Samuel update

First, no teeth yet.  Based on the amount of drool Samuel is producing teeth cannot be far away.

Last night (Thursday) we were tired and we decided to eat diner on the couch so we could watch the season finale of project runway and still get to bed early.  While we were eating Samuel was in his bouncy seat next between the couch and the table.  On the corner of the table were the papers from the days mail.  Samuel was a contortionist in his efforts to reach above him to his left to grab the papers.  He became very frustrated as he was unable to accomplish this on his own.  When Julia gave him one sheet of paper he gave us a huge smile and he began to crumple the paper and throw it around his head.  Why did we spend so much money on toys when he gets so much enjoyment from a solitary piece of paper?

Today he has spent quite a bit of time on his activity mat.  The activity mat is a soft mat with two arches that intersect above the mat.  From these arches, toys dangle that he can grab and play with.  There are holes in the arches that the toys loop through.  Today he has taken one of the toys off the arch 3 times.  He is advancing far too fast for me.

I cannot believe that in 6 days he will be 6 months old.

-Dave

Life of a working Mum

There is something very bittersweet about being a working Mum. Last night, as soon as Samuel saw me walk through the door, he turned towards me, stopped fussing and started laughing. It is very reassuring to know that maybe he misses me (ok... well maybe just his food source!) as much as I miss him during the day. It must be hard for Dave to be ignored when I walk into the room - but then I am sure that during the day Samuel smiles and laughs at him probably even more. I just hope that I don't miss too much of Samuel's development while I am at work. Last night we saw him reach out for the first time for something other than his favorite toy. It was just a piece of paper on the side of the table, but he was contorting himself in his bouncy seat and reaching out to try to get hold of it. When I moved it a bit closer to him, he grabbed it and was so pleased with himself that he was laughing and waving the paper around... before scrunching it up and twisting it into unrecognizable shapes (note to ourselves: we're in trouble... things may no longer be safe around our growing boy!). [Edit: I just noticed when I posted this that Dave posted an update on Samuel today also - see below :-)]

Work itself is going fine. It's getting very busy as I've now learned enough about the role and the business to have a clear idea of what I want to do - and there is a lot to do. It will be a demanding job as the business is not in great shape and while there are a lot of tangible things I can do, most of these require the help of a lot of other people - and I will need to both get their support to new ways of working and help to change the overall culture. The hardest thing is to find the time to do everything that I want to do. I want to spend all the time I can with my son. I want to have time to enjoy my life with Dave. I want to invest the time in my work to get great results... because the best results also help take care of my family. But there is never enough time in a day to do all of these things, and sleep certainly suffers as it is the lowest priority.

It is quite a shock to move from a US work culture to a French one - even if they are part of the same multi-national company. France seems more formal and more hierarchy-conscious than what I was used to in the US. On the one hand that means they are better-dressed (!) - on the other this means that there is much less of a sense of 'team' and of 'fun' / good-humoured casual banter when we work together. They are also very intellectual... very focused on understanding the detail of things, enjoy having a debate about it (in great detail), and want to have everything perfect before moving forward. It does not seem to come naturally to them to confront the harsh reality of things, figure out the top few things we need to do to improve it, and get on with doing something about it ASAP. I have to figure out how to get to a good mix of adapting myself to the culture here but also adapt the culture to one that I believe is most productive.

I've already been to Geneva a couple of times for work. It's hard to leave Dave and Samuel, but it also makes me realize how lucky we are that we are able to have one of us be a stay at home parent. My functional boss is a woman who is just recently getting divorced and she clearly has some significant struggles to manage the care needs for her elementary-school aged children. I am still managing to breast-feed Samuel - and take the time during the day to pump while at work. The great thing is that I am able to do it hands-free... so I can work at my laptop at the same time! It isn't easy though - I sometimes have to walk out of meetings or try to fit it in quickly between things. It's also quite unusual in France to have someone breastfeeding for so long (only 53% of French women do, and most of them stop after 3 months) - so they probably think I'm quite strange! I have to admit that while I will miss feeding Samuel it will definitely make life a bit easier at work.

It has been fun seeing all of my old friends from Europe again at work. At these meetings in Geneva I keep bumping in to people that I haven't seen in years - many of whom I got to know in different countries. It will also be great to start to see more of our friends again - now that we have moved in and the hotel is open for business! Bookings are coming in... so we wait to hear from you!

Kids are the same everywhere.

Samuel and I went to monoprix this morning to pick up a few things.  They have baby mais (baby corn) which is fresh.  This means we can have one of our favorite salads while her in Paris. 

Okay, back to the point of the post.  While we were walking around the candy section, looking for powdered chocolate, I saw a mother and son wheel their cart up and park it next to the candy.  The mother walked off to another aisle.  the son, with a very mischievous look on his face, snuck over to the candy and grabbed something and sneaked back to the cart and hid the candy under items that had already been placed in the cart.  This is the type of behavior that i used to partake in.  Kids are the same everywhere.  Needless to say I have had a smile on my face since the incident.

A different perspective....

After further review, I do not hate the French.  Only Parisians.

I have come to realize that it is simply a battle over space.  The times that are challenging here are walking on the sidewalks, shopping in the narrow(compared to the US) aisles of the supermarket, getting on/of the trains.

I have to remember that the behavior is not directed towards me or Samuel.  I have seen young Parisian males rush past old women on the train to beat them to seats.  I have to take the time to remember that this is the first time I have lived in the big city.  When you are visiting as a tourist such behavior is often quite quickly forgotten when overwhelmed with the beauty and newness of the city.  When you are living here the daily battles become exaggerated and can be overwhelming if one lets them.  It is easy to become a prisoner in one's home.  I must get out every day.  That is why it is wonderful to have the park so near because as soon as we turn the corner towards the park the sounds of the avenue Charles de Gaulle fade away.  The pedestrian traffic is greatly reduced and we can leisurely stroll to the park and find a bench on the edge of a lake and enjoy the dogs, birds and couples strolling around the lake.

That is why I always try to remind myself whenever we see a tourist destination that we are living in Paris.  Samuel is almost always in the baby bjorn and I will try to grab his arms and throw them up in the air in celebration and say into his ear "We live in Paris!".

-Dave

Samuel is too smart for us.

Now that we have received our sea shipment we have moved Samuel from his bassinet to a crib.  The bassinet was getting ridiculously small as Samuel barely fit from head to toe.  Now that he is in his crib he has plenty of room.  even so that he was able to roll over on to his stomach the other night.  I was only slightly disturbed when I went to wake him up and he was on his belly.

When Samuel was in his bassinet he was able to kick a musical aquarium(thank you, Jencie and Antonio) to advise us that he was awake and wishing to get up.  Now that he is in his crib the aquarium is harder to get to.  So today he decided to roll over to the edge of the crib and turn on his overhead mobile.  We have to figure out how to download from our video camera so that we can make a movie of Samuel waking up as he always wakes up with a smile and a tremendous desire to get his day started.

Had another good day today.  Samuel and I went to the market this morning and i was able to ask the cheese shop if they have ricotta.  Unfortunately they do not but I was able to communicate.  Progress is being made.

Samuel and I then went for a 2 hour walk in the bois de bolougne.  We found the playground again so that anyone who visits that has kids who need to burn of energy have a playground available.  Found a lake that has a rowboat rental; as Samuel was asleep I sat on a  bench and watched a father try to teach his young daughter how to row a boat.  Paid attention as this is something I will be undertaking in a few years.

Dave-

More pictures and life in Paris is good(at least for today).

Samuel in his halloween costume.
Samuel in a full body shot(except you can't see his orange feet) of his halloween costume.

First the good news.  I received my absentee ballot today.  It is a good feeling to feel connected to the homeland.  Unfortunately there are no candidates worthy of the office but I have to vote in spite of the dearth of qualified candidates.  Political rant off.

We will be able to celebrate halloween in Paris.  There is an english speaking mothers group that hosts a party in the Parc Monceau that we will be attending on the 31st. Julia will take time off from work so that we can enjoy the day as a family.

Pictures

Even I have to admit that Samuel is not always the perfect child.
This is Samuel just after he was cleaned.
The view form the window in our entryway.  Not the best view of the tower but it is a good reminder that we are living in Paris
Three generations of Denman's.