Head Injury

Michael was running, tripped, and ran his head into the foot of my bed. I picked him up and there was blood. Not a lot, but enough to freak me out. So my friend helped me get an ambulance, and I went to the hospital. They said it looked like a superficial wound and to keep an eye on him. If he vomits or cries a lot or has a headache or change in behavior to bring him back to check for bleeding in brain. EEK. But so far, he is acting normally. Keep your fingers crossed! Only 40 more hours of monitoring to go!
He has some adhesive strips on his forehead and over that, a Bob the Builder bandaid.
P

What's it like to have the best husband? It's like waking up and seeing sunlight shine through flower petals. Warm and loved. Here's to you, B.

Too much hair

Phuong didn't tell you that Michael had to get his hair cut because he looked like this:

First Haircut!

Michael had his first haircut today at Sergio Bossi:


Dad came too! Thanks to Dad's "straight across the forehead" haircut, it still looks like Michael had a bowl haircut. Thank goodness today was FREE! ;o)

Michael started picking his nose about 4-5 days ago. Today, he stuck his finger too far up his nose and started to wince, but he kept doing it a couple more times to make sure it didn't feel good. Probably didn't help that he probably shoved some banana bits up there as well.

Michael has added "uh-oh" to his vocabulary too!

I think Bors is gonna be upset when he grows up and realizes we didn't keep a blog for him.

Love,
P

Michael has had a semi interesting month. He started talking! Duck came, then next Dad. But he loves Dad. When Brian comes home, as soon as he hears the lock turn, he runs to the door yelling DaDa Daddada REALLY loudly. He's basically screaming it around the house.

Michael helps out around the house A LOT. I would possibly venture even to say more so than Brian! ;o) Examples:

• He spilled some water in our room, went into the kitchen, grabbed a towel off the hanger, came back and cleaned it up.
• He helps load/unload the washer/dryer.
• He brings me shoes left in the foyer to be put away in the closet (this includes Brian's HUGE shoes).
• He helps to push the vacuum.
• When he sees me mopping, he grabs his washcloth and gets on the floor to help.
• When we come home, he knows the stroller needs to be put away. I found out when I turned around one day and saw the stroller coming right at me towards the closet. But since Michael is smaller, I didn't see him so it just looked like a magical moving stroller.

For an instant today, Michael was QUIET. Like so quiet you gotta go look and make sure he's still alive. So I went to find him and discovered him at the window in our living room watching the rain. He saw the drops falling onto the puddles in our balcony and spent 5-10 minutes just watching. He went from window to window just staring. And when I tried to bend down to look with him, he just pushed me away because he wanted to watch for himself.

THAT was worth a picture, but by the time I grabbed my camera/new lens it was over.

Love,
P

Brian is in the Kitchen

I was at Starbucks about a week ago getting a giant american-sized cup of coffee. I placed my order, and they asked for my name, so I said Brian. And the girl behind the counter, about 20, says, "Where's Brian? Brian is in the kitchen." I gave her a quizzical look so she explained to me that in the English textbooks the French use, when they learn about rooms of the house, Brian is in the kitchen.

I thought that was pretty funny. When I learned German, Elke was drinking erdbeerboule, Jens was playing chess and other assorted, oddly-named Germans were doing their daily activities. So I guess I have a weird English name that French people find amusing.

So I went to work the Monday after and was recounting this story to Augustin, the dude who works in my office. I told him the background of the story and then said how the girl asked me, "Where's Brian?" And without missing a beat, he replies "Brian is in the kitchen!"

Then I was down in Grenoble today for a meeting. During lunch, one of the French guys, about 35, was telling me how had expected me to be French because my name is Besancon (a very French name and name of a city)but was surprised to find out I was american. I said, well my name's Brian, that should be a clue that I'm not French, I mean, I'm in the kitchen. And he shoots back immediately, "and sometimes you open the windows."

Apparently I walk around the house doing normal day to day stuff. I wonder what other kind of stuff I do around the house. I know it doesn't have anything to do with being a handyman.

Ice Skating

We woke up early this morning to find Michael had vomited in his crib. Go over to his blog to see what happened throughout the day. At first, we thought it was a one time kind of deal so we went ahead and went ice skating at Hotel De Ville

They have a little section where you can get a seat for the baby and skate around with him in this separate kids section. But that section was set aside for skate school so they weren't offering that until the afternoon. At which point, the wait in line would probably be around 2 hours. Nope, not doing that.

They gave us these little like crampons to put on michael's shoes so he could go on the ice. But they were too large so we gave up! Brian and I took turns holding Michael so we could skate.

I didn't fall down!!! But then again, I didn't venture very far away from the wall very often. I did however do 3 complete loops without holding onto the wall!

Afterwards, we went to the International mass at Notre Dame, which means they read one of the readings in English and then do one set of prayers in English. It was, sadly, a little bit of a let down.

Notre Dame is this great, beautiful, famous church...but because it is so famous, experiencing Mass there is interrupted by tourists circulating along the outer ring, tourists standing in front of you and taking a picture while you are reading one of the readings, etc. So instead of enjoying church, listening to the homily, enjoying the choir sing, you are being constantly distracted. It's great that the church is so celebrated and holds so much interest and people come from all over to see it. But it makes worshipping there a little bit of a different experience than can be expected.

Afterwards, we got a crepe on the way to lunch. Had lunch, Michael got sick, so we then headed straight home.

P

Throw Up

Well, Michael isn't feeling well. We woke up to find that he threw up all in his crib. :o( After I fed him breakfast, he threw up a little bit more. Just a little though...not his whole breakfast and he threw up right after he pushed his finger too far into his mouth.

So we chalked it up to 1)dinner not settleing well and 2) Michael gagging himself.

But then we were at lunch. I gave him a banana and some Gerber stars...then some water. And he threw up. And then he didn't want to eat anything anymore. And he really hasn't wanted to eat anything all day.

I am giving him the French equivalent of Pedialyte and keeping him hydrated. We gave him 3 bites of banana for dinner and that's it. Will start with rice cereal again tomorrow. Calling Dr. Cohen in the afternoon when he gets to work.

So he's not feeling well. Any advice?

Food

For people who LOVE food and cooking:

http://chocolateandzucchini.com/

Happy tasting,
P

A Little Smatch

We found the French equivalent of Kit Kat.

It's called SMATCH.

Sounds a little dirty doesn't it?
P

Babysitting Exchange

Gotta love this babysitting exchange! Michael has played with his friend George for the last 2 afternoons! George is about 20 months old and they get along great. They chase each other around the house, share snacks, and steal toys from one another! Today, George fed Michael some Cheerios!

Well, yesterday, we dropped Michael off with George's parents and they watched the two boys while we went out. Today, we watched the boys while THEY went out! It was great! The boys have fun playing and run themselves ragged/hungry/thirsty. And we each get some free time! Gotta love the co-op.

Gonna do it in January too on the weekends with our British family friends and with George's family too!
WHOOP!
P

So Michael is getting 4 new teeth now. 2 on the top next to his current 4 and 2 on the bottom next to his current 4.

Which means that Michael was cutting his new teeth when we were Ferberizing him to sleep in his crib.

Parents of the Year award goes to....The Besancons!


NOT.

P

Barbarian Night

Michael had spaghetti tonight. Miam miam.

Squatter

Michael squats really well. I think he's going to grow up to be a catcher. Plus, he uses his left hand really well so maybe he'll be left-handed. Do you know how rare a left handed catcher is? They play for years. He'll make millions. Happy New Year. I made it.
Brian!

Nic Wooden Toys

While we were in Germany, Michael LOVED this toy called the "Multi Race" model Medi-S from the toy museum. Click on this link:
http://www.nictoys.com/htm/neu.htm

I am trying to find out how to buy them! We went to a toy store in Germany and they didn't have it. Still googling all over trying to find a retailer...America/Germany/France and I asked for a catalogue via the e-mail.

Just a random thought.
P

Guilt

So we had to get Michael to get used to sleeping in his crib again after sleeping with his parents for like 3 weeks (travelling/etc). It was a nightmare.

He cried for 45 minutes, threw up, then cried for another 10 more minutes. Slept for about 2 hours. Woke up, cried for an hour. And then just little cries here or there for another hour. Slept until 7:00 and then Brian slept with him on the couch until 8:30am.

*sigh*

And today...today is the day that Michael said "Mom" for real. He did it about 10-12 times today and at different points throughout the day. While he was walking towards me. While he was looking at me. While he was hugging me. It was so wonderful to hear his TRUE first word be "Mom."

And then the guilt set in. After such a horrible night, he rewards me with this. And this wonderful moment was so bittersweet.

The only thing that makes me feel better is that he HAS to sleep in his crib. No ifs ands or buts about it. We're just not a huge co-sleeping kind of family. It's just not us.

And tonight? He went down like a champ. Cried for about one minute and then went to sleep. He is such a good boy. We just don't deserve him! Why God gave us such a sweet and wonderful blessing...I'll never know!

Love,
P

Clue...

One clue that you have lived in Paris too long:

I went to the Pottery Barn website today and thought the prices were CHEAP.

For the same price as an entire Pottery barn living room, I could buy ONE couch. And maybe one accent pillow.

P

Nurnberg

If you like Christmas decorations, you HAVE to go to Nuremberg one day! It's like Christmas Handmade Hobby Lobby Mecca! Here I am at just ONE of the stalls of Christmas goods:

We ate EVERY meal (except for breakfast which was free at the hotel) at the Christmas market. Total food consumption for all 3 of us a day at the Christmas market included:

• 15-20 mini bratwursts
• 2-3 hamburgers
• 1 steak burger
• 1 curry wurst
• 2 cups of gluhwein
• LOTS of bread.
• 1 lebkochen (soft doughy gingerbread cookie)

It was the anti-diet HEAVEN. I think the whole month of December was the ANTI-diet.

Friday, December 21st
Arrived and checked into our hotel. Went immediately to the market, stopped at the first wurst-stand and bought a sandwich stuffed with 3 mini bratwursts. Delicious. Shopped a ton at the market and then shopped at the stores around Nurnberg.

Saturday, December 22nd
More shopping and eating. We took Michael to a Toy Museum in the morning! It was amazing! Nuremberg is known for its wooden toys so we checked it out. We skipped most of the museum and ended up on the Kid's activity floor. Michael LOVED it there! He played for an hour easily. He played with all of their wooden puzzles, this cool ramp thing that we tried to find to buy him for Christmas, and with the drawer full of pots and pans. He loves pots and pans and watching me cook. I wonder if we have a chef on our hands! Brian and I at one point pulled out a cool wooden memory game and played that with one another. It was hilarious seeing how much we DIDN'T remember and that just cracked us up to bits as you can imagine our stilly reactions. John would have WHOOOOped us for sure.

Afterwards, we went to a toy store to try to find the wooden toy Michael liked. No luck.

In the afternoon, we wandered up to the Imperial Castle and poked around. Not too impressive I must say compared to Versailles or Neuschwanstein, but we got a family picture for the scrapbook:

Sunday, December 23rd
After a tip from THE MOM, we found the children's double decker old AWESOME carrousel. It was amazing! It had 2 floors and the top and these little look out points. So cute. Upon finding the carrousel, we also found the KINDER christmas market! A market JUST for little kids!!! It was amazing! There were rides, food, and a little toy house FULL of playmobil stuff. It was packed and we couldn't go, but we rode the rides instead! Here's Brian and Michael on the carrousel:

Waiting to get on the Mini ferris wheel! We finished the afternoon there, eating stand food, and the free gingerbread cookies. Michael liked those! Then, we headed to the airport, super early. Super Phuongster style! Before we got on the U, I saw a sign at the bank that read -4 degrees Celsius. No wonder I spent most of the time like this:
Love,

P

P.S. My favorite picture so far of Michael and I!!!!!

Michael looked at me today and said "Mom." I think. Not sure. He did it twice. Said, "Mom" and waited for me to answer. But that's it. I am going to see if he does it again tomorrow at all because it just seems to good to be true.

Today, he climbed in his Dad's lap and said "Da Da". "Da" But not quite sure if that was babbling or not either.

*sigh* One day, he WILL talk!

Love,
P