makes the car stick out like a sore thumb. He’ll go in on Tuesday to have Peter fix the car (something about brake pressure not being the same on both sides or something).

The guy at the car center on base was really rude to Guitarman today, so he came home in a horrible mood… ready to pack it in & be back home. (Not really, but pissed off at having to deal with the stuff that comes with being in a foreign place. The guy that pissed him off isn’t even German so it wasn’t about that.) I think things’ll be a lot less stressful once our stuff is here. It’s so hard to feel 'at home' like this, and we’re not really relaxed enough to want to go be touristy either.