Pipi and Pallo

Fräulein isn't much of a speaker. Around the time of Christmas, she was saying a handful of words, like mum, dad, meow (what cat says), yes, no and give (well, the Finnish versions of those).

But since Christmas, there has been hardly any new words. And as Fräulein is now spending time with her German Tagesmutter, I thought it would slow down her starting to speak even more.

But I was proven wrong! During the last week, there has been several new words!

First it was just woof-woof (what dog says), and as she is making other animal sounds as well (not really words, but like the sound of a bear), I didn't pay much attention.

But then she showed a picture in a magazine and said "lady". Yesterday, she had bruised her arm and knee and said "sore" (children call it pipi in Finnish). Several times. I guess there is some fun in spotting bruises from your body... And this morning, loud and clear "ball" (pallo), pointing at a balloon!

Not a sore nose, but this is what happens when she gets hold of a Bepanthen tube... 

I'm so excited! It sounds so funny when she is saying all these things! And I can't wait for her to start really talking - it will be so nice to hear what goes on in that little mind of hers!

*****
Fräuleinin sanavarasto ei ole vielä kovin laaja. Joulusta asti hän on osannut sanoa äiti, isi, juu, ei, mau  ja anna. Mutta viimeaikoina uusia sanoja ei ole tullut lisää. 
Nyt kun Fräulein viettää aikaansa saksankielisen Tagesmutterin kanssa, ajattelin, että puheen tulo on toistaiseksi jäissä. Mutta nyt viimeisen viikon aikana onkin tullut monta uutta sanaa: hauhau, täti, pipi ja tänä aamuna vielä pallo!
Tosi hauskaa! 

Lovely Long Weekend

Yesterday was bank holiday here in Germany. For the whole weekend, the weather was as nice as it could possibly be - sunny and +25°C. (A couple of days earlier, it was about +32, which was way too hot for any activities.)

Even though we stayed at the walking distance from our home, it felt that we had a small holiday.

On Sunday, there was the Nerobergfest. It is a family event on, you guessed it!, Neroberg.

There are several activities for children, like a bouncy castle, sledding hill, ball shooting and puppet shows.

Fräulein was still a bit small for this event, but she enjoyed the atmosphere and the amount of children running around.

Yesterday, we spent the afternoon at the Nerotal park. Usually, there is one or two other kids at the playground, but now it was quite crowded there.

But there is always room for one little girl!

*****
Täällä Saksassa nautittiin kolmipäiväisestä viikonlopusta, sillä eilinen oli täällä vapaapäivä (kätevää kun Helluntaita juhlitaan sunnuntain sijaan maanantaina!). 
Saimme nautiskella kauniista kesäkelistä sunnuntaina Nerobergfestissä ja eilen ihan vaan ulkolkoilemalla lähipuistossa.

Liebster Blog

Wow, I have received my very first blogging award! Thank you Wiffy from Nine and ninety nine!

Here are the rules for accepting this award:
1. Choose five up-and-coming blogs (with fewer than 200 followers) to award the Liebster to.
2. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
3. Post the award on your blog. List the bloggers you are giving the award to with links to their sites. Leave comments on their blogs so they know about the award.

To choose five blogs with less than 200 followers was a bit tricky, as I guess some (if not all) of my chosen blogs may actually have more followers than is shown by Google's Friend Connect. And most of these blogs have probably received this nomination already, but I wouldn't mind receiving this twice myself, so here we go...

My nominations go to:

Letters from Frau Dietz

somewhere between facebook and flickr sits fiona

Many Coloured Days

Citykids in Action

An American in Wiesbaden

*****

Olen saanut ensimmäisen bloggaustunnustukseni! 

Yllä lista blogeista, joille jaoin tämän eteenpäin.

Feeling Loose

What is it about this spring / early summer that makes me want to do other things than sit by my Mac and write the blog? Go figure...

Actually, in quite many blogs which I follow, there has been some more or less intended breaks and many bloggers are apologizing for neglecting their readers. And now it is my turn.

I do have millions of ideas for blog posts. I have thought that I should get a dictaphone and a secretary so that all those ideas could be published here. But with my Hausfrau's income, I guess I must just apologize for blogging so infrequently.

I told you earlier about the funny feeling of being home alone, while Fräulein was with her Tagesmutter. Today I spent the morning in the city by doing some shopping and running errands. I finally posted the gift I had bought ages ago, bought Fräulein a pair of shoes and enjoyed a peaceful moment with a cup of coffee.

Trying on her first pair of Crocs (am I allowed to call them shoes?)
No matter how hideous, they are perfect for playground!

It feels so strange to go out all on my own! For 19 months, I have been pushing a buggy. That loose feeling when your hands are free! Although the downside is that you have to carry everything by yourself...

During all those 19 months, I haven't really been able enjoy shopping as I have always worried about when Fräulein is going to get upset and we must head home. I must plan the visits to the city so that the most important things are done first. Luckily, the city visits are a bit easier nowadays, as Fräulein can be quite easily bribed with a pretzel - and those are sold in every corner here!

But today there was no stress. I could just pop into any store if I felt like it. And I didn't need to find an elevator to get into the other floors!

And in the meantime, Fräulein spent the whole morning in garden playing with the other kids and enjoying the sunny summer day. Lucky us! :)

*****
Kummallista kyllä, jostain syystä näin kesäkeleillä ei tee mieli istua tietokoneen ääressä blogia kirjoittamassa... Pyydän siis anteeksi, että täällä on ollut niin hiljaista! Ehkä jonain päivänä minulla on varaa sanelukoneeseen ja sihteeriin... ;)
Fräulein oli taas tänään Tagesmutterilla ja käytin aamupäivän kaupungilla kiertelyyn. Ihan kumma tunne kun ei tarvitse työntää rattaita ja kaupoissa pääsee helposti toisiin kerroksiin. Eikä tarvitse stressata, missä vaiheessa tytöltä menee hermot.
Ja minun nauttiessani tästä shoppailuvapaudesta, Fräulein nautti aurinkoisesta kesäpäivästä leikkimällä päivähoitokaverien kanssa puutarhassa. Täydellistä! :)

Toothmeat

First two teeth about one year ago

It is teething time again.

It was a bit over one year ago, when Fräulein got her first two teeth. The first eight surfaced quite easily. She didn't seem be bothered about them during day time, but she was awake whining for one to two hours in the early hours during one night for each tooth.

But when it was time for the first molars, the problems started. As one molar tooth is like four smaller ones, she was awake for four nights for each tooth.

In the beginning of December, a couple of friends were visiting us. One of them has had her first child while living in Switzerland, so she was able to share a tip, which I have been very grateful of!

In the pharmacies, they sell some anesthetic gel especially for teething pain!

If you are from central Europe or UK, you probably think "yeah, so what's new?". But this is something you cannot find in Finland!

For about 4 euros, you can buy such a great relief! You just apply a small amount to the baby's gums. With Fräulein, I only do this before her bedtime. And I have later noticed that they sell this gel also in our local grocery store, Rewe!

After Fräulein's four molars, there was four month break in teething. During the last couple of week, she has had her first two eyeteeth. So, two more eyeteeth and four molars left from this baby teething period!

But what was the subject of this post about?

Well, one of my favorite German words is Zahnfleisch, which means gums, but is literally 'toothmeat'.

This just makes me giggle...

*****
Fräuleinille on taas tulossa uusia hampaita. Reilu vuosi sitten hän sai ensimmäiset etuhampaansa ja jouluun mennessä hampaita oli 12. Nyt muutaman kuukauden tauon jälkeen vuorossa ovat kulmahampaat.


Vaikka hampaiden tulo on ollut suhteellisen kivutonta, etenkin poskihampaat valvottivat tyttöä. Onneksi sain ystävättäreltäni vinkin, että täällä myydään apteekissa puudutusgeeliä, joka on tarkoitettu avuksi juuri hampaiden puhkeamiseen! Itse asiassa geeliä myödään myös tavallisessa ruokakaupassa, hinta n. 4 euroa.


Ja mitä postauksen otsikkoon tulee, yksi saksan kielen lempisanojani on ikeniä tarkoittava Zahnfleisch (kirjaimellisesti "hammasliha").

Home Alone

Finally an update about Fräulein's start in the daycare!

I guess it is a common practice here in Germany, that children start with the daycare veeeryyy sloooowlyyyy.
According to the stories I have heard from Finland, the practice is to go and visit the daycare place once or twice and after that the child is left there possibly for the whole 8 hours.

But not here.

During the first three visits, I was present the whole time and we played there for an hour.

On day 4, I went to the hallway for 20 minutes. Fräulein was first crying a lot, but started to calm down slowly. The Tagesmutter (child minder) told me later, that the crying started again whenever Fräulein spotted my handbag and remembered her mum...

The following three times, we played together for 20-30 minutes and then I went outside for half an hour. What a freedom! I spent the time at the local cafe.

All those times I left Fräulein there crying, but she had always calmed down quite quickly with the help of her pacifier and some cookies. Fräulein uses her pacifier normally only when sleeping, but I think that, in this case, the end justifies the means.

This Monday was the first big day, when I actually drove home! What a funny feeling to be home alone! Fräulein spent two hours at the daycare. After one hour I got an SMS telling me that Fräulein was not crying but playing with the other children.

When I went to pick her up, the Tagesmutter showed me some photos and a short video she had taken of the children playing. It had been better than I could have hoped for!

Is that a smile behind the pacifier?

Today is the second day when Fräulein spends there the 'whole day' (from 9am to 1pm). And I am proud to inform you that I have actually done something useful with this free time that I have! I have seen a dentist (subject for another post) and, ummm..., now I'm writing this...

And I have already made plans for next week: visit the bank, dye my hair, and stop by at the post office to send a baby-gift, which I have had ready for ages...

If the baby girl who will receive this package is reading this (or her mum),
don't be disappointed if it won't look as nice as this,
because I'll need to open the package in order to fit it into an envelope...

*****
Fräuleinin päivähoito on alkanut mukavasti. Hitaan alun jälkeen olemme nyt päässeet rutiiniin kiinni. 
Ja minulla on kovasti suunnitelmia tämän vapaa-ajan täyttämiseksi...

Let It Rain

After several days of bright sunshine, today was totally different.

Rain, rain, rain.

And when I thought it couldn't get any worse, it began to thunder.

So, we spent most of the day inside.

In the afternoon, I thought we could visit a toy store, so that Fräulein could do her daily running around and exploring. Unfortunately, I wasn't the only parent who had thought of that...

But she was able to consume some of her never-ending energy.

And she didn't have to leave the store empty-handed (ball 0.99€, still quite cheaply pleased!).

 *****
Kaunis auringonpaiste vaihtui tänään loputtomaan sateeseen ja välillä ukkostikin. Päivä kului siis pääosin rauhallisesti sisällä.
Iltapäivällä kävimme "ulkoilemassa" lelukaupassa. Fräuleinin kanssa noista reissuista selviää onneksi vielä halvalla (pallo 0,99€)!

The Sunny Celebration Of May 1st

Germans don't really celebrate May 1st like Finns do. I guess the day is here more for (not so civilized) protests, even though I haven't witnessed one. 

But even though we didn't have any 'sima' to drink or donuts to eat, we did some decorating with streamer and balloons.

Thanks to our Finnish visitors, our balcony is now clean. And Fräulein has spent most of the sunny days there. That is where she wants to go as soon as she opens her eyes in the morning and it is really difficult to get her back inside.

We had lunch at Schloss Biebrich (yes, again - it is really becoming a regular place for us).
There are always free seats outside, both in the sun and under the shades.
The food there is tasty. Usually we order their Flammkuchens, but now we enjoyed the asparagus menu.
And there is plenty of place for Fräulein to run and explore while waiting.

The royal wave.

No Finnish flag, but...

Walk in the Schloss park after lunch.

And back on the balcony.

*****

Vappua ei täällä Saksassa vietetä ihan samaan tapaan kuin Suomessa, mutta yritimme päästä tunnelmaan ilmapallojen ja serpentiinin kanssa. 

Söimme aurinkoisen päivän kunniaksi lounasta jälleen Schloss Biebrichissä. 

Ja Fräulein jaksaa keksiä tekemistä Suomi-vieraidemme siivoamalla parvekkeella...