Samuel is French, Oh no!!!!

Samuel and I took a walk to the boulangerie this morning so that Julia could sleep in.  It was a beautiful morning as the sun was rising and the snow(Yes, it is snowing again in the city where it never snows!) was gently falling.  A very enjoyable but crisp walk.  When we returned I asked Samuel to carry the baguette into the kitchen which he did enthusiastically.  When he returned to the front door I was in the process of removing my coat and shoes, so I handed him the bag containing our croissants and pains au chocolat and asked him to carry those into the kitchen.  Big mistake.

After I had finished taking of my coat and shoes I rounded the corner and spied Samuel standing in the living room with the bag on the living room table and a croissant in his hand.  Samuel had not only taken a croissant out of the bag, he had torn off one end of the croissant and was eating it while trailing crumbs all over the floor.  This is very much the French way of eating a croissant, not the crumbs, but the tearing off of a corner and eating a criossant by pieces is very French.

We need to move soon.

Glory, glory, Samuel slept through the night for the first time since we removed a section of his crib.  The downside is that he is no longer taking 2 hour naps in the afternoon.  For his naps we take him upstairs and leave him alone. He almost immediately crawls out of his crib and walks to the top of the stairs carrying his inchworm(it makes noise when he walks).  He then proceeds to sit there, quietly, sucking on his pacifier, patiently waiting for one of us to come and get him.

One hour later.  Had to go pick up Samuel early from HG.  He picked up conjunctivitis last Sunday and had been feeling better since then.  But the HG called saying that he had had a very runny diaper and was acting very apathetic.  So I went to get him.  When I walked in he looked very tired and pale(but he is half British).  I asked him to come to me and he went to one of the carers and gave her on of his patented leg hugs.  I was only slightly devastated.

Yesterday was family haircut day.  My hair was cut first so that Samuel could see that it is fun to have one's haircut.  When we had had our haircut individually both of us had failed to notice that our coiffure has a small table and chairs with toys for kids to play with.  While I was getting my haircut Julia was sitting with Samuel playing at the table.  When my hair was finished the stylist cut Samuel's hair at the table while he was playing with the toys.  He was very happy while his hair was being cut.

Last Saturday Julia and i went to see Invictus.  We had wanted to see it for awhile.  When Samuel and I were at the city centre shopping on Saturday morning I happened to walk by the city centre movie theatre and noticed that, not only, was it playing Invictus, it was playing in V.O.(version originale).  Which means it is English with french subtitles.  Great to discover that our local theatre plays movies in English.  We had thought that our only option was to travel to the Champs Elyssee to see movies in English.

Very French moment on Thursday(yesterday).  Samuel and I went to the city centre to shop.  One of our stops was at the cheese shop.  A women entered the shop before us.  Fifteen minutes later we were finally able to place our order.  This woman ordered 92 euros of cheese.

Samuel sleeping

My heart stopped this morning.  I went into Samuel's room to wake him up.  He was laying on his stomach with his arms straight out from his body with his head hanging over the edge of the mattress, looking as if he had a broken neck.

Luckily, before I panicked Samuel snorted so I knew he was okay.  I am almost 50, I do not need mornings like this.

Samuel has adapted to the opening in his crib.  Last night I had to put him to bed 4 times.  The first time I put him to bed I went into the office to check the news.  Within a minute of having sat down I heard Samuel and his inchworm plodding down the hallway.  I then put him to bed again and went downstairs.  We both heard him get out and walk to the top of the stairs, where apparently he fell asleep.  When he did wake up he started to cry while laying on the floor outside the closed office door.

The difficulty getting him to sleep last night was a surprise as he did not nap well.  For the last two days he has crawled out of the crib and spent most of his nap time sitting at the top of the stairs, quietly(thankfully) waiting for me to come upstairs.

Samuel has a new bed

We were finally able to get out and pickup Samuel's new bed today.  Samuel is not spoiled but he now has a castle bed.  Okay, maybe he is a little spoiled.

Sometimes things in life just work out.  Call it karma, good luck, whatever sometimes life just works.  We had been talking about buying Samuel a bed.  Julia did some research and we had decided to look at a Flexa bed.  The day after we decided this a thread was posted on this English language mothers support group in Paris we belong to that stated that a woman had just bought a Flexa bed but it was too  big for their son's bedroom.  They were offering a 600 euro bed for 400 euros. Sometimes life just works out.

To pick up the bed today I had to drive Julia's Audi for the first time. A very nice ride which I have to get use to driving more (trip home from hospital?).  Driving the car is not a problem, the difficulty comes in parking the car.  As long as the insurance is paid up, I will do my best.

We came home late(1230) so we immediately fed Samuel and put him down for his nap.  When it was time to wake Samuel up I came upstairs and sat at the computer to check the news and I heard the pitter-patter of little feet running down the hallway.  Samuel turned the corner into the office with his pacifier in his mouth, a smurf in one hand, his inch-worm in the other and his animal storybook folded over his arms.  He has learned to get out of his crib and leave his room when he wakes up from his nap.

-Dave