Ball, Squirrel, Baum, Auto, Buch, Bird

Squirrel, Buch/book, Ball, Mama, Papa, Baum, bird, Auto, more/mehr, Kuh, fish, up/hop, and bitte are some of the words Noah has been using on a regular basis. Some of them are clearly German (bitte, Auto), others clearly English (squirrel), quite a few are a mix where the English and German word sound similar and he uses them both (ball, more/mehr, Kuh/cow, and his version of danke/thank you), and then there are words he signs, often accompanied by a sound that goes in the right direction (fish/Fisch (izzz), Buch/book (boo), all done/fertig, Baum/tree (ba), etc.) And he can tell you what cats, dogs, sheep, and cows say. 

Back to Bed (Sleep Training at 13 Months)

I’ll start with the exciting news: Noah has been sleeping in his own bed and sleeping through most nights for over 2 weeks now.  We have our bed back to ourselves, aren’t constantly woken up by a wiggly worm, we all (including that little worm) sleep much better, and Tony and I are proud of ourselves for making this all happen with a lot less drama, sleep deprivation, and fighting than expected. Here’s the full story. 

Plaumenmus

I just have to share another oh so simple late summer/early fall recipe with you. Just like last year, our neighbors had extra plums and we weren’t going to say no when they offered us to come over and grab some. Tony came back home not only with a bucket full of plums but also a few nice looking zucchini and some zucchini-chocolate bread. Yum! We’d been munching away on the plums for a few days, but some of them were starting to get soft and attracting fruit flies so it was time for me to do something about it. 

It's Fall in my Kitchen

Football season is here, pumpkin spice lattes are back, and it’s dark when I wake up in the morning. That can only mean one thing: fall is almost here. We've had luck with the weather and it's been nice and warm over the last few weeks, but the air is crisp in the morning, it cools down at night, and the leaves are starting to fall.

 

So while we're enjoying the last days of this summer, soaking up the last sun rays before the rainy season begins, playing at the water park as much as possible, I can’t help but be excited.

I am a Runner

Ten weeks ago, I ran my very first 5K. And I actually did pretty well. It’s not that I have never been an active person – I love hiking and walking, and tried different sports as a teenager. But I never stuck with anything and consequently was never really good at any of it. Including running. Tony and I tried to go running together years ago when we were both still in college. Years later, I remember how I felt: always a step behind, not being able to focus on my own pace, rhythm, and breathing, distracted by Tony’s pace. I couldn’t relax and that made running just impossible. So I never really gave it another serious try. I just accepted the fact that I wasn’t the running kind.