Newest Members of our Family.

There was a craigslist ad for Flemish giant rabbits this past weekend--a whole litter of them.  There was a mix of male and female, both fawn-colored and white.  So, Walter went to Home Depot and then set about making the Rabbit Hutch To End All Rabbit Hutches (tm).  We're pretty positive that putting 16 2x4s in a 1989 VW Golf and three sheets of plywood on top probably landed him in the Home Depot Security Camera Hall of Fame....

lovely sunset shot of our loaded down car.

And this evening, we brought the rabbits to their new home.  We built it to accommodate their eventual adult size, so it seems a little big right now (but we don't think it will be too big for long!).  Apparently, this breed of rabbit is very cold hardy, so the box is currently sitting on our patio in the backyard while Walter builds a rabbit run (yes, you read that right--a rabbit run).

Meet Siggi (or Sigfried)

We chose names from Wagner's Ring Cycle and Norse mythology in keeping with our pretentious-names-for-our-pets tradition.  :)

The the fawn-colored rabbit is Snorri (or Snorri Sturluson)

We let them run around the dining room on the tile after Lulu went to bed to let them get acquainted with the place.  And no, Dido is NOT Amused.  At.  All.  But Lulu is entranced with the "kokos."  I will try to get some pictures of her with them to post soon!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

When my mother and my aunt were helping my grandmother put her christmas decorations up, they came across a sundry collection of miniature ornaments that my grandmother used to put up on a tiny Christmas tree for us grandchildren to play with. She thought Lulu might enjoy having a tree of her own to decorate this year and sent them to us.

So, I found a miniature tinsel tree that was just Lulu's size this past weekend and  we put it up on Friday (once it was officially past Thanksgiving).

Lulu had a great time putting the ornaments on it and her favorite is the beaded garland you see in the picture above.  She insists on taking it off the tree and wearing it draped around her neck like a tailor wears his measuring tape!

Even Elisabeth got into the christmas spirit.

Our finished product!

And as my grandmother predicted, Lulu has had a LOT of fun playing with her very own Christmas tree!

This morning, I broke out the Christmas-themed temporary tattoos and someone was quite excited to show them off to Mau-Mau and Oma in pictures!

You can sort of see the snowflake underneath her bracelet in this one.
(She's gesturing, "No, Mama--this one!")

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer!

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

For those of you who don't get the title reference:  Brrrrr!

It was 30 degrees this morning before we left the house.

Walter rigged up something to keep the citrus trees warm.
Involving a string of outside patio lights and a thermal plant blanket

Someone wasn't that happy to go to school this morning...

Contemplating the day ahead.

We had a long night--Lulu didn't nap at school at all yesterday and fell asleep in the car on teh way home from teh grocery store (last minute t'giving shopping) around 6pm.  So, we changed her diaper and put her to bed.  She woke up around 1:30am this morning (Walter thinks b/c she was cold) and ended up sleeping with us and then eventually with just Walter.  So, no one is that well-rested today.

All of which is to say that I think this face has more to do with general tiredness than with a dislike of cold weather.  She willingly wore her hat and scarf and jacket today (for a change).  Here's hoping someone decided to take a nice, long nap today!

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

Lulu loves to sing and we have heard this one in regular rotation recently. I finally got it on video for the folks living far away. I'm hoping to get "Backe, Backe Kuchen" on video sometime soon, too. But, until then, here's a little something to tide you over:

Boxcar Lulu

Her daddy came up with the ingenious idea of using empty diaper boxes as race cars several months (and pounds?) ago and Lulu loves it when she sees an empty box.  We have been using amazon.com's mom club to get a discount (and free shipping!) on diapers recently which meant that we had a tower of diaper boxes in the corner of her room for a while.

Every time Lulu noticed them, she would say, "Bow Wow."  We thought it was because there was a picture of her "Bow Wow" that Auntie Lissa and Uncle Tim got her for her birthday on the packaging (part of a special promotion from Pampers).  But once we finally got them all put away yesterday, we realized that what she wanted was another ride around the house with her good friend Bow Wow (aka Purple Puppy).

I'll issue the preemptive disclaimer that her daddy claimed this box was "lower" than the others he's pushed, but I think it also has something to do with the freight IN the box, too!

Grinning for the camera

you can start to see Daddy getting tired here...

...and especially here!

 While we were cleaning up the house in anticipation of the babysitter's arrival, we discovered Lulu entertaining herself by "reading" with Bow Wow.  In her box.

The hat is one we picked up for 1 Euro at the Brussels Jazz Festival with Clara in late May.  The writing on it says something to the effect of "The Band of Milk Fairies" (I think--I notoriously don't speak French).

Funny Faces

I took these two photos of Lulu last week while we were in Denver and decided to play around with them a little...

 

 

Colorful Color(ado)

Our last afternoon in Denver saw us taking a walk along the canal behind Oma and Opa's haus.  The fall colors were beautiful, the weather couldn't be beat, and Lulu burned off a little excess energy before taking a nap and flying home.  There were too many sweet pictures not to share, so I put them together in a slideshow for your enjoyment:

Empathy.

When Lulu and I arrived at Merryhill this morning, her teacher, Miss Miranda, was pretty overwhelmed. State law requires a child to caregiver ratio of 8:1 and she was at her limit (literally). There was a little boy (whose name I don't know) sitting at one of the tables with a bowl of dried banana slices and raisins in front of him who was crying his little heart out as Miranda was dealing with the other six children who demanded her attention. My heart went out to the little guy and because Lulu was in one of her moods where she was clinging to my leg and not wanting to let go, I had to think of a strategy to get out the door.

So, I pointed him out to Lulu and suggested, "Lulu, he's very sad. Why don't we give him a hug to make him feel better?" She was reluctant to do so (I think b/c she didn't want to let me go), she we both went over. I knelt down behind him with Lulu beside me and gave him a hug (full disclosure: Lulu was hugging me more than him). And the little guy instantly stopped sobbing once someone recognized his unhappiness and responded to his need for attention and care. After I rocked back on my heels a bit, I encouraged Lulu to give him another hug and she leaned in for a proper hug of her classmate.

And that's all it took. He was finally content and Lulu allowed me to leave without tears. And knowing that I had helped someone feel better, at least for a little while, warmed my spirit for the rest of the morning. I hope that modeling compassionate behavior, and encouraging Lulu to do the same, will mold a sensitive, empathetic little girl who cares about others' suffering. And I hope that another mother, presented with the same situation, would encourage her child to do the same.

Not that this is even on the horizon...

Compliments of the British newspaper of the Guardian:

only children are happier than those with siblings

Ball Meets Stairs

Lulu had a little fun at Oma and Opa's house with a stray ball and some stairs, compliments of Daddy.

Happy Birthday, Nanny!

Yesterday was Lulu's great-grandmother's 84th 83rd birthday and in honor of the day, I made a cake.  (Okay, not really, I had a full, unopened container and yogurt and needed to do something with it before it expired)

But what better thought to have when you're eating cake than to think of your grandmother, right?

Lulu agreed!

Happy Birthday, Nanny!

Still Life with Walrus

Lulu has been interested in outlining things with her crayons and colored pencils lately.  Earlier this week, we worked on outlining her hand, but I don't think she's quite ready for Thanksgiving-themed hand-art just yet.  This morning I had the idea that perhaps she might enjoy outlining some of her wooden toys with her colored pencils.

The Eskimo family presented the easiest outline and Lulu wanted to play with the baby this morning, so I grabbed them for our drawing experiment.

Lulu decided she wasn't satisfied with just Eskimos and wanted a real challenge, so she brought out the walrus and polar bear, too.  But the "kokos" stayed in their hutch for another day.

And here's our final product--although I have to issue the disclaimer that I did most of the outlining, but with Lulu's assistance (insistence?).

Krabbelgruppe

Lulu and I went to her first Krabbelgruppe at the Turnverein this morning.  They adjusted the schedule and made it later in the morning on Saturdays, so we headed over after breakfast this morning.  There were four little kids there (including Lulu) and their accompanying parent.  We sang some songs and played a few games but I must confess it was a little more structured than I was expecting.

We'll be gone next weekend, but we'll be back after that and I'll be interested to see if it gets a little looser as time goes on.  If nothing else, I figure it's a great place to network with other parents who are interested in helping their kids learn German, and I re-connected with a friend, Myko, from my evening German class and her daughter, Joanna (Johanna?), who's only a few months older than Lulu.  And Lulu clearly enjoyed herself!

Christmas

One of the lingering things from giving birth is the failure of my memory, so while I realize that this is early, please forgive me--if I don't mention it now, I will forget about it until it's too late!  

I have spent some time recently updating Lulu's wish list at Amazon.com and deleting things that she's outgrown.  So, if you're trying to come up with gift ideas or wondering what she might like, perusing the wish list should give you a good idea (hopefully!).  There's also a link to it on the lefthand side of the blog at the very top of the page (under the "Wondering what to get Lulu" heading).

They are spending quite a bit of time at Merryhill working on shapes and colors and talking about other cultures, so toys and books that work on those skills would be nice re-enforcements to what she's learning at school.  And anything that makes noise would be loved (by Lulu at least!) as well.  If it's a toy whose noise is designed to be musical, all the better because she loves singing songs, too (hence the CDs on the wishlist).


Oh, and for those of you with a working knowledge of German, here's the link to the German Amazon wishlist (separate from the English site, unfortunately).