This is just a post to say that following a month-long blogging hiatus in which we were tremendously busy working and also going on vacation, I've resolved to get back on track.
Here are the top five things that happened in the last month:
1. We went to Italy and looked at very beautiful scenery and ate ourselves stoopid. McNoodle likes truffles! That's our girl.
2. While on vacation, Alex got a tick in the usual unfortunate area. He is totally unfazed by such things but they fill me with deep horror and the need to go check myself every 15 minutes, even if, for example, I haven't sat in any grass for the last three days. Note to self: Get everyone shots.
3. We finally installed ababy jail structured play space in our living room so that I can actually go do things while the child is awake. Sadly, she often sits clutching the bars exterior boundary and screeching at the top of her surprisingly sturdy lungs crying while I slice apples or whatever. In terms of nerve-wrackingness this is only a marginal improvement to overturning the cats' water bowl (again! and effing again!), emptying bookshelves full of looseleaf paper, and chewing on cables.
4. McNoodle outgrew everything. I swear, the kid doubled in size overnight. Everything in size 74 (6-9 months) is now just a little too small for her. However, we refuse to accept this expensive new reality and so half the time she just crawls around with a diaper wedgie.
5. McNoodle's doctor informed me that I'm rubbish as a parent. Actually, he said that the baby is in perfect health, but noted (I did ask) that her eating habits are all wrong. Apparently she was getting double the amount of formula she's supposed to (like, when did that change and was I supposed to get some kind of memo?), and also I should not feed her vegetables at night. Because gas. And somehow also because, he doesn't know about other places, but here in Austria we eat a meal with meat at lunch and we do not eat vegetables at night.
"What? We do so," I said.
He looked momentarily troubled. Perhaps because one does, in fact, eat vegetables for dinner in Austria, if not gigantic schnitzels that overhang the plate all the way around.
"Ja, gut," he said. "But she should just have porridge. It will help her sleep through the night." He sat back down in his swivel chair and was typing up his notes, which meant our little meeting was over.
"She already sleeps through the night," I said, perhaps a tad confrontationally.
He gave me a slightly distant look, as if he was remembering what it had been like back when I was still standing in his office, and swivelled gently. And won, that bastard.
"Okay, so porridge at night," I said. "Right. Thanks a lot. See you soon."
"Come back in two months," he said. We were dismissed.
I left very confused about what the good doctor generally has for dinner and what time of day the baby is, in fact, supposed to eat vegetables (as snacks?). But I also decided that my doctor doesn't know very much about vegetables, or Austrian eating habits, and so I resolved not to ask him dietary questions any more because they undermine his authority. Am I truly supposed to take the no-veg-at-night rule as seriously as I would take his instructions on, for example, the frequency and dosage of baby medication? Of course not. He might be a doctor and all, but he's also twice as old as me, which means he has had twice as long to forget what it's like to even BE a baby, so, you know, I'm pretty sure we're both right.
Anyway, I digress. Porridge at night. Except for when I give her vegetables. Which is often. The End.
P.S. I actually really like this doctor, because he is kindly and loves kids and is not prone to overmedication. We just do a terrible job communicating with each other. For my benefit he sometimes speaks English, except he only says the really easy things in (worse-than-my-German) English, so the things that I might actually misunderstand remain in German. It's an awesome system.
P.P.S.: ToothWatch: Keep watching.
P.P.P.S: It's Noodle's nine month birthday! HOORAY!
 |
| "You are not the only fatface in the world. There are many others! But you are my favourite one." - Alex, some time last month. |
1. We went to Italy and looked at very beautiful scenery and ate ourselves stoopid. McNoodle likes truffles! That's our girl.
2. While on vacation, Alex got a tick in the usual unfortunate area. He is totally unfazed by such things but they fill me with deep horror and the need to go check myself every 15 minutes, even if, for example, I haven't sat in any grass for the last three days. Note to self: Get everyone shots.
3. We finally installed a
4. McNoodle outgrew everything. I swear, the kid doubled in size overnight. Everything in size 74 (6-9 months) is now just a little too small for her. However, we refuse to accept this expensive new reality and so half the time she just crawls around with a diaper wedgie.
5. McNoodle's doctor informed me that I'm rubbish as a parent. Actually, he said that the baby is in perfect health, but noted (I did ask) that her eating habits are all wrong. Apparently she was getting double the amount of formula she's supposed to (like, when did that change and was I supposed to get some kind of memo?), and also I should not feed her vegetables at night. Because gas. And somehow also because, he doesn't know about other places, but here in Austria we eat a meal with meat at lunch and we do not eat vegetables at night.
"What? We do so," I said.
He looked momentarily troubled. Perhaps because one does, in fact, eat vegetables for dinner in Austria, if not gigantic schnitzels that overhang the plate all the way around.
 |
| These are not vegetables, but this was not Austria. |
"She already sleeps through the night," I said, perhaps a tad confrontationally.
He gave me a slightly distant look, as if he was remembering what it had been like back when I was still standing in his office, and swivelled gently. And won, that bastard.
"Okay, so porridge at night," I said. "Right. Thanks a lot. See you soon."
"Come back in two months," he said. We were dismissed.
I left very confused about what the good doctor generally has for dinner and what time of day the baby is, in fact, supposed to eat vegetables (as snacks?). But I also decided that my doctor doesn't know very much about vegetables, or Austrian eating habits, and so I resolved not to ask him dietary questions any more because they undermine his authority. Am I truly supposed to take the no-veg-at-night rule as seriously as I would take his instructions on, for example, the frequency and dosage of baby medication? Of course not. He might be a doctor and all, but he's also twice as old as me, which means he has had twice as long to forget what it's like to even BE a baby, so, you know, I'm pretty sure we're both right.
Anyway, I digress. Porridge at night. Except for when I give her vegetables. Which is often. The End.
P.S. I actually really like this doctor, because he is kindly and loves kids and is not prone to overmedication. We just do a terrible job communicating with each other. For my benefit he sometimes speaks English, except he only says the really easy things in (worse-than-my-German) English, so the things that I might actually misunderstand remain in German. It's an awesome system.
P.P.S.: ToothWatch: Keep watching.
P.P.P.S: It's Noodle's nine month birthday! HOORAY!
