Hops, Giggles, Milk and Bubbles
WOW! Our two children are developing quickly this week. On Sunday, Paulchen surprised us and hopped. He did his first real hop, with both feet off the ground at the same time. Not his usual stumble-hop. We were so amazed and wanted to see it again and again. Paul kept hopping, so Paulchen would copy. It was so cute.

Then Monday I was cooing over Aveline so much, she began giggling. Not just a smile, but her first real laughs. It was so cute. Of course she gave herself the hiccups as usual, but it was great.

Also, Paulchen was able to drink out of a regular cup all by himself. He has to go slow and be careful, but he can do it without making a mess. Granted he gets worked up and gets goofy, so he dumps the milk all over himself. Today he also learned how to make bubbles in the milk. As if that's not the makings of a huge mess.

1-10
Paulchen finally did it. He finally counted all the way to 10 today. Granted I had to help him a little, but he did really well. One of the pages in one of his LeapPad books had the numbers 1-11. When he touched them, the number was said. So I pointed to them and did a few drills. Once I thought he had them down, I asked Paulchen to find the numbers. He got almost every single one correct. Finally I went through and counted with him. For some reason he doesn't like to say the number 7. With the other numbers he'd repeat them if he forgot them. But he refused to say 7 and would skip right to 8. He still would point to 7 when I asked him too though. Oh well, we'll work on that. I was so amazed and proud.

I have to admit though, my favorite word is "ear". He says it like he has a New York City accent. It comes out more like "ea-ah" and he says it so high-pitched. It's so cute.

We had sword practice today and went over to Max's house. He has a little daughter who's 19 months. It was cute to hear Paulchen and Breanna talking with each other. I wonder if they understood each other at all. Of course, Paulchen proceeded at one point to fall flat on his face and give himself a goose egg on his forehead. Paul said he had dirt in his mouth and couldn't understand it at first. Just another face-plant. Oh well, that's kids.

Happy Birthday!!!
We had a wonderful birthday for Paulchen. I can't believe he's really two years old. It doesn't seem like he's that old. Yet at the same time, it seems like he's been part of the family forever.

Paul let me sleep a little, so Paulchen had to wait a little for his presents. But once I woke and dressed somewhat, it was present time. I stayed up very late the night before to put together his best present; a tricycle from Oma and Opa Sportello and Tante Audra.

So during present time, we helped him open the packages from family. There was the tricycle from the Sportellos, clothes and a book from Oma Loomis, Kevin and Kyle, stuffed animals from Oma-ma Sportello and clothes from Oma-ma and Opa-pa Rachow and Tante Christa. Overall there were a bunch of nice gifts. There were also some very nice cards.

We snagged a quick breakfast and then we were off to Leos Spielpark; an indoor play area downtown. We stayed for about 1.5 hours, until Paulchen grew bored and tired. He played in the little kid area. Da made him a castle out of the oversized, soft blocks and the three of us had a plastic ball fight. Aveline just sat by and watched, probably thinking we were all crazy. We tried Paulchen on the bouncy-bounce, but he was upset by it.

When we came home we gave him a harmonica. That was his favorite gift for the day, as it makes lots of different sounds and he loves noise. He also rode the tricycle around the apartment a bit. We held his feet on the peddles and helped him move them. it will take some time and practice before he gets the motion down. Unfortunately, it's been rainy out, so we couldn't take him outside to ride. Hopefully the weather will clear up soon.

For dinner we had his favorite. Tortellini with pesto sauce and peas. I just realized the alliteration. Paulchen prefers pesto and peas. No wonder that's his favorite meal, the food starts with the same letter as his name. All in all, it was a very good day. And our little boy would answer "Two" when I asked him how old he was. What a smart birthday boy.

Mmm... Apples
Okay, Paulchen is really wowing me! I was cleaning out Aveline's room to get it ready for her. The base's furniture office came to pick up the spare bed, and I put the crib back together. After that, I went through all the loose papers and other odds and ends and tried to organize them. Paulchen came across a little paper apple that I saved for a craft project and said "Ah-mmm". WOW! I asked him a few more times what it was and he kept telling me it was an apple. I'm so impressed!

I'd been working on the letter "A" with him and pointing to the words on the page that start with "A", such as "alligator", "ant", "astronaut" and "apple". He also recognizes the ant now and says "and". I have to say though, "apple" is what really surprised and impressed me. Now we're starting "B", since he has "A" down pretty well.

I have started Paulchen on tracing shapes. I placed fresh paper on his table and took my circle stencil to it. I traced a bunch of dotted line circles for him to trace completely. His hand isn't steady yet, as he's not that comfortable writing yet, but he did really well for his first try. Some of his lines are really close to the dashes on the circles. We'll do circles for about a week and we'll change to a new shape every week after. We'll also do one letter with each shape. So we're starting with "A".

As for Aveline, oh, she is so spoiled. I left her in the living room while I worked on her bedroom. Then she screamed bloody murder. It wasn't just a little cry to say she wasn't too thrilled about being left alone for a bit. It was a heart-wrenching wail that made her choke a little from crying so hard. Yet the moment I came running back in to check on her, she stopped. And she gave me a big grin, as if to say "See Mommy, I knew I could make you come back." Then she was all grins. The little brat. She's doing the same thing Paulchen did at about the same age.

I used to hate letting him cry it out when I put him to bed. But our first or second night in Germany, when I picked him up, he gave his father such a smug, self-satisfied grin, knowing he got his way. At that moment Paul knew our son was playing me and took him and placed him right back into his crib. Then we went through a few nights of me pacing and wringing my hands at the constant crying, until Paulchen understood that bedtime was bedtime. Now it looks like we're about to go through the same thing with Aveline. Oh she's adorable, just like her brother, but she is totally playing it.

Last Minute Cram
Paulchen is ready for college. He has already perfected the art of last minute cramming. His birthday is only two days away and until a week ago his vocabulary was very small. He also refused to repeat any words.

In that time, he has learned most of the parts of the body to point at. He can also say "head", "eye", "ear" and "nose".

I had been working on shapes with him, particularly "circle" and "square". Suddenly, a week ago when I was showing Daddy how well he knew those two shapes, Paul proceeded to quiz Paulchen on the other shapes on the page. It turns out he also knows, "rectangle", "oval", "triangle", "diamond", "star" and "heart".

So now I've been working on his letters. We'll work on "A" for awhile. We also practice his numbers regularly. He'll say and point to "6" and "8".

I've been working for a bit to try to have him call his sister Aveline, "Ava". Yesterday he finally did it. He also repeated "hat" after me today.

It's like he knows he'll be 2 on Saturday and wants to make sure he knows plenty by then. But he waited until the last second to acquire or prove that knowledge.

He also has his own little rattan sword and wooden shield. I've started fighter practice with the SCA and made Paul a sword, so he can practice too. Paulchen refused to use his little wooden sword against us in "fights". He took our swords and lifted them the one inch of the ground he can manage and would "fight". So I wrapped a smaller piece of rattan to look like ours. Now he thinks he has a sword just like ours and he can manage it easier. I made the shield to prevent trouble later. He hasn't seen us use our shield yet, but I know once he does, he'll want to use ours, so again, he has his own that he can maneuver.

The next obstacle will be armour and a helm. But those will have to wait until I can rig something light up for him. Preferably out of fabric.