22 February – When we returned to Germany, we made sure that we went to the regular Friday playgroup, but unfortunately, no one else made it as kids naps were all haywire.
Missing E :*(
C had also gotten CD a gift – to help him continue his love affair at home.
B & E Buds
All MINE!
23 February – We learned to climb on the chair to get to the radio…and brought Bert with us as a co-conspiritor.
Music and Men
25 February – We had some donkey fun and showed off our locks after a sweaty nap.
Rody the Donkey
He looks a little sleepy still- or contemplating a hard question
26 February – We went shopping and stood in the little bit of snow that was left. Of course I didn’t have his boots on, so we played and then got inside to dry off his feet.
Still a winter wonderland
28 February – We hung out with some friends.
They’re Back!
Can’t WAIT to take him to Sesame Place!!! That will be SO much fun!
Young love
J and I were strolling the kids next to each other and then we look down and what do we see?!?!?! They are holding hands. Sweet!
1 March – Am I SOOOO glad that this day is in my past! I have been trying to find a travel stroller for CD for some of our upcoming trips but don’t want to spend a fortune on one. They are really expensive here or you get the kind that looks like they are only meant to hold a baby doll and you see a 4 year old crumpled up in it trying to “look” comfotrable as mom or dad wheels them along. Not going for either of those. So I did as much research as possible and found one that seems like it would be good. I scoured the Internet to try to buy it online- non available. Then I went to the manufacturer’s website- they only sell to stores, you can’t buy direct from them. I then emailed and called stores in Germany and within Europe to see if they have/will ship to Germany. Found one in UK and put them on my “wait” list if I couldn’t find it in Germany. Called Toys R Us here, since their website said they had them but I needed someone to put the order in for me as my bank card here literally lets me do nothing online. So, I bundled CD up and headed on the long journey to Toys R Us to have them order it for me. I got confirmation over the phone that they could do this prior to legging it to the place. Needless to say after 2.5+ hours in the store “waiting”, I voiced my disgust with them and left. I will not get into further details because my “southern” mom taught me that if I don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything.
CD did however make out on this trip. The one store clerk felt bad for him as he was screaming and squirming a lot. She gave him free bubbles, balloon, tokens to ride the rides. I made sure that I told her I was not angry with her as she was just the poor pawn that the manager “put out there” so they would not have to deal with me. Good idea on their part. 🙂
Free balloon- free static
Little Ferris Wheel Type Ride – YouTube
And what do you do after a stressful morning and some new fun? You pass out on the ride home. 🙂
Napping Joe Cool Style
And after you have rested and regained your sense that it was in fact a CRAZY morning, you then go and tell your friends about it.
Listening buddy
Oh yeah, and you take another friend’s dummy (pacifier) to help soothe the reliving of the morning.
2 March – I have started to let CD walk, as he doesn’t enjoy just riding in the stroller too much anymore. He wants to be out there, touching everything and exploring his world. I will usually let him walk back from the stores as we go on the non-busy streets. He has been a champ at doing this and I usually give him something light to carry to slow him down a bit.
Carrying his groceries
This day was also one of the birthday parties of this year. Birthdays Galore
4 March – We decided to meet up with J and L to have lunch since we would not be seeing L for a few days as she was going on holiday. This was an awful plan as it was right at CD’s nap time. I decided that I would wear him in the baby carrier so that he would be more likely to fall asleep than in the stroller. He did not. We got our food and as we were all enjoying it, CD THREW UP. And I did what any mama would do. I stuck my hands under his mouth to catch it. And you know who was right behind me to do the same thing???? L. She grabbed the napkins and put her hands under mine!! Kinda gross but that’s love. 🙂 All I could think was, “we are about to eat, CD puked in front of a pregnant girl. I bet she still has her appetite.”
CD had been under the weather due to teething again. His bottom left far back tooth popped through and now we are just waiting on the last three. They are swollen lumps in his mouth right now so I know it is going to be a tough time. He then finally fell asleep in my arms as the other girls were having their coffees- I don’t drink coffee so I declined it.
Self portrait
We did however have some fun on the way back to the apartment.
Park Time- Come here Mama
Driving the firetruck
Picking Daisies
And after a hard day of playing, as boy needs to eat.
Forget the stick, I’m going straight for the hummus!
What?!?! The “stick” is a breadstick?
Ok. I will eat that too!
5 March – I had found another indoor play area that is meant for older kids but on Tuesday mornings, they shut the place down so that only 0-2 year olds can go and play. And not fear getting trampled by the older kids. Plus they give out free coffee. That was what I used to lure my friends to go with me. I also told them that they could draw sticks to see who would get my cup as I don’t drink coffee. We had been trying to go for a while (since January) but never made it. First, I was incredibly sick and could not peel myself off the bathroom floor let alone go and bounce around with CD. I was glad that we finally went. J and her daughter E came along for the journey along with M and her son O. We also explored a new area of town as none of us had ever been there. After the play area, we headed back to the city to grab lunch. No throwing up this time, phew! Then we went to the park because this week’s weather had been wonderful. Sun, warmer temperature. Lovely!
Riding the car
Car up close
“Slide”
Germany has these “slide” type things where it is a conveyor belt with tubes that roll. Then you put your kid in a plastic carton and send them down the belt. We were introduced to these last year at the Frankfurt kids fest. CD loves them and has a good time doing it.
Then there was trampoline time with O.
Come on O, let’s jump!
I bounce you!
I have a daredevil on my hands. Other kids are wary of some things, CD, eh, not so much. O didn’t really make it on to the trampoline, so I jumped on and helped CD bounce. He enjoyed it and let out his full belly laugh.
And we found the mechanical rides as well. 🙂
Lightning McQueen
Kangaroo!
And we push the chairs here too.
Chair pushing. Loads of fun!
Then we nap.
Sweet dreams
Then we play while moms try to eat.
Boy time
Park time
So here are CD and O in the sand at the park. O is covering himself with sand and CD is helping him. CD decides he wants to eat the sand and get messy too. Oh wait, J and E were with us too. Where could E be? She has on her new shoes and refuses to touch her feet to the sand in fear of getting her feet/shoes dirty and grimy. J ends up carrying her. HA! Boys and girls.
And after a long day, Mama finally bought her spring flowers. On the walk home a lady commented on how nicely I decorated the stroller. 🙂 P.S. The flowers look awful now. There is no point in “buying” flowers. ARGH!
Primrose
6 March – We again went to the park with M and J as the weather was gorgeous. I walked around in only a tank top and thinner sweater, but still bigger boots. (Need to pull out/buy spring time shoes as I don’t really have transition shoes). We had a fun time and CD has been enjoying the use of other kid’s sandbox toys. Little does he know what he is getting for Easter! Mama asked the Easter Bunny if CD could have some sand toys!
More flower…picking. 🙂
Flower time
Park truck
Pinwheel Pose
I had bought CD a pinwheel and he loves it. Great use of a Euro!
March 7 – Busy, busy day. I picked up a used toy for CD that I thought he would like. Then I had to go to the bank as my card was not working much anymore and that is my only way that I pay for things. Then it was off to the main train station to get a train card since we will be traveling by train a bit in the near future. Now, everyone talks about how seedy the train station area is. I didn’t really notice it on the walk to the train station, but when I left is when I noticed things. Europe doesn’t really sensor nudity so imagine bilboards in seedy areas without nudity sensors. 🙂 Not wild but still a little shocking.
We then went to meet M and J for lunch, however it got prolonged since J took awhile to get to us. M and I let the boys run around a bit as it was nice outside. CD enjoyed the music guys that we see a lot and he got a few dances in before J arrived.
FYI: Not CD’s cup
“Helping” O take a drink
Dance time – YouTube
Dance Time 2 – YouTube
Dance Time 3 – YouTube
And then there was entertaining O, who HATES to be out of the stroller. Peek-A-Boo – YouTube
Lunch was fabulous! The food was good, the service was fabulous and fast that we all decided we would be going back to the location again. J and I have past it many times and kept saying we should go there, but never really made it definite until today. Sorry we waited so long.
Sharing toys
The boxes that the kids have were part of the kids fun box that the restaurant gives out to children who eat there. It contains a few toys, a drink, snack and some other things I don’t remember. Well worth it even if it is just for them to play with while you shovel food into your mouth. 🙂
Stinky Toes – YouTube
March 8 – I finally went to the mom and baby workout group that I have bookmarked on my computer ages ago. We made it just in time and had a good time. It is nice because the instructor doesn’t speak much English so she says everything in German. I just follow the moves for the most part and remember key words. We did the warm-up and CD was fine with it. Then the second group of exercises we did was when CD started to not like it. I basically begged, pleaded, whined to him to let me get through the hour-long session and then we could play in the park. He wasn’t buying it (even though it was the truth). My only option was to get him out of the stroller and pray that he stayed close to me. Well, he did. When we were doing lunges, he was holding my hand and doing them right by my side. All of the other moms thought it was cute- all of their kids were still little and not rambunctious. We made it through the workout…kind of and then I let CD play in the playground. By this time it was close to being lunch time so I wanted to walk home….well, CD wanted to walk home too and not be pushed in the stroller. It was a LONG walk out of the park and onto the first road as CD pointed to everything and said “I see”. He gained a walking stick for the long journey and also tried to break into a BMW car. He apparently thought we were going to go for a drive. He walked right up to it, put his hand on the handle and pulled it. No alarm went off, thankfully. CD then made it home to have lunch and nap. Then it was our regular meetup at the restaurant with the girls.
Meeting at the usual spot
Look Mama!
Yup, that is CD standing on the chair, O looking at CD knowing that he is going to get into trouble. Then CD looks as us as to say “what are you going to do about this Mama?”. Then O looks at us with a concerned look on his face. And O then does what any upstanding friend would do when you are going to get into trouble. He bolts and leaves CD standing on the chair to get into trouble by himself. 🙂
Mode of Transportation – YouTube
March 9 – CD woke up in a BADDDDDD mood. Gave him some medicine and he just was not happy. Loved to throw everything at me. CD got his first haircut from C and did pretty well with it. We went out to get some groceries and then came home for lunch and nap. After his nap I got to go out and work on the blog while C watched CD. This sounded like a great idea, but the blog work never really happened as I could not connect to the Internet. So in the end I just lugged extra weight (laptop) around that I did need to.
Home haircut
Yes, we did it during snack time so that CD could have something to focus on while the haircut was happening. It was a good idea in theory and it did work, however, I did have to replace a few snacks before he ate them because they got covered in hair.
Happy Hair!
He looks like such a big boy now it’s crazy!
March 10 – Chatted with GM, N and Aunt C. Busy FaceTime day. Went to park. Started raining on walk to park. Stayed to play at park and then rode bus home…about 2 blocks!
Snack- Go Temple!
Up close and personal
Park- with someone else’s shovel!
March 11 – Cleaning lady came. CD so excited to see her. Went to meet L and E at bakery to catch up after their trip. Bitter cold outside. Did I say bitter? I meant BITTER COLD OUTSIDE!!!!!!! So we spent most of today inside doing this:
Shape Train
March 12 – Snow overnight. Decided to go out and get groceries since there were no open spots to have them delivered. Got out, bitter cold, got groceries and then on walk home, BITTER COLD and felt awful. Almost passed out when got home but was able to sit before it happened. Stayed in and watched the snow pile up outside. Then went out for a late trip to see Ernie and Bert with J and E. J was locked out of her building so she had to wait a bit to get in so we also had dinner. Was tasty, but tough with two toddlers that new it was bedtime. Lift was out at Ubahn station and had to lug stroller up 2 flights of stairs. We saw tons of places where the snow fell from the rooftops and they had the sidewalks marked off in tape so that no one would walk under them. That was how much snow fell, how quickly it fell and how heavy it was.
Snow Time
Street in the morning- before most of the snow fell
Our balcony which NEVER gets snow on it. Now had it piled up.
Thankful for the big-wheels!
B & E Again
CD, B and E squared
Ball Pit
Climbing
Escape the spiked ball!
At night we booked trip to Brussles online with the friend that we were going to travel with. Looking forward to it. Look for that post soon!
March 13 – Headed out in the morning to meet with J and E and M and O to have the kids play in the snow that fell. It was still pretty cold but it was a good idea. We headed on the bus there so that we would not be out in the cold too long.
CD, O and M
“Deep” snow
Playing with someone else’s toys
Halfway through our outing, we decided to warm up and get something to eat. The kids had just as much fun inside as they did outside.
E entertaining CD – YouTube
Sporting Mama’s sunglasses
Borrowing a friend’s sled
Side note: Someone needs to make waterproof GOOD gloves for toddlers. Yes, toddlers DO play with things and will also play with snow. Their hands WILL get wet if companies ONLY make fleece “gloves”. Another million dollar idea. Who is willing to do the brunt work?? I will definitely back you!!! Along with other moms of toddler BOYS….because guess what?? E was here too and she refused to stand in the snow. J had to put her in the swing so that she would not be upset. 🙂
Building…
…our snowman!
Heading for the slide
SO hungry after a big day!
14 March – We headed out to meet friends for lunch. Grown people sit at tables to eat. Toddlers sit…well…in the middle of everything!
Lunching in the middle
Or they hide in corners!
We then went “shopping” to see ALL the SURPLUS of BOYS clothing that they have out there. Um, what?!?! What I really meant to say is the 5 shirts for boys aged 0-10 and the whole departments set up for girls aged 0-3 months, 6-12 months, 12-24 months. Not really but you get the picture. Boys clothes? NOTHING. Girls clothes? Masses to choose from.
We did however see this shirt…none the less in the GIRLS section.
Miss you Brother Bear
L and I then had Girls Night. Since no one else could make it, we did not want to cancel and headed to a small little place near her apartment. We had an amazing time and it was actually really nice just being the 2 of us as we learned a lot about each other. Another good night with L!
15 March – We cleaned as we were preparing for our trip to Brussels. I had an AWESOME video of CD vacuuming, but he deleted it from my phone before I could put it on my computer. Argh!
I’ll help Mama
16 March – I walk out of the kitchen to find…THIS…..!!!!!
Being a boy. I must climb!
Throwing my first snowball
Also had a great video of CD with the snowball, but yes, he deleted that one too! 🙂
Watching Toy Story
I should have placed a drool rag under his chin in the above picture!
17 March – Happy St. Patrick’s Day! CD had a BIG breakfast that he used both hands and big spoons to shovel it into his mouth.
Yummy!
And then CD had HIS FIRST REAL BABYSITTER!!!!!! I went to the movies with L to see Les Misérables. It was great! I did keep thinking about CD, but as I know the babysitter and L has used her for over a year with her 2 kids and J has used her with E- who is cool with her and not many other people. I knew CD would be ok and she would not harm him. They only thing that did not work is it took him a long time to fall asleep, but he did with her, which was good. L and I then got to have a quick bite to eat before heading home in the snow.
Irish Flag Lunch- Green beans, chicken, sweet potato
I had told the babysitter that he may eat more than what was on the above plate so there was more in the fridge. She told me when I got home that he ate his plateful, and then half of everything in the fridge. She said he was a “good eater” as she meant he will eat you out of house…I mean apartment and home…I mean flat. 
CD was happy to see me when he woke up, which was literally as soon as I was finished talking to the babysitter and was taking my shoes off of my feet.
Lucky Irish Shirt
We then made sure all of our things were in order as we were heading to Brussels, Belgium the following morning!
***Please excuse if I ended my sentences in prepositions. I hate that with a passion, but I fall into the BAD habit when I’m tired, or hunkering down and weeding through stuff…as I am doing now. Also, I know I have switched how I list the dates (# first or after the month), but let’s face it, I’m not going back to check it. If something doesn’t make sense, breeze over it as I also have not proof-read it. I am praying that I don’t have any obscene typos. If I do, please let me know so I can fix those. Also, I must go and rest as I gave myself Carpal tunnel syndrome in my left hand.
Look forward to the Brussles post!
Best, Wurst & In-between 