We had a fantastic fun weekend!

On Saturday, we popped over to the 6th arrondissement near Odeon and went boutique shopping! Tres fun! And Tres expensive! Some stores, I felt a bit out of place, but then I didn't buy anything and felt fine about it. We had a great lunch at a cafe called Cafe Six. We had some delicious tomato gratin as an appetizer. Brian had a duck casserole with French fries; I had a steak with vegetables; and Michael had apples/prunes and potatoes with leaks. I think Michael got the short end of the stick! Afterwards, we went home and hung out. I went to Crea, a craft store which was not that great. But I did find a street with cute little home decoration boutiques and some outlets! Woot woot!

Sunday, we started our day by going to church for the first time in like MONTHS. We finally decided just to go to the French Catholic church by our house and attend the mass in French. The English speaking church is too far away and we just need to learn French anyways. The church itself is beautiful and small. Out of all the people who were potty trained at that church, we were easily the youngest by like 30 years. The funny thing about the French, is that many of their holidays are centered around religion...yet many of the younger generation and population are not even practicing any religion.
Afterwards, we checked out a garage sale at Buttes aux cailles and then went to market to pick up some basil. I spent the afternoon cooking Michael's baby food and freezing it and then cooking our dinner of Emeril's Chicken Cacciatore! Mmm!!

I made Michael this dessert for fun, but he wasn't keen on it at all. However, that worked out fine because Brian and I loved it! So hope you like it too. It was pretty easy and is great with ice cream!

Baked Bananas

Ingredients:

1 Banana

1 tspn Maple Syrup

Butter

Cinnamon

Steps:

1. Cut bananas in half lengthwise
2. Place in a baking dish (I used a nonstick one)
3. Sprinkle cinnamon over each banana and drizzle maple syrup over it too.
4. Dot with butter
5. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees fahrenheit for 4-10 minutes.

Is it too early to be serving this to Michael? I have this great book by Annabel Karmel called "The Complete Baby and Toddler Meal Planner" and it was listed under the 6-9 month feeding section so I assumed it was ok! The French introduce butter rather early here and I'm sure the maple syrup has too much sugar for Michael? Any opinions?

Love,
P

Why have we not posted in almost a week? Because Michael is becoming more and more mobile and I can't just let him lay somewhere. He will, within minutes, get into something he's not supposed to in our apartment, AKA Dangerous Baby Land. We are BEHIND in the babyproofing!

So I am spending most of my days making sure Michael does not eat the wires, pull down the fan, or eat the rug in front of the toilet.

P

Why have we not posted in almost a week? Because Michael is becoming more and more mobile and I can't just let him lay somewhere. He will, within minutes, get into something he's not supposed to in our apartment, AKA Dangerous Baby Land. We are BEHIND in the babyproofing!

So I am spending most of my days making sure Michael does not eat the wires, pull down the fan, or eat the rug in front of the toilet.

He started really crawling on Tuesday, although not for a long time! He takes about 2-3 bonafide crawling steps, but then goes back to the army crawl.

Michael's favorite toy is paper and books. Give him a sheet of paper, and he's entertained for quite some time! The other day, I had to dig a piece of paper out of his mouth after he ripped a piece off with his teeth.

About a week ago, I put Michael in his pack and play while I cooked. It was amazing because he played with his toys in there for like 20 minutes. And then, the time he would stay in there decreased exponentially. Now, he'll last 3-4 minutes max before crying uncontrollably. Yesterday, I let him cry for 3-4 minutes while I made my sandwich for lunch (and to start teaching him how to deal with a little frustration) and then felt terrible when I picked him up and noticed his entire face was covered with tears and snot. I had to get a washcloth to clean him up. I won't be doing that again.

Love,
P

A preview of things to come: Michael and I have differing tastes on food.

Michael likes: Frozen green bean puree, apples with prunes, apples with vanilla flavoring.

I think the frozeen green bean puree is disgusting, the apples with prunes revolting, and the apples with vanilla flavoring tastes like cough syrup to me.

On the contrary, his homemade butternut squash and pumpkins are delicious. However, he does not much care for them!

Mchael's still on mushy food, but we are trying to introduce some more lumps, and combination tastes. I am hesitant because he is such a picky eater. I don't think he's gaining weight and has actually shrunk because he's wiggling around so much and not too interested in eating. And his clothes are loose again when last week, I was contemplating going into the next size up!

So I am afraid to try new things with him. But I need to! And he needs to eat! But I don't want to push food on him lest it makes him to hate meal time. *sigh* I guess I have plenty of time when he's a teenager to push food on him.

Someone tell Michael's mom to stop freaking out?
P

Curious about the difference between French Mommies and American Mommies? Click Below:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/portal/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/portal/2007/06/15/nosplit/ftmaman115.xml

You know...everyone thinks living in Paris is oh-so-romantic. But the reality is...living in Paris and VISITING Paris are two entirely different things.

Visiting Paris, you see all the beautiful monuments in the good parts of town (ignoring Sacre Coeur). You usually are without your kids and are enjoying fun-filled days full of sightseeing, delicious French food, and 3 hour late night dinners. Vive le France! C'est MAGNIFIQUE!

However, living in Paris is an entirely different experience. The incessant street noise, dog poop in the street, billions of stairs in the metro with your stroller/child, occasional refusal of service in restaurants BECAUSE you have a child...I could go on and on and on. It is far from thrilling and most definitely far from romantic. Not to mention all the kids who are always sick and touching everything, including your baby. YUCK.

But despite all this and numerous transitional hardships (culturally and emotionally), this is turning out to be an enriching experience, albeit difficult. I just wanted to clear up any misconceived notions that living in Paris is always romantic and always wonderful, because it really is not...ALWAYS. But then there are the moments when I am enjoying a book in the Luxembourg Gardens while Michael rolls on the picnic blanket that I look up at the clear blue sky and think...We are sure lucky to be here, all together, enjoying life.

You know, I think it is more realistic to post once a week. Frankly, we just don't do so many interesting things to warrant multiple posts a week. I hate to disappoint, but life in Paris is just normal, everyday life...except it's in Paris instead of say Austin or Houston. The only thing really different is that I go to the boulangerie EVERYDAY for a baguette and usually a tarte or something delicious for my waistline!

This Sunday, we visitied an antique market that was by our house and looked at all sorts of old junk, I mean antiques. Now, don't get me wrong. I think antiques are neat but I just doesn't really care for antiques because I just doesn't know what is cool or not. It is MY ignorance, nothing else!

HOWEVER...I did find a stand that sold old postcards!!! We purchased 4 old postcards with pictures of Besancon on them. One as old as from 1912. VERY COOL. I am going to frame 1 for Michael's room and save 3 to frame for our house when we get back to the States. Yes, it is 3 years from now, but we'll have more wall space to fill than here and you can't get anything like this back in the States.

B also found a very old postcard that has the edge of the Manufactures des Gobelins AND...OUR BUILDING THAT WE ARE CURRENTLY LIVING IN IS ON THE POSTCARD! Is that not crazy? We recognized it RIGHT away. AWESOME. I only wish there was a date on the postcard so we could know when the picture was taken.

We are coming home in August!!!

Tentative Itinerary:

8/13: Fly into DFW

8/16: Fly into Little Rock

8/19: Fly into DFW

8/21: Drive to Austin

8/24: Drive to Houston

8/31 or 9/1: Fly back to Paris

If you want to get together, send me an e-mail and I will get you booked on the calendar!

Love,

P

One more huge thing. Michael took 2 naps today. Each nap was 1.5 hours EACH. AMAZING.

The boy NEVER sleeps more than 40 minutes at a time. Most naps are only 30 minutes long.

The first nap was great. I got a ton of stuff done, answered e-mails, got ready for the day, put on makeup, and prepped dinner. THe 2nd nap I couldn't take advantage of because I was at French. My nanny got to enjoy that one! She too was surprised.

Love,
P

By Crawling...I don't mean really crawling.

Michael has mastered the body drag with his arms.

And he can propel himself forward using his legs.

He can balance himself on his all fours and rock back and forth but not move forward yet.

And he can move his arms and legs together like he's crawling but then he's not on his all fours, he is on his stomach.

And his left leg definitely does the right movements but he just drags his right leg along with (no surprise there..this kid is most likely going to be left handed).

So he's ALMOST to crawling. Just needs to put it all together. Right now, he can get to practically everything!

If I could wrap a Swiffer cleaning cloth around Michael, my floors would be SPOTLESS. The boy is CRAZY.

Today, he bit my arm and left teeth marks.

He doesn't like to be carried around anymore. Instead, he wants to be held standing or crawling around on his own. It is better on my arms, but now, I follow him around and keep him out of things! We are BEHIND with the baby-proofing so I have to watch Michael a LOT.

Today, Michael discovered echoes. I held him at his bedroom window which faces the courtyard and he yelled and looked surprised and kept yelling/talking and would wait to hear what it would sound like and smile. Like that run on sentence? I do!

Michael can officially climb over my legs to get to a toy/remote control/book.

Michael LOVES to turn the pages in his books by himself. Unfortunately Runaway Bunny should have been a board book because it is a bit of a mess now. I will post pics of it later.

Love,
P

Notice:

Just wanted to let you know that I started a blog just about Michael about a month ago. I only invited the grandparents/great-grandparents to the blog because it is filled with all sorts of mundane everyday information about Michael that probably only the grandparents/great-grandparents would be interested in.

So if you would like access, let me know (via e-mail or comments) and I will invite you to that blog too.

I just didn't want to bother everyone with ANOTHER blog!

P

I forget that the French do not have take-home boxes for food at restaurants.

Today, at lunch, I could not finish my meal. The conversation went something like this in ENGLISH:

B: Could we have a box?
Waiter: A what?
B: A box to take this food home that we did not eat
Waiter: I do not understand what you are asking for.

I love it here!
NOT!

Love,
P

Michael LOVES:

• His parents
• The subway entrance by our house
• The cable box
• The DVD/CD wallets we have on the floor
• Any wires/cables he can find
• Books
• Standing while we hold his hands
• Playing peekaboo in his crib
• Rolling on his changing mat when we are trying to change him.
• Touching EVERYTHING
• The cable remote
• My pink cell phone
• Pigeons

And by LOVES, I mean that he will do one or all of the following:

• Drag his body wildly until he can get to the item (DVD wallets/cable box/wires)
• Shrieks
• Bounces up and down
• Smiles
• Stares intently at said object.

He is a funny, albeit itchy, baby!

Today, Michael had a regular type of day. We visitied an antique market that was by our house and looked at all sorts of old junk, I mean antiques. Now, don't get me wrong. Michael thinks antiques are neat but he just doesn't really care for antiques because he just doesn't know what is cool or not.

HOWEVER...he did find a stand that sold old postcards!!! We purchased 4 old postcards with pictures of Besancon on them. One as old as from 1912. VERY COOL. Mom is going to frame 1 for Michael's room and save 3 to frame for our house when we get back to the States. Yes, it is 3 years from now, but we'll have more wall space to fill than here and you can't get anything like this back in the States.

Dad also found a very old postcard that has the edge of Manufacture des Gobelins AND...OUR BUILDING THAT WE ARE CURRENTLY LIVING IN IS ON THE POSTCARD! Is that not crazy? We recognized it RIGHT away. AWESOME. I only wish there was a date on the postcard so we could know when the picture was taken.

Then, we had lunch at Pizza Caesar with a terrible waitor and now we are watching Roland Garros on the Tele.

I like going to the Cave des Gobelins, which is a shop devoted solely to selling wines. We also have Nicolas and another Cave, but they are much further away. And then the supermarkets. Our French teacher came over, looked skeptically at the wines I had picked at random from Monoprix (Target-lite), and said, "when I was younger I could drink crap wine like that but now my stomach won't let me". Thank you for your insight, kind sir.

So I've gone to the Cave of the Gobelins a couple times now. It's great because it serves the double purpose of getting a good wine, but since I don't know much about wine, I also get to practice speaking and hearing French. I ask for a recommendation or advice and they ask me what I'm eating, if I'm eating tonight, what price range I'd be willing to pay. Yesterday, the guy told me I spoke very good French. I told him not to worry about being nice, I would come back again. But both times, his recommendations have been very good including a nice Chardonnay, a variety I usually don't like. Coupled with the fact that chicken is a poor man's food, I usually don't drink much of it.

Crawling

Michael is not crawling yet but he is close. He can get up on his all fours and then he doesn't know what to do with himself. He rocks back and forth and then either launches his entire body forward, cries out of frustration or lays back down. It is really very amusing. He'll just have to figure this out on his own because I won't do it for him. I think it should not take him too long; there are only a few possibilities that he must try out before he can really crawl.

That is not to say he is immobile. Quite the opposite as he is now moving everywhere and becoming a true terror. He used to roll everywhere, spin by some angle and then roll again to get where he wanted. Then he tried to crawl but he could only move backwards. That lasted about two weeks, and now he is able to drag his body across the floor like a soldier. And he is actually quite efficient at moving himself around. I put him on the floor this morning while Phuong was out buying breakfast, and he crawled to the cable box and manhandled it before I picked him up and put him back at his starting point. Then he repeated the exercise 6 times before I picked him up and held him.


Michael is also terrorizing Phuong and I at the dinner table. He wants to touch, feel and eat everything and there is little stopping him from getting what he wants. We have to move everything into a little island in the rear-center of the table where he cannot find it but he keeps getting longer and it's only a matter of time before he is banging pots all day and breaking everything we own.


I don't know where Michael got that ridiculous hairline of his, but judging from both of his grandfathers, he probably won't have to worry too much about how to cut it.

I want to blog about one my first French moments that happened before we even moved out of our 1st hotel room.

I went in search of Le Temple du Scrap, the scrapbook store in Paris. I ventured forth and was met with the strongest winds I have ever walked in. At certain points, I actually could not walk because I had to brace myself and the stroller against the wind. I have never walked through anything like that before. The next day, I hear on the news that a fierce winter storm had ripped through Europe and Paris was met with high velocity winds. OH yeah? Makes sense THE DAY AFTER. Should have watched the weather that day!

But I digress.

When I get to Le Temple du Scrap, I am elated to find out that 1.) I actually made it there by myself and 2.) it exists. So I get to the handle on the door and I pull and I pull and it just won't budge. So I check out the store hours and I notice that it is closed for lunch. But it's not lunch time so it should not be closed. So I look inside and I see people wandering around in there! So it MUST be open. So I try the handle again and it STILL won't budge. I stand there, sad and dejected. Lustily watching the people inside.

And a little African boy wanders by, sees my plight and stops. As I walk away, he gestures to me to follow him where he shows me the door to my lovely Le Temple du Scrap and proceeds to PUSH the door open for me. PUSH not PULL.

French lesson for everyone:

Tirez = Pull
Poussez = Push

And I don't want to hear any jokes about the "Far Side's" Midvale School for the Gifted.

P

Today, Michael had a very busy day. We headed over to the 15th arrondisment for lunch with two nice ladies. After an hour and 10 minutes, we finally made it over there. I think it is about 6-10 miles away? Not quite sure. Either way, it seemed so far away.

Then, we hurried home to eat and make it to our play date this afternoon in our area. I am afraid to announce that Michael is a bit of a baby. There is another baby in our play group that is only one day older than Michael, but 6lbs heavier. A miniature rugby player. Today, they were near each other and the Rugby Baby proceeds to be friendly with Michael. Smiling at him and trying to reach him and touch him.

Michael is not too happy about it overall. Last time, Michael cried. This time, he just stared at him and ignored him. Then, Rugby boy took Michael's toy that he was playing with away from him and all Michael did was go on with his business and found another toy. I am not quite sure if this means Michael is getting picked on and just taking it or if he is content avoiding confrontation and going on with his life because there's no point in reveling in something that's not worth worrying about. Or he's just a baby and forgot he had the toy in the first place.

Then, we headed home and Michael had a bit of difficulty with a piece of bread that he chewed off that was a bit too big for him. He's just not used to the texture so he thinks he's choking so we freak out. But then he just smiles at us. He watched mommy have french lesson for about 30 minutes before Dad came home.

This was the busiest day we've had in a long time. We are tired and not going to overbook like that again. My nanny was supposed to watch Michael today so I could go to the 15th by myself (much quicker by metro) and have lunch and some time away. But she is sick.

Love,
P

Sunday, Michael went to WH Smith (English bookstore on Rue de Rivoli) to find a mini French/English dictionary for Dad for Father's day. He really wanted this Good Morning and Good night book from the Sandra Boyton collection but they didn't have it. Michael also likes Oh The Places You'll Go but Dad said it was a bit early for that book. But Mommy likes it A LOT!

Then he went to the Palais Royal metro stop and found a mini festival promoting the Alsace region in France. There were about 30-40 booths giving out free pamphlets. Then, back home for play time and some R&R.

Monday, a whole lotta nothing! Michael bought a baguette, took Mommy out to lunch at the boulangerie, and rolled around the floor.

But TODAY! I saw Michael get on his hands and knees, hold his entire body up off the floor and rocked back and forth!! PROGRESS!! DEVELOPMENTAL PROGRESS!

We had another good French moment the other day. The company who helped us with our move emailed and asked if it would be possible for Gaz de France and EDF to come out and take a look at our gas and electricity meters, respectively. They could only come from noon to 3 or something like that on Tuesday but Phuong had French class at two and didn't want to be bothered so I told them it wouldn't be possible.

Later we get another email asking us to read off the values from the meters, which I did and returned back to them. Then we get a final email saying that it was unfortunate that they couldn't come out that day because the next time they have available is in 6 months. Then we received a letter in the mail asking us to write down our meter readings and send it back to GDF/EDF. Gotta to love the French efficiency.


Today Phuong and I got dressed up and went out to lunch at L'Entracte, a nice little bar up the road near our bakery that has good salad and good basic French food like my favorite Confit de Canard (duck preserved and then cooked in its own bountiful amounts of fat). They do not have Blanquette de Veau but we'll ask them to make it soon. I had a really good andouillette there the other day with a mustard sauce. I usually don't like andouillette and I'm sure I am not alone in the american community since it's some weird kind of intestine sausage. Maybe they made or labeled it wrong and ended up with a good result. They also have Steak Tartare, which I will get soon. It's raw beef that is seasoned with spices and usually has an egg mixed in, then you eat it. Every French restaurant has it so it must be popular enough to stay on the menu which means it's popular enough for me. Maybe I will get it at a really nice restaurant to be sure of the quality.

I already mistakenly had beef kidneys at lunch the other day at work. I thought it was just beef tips in sauce, but it was absolutely not. I did avoid the beef tongue at work, but only because for the display they picked the largest one they could find. It encompasses the entire plate, kind of wrapping around the edge and wasn't very appetizing. The Dutchman who had come on a business trip from England chose it despite my warnings. He seemed very pleased in the end with his decision.


Now we're off to W.H. Smith, the English bookstore on Rue de Rivoli near Concorde metro. It open on Sunday so that's incredible in its own right. I lost my midget French dictionary a couple weeks ago so I need another one and Phuong just likes bookstores.

Today, Baby Michael went all over the Centre commercial (mall) called Italie2. He got a bigger trashcan for our kitchen, diapers, and yogurt at Champion. In fact, he liked the yogurt so much, Brian let him hug it in his stroller. Guess he liked that cold feeling on his belly.

Then, he went to Darty to find out why the samsung tv with integral TNT will not play Grey's Anatomy for Mommy in English. He was really upset when he found out that we can't get it with our cable box, Orange.

Michael played on his mat and in his crib while Mommy talked to Gina on skype and Dad went to get a beer with a friend at the Academy of Beer (yes, it is called that). Afterwards, Michael hung out with dad, dropped off some dry cleaning, got a baguette, and went early to bed.

Only 1 nap today, 2 mini solid meals. What to do with this kid!

Love,
P

Add yogurt to that list. And almost pears now, his favorite food.

So I guess you could say he is on a solid food strike.

And I have no idea how I'm going to discipline him because he's already smarter than me.

Let's just say he has already figured out how to keep his mouth closed when I am nearby (and not necessarily near the bowl/spoon) and open it when I am far enough away.

P