A Rolling Good Time
I am so proud of Aveline. Today she finally learned how to roll from her front to back. Granted Paulchen did that pretty much from the first day, but doing it in less than a month is pretty good. She's learning quicker than many children out there.

Paulchen is doing pretty well too. He really needs to learn limits with his sister though. He hits his siter too hard or rocks her chair too harshly. He's usually pretty good, but every now and again, he's not gentle enough and has to be kept in check. He does try to be helpful though. He'll feed Aveline the bottle, but gets tired of holding it and takes it back. It's really cute.

Getting Out
Today I took the kids downtown by myself. It actually wasn't too bad. I put Aveline in the carry sack and Paulchen in the stroller and took the tram down. We headed over to the mall so I could look for some caps for Aveline. I ended up with some bandannas, a sundress and a shirt and pants.

As I was checking out, I picked up sunglasses for Paulchen. I had him wear them when we walked to the gas station early this evening. He looked so cute in them and seemed to enjoy wearing them. He also received a few compliments. When I first tried them on him when we got home, he placed them on top of his head like I do at times. He looked like a little beach bum, it was so cute.

Last week when I took Paulchen into town, I bought him a pair of swimming trunks. I'm hoping to start going to the indoor pool in town regularly and begin to teach him how to swim. He will look so cute in his swim trunks and sunglasses. I can't wait to get a photo.

Tomorrow I plan to take the kids out again so Paulchen can play. If I'm up for it, I'll take them to the park in town rather than the dinky playground behind our apartment. The park in town has more running area and nicer playground equipment for Paulchen.

On a side note, our wonderful military stove busted yesterday. So of course I can't cook anything unless I use the microwave. The stove won't turn off, so we had to turn off the circuit breaker for it. Which means the oven is off limits too. So of course I wanted to cook pasta for supper and bake cookies with Paulchen. The moment I can't use something is the moment I can't live without it. Unfortunately the repairman won't be here until Friday, so we're stuck without it again tomorrow. And I was really hoping to cook some eggs for Paulchen. I'm trying to vary his diet more. He's getting tired of the same old snacks and breakfast. At least I have the egg cooker so I can hard-boil a few eggs. That way we can have egg salad sandwiches for something different.

Sound Effects
Every night I place three books in front of Paulchen and have him pick two. Tonight one of the books he picked was "Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?" As I was reading through, I noticed Paulchen was making a few noises. Then as I paid attention to the noises, I realized he was making the noises in the story, the same noises I make when I read the book to him. It was awesome!

He's also so helpful with his sister and the house. We did dishes again today. We also walked to the gas station. Paulchen walked down all the stairs himself, I just held his hand to help with balance. But I didn't have to carry any of his weight. He's definitely improving.

On a personal note, I put my size 8 jeans on at the post-partum two week mark. Granted that's large for me, but I should be back into my size 6 jeans in a few months. I'm thrilled, considering most women these days are lucky to fit into size 10 jeans a few months after giving birth.

Rock-A-Bye Baby
I am so proud of our son. Paulchen has already become so much better with his little sister and it's only been a week. He gently rocks her chair and "sings" to her. Also, when she's crying during a diaper change, he'll touch her arm and "sing". He constantly hands me her blankie to keep her bundled. He's a little odd about her bottle. He doesn't try to drink from it, which is good, as it's breast milk and I don't want to waste any. Yet he'll occasionally take it away from her. He takes the bottle gently, puts on the cap and sets it aside. It's as if he decided Aveline had enough. Though he also helps feed her at other times.

He'll also help change her diapers. Paulchen will hand me wet wipes and baby powder so I can clean her properly.

As a reward for all his hard work, Aveline "dances" for him in appreciation. I move her arms around while hum a tune. Paulchen gets a real kick out of this and gives a big smile, while he bops around to the song as well. Poor Aveline just has a look on her face, as if to ask why we are so cruel to her. I even gently put her through the motions of "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes". This is Paulchen's favorite song and he enjoys his sister dancing while he does.

The greatest step he took today. As we were sitting on the floor together while I held Aveline, Paulchen put out his arms. He wanted to hold her. I was so happy. I held her on his lap for a little bit, until he became uncomfortable and whined a little. This was a wonderful step, as up until now, Paulchen hasn't wanted to get too close to his sister. He still gets a little funny when I sit her next to him. He'll sit by her, but he doesn't want her to touch him.

He also gave her a real kiss today. It took some encouragement before he'd finally lean in all the way and kiss her head. For a while he kept leaning over, but never got closer than 4 inches away. Before today, he'd been giving her his version of a kiss. Paulchen will hold his fist up for us and expect us to kiss it. He did the same to Aveline and Paul would move Paulchen's fist to her mouth for a "kiss". Odd, but he meant well.

I've also had Paulchen help around the house. He loves to take care of the clean dishes and bake. He'll put the clean dishes out of the dishwasher, one by one and hand them to me to put away. He also helps me turn the setting and push the power button to clean the dirty dishes. We'll sit on the floor and I'll pour ingredients into the measuring cups. Then he'll help me dump the contents into the mixing bowl. Once everything is in, Paulchen will help me hold the hand mixer and move it around. Of course, once the cookies are done baking, Paulchen also helps me eat them.

I'm very proud of our son and how well he's progressing and adapting. We still have problems with tantrums, but today was a very good day. He even napped and went to bed today without too much fuss.

Aveline Sportelli
On March 3, 2006, at 5:43 Central European Time, Aveline Sportelli was born. She weighed 8 lbs, 6 ounces and measured 20.47 inches.

We had her in the water tub in our living room. I can honestly say, I NEVER want to give birth without painkillers again. But I am happy with our new addition. She is absolutely beautiful.

Her name has a lot of history behind it. Aveline was a woman in Paul's genealogy, born in 1109. The name is a French Medieval version of Evelyn and we are pronouncing it [A-vuh-lin]. Sportello was my maiden name, but when our family came over from Italy, we were actually Sportelli. The ship's manifest and early census records confirm this information. So her first name is from Paul's history and her middle name is from mine.

Paulchen isn't quite sure what to make of her yet. He'll come over and check her out, but then shy away. I keep trying to have him hold his little sister's hand. I also tried to get him to help me snap her outfit shut, but he was busy with something. Over time, I'll keep gently encouraging him to help out with his little sister. Plus the fact that he is only 21 months, Paulchen will grow up with Aveline and never really remember a time without her. We are both so thrilled with our perfect little, All-American family.