oh no! what is that? new horizons? development? in what direction, exactly? to what end? our fartherst-along triplet is so far by now that she jumps out of bed, quite regularly! yes, out of the travel bed, the one with the very high walls! in the past she just hopped over to "neighbor" collin, into his bed, for playing or annoying or whatever it is that sisters do to their brothers... but since our attempts to stall this behavior by separating the beds, there is only the floor left to jump onto... she seems to take it really well; and why shouldn't she explore her room? it is baby proofed after all, all round and soft. BUT: she is tall enough by now to open the door to the hallway. and directly in front of it is where the stairs start. which leaves us with pretty much two options: either lock the door to the room or close the bar gate at the stairs. sound both a bit like prison, huh, how is a dragon supposed to learn how to fly under these circumstances? but ok... *sigh* i guess it is better to fly a little later than down the stairs (i her case, again!), right?

so: next chapter in the dragon's big book of life (and ours, too, of course) would be the "bars slammin' home" chapter, huh? :)

really! and not only that, he walks ON COMMAND! i came home yesterday and sat down with the dragon. benG on my laps, the sun is smiling through the glass door - finally again! collin is at the other end of the living room, coming crawling fast towards us... but what is that? he is given commands: "stop, collin!" - he stops. "on your feet!" - he gets up - seemingly effortless. "walk to me, come!" friendly-determined tone, leaving no room for interpretation. i dont trust my very own eyes: collin is walking, holds his balance, sets his feet to the rhythmic counting "one, two, three, ..." ten steps, before he lets himself fall, with this huge happy-proud smile in his tiny rascal face! i pretty darn nearly dropped benG right on the floor and equally darn nearly busted my chest with pride! my son! :)

vicky had an intense day yesterday, summarized mama this morning. well, so did we, i would say. at least in retrospect. sometimes it is rather difficult to understand children. or the world and how it runs...

it all started with mama's plan to take her first shower together with vicky. but either there were too many fine water jets in our super shower head, or not enough, or too cold, or too hot, or too new or tooo boring the experience... anyway, she screamed the whole time through. like she was being cooked! :) nothing ever helped, shower head higher, showerhead lower, kneel next to her, more water, less water, sweet-talk, laughing... nothing, proper nothing. last option: HTLU - hurry the luck up. :)

done, dry, off to the party. and as it should be in this weather, outdoors! right next to the stairway to the basement. there sure were enough people to watch. but somehow the little water jet sirene managed - despite the armies of supervising grown-ups - to fall down said 11 stone steps of said stairway to the basement. but that was by far not the most intense thing of that day. the most intense thing of that day for us was the following question: how come that child after that experience did not cry longer than precisely until the first deep draw of breath? and even that probably only because in moments like that all good intentions to not panically scream and run there go out the window in a hurry...

i dont understand. and neither do i understand that there are no traces - blood, bruises, anything like that. not on the child and neither on the stairs... all good, no harm done... no health insurance, no liability insurance, nobody involved... very peculiar...

well, we waited long enough for it, now it is finally here: first outdoor party this year, barbecueing! and with all the bells and whistles, no less: sun shades & sun burns, char coal & not-so-charred meat, walk-trainer-cart & bobbycar, running competition & grass stains and of course with rottweiler and recliner... some music in the background, was very nice... :) but next time it will be around the firepit in the garden... the weatherman has promised sustainable improvement, we'll see. a foundation has been laid, the dragon's enjoyed it greatly, and so have we: finally longer days, sun, warmth, green leaves. could stay just like this until helloween, no? :)

and by the way, my favourite subject: "food envy", especially when it is about the beloved meat: we have grilled burgers, each exactly 200 grams, measured on our digital kitchen scales. collin has annihilated 3/4 by himself! i think this weight gaining thingy is overrated... isn't there anything that can be done with potatoes or cereals? :)

well, we're all safe and sound back home. what a trip! and except (more than a day) sun, it was all there: long hours of driving, happiest grandparents & cousin and neighbors... and the dragon in the middle of it all:

vicky took from her italian crash class "mamma mia!" as her new favourite phrase, which in an italian round of grownups is a fun factor with laughter guaranteed!
collin copied - and took it to a new level: first off, he says "mamma mEa", so rather latin than italian, and second, he applied it to other family members by saying "papa pe-ah!" too... :)
and benny thought this _SO_ funny that his miasmic laughter turned downright epidemic and nearly prevented the bus ride from going on! :)

they did not go easter egg hunting, yet, due to weather conditions, mostly, but we'll just do that next year, enough chocolate there was, though! and the return ride finally had a glimse of the majestic sublimity of "my" snow covered alps peaks. the saint bernhard pass was still closed, of course, but at least not everything was shrouded in clouds, as on the way there, so at least a few photos came out of it. next time, hopefully in the summer, we take the pass instead of the tunnel, we will stop and let the dragon explore and then there will also be photos on here, i promise!

oh, yes, and welcome (FINALLY!) to spring, everybody! :)

once upon a time, long long ago, there was an ad on the bulletin board of a rocking bear searching for a new home. his current mates had outgrown him... well, we were in accordingly susceptible conditions and voilá, the bear moved in with us, was given a name and stood joyfully excited in the bedroom - after all, it were supposed to be a mere few months until he should once again rock to bring out these high pitch kids' screams and laughter galore. unfortunately, it all came different, somehow - and the "little pause" should strain tobi's patience. for years, as it turned out...

therefore he was forced to scratch a living with petty jobs: sometimes he had to guard laundry heaps for days, sometimes he was just another piece of furniture, sometimes he was yearningly nudged and rocked sadly and quietly back and forth a few times, sometimes he was at least hera's companion for a while. but he never gave up - just like us - was always there.

and now, finally, he is in his very own waters: soft and fluffy, with this aura of adventure and speed, so much more old-fashioned than any bobby car, but also with so much more charisma and just sublime... and so much more friend with backbone and cuddly fur, with ears to listen and eyes to behold! finally there is somebody to ride and to rock, somebody putting their feet on the boards and pulling the handles. and somebody making all the kids' noises that bears like tobi feast on. and best of all: not ONE somebody, but several. many, even...

yes, tobi is happy. and visibly so, aint he? :)

* kaleidoscope. * shake. * look. * new image. *
this winter is like glue, clinging! nasty, this weather, no? snow? in the middle of march? wet, cold, muddy? how is a dragon supposed to play outside in this mess? looks like mrs. holle needs some attitude adjustment, there, humm? but we already made a better plan: easter will see the dragon outside the olde land for the first time, and through high mountains, too: we'll go to gramma and grampa to bella italia! so there! :)

in retrospec while ignoring the weather, everything is real good for the dragon: vicky has a real vocabulary by now. and yes, "auto" is in there, even one of her most-used words, even the vacuum cleaner is an "auto" - it makes that sound after all! further she says her name (as you already have heard), how old she is, and much already happens in more than one language. but the very most outstanding EVER is her answer to the question "who is your darling?": very clear, very distinct and honey sweet "daddyyyyyyyyy"! and i only practised with her for like a half an hour! well... :)

our littlest is slowly morphing into a rowdy: climbing the sofas, throwing himself into the cushions, laughing hysterically to it all... probably about our petrified faces when he missed the edge of the table by a thou, again! but what's more important: we discovered during the "i throw myself into the cushions"-game that in order to throw himself, he first needs to get up on his feet, without dragging himself up on stuff, no, all alone, with leg muscles and balance. which is the development stage _WE_ are after. and he even stands briefly without holding on to anything! so, that's gonna be a few weeks and we're gonna have to chase in two directions! who bought this huge piece of land with no fence?? :))

also benG came home victoriously after his stationary at the neuro-motoric center. as usual, progress is a bit slower, but can't be hidden: he eats porridge by now, real mashed food! not as much as his siblings, but he does eat. and he also got an even higher caloric food. the whole getting-up thingy is picking up the pace, as well. and there will be new aids, too: a made-to-measure chair with a little table and also a special seat for the race van... we'll see, sitting should be covered within a few months, then, walking will realistically take longer, but we'll get that done, too. keep hanging on the edge of your seat, there! :)

only bad news: now all three of them need glasses. humm...

onnce more the dragon is incomplete... mommy took benG to the children's neurology center to a very nearby town named alzey. a motorics center... humm, from a tree farm come trees, from an air pump comes air, from a ball throwing machine come balls, so from a motorics center come motors, huh? nope, wrong, by a long shot. motorics come from there, functioning motorics, that is.
our hopes are quite high this time, actually, and not only ours: all our therapists are as excitedly excepting good results as we are. and mommy has already reported: huge room, nice people, therapy already underways... well, hopefully we are going to recognize our firstborn and heir, whenever is is that he'll be back home! :)

yesterday, before starting off, he was quite surprisingly active and self-confident in sitting, pushing-up, balancing and the respective reflexes - as if he had guessed what's up next and how... iif that is no reason for hope..! maybe all he needed was to get 2 years under his belt to make the proverbial knot bust... we will see, and you can keep the curioosity up. please.... :)