Cucumber Trick

Friday evening, I wanted to bake a cake and prepare a nice dinner because our friend Mong-Han from Taiwan arrived for a visit. But alas, I had such a crotchety child this day... So it seemed that this task would be impossible to accomplish!
Then I remembered what Maria, a friend of mine, had told me the day before, and indeed, her advice did the trick!
So I sat Anna in her chair and gave her a big piece of cucumber!


What a happy child Anna all the sudden became! With great enthusiasm she started to bite onto the vegetable, and could not get enough of nibbling, noshing and smacking the cucumber.


And me, I finally could finish the cake and prepare our dinner! Thanks to Maria!

Grandpa's Visit

Anna's grandpa stayed with us last week. It was a combination of avoiding boredom and solitude at home (because grandma was gone for a two-weeks travel to Mongolia) and the wish of seeing Anna again that made him drive up north for 8 hours to Potsdam.
We not only enjoyed his company very much but also profited from his stay tremendously. Firstly, he was a perfect Anna-holder, Anna-carrier and Anna-entertainer! Secondly, we could use his car for "large-scale" shopping (because we do not yet own one here). And thirdly, he is a real handyman! He installed additional boards in the kitchen, mounted 18 handholds on our wardrobes (yeah! no more opening of the wardrobe doors using my toes or fingernails!) and affixed a safety guard door on our stairs.


In between all the handicraft work and the shopping, we also visited a few nice places in town, like the Russian Colony Alexandrowka.


Or the Restaurant Meierei in the Neuer Garten where Anna had an interesting encounter with a nosy duck:


And we took grandpa on a mountain bike tour in the wild forests around Potsdam.


And because grandpa knows so many quaint and puzzling tricks and can make really funny noises, Anna adores him sure enough!

Baby Swimming

On Tuesdays, Anna goes swimming with her dad - that's their special daddy-daughter-day!


In a group of eight babies, seven mothers and Kamil (being the only father brings a lot of admiration from the other mothers for Kamil - and a lot of envy for me), they enjoy the water, dive together and exercise Anna's little muscles under the close watch of our really friendly swim trainer.



Anna not only likes swimming in the pool, but is also happy in the Havel river! Our girl is a fish!

Sitting Mouse

Anna has learned to sit!


This has two fabulous consequences for us!
First, she now can join the family table. Thanks to the generous gift of her uncle Georg and his family, she now enjoys sitting in her TrippTrapp chair. It really feels like family now with her at our table!


And second, we can put her in a children back carrier! (Actually, as soon as we saw Anna was sitting, we rushed to the next outdoor store and bought the carrier - in two weeks time, we plan a short vacation in the Harz mountains, so it would be wonderful if Anna would enjoy some small hikes in this carrier!)

Playfellows

Anna and her playmates Darius (middle) and Willi (left)!


Although Anna is the youngest of these babies, she is the most vivid by far...
Playing with water is great fun in these summer days:

Pitsch, Patsch!

Ouch!

Our little baby is starting to crawl! Well, at the moment it's more a wriggling than a real crawling, but Anna is now very satisfied to reach all her toys (and also everything which is not her toy but happen to sit on the floor...) But higher mobility pays its price!


She has grazed her left knee - ouch! - crawling ferociously after ...


...my laptop! To speak with my parents via Skype now means crawling with Anna together across our living room and trying desperately to keep my macbook out of the reach of this speedy baby meanwhile still focusing the camera onto her!

Hurray!!! My iBaby!!!