doctoring herself

Yesterday, Josephine was disgusted to find some gummy bears in a bowl next to Pappa's bed. "Pappa! You must share your sweets with me!!! I also want to eat some!!!!"
Pappa fibbing: "Jozie, that's medicine and you can't have that now."

....a few minutes later
"Pappa? I really worried. I weally really worried. I feel really sick, Pappa. I need some medicine. It's urgent Pappa."

and....backfire!

Saturday - family time

Jozie waiting for her "Mona Lisa" to be saddled up

Pappa and Jozie today

Evie watching all the action at table

Jozie pulling faces - this was the smiley one at least!

"the scowl"

"the jump for joy"

off for a walk

checking out some stables near our home

stroking one of the horses

rounding off the day outside with a jump on the neighbour's trampoline

sisters in action

A bit early, I know, but Jozie so badly wants to show Evie how!

off to town!

rude awakenings!

Picture the scene...

I'm fast asleep. Faaast asleep. Bristle, bristle, rub, rub. What's that? Josephine. It's Jozie. Rubbing my eyebrows up and down.
Me: "Jozie? What are you doing?"
Jozie: "Mamma, I just strumming your guitars."
:-)

Thanks for the flowers!

From the horses' mouth

Yesterday we went pony riding again. Just us girls. Chatting along the way about all the different things we're seeing and hearing in the forest. Horse snorts. "Hey Mamma. Mona Lisa (horse's name) is just blowing her snooty booty! But she doesn't use a tissue Mamma. No, no, no. She's a horse. Horses don't use tissues!"
Carrying on....a brief silence while she's thinking...
"...and Mamma, horses have really big bladders. They make peepee lakes. Yes, they make MAAAssive peepees, Mamma. Ja."....silence..."and Pappa too. Pappa also has a big bladder. Just like a horse."

LOL!

little psychologist

As Josephine can already express herself quite well, I've been really trying to focus on her "explaining to me how she feels" about something instead of lashing out and stamping her foot or so. This helps limit tantrums and also helps her learn how to label different moods/feelings etc. So to nip a tantrum in the bud, I've asked her to rather talk and try to explain to me what she wants, why, etc. When I see she looks cross, I say "Josephine, you probably feel cross now. Please tell me what is making you cross. Talk to me. Don't throw your toy/scream".
Today, we were playing with a little puzzle. I was trying to get her interested in it, so I was purposely putting the pieces in the incorrect places, trying to squeeze circle ends into square points and so on...just for her to say: "No, Mamma, no! Not like that! This piece fits in ...here! Not there! Silly Mamma!" Anyway, at one point I said with a bit of exasperation (just pretending): "Hmmm! This piece just doesn't fit here!" (hoping for her to take it and put it in the right place). Her response was so funny: She looked at me with her head tilted, big eyes. "Ok Mamma. Just talk about how you feel now" (sounding like a little psychologist!) "You feel cross, Mamma? Just keep twying Mamma. I help you. Come on Mamma. You can do it!"

First tooth

Here is the first photo I've managed to get of Evie's first tooth. It's growing and is now getting quite visible with every smile she flashes!

Another touch of Spring

Today warmed up again and turned out to be a beautiful day! Michael even went to work by bicycle (all the way to Wolfsburg which is about 30km). The girls and I spent time in the garden: Jozie and I did a little "coloured water and ice experiment" in the backgarden. She then found a little ant hill (a mini mini thing) and adopted the army as her pets. She brought them cake (sand...lots of it which got "dumped" on top of their little home) declaring it was one of the ant's birthday party....So she sang happy birthday to the colony while on her haunches and then drenched them with water as they were clearly thirsty. Afterwards she noted they had had far too much to eat and drink (no kidding) and scolded them telling them "you going to get stomach ache you silly little fings!!"

We also took several wheelbarrow loads of leaves into the forest. She travelled with me on her bike towards the forest while I pushed the wheelbarrow and on the way back both her and her bike got a ride which she loved. Evie was napping and I had the moniter with me.

After lunch later on, we got ready to go to the garden shop. Jozie stopped dead in her tracks and exclaimed that she needed to go shopping "for two fings (holding up 2 fingers). Just 2 fings, Mamma. One - a shovel. Two a wheelbawwow. Just those 2 fings. Ok? Ok.". So I said that we could look and see what they have there because it really would be a fantastic help if she could do some jobs in the garden, but we'd have to see how much they cost. Maybe she could only get one of the two? Anway, the garden shop was out of stock on children's things, so she picked two water lilies (pond floats). We negotiated at the tills for a few minutes....only 1 Jozie. Which one? The green one or ...the green one? So, she chose...the green one.

We planted some "stiefmutterchen" (Easter flowers can't remember the English term) together and raced around on Puky. Evie was also on her trike today. Poor thing has had a runny nose and between that and teething, she's had several bouts of clingyness and crying. But while Jozie was having her midday sleep, Evie and I had a great time of playing. She enjoys the full-time attention very much.

Here are some photos I took during the day (only indoor ones unfortunately).

Jozie today after a bath: standing at the window upstairs "waiting for my prince", she said.

Evie today: Jozie playing doctor doctor on poor Evie.

Evie and I playing on the bed while Jozie napping

Bribed to sit for this one. It shows. :-)

Evie's favourites

- Evie loves her new tricycle! Her whole body gets the shakes as she stretches and contracts every little muscle in her chubby legs in anticipation of getting on. She feels like she's part of the gang now!
- Evie just loves bathing with Jozie and I. Another reason to for her to get the jerks!
- She loves her food! Tries everything. But first tastes it. After it has been approved (and so far EVERYTHING has been approved apart from cauliflower), she opens her mouth to show off her one and only tooth and waits for it to be shovelled in at a decent rate. These days, she's however less interested in baby food and wants to grow up too fast. She loves pasta, chicken, pizza, bread, carrots, peas, you name it. Whatever I'm eating, she wants it. NOW! She surges backwards and forwards, eyes fixed on the prize to show me how urgently she wants whatever it is.
- Give her a long cooked piece of spaghetti and...that's entertainment. Passing the sticky thing from this hand to that. To mouth, to untangling it from between the little fingers, to mouth to dropping it. Whoever removes Evie from the highchair - beware. There are many strange things that drop from her clothing. Half chewed, sucked things that are hardly recognisable. Disgusting!
- Yesterday I thought: this child can't seriously eat everything besides cauliflower. So I put her to the test. I thinly spread some marmite on a finger of toast. Cunning, I know. I handed it to her with a smirk. The madam took it. Sucked on it, tasted it, didn't flinch. But in all fairness, it should be added (and it was really amusing to watch her do this) after about 5minutes, she simply stretched out her arm towards the edge of her little tablet and....the little sticky fingers relaxed and spread themselves out... and the toast got dumped. And this she did a few times without any further tasting/eating of it. She decided there were better things in life than eating marmite. Who can blame her?
-Evie loves hanging upside down and being swung around.
-She loves it when I play the guitar (my amateur strumming) for her.
-She loves doing our "We are family!" song and dance most evenings in the kitchen as a family when MIchael gets home.
-She loves pulling hair. Anyone or anything, including horses' manes. Grabbing handfuls of face is also good fun in her books.
-She smiles at me with a twinkle in her eye when I look at her and shake my head saying: "No, no, no Evie. Don't pull Mamma's hair." She knows!! Little thing!
-When she wants to go places and isn't quite getting there, she starts waving her arms frantically. This is where she gets her nickname "Little Windmill". I once said to Jozie that Evie is waving her arms like a windmill and since then Jozie (and now me too) call her "little windmill".
-She thrives on some personal attention (singing, playing, talking).
-She loves to click her tongue and we click to communicate. Brings lots of smiles to all of us.
-She makes lots of Dadadadada or Gagagagag or Nananananana sounds and babbles a lot.
-She gets distraught when I leave the room (as if I've just stepped off the edge of the world or so) ...cause for windmill arms and hard crying.
-she can clap her hands! Still an amateur, but does it when we sing our "Wind the bobbin up" song and others.
-she's quite good at picking small things up. She turns the objects over in her hands very well. Co-ords getting good!
-She's still doing bench presses, raising her body high off the ground, but no crawling yet. She manages to turn around like a clock, but that's about it at the moment. There's no rush.
-She's working on her 2nd bottom (centre) tooth right now. Quite a sensitive little soul whilst teething. Wakes often at night
-Sleeping from 18.30 - 06.30. Another nap at about 8.30am for an hour. Another nap at about 12pm for 90 minutes. Tired and crying a lot from 5.30pm onwards, but just got to get her through the last hour of the day. Usually I can cheer her up a bit with some supper. Sleep routine: supper, feed, pjs, dim lights and close blinds, sing her "Summertime" song while dancing with her, kiss her gently and whisper "Good night Evie Marie. Love you lots. Sleep well." then lie her down in her cot. She cries and wriggles a bit, but settles very quickly again.

Jozie sayings for today

Poking her nose into a box with Pappa's new motorbike helmet in it....

"Mamma! Mamma! Look!! Here's a dinasour egg!!"



Praying at the table:

"Dear Gawd. Tank you for da food. Amen.
.....And (squeezing her eyes shut tighter and tilting her head to one side shyly)...and dear Gawd. I sorry I do naughty fings. I so sorry. Please clean my heart. Make it like snow again. Ok Gawd? Ok. Amen."


In the lounge somewhere along the line today:
Me: "Look Jozie, Evie is not a small baby anymore. She's getting bigger now too. And soon she"
cut short...
"No Mamma NO! Evie just a little baby. I the big one. Not Evie. Evie just a tiny baby." and fetches a little baby toy to shove in her bewildered sister's hands.

Pappa's chicks!

This is the life! Having a playful tumble with Pappa!

My Jozie

I am so proud of my little Jozie. There are just so many things I love about her....

• I love her softness
• I love the way she really races like a maniac on her bike
• I love that she wants to be with me
• I love that she's so loving to Evie
• I love that she's so affectionate
• I love her developing sense of humour
• I love the way she sings to herself and even makes up little tunes with her own words
• I love the way she snuggles in - especially in the early morning
• I love the way she believes everything I tell her
• I love the way she listens when I tell her stories
• I love the way she prays
• and so much more....

On the weekend, she picked up some blocks and about 10minutes later we noticed what she had built all by herself. My oh my, I am so proud of her!

Glorious Spring!

The day started with a nip, but within hours the sun came out! +17degrees! What a feeling!!! After weeks and weeks of snow, ice, serious chills....
We spent the whole day apart from naps, outside! Josephine raced (like a maniac!) up and down the driveway on her bike. Evie and I chased her. We went on several walks - to the river, to the horses, to a friend. It was gorgeous! Josephine shouted out "Mamma, mamma! The weather listened to me. The winter is gone away!" (she has been scolded the weather each day - from a little song she knows - saying "Go away winter!! Come on Spring!!"). Evie had a total ball chasing Josephine (shrieking with joy!) as I pushed her on her tricycle. It was a lot of fun! We also raked a few leaves up and Josephine got herself something to stand on to help fill the garden refuge bin. She was a big help!
And that was our day. Feeling quite invigorated after all that fresh air!

Evie's new tricycle

The pram is getting a bit "restrictive" and Evie so desperately wants to join in the fun. This was a great solution! She is squealing as we do wheelies, go on 2 of the 3 wheels around the cars. Scary stuff for a baby but she's a little daredevil.

....by the way, she's well strapped in (buckle is hiding under her jacket!)

Sisterly love

a great big smooch!

Evie trying to kiss Jozie back

Out and about

This afternoon we braced ourselves for the biting cold weather and drove to Wolfsburg to meet Sophia and Janet. Together, we went for a nice walk with the girls on their "Puky" bikes. Jozie raced up and down a hill and went her full speed. Once she got a speed wobble and fell, but the winter suit gave her good protection and so she never got hurt. Phew! To warm ourselves up, we stopped at a cafe to get a hot drink. And then hometime...brotchen supper, and bedtime for the girls. Evie was so bushed she only gave a slight whimper when I put her down and that was the last I've heard from her.
Here are some photos of the lovely day....

Patient little Evie

Josephine and Sophia watching the ducks

A chewing-gum situation

This morning we (Josephine, Evie and I) found ourselves in a sticky situation. I was unloading the groceries out of the car...Evie was still in her car seat waiting patiently....Josephine was in and out doing her thing. I had already carried my handbag in together with the car key....locked the car while the doors were still open so that all I had to do was fetch Evie and close the doors.
....I went back to the car to fetch the last bag and Evie....climbed into the back (it's a kombi/caravelle/mini bus)...Josephine was in and next thing I realised she had released the automatic door which started sliding closed on its own. Just before it went "click" into lock did I realise the potential problem. I dashed for the closing door, ...but was too late.
We were locked in the car!
I tried the door frantically. The alarm started. The doors were locked tight. The electric windows in the front were locked. Then I realised the one window on the sliding door was a manual sliding window. So, big Mamma had to brace herself for a tight squeeze. It was that, or sitting there for 7 hours in -8 degree weather with no food or water or blankets. I picked the squeeze.
What did the neighbours think? That our car was giving birth to a large woman in a yellow jacket? Maybe. Yikes, it must have been a sight. 30cm x 30cm I'd estimate. And for a muffin- look- tummy /post-pregnancy figure that was quite a feat! Yeah! I did it!
What a relief to get out of there! I really hit panic stations. On the one hand I didn't want Jozie to pick up that I was nervous, but hang, I can tell you it was hard not to! But her response was simply: "don't worry Mamma. We can call Spiderman to rescue us." followed by "Spiderman! Spiderman!"....
She still has such an innocence about her - the thoughts, her look, her mischivous eyes! Love her to bits, even if she shut us down today by accident. My Josephine!!

Bushmen at the dinner table

Evie loves clicking her tongue. It's her "new" game. She does it to grab our attention and then we communicate with clicks. She absolutely beams when we click back at her. Tonight at the dinner table she had all 4 of us clicking away. We were like babbling bushmen! Quite a scene, I can tell you! Go Evie!

(also when pushing her in the shopping trolley, she looked up at me today and clicked....waited for me to click back....beamed and clicked again. Back and forth, back and forth. Anything to make her smile! And she certainly makes me smile!)

Feeling at home, at last

This last weekend I had to go into Gifhorn on my own to find a gift for someone. Just having the hour to actually look UP (not at kids and where they're putting their feet), to TAKE IT IN...it was like breathing in fresh air. Not only having a few moments to myself after the concentrated week while Michael was in Singapore, but also....it felt good for the first time to be back in Germany. I actually nearly had a little skip in my step. Was so nice to poke my nose into the tiny little shops with all their different goodies. Love the homely, warm smelling bakeries, the cobbled stone ways, the old fachwerk houses that are leaning in to the streets. I love the sound of German being spoken, the sound of the Aller river in the town centre, bike bells (despite the snow, these guys keep pedalling!). I'm comfortable driving on the RHS again and am in the flow of traffic finally and not being hooted at so often. I love the continental breakfasts. I love the clean town. The people I've met at toddler groups etc are very friendly. The kids are happy. I've just found out about a "new" church here in Gifhorn that I'd like to go to, if possible, to try out.
All is well with my soul!
phew!
Thanks to my hubby for being patient with me. He loves me through thick and thin. I love him too.

Jozie...falling in love

Our neighbours in Germany have some paddocks with horses. And ever since Josephine set eyes on them, she has been begging to ride them. Brave girl as they're really big ones and not yet ridden in! Here's an absolutely brilliant shot that my mom took of 2 of them while she was here:

Our neighbours said that they would sit her on the older and calmer one if she liked once the snow and ice has all gone. Well, the snow and ice are still here and Jozie is still asking. Each day, as we drive past...."Mamma. I want to go on the horse! When can I go on the horse? Aunty Dana (Diana) wants to take me on my (!) horse"
Michael and I are both really chuffed she's interested in horses because I think it's something really nice because it's fun. And children can learn responsibility later (grooming, feeding, etc); it hopefully keeps them out of mischief etc etc. But we didn't want to scare her off by putting her on such a large horse for starters. So today (!) we went to a pony riding school to look around. They said "Just come when you like, we have ponies available any time and you can rent one for 30 minutes". Great! So that was Josephine's special treat this week! She was so excited today she could hardly fall asleep at midday. After she woke up she was quite grumpy, but once I reminded her about the ride....full co-operation, smiles, you name it! We dressed, packed in some apples and off we went! Just down the road, so really convenient.

At first she said: "No Mamma no! I want to go on a BIG horse. Not a little one. Little ones are for babies. I a BIG girl."
....but once she set eyes on her little pony called "Mona Lisa"....the rest was forgotten. She fell in love. Went straight up to it, carefully, but with confidence and stroked it and loved it.

So they saddled Mona Lisa up, fitted a riding hat on Jozie's head and left us to our own devices in the indoor riding hall (I decided to stay indoors as I had to manage Jozie on a pony whose temperament I didn't know and Evie in the baby pouch). And off we went!

Here's my brave girl who really had a great afternoon!

Mona Lisa proved to be a perfect-sized pony for Josephine ...not too daunting, but nevertheless a challenge! But she was however a little moody and stubborn! Not sure if she has some donkey genes there? Anyhow, it started well and she listened to me nicely as I led them around and around. After about 10minutes, ML decided she'd had enough and just stopped. After some cajouling, she jolted forth with a burst of energy and Josephine nearly fell off in the process! I think the bit in her mouth was annoying her some and she spent her time trying to get rid of it. She was also very wary of Evie in the pouch and kept her big brown eyes on her. At one point, she did another forward JOLT when Evie got hold of her mane. Evie, our little hair-freak, thought it great fun to get her little baby fingers stuck in there and I had to really loosen her grip finger by finger to free the poor pony. But all in all, it was a FAB experience and we'll definitely be going back. One last thing, it was so funny to see Jozie's legs were really shaking when I took her off. The kind of shakes one gets when the muscles have been working very long and hard. I guess she must have been gripping like mad!

just before going home.

Just us this morning at home

Evie getting into the crawling position...nearly there!

Josephine this morning

Photos from today

Jozie playing upstairs today with her horses

Evie's first moments of mobility! (can't see on this photo though of course)

Josephine making and remaking and re-remaking her new douvet! Trying to help the caterpillar feel "cosy"

"Mamma. I just a busy little girl!"

Little Evie moments

Today Evie, Josephine and I went to the music class. Evie loves this! Beams from beginning to end. Sways with the guitar being strum and shakes her bells with the others. She is by far the youngest there (it's actually a class for Josephine), but she's participating to her best ability! Very cute!

Evie also joins us for some exercise and fun in the garden and on the driveway. Jozie whizzes up and down on her bike while Evie pushes herself forward in her "wheelchair" (a walking ring but a name aptly given by I won't say who. :-)) She loves this activity, but starts freaking out when she finds herself stuck in a corner or against a mound of snow. She looks around desperately seeking out help. Jozie is quick to help and I often have to kind of step in there as Jozie likes to push her fast. Evie adores this, but I fear the action may rub off her toes which are dragging in the process. (she doesn't have proper shoes yet, only very soft leather ones which I think you can feel a lot through!)

Evie likes to click her tongue!

Evie refused to eat "baby food" at lunch today and "moaned" for the food off my plate. So she ate chicken, potato and peas. Not bad for an 8 month old!

She has 1 tooth, but flushed cheeks and a slight temperature. So I assume another one is on the way. Let's wait and see.

She is still being breastfed, but only before her naps and night sleep.

She has been in her own bed 3 nights completely on her own. And done much better than I thought! I am in our bed finally again with the monitor next to me. Not sleeping that well yet as I'm alone at home at the moment and kind of have my ears perked up in all directions waiting for a cry or potty call or whatever. Even when it's quiet, I'm waiting. How silly is that!?!

Evie has a hair-fettish. She is obsessed with touching, pulling, holding, stroking hair. Each time she gets a decent grip it makes her ripple with laughter. So in many cases, it's worth the agony. Josephine doesn't quite appreciate this as much, although when desperate times call for desperate measures, even she obliges Evie her fringe.

Evie tried the crawling position for the first time today! I was changing her nappy and of course she rolled over. Next thing she was digging her feet in the ground and lifted her bottom up into the air! Even Josephine was impressed! She did it several times, and also managed to push herself forward with this action. I think she'll be working on that some more tomorrow, I'm sure.

I don't know how to express this sound that she makes, but she is now clearly saying "Oh-oh!" in situations where something has fallen or come apart or dropped or so. She starts the first "oh" on a higher note and drops to a lower one on the second "oh". If you know what I mean! For those who know this saying, it's the first part of "Oh-oh, biddy biddy, oh-oh!"

Little Josephine conversations

While sitting on the potty this evening wearing pajamas that have dozens of apples on them, Jozie said:

"And God said: You can't eat these apples Jozie. No, no, no. God says no Jozie."...pause..."but maybe the horses can eat them?"



For whatever unbeknown reason, she wanted to buy a rubbery spider as her reward after collecting her stars last weekend. So we now have a horrible creepy tarrantula with dangly legs that look quite real. Gives me the creeps! The other night she crawled into my bed with me in the early hours of the morning. I was just falling back to sleep when she suddenly realised that her spider was near her feet. So she reached for it and all I felt was this awful rubbery many-legged THING (actually called "Spiderman") being rescued towards her kissing lips. Ooooh! As I wasn't quite awake and probably up for a dream or so, it kind of sparked something off in me and I screamed. Josephine thought it was hilerious. You can imagine how she has been teasing me since with this THING!
Tonight she said, "Mamma, please stay with me. I scared of the shadows. You can help me with the shadows."
I said: "Josephine, Mamma can't stay with you for long, but we can pray and also ask God to look after you and make you feel better."  so we prayed...
afterwards she looked up at me and said: "Yes and God is everywhere. God is even wif Pappa while he is sweating (he's in Singapore). And maybe God can also help you not to be scared of my Spiderman".

To sum up for the day, I put a fresh (and new) douvet cover on her bed this evening: the very hungry caterpillar. She absolutely loved it! Was stroking it, bringing it things to eat, patting it. And when it came to story time, she didn't want us to sit on the edge of her bed as usual. no, no. Caterpillar would get squashed if we did that! She went and fetched me another chair and sat on her toybox while we read. Sat is probably not the most appropriate word. She had a wriggle bottom and was circling the bed, stroking, admiring, checking her caterpillar. Her favourite book was read without much attention given to it. Finally, however I was able to convince her that the caterpillar needed her hugs and to be kept warm, so she agreed to snuggle in and settle down.

2 eating extremes

2 hands full. In heaven.

Don't disturb me, I'm busy!

"Maybe the chicken can eat my food?"

"Just one minute, Mamma. I just going to play for 1 minute."

me: "Jozie, come back to the table. You're not yet excused!"

assumed thoughts: "Maybe I can eat Josephine's food too?"

a reluctant return to the table

this face says it all

come on Jozie, you can do it!

"if I must"

getting distracted, again (mashing peas on the sideline)

all the while, Evie remains focused. :-)