On the Upside

Thoughts on two challenges connected to a life in Vienna that makes it feel rewarding and worthwhile.

Silja's vocabulary is rapidly expanding these days, and it is mind-blowing to see how she picks up three different languages like the most natural thing in the world. In daycare she says Papa Arbeit, Auto, geh mal and baba (see you) The other day they were playing outside when Bjarni came to pick her up, and one of the teachers said to her: Du musst an die andere Seite gehen Silja - and she turned around and walked the other way to the slide. Bjarni and I are looking at each other and are like: Whoa!  

I have requested a copy of my journal at the hospital where I gave birth. I need it because I had a complicated birth, which has led doctors to suggest a C-section might be better next time. I got the copies a while back, and it's strange to to look through them and, in medical terms and handwriting I can barely make sense of, be reminded about the crazy intense experience a birth is. When I think back I'm quite stunned that I managed that whole thing in a language I only master on an intermediate level. So in addition to the informative purpose the documents serve, they are nice little cue to myself that I gave birth in German! And hey, if I can do that, I can do pretty much anything.

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Little Tornado

This little tornado is now all over the place, leaving behind trails of mess. As soon as she's eyeing an open closet, drawers, or the dish washer she speed crawls to explore what is hidden inside, before it is closed again. Many of them she has already figured out to open by herself. I'm too busy to keep a regular schedule with the gym at the moment, but following behind in those trails I suppose is keeping me in some form of shape as they are repeated several times a day...

Today she is 11 months, and it seems so surreal we will celebrate her first birthday in just a month. What happened to our teeny tiny baby?

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Weekly Brunch

Way back (it seems like ages ago now) when living in L.A. we would usually go out for breakfast/brunch over the weekend. It is such a gooood way to start the weekend I think.

For some reason we've never gone much out to eat here in Vienna, even before Silja arrived. And now -- how do you even do those kinds of things with a baby?!

Well, I realized when meeting over lunch with our baby group at our regular kids' cafe that it is very much doable to eat out - for both parts. Silja seems super excited to be eating elsewhere, where there are lots of things to look at. So now we are trying to resume our weekly brunch tradition. Last week she was sleeping, while we were enjoying breakfast at one of the markets. Wee! It was almost like a date! This weekend she was playing with her toys, and when it was time for her lunch, we popped one of those to-go jars of baby food, and voila. (By the way without a highchair one must be quick to avoid potato/spinach on the seat, but we managed...) Anyhow, I'm so happy we can do this, and hope the little one behaves well enough, so we can continue with this onwards.

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