1...2...3...4...
This morning, as usual, a certain someone named Paulchen, gave me grief. I wanted him to sit by me so I could get his clothes on and we could run some errands. Of course, he would just look up at me and smile and ignore my command to come over. Finally I told him he better not make me count. Well, I had to count. That's when it was all over.

"One..." I looked at him sternly. Then this little voice responded, "ooh." My eyes bugged out. I tried to look stern, but I was too surprised.

I finally got my expression under control and try to warn him again. "Two..." "Eee" is the response. Right after, that is followed by an "Or."

My son actually counted to 4! I went over it a few more times with him. I started with 1 and he continued with 2, 3, and 4. So later today I counted with him a few times, up to 5. He wasn't interested and just smiled. Then tonight when I told Paul about it, he counted with Paulchen. Paulchen was interested again and counted up to 4. I realize he's just saying the words and doesn't understand the concept yet, but I'm still really impressed. Even more so, as I don't go past 3 when I give a warning count. I don't know where he picked up 4. Probably from one of his songs or Sesame Street. But I'm thrilled none the less.

Finally Able to Rest
Yesterday was a red-letter day. Paulchen walked up the three floors to our apartment, all by himself. He did it again today. I showed him where to hold onto the vertical railings for support. He made it up two floors the other day, but now he's made it all the way.

This is great for me, as there is just no way I can carry both he and the new baby up and down the stairs. Also, while I'm still pregnant, I get so incredibly winded by the time we get upstairs right now, I practically begin to hyperventilate.

Granted, he doesn't know how to walk down the stairs by himself. But as that's a little more difficult, I'm not too worried. Hopefully this weekend Paul and I can have him practice a few stairs. I think we'll probably have him hold the rails and step down backwards. But if I can at least get him to always walk up by himself, then I won't mind as much carrying him down. Even with the new baby, I think I can carry him to the side, so he won't bother the baby in the carry sack.

Also, he does take forever in climbing those stairs, but since I'm pretty easily tired at the moment, I don't mind the rest. The only thing that bugs me is when he gets distracted at the landings by the window. Then I have to help him focus on the task at hand.

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.