Baby Inspector IV

Research results after several elaborate inspections of little star toy:

Taste: neutral, later on salivaesque
Surface feel: velvety/furry, lumpy when dry
Color: rust colored, dark rust colored when wet
Smell: so far none
Sound: crackling crinkly noise

Proceeding: Continuative inspections to follow

First Passport

Finally! I made it to the citizens' administrative office after taking an ID photo and got a baby passport for Karl. It allows him to travel to all countries except: the U.S.A... Well, whatevs. He needs an adult people passport to go there and of course we'll get that one, too. Below you see Karl inspecting the fraud-resistance of his brand new travel document.



In the afternoon we were ladies-who-lunch Bavarian style and stopped at the Zum Flaucher beergarden during our walk with Petra and Luisa Marfa. Check out the weather! It's February!

Checkup

Today Karl had his fourth big medical checkup. He weighed in at a healthy 6250 grams / 13.7 pounds and measured 64.5 centimeters / 25.4 inches. Everything is fine and he also got his first vaccination shot. Luckily he brought his bunny along.

Spring Fever at the English Garden

It was a mellow 65 and sunny today, so we took Karl to the English Garden, which was really crowded with the beer gardens packed to capacity. We walked around playing our new favorite game "drunk or retarded?"(which is a variation on the popular "lesbian or german lady?"). We hit quite a few double whammies of "both!". Especially when we passed by the meadow for naked people, where there were already naked people (not suitable for publication on a family blog, since naked people at the English Garden tend to be geriatric homosexuals demonstrating what excessive sunbathing, tattooing and piercing look like a few decades later).

Over at the Chinese Tower Karl wasn't so sure, if he likes his home state's heritage and music so much. But he sure liked his first encounter with a flock of ducks down by the creek.

Taking Action

It's too tempting not to write about Karl grabbing bunnies, since the German word for bunny (Hase or Haserl) has the same silly 50s double-entendre meaning that is has in English. Even though a recent survey showed that Karl's readership is indeed more than 60% female, fond of kids and thus not so receptive to the proud-dad-machismo commonly found in AK718's writings. The real news in the bunny grabbing oberservation is of course Karl's newly perfected skill of reaching and grabbing, which is definitely a sign of him taking action. Enough with the supression by parents making the decision, which toy to grab! I'm in charge now!

New challenge that comes with the territory - making decisions. Cute, cuddly bunny or rough and tumble piglet? As a true European and skilled flirt (he's a Scorpio after all) he's already got into a Nouvelle Vague style love triangle, which is quite taxing and can lead to tears and drama.

Overachiever

By now most people will have forgotten that they ever had new year's resolutions for 2008. Not so Karl. This is him working hard at adding solids to his diet.

Also: Spring has arrived in Munich! Check out the pretty snowdrops and crocuses at the cemetery.

Intercontinental Blogversation

Bruno started this debate a couple of days ago and here is here is what Karl has to add to it. Overall he's sharing Bruno's point of view but after some consideration he wants to voice some interesting new aspects concerning the subject matter.

Action Swaddling

Our week is pretty slow eventwise so I'm posting this picture of my two men doing something called action swaddling this past weekend. Like every baby Karl doesn't like bundling up for the cold outside so Andrian came up with some magic to make the whole process superfun!

Getting There

In case you don't see a difference to the last time I posted a picture of Karl's winter suit: now there's hands and feet filling out the ends of the arms and legs of the overall. It actually fits him perfectly now. Now that it seems like the days of winter are numbered... When he was smaller he needed more fabric to keep him warm anyways.

Baby Transportation Method Tactics

Pushing around a 007 Special Edition Jeans Bugaboo probably doesn't make you the top candidate for one of those hot spots in the public day nurseries. So I figured it would be the perfect time to try out our new Ergo Baby Carrier which had been tested thoroughly by Karl's friend Bruno in New York. After all I doubt that my baby transportation methods will have any repercussions on us getting into day nursery though. In Bavaria only 3% of the kids under three get accepted and the average waiting time is over two years (when they're three, they can go to kindergarten anyways). Maybe we can sell the Bugaboo and pay a nanny with the money we'll make.

Awesome Outfits IX

Since Munich is a city, where grown men still proud themselves of knowing the salesclerks at the Prada boutique by first name, it was about time to introduce Mr. Karl to the real world of fashion. Downtown New York that is. So when we ventured out towards the rich people's part of the river Isar's banks he was sporting a creation by Loisaida fashion hotshot Teresa Melnik. It's cashmere for those delicate baby ears, but it still says 'my mommy can beat up your mommy'.

Baby Inspector III

It seems like there's a whole new breed of baby inspectors being brought up on both sides of the Atlantic. So in order to make the whole inspecting process more challenging I'm asking Karl additional questions.



Complementary questions when inspecting a tax form:
1. Is this form printed on coated or uncoated paper?
2. Which font has been used to typeset this form?
3. How can your mother avoid paying more taxes?



Complementary questions when inspecting a burp cloth:
1. What is the thread count in this fabric?
2. Do you think this is as white as it gets or can it get whiter?
3. How many washing cycles can one of these live through?

Only when he gets everything right he's allowed to the next round of milk.

Happy Valentine

In order to do Karl a special favor for Valentines Day we introduced him to alcohol. After his third glass, Andrian had to step in and take it away from him. Well, what can you do – this boy comes from a long line of boozers...

Baby Inspector II

This is Karl inspecting the Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin. This particular issue had a rather interesting article about cheapo sushi. As Karl told me.



Empty water bottles need inspecting, too.

Baby Inspector I

Karl spends a lot of time inspecting stuff these days. Maybe he will grow up to be an inspector? Who knows. Until then I'm asking myself if there might be toxins in a cardboard roll? If he could swallow it and then be Karl on a roll?



If he could suffocate from the diaper packaging? If he will destroy his predisposition for good taste by playing with poorly designed graphics on plastic?

Springtime for Charlie

When it comes to global warming, we're definitely profiteering around here. Whilest our friends in Berlin and Hamburg are suffering under the dark skies of the Baltics, it's outright Californian around here. Maybe not quite, but the blue skies and mellow breezes make the people behave like it. So I took ole blue eyes Charlie out for a spin around the English Gardens in his envy-of-young-mothers-instilling jeans stroller. Both beer gardens were open, there was the oompah band at the Chinese Tower beer gardens playing maudlin marches (yup, there are maudlin marches in Bavarian music), the old carousel was going full force, where I met a bouncer from the eighties clubs, who was taking his five year old daughter and her friend out, who were both swooning over the cuteness of Karl, who was rather unphazed, since he's getting used to having ladies around him getting all excited and cooing and stuff, so we had some candied almonds and went to the "Ice Creek", where the surfers were already going at it in their dry suits. This was definitely way too early for a mellow, breezy day like this. But hey, what does Karl know. He enjoyed the ride very much.

Handwich Attack

Everybody knows the saying that the grass is always greener on the other side. Karl figured out the concept of it as well. This morning a tender exploring of my hand turned into a ruthless hand attack. Not only did he just want the bigger handwich, but he also camouflaged the malicious attack by just being supercute. Sneaky!



In other news: Ever since I read about the bear on the run in the Lower East Side of Manhattan I'm trying to be aware that even in an urban environment wildlife can get out of hand. And there we go: yesterday I spotted a lion (on a bicycle) during my afternoon walk.

Afternoon Workout

Here is how Karls typical afternoon workout looks like:

Warm-up (concentrating on arms)











Heavy headlifting









Cool down on the speed bag









Review with trainer

Chewing Ears Off

In German, when someone talks a lot, you say that person is chewing your ear off. Even though Karl is working hard on the real talking, he's still better with the chewing. Here you see him chewing a giraffe's and a bunny's ear off.

Bring-Your-Child-To-Work-Day

Since people seem to be reading newspapers on Mondays as well, Andrian has to work on Sundays here and there to put everything together. We missed him a lot today, so after our daily walk Karl and I went to pick him up. Karl had never been at the office before, so he had to be shown around to everybody. Of course he was the usual ladies man and charmed all female co-workers.

Footloose