For the past few days, Paul II has found a new toy, or I should say rediscovered it in a new way. His tongue. When he was only about three months old he would curl it in his mouth. No he sticks it out and clamps his lips around it. So it often looks like he's sticking out his tongue at you. or if he's "working" on his toys, then it adds to the look of serious concentration.

When I picked him up from my friend Meg's, also my occasional baby-sitter, she remarked on his new tongue game. She also said she had him hold onto stable objetcs to hld himself up. She kept her hands around him in case he fell, but she said he did really well. Oh boy, now I have to try it. I never even thought of him keeping stable on his feet yet. I keep forgetting all these things I have to teach him.

Also, tomorrow my boss wants to talk to me about my job. He said it was all good things. The only thing I'm afraid of is extra duties which might bring on more hours. I really enjoy my job, but I hate myself every minute I'm away from Paul. Though I love the peace the first hour after he's been a brat.

This morning the little twit wouldn't stop pulling my hair. I know people think I'm nuts to keep it so long with a baby (it's waist long), but my hair is my one real vanity besides intelligence. So by the time I walked him to my friend's house, I was not in the mood to take it any more. So what does the little "angel" do? He's latches on and refuses to let go when I try to put him on the floor, regardless of the fact that I'm running late, which he was the cause of. Well, at least Meg enjoyed my comment to him. "Let go of my hair or I'm going to kick your butt." Yeah, I know he can't understand, but it was good to vent a little. Just wait until I get done learning German. Then I'll work on another language and not teach him. That way I can break my rule of no cursing and neither of the Pauls will understand me, but they'll know I'm PO'd. I'm figuring Italian will do nicely. It's such a heated language and already in my blood.

But now the darling angel, my little sweetheart has gone to sleep. He's always perfect when he's sleeping. And I will tuck in too. Of course, after I kiss his soft little cheek and adjust his blanket and dolly, a turtle named Cruiser. Excuse me, "action figure." He's going to be a tough man, so he can't play with dollies. Then I'll linger on his scent in his room and go to sleep happy as well.

I'm so excited about my son's first Christmas. He'll only be seven months and five days old when it happens, but I still want everything to be perfect for him. That's why we're finally getting a real Christmas tree.

Last night when I was finishing frosting the first batch of Christmas cookies, my mind kept wandering to next year. Then he'll be old enough to eat the cookies. He'll even be old enough to "help" me with the cookies.

Then there's the Christmas presents. We got a big package the other day from my father. It had tons of gifts for him and a Christmas outfit. I know he'll wear the outfit on Christmas day. As for the gifts, I hid them. Okay, okay. I know he can't crawl, let alone drag out the footstool and climb up to the upper cupboard where I hid them. Heck, even if he could do that, he's way too short to reach the cupborad with the stool, it's pretty high up. But it made me feel good to hide his gifts, a tradition for the years to come. I even want to write "From Santa" on some of his gifts from us.

So far I bought him two musical toys and am looking for one more. Toys that are easy to press buttons or turn over to start the music. The two are from Leap Frog and one of them will grow with him. For now I'll keep it on the music setting. Later I can put it on he letter learning setting. But it plays over 26 songs. It's great and he loves his music toys, so he'll love this too.

Well, once we get the tree up, we'll have Paul II help trim it. Maybe he can even help put the star on the top.

I feel bad because it's been six days since my last entry. But I've been insanely busy with the star of this journal and a writing contest. Plus I'm still trying to get the apartment remotely organized before we pick up our Christmas tree.

Well, Paul II had his first reall illness. He's had a fever once before, but it only lasted a few hours. This week it came for a day, left for a day and came back for three more days. Which of course was my fault.

My husband had a family run with his unit and I so enjoyed the last one that I wanted to do it again. So after our boy had only been well for half a day, we dragged him out into the cold and ran for about a mile, as well as kept him out another half hour as we did warm-ups. Even though he was very bundled, I'm sure it didn't help him any.

Paul II received his first flu shot on Monday and it made him catch a fever for a bit. He also has to go back in January and get a booster. He'll probably be sick again. Fortunately my job is VERY flexible and understood why I was out.

But I hate to see the little one so sick For two days straight he cried and cried. Five minutes in the Bumper Jumper...WAAAH! Five minutes in the Exersaucer...WAAAH! Five minutes of him sitting on my knee, bouncing, five minutes standing and being forced to dance. Well, that last one gave me a laugh for the day. It's especially funny when I have him spank his rear like some hot guy dancer. Yeah, I'm a sick Mommy. But five minutes of everything under the sun and he'd be upset really quick.

Finally, the third day was Saturday and Paul I was home. GOOD! I left the two of them alone and went to work all day. Of course I had to deal with five crazy kids doing a crafts project at the shop. AAAUUUGGGHHH!!!

When I come home, what do I hear? "It's about time. I can't take it anymore!" Funny, I'd been saying the same thing the day before. Only mine came out, "Take him, I'm about to toss him through the window!"

Now he's all better, but as my husband says, I spoiled him those two days. Yes, I coddled him, but he was sick. So now, like any young man, he's milking it for all it's worth. Only he's healthy now and I'm not falling for it. "No! You lie there and play with your toys. I've had you on my lap for the last half hour and I'm hungry." He's starting to get the hint.

But as usual, he's my sweety and even after the two previous days, once I worked that full day, I couldn't wait to hug and hold him again. We treked through one of his German storybooks and both learned a little as usual. So far we have only two, but I have to find more books about castles and dragons. It's kind of hard when I can't translate the titles. But we're enjoying these so far.

I took my handsome little boy to the doctor today for his six month check-up and immunizations. He's 27 inches and weighs 17 pounds. That's my big boy. I'm so proud of him. Of course he wasn't too brave for his shots. Once the first of three needles hit, the tears and wails started coming. I hate it, because I get all upset too. But I try to put on a big smile and soothe him. I refuse to leave the room. Heck, I was even there through his whole circumscision when he was two weeks old. For that, he was very brave. Well, after the cries it only took a few minutes of Mommy dressing, then holding him, for him to quiet down again. Though he remembered those shots and played it up all day as usual.

The doctor said his development was good, but I already knew that. He was impressed that he's been rolling for about a month now. He isn't a very active roller, he's more into scooting, but he gets around well enough for what he wants. He also sits up pretty well. Now if can only sit up without me getting him started. Soon enough.

Yesterday we started Stage 2 foods. We fought for a bit like we do whenever we try anything new, but eventually he gave up the fight and ate his spinach and lasagna.

I am so proud of our little fellow. We're regularly working on his sitting up and his baby-sitter has commented on it as well. I love placing toys in front of him and watching him constantly grab for a new one. So many choices excite his little mind and it helps him practice leaning over and then steadying himself to sitting again.

That's one thing that kills me. Taking him to the baby-sitter. He only goes for 1-2 four hour days. I don't work much, it's just a little to get out of the house. But I'm already afraid I'll miss something when I'm away. And unlike the full day I work on Saturdays, neither his father or I will see it, a complete stranger will. Our sitter always spooks me when she tells me something he did. I think it's something new the way she words it, then I realize he does it all the time and I calm down.

I went into the main area of town yesterday. I picked up tree branches to make a real wreath. My husband and I are trying to find a tree farm or nursery to buy a real Christmas tree. So far we only seen potted evergreens at the corner home and garden center. If that's the best we find, then we'll just have a little tree and move it into a bigger pot and kep it for the three years we're supposed to be here. The rest of the year we'll keep it on our balcony.

I know it's a lot to go through, but now that we're a real family, I want to have a real Christmas. I want my son to have good family traditions and nice memories right from the start, even if he won't remember a few of them.

I also bought three German children's books in town yesterday. So last night we read "Erdbeeren Sind Rot" or "Strawberries Are Red" We also started one of the two bigger books which was all about a Medieval town. The other one is about castles and dragons. These two had a lot more text, but I actually knew most of the words on the one page we read. Granted he's only six months old, but it's never too late to teach a kid to be bilingual. If I read to him in German and say as much as I know, then he will start to pick it up, a little faster then I will. The whole time we read, I used what I knew and spoke strictly in German to him. Even when I needed something from his father, it was said in German. Of course I had to translate for the man, since he's tough to teach a language to. I keep my dictionary next to me at all times, so when I finished up our German time and fed him carrots, I called them "karotte" in German. I'm getting there in my lessons and he'll easily know a few things by the time we leave, if we do leave in three years.