Devil in Disguise
Okay, today was one of those days I just wanted to throw Paulchen out the window and say I'm done with being a parent. The day started off fine, but has ended in headache and fatigue.

We went grocery shopping this morning and headed out for a heavy walk this afternoon. We were going to go geocaching and explore this older tower they have in the woods near us. The geocache was supposed to be by the tower. The Ludwigsturm, from what little info I could find, was supposedly built around 1815. Though that might be wrong, as I was only able to one piece of info about the age and they might have been referring to something else, as the text was a little confusing.

Well, we didn't quite make it to the tower. I took us down the wrong path and the path we would have to take to the tower, was WAY too steep. As Paul put it, even when I wasn't pregnant, that hill would have been too steep for me. But now I know which path to take and we'll go next weekend. Also, we did get some views of the tower through the trees. So we basically had a nice 2 mile hike which left me exhausted. I only have 5 weeks until the baby is due, so I got some great exercise.

Then we hopped back on base and stopped by the PX. That's when it all went downhill. There was a kid throwing a massive temper tantrum in the store and Paulchen was napping in the stroller. Since he naps better in the stroller than home, we weren't about to wake him. But this little terror jolted him out of a dead sleep. So Paulchen was so surprised, he woke up crying and it took a bit to calm him down.

Then ever since we came home, he's been in and out of his room on time outs. He's been acting like a wild maniac and trying to hurt himself by jumping on the chairs or trying to climb over the backs. He's also been very destructive for him.

So we finally put him to bed early, as he was tired and we couldn't handle him anymore without having a nervous breakdown. Of course, he's up in his room, crying and banging on the door to be let out and play. Eventually he'll crash, but until then, I'll just add up all the grief we'll repay him later on, for today's annoyances.

On a lighter note, he was really funny when he kept spinning in circles until he'd fall down earlier today. Then he staggered around like a drunkard. Once he was normal, he'd do it again. Ah, the simple pleasures in life.

Paulchen is also getting much better with pointing to the parts of his face. I did a trial run yesterday and asked him to point to his nose, eyes, mouth and ears. But this time, I didn't point to my own features. He was a little slow and had trouble a bit, but today he did much better. He's still a little funny about pointing to his eyes, but he had the rest down pretty well. I'm really pleased with the quick progress.

Thank Heaven for Heaters
I've set out Paulchen's little table since he now knows not to climb on it. I've picked out a few crayons, since he has a huge box and made them available with some paper. I only make the rubber stamps available when I can do them with him, as the ink doesn't wash out and can be a dangerous mess in young hands.

Well, I thought we were safe, as Paulchen was coloring on the paper. But I looked over today and foubd black marks all over our heater. We are so fortunate to have heaters all along the base of our empty walls in the living room. Crayon cleans off easily from them, not from painted walls. Now I just have to watch our little guy closer. Though I will admit, I hid in the kitchen and laughed for a few moments. This was such a stereotypical childhood incident and Paul was just commenting on it the other day.

As for Paulchen's progress in other areas, he's become very good at copying pointing at the parts of his face. He's finally pretty comfortable pointing to his eye, though he takes it a bit slow.

He was also so sweet earlier. He climbed up on the bed with me while I took a nap. Then he leaned over really close a few times and gave me kisses on the cheek. Paul had said he'd do that, but I still usually had to ask for my kisses. He was so sweet and cute.

The face and help around the house...
Paulchen is getting so much more interactive now. We've been working on pointing to parts of the face and he's getting better. I have to point to a part first and tell him to point, then he does. We're doing really well on the nose and the mouth, but he's squeamish about his eye. When I point to my eye, he overshoots and points to his ear. Paul figures he doesn't want to poke his eye. But we're getting there.

He's also trying to help around the house more. When Paul put him in his seat in the car earlier, Paulchen held the little buckle so he wouldn't sit on it. It always falls under him when we pop him in the seat.

He also helped me wrap Paul's birthday gift the other day. He tried to pull off pieces of tape, though he didn't get the ripping motion down, so I ended up with a few long pieces. I'd place pieces of tape on the gift and let him press them down the rest of the way. He also tried to help fold the wrapping paper. It was really cute.

Then after the gift was wrapped, I sat him at his little table and chair and he colored a birthday card. Then I brought out the stamps and ink pad and helped him stamp the card. Once he got the motion down, he did a bunch of stamping. The card is hardly up there with Botticelli, but it's art to us.

Crafts and chatter
Yesterday at playgroup, Paulchen made a little snowman with falling snow out of paint. Granted I had to help him maneuver the sponge and paintbrush, but he enjoyed himself and made the sound effects along with me as we swirled circles with the sponge. The snowman has replaced his snowflake on the fridge.

It's great that he's accumulating crafts now. I picked up a bin so we can store them for the future. I write his name and date them all on the back, so we keep track of these memories. But I just love that we're starting a scrapbox for him and already have a few things in it. Over the years it will fill up nicely with memories.

Paulchen is also getting chattier. When we were at work yesterday he spoke with Mike, our photographer. None of it made any sense, but he had the inflections in his voice and was chatting and asking questions. Mike got a real quick out of it. And it's the next step forward. Now he's willing to talk more, so eventually his chatter will turn into real words.

He did the same thing last night. I caught him bouncing down on his bed and scolded him strongly. He gave me excuses and asked what the problem with it was. At least in his own language it seemed that's what he was saying. So I had a nice little conversation with him, as to why he couldn't jump on the bed. It was fun.

He's also eager to talk on the phone now. Granted, he likes to listen more than talk, but he does get the occasional words out. Unfortunately once he has the phone, he doesn't like to give it up. Since our phone system is a little odd here, I have to find out if I can have two lines somehow, so he can be part of the conversation, while I still talk to the family each week.

Parts of the Face and Camping
I finally figured out how to teach Paulchen to point to the different parts of the face. I would point to my nose and ask him to point to his. He just looked at me blankly. So I finally formed his finger to point and helped him point to his own nose. Now when I point to my nose, he'll point to his. We've also added eyes to the list of body parts. After he points to the part of his face, he'll point to my face as well. It's really cute. So not only is he learning the body parts, he's learning what is the same.

This morning I placed three chairs in a circle, evenly spaced. Then I threw our Queen-sized wolf blanket over the backs and made a tent. Paulchen loved it! He kept entering and exiting the tent. I sat inside the whole time and we had a snack. Then when he would sit inside for a bit, we'd play clapping games. Paul was outside the tent and I kept teasing him with our password for the tent. "Mommies are better than Daddies." But we eventually let Paul into the tent as well. Then all three of us had fun sitting inside. I'll have to make little tents more often for Paulchen, since he really enjoys them.