Karl's Very Own National Geographic Live Action Channel

Summer in the city sure is not the same in Munich. Today Karl had his very own National Geographic Live Action Channel right at the Englische Garten. With all the drama of Jungle Book and the schmaltz of Bambi.
Fred and Karl walked from the super-friendly daycare center..... where Karl got accepted, which of course is the real news of the day! He got in! Getting your baby into daycare in Munich is something like getting a juvenile delinquent into Harvard. So there was definitely reason to celebrate. All the more, since all that nature action happened right around the corner from the daycare center, where they put the kids into old fashioned pull-carts and take them to the park in the morning, so they can play on the lawns and under the trees and pretend they own the place. Which in a way they do.

So there we went and first there was this very nutty squirrel nosediving into Karl's stroller. Rather unimpressed by our presence it took a quick and very nervous look around before deciding that there are no food items to rob. So it bailed. Luckily Karl was sitting Fred's arm anyway, so we don't have to take him in for rabies shots. He actually found it rather curious to have such a furry guest.

Afterwards we had our Bambi moment, when we ran into a family of swans.
One of the little ones hopped on the dad swan to ride around on the creek. There's also a photo of that scene, but could be too blurry to submit to Cute Overload. Although it'd be a definite contender.

And in closing.... YAY !!!!! Daycare.

Office Space

This is the view from my desk and these pictures were taken only several seconds apart. Then Karl discovered his interest in the floor lamp which is definitelty not child safe or will ever be. I had to come to his safety. What am I doing on my desk anyways, you're going to say, if I'm not posting? Believe me, I'm trying hard to do stuff, like work a little, but our little Mr. Funshine is getting very mobile and needs more and more attention. But that's what's supposed to happen of course. In no time he'll be at school and I'll have all day to clean up the mess.

Quite a few things have happened in Karl's life though: he's sporting two little teeth, he went for his first real dive at the baby swimming class and he's enjoying a new kind of milk cereal in the evening.

Heavy Rotation

Too Hot To Lie Down

It was around 32 Celsius (90 Fahrenheit) today and Winter baby Karl wasn't all that happy about it. The only way to keep him from crying was to have him sit in his stroller, which he's not really able to just yet. So we could either stop and be happy or walk and be desparate. In the background you see Mrs. Fingerle, the owner of the Isar river bank kiosk we walk by almost every day. She was one of the first people Karl has met in this town and kindly enough she's already making plans on giving him free ice cream next year.

Since most of the babies from our massage group have started to move around way too much in order to be massaged, we're turning our weekly meetings into some sort of play group thingie (with the occasional bottle of Prosecco). Jessi, mother of Magnus brought the foil idea from her Pekip play group where it was a big success. Karl wasn't too crazy about it even though he likes shiny things (well, he's growing up in the gayest street in town...) and started crying (yes, a lot of crying today). But he and Magnus still managed to save Luisa from trying to wrap her head in foil.

U5 Check-Up

Today we went for Karl's six month check-up. He also had to get another set of shots which he weathered through courageously. Then the doctor explained to us again – as he's supposed to – that accidents in the household are much more common than all those illnesses worried mothers keep asking him about. Right after he finished his sentence he fell over a chair in his practice room. To emphasize what he had said? For comical relief? Who knows. He also asked what Karl was up to all day long. When I told him that he's reading a lot and practicing the piano he assured me that our son is a very talented kid. Duh – I didn't need a doctor to figure that out.



And here are the numbers. Because I know you want to know: Karl's Weight 7090 g / 15.6 lbs.; Karl's Height 68 cm / 26.77 inches.

Physics

This is my mother explaining Karl the gyroscopic effect. The change in the angular momentum is proportional to the change of the angular velocity and equals the torsional moment. Get it? Karl totally got it.

Our Big Fat Greek Wedding

So we went to Maria's and Tim's wedding (Maria and Tim pictured above being led to the lunch in the middle of a vineyard above the Rhine river, where the whole wedding party went from the stately monastery, where the ceremony had happened, in covered wagons after a champagne reception in one of those highly manicured regal gardens, which already tells you something about the level of old world extravaganza this event has been). With all the Greeks and Germans coming together there were definitely a few too many parallels to the cheeseball comedy referenced in the header, not to mention at least a few of them. Like Maria started out at a travel agency. And her father's one of those true blue collar icons who came over to Germany with nothing and his wive and left after 35 years of hard work able to afford apartments in Athens and small houses on the isle of Lesbos (quit dreaming, his is a 20th century story, no more such thing as making a life for yourself and your family with pure, honest work only). Of course there were some Bundt cake situations, although negligible. First and foremost it was a 48 hour blast. Fred was very tempted to give a Big Fat Greek Wedding speech, currently legitimate, since Maria's a ballooning eight month pregnant (hence the Big and Fat). Wasn't clear though, if either side would've appreciated the ethnic sarcasm and pop reference humor imported from Brooklyn. So we just partied and Karl immensely enjoyed being swooned over by the bride (see photo), her guests and being smooch-mauled by Maria's mother quite a few times.

McDreamy

Karl was all McDreamy after having taken his first bath in a real baby bath tub at my parents place in Bensheim and not in a stupid bucket like he's used to.

L

We're getting ready for Maria's and Tim's wedding at Burg Schwarzenstein tomorrow and I'm packing up some stuff for Karl's future best friend in Frankfurt who is supposed to arrive in August. This season we won't need to put him in his warm fleece suit anymore, so I added it to the pile of hand-me-downs Karl has already grown out of. Just for the record though I put him in it one last time to see the progress he's making. Please compare: XS, S, M. I'm also planning on taking more comparison photos up until he's 18.

The Black Forest

Newsflash - the Black Forest is neither a forest, nor is it black. Contrary to it's stark name it's a rather lush and pleasant landscape of rolling hills covered by deeply green pastures and woodsy patches of tall old trees. Karl was quite mesmerized by the whole landscape-cows-and-blue-skies thing, so now we're afraid he might turn into an outdoorsy kinda Patagonia type who doesn't share our passion for upholstered furniture and large television sets. He's probably gonna drag us out to the country as soon as he starts to develop something like a free will. Maybe we have to convince him that there is no such thing as free will (just a neurological illusion), beautiful nature (you never know, if acid rain, the ozone hole and Chernobyl fallout are really gone by now, do you?) or a healthy country life (think mad cows, lyme disease and "Deliverance").

Karl got to go to another farm though where they had a stable full of small and not so small animals. So far he likes goats the best. They got funny ears and spiky horns, but they aren't scary large like cows or cutesy lame like rabbits.

Karl also got to meet (and wrestle) his cousins down there. They are (clockwise from orange T-Shirt): cousin Thora (leader of the pack), sock hater Karl in his fancy plaid pants, cousin Max (he lives in Switzerland, already sponging off tax laws that would bring tears to your eyes if you'd know that you get real social services for almost no money there) and new arrival Tomas (not delivered by stork, but by Air Ethopia and seeming quite happy to adjust to his new posh Heidelberg surroundings after spending his first year in Addis orphanage squalor). Since we all stayed in a landmarked country inn recommended by the mighty Michelin Guide the long weekend turned into a perfect European large family event that we will submit to an agent for use in some health-food, red wine or full grain something commercial.

More Europe at it's best coming up. Next stop - Rheingau. For Maria's and Tim's wedding.

Generous Baby

Today Karl let Magnus have a little taste of his living room playground.

Carrots

After a week of pureed parsnips Karl was introduced to carrots today. Pureed as well of course. The excitement could have been bigger but I'm happy to have started the whole eating solid food thing with something that has a less intrusive color than carrots. Even though he sort of gets the hang on how to swallow the stuff by now, he still knows how to distribute some of it all around himself as well.



In other news: We got a new camera! The old one drove us crazy by constantly jumping into movie mode and made us miss even more cute pictures of Karl (comparison picture below). Stay tuned for the most amazing top quality pics!

Doing The Laundry

Karl figured out pretty early in his life that doing the laundry is kinda boring. So he took the opportunity – after not sleeping a whole lot in the past days – to take a little bathroom nap while his mom knocked herself out sorting clothes according to color and fabric.

A Trip to the Country

We did our first trip to the country this year. Drove out to the woods and took a hike. Karl got to wear his fancy toadstool shoes Maria gave him, which are way trippy in a kind of Lewis Carrollish way.
Lacking a proper hiking map we got a bit lost, but we did see the canyon with the waterfall (should be written up in diminutives, since both were very quaint and of rather modest proportions, i.e. perfect for baby's first forays into the wild) and had a great outdoor lunch of pureed parsnips. But we also did a lot of walking through the woods in the kinda right direction. Luckily Fred has the sense of direction of an Apache pathfinder, so we actually made our way back to the eco farm we wanted to see.



Karl was quite amazed that living beings can be as large as a cow. We hung out at the corrals quite a bit and Karl was a trooper, not letting on that he was a little bit scared, until one of those rough grey cow tongues about the size of his torso almost grazed him. Which, alright, made him twitch once, followed by some more cow studies. So now he knows where commercially produced milk comes from before he even had any.
After the cows he also braved the bulls, so meeting some calves, which started to munch on dad's jeans was a piece of cake. As you can see by him looking slightly blasee and expert already.




Later we stopped by Albert's family's lakeside chalet and went with him, his wive and his daughter to some country inn for piglegs (brave native them) and asparagus with Schnitzel (chicken cityfolk us)
Little Anna and Karl got a kick out of each other, starting a gigglefest and having fun squeezing various parts of each other's faces.

Making Friends

After I had left KMS Team last year, most of my Heidelberg team mates left as well. Just because they thought it was a really good idea. And of course because the loved me so much, they couldn't stand working without me. Now – to please me even more – three of them are in the process of creating new friends for Karl. I guess they saw him and were inspired by his congeniality. We of course are totally thrilled and met with them to let Karl get into telepathic contact with his future friends. In the picture on top you can see the so far least pregnant of the bunch, Claudia, in the middle, her husband Maxi entertaining Karl on the left and the very pregnant, unfortunately very sofa-bound Tina to the right.

The other day we also went to see medium pregnant Ariane who was then hypnotized by Karl.