Oskar Turns 2!

And just like that Oskar is 2!  It is crazy how they say the days are long but the years are short.   While I don’t remember much of those first few months (okay, probably that first year), Oskar continues to impress me every day with how much he is learning and growing as an individual. In just the past few months he has changed so much! 

While still shy when he first meets people, he warms up to them quickly and turns from skeptical and hesitant to talkative and goofy.  In April, just before his birthday we went to Baby Cu’s baby shower in Sonoma… Oskar was the first kid in the pool, the last to get out and finally passed out in his car seat on the drive home (sunglasses on and all)… in fact, he refused to take off the sunglasses through dinner (although he somehow ended up with no pants on) and even wore them in the bath.

He likes to do things by himself and has taken on even bigger challenges with enthusiasm.  He prefers showers over his bath, likes to walk down the stairs at school without help and at the end of June while I was spending time with the Girls, Martin and Oskar spent a weekend naked at the house potty training… so far it has stuck! 

He loves to read books, help cook (always asking to “try that”), dance, sing songs and his grasp of both English and German (as well as sign language) has me thoroughly impressed…although I realize I am very biased.  

Happy Birthday Champ! 

Five Months Later and Not Much to Show for It

Exhibit A taken in November of last year

 Exhibit B taken this past weekend (five months later)

Can you spot the three differences?

Thankfully for us it is what’s on the inside that counts. While exterior work appears slow going there has been a lot of action on the inside: rough plumbing, rough electrical, taping up the seams and windows to make them air tight and laying the subfloor for the shower.

With the clock ticking down to Gürkchen’s arrival I am not sure it will be ready in time, however I am still very happy with both the progress and the construction crew...Chop chop boys!

As a side note, Oskar was a rock star turned dirty hippy this trip. About ten minutes before we arrived, Oskar got carsick, puking all over his outfit for the day.  “We,” meaning “I,” didn’t pack an appropriate change of clothes for him so we had to buy a sweatshirt at the local gas station which was three sizes too big.  He spent the afternoon digging in a pile of dirt, wiping his running nose thanks to the Day Care cold with his dirty hands.  And he somehow managed to drink water out of the neighbor’s bird fountain.  The whole experience can be summarized by our pit stop at In ‘n Out burger on our way home.  I came out of the restaurant with a milkshake and fries only to find Martin sitting on the curb with Oskar, bare foot, covered in dirt, smelling slightly like puke and wearing a sweatshirt three sizes too big.