- stands up unassisted and takes steps
- climbs everything, even to the top of Jakob's bunk bed
- says uh oh, dada, mama, and hi and tries to say thank you. Lately she's taken to more screaming though. She can also sign finished and please is almost there. And she loves to wave goodbye.
- screams at Jakob if he takes what she has or wants but follows him around and enjoys his attention
- eats pretty much everything we eat (minus the salt and salty things) and eats fast and A LOT. If she sees something we're eating she MUST have some although (insert scream tantrum) we don't always give in, obviously.
- has 8 teeth- 4 bottom and 4 top
- just went down to nursing morning, afternoon, and before bed which means I only pump once (instead of twice) at work
- sleeps amazingly about 11 hours/night (and has been for about 9 months) and a morning hour nap and afternoon hour nap. Thank you God!
- loves daycare and they love how happy and animated she is
- 'talks' a lot and is so observant
- dances at even the slightest sound of music. She will hit the boombox until you play her favorite music.
- already sings the FSU chant song and does the chop randomly throughout the day
She is Ms. Independent but can be very cuddly and sweet. She will treat anything like a baby (rocking and patting it) from a baby doll to a car to her sippy cup. She voices everything she feels and is very animated.
8 month old toblerone pictures
We've had a couple friends from the states come visit us in these past few months. So Jakob has been having a blast with his new 'friends'. I feel a little bad for them because he becomes so involved with everything they do. But everytime a visitor comes and goes Jakob's English is much better. And every now and then he stil talks about Mr. Bill and Ms. Kristen. I had a great birthday and Paul got me some awesome hiking clothes. I ordered some new hiking boots after trying them on in the store so I could get the color I wanted. They were amazing when I tested them out on a hike. I never knew how comfortable real hiking pants could feel. I made a german chocolate cake and Jakob sang happy birthday to me a few times. It was a very special day complete with shopping and dinner outside on a hill where Jakob could eat and play on the playground.
10 month toblerone pictures
Jakob's German on the other hand has taken off. His favorite story to tell is about his friend who took more cucumber from the table at breakfast without asking and one of the teachers shook her finger at him and told him what to say: Bitte noch mehr Gurken. He will play with kids everywhere speaking German/Swiss German and then later tell us about his day and conversations but in English. So he is very aware of 'translating' things. And if we start talking to him in German he will respond and continue the conversation in German usually thinking it's funny and correcting us when he thinks it's necessary.
Jakob has really grown up this year. We can have a much deeper conversation and he can do most things for himself including going to the bathroom and getting completely dressed including socks and shoes. He is a pro on his balance bike (he is totally ready for a regular bike) and remembers most everything we tell him. It's a 50/50 chance he'll take a nap and if he does it is still about 2 hours long. It is so nice that he is finally helping us out a little and we can actually reason with him. He is so sweet and watches over Elise exactly like a big brother should. We love watching them together. And his yearly HUS appointment at the Kinderspital has turned into every other year because his kidney ultrasound, blood work, and urine looked so good. Great news! Every year til he's an adult he will still need a urine analysis to check for protein because they say it is a silent killer and things are much better if it is caught early.
11 month toblerone pictures
Paul had a climbing day in the mountains one sunny weekend. He and a friend went early and the rest of us (me and his friend's wife and our 4 kids) hiked up to meet them later that day. The hike was uphill the whole way and I was loaded down with all our food, diaper supplies, jackets, etc. along with Elise on my back and was basically pulling Jakob up because he's slow and wouldn't let go of my hand. I'll be honest and say it was hard. Normally I carry just Elise or this time I probably would have just carried food. So I was pouring sweat by the time we reached the guys but Jakob had a blast. He saw Paul climbing and tried to climb his own rock (big picture above of both of them). He got pretty high on his slab and then rolled off and down the hill- he didn't really like that part but when his friend went to check on him he was ok. :) We all hiked back and got home just in time to eat a quick bite and put the kids to bed. We treated ourselves to some delivered pizza. And I can really say 'treated' because in the 4.5 years we have lived here we have never had food delivered to us- mostly because it is so expensive for the quality and amount of food you get. This pizza place keeps putting flyers in our mailbox so we gave them a shot and for Swiss delivered pizza it was pretty good. Still 40chf for 2 small pizzas and 2 free salads (just lettuce and tomatoes) and only 2 slices leftover from just me and Paul but it was so nice to sit down and have some pizza with the kids in bed.
I found a good event a few hours away that had a parade with the cows descending from the Alps (pictures above of the cows dressed up and alphorns). It was a lot of fun and the cows were very pretty with very loud bells. We watched for awhile and bought some fondue cheese before heading home. Any day on the train is a great day for Jakob. Unfortunately, in the madness of the crowds of people we left our backpack with our lunch on the train. When the train came back it was already gone so we filled a report that evening. And a couple days later, Paul got an email that it was found and he could pick it up from our closest train station. They had thrown out every ounce of food but everything else was just where we left it. Paul was so happy to get his sunglasses back and then last weekend Elise found them and broke them. Oh, kids.
We were very discouraged when trying to book Christmas flights. Delta quit the flight between Zürich and Atlanta outside of summer peak time so our options are minimal to get a reasonable price. We found flights (after days of searching) for Dec 14-Jan 7 with Delta and they were actually under 3000chf! 2 layovers- 1 in Europe and 1 in Atlanta- and we might be stuck in Paris on the way home but it could be worse. :) We could even take a quick train home if necessary. Hopefully we will be able to catch up with lots of family because this may be the last time we will be in Tallahassee over Christmas. Jakob will start school next fall and we will be limited to his school schedule. This time we will arrive back in Zürich on a Thurs so we will stay home and recover through the weekend. With the whole family jetlagged it will not be fun. I have grown to loathe feeling jetlagged unfortunately and it is so much harder coming home to no help in the dark winter. I'm sure Elise and I will fall asleep nursing multiple times. :) We are so excited though! But now to plan for a certain little girl's 1 year old birthday party. :)
