Eyeglasses

I took Lulu for her 2 month follow-up appointment at the optometrist's earlier this week.  The good news is that her left eye is better--she has better motor control over her muscles in that eye and her far-sightedness isn't as severe as it once was.

Unfortunately though, her eyes are used to working independently of each other--her left eye is stronger because her right one is patched, but when she isn't wearing her patch, then her right eye takes over again.

So, she needs to wear glasses so that the two eyes learn to work together again.

I wasn't thrilled at that news, mainly at the thought of having to remind her to wear her glasses, finding lost glasses, etc.  Speaking from experience--I started wearing glasses when I was 6 or 7 (young enough that I don't remember anymore).

We went through a number of glasses:



And getting measured for the right fit:





Before finding the right pair:

Why, yes, I can tell you what the markets are doing today....

The winner is purple and has flowers on the side with spring hinges on the sides

Hopefully, they will be ready on Monday before we leave on our trip!

Happy Mother's Day

Disclaimer:  Yes, I am purposefully back-dating this post by two days--yesterday was the beginning of finals week and I had two back-to-back finals to give, so this morning is my first opportunity to catch-up!

Merryhill had their annual Mother's Day Tea on Friday afternoon at 3:30pm.  My (contentious, annoying, upsetting) faculty meeting halfway across town was supposed to end at 3:30, so I dashed to my car as soon as it was over to race over to Merryhill for some fun time with Lulu.

They had two rooms set up--one with make-up,nail polish, combs, brushes, clippies, and mirrors.  And the other had tea, juice, and cookies to share.

As soon as we walked in, Lulu made a beeline for the eyeshadow.  And she soon figured out that if she sprayed it with the water bottles (I don't know why they were there--perhaps for the hair?), that she could turn the eye shadow into something more akin to Indian War Paint.

I'm telling you--it was like Last of the Mohicans in there!

Apologies for the fuzziness--was taken with my iPhone b/c it's all I had with me!

"Spieglein, Spieglein an der Wand, Wer ist die Schönste im ganzen Land?"

"Meine Prinzessin, Ihr seid die Schönste im Land."

Then, on the actual day of Mother's Day, this past Sunday we had mother-daughter pedicures before doing a bit of light shopping at REI and enjoying some coffee and cake at Starbucks....

Didn't she do a good job?  I cleaned up the part *around* my toenails,
but she did a pretty good job with her coverage!

She wanted red AND pink--one on each foot.

Love you, sweetie!!

Cat in the Hat in the Oven.

Tonight, Lulu and I read "The Cat in the Hat" before bedtime.  She was quite taken with the level of displeasure expressed against the Cat in the Hat in the story--both by the fish and eventually the little boy. After I had finished reading the book to her, she got up off my lap and stood up and told me that she wouldn't like it if someone threw all her things around.  I asked her how she'd feel and she said, "Mad!"

Then, she proceeded to tell me about all the things she would do to punish the Cat in the Hat for messing with her things which included (but is not limited to):  kicking him, throwing him over the gate, cutting him (in the stomach, I presume?), covering him with dough and cheese and baking in the oven like a pizza.

Yeah.

No idea if he's also getting eaten or just baked though.

Fun with German

So, I sent an email last week to the director of a children's cooking course in Nürnberg, to inquire about enrolling Lulu in some cooking classes while we are there this summer:

Sehr geehrte Frau Jablonka,Meine Tochter und ich werden vom 23. Mai bis 8. Juni in Nürnberg sein. Ich habe über Ihre Kochkurse für Kinder online gelesen und würde gern meine Tochter einschreiben, während wir dort sind. Ich bin ein begeisterter Hobbykoch und unterstütze die Idee, dass die Kinder in der Küche mitmachen sollen. Meine Tochter ist in einem deutschsprachigen Haushalt aufgewachsen und spricht relativ fließend Deutsch. Wir hoffen, dass die Kommunikation mit anderen Kindern ihres Alters wird dazu beitragen, ihre Deutschkenntnisse zu erweitern. Deshalb glaube ich, dass die Kochkurse, die Sie anbieten, sowohl ihren Interessen anpassen, als auch zeigen würden, dass Deutsch eine Spache ist, die nicht nur zu Hause von Mama und Papa benutzt wird. Wenn nötig, bin ich dazu bereit, dem Kochkurs beizuwohnen und jede Unterstützung anbieten, die erforderlich sein könnte. Meine Tochter wird im August vier Jahre alt sein und geht zur Zeit in eine Kindergruppe. Sie ist also an eine Zusammenarbeit mit anderen Kindern ihres Alters gewohnt und kann den Anweisungen des Lehrers folgen.Könnten Sie uns einen Kochkurs für unseren Zeitraum vorschlagen (vom 23. Mai bis 8. Juni)? Vielen Dank für Ihr Verständnis. Mit freundlichen Grüßen, Katherine Schwarm   

And this is what I received in response today:

Guten Abend Frau Schwarm, vielen Dank für Ihr Interesse. Momentan planen wir die neuen Kochkurse, die ab Mitte Mai bis Mitte Juni stattfinden sollen. Sobald die Termine feststehen sende ich Ihnen den neuen Newsletter mit den aktuellen Kochkursen. Schöne Grüße Agnes Jablonka   

I understood the gist of it, but to double-check everything, I ran it through google translator and got tickled by the translation offered:

Good evening ladies' man,Thank you for your interest. Currently we are planning the new cooking classes, which will take place from mid-May to mid June. As soon as the dates I send you the newsletter with the latest new cooking classes. Greetings!Agnes Jablonka 

Who knew I was married to a ladies' man??

But, on the plus side, I'm hopeful that I can get Lulu regularly interacting with children her own age in German later this month.  :)

Gondola!

This past weekend, we also set up Lulu's gondola.

Yeah.  I think she might be the *only* kid in the U.S. with her own gondola.  No joke.

We bought it for her two years ago at a toy store in Basel because we couldn't resist it.  Gropius figured out a way to set it up this past Sunday in the backyard and he and Lulu enjoyed carrying the family (named from her new favorite German cartoon, "Lauras Stern" on YouTube) back and forth across the shark-infested waters of the backyard.

snacking on tortilla chips and apple juice

Mama and Tommy were okay, but Laura and Dada
have been eaten by sharks at this point!

 I even shot a quick video to show all the folks out of town what a fun trip a gondola ride is:



 While we were sitting on the patio, Lulu disappeared into the house for a second and then came back out in her gondola-gear:  scarf and hat.  Seriously stinking adorable!

so proud of herself!