ooohhh, we almost forgot that santa pulled his giant sled (well, carriage, this year, for the lack of snow...) also into the grannies' place to unload quite a few supergifts for the dragon, their big sister and for us, too. now vicky is a fresh new momma with baby AND stroller (which makes _US_ grandparents, doesn't it? woah!), collin is a fresh new mobile cop (woah, woah!) and benG will soon be his deputy on a cruiser of equal colors, make & model - WITH eagle-dragon-eye (woah, woah, woah!). and to ensure their life's journey will continue like this, we outfitted and undertook a little expedition to the zoo aschersleben, where we elected the tigers to be their guardians - looking good, aren't they?

alltogether we conclude: an awesome holiday season 2012...
we hope yours was as good, wish you a smooth transition into 2013, health, majestic guardians and always radiant chilrden's eyes!

* caleidoscope. * shake. * look. * new image. *
well, long time, no see, caleidoscope... all the way in august! seems about time for a new episode, huh? :)
so, in no spefific order, a few recent happenings & statements: vicky seems to pursue a carreer as an animal voice imitator: sheep make "maahh", cow make "mooh"... only with hera... not quite... she seems to assume certain bilingual skills that are simply not there, because according to her, hera makes "meooooooowwwww"... we're working on it... :)

collin by now is getting quite a bit more mobile than convenient: he is pulling himself up on just about everything, walks with the assistance of sofa, tables, cabinets, chairs and benches -- and very unfortunately, falls occasionally. he even - like his sister on easter - bit his lip and bled a little... fortunately daddy has the magic healing hands (must be the constant close contact to all the medics and honorary doctors! :) ) and makes it all allright again. only the holes in his nervous costume somehow dont mend... :)

benny responds wonderfully to his mommy, her songs, her cuddles, her holding him, carrying him, snuggling him... his li'l hands all open and relaxed, he is a truly happpy child. very obviously she'a a valuable amendment to all the therapy still going on every day. and his motivation to turn on his belly and 'get' his toys himself is ever increasing, as well... beautiful!

and of course, st. nicolas paid us a visit over night, he even left a stick, for not all shoes were put outside the door as shiny as need be, but all in all he was very pleased with the 2012 behavioral scorecard - and has expressed that in kids' currency: chocolate! :)

and last but not least: the weather: IT'S SNOWING!!! and has been half through the night. so first thing this morning was shoveling! :)

we wish all our readers a very happy advent, we ourselves are having ne of the nicest, ever! :) next stop: christmas markets & gluhwine! :)


wir wuenschen allen leserinnen und lesern eine schoene vorweihnachtszeit, wir jedenfalls haben eine der schoensten! :) naechste station: weihnachtsmarkt! :)

when there was the soccer worldcup in 2010, in some zoo or aquarium somewhere in germany they had an octopus, named paul, i think, who was said to be able - much like an oracle really - to predict the outcome of the games. and as far as i remember he was never once wrong for the entire duration of the championship! impressive. but, he has since passed on to the eternal inking grounds... which makes way for somebody equally foreboding, who can even not only do it with numbers, but with letters as well - COLLIN! effective immediately, collin eats more than mushed food, he eats ... PASTA! that's right, the italian inside him... :) and because there is no such thing as starting kids too early on the rascal, erm, school time thing, mama cooked alphabet pasta. of which the little scallawag seems to select only *certain* letters. we haven't quite seen through the pattern, yet, but are convinced beyond a doubt that it must be oraclic prophecies of some sort or another... we just can't make up our minds: is it the weather? and if so, where? stock market? if so, which one? end of the world? to what calenndar? well, collin, i think i see some detailing potential here... :)

a three headed dragon sticks together, especially when one needs a little more help than others. the little ones are getting help... a sweet snapshot, and as i think, absolutely mandatory on a blog as positive in overall attitude as ours!
we actually put the three in the same penn only for clean and pick up reasons. normally they have more space, and we are much too afraid of them hurting each other. but look at this! even long enough to go and get the camera, the two "furthers" have taken their brother into their care, stroke him and guard him from both sides... how sweet! summons hope, now, doesn't it? :)

okok, we don't want to exaggerate, our little one is not walking, yet. not by himself, at least. but since the first time is the hardest, he gets mighty help from gramma & grampa. and as he never ever has, has is not lacking motivation in this here endeavor, either!

ever since he graduated from the college of eating in maulbronn, and thus keeps raising his weight constantly, the rest follows almost automatically, at breath-taking pace, that is. for development steps that took his one minute older sister eight weeks to accomplish, he just needs 3! if he keeps catching up like that, the "herd" will be quite a bit closer together, soon!

the dragon is back home. in all the positive hectic of yesterday, we got all 4 of our kids "home" in one day, so to speak! :)

as far as graduation status goes: two third of the dragon can and will eat somewhat normally now, with us, at the table. which necessitates quite some changes to the planning of the day from here on out. it will be a little more stringent, not only to provide the kids with the guidance of a schedule, but also to have better chances intensifying on the therapies benny still needs in order to catch up.

ok, we're kicking it up a notch or two. no complaint, just an observation! :)

*** news from therapeesia *** news from therapeesia *** news from therapeesia ***

well, i always said it: there is no better place to study eating! collin did not (yet) grow his 11th finger but he is stabil over 6 kilos! and here is how: it might sound brutal, but the actual driver to gain weight was - hunger! yupp, you heard right, where we always tried to stuff whatever calories available into the kid, there they cut it in half. but collin's body was used to the amount of calories and kept demanding them, AND - kept them inside! logistically, this is the classic change-over from a PUSH to a PULL system, a very well-known route to success! :)

and with two thirds of the dragon in the fast lane, we have much more time to get benny up to speed, too. and with the knowledge picked up at the "university of eating" this can not take long anymore. we will keep your fingers crossed, we'll get it done!

and next tuesday the dragon will come back home! finally, it really _IS_ too quiet in the house now, without any kids at all...

*** news from therapeesia *** news from therapeesia *** news from therapeesia ***

finally, our youngest has gotten the hang for eating, the penny has dropped! run for your lives, everybody, collin will eat all of us. or at least he will eat all _FROM_ us, nothing edible will remain and we're all going to starve to death... *yowl*

2 cups of yoghurt,
21 tea spoons of mushed lunch,
90 grams of infattrini (that's 90 calories, alone!),
90 grams of water!

and that is only today, ONE DAY! which isn't even over yet! and NO spitting! and now, what is he doing? he's _SLEEPING_! like a baby. unbelievable! my son! :)

but seriously, not bad for someone who until a week or so ago didn't even drink a bottle too successfully, huh?

*** news from therapeesia *** news from therapeesia *** news from therapeesia ***

we interrupt the running program again for urgent news from the far-far-away land therapeesia, where mommy went with the boys - which feels ages ago and 14 timezones away - to accelerate progress with nutricion of the dragon...

weeeeellllll: as already said months ago, there can hardly be a better place to study eating than maulbronn. but what startet as a play on words and a nice story about monks and wine, is transitioning into sustainable commending by now: mommy is giving excellent reviews over the phone and is very happy about how competent and sensitive, coordinated and comprehensive the dragon is being taken care of in the clinic. and most importantly: after only one week success starts to make itself visible!
collin has not puked a single time since he took up residence there, even starts to stuff soup, mushed veggies and other non-strictly-liquid delicacies into his little mouth, pulls himself up on the bars of his bed so vehemently by now that even his therapist said to place toys far up to keep him training and intensifying. when i visited last weekend, i saw with my own eyes how well he is coping on the clinic's own bobby car (despite not reaching the ground with his feet, yet!) and we even played with lego! what more do i want? looks like the knot is about to bust for our youngest! watch out, in a year-and-a-half's time noone is gonna speak about preemies and lagging development anymore! :)
benny displays a slightly different image... despite not exactly having collin's underweight handicap, it is still very annoying to see the puking is still an issue for him... still looks like a motorical problem... motion and muscle control. but before despair can outrank hope, mommy just reported the following: while sleeping his coordination is a lot better than awake. apparently the big brother has a concentration or stress problem, because in his sleep yesterday he held his bottle quite properly and everything looked very coordinated and relaxed. which inspires quite a bit of new hope that he could reach the goal just by taking a different approach. if things work in his sleep, all he's gotta do is transfer this into the waking realm... and our trust in the medical guides he's got is unimpaired!
go, benny! :)