i bet y'all have already heard a helicopter. some of you may have been in the hospital at the time a helicopter lands right outside the window. maybe you have even been out on the road when the red cross chopper took off. but i bet none of you have ever heard the tooth fairy fly around the dragon's cave with her chopper: D-E-A-F-E-N-I-N-G! makde us realize what all we did _NOT_ get from our dragon in all those months, when they used to sleep through every night! well, we're still not (really) complaining, but it was one heck of a night - luckily just one! but in turn, the tooth fairy did at least leave i little something: 2 little teeth, one each in collin's and vicky's mouth! they are still not showing them, but when they chew their brand-spanking-new stainless steel silverware, there is this ding-ding sound... and daddy sighs with relief: i like this noise a thousand times better than the chopper! :) photo of the teeth to follow, just right after i can outsmart them with the camera! *vow*

wow, what a birthday! if the remaining 99 will be like this, the dragon should be all set! :)

so many congratulators, cards, wishes, even the blog had to work overtime: we didnt have this many visitors in a single day for a long time! of course, there was a cake, too, from gramma, they are the best, always!

and the gifts! chairs for eating, snuggly mates from africa, cups for drinking, stainless steel silverware, bibs to mess up, erm decorate, talking toys with music and for bathing... WOW, and three each, mind you! i didnt even think the dragon was in fact that nice over the year! i think daddy was much nicer! but he didnt get anything! :)

and one large but plain envelop ended up taking our breath away: a lovely and completely personalised birthday package from our main sponsor, RECARO Child Safety! a self-made card (WITH 3headed dragon!!), 3 gifts & personalised poem!
THAT we had not expect! but we will return that favor in style, promise! :) meanwhile we yell a huge thanx to frankonia!

yesterday was our appointment at the state school for the blind and visually handicapped. so the whole band was loaded in the race van, daddy, mommy, susi, dragon, dog, crowd stroller and off, down the rhine to a town called neuwied. i wanted to test the brand spankin' new RECAROs so bad, but not even vicky has the required 9 kilos, yet, and i just think it smarter not to abuse them, so best to wait a little longer (*sigh*)...

an academic quarter late we got there and started right away, meeting the very sensitive and competent head of infant development who led us into a super interesting play room [lots of space for us alone! :) ] to talk, listen, play, swap crafting ideas, fix appointments, tell stories and history of the dragon - to just spend an all around wonderful and constructive afternoon - this is how nice pedagogic medicine really can be! and along the way we even picked up quite some knowledge and wisdom: that seeing has to be learned, for instance - just like talking or walking. and precisely that will start very shortly. in our very own home, the dragon's cave! interestingly, this works with relatively simple tools, means and methods: colors, contrasts, shapes, positions - present the eye with visual stimulation matching its individual stage of development. and finally daddy can be as much engineer as he likes: black, white, straight, round and best of all: NO MORE PASTELS! yaaa-hooooooo!

in any event, our initial fears made wide way for huge motivation, a nice link to very valuable (and not quite cheap, therefore price-WORTHY) toys along with a list of relevant books and some crafting templates swapped owners, benny's face all aglow as he took little heidi to his heart with quite joyous laughter. soon there will be a new field of activity for gramma - sewing heidis - and new interesting photos for all you finger crossers out there...

summary (and because i didnt say it in a while): kids are cool!

...as will be vicky, soon. she's already grinning from the grid. slowly but surely the plot thickens: from back to belly, then up, to ellbows and knees, rushed through learning how to sit, and off she runs! unstoppably heading for freedom. hopefully spring will be here in time!

still a little catching up to do, he has, our little hero... therefore the bottle is nearly always where it belongs: in his mouth. still it looks like we have to touch up on the growing thing again: it is a bit too slow with our two future daredevil rowdies. slender is actually the beauty ideal these days, however, there is such thing as "too little". so, now it is going back to the hospital for a few days, for check'n'watch, to find out whether there is anything anatomical to re-adjust and to test if there is a little higher calories food that could lead to a steeper growing curve.

or to say it in automotive terms: increase boost... how come, _I_ never have _THESE_ kind of troubles? :)

regardless, of course, we are happy about each crossed finger - yet again!

one of these mornings at dragon breakfast, their first meal of the day, right after changing, there was the following conversation going on:

dad: look, your daughter has holes in her jammies and both big toes are out!

mama: strange, when i put her to bed it was fine!

dad: hmm, seems to grow, our kid..

we interrupt our program for an urgent official notice: the three cylinder race dragon team is proud to announce its new main sponsor: effective immediately, RECARO is on board, in the literal sense of the words. not only are we looking forward to a fruitful cooperation, we're also grateful for an extremely fair deal and a very generous and friendly support!

this morning they came fresh off the mail, the sleek brandnew seats: unpacking those giant cardboard boxes was quite a family event in the evening, each of us with one kid, each of us with one box, in a circle... and there they were, color-coded by team member in pink and saphire, respectively.

very comfortable, high safety and thus very adequate transportation, from here on out - on short as long journeys, whether it is visiting grammies and grampies or just to the next vaccination!

because we did not expect this extremely fast processing of our request, we actually came out ahead of time. the dragon has infact some growing to do in order to sit properly! but we would not want to get caught without at least a trial picture... and what the dragon mobile driver and race engineer likes the most is that these seats actually grow with the dragon themselves: they go up to 240lb! together, i mean... 80lb each, times three! enough room for little three headed dragons to develop, huh?

so, next up is - very much as in motorsports! - lots of testing, documenting and communicating. and in june, we will even meet with our new sponsor! on behalf of each and every team member we shout a GIANT THANK Y'ALL! to the north of bavaria: YOU ARE GREAT!!

welcome aboard,

well, that olde saying about the picture and the tousand words is so worn out by now. however: the dragon is not really verbally comprehensible for us grown-ups - all the more they converse nonverbally. by the means of looks, facial expressions, gestures, sometimes even by pure presence - or at least distribution in space... but see for yourselves! :)



when all are sleeping safe for one, night in the dragon's cave's begun...
in this age they consider nightwatch a VICTORY - unlike lateron in life! :)



yeah, right, outgrowing the cradle... the dragon heard that there are other triplets out there somewhere and has since decided to become a collective landlord - landlady - well landdragon and accept tennants for the other half of the quite roomy homestead!



we received complaints, that behind the safety barrier (the term FIREWALL is catching on...) vicky would look like a canned pilchard in oil. uh-huh, and what do i call this picture then? - pilchard's revenge? ... free willy? ... firewall breach?