Editor At Large

Karl has already been to his dads office a couple of times. Even back in the day when he was still supertiny and the office still in the middle of town. We also went to check out the new building as soon as they had moved in. But today we went to see Andrians brand new office space he moved to from another one. Karl took over the entire business as soon as he walked in.



He clearly wasn't happy with the work of the other editors, but successfully found a way to deal with it (screaming). He was so convincing that one of them even gave him a lollipop!



And in the end Karl also found some quiet time to explain all the train stuff down below to his dad. I mean, it's pretty obvious that our boy here has some great communication and management skills, right?

At The Circus

Originally Karl and I had gone by Circus Krone this afternoon to visit their zoo, but it was closed. There was somebody who had to unload some tickets for the afternoon show though, so I just bought one. It was reasonable enough that we could've left right away, if Karl had gotten scared or bored. Little did I know that we got a first row ringside ticket. We sat so close we got sprayed with elephant drool and could smell the lions' funky butts.



Fearless Karl didn't mind sitting so close to all those mighty beasts. He hung in there quite mesmerized, stuffing his face with popcorn (see photo above). After a while he got the hang of it and started to applaud with the crowd. He was a bit bored by the ventriloquist and the clowns, but the animals, jugglers and balancing acts kept him glued to my lap for about two hours.



Definite highlight was the seals. They were stars from some TV show called "Hallo Robbie. Not that we'd know, but the crowd went wild. So "Fearless" Karl sure redeemed himself, after having thrown a hissy fit at the barber earlier today. Since he had thrown a fit mid-haircut a few weeks ago, this means another week of "mullet Karl", before we try again next Saturday.

Family Vacation

Sorry for the absence of posts over the past couple of days. As some of you might know, Andrian and I made a trip to New York to catch up with our amazing friends that we still miss so much and probably always will. This wonderful vacation was only made possible by my parents a.k.a. Omi and Opa who took the best care of lil' ol' Karl. Thank you again! As you can see it looks like he had a great time with them just as we did in New York.



In order to not get used to being without crazy toddlers running around we went to see all our friends with (new) kids. Thank you, Shirly and Michael for hosting a great New York brunch. I'm proud that I managed to get all five kids in one picture.



Oh and of course, last but not least, the Bru finally got his birthday gifts. Now that he's 16 month old he can really appreciate them. He was head over heels!

Popcorn

Fun facts:

- Freshly made, popcorn does snap, popple and crack.
- Popcorn can be eaten with one or two hands.
- The amount of popcorn that can be grabbed with two hands can enlarge the volume of your oral cavity threefold.
- Combined with ample amounts of water popcorn can take on a semisolid form that - on display in a widely opened mouth or spread over the surface of a piece of furniture - will disgust your parents.
- A small boy of 24 pounds can devour the contents of a freshly made still warm bowl of popcorn half his size in less than a quarter of an hour.

Big Brother

The fun didn't stop though this weekend. Sunday afternoon was all about the cocktail party we had for Fred's extended designer gang. There were three girls under the age of 8 months hanging out. Karl got all big-brotherly with the not-yet-mobile ladies. He even rocked little Marla to sleep in her stroller. After the party he staged a brief post-sugar rush crash and burn drama. But we finished the weekend on a very somber pasta note.

Bestest Show Ever

After the maelstrom of fun the other night was already such a great bonding experience, we decided to take Karl and Max to the big dog show they had at the Olympic Hall over the weekend. Sure enough a whole stadium full of pooches and pups was right on the money. And of course anybody's who's ever seen Christopher Guest's "Best In Show" (maybe one of the best comedies of all time) knows that for members of the ironic set going to a dog show won't be just innocent fun for the kids. Indeed we weren't disappointed.



The dedication, love and earnestess emanating from this crowd makes it impossible to slip onto the sarcastic track though. There's something genuine about competition dog lovers.



But make no mistake - competition is fierce. The adrenaline at the yorkshire terrier preliminaries was running rather high. Sure enough there were some scene reminiscent of Parker Posey's legendary "busy bee" scene.



When the dog dance troupe finally started to fill the arena with a dozen of dogs jumping through hoops and over their handlers, the boys raised such hell that some dog owners in the bleachers got a bit worried, what the whole frenzy was about and could turn into. We think Karl and Max are bestest friends forever now. Karl at least was devastated when Max left for Basel. Well, for about ten minutes. He still has to work on his emotional attention span.



P.S.: After we came back from our morning playground outing today though he did go and check each room and was mightily disappointed that there was no Max to be found anywhere.

Bestest Fun Ever

On their way back from a little skiing vacation in Austria Karl's cousin Max and his parents, my brother Markus and his wife Jessica were in town. Lean back and watch.

Welcome Back, Big Girl!

My son threw up in a supermarket shelf yesterday so I thought he wouldn't be in shape to host our baby meeting at home today. It turned out that he's fine though, so we took advantage of the nice weather and got together on short notice nonetheless.



After spending a couple of month in Shanghai Luisa and her parents are back in town and we're happy to have a girl in our crazy boy crew again. Today Karl showed her that not only can you eat gravel, but also throw it at people. In whatever order you like. Luisa listened carefully and then ran off with Ferdinand.

Spring Is Here, So We Have Beer

Alright, it wasn't beer, but soup and virgin apple spritzer. We did sit outside on the patio of legendary Suppenküche on the central market though. Most cafes and patios were packed, as well as hangout square Gärtnerplatz. Here Karl just tried Fred's old Bavarian style pancake soup and wasn't quite sure yet, if it was superior to my Swabian dumpling soup or not. He switched back and forth all through the meal, but in the end it was a tie.

If There's A Strike, We Take Our Bike

Yesterday the Munich public transportation system went on strike yet again. Unfortunately the cold and rainy weather wasn't the nicest starting point for a bike ride, but since we're not made out of sugar we chose this mode of transport over an hour long walk. After a little helmet drama Karl actually quite enjoyed the change from the tram. More than me probably. He kept pointing out to me most of the cars in the street (dadüh), trees (ba) and birds (baba, which comes from the sound ducks make – Karl doesn't discriminate between birds) by hitting me on my back. So that was an interesting conversation we had there. And when we were back home he also pumped some air in the air.

Fasching

It's carnival in Germany and Karl had to be dressed up to go to his daycare center today. In case you can't figure out his costume: he went as a green Lego brick.

Hiding

When is the weather finally getting better? Yesterday it was so nasty that Karl went into hiding in a corner of the bathroom so that he wouldn't have to go out. He still had to though and he hated it with all of his heart. Where is global warming when you need it?

Before And After

Yesterday it was Karins turn to have her apartment taken apart by Julian, Theo, Ferdinand, Julius and yours truly. They did very well: in a record-breaking time all shelves were emptied out, tables were climbed and cake crumbs distributed. So all in all it was a very productive afternoon for a bunch of crazy toddlers.

It's Called Snow

By now there's a lot of it.

When Did Whiny Become The New Cute?

Oy, the sounds of a wailing toddler. How do they hit that exact pitch to make adults wince and cringe? And of course react with immediate surrender (yes, of course I'll carry you/hand over the chips/go another round on the swing/let you pet the puppy). Karl definitely does not enjoy the wonderful fresh powder we got around here. The whole walking in the snow deal immediately results in a wide variety of shrill sounds, so it'll be a while before we can start skiing lessons. All things bouncy and rocky reconcile him with the small outdoors right away though.




Even better though - all things bouncy and rocky in the toasty conditions of the great indoors. It's a bit troublesome that he now can climb the rocking chair all by himself. And the table, the other chairs, about the stepladder we know already. Combined with his new "full ahead" speed mode it can turn an afternoon home into quite a workout. Now a great two weeks of hanging with Karl come to an end though. Tomorrow it's back to the office. For all three of us.