Free

Fee, it worked! He can totally count to free now.

You Wanna Do WHAT With My Rabbit ?!

I'm glad Karl starts to grasp the concept of ownership early. That means he's not a communist. You all know what happens, when you have a communist baby. First it's all like sharing this, sharing that, let's all be a happy family. Next thing you know you're attending weekly sessions of self-criticism and listening to lectures about the evils of controlling the means of candy.

We just have to work on that whole Blair Witch look. We're currently teaching him that the way to protect your rabbit at the nursery is to suckerpunch the competition. No fear little Karl! No fear!

Three

I'm using auxiliary literature now to get him to count to three.

Awesome Outfits VIII

Can you tell that somebody is getting tired of me taking tons of pictures of him? Well, tough luck, because I'm a master blogger now and there's nothing Karl can do about it. Here you see him wearing an awesome onesie which was a gift from his honorary godmother Maria from Frankfurt. The appliqué is called Kapitän Knallerbse which can be loosely translated into Captain Toy Torpedo. Well – I'm sticking to the no poop no fart policy of this blog, so I have nothing more to add other than: Thank you, Maria!

Unconditional Love

Karl is enjoying some unconditional love, long walks and cool new outfits from Omi these days.

Friends for Life

Out of a big pile of stuffed animals, Karl chose a polar bear and a blue rabbit to be his new friends. Since we haven't made up our minds yet concerning their names, we're holding an open competition. Please leave your suggestions in the comments section. If it gets picked, you might get a reward!

One

Karl fell asleep immediately after I taught him how to count to one.

Awesome Outfits VII

Two Awesome Outfits in a row – boring! I know, but it is particularily important that Karl looks handsome for our main social outings of the week, one being the baby massage class which happened today. So we put on this swell looking green cardigan together with a handmade purple bandana (please note the embroidered heart) that were sent to us from Stefanie and Andrea, our very good friends in – obvious! – one of the fashion capitals of the world, Milan.

And while other babies have to go half naked, Karl is sporting Italian fashion. Thank you Stefanie and Andrea!

Awesome Outfits VI

This is another lovely overall from Smith Street in Brooklyn. It is so comfortable that in it Karl even changed his attitude towards the lying on the belly thing.



Another pic just for general Karl cuteness.


In other news: The weather is great and the Munich crazies are out again. Here a lonesome guitar player wandering along the river banks.

Play Date

Today was a big day: Karl had his first play date. We went to Munich Nymphenburg to meet Luisa Marfa and strolled around in the Olympia Park. Afterwards we hung out at Petra's and Lennart's place, where the two babies were supposed to bond, which of course didn't really happen. Well, maybe in two years or so. At least until then they will just tag along with their mothers.

Group Therapy

Dropped off Karl at his group therapy session today. The kids were supposed to work on making the commitment to say "Hi, my name is Karl, and I am a baby." It seems like they didn't get very far with it. That's why there's still the name tags. Well, I guess it's a process. Acceptance is the first step and at least Karl seems to be accepting. (All the dedicated readers of this blog will find Karl in no time. If you're not one of them: he's the happy one in the white hoodie.)
Meanwhile the mothers of the pictured babies continued to learn how to breathe through their vajayjays.

Where The Party's At

Damn, here I'm award partying in rainy Berlin wondering why I have the feeling that the real party's happening somewhere else. Well, it's because every day with Karl is a cornucopia of festivities and events, that's why. Like the unbeatable giggledown (I'm gonna giggle until you melt, here we go - one, two...), the always popular championship of beady eyed ogling (Whaddaya mean I made a mess? Could somebody cute like me make a mess?!), the occasional refreshing screamfest (C'mon party people make some NOIIIIIIIISE!) and in the photo here Karl is presenting his blockbuster high pitch rendition of the old school classic Hip Hop Hooray. Heeeeyyy... hooooo.... heeeeyyy....hoooo (funny enough Karl's known to sport the same style of hat like Treach in the original video).

Didn't some well meaning young father warn me that I'm gonna miss my kid on business trips madly by the time he's three or four? I guess I'm an early pushover. So if anybody's looking for me later tonight - I'm the pathetic drunk hunched over the bar counter showing strangers baby pictures going... And! I! Haven't! Seen! Him! For two days now!

Find the Baby

There's a baby hidden in this picture. If you happen to find it, please let us know immediately.

Eating a Handwich

Eating a handwich takes skill and dedication. And of course a larger mouth would help, but that way eating a handwich can pass that endless time between meals without interrupting those moments of gourmet pleasures.

Inbetween of course stories have to be told with equal skill and dedication. Karl is working on breathing out while chattering and giggling, although the sound effects of sucking air in while making sounds are quite intriguing, rendering his parents into helpless piles of mush.

Crazy Hair

This hair reminded me of my times at Bumble and bumble. Let's hope Karl doesn't want to have a hairstyle similar to this one anytime soon:

Novelty Wears Off

This is Karl after the second baby massage class today. He still loves it, but I guess he got used to it pretty quickly since he only needed a short nap afterwards. He doesn't get knocked out by it anymore – novelty wears off.

Awesome Outfits V

This was supposed to be an entry about the gripping reflex in babies. It is a relict from our phylogeny when we had to hold on tight to the fur of the mother in order not to fall off of her when things would get rough. The fur is long gone and the new function of the reflex is to render parents helpless in adoration of baby cuteness.

So much for that. Now I have to make this an Awesome Outfits entry though. The pictured suit wasn't a gift from anybody, we bought it ourselves last June at The Green Onion on Smith Street in Brooklyn. We love it and miss our old neighborhood every time we see it on little Karl.

P.S.: Don't think this baby is sleeping ALL the time.

Visitors from HD

My niece Thora together with her parents – my sister Carolin and her husband Ivo – came over from Heidelberg for a short visit. Karl spent a lot of time flirting with his cousin while she spent most of the time drawing.

Ultimate Blissdown Challenge (Triple Whammy Triathlon style)

Here it comes - the ultimate blissdown challenge triple whammy style. First a round of baby massage with nice smelling oils. Aaaayyyyy - that's mom going straight for the giggle.

Next up is a round in the baby bucket against that nice bran filled cushion sponge aunt Jessica brought for Christmas that you can use to rub down that little baby back and some nice anti lint action between those tiny toes. There's some resistance, Karl trying to keep his composure. But Ooouuuhhh!!!! another round for mom with Karl going down in a flurry of toddler chuckles.

But now here comes the ultimate - all dried and cuddled in that hoodie towel it's off to the kitchen for a hearty meal, and yes! Here it comes. That punch drunk look of blissdown, Karl's eyes slowly, faintly closing.... he's still fighting it, yup, here he comes again, a moment of wakeness... oh no! Here's a massive left from that other side of milk heaven! And there, and there and there.... BLISSDOWN! Another victory for Furious Fred furiously making Karl enjoy life to the max.

(P.S.: Too many combat sports analogies for such a small baby? But he's a boy!)

(P.P.S.; No, that's not a doo-rag, we wouldn't go all the way Starrett City style. It's a Zipfelmütze, as they say in Bavaria, successfully worn by dwarfs, gnomes and trolls in fairy tales all over the world.)

Nice Weather

Okay, the people of Munich are officially crazy. I mean the weather is beautiful and all – but do you have to go swimming in the river just because of that? In the beginning of January? This guy totally jumped right in. His dog stayed out though. Right after we witnessed this craziness during our daily walk we also saw at least four people on bikes with short Bavarian leather pants. Ew!

And here is Karl laughing at them, not with them.

Knocked Out

Baby massage seems to be the thing to do with babies. We headed to our first class yesterday where we met a whole bunch of other babies, moms as well as the instructor, my aftercare midwife Petra. She showed us a couple of different techniques and some baby yoga exercises to finish off. Ironically people here hang out naked in the park, but they're not comfortable undressing their babies for a massage so I didn't try to take a picture. Maybe next time...
All the babies seemed to enjoy the massage a lot. It seems to be exhausting like a real work-out though. Karl was knocked out afterwards for a couple of hours and when we practiced again at home today the same thing happened. Time to write a blog entry!

Newsboy

Being the son of a famous journalist, Karl made it into the papers already three times. Oh, wait, that had nothing to do with the fact that his father is a famous journalist... Anyways, in the December 23, 2007 Edition of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung a picture of him could be found on page B6. Together with his cousin Max-Laurin he was one of the 'Babies 2007'. My Parents had the lovely idea to help – through the newspaper – a charity fighting cancer in an orphanage in Nairobi, Kenia.



Then, Karl also had a birth announcement in my parents local newspaper, the Bergsträßer Anzeiger. Considering that he has a little bear allergy it was ironic that it had a little bear illustration.



And finally he made it into the Süddeutsche Zeitung as well. Okay, these public birth announcements are not all that exciting, but it's worth mentioning, right?

Laid Back Baby

After reading and hearing everywhere that you're supposed to have your baby lying in different positions as often as possible – on the back, on the side, on the stomach – I figured I should be a good mother and let him lie on his belly today. Just so you all know: he was miserable. Hated it. Don't be fooled by the picture, he was screaming seconds after (it's just cuter to put cute pictures on the blog).

He just wants to lie on his back, I can't change it. I guess he's just a laid back baby. And I don't care if he only starts crawling when he's two, as long if he gets his Harvard application right.

Big Outfit to Fill

Remember we posted this picture for Karl's 1st outing? Well, now it's almost seven weeks later and as you can see the little man has grown like crazy, but he's still not all the way there. He'll probably fill out the thing the day Winter is over.

First Training

Alright! Bring it on! Training has officially started. After 'The Rumble in the Jungle' and 'Thrilla in Manila' we will bring you 'Hunting scalps in the Bavarian Alps'. KJ will take no prisoners. And since it looks like he'll be a southpaw he's already at an advantage.
Looking for sparring partners soon. Come down to the playpen and KJ's gonna show you what time it is. Weigh-ins with empty diapers only.

Awesome Outfits IV

Karl seems to be quite happy to be back home after all those holiday travels and excitements. Time to go back to normal and write another chapter of the Awesome Outfits Series. Even though Karl has a little-bear-allergy these are the type of bears we love. Jessica and Markus from Basel gave us this beautifully screen-printed sweater for Christmas. Thank you Jessica and Markus!

Not Funny

Alright. When parents start putting adult glasses on baby, because now Junior looks like Daddy, it's time to get the check. Hail a cab. Hold the liquor. Not funny! Just because the days supervising adults could dance around parties with lampshades on their heads are over. Seriously. Not funny. Not even close. More like - humiliating. Alright. A bit funny.