Maya saying phrases

Maya today said, in the sweetest voice you can ever imagine: "Time out. Right now!" pointing at me. I just got out of time out and decided to make a note of this.

DO DIS ! and preparing for Newcastle

I'm really tired this week -- two kids will do that I guess -- even though Baba Dora is here to help us before we move from Tuebingen to Newcastle. Amanda, Maya and I will go to Newcastle in a week to find a place to live, Julian will stay with Baba here. We were worried last night how he would take this, but today he seemed to understand that "you and mamma will go to Newcastle to find a place for us to live, and make sure it's big enough for Baba. I will stay here with Baba and I will show her the toy store." I think he'll be ok.

Maya and Baba are hanging out and going for walks. Maya is a little "fuehrer" though. When she wants something she'll say DO DIS. DO DIS. DO DIS. We don't have to worry about her not knowing what she wants. Ok, I'm wiped out. I'll add a couple of movies to tell the rest of the story.

Cute Julian sayings.

Julian used to say "samali" for salami. Now he says it right, but he still says "hangabur". He's also been saying "Dada, I'm too sick for kindergarden, but I'm not too sick for toy store. I want to get a blue and green and yellow turtle and a baleen whale and a car and a blue whale". He's planning what he'd like to get at his next birthday.

Haircuts and Pak-Pak

I've been cutting Julian's hair for some time but Amanda won't let me touch Maya's hair. She's grown a big curlie Q that blocks her face. It's cute but it's also nice to see her face and I'm not convinced that those dogs that have hair coming down over their eyes can see anything. So I've been arguing for a haircut. Today we got haircuts for nearly the whole family (except Amanda). Julian was very good and the haircutter could take her time to cut it right. Then I hopped in the chair and asked to be just like Julian, and now I am. Then Maya hopped on me and the haircutter began. But Amanda was so nervous about the haircut I think the haircutter cut more air than hair. I think we all look great but you be the judge. I'll post some before and afters.

p.s. Cute saying: Maya has been saying "pak pak" when she wants to get in the backpack. Julian really likes the movie Cars and we cracks up when one of us imitates the movie by saying "YOU ARE A TOYYYYYYYYYYY CARRRRRRR !" or "I AIN'T NO "MACK" I'M A "FREIGHTERBILT", TURN ON YOUR HEADLIGHTS".

p.s.s. We've gotten a good response from people about this blogsite and idea. We're glad you're enjoying our updates once a week and we're happy now that Alzheimers is setting in for us that we won't have to rely on our failing memory to remember such good times.

Maya Kissing Maya

Everybody poops and twinkle twinkle

Maya and mom are having fun being girls. We really tried hard not to socialize them at all (never mind the pink pajamas for Maya in the picture), but Maya's a girl and Julian a boy. How can we tell? Take them to the toy store and see what they get.

Julian will go to the toy cars, trains and animals. Maya will grab any stuffed animal she can find. Today she was holding a stuffed doggie the size of her through the store. She stops and waves at people. Very friendly but if I take her close to a strange man she'll begin to cry.

Every now and again I'll hear the kids saying something they learned from mom. Maya has been singing "winkle winkle liddle starr". I was walking with Julian through downtown Tuebingen and he began to sing "It's raining it's pouring the old man is snoring, bumped his head went to bed got up in the morning." I never knew the words.

And now a description of our lives not for the faint of heart. (you've been warned).

Julian will say some really sweet things: "Dadda, look, I made you and me and we're riding our bicycles. Now I'm going to make Mamma and Maya and give them bicycles too." Now see if you can guess when he says this. If you're thinking while he's drawing on a piece of paper you couldn't be further off. He does this after going to the potty. He likes to imagine his poops are us and our bicycles. He doesn't like to have lonesome poops so he'll sit on the potty until the lone ones have some company. We don't discourage it. Actually we're so happy he's going to the potty by himself and saving us on diapers that we couldn't be happier. There's a funny thing about being a parent. It's like losing your mind, but in a good way. Let me illustrate.

You pick up your kid and you give him a kiss only to notice that he has snot running down his nose. No problem, you wipe it off of them and you and you continue kissing your kiddie. Would never happen to a kid you didn't produce. Say you see snot running down some kid's nose. You'd think to yourself, how gross and where are his incompetent parents. If the kid tries to wipe it on your pants he would end up face down in the bushes. That's just the way it is and you know it to be true. I'm just documenting it for you.

Running after the Soccer Ball, Dancing

Today was Saturday: fun day at the school next to Julian's kindergarden. Julian had a late nap (3:30 - 6 pm, which means he won't sleep until 10:30 pm and that we're terrible parents). Anyhow, by the time we all got there there were only about 1000 kids left.

Julian and I found a large field where most of those thousand kids were. They were all running around like mad after a soccer ball, pretty much like ants chasing after a bon-bon. My favorite memory of 6th grade was soccer at recess so I though Julian would like to run after the ball a bit. So we dove into the sea of kids and managed to stay alive. Whichever way the ball went we went. We had no team, no loyalty, if a goal was open we'd aim for it and if a big kid got the ball I would dive to protect Julian from getting pelted. I'm growing an Abe Lincoln beard (after seeing my favorite heavy metal band Queensryche sporting them last weekend) so I'm pretty sure I was the only one with facial hair on that field. Julian got to kick the ball a couple of times, but mainly we ran around the field dodging kids, chasing down a ball that didn't want to be caught and laughing all the way. (To get an idea of what that field of kids looked like, click on the title to this post. That's me in the middle with the ball.)

Once he wore me out, I traded with Amanda and took Maya. Maya had the same idea and wanted to run with the kids, but my good senses finally kicked in. It was like trying to convince a house cat that going outside is bad. Finally a man with some loudspeakers saved me by playing polka at the opposite side of the field. Then her disco instincts kicked in. She started twirling in circles and waving her arms in the air. Fortunately the polka stopped and he started playing Bulgarian folk music, of all things. Couldn't believe it.

Bit of a sentimental day for me.

By the way Julian doesn't like chocolate milk and Maya still just wants to walk (especially if there is a steep downhill).

Welcome to the Bloggsite !!!

Julian and Maya would no doubt enjoy reading your comments when they get older, so let the creativity flow.

P.S. Don't forget to vote for your favorite parent below. Amanda and I have some tough competition. We'll have new polls frequently, again to encourage you to spend some time here.

Julian 3 and change, Maya 1 and change

Julian has been leading us in a saying before we eat. First we'll hold hands then he'll say "Peep peep mausen, komme aus deine hausen, peep, peep, peep, guten appetit." Roughly translated from German, "Peep peep mice, come out of your houses, peep, peep, peep, good appetit". Remember how much fun Kindergarden was? Me neither.

Maya is repeating just about everything we say to her. She likes to say "walking, Yeah !" and throw her hands up in the air as she heads for the door. She's very stubborn and when she wants to walk, she wants to walk. I pity the fool that keeps her from going where she wants. She's very sweet, but very stubborn (basically a Presley or a Petkov I would say :-). She likes dancing to pop music and being turned upside down.