* kaleidoscope. * shake. * look. * new image. *
well, another chapter with no picture. summer is traditionally the season with the most time constraints: garden, bees and next weekend is formula student again already - which _OF COURSE_ the dragon will attend again, too. and there will be pictures, needless to say... :)

but first things first: the news:
vicky walks. with a helping hand, but all the farther! unstoppable, really! last night mommy needed some basil for the pizza. and vicky ran with me to our basil patch (yes, all the way down where the chicken are!), barefoot even! and in return she was treated to her very own small pizza! my guesstimate is 2-3 weeks, then we can send her by herself to get herbs and veggies from outside! :))

benny's eyes are almost parellel almost all the time now! means he dropped the cross eyed thingy almost completely! physical therapy is a powerful tool, and that is a welcome opportunity to say thanx again!
besides: benny has the first mauler of the dragon, which proves the fact that everybody is first some time... :)

and collin, apart from the fact that he is sitting in a high chair by the table by now, is weighing in at _ALMOST_ 6 kilos! in fact it was exactly 5960 grams, measured during changing his clothes _AFTER_ he spat a little bit of dinner over himself... makes any further comment meaningless, doesn't it? :)

ok, ok, i recovered from the embarassment with the oil. which set me off, thinking. what else could serve that purpose? the suspenders for the belt, so to speak... grease! exactly! and what grease could taste better than that not closer to be specified nut-choco-spread? and: has anyone ever _conciously_ read the energy content on the funny shaped jar? i mean without rolling your eyes after only the first digit and adding an extra spoon for the bad concience? are you ready? five hundred forty seven! per 100 grams. so more than 100kcal in a baby-portion of 20g! and all that with the prototype teeth! where is my big spachelor?

ouch, what a load! 350 grams of mushed cereals and veggies per meal, sometimes even meat - and all that 4 times per day. makes a massive 16% of the pink dragon head's body weight. plus cookies! makes you think, she is the reason for her brothers not gaining weight! but that is nowhere near the truth, of course, for she tends to "her" hera tenderly and lovingly, calls her "ba-bow" reliably by now and makes sure she finds her for every meal.

in a nutshell: in our household it is best to be kid. or dog… but DEFINATELY NOT the provider! :)

ouch, that hurts. being an engineer and having to be reminded not to be cheap when using oil really hurts! and an engineer working in automotive, no less! only excuse i can round up would be that our kids neither squeaked nor rusted.

but lets hear the story in the proper sequence, the good news first: our dragon was at the neurological routine check and has been officially categorized *drumroll* 12 months regarding development. at least vast parts of them. and while it didnt really surprise us with vicky, and benny still being _a little_ behind, what really blew us away was collin! 12 months! the little hero's done it again and amazed everybody! and all that only one day after their actually computed date of birth!

so, through all the joy and excitement the only problem remaining was the record low weight. a frontier at which we could not - unfortunately! - report any progress for quite some time... and what has to be done in situations like that? correct, contact an expert. summary, without boring you with too much detail: the kids need more calories, "a simple balance problem, really". and as grownups we all know how that works best: with fat. for kids liquid, so oil. and there it was, the standard situation of "no oil, no good!"

well, at least it seems to be a problem solved, for they seem to cope rather well with the new ingredient in their food. at least for now. let's see how quickly the scales will display compliance. maybe that will be the next thing i'm gonna have to oil... :)

not so easily explained... at least with few enough words to fit into the heading. well, let me try again, down here, where i got some more room...

well, one year ago today the dragon would have been born. one year ago today was the computed delivery date. so, had they not been born prematurely, today would have been their birthday, their first...

so, first of all: happy birthday little dragon (again)! :)

although, the original plan was once, IF we already have the chance to pick & choose from more birthdays than one, to pick the one in june rather than the one in february, but the weather does not really care about our plans, now, does it? i would have to double check, but it feels like we had better weather in february than today! *sigh* oh well, it wasn't a real kids birthday, yet, anyways, so half as bad! let's not hang our heads, next year, when they actually WILL walk, the sunn will shine, right? here is to 2013!

the pacy nicking game has reached our firstborn! hard to believe how opinions change over time! with vicky we found it highly unsportsmanlike and thus worth condemning, when she stole her brothers' tootsies, called her a cleptomaniac, even! our benjamin, who as we know is still busy catching up, has earned highest commending for his first successful "heist": one unattended moment, one blink of an eye of his two minutes younger brother, and the pacy was booty!

hopefully the focus is going to shift, more towards legal means of development, lest the dragon ends up in real trouble! :)

the bath tub christening of our three mini-pirates is barely over, when they are already promoted to captains - captains of the road, that is... for the first time we all went right across the olde land to the dragon's grandparents. never before has the bus been this full, nor my head for that matter! what we all loaded on board and how much! and not only did we have to load it, no, it also had to be in the right spot for en-route accessibility! and how much we worried and about how many things! feeding, breaks, speed, traffic density, routes, detours... only our rottweileress hera was always calm. and - surprise! - the dragon! not one complaint, the entire trip! despite 3 additional hours to accept a very nice and unique invitation to see the production and development of state-of-the-art car seats for children! in francony we had the opportunity to admire the quality and safety of our dragon butt interfaces: from development with crash-test-rig over prototype shop to production assembly lines we were welcome to watch and learn! very interesting, what know-how is in such seat!
and our hosts had an equally brad opportunity to get to know their actual consumers: during the feeding session in the marketing office! so, in summary it was quite an exchange project that will not be forgotten...

and after a grand total of almost 7 hours on the road, the journey ended at gramma'n'grampa's - without a single complaint! the dragon seems to be a mobile one. let's see how long to the "are we there, yet"s... :)

normally, bathing day is saturdays. but normal are the others, we elected sundays for bathing. daddy was dirty anyways from gardening, so it came in very handy that collin first puked over himself and - once changed - got "decorated" again by his brother. with 60% of the family soiled, off to the tub it was! out to the high seas, with the whole armada! of course not all at the same time, as we only have one 1WO for three cadets, and safety still comes first. after all, they are all supposed to be experienced hands before the mast, one day!!