The good and bad of Samuel standing up.......

Last night we were sitting on the couch.  I was watching Chelsea v Juventus in the champions league while Julia was on her laptop comparing prices on baby items.  Samuel was on the floor pulling the DVD and CD's out of their storage racks, playing with his blocks and being exceptionally cute.

At one point he crawled over to the foot stool for the rocking chair and proceeded to pull himself up to a standing position.  This was the first time that he had done this without assistance.  What made this even more amazing is that he was dressed in a sleep sack which is a sack that envelops his feet .  Once we saw him standing we proceeded to tell him good job and clapped to encourage him.  Unfortunately we think we startled him as he loosened his grip on the foot stool and immediately fell backwards onto the hardwood floor.  He almost did a complete flip but his legs did not go completely over his head. 

Fondue is good.....

We had our date night this week on Sunday. We went to a fondue restaurant called Le Chalet. Naturally, we had the fondue.   It was very a very good three cheese fondue with fresh baguette for dipping.  Much to Julia's horror I had the chocolate fondue with an assortment of fruit for dessert.  But once Julia tasted the hot, melted dark chocolate coating a banana she saw the light. We will definitely return for seconds.

-Dave

Samuel is 10 months old today....

It seems as if it was just yesterday when we walked into our apartment in Cincinnati with Samuel for the first time, looked at Samuel, looked at each other and said "What the hell do we do now? or "Where is the instruction manual?"  We are absolutely amazed that Samuel is as perfect as he is considering who is parents are.   We would tend to believe that he was switched at birth if he did not look so much like me and have Julia's skin tone.

One negative aspect of Samuel growing up is that he now cries real tears.  It was always difficult to deal with him crying but seeing tears rolling down his chubby cheeks and knowing that all we can do is hold him and tell him that everything will be okay is heart wrenching..

Some of the positive aspects are that Samuel has started saying Dada, which is sweet but we are trying to get him to say Papa instead. Julia insists that he is also saying Mummy but I have yet to hear it.

When we hold Samuel so he can see himself in a mirror and ask him "Where's Samuel?" he will point to himself in the mirror.  If we ask him "Where's Mummy or Papa?" he will point at us.

We are trying to teach him to respond by throwing his arms out when we ask him "How big is Samuel?"  It will take time but he is responding.

On Sunday Samuel portended to end of Preacher's peaceful life in Paris.  Preacher was laying on the couch when Samuel made his way over and tried to pull himself up onto the couch. Preacher woke up, sat up, and stared at Samuel with a look that could kill.  It is only a matter of time until the cats have no place left to hide.

I am preparing myself to spend my first days without Samuel.  I will be in Denver for 5 days starting this Saturday and Julia will have Samuel all to herself.  Moya has graciously agreed to change her schedule and will be here during the days next week so that Julia can work.  Julia, Samuel and I will skype often.

Update-21 February

Forgot a few things on the last entry.

Samuel is beginning to try to pull himself up to standing.  He has not quite accomplished this milestone but he is trying.

A major treat.  The pool has vending machines, no groundbreaking news there. The vending machines carry Mikado.  One of Julia's favorite treats.  We can get them at any store but it is interesting to see them available in a vending machine.

Samuel is not quite crawling.  He motors quite quickly around the apartment on his elbows and legs.  Has not got the hang of getting to his hands and knees.  He may never get there as he is quite fast in his present mode.

-Dave

Another good day-21 February

Saturday-Samuel has his swimming lesson from 0915-0950.  However, the french school system is on holiday for the next 2 weeks so there was no class today.  But we did not know that so we arrived as usual at 0900 only to be told that class was not scheduled.  Since we were already at the pool we decided to go in anyway.  There were two other couples(both French) who also showed up so the 9 of us shared the baby pool.  Unfortunately since no class was scheduled the toys that are usually available were away in storage. We still managed to have fun.  We spent about 50 minutes in the water with Samuel.  We placed Samuel on our backs with him holding our hair and swam/walked the length of the pool with him on our backs. Samuel also had a great time splashing.  This was 2 consecutive weeks that Samuel really enjoyed his time in the water. Hopefully his enjoyment and improvement will continue. Discovered today that the baby pool is available during the week so for the near future Samuel and I will be going to the pool on Wednesdays to spend some quality time in the pool.

We plan on going to the Musee du Luxembourg to day to see a Miro/Warhol exhibit.  If you remember our posts from the summer there is a wonderful Italienne Glace shop near the Jardin du Luxembourg where the Musee is located.  Unfortunately the high today is only supposed to be 42(6) so they may not be open. Also the glace may not taste as good in cold weather. We have talked about stopping at a cafe on our way home and enjoying one of the benefits of living in Paris.  We have yet to sit at a cafe and have a coffee.  We did have a few beers in the summer when we in Montparnesse.

A good day- 20 February

Samuel has changed his sleep habits.  He now goes to bed much earlier 2100 or 2200.  He wakes sometime early morning, anywhere from 0200-0500 for a feed and then he, sometimes, goes back to sleep.

With Samuel now being awake earlier in the morning our schedule can adjust.  Today, Samuel and I walked Julia to her car and then we went to the butcher and the market.  The weather has improved so that we could do this.  High today almost 50(10 c).  It was good to see everyone and have them remember us.  We especially miss our produce people as we had not seen them since before Christmas.

Upon returning to our building, Beatrice, our gardienne, was in the hallway cleaning the mirrors. We did not have an intellectual discussion but I was able to comprehend what she was saying/asking and I was able to tell her that Samuel is feeling better. A small victory.

Had my first encounter with the French bureaucracy today.  I had to meet a consultant at the Nanterre prefecture to pick up my carte de sejour(residency card).  Julia being an EU citizen allows me to receive a cart de sejour that allows me to reside and work in France for 10 years. With the aid of the consultant I was able to receive my carte with ....update(not for the squeamish).....Samuel is on the floor under the desk and he has just been exposed to many germs as he just put two of my toes in his mouth.  Now he is crying...........very little heartache. The only obstacle is that the card was issued with our old address, so the consultant kept my carte as she was meeting with an official after our meeting who would be able to correct my address.  If all goes well she will courier my carte to me on Monday.

Did encounter some difficulty today.  To get to the nanterre prefecture I had to take the metro 1 to La Defense where I transferred to the RER A.  I had, what we call in America a brain fart. when I got off the metro I took the escalator the RER not realizing that the RER went in two directions and I was on the wrong platform.  My thought(?) process was that the metro line meets it terminus at La Defense and for reasons unknown I assumed that the RER line was the same.  It was not.  Fortunately I was able to call my non flustered wife and she listened to me patiently as I was able to determine what I needed to do.  We only had to take the RER 1 stop so when we got off(on the RER you need your ticket to exit, this is different than the metro where no ticket is needed to exit) when I tried to exit the turnstile would not accept my ticket.  I tried a few different turnstiles with the same result.  Fortunately there was port near the turnstiles that someone had just used and we were able to sneak through before it closed to exit the terminal.  As we returned to the terminal to begin our journey home the turnstile again refused my ticket.  Again, my lovely wife came to the rescue as she determined that I had crossed zones and needed to purchase a different ticket to access the RER.  The remainder of the trip home was uneventful.

-Dave

Samuel update-19 February

Samuel is growing too fast.  When I try to put him on the floor in a sitting position he now refuses to bend his legs and he remains in a standing position.  Have had to resort to grabbing his knees and bending them so that he will move into a sitting position.  The entire time I am doing this he is laughing at me.

Samuel had his first negative encounter with Molson today. Back story-I had a hot turkey sandwich for lunch today utilizing the remaining Turkey & gravy from thanksgiving.  There was an abundance of turkey so I gave some to Molson.  When I returned from picking up Samuel at the halte garderie I gave Molson the rest of the turkey in his food bowl.  Samuel, who had been in the living room, had made his way into the kitchen and he decided that Molson wanted to be petted while he was eating turkey.  Unfortunately, Molson did not want to be petted.  Samuel's idea of petting is to grab and hold until he pulls Molson's hair out.  Molson did not appreciate this while he was eating and he hissed at Samuel for the first time.  Samuel did not flinch and continued to grasp Molson by the hair until he left his food bowl and the kitchen.

Went to quatre temps(shopping mall) today to purchase baby gates and toys while Samuel was in the halte garderie.  I detest going to Parisian malls as much I hated going to American malls. Only purchased one toy but Samuel now has an ABC piano that is in both French and English.  I should admit that I will also use the French ABC to practice my pronunciation