"Can we go back to Germy Mommy?"

"Well not for a while baby, and actually the country is called Germany."

Danny still asks after his favorite cousins Jannis and Jonna. Their names are pronounced like "Yannis and Yonna" (rhymes with Mona).

Next time we go, little Ben will be able to take part in all the adventures! Sounds Spaß to me! -Monica

And so it begins...

Eating us out of house and home that is. Welcome to the world of solid food Benjamin! ;-)

I guess you could say that's true...

We just had a great weekend, taking a trip to NY to celebrate our cousin Briana's Bat Mitzah on Long Island. It was great fun and I loved witnessing the beauty of this Jewish right of passage that is not that familiar to me.

In addition to the Bat Mitzvah we spent two days in Manhattan with a dear friend of ours who has a 17 month old. Gerri's husband was out of town so although we missed seeing him, we had a fantastic (albeit tiring) time with the 3 little ones. The hit of the weekend was probably our trip to the NY Aquarium on Coney Island. Danny was mezmerized by the shark sand loved the sea lion show. The best part was that kids 2 and under got in free, so even though he's been practicing saying he's "3" his birthday is not until Friday so we were hoping he wouldn't bring his age up at the ticket counter. (He didn't and no one questioned his age anyway.)

One of the funniest things that happened on our trip though might gross you all out but I'll share anyway. We stopped at a very empty Den*ny's restaurant on the way home and I guess the many hours of traveling caught up with Danny. Before our food arrived, he started coughing and before we knew it, he was--um--sick all over.

Fortunately we had our suitcase of extra clothes and in short order had him cleaned up. He told us he felt better even though he'd never mentioned he wasn't feeling well. So we proceeded with our dinner. On the way out I took him back to the bathroom where I'd changed him earlier and as he began to wash his hands, he looked at me and said "that's mine!"

"Huh?" I said, "what's yours Danny?"

"In the sink, that's mine from my tummy when I got sick".

Sure enough, in the drain where I'd rinsed off his shirt was a miniscule piece of something of his. (And I might add I had cleaned it out earlier.)

We recleaned the sink and the rest of the trip went fine. I do think that he's taken toddlerhood to a whole new level though. ;-)  Have a wonderful day everybody! -Monica

That's good...

Apparently we praise Benjamin quite liberally for all the wonderful things he does. His smiles, his rolling over (and over and over)--even his fledging attempts to sit up (with a little help but he can sort of do it.)

I know we praise him a lot because whatever we say, Danny says.

And apparently we talk to our five month old a bit like one might talk to a four footed friend. And by this I mean we seem to say "good boy!" an awful lot.

The funniest thing is that Danny, being the clever almost three year old that he is has taken to smiling mischeviously and patting people on the head repeating, "good boy, good boy!"

He does know the difference between boys and girls but no matter -- "good boy!" he smiles.

Our pastor, his grandmothers, our cat, his parents, basically everyone he's come into contact with lately has been treated to a pat and a "good boy."

He even says it to Benjamin, but just this morning when Benji was rolling in a direction Danny did not approve of he yelled "No Benji, no!"

Where in the heck did he learn that one? ;-) -Monica

Benji is 5 months old today!

Can you believe it? We can't. Anyway, this means that it's time for a slide show. The pictures speak for themselves. My goal was to get these up on May 17th and it looks like I made it with a half hour to spare. Better late than never! Have a great evening everyone. -M

P.S.  A sneak peak at our little charmer!

Benjamin's baptism on May 9, 2010 -- a beautiful day for a beautiful boy

A happy 90th birthday it was indeed

One impetus for our trip to Germany in April was because Susanne's paternal grandfather was turning 90. His wife passed away around a year ago, and it's been a time of transition for him. He didn't want a big party but we spent several days visiting--going for walks and enjoying the gorgeous weather, and had a nice dinner in town.

I think that the pictures here will attest to the fact that Opa was delighted to see his us (and in particular, his great-grandsons.) Clearly the feeling was mutual! Happy Birthday Opa!

Still going and going and going...

Wonderful two week trip to Germany - check

Arrive back home as family members fly in for Benjamin's baptism - check

Have a beautiful baptism ceremony on Sunday (host brunch and shuttle family members from hotel to church to house and back again) - check

Get ready for trip to Chicago for work tomorrow -check

Discover that the flight is actually not tomorrow, it is today in about 3 hours - check

Fortunately lovely niece lives in Chicago and they are delighted I can stay the night with them (cuz, I kinda forgot to get a hotel room for tonight since I thought I was flying tomorrow.) - Check

I am known for this kind of thing. - check

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Yes, it's been a VERY BUSY 3 weeks now but now I must stop typing because I have to get on an airplane! Bye! -Monica