New pictures and update

TEETH!!!!!!!!!

Samuel dressed for the 4th of July when we threw off the yoke of our british oppressors.

Samuel first thing in the morning. He has advanced to wearing pajamas as it has been drainingly hot here this week and he would drown in his own sweat if we tried to have him sleep in a sleepsack. It will not be long until he moves to a bed as is alarmingly close to being able to climb out of his crib.

Sorry for the lack of recent posts but moving with a 14 month old is much more difficult than moving with a 6 month old. The only opportunity to really get things done during the day is when Samuel is napping. The rest of the time is spent chasing , saying no and otherwise being fully occupied in being a parent of a very active and curious child. But we would not have it any other way.

Samuel is so very close to walking. He has taken a few steps between Julia and I a few times. But most of the time when we encourage him to try and walk between us, he falls to the floor and crawls.

We went to a 4th of July party and when Samuel was with me I let go of him and he stood, wavering for about 10 seconds. He knows how to walk he just needs to develop the confidence that he can do it.

As for language. He is still only babbling but he does babble almost constantly. This does not worry me as much as he is being exposed to two different languages and from other parents that I have talked to their toddlers(hard to accept that Samuel is now a toddler. Our baby is growing up way too fast.) were also late to talk when they were exposed to two languages.

update - 17 June....Bad news for the French..

I now have a French driver's license, a car and insurance.  The French must not be sleeping well.

The cat's are not happy.  The new babygates arrived yesterday and we installed the gates at the top and bottom of the main stairs.  Wednesday evening Molson sat at the top of the stairs during the entire evening wailing and meowing because he could not get downstairs to be with us.  Both of the cats need to learn to jump the gate.

Julia took the day off and we went to Castorama(similar to a Lowe's or home depot) where we bought our first lawn mower and steps for the pool because the pool is 1.5 meters deep and it is difficult to get out of the pool when holding Samuel.

The new grill arrives on Friday.  Yeah!!!!!

View from bedroom terrace.....

The top picture is the view from our bedroom terrace.  Looking forward to having Sunday breakfast on the terrace.

Did we mention that we have a pool?

Move?

Greetings from Chatou, France.

The process of the move was a nightmare but the house is wonderful and we feel like we are home.

Details to follow.

Date night and the sneaky wife....

We had our last date night while living in Paris last night.  In the future we will be able to come into the city for a date but it will involve driving or multiple changes of trains but we will continue to have our date night, once we find a suitable baby sitter.

Last night we went to see Star Trek, in English.  This was the first time we had attended a movie at this particular chain and were quite taken aback to see people walking in with bags of chips/crisps that they had purchased at the theatre.  We discovered that our worries were for naught as the trailers/commercials lasted for 21 minutes and all the bags of chips/crisps were consumed before the movie began. Next movie, Harry Potter 6!!!

we then had dinner at the Le Chalet, a very nice fondue place near the market area where we currently live.  Will definitely continue to eat there, only in winter as last night it was chilly but we were sweating while eating the fondue.  Very reasonably priced for Paris as two starters, the fondue , two desserts and a nice bottle of wine cost us only 84 euros.

Now for the sneaky wife.  On Friday Julia stopped by the boulangerie to pick up a baguette for dinner.  She said that she only had a 50 euro note and the clerk was unable to make change so the clerk agreed that she could pay for the baguette on Sunday.  Well, this morning comes and Julia is not feeling well so I have to go to the boulangerie to pick up breakfast and pay for the baguette.  First I ask the clerk if she speaks English and she says no.  But I guess the lessons are having some impact as I was able to tell her that my wife had been in the shop on Friday and been unable to pay for the baguette and that I was paying for it today.  Sneaky, sneaky wife!

Wish us luck as this evening we will be transporting the cats to the new house where we will leave them in the basement with food, water and litter boxes so they will not be so traumatized by the movers here for the next two days.  On Wednesday when everything will be delivered to the new house we will either lock them in a bathroom or on the terrace off of our bedroom so that they are out of the way.

Pre-move update.....

Forgot to post Samuel's vitals from his 1 year exam.

9.1 k = 20.1 lbs.  15%

75.6 cm = 29.76 inches  55%

His weight is still on the low end so we are trying to set up an appointment for a taste/texture/swallow test to determine if his lack of desire for solid foods is physiological. Will keep you posted on the results, if there ever are any as the clinic never answers their phone or returns messages when we are able to leave one.

We will be moving beginning Monday.  If there is a reason to call us please try us on our cells as we may not know our new home number until next week.  If you do not have our cell numbers please send us an e-mail and we will forward to you.

I set up my first haircut appointment this week.  Also had my first solo haircut(without Julia in the salon to ensure hat I did not ask for the wrong procedure).  All went well.  Julia wanted only court(short) but I asked for tres, tres court. She is not happy.

Our lift(elevator) has been out of commission since Tuesday morning.  Makes it very difficult to do anything with Samuel as it is 5 flights of stairs but we only have to deal with it for a few more days.

We are not at all worried about Samuel being decisive and assertive.  When we are in the kitchen cooking or doing dishes Samuel will cruise using the kitchen cabinets.  When he reaches us standing in front of a cabinet he just pushes his way in front of us and continues on his journey.  He will, on occasion, go around behind us but this does not occur very often.

Samuel update-1 June

Samuel is into everything these days.  he has lately taken to cruising into the office, pulling himself up on the desk and playing with the Mac keyboard.  We think he should be walking very soon.  Moving to the new house should help him as we will be able to take him outside, on grass, and allow him to fall down so that he realizes that he will not get hurt if he does fall down.  It did take him quite a while to learn to get back down onto the floor once he had learned to pull himself up.  But now he gets up and down too quickly.

Samuel has learned the meaning of the word no.  When he starts to do something that we do not want him to do we tell him no,  he stops looks at us, smiles(or laughs), and then continues upon his way.  His hesitation does give us time to catch up to him and take away the object he should not have or to remove him from an area in which he should not be.