Fresh start just in time for fall

Oh, you guys. I really haven't meant to go so long without posting anything other than a letter to my baby. Seriously. I actually really miss blogging regularly and eventually will get back into it. And not just about my kid. (Although, a lot about my kid. Because he's a pretty big part of my life. Just a heads up.)

Anyway! I have a kind-of excuse for my absence, which is that things have been cee-razy around here, primarily because Torsten now has a job. Like, he is employed by someone else. Which means no more start-up for him, which is a whole complicated story that isn't really mine to tell, so I won't get into the details here, but I do want to say that what he did with that company was amazing and I'm so proud of him for doing it, and I'm also really proud of him for finding this job and making the decision to accept it. It's a really fantastic job and he's really happy about it. So, there we are.

Anyway, the drastic change in our lifestyle has meant quite a few details had to be taken care of. Torsten now has a commute, and I also sometimes have a commute, as my new job has an office down the road that I work from sometimes, and that means we needed a second car. So we did some car shopping and that was half fun because yay new car! and half not fun because many thousands of dollars!

And then Torsten took a couple weeks off between jobs and used the time to get a bunch of stuff done around the house that we've been putting off for ages. We got a dead tree removed and another tree majorly pruned. We had our sewer line scoped and then rootered when the scope showed that it was blocked by a ton of roots.

(Side note to homeowners: I seriously recommend doing this regularly. I never would have thought of it except that our neighbors had their sewer line back up due to roots in their pipe and it flooded their basement with sewage and it turned out it wasn't covered by homeowners' insurance and it cost them something like $6,000 or $7,000 out of pocket. The guys who scoped our sewer said that with all the roots in there we would have been headed for a similar situation very soon if we hadn't had the rootering done. $100 in maintenance saves you thousands of dollars in sewage damage in your basement. So worth it! And so ends my PSA of the day.)

Other stuff: we got our car's dented bumper fixed, finally, so we can stop being the embarrassment of the neighborhood. Since Torsten will be commuting in that car to work regularly, we had an iPod jack installed in it. Torsten replanted our barrel with fall flowers after the summer flowers all died. We got around to having an electrician come and wire our house for outside lights so you can actually see the driveway and front lawn at night. And so on. All those little things that have been on our to-do list for ages but that we didn't have the time, energy, or budget to deal with, you know? Now they've been dealt with and it's been exhausting.

Also, this means that we now need childcare for Callum. Torsten's hours were very flexible before and therefore he was doing the majority of the childcare with me filling in the gaps since my hours are also a tiny bit flexible (though nothing like his), and now that he has a more traditional schedule that will not be a possibility anymore.

So, we're looking for a nanny. And really, it's pretty much non-negotiable that it be a German-speaking nanny. With Torsten out of the house most days, Callum won't get a ton of German-language exposure, which means that we're going to need some assistance on that front if we want any hope whatsoever of him growing up bilingual. We found a fantastic German nanny and came to an agreement with her--and then her circumstances changed and she had to back out. Then we found another great nanny and were on the verge of an agreement with her--and then she decided she wanted to be part-time instead of full-time. And so now we're back on the hunt.

A lot of people have asked us if we'd consider an au pair, so let me go ahead and answer that question now: yes, we would, but only as a last resort. We don't specifically want another person living in our house--we really like our family just the way it is and having time with just the three of us and, when Callum's asleep, just the two of us. Neither of us is super enthused about the idea of another person in the house with us all the time. Also, from what I understand most au pairs come to the US because they want to learn English. It's not just a job, it's a cultural exchange, and that means that as a host family we would be trying to help the au pair learn English. My thought is that given Callum's age, if we got a German au pair it would probably be OK to ask her to speak to him in German during the day when we aren't there, since it's not like he'd be able to help her improve her English anyway, and then we could speak English with her at night. But we'd need the right kind of person to agree to such a set-up, and that still wouldn't address the issue of having someone new living with us.

So: yes, we'll consider it, but only if every other German-speaking nanny option falls through. We are about to start five straight weeks of grandparent visits (one week from my parents followed immediately by four straight weeks from Torsten's parents and yes I know what you're thinking and believe me I'm thinking the same thing) so that gives us some flexibility in terms of when we'd need someone to start. So we have some time to figure out our options. And in the meantime if you know of a fluent German speaker looking for a nanny position in the Denver area, please send them our way. Thank you.

So! Yes! Things are changing, things are busy, but things are also very, very good. Torsten and I are both happy with our new jobs and Callum continues to be his easygoing, mellow self and shows no problems so far with adjusting to any of these changes. And we even found some time to go driving in the mountains and admire the changing aspen leaves, but that's a post for another day, because this one is already getting awfully long. So I will end it with just a quick photo of Callum on his knees... he still only gets up on his knees on his own very occasionally but when he does it he can stay up for quite awhile and has only recently started rocking back and forth on all fours. So I foresee crawling sometime in the not-too-distant future...

Eight months

Dear Callum,

Today you are eight months old. As far as I can tell, this is the start of the most awesome age yet. You've always been pretty much the most adorable thing ever, but somehow in the last month you've taken on a whole new dimension of cuteness. You laugh hysterically, you smile, you're incredibly social, and every time I look at you I just want to grab you and squeeze you and cover you with kisses.


I know I've said this before, but this past month really has felt like one long developmental explosion. You are just doing so many new things and it feels like it's just one after the next. All of a sudden this month, truly overnight, you went from just making a couple consonant sounds (ba and ma) to making pretty much all of them. We hear everything from you: ka, ga, da, la, na, ta, pa, though you will still only imitate us when we say "ba."


Speaking of language, this month you had a breakthrough that your dad and I found very exciting: we discovered that you will do things when we ask you to, even if we don't demonstrate. So not only did you learn to clap this month, but just a couple days later you had learned what "clap your hands" meant. AND you do this in two languages. So if I say "clap your hands" or your dad says "klatschen die Hände," you look at us, smile, and deliberately clap your hands. And when I say "kiss" you yell "AHHH!" and then open your mouth and slam your face against my cheek, usually with your tongue out. It's delightful. But beyond the cuteness, it is awesome to see that you a) understand that sounds can mean something and b) understand the concept that two different sounds can mean the same thing.



You are also concentrating really hard on mobility recently. You have become a highly proficient roller. You can lie on your stomach and rotate to face in any direction, and then roll exactly where you want to go at a very high speed. So you will roll toward the dog, the vacuum cleaner, any electrical cord you can see, and so on. Whenever you're on the floor your dad and I get plenty of exercise chasing after you. And now you're also working on getting up on your knees. When you're sitting up you rock forward, attempting to get on your knees, but this hasn't been a successful strategy for you as more often than not you end up landing on your face. Just in the last couple days you have learned that if you rock back and upward while on your belly, you'll wind up on your knees. You can only do it sometimes, and only for a few seconds at a time, but we can see that it's coming. And in the meantime all these attempts at getting up on your knees have resulted in what appears to be inadvertent backward scooting. There is no such thing as getting you to stay in one place anymore.


Maybe because of all this moving, your weight gain FINALLY seems to be tapering off, though you are still off the charts. We weighed you this morning and you came in at 27 pounds, 5 ounces, which is almost exactly a pound (actually just 14 ounces) more than you weighed last month. Considering that up til now you had gained 2.5 pounds every single month since birth, this is quite a change--and it gives me hope that your cloth diapers may actually fit until you are potty trained. You also appear to be about 31 inches long, which means you're still growing close to an inch a month--which might explain why your round baby belly, while still quite prominent, appears to be just a smidge thinner than before. You have just started fitting into your 18-24 month clothing, and we've had to retire most of the 12-18 month stuff.


You're also eating more and more solid foods. You still get your main nutrition from formula, but you eat three solid meals a day, and you're getting good at self-feeding. In addition to cereal, yogurt, and pureed fruits and veggies, you will happily self-feed fruit and puffs. Strawberries are a big favorite, and I am somewhat convinced that it's because they aren't slippery so you can actually get a good grip on them. It also seems like you are already asserting your independence--when we try to feed you something that's not on a spoon, you will close your mouth and turn away, but when we set it on your high chair tray and leave it alone, you will happily grab it and stuff it in your mouth yourself. You also love water and will happily take a sippy cup, though you haven't quite figured out the mechanics of tilting it yourself yet. And you are holding your own bottle more and more often.



You've also started with the separation anxiety this month. Especially in the evenings, if one of us walks out of the room, you start screaming immediately. You can be happily sitting and playing and looking the other way, but if you hear a rustle of movement your head snaps up right away and the second one of us heads toward the door, the yelling begins. You were doing the same thing at night, and after a couple miserable nights of us breaking our backs bending over your crib and rubbing your back for ages until you fell asleep, we finally ended up doing a bit of cry-it-out, where we visited you in your room every few minutes to reassure you that we were still there, without picking you up or staying for long. We did this for 25 minutes the first night and after that you seemed to pretty much get the picture. You still often fuss for a minute or two when we leave the room at night, but then you peacefully roll on your side and put yourself to sleep.


You continue to be absolutely obsessed with the dog, and she's not sure what she thinks of you. Sometimes she lets you pet her and she definitely likes to hover around your high chair during mealtimes--but other times when you start rolling toward her she gets up abruptly and walks out of the room to avoid you. I always feel kind of sad for you when this happens--you get so excited and smiley when you see her and then she gives you the cold shoulder--but it doesn't seem to bother you at all.


The dog isn't the only thing that makes you happy. Your dad and I are rewarded by grins, shrieking or babbling, and happy arm-waving whenever you catch sight of us. You like some strangers but not others for reasons that are clear to nobody but you. Pretty much everything amuses you, from rollicking games of peekaboo to us tearing paper in front of you.



You are very happy almost all the time, and you continue to be laid back and have no problem going with the flow. And I swear, you get cuter every day. You are just so smiley and engaged and hilarious, and we love watching you figure out the world a little more every day. And you make us smile more every day too.


Love,
Mama

Farmers' markets

So. Labor Day. The end of summer, etc. Seems like the perfect time to start writing about farmers' markets, yes? Now that they're on their way out and all?

Honestly, I'm not sad about summer ending at all. Out here in Colorado we haven't had quite the misery that the East Coast experienced, but we did have the highest-ever August temperatures on record for Denver, and we smashed the previous streak of consecutive days above 80 degrees to smithereens, and, you know, our house doesn't have air conditioning. Thank god Colorado doesn't have humidity. (And there are many things I love about Colorado, but the lack of humidity? It might be the number one thing. It's definitely in the top five, at least.)

Anyway! Yes, fall. Cool weather, jeans, boots, sweaters, warm drinks, pumpkins, pretty leaves, etc. Also I am looking forward to a fall wardrobe not just for myself but also for Callum. Nothing is as cute as a little footed one-piece on a baby, and baby jeans are a very close second. So yes, I'm looking forward to fall.

But one thing I am not looking forward to is the lack of fresh local produce that fall brings. Except that you know where we have found to be the best place for really good local produce? Whole Foods. Isn't that sad? This is Colorado. It's an agricultural state. The whole state is full of farms. A lot of them are really close to Denver. I mean, when we replaced our fence we sold the old fencing to a nearby farmer for $150 (thank you, Craigslist). And when I decided I wanted to take Torsten to a goat farm for his birthday, I found one quite easily less than an hour away. You get my drift.

So why is it that all the local farmers' markets seem to totally suck? I mean, maybe we're looking in all the wrong places. But we've been to the huge popular farmers' market downtown, the tiny one near our house, and a couple other local ones in various suburbs. And we have never encountered more than two produce stalls at any of them, even the huge one. And all this year we haven't come across a single stall selling local jams. It seems to be mostly specialized stuff--salsas, pasta sauces, cheeses, sausage. I mean, that stuff is nice but sometimes I just want to go find some nice fresh local produce that isn't marked up to Whole Foods prices, you know?

And even the produce stalls that we do encounter aren't that impressive. They might have one or two nice-looking things, but as a whole it's nothing special. And whatever is especially good always sells out fast. Like we still haven't been able to buy any freaking fresh cherries at a farmers' market all summer because apparently they fly off the shelves.

And the big market, the really popular one where it's wall to wall people and drivers risk their lives to beat others to a parking spot? It's almost like a street fair. The vast majority of the booths seem to be selling prepared food. If it weren't so crowded it would be a great place just to go for lunch. But for local farmed products? Not so much.

I don't know what we're missing! It seems like here in Colorado there should be much better farmers' markets, but I am at a loss as to where we could possibly find them. I guess we have all winter to research and try to figure out what we're missing. And if it turns out that this is just how farmers' markets are around here, then maybe I have an idea for a new business come next summer.

What about where you live? Are there farmers' markets? Are they any good?