Tell me, what does German food taste like???

These blog updates are terribly out of order, but you get the jist....

Since arriving in Germany, I’ve had four meals.  First was Taco Bell, then Subway, then an Ikea hotdog (that doesn’t count. If anything, it’s Swedish) and empanadas from “Ramon’s.”  I still have yet to eat a single German meal.  Unless you count the Johnsonville bratwursts my dear friends Shannon and Jeff fed us while we were in DC. 

Here are some pictures of the girls.  They are happy (as am I) to be with Daddy, but Lorelai won’t stop talking about going back to North Carolina to see her friends.

It is WAY cute to watch her talk to little German kids.  She’ll say “hi,” then “are you from a different country?”  When they don’t respond to her, she tries the little German she knows.  “Tschüs, auf wiedersehen, danke, guten morgen” (that is bye, see you later, thank you and good morning, respectively).  But kids don’t care.  Running and laughing require no words.

Emerson is blissfully unaware.  She is speaking a great deal, but pretty sure she has no idea there are different languages.

Speaking of Emerson, she turned two yesterday!  I can hardly believe it.  The “drive-by” delivery we had with her seems not so distant.  I know, that is cliché, but it’s how it feels.  She is growing up so fast.  She is Little Miss Independent.  Doesn’t want to be carried; wants to walk everywhere – even up flights and flights of stairs.  She has been eating independently for a long time now, and does a pretty great job of sitting in a big-girl chair rather than a high chair, here recently.  She typically speaks in complete sentences, which really blows my mind.  I’m pretty sure Lorelai was doing the same thing at this age, but Lorelai was also a foot taller and looked like she should be speaking like that.  Emerson is still so tiny (even though she is in the 90^th percentile for her age in height) to me, so her communication skills continue to amaze me.  She is counting to 13, sings her ABCs, as well as a myriad of other songs.  I often call her and Lorelai, Pete and Repeat, for obvious reasons.

She uses her manners often and at the right times.  Please, thank you, you’re welcome and excuse me are music to my ears.  Now, we will work on mastering “yes, sir and no, ma’am” like her sister.

If I would just let the poor girl potty train, she’d be over the moon excited!  She asks to go potty every day, but I didn’t want to be in the throes of potty training during an international flight, so I decided we’d try in Germany instead.  Note to self; get potty seat. German toilets can hold an entire two-year-old.

She is so caring, too.  A little German boy was playing on the floor in Ikea the other day, but she must have thought he fell.  She went over, put her tiny little hand on his shoulder (he was probably 6 or 7) and said “are you okay, little baby?” She patted his head nicely and said, “okay, I be right back. I get your mommy.”  It was so precious.  I’m not sure if he or his mother spoke English, but they both smiled lovingly at her as she “ran” away.

Speaking of running - she runs with her right arm tucked in to her side and her left arm swinging back and forth, as if to gain momentum.  She likes to spin “like a princess” and dance like her sister.  She loves to cuddle with you, sleep with a “blank-a-let” and when you sing to her, she likes you to be her personal DJ.  If you start singing a song, she’ll stop you a few words in and say “no, no, no, no….sing another song.” So you start another one and the cycle continues…

We love her so much and can often be found just staring at her, soaking in her adorableness.   With these two girls, we are so blessed beyond measure!