Brightwood Lights

It’s been a bit since I gave a good update on the kids for those who really, REALLY want to know, so here we go:
Simona is 5 and starts Kindergarten in one short month!! She is an incredible helper and great big sister, and I think she adores her role as “oldest.” I sometimes have to remind her that she is not Mama, though, when she starts to take a tone with Andreas if he doesn’t do as she says!

She is getting better and better at coloring and drawing and can sit for relatively long stretches with her crayons and colored pencils. She’s also slowly starting to read and write! Her German is better at this point, largely because it’s a much more phonetic language than English, but she’s picking up both very well. She has some of the same easily-frustrated/wants-to-give-up tendencies that I recognize in myself, but then her joy at finally “getting it” is that much greater. Speaking of “getting it,” she mastered bike riding this spring! She has been able to ride without training wheels since Christmas, but stopping and starting still required help. Since April 29, though, she is a fully independent bike rider!

She also took swimming lessons in Germany (with the same swim instructor who taught me to swim!) and is now a certified competent breast-stroker. She passed the “Seepferdchen” (Little Seahorse) test, which is a nationally standardized swim test requiring the swimmer to a) jump into the pool, b) swim 25 meters without stopping / holding onto the sides, and c) retrieve a ring from the bottom of the pool (in relatively shallow water).

We are happy for our little seahorse. . . who also has become our little ballerina. She took ballet & tap lessons once a week this spring and had her first recital in June. She also had the chance to be a flower girl yet AGAIN this summer. One of the two flower girls at my cousin’s wedding had stage fright, so Simona was asked to stand in last minute. Of course, she didn’t need to be told what to do!

Finally, Simona is anticipating her losing her first* tooth, which will probably fall out any day.

*Technically, second, but the first was not exactly “lost.” (See December 2009 if you need a refresher!)

Andreas is a busy, busy little guy.

He’s still “all boy” in that he loves tractors, balls, trucks, and other stereotypical “boy” toys. He still loves fish, though the obsession has died down a bit. In many ways he’s a typical two-year-old, with endless curiosity about the world and constant energy. He runs very well now and continues to be an amazing climber.


He loves to swim, though a lingering “complication” of his eye issues is that he has very sensitive eyes. He can’t blink or squint very well, which makes getting sun, water, shampoo, or sunscreen in his eyes very painful. That makes being outside and around the pool a bit more complicated, but he does love it.

Andreas is also quite a clown, cracking jokes like, “Das Baby heisst Nancy!” when pointing to Maria or “Ich heisse ‘mas o menos’!” (“The baby is named Nancy!” or “My name is mas o menos!” which he got from Simona bringing home lessons from Spanish class.) He has learned to turn on the iPod and also likes to do “ballet” by hopping around the living room. He’s sweet but can have a bit of a temper, so we’re working on not screaming or hitting when we don’t get our way. (Again, typical 2-year-old!) He’s also having some trouble sleeping through the night, which can lead to funny half-sleepy conversations like the night he woke me up at 3 AM to ask me, “Koennen wir Vogel und Spargel essen, Mama?” (translation: “Can we eat some bird and asparagus, Mama? . . . who knows what that means or where it came from!).


He also refuses to even consider potty training, but we plan to push that a bit more after we are settled into a new routine in the coming months. He’s extremely cute with Maria, and I sometimes catch him trying to comfort her when she’s upset. (Occasionally, she’s upset because he’s climbed into her crib and woken her during nap time!) He and Simona alternate between playing well and fighting like crazy, especially now that he’s able to stand up for himself a bit when she gets bossy. It’s just too bad that his attention span is so short; it makes getting his tender moments on camera nearly impossible.

Maria changes constantly and quickly!

It’s amazing to look at how far she has come in seven and a half months. While I was pregnant, she was so calm that I predicted that she would be my most mellow baby and that she would likely be a little slower on some of the gross motor skills. Boy, has she proven me wrong! She is, in fact, my most calm and peaceful baby; however, she continues to surprise me with her quiet resolve and determination! She was sitting up at just over 5 months, scooting by six months, and is now fully crawling. . . and getting faster by the day! She can climb up one step and is working on creeping up a staircase. Time to get serious with the baby-proofing!

Though she is my “earliest” at all of these skills, she is my “latest” teether. She got her first tooth on July 10, at exactly 7 months, and cut her second tooth just this week. Maria also wins the distinction as my only non-thumb sucker. She soothes herself pretty well with her “Frosch” (frog) blanket but also settles down quickly when she is picked up. She has started to take a liking to solid foods and so far has been a great eater. (We did have to try spinach a few times before it went down!)


Maria ADORES older kids- especially her older siblings- but is a bit more judicious with her laughs now that she is starting to distinguish familiar faces from strangers.

Overall, these three kiddos keep me BUSY! I have been spoiled with plenty of help from family during these weeks of transition, but we are looking forward to settling into a new routine in Baltimore, too. No telling what antics these three will come up with . . . stay tuned!

When an American thinks of Germany, here’s what usually comes to his or her mind:
- Wienerschnitzel
- Lederhosen
- Cars (VW, BMW, Mercedes)
- Beer / Oktoberfest
- Mountains / yodeling
- Hitler / WWII
Did I hit them all? Maybe some think of a few others: the Autobahn with its famous lack of speed limits, soccer, Bratwurst, Sauerkraut. . . and if they’re really on their game, they may even come up with something like the Berlin Wall or so.

I ought to know, because I have spent my life having Americans reference any or all of these topics when the fact that I am German comes up in conversation. While I appreciate the efforts to make conversation about Germany, it feels a bit to me like someone from a ranch in Montana being asked to talk about Times Square or the beaches in Florida. Americana, yes, but probably quite different from the day-to-day American experience in Montana.
So here is a glimpse into “my” part of Germany, Schleswig-Holstein (“S-H”). Sorry if this is boring. . . I’ll include a brief family update at the bottom, so feel free to skip the geography lesson.

S-H is the northernmost German state and is bordered by Denmark to the north, the Baltic Sea to the east, the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Mecklenburg- West Pommerania) to the southeast, the Elbe river to the south, and the North Sea to the west. Hamburg, the 2nd largest city in Germany (after Berlin), is a separate city-state located on the Elbe River between S-H and Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony), the state on the other side of the river.

S-H is similar to the Midwest in that much of it is flat or gently rolling, fertile farmland. Cabbage and cows dominate the countryside around Glueckstadt, the town in which we spend most of our time. Other prominent features of the landscape are dykes, sheep, and, more recently, large windmills. S-H is home to Germany’s main beaches, which are characterized by their extreme tides, especially on the North Sea side. In fact, the “Wattenmeer” is a designated UNESCO World Heritage site because its tidal ecosystem is so unique. It truly is a site to behold: During low tide, the dunes can be separated from the water literally by miles of beach. These pictures are from the beach near St. Peter-Ording on the North Sea:

S-H is home to the Nord-Ostsee Kanal (NOK), the third-most-important shipping canal in the world (following the Panama & the Suez Canals). The Elbe is also a major shipping route, and huge container ships, ferries, and cruise liners traveling to and from Hamburg’s massive port are a frequent site from the shorelines.

Because it is the “Land Between the Seas,” S-H has a relatively mild temperatures year-round, with averages of 55L/75H in the summer and 28L/38H in the winter. Don’t be fooled, though- S-H is so far north that it stays light from about 4:15 AM to 11:15 PM in the summers. It is extremely windy and very rainy, which can make even a summer day quite cold by our standards! The hidden benefit to the grey, dreary weather, though, is a subtle beauty borne out in the lush landscape and the frequent, awesome cloud formations. My Oma has instilled in me a deep appreciation for both the scenery and the hardiness of the locals.

Glueckstadt, where my dad grew up, was founded by a Danish king in the 1600s. (S-H was a contested territory for much of its history and was controlled by the Danish at various points in time.) The town lies directly on the Elbe and is home to a ferry across the river, which many vacationers and even large trucks utilize to bypass the notorious traffic jams in the “Elbtunnel” in Hamburg. In fact, during peak summer vacation season, the ferry itself can have a multi-hour wait time! Watching the skilled seamen dock and then quickly direct traffic on and off the boat is a past time in and of itself.

Glueckstadt is a cute, walkable town that attracts quite a large number of tourists, especially during its annual “Matjeswochen,” or town festival celebrating the local delicacy: pickled raw herring. (It tastes great with some tomato slices, pepper, and pickles on black bread. Trust me!)
Glueckstadt also boasts a marketplace with a beautiful church and a twice-a-week market, where locals purchase food and other items directly from area farmers, bakers, and other vendors. Some of our favorite town establishments have always been the local public pool (the “Fortuna Bad”) and an Italian ice cream shop with amazing gelato.

I hope you have enjoyed a brief tour of some of the lesser-known parts of Germany. Tour books usually skim over Schleswig-Holstein, but I’m proud to call this one of the many places I feel “at home.”
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Other Updates:
Caleb has begun his job in Baltimore, and we have decided to live in that city instead of Washington, D.C. It was a tough decision, but ultimately, we realized we would have a much higher quality of life as a family if we lived close to Caleb’s office. Maria and I joined Caleb in looking for a place to live last weekend, and all of us will be moving into a new (rental) home in Baltimore on August 1. We are looking forward to being reunited and to beginning a new chapter in the Old Line State.