Ice Age

It's freezing over here!!!

Our Carolina girl isn't used to this kind of temperature. Obviously.

Not only Lia is frowning at 0 ° Celsius (32 °F!!!) and these VERY dark and wintery days (and resigns by falling asleep).

Today I asked my mom when the sun will come out again, and she answered: 'in March.' Oh well. I actually wanted a weather forecast for the next days, not months! But luckily we have some good company and lots of coffee and milk foam to warm our hearts...

It's hard to move in these coats... Let's get rid of them!

British Tari is much more experienced in bad weather and shows Lia how to take that nasty thing off. You grab and pull and throw yourself forward. 'Tata!' Or is it 'kaka!'?

Baby Bundle

And a year ago, Peanut spent most of her time like this:

Has it really been a year?

One, two, three ... me!

Three more pictures of our shoot with Brandy that we would like to share.

Birthday Overview

What a crazy 1st Birthday!

Lia got her first present on the plane to Germany where ...

... she took a first power beauty nap with Daddy before ...

... admiring her first chocolate cake made by Savta ...

... and being admired while poking out her first candle.

Here is:

ONE proud baby presenting her walking skill and walking toy!

And one very proud mom...

One!

picture by Brandy Cardarelli

Delivered

December 6th is St Nicholas Day. In Germany children put their boots outside the front door the evening before, so that Sir Nicholas can leave some nice things in them. A year ago he came to the States and left us a tiny peanut in a giant stocking (shoes don't count over here).

This year the stocking doesn't fit Lia anymore. We tried to put it on her. But she's a really good eater.

Happy Chanukkah!

It's the year 5768 and Lia is celebrating her second Channukah! Chag sameach!

Handfuls

Our daughter definitely leaves lasting impressions. Not only on us, but also in clay! Half a year ago we captured Lia's cute handprints at Handfuls to celebrate her six-month-milestone. Her quick little hands had left handprints everywhere already, so we thought it appropriate to also squeeze them into a piece of clay and perpetuate them by means of a 'special glazing technique'.

Another six months later Lia traces her handprints with her fingers and smiles at that ridiculously tiny fossil print.

Such a big girl!

Stepmaster!

A month and a half of hard physical training have paid off: Lia is walking! We are no longer talking about a certain number of steps. It's all about performance now. Walking from TV to table to mom to highchair to gate, turning a corner, diagonally crossing the living room, and walking in a circle. It's such an adorable show-off! And her new tricks are almost performed free-handed. With her lucky socks in one hand, Lia can go to great lengths. She has every reason to proudly lift that cute chin!

Here's a video of our little walker and her lucky socks.

Reindeer Peanuts?

It's hard to escape the spirit of Christmas. Everywhere you look, there are tacky ornaments, brightly lit trees, tiny elves, and giant reindeers. A peanut with reindeer antlers would fit perfectly into that colorful scenery. But of course our babies decided otherwise.

Thinking about it, peanuts don't really come with antlers, do they?

Big Bird

Lia's first Thanksgiving was a huge success! An all American girl deserves an all American Thanksgiving dinner, including two big turkeys, a ton of mashed potatoes, countless pumpkin pies, very sweet sweet potato treats, and a BIG bag of zwieback. Everything was provided by Brandy and her American family, plus her very Italian husband and four of his funny Italian friends. Saying that we had fun is a big understatement. When we left, Thiemo had purple lips from all the Italian wine he was drinking with Fabio. I think that says it all.

A year ago, Thiemo and I were sitting all alone at our IKEA table with a giant store-bought, precooked, and exceptionally dry turkey as our centerpiece. My belly was so big back then that I could hardly reach my plate, but that was probably just an excuse. It was a very sad attempt of trying to become more American. This year, however, we did a great job of blending into the American (/Italian) mainstream. Thanks to our perfect host!

Brandy and the oven roasted turkey

Peanut, Nirit, Brandy, Peanut, and Victoria (Brandy's sister)

Fabio, Peanut, Peanut, and Thiemo,

gathered around the fried turkey in the backyard

As Lia and Lorenzo would never eat a farm animal, they refused to sit at the dinner table with the rest of us. Instead, they sat under it, feading each other and choking on some really good zwieback. Gobble.



Some cranberry sauce might have helped to gulp that thing. Cough. Maybe next year.

Impeccable Table Manners

As you can see there are no elbows on the table.

Watch Lia present the proper dining etiquette for eating zucchini.

Stomach bug

A stomach bug got the better of us. But that nasty old bugger won't live here for long...

More hair, more teeth, more laughter

Here we are, laughing away on Natascha's couch in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Lia was invited by Yolanda, whom she has known ever since the two them were a bun in the oven. Basically they have been friends their whole life and longer. It was so cute to see the old pals share a walking aid. It's easy to picture the two of them at the ripe old age of eighty sharing a cane.

And while Yolanda was taking a nap, Lia managed to steer the untamed, four-wheeled, singing plastic lion single-handedly (quite literally speaking):
walking aid (video)

Stevie

That lucky b... guy! Stevie was cuddled and dragged around all day! And he was called names! Nothing nasty, just very cute baby versions of 'Stevie' (see and listen to video!). But I got lucky too! I was called 'Mama' today (and I think she even meant me 5% of the time). She used to say 'mamamamamam' before, but never the two-syllable magic word. Today was quite a day. Lia walked nine steps (twice!which surely account for 18 steps) before falling on her butt, learned to place her wooden stacking rings back onto their pole in a fascinating chaotic order, and fed Stevie the bottle. I think it's official now: we have a peanut toddler.

And here is a video of Lia squishing up Steve.

Kick it like Daddy

Even though our educational efforts seem futile at some moments (especially when a 'nein!' is answered with no more than a cheeky grin), Lia is picking up so many new things that we can barely keep up with her. Sometimes she will 'watch and learn' as we teach her new things, as for example how to give her teddy bear Steve a kiss on the nose. It's sooo cute to see her kiss and cuddle Stevie, although I get really jealous when that furry thing gets more of Lia's sweet lovin' than I do. And there is so much more, like Lia's first imitation of an animal, which is the sound of an angry swan. I'm not kidding! One of her animal books features a swan, and Lia can perfectly do that angry 'chchch' that swans do when you get too close. And much to Daddy's delight: Lia can kick the ball like a professional soccer player! Did she learn it when watching that world cup DVD on our computer? Or when Thiemo demonstrated his latest soccer tricks in the living room? Any which way, here is the educational result, of which we are so proud! A video of our athletic daughter:

girl soccer rocks!

The peanuts have a message in drum language to convey:

Little Lorenzo turned 1 today!

Happy first birthday, sweet little peanut!

I will never forget that first time I met you in the bread aisle, the cutest crumb of all! Love, Lia

Watch Lorenzo and Lia at wild play (video)

One of Brandy's crazy ideas! M&Ms with a love message. Meant for the peanuts and eaten by... guess whom.

Hey, you! Peek-a-boo!

Lia turned 11 months today. Time just flies, and to see our daughter grow up so fast leaves us amazed and breathless. Everything changes so quickly! Just yesterday she was this sweet swaddled bundle, and today she is 'oooh!-ing' and 'ah'-ing and 'da!'-ing at the world. With tiny and adament strides Lia is nearing her very first birthday, holding our hands and pulling us along. And while throwing ourselves into one adventure after the other, we sometimes also manage to pause for a moment. And then we just hold onto it for a while, and that's when time stands still. Ah!

Hats Off!

On Tuesdays Lorenzo is usually coming over to see his girlfriend. With the weather being nice and chilly, the peanuts like to take a stroll through the neighborhood. There is just nothing better than munching on cheerios and taking one's hat off under red-leafed autumn trees. And who needs a boring stroller when Lorenzo has this very cool, red convertible? Yes, the little gentleman really knows all the tricks and made Lia feel like a litte princess in a carriage (does that make me a horse? 'cause I had to pull that thing.) Accordingly, Lia royally waved to an imaginary crowd and said 'bye-bye' in baby language (with an accurate intonation) every time the carriage stopped, while Lorenzo was patiently waiting for his hot wheels to move again.

Watch the peanuts cruising the block (video)

P.S. Tooth number 6 has been discovered today. A tiny peak has cut through the gums, and it seems like nr. 6 will overtake his next door neighbor nr. 5 in no time. Some teeth are just so competitive.