P.S.

I just thought I need to let you know: it's now a couple hours later, I DID fight the laundry monster and everything is washed, hung up on the line or folded and put away in the drawers, the dishes are done, I'm out of my PJs AND the weather did a turn to the better.... although looking out right now again, I can see some dark clouds coming over those hills over there, hmmmmm

Golden September?????

When looking out of the window, a truly detestable sight meets the eye: fog, rain, miserable and baeh weather!!! There are times when foggy, rainy, miserable and baeh weather is quite enjoyable, e.g. when it is the time of year when it is allowed to be foggy, rainy, miserable and baeh and you're inside in a warm room and have no reason whatsoever to go outside, are able to bundle up in a nice warm blanket on the comfy couch, read your favourite book, eat some chocolate and drink a hot cappa (NOT tea in my case, but hot chocolate). THEN foggy, rainy, miserable and baeh weather is alright, but not if it's suppose to be still rather nice weather or if you have to go outside or don't have the time to curl up on the couch.

I really can't believe that three months ago it was soooo stinking hot, that you couldn't image anymore how it feels to freeze, and now I don't have a clue no more how it feels like to be stinking hot, hmmm maybe it's a good thing that I seem to suffer short term memory loss .

Last week we had something like a golden September. Ou, it was glorious, blue skies, nice and warm (not too hot) and we spend quite some time out of doors. We actually went for a mini-hike with the kids and had a little picnic. From our house you can see the other side of the valley and there on the hillside is this cute looking hut, and I always had thought how nice it looked and how lovely it would be to go up there. So last week we packed our bags full with nice picnic things (and the usual things you need if you have two small children), "stuffed" not-so-little Ced in the sling and off we went. It was a nice walk going up a small track and Ned did soooo good, he walked aaaaaalllll the way up there with only a little bit of complaining towards the end and then we had a nice picnic-lunch up there, and of course, a not-so-nice nappy changing session :o))))

THAT'S what I call a golden September, not this misserable-ness which is rather fit for November then September.

That's Mosbach down there by the way!! :o)

Autumn fun in the forest

Well, as I write this the sun peeks through the fog and it doesn't look so extremely miserable no more, so maybe the rest of the day will get better???

Today is Ned's day at Charlotte's, where he goes ones a week, so normally that's the day for me to go out and do things which are a bit challenging to do with a toddler in tow, like going to the town hall for various documents (I have been there a lot lately) but it's a bit late now to get started, and it wasn't only my unwillingness to go out in this brrrrr weather, but we had a power failure. Having lived on the ship for such a long time I'm rather used to power failures, but wasn't exactly sure what you do when living on land (on the ship you just sit it through and wait for the electricians and engineers to sort out the problem sooner of later). I did check our fuse box in our flat, and as there are only 3 fuses in it (we live in an oldish house) even I could tell that they were alright. Then I check the power in the rest of the house and there was none either and then I called our land lady on the mobile and she called the power supplier and they said, that there was a power failure in the area and didn't know how long it would be. When she called me back, I saw myself already bundled up on the couch, wrapped up in a warm blanket, reading my favourite book and drinking a cold chocolate, as there would be no way of heating it up, instead of doing the dishes and the laundry or going out and attend to whatever needed to be attended to. Unfortunately the power came back pretty quickly, and the vision of the comfy couch faded away, but instead of doing all them important things, I'm sitting here at the computer, trying to ignore them calling out to me, and writing my blog :o), naughty me!!

I haven't really talked much about Ced lately, and how he is doing. I guess because he's such an easy-going baby one tends to forget writing about him :o). And he really is an easy-going baba : he has five feeds a day, is awake for 1 1/2h and then goes back down for a nap of 2 or 3h. His last feed is between 10 and 11pm and then he sleeps until 5 or 6 in the morning. Lately it has been rather 5 then 6 unfortunately, which is a bit annoying because I know he can sleep longer and also he only drinks a bit more then half of his bottle and then goes back to sleep... so why wake me up at all and not sleep a bit longer and have your whole bottle???? He still is a VERY big boy, not so much fat, but big: his hight and length is in relation, but on some pictures he looks just plain fat, with a biiiig double chin :o)))). I once told my mum that I think him very cute, but thought that Ned had been a bit cuter. My mum raised the banners in defence of my defenceless not-so-little baby, and said, that Ned's ears were rather big and stuck out a bit... how DARE she say that my little boy has jug ears...it might be true, a little bit... OKAY quite a bit, but HOW can she say that to me :o))))) Ou well, despite the jug ears of the one and the double chin of the other, I REALLY love my little boys and think them both really cute, no matter what anyone else thinks, but I'm their mum, and mum's tend to think that of their own offspring :o))))

my not-so-little double-chinned boy

okay, those ears do stick out a tiny bit (but just like his daddy's :o) )

Ou well, I'm off to do something productive, that laundry mountain is calling my name.... I'm positively sure that someone must secretly put their laundry in our basket, or how else can that pile always grow and somehow never seems to get less no matte how often I wash???? And maybe I should finally get dressed as well, it doesn't look so, hmm, so competent to run around in your PJs at noon time :o)))) but they are sooooo comfy and just fit in with the scheme of curling up on the comfy couch....

Train Trip

Inspired by a friends story on her blog, where she went all alone with her two young children in a foreign country for a 1 1/2h bus trip to see a volcano (good on ya, Kim, that was SOOO great of you!!!!) I thought I could try out a trip with my two boys as well, I mean it's only Germany, and I am German, and I do speak German, right??? I toyed with the thought for a long time already, but never had the guts (or energy??) to finally do it. So yesterday, I finally put my foot down, called a friend in Mannheim (which is around 1 1/4h train ride from Mosbach) packed my bag in the evening and got my boys and myself ready today at 9:45 am to leave the house and head towards the train station.

Somehow travelling with kids you have to think ahead SOOO much more, it almost makes my brain pop, honestly!! Well, last night I thought it would be better to get the ticket then rather than waiting until this morning with a two year old in tow, so I headed down to the train station. And one would think, being German and even being able to speak AND read German I would be capable and competent enough to organize myself a valid train ticket for the next day. Well, one was wrong thinking that!!!! Somehow that *** PEEEP*** machine put me through many questions and things, all of which I answered faithful, and in the end I finished up with a train ticket for last night instead of this morning, but I was fed up enough with that stupid machine and thought I'd rather brave the ticket conducter then having another go with said machine, anyway.

Well, as I said, my bag was packed, and I put lots of thought into the content of the bag, much more than I used to do, when I was a careless non-mum: hot water? check! cold sterilized water? check! Formula? check! Bottles?? check! Hand sanitizer??? check! nappies size 3 and size 5?? check! Nappy changing mat? check! Wipies?? check! Puke cloth? check! Change of cloth for little one?? Check! Change of cloth for big one?? debating, but decided not to bring it, because normally we never need it, so UNcheck! Some toys for long train ride?? Check! Some cut up fruit? check! some bribes.. uhm, I mean positive enforcements? BIG CHECK!!!! Stroller for big one?? check! Sling for little one?? Check! Wallet?? check! ticket (which isn't really valid no more)??? check! Drink bottle for big one?? check! Mobile phone?? check! mobile phone actually switched on and charged?? check! Small digital camera?? check! A couple of toy cars??? check... they always seem to happen to be in various bags, pockets or even unlikely places! Oh how nice and easy travel without children used to be, sigh!! Oh well, well prepared we headed down the hill to the train station at 9:50am to catch the train at 10:05. And how EXCITED my big boy was: "Train???? sit??? TRAIN SIT?????" Normally he's always interested in everything, like a little pebble or a thrown away cigarette butt, but telling him about the train made him hurry up like nothing else. When the train finally arrived, I had an awestruck little 2 year old walking in next to me. He informed me I don't know how many times, that we were in fact sitting on a train now and the awe made him sit still for the next 3 minutes, until the train stopped at the next stop and he was rather upset and wanted it to go on, but after a couple of stops he became a rather professional train rider and wouldn't be bothered by the stopping no more :o)) Unfortunately the train also no longer held him in awe and I had to think of how to keep him happy and content, and how glad was I had put lots of thoughts into the bag and was well prepared!!! For the remaining time on the train (something like an hour and 10 minutes I kept him happy with a bag of small cut apples and the game of "please" and "thank you"; luckily there was also a guy sitting opposite us who enjoyed interacting with Ned, so that kept him a wee bit busy as well and Ced slept pretty much the entire time (being strapped to me in his sling). So overall, we did quite well getting to Mannheim, but I noticed already, that I'd rather prefer travelling with another adult as well as the kids. (Little side note: no conductor came along, so I wasn't caught travelling with a wrong ticket, thank you God!!)

Spending some time with our friend in Mannheim and seeing her 5 week old baby was also really great, we went for a walk along the Rhein River to a play ground, and Ned just LOVED the river ships which went past us: "Oh!!! Ship!!!" we were informed :o)))). And I discovered, that despite the many thoughts I had put into the packing of the bag, I did make a mistake, and should have brought a jeans to change for Ned, because at one point his pants were, uhm, slightly damp on the bottom... oh well, it wasn't too much, and we made it back home with the slightly damp pants still on.

I was rather a bit more sceptical of the train ride back, knowing that Ned didn't have an afternoon nap (then he tends to be a bit more,... uhm, difficult) plus little one was due for a feed. So I was wondering how I would handle it, but we were doing really fine (thanks again to those little kid-size HARIBO packages and the like I have to admit). BUT there was one point which made me speechless, and made me wonder anew what goes on in the mind of a two year old: Ned has this red cap he really loves and he was wearing it the entire time. We were sitting next to the door and at one stop, I couldn't even think that fast, he grabbed his cap and flung it out of the door. My hands were full with baby, bribes and the like and I could only stare helplessly at a fellow traveller. He turned out to be our hero and jumped after the cap. After receiving it back, Ned only exclaimed: "Accident" and stuck it back on his head. I offered him for sale there and then, but everyone just laughed and no-one wanted to buy him :o))) (JUST KIDDING...about the intention, anyway!!!)

When we had only another 1/2h to go, Ced decided to wake up and make a noisy appearance, so sitting in the rolling and shaking train I mixed his bottle and my hero from before exclaimed: "Man, I'm so impressed with your planning and multitasking, but can I help you with something somehow????" I really appreciated it, but there was really nothing he could help me with, I really did have it under control and even managed to read the poo-book ("The book about the mole who wanted to know, who pooed on his head", as you can guess from the title a highly educational book, but Ned loves it) to Ned while bottle-feeding Ced with the other hand. Just before the end of our train trip I had another little conversation with a young lady sitting next to us who also thought how immensity organized and well prepared I was... well, that feels as good as putting balm on cracked lips, so to speak:o)))). All my planning and the thought I put into that bag paid off!!!!

Well, it was a good trip but at the end of the day, I was more than glad to step out of the train with my two boys in tow and be greeted by my loving husband on the platform in whose arms I was able to push a 2 year old (who unfortunately just started crying when leaving the train) so I didn't have to "deal" with him all the long 5 minute walk home to our flat.

P.S. for those of you who asked: With Ben being back, Ned's behaviour improved again, so maybe that was only his way of dealing with the change of daddy being gone. So I'm happy to inform you that he is his old happy and cute self once more, with an occasional little melt down here and there. He actually started this new thing now, he wants play by himself in his room and when we come in he orders us to leave again. Not that I complain, but in a way it makes me sad, because it means my little guys get more and more independent and grows up, soon he'll be asking for the car keys :o).

My little guy, he can be soooo adorable :o)

So far, so good....

the time with Ben being gone is almost over. He left on Monday to go to the ship and will be back home Sunday night. I wasn't too thrilled to be left alone with my two wonderful, but sometimes very draining, little boys and packed the car and headed off to my parents place. And oh what a wise idea it has been!!!!!

Ned seems to have a little relapse into his "really-aweful-two-year-old-tantrum-throwing-about nothing-really"-phase. I mean if someone could or would explain it to me, I'd be grateful. For example, we sit at the table and have a meal. Lately he often seems to think he needs to be on a diet or something. He sits in front of his food and doesn't eat it. Well, I don't mind so much, if he chooses to not eat, FINE, he won't starve!!!! (Little after-thought, okay, sometimes I DO mind, because I put time and effort in preparing his meal.) The thing which really gets my temper going is taking the food away. It goes something like this:

Becca: "Are you finished Ned??"

Ned [ignoring his mother and mumbling something inapprehensible, e.g.]: "Bagger?? Bike??? Bus???"

Becca: "Ned! Are you finished eating?? Ja??"

Ned: "Ja?"

Becca: "Ned??? Finished?? Eating?? Ja?? Nein?"

Ned: "Nein??"

[As two year old doesn't show any apparent interest in food, mother decides to take food away, although she couldn't get a clear answer out of 2 year old, but rather a repetition of the last words she says]

Ned: "eat!! EAT!!!EEEEEAAAAAAATTTTT!!!! ESSSSSSEN!!!! WAEEEE!!"

Becca: "okay, Ned, last chance, but you have to eat or I'll take it away"

[Mother puts food infront of two year old again, two year old ignores re-appeared food completely, mother, slightly irritated and temper rising, true to her word, takes food away again]

Ned: "EAAATTTT!!!ESSSSSEN!!!AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! WAAAAA!!!&%#@^$@#$*$@#@"

[mother, patience snapped completely, drags screaming and kicking two year old out of his chair into his room, on his bed for his afternoon sleep, force-changes stinking nappy when suddenly two year old calms down]

Ned: "Mama, sing??? Mama kiss??? Mama book??? Night night"

[mother's temper cools down suddenly and completely, heart melts away like wax and mind (almost) forgets the neither logical nor understandable tantrum... until next time of course]

Is there any hidden logic and I'm just too blind to see it?? I mean, I don't deny him the food, he had plenty of time eating it (at least 45min)... I just don't get it, and honestly, it FRUSTRATES me just a tiny little bit (meaning: A LOT!!!) But I guess we will grow out this quirk as well as the last one(s).

To be honest, I am NOT a very good person if I get woke up in the mornings... but maybe I should just leave the sentence like this: "To be honest, I am NOT a very good person if I get woken up [FULL STOP] (unfortunately that happens to me daily nowadays and the fact that the alarm clock is a cute chubby baby makes it only slightly more bearable). Unfortunately I must have passed down this, this... what should I call it, this habit (??) down to off spring as well. Yesterday we woke up Ned from his afternoon nap to go out to a playground and to collect chestnuts. Bad idea. Really BAD idea!! EXTREMELY BAD idea!!!!! (mental note to self: do not make this error again if avoidable). He was screaming and howling and behaving none-logical for over an hour. Not even the magical HARIBO packages helped (but we don't believe in bribing anyway). When he finally calmed down and behaved like an awake and normal two year old again, he was as sweet and cute as sugar, but it was way to late to head to the playground. Maybe some brain cells get stuck and only excessive screaming and crying can loosen them again, hmm, who knows. This time my temper stayed down, because I kinda caused the fit in waking him up, knowing that I'm not very good when woken up myself.

We ended up going to the playground and picking chestnuts today though:

I don't want you to think, that this kid of mine is this awful scream-bag (okay, obviously at times he is, but it isn't the norm), I'm sharing this because it puzzles me a bit, this being none-logical. He wants something, you give it to him and he ignores it just to want it desperately again ones you take it away.

Despise the aweful scream attack in the afternoon, the day ended really good. The weekly bible study was at my parents house, and not having a guitar player usually I had to render my services, which of course prompted my mum to choose many songs!!! So it was at least 1/2h singing, and the entire time my little boy sat between two adults, at times clapping his hands, at times shaking one or two "shiggy shakes" (no idea what they are called) and during my dad's prayer he folded his little hands and bowed his head (heart melting moment again).

I guess there are many frustrations in every parents life (I hope I'm not the only parent struggling with unreasonable and tantrum throwing children), but reading the papers makes me realized that I'm so extremely grateful for every single minute of every single day that I have them, to be able to cuddle them, to hold them, to train them and teach them God's way, because being followers of Jesus doesn't automatically mean that no harm will come to us or our children. There has been an incident reported in the papers that 2 weeks ago a 10-year old went missing. It seems to happen so often, and so often one forgets things like that again, because it is "far" away. But this particular incident hit closer to home because the missing boy grew up in a Christian home and the church organized a 24h prayer chain, in fact the entire village is praying for him. And I started to pray for him and his parents as well. I hurt with them, and just thinking of them makes me want to go over into Ned's room and cuddle up next to him, forgotten are all the frustrations and irritations and only love for my little guy fills my heart... and fear. Fear of loosing him in such an aweful way, or sickness, or an accident... my imagination runs wild. But dwelling on such thoughts is neither good nor right. We have to trust our Lord and God that He does take care of him and no matter what happens in the future, we have to trust and believe the fact that GOD loves us, that Jesus died for us and our sins and that He IS in charge, no matter what befalls us.

I don't wanna end here just after writing down some of my fears. Much better finishing off with another little Ned story:

This evening we had visitors over and Ned showed himself from his chocolate side off course (which is very cute), and off course bed time was a bit later then usual (off course), and despite the visitors, he went to bed like a little angel (I was VERY proud of him), and I thought, it being so late already and our visitors being here, I would skip our now established daily bible reading for once. Well, he made me sing a couple of good night songs out of his book and then I started praying, but he was like: "Mama, book.... bible???" I almost cried, and off course I did read him and snuggled up a bit longer and treasured the moment in my heart.

God can use a teddy bear

Telling Ned about God and Jesus is a big challenge to me, if I'm honest. Somehow it is so difficult for me to tell a little two year old about the Son of God and about what he did on the cross for human kind. But let me tell you a little story:



If you don't know her already, let me introduce HERMIE to you, Ned's beloved teddy bear (she's having a drink on the picture, as you can see.... state the obvious, hmm).
Ned really takes good care of his very best friend (if he doesn't throw her out of bed and across the entire room, that is) he lets her drink, he feeds her, he lets her ride his bobby car or bagger, he lets her sleep in his bed and today for the first time, after several times trying but mum being quicker then him, he also gave her a bath, when dad was too slow for him. Yepp, Hermie landed fully on in the bath tub and although dad went to the rescue straight away, it was too late, the beloved teddy bear was slightly, uhm, "damp" (read: dripping wet). And that just half an hour before bed time. BAD timing, because going to bed without Hermie equals LOTS of loud noise (aka screaming). So, I went to ask our landlady if we could use her dryer for this dreadful emergency, but even with the help of the dryer, our furry little friend did not get dry in time for bed. So here we were, all clean, tucked in, but bear missing, and of course as soon as Ned was tucked in the first question was: "Hermie??" To give her a little bit more time to get decent and less damp I pulled out a book, in fact, his bible-flap-book. He loves this book, he loves lifting the flaps and pointing out all sorts of animals and other details, but normally he hates you reading out loud for him, after a couple words he normally moves on to another page, or another book. So, being honest, often I don't even bother to try. But this particular night I did and started to read out loud to him. And he sat there, and listened. I don't know how much he understood, but I put God's word in his little heart and God's word never comes back empty.

Now we started to read to him after we have tucked him into bed; bringing Jesus to our little guy is the best thing we can do and we trust that God can use these evening reads to open up Ned's heart for the truth of Jesus. It also teaches us discipline, to do it regularly, because I suck in doing something regularly, but by God's grace I can learn as well.

I can only count to three...

... I've discovered just recently. The latest proof just happened on, or better just before, this little get-away trip to East Germany and Prague. I knew we'd be gone from Thursday afternoon until Monday afternoon, but my brilliant brain only counted: "Friday: one.... Saturday: twoooo.... Sunday: threeeee" and then it stopped counting. So we only had clothes for three days instead of four. Oh well, we SMELLED a bit on the way back home, but who cares :o)))
We had a really excellent time away. Although it didn't start out so nice:

• on Thursday morning I went for a little walk with Ced in his carrying cloth and when I came back home down the hill, just outside our house, I managed to stumble over my very own feet and almost landed flat on my face, with Ced being a little Ced sandwich in between. PTL that I managed just in time to put my arms out to catch the fall in time, so only I was hurt, and not Ced. I really can't remember the last time I fell like that, normally one stumbles but always manages to not fall. Falling like a felled tree really isn't nice. During the brief moment of falling so many thoughts go through ones mind, it's amazing that there is so much space in ones brain to think all these thoughts in such a tiny moment. It also wasn't very nice that I wore slippers and got some minor but VERY painful injuries on the top of my foot, especially when you then wear closed shoes, which you normally wear when playing the tourist in foreign parts.
• And Ben managed to get himself a nice expensive photo taken, although the main focus of the photo will be on our license number plate and not our faces.

But besides those starting hick-ups we had an awesome time. We stayed with friends in East Germany who normally live in Sydney (that Sydney in Australia, in case you wonder) so it was great to be able to catch up with them, especially meeting their REALLY cute and pretty daughter Rebekka (I wouldn't mind having her as a daughter-in-law some time in the future, hahaha)

After two days with them we headed off to Prague. For me, being European, it is so easy to forget, that there is still a border between the countries of the European Union and that you actually need a passport (or ID in my case). We almost forgot to bring Ben's passport, almost, but not quite :o))))

I am not a big fan of GPS, but honestly I wished to have one in Prague, or a good map. But we only had a lousy print out which didn't help very much and we got pretty much lost, BUT we made it to our hotel without too much delay. And finding it without a good map or GPS makes one feel really good and brilliant :o)))

Of course after checking-in in the early afternoon we soon headed off to down town Prague. There are SO many tourists, it is overwhelming and a thought slowly formed in my head (I could hardly believe myself), to get up after Ced's early morning feed and head to town at like 5am. And we really did. I got up early to go to town, ME, can you believe it???? But true, after we had dinner in the old city (and Ced puked all over Ben when I was quickly on the toilet, hahahaha) we went home for an early night and got up and ready and sat in the tram to town by 5:15am. And it was SOOOOOOOO worth it, no tourists, unless you count a couple of drunken left over tourists, and a beautiful sunrise. After that we went to bed again though :o))) (unfortunately they were renovating this "communism"-style hotel and when we tried to catch up on sleep they were hammering and drilling away... made me feel like being back on the Hope back in the days in Trogir)

Unfortunately my foot really hurt. Additionally to the injuries on the top of my foot, I had some painful blisters because silly me insisted on wearing her brand new shoes. AUTSCH!!! Soo, what did I learn in this weekend away???

1. learn to count to four
2. don't stumble over your own feet just before a trip away... as a matter of fact, don't stumble and fall at all
3. NEVER wear new shoes for a city trip
4. always do the touristy thing very early in the morning which results in nice lighting and no other tourists to bother you
5. take proper road/city map with you or a GPS when going to Prague, they really do not believe in road signs

Growing and maturing

I seem to have jumbo jets as children!!! Not only can they produce as much WIND as one of those, no, they can also take off like one, at least in growing (that's what I mean, off course they can't fly so they can't take off in that way). When Ned was younger (I can't really say "When he was little") he took off like a jumbo and looked always older then he actually was (he still does, but his growing rate has slowed down considerably) and now (not so) little Ced follows in his foot steps. On the check up at the doctors he proudly measured 63cm and weighed 6.2kg... that's 10cm longer and 2.4kg heavier than when he was born and it's way outside the normal size for a 6 weeks old. At least now I'm not worried that I'm over feeding him or something, but I know that it's just the way my kids seem to be, big, very alert and happy (and good sleepers, we average something around 5-7 hours at night, PTL!!!). I guess the only disadvantage of a big baby is that they are more expensive: they grow out of their cloths faster, drink more milk (which unfortunately I can't produce and have to buy) and when flying they don't fit in the bassonet thing by the age of 6 months (which doesn't have anything to do with being more expensive, but it's a fact none the less).



With Ced being a tummy sleeper there are certain benefits as well: his neck and shoulder muscles are so strong that he can lift his head for several minutes, no problem. Laying on ones tummy, I suppose, also helps with passing WIND (I tell you, a jumbo is almost nothing compared with my -not so- little fellow.... he happily farts away like a (not so) little farting cushion... hmm but maybe you don't wanna know :o)) (too late, I wrote it already) Talking about things you might not want to know, I share another little fact you actually might not want to know. Did you know that you can poo-condition babies???? It sounds crazy, but it really works!! Friends of ours told us about it, and with Ned being a super poo-er in another class we didn't want (not so) little Ced follow in his footsteps there as well. So we thought we give the poo-conditioning a go, and it really works. We started to train from when he was around 3 or 4 weeks. Every time we change his nappy at his feed time we lift up his legs and push the just very slightly onto his belly (mind you, we don't press the poo out, but just put him in a good "shooting" position). Even if he took a while to do anything, we'd keep him in that position and wait for a while, give him a little tummy massage and wait a bit longer. But after a couple times doing that he really started to poo when he was in this position, and now, for at least one or two weeks we haven't had a single poo in his nappy while the nappy was on normally, but only when we had him 'in position'. He wouldn't poo every every time we put him in his poo-position but he'd only poo when he was in the position, or he'd give me signals that it is actually time to de-poo, but normally it would always be during his normal de-poo-times in a break during his feed time.
*********** Hmmm, it is a couple of minutes since I wrote the section above, and just when I finished the last sentence I came to be convinced that my kids read my blog and want to prove me wrong. When I just finished the last couple of words of the last sentence, Ced, who was sitting on the edge of the table between my arms leaning against me, farted mightily like a machine gun and at the end of that went "PFFFFT".... and the poo was in the nappy. Great, just there goes my point!! Oh well, he did give me some signals which I didn't read correctly... but in 99% of the time the poo-conditioning does work (exceptions confirm the rule, as we'd say in German).
Ned is also maturing a lot. Having said that, I'm also convinced that he read my blog in the past, because when I wrote about him maturing another time, the very next day he produced some wonderful tantrums worthy of Hollywood, but still, generally he is SOOO much better and his vocabulary improves almost daily now. He's like a little parrot and tries to repeat everything you say. But he also starts to say little sentences, and they are sentences which melt away every parents heart: "Mama, lav you" and "Daddy come kiss" :o))))))
Yesterday I took the boys and we went for a walk in the forest. Ned did such a great job, he walked all the 1 1/4h and only needed a little encouragement towards the end (but we DO NOT bribe our kids, never!!) First he played with some big sticks laying around, but pretty soon he abandoned the big one for a tiny little one, no idea what he saw in that one and why he picked this particular one out amongst thousands of other tiny little sticks... oh the mysteries of the mind of a two year old.

That's the big stick:

And that's his new friend, the little stick:


So, they are both growing and maturing. The one who shouldn't be growing anymore is myself. Luckily I don't anymore, but getting rid off my extra baby fat is quiet a little challenge again (great, GETTING the baby fat isn't a challenge whatsoever). Luckily I do enjoy roller blading a lot which helps getting back into shape (a shape other than round, that is, and no, "wobbly" is not a shape). Unluckily roller blading is only possible when it is dry (aqua planing and roller blades ain't no good a combination) so I decided to start going running again (oh how I love running.. ahmmm, NOT) but anyway, while listening to an audiobook it isn't too bad. So today I started again, and I actually went running at 5 am..., do you hear me?? FIVE O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING... ME!!! I went RUNNING at FIVE in the MORNING, I almost couldn't believe it myself, but after Ced had his bottle I couldn't fall back to sleep and I thought, instead of wasting time trying to fall asleep I could use the time in a better way and I got up and dressed and ran my first 20 min (with a 3 min walking break in between) this year... I know it doesn't sound very impressive to you sporty people out there but for someone who doesn't like running and was pregnant up to 7 weeks ago and gained a bit too much while being pregnant it was pretty good (I will be sore and aching tomorrow but tomorrow takes care of itself:o)
Well, Ned is at his grandparents, in fact he will be with them until Monday, 6 days in total, because the rest of "us" are going for a little road trip over East to visit some friends near Chemnitz (Bine, Bekka and Antony if you'd like to know) and then go on to visit Prague. I hope mum and dad and Ned will be doing okay and that the rest of "us" won't miss our big boy too much.