Brightwood Lights

Time for another round of posts probably most interesting to the grandparents. . . the girls’ updates will follow shortly.

ANDREAS is 110% boy. The kid is obsessed with dinosaurs, planes, trains, boats, and cars. He adores pushing/flying/driving his little toys around the house.

He frequently latches onto one or another of them in an obsessive manner, meaning that a particular item travels EVERYWHERE with him for a day (or two or three). Interest in that specific object will then wane as a new one replaces it, but you have to be on your toes. A previous “must-have” toy can unexpectedly return to “cannot-live-without-it” status without any notice, and if it is not easily accessible (read: you don’t know where he last put it), panic will ensue. And so, Caleb has received many a mid-day phone call from Nancy asking, “Do you happen to know where ‘Gruenes Flugzeug’ (green airplane) is right now?” or “My life will be markedly improved if you could tell me where the VW is. . . please?!?”

He has recently also begun showing a bit of an interest in arts and crafts. His attention span is growing increasingly longer, so if we put some children’s stories or music on the radio and give him a dinosaur coloring book, we can occasionally buy ourselves a few minutes of (relative) calm. (Warning: he may still knock over an empty chair, color on his sister or Lord-knows-what else, or come up with some other mischief, so this is not a free pass to leave him unsupervised!) He had a lot of fun with fingerpaint recently.

Andreas is going through some typical 3-year-old “mean” stuff: hitting, pinching, teasing, jumping on, and otherwise aggravating his big and little sisters. He comes up with some hilarious but not appropriate insults, so Simona often comes running up to us to report, “Andreas hat mich eben stinkig doof Kuh genannt!” (Andreas just called me stinky dumb cow!). Not sure where he gets these, but I sometimes have to bite my tongue to keep from laughing. We are trying to work on this behavior.

Physically, he continues to be relatively small. He had his 3-year well-child visit in January and weighed in around 31 pounds, which put him in the 50th percentile for weight. I don’t remember how tall he is, but I think it was around 95 centimeters (about 37 inches). Whatever it was, he is in the 20th percentile for height. He also had a bad haircut (I take full responsibility for the unfortunate mishap with the clippers!) in December, so he has spent January regrowing his hair. (These are before and after pictures from December. . . he looks much better now!)

He also had a sore nose (from a late-December cold) that he kept picking at, so it grew into a bigger and bigger scab. We had to enforce wearing a band aid on his upper lip and then had to resort to socks over his hands to allow it to finally heal up, but it’s pretty well healed now.

Despite his wild-man ways, Andreas does have a tender little heart and will sometimes crawl into your lap for a hug or a story- preferably about a train, plane, dinosaur, car, boat. . . He definitely idolizes his Papa right now, which is really cute to see. His laugh is contagious, and he is a sweet boy. He brings so much fun and energy into our lives.

One year ago today, Maria Joy burst into our lives. Her dramatic arrival sometimes seems like just yesterday. . . and sometimes seem like six lifetimes ago. So much has happened in the past year, between Caleb’s graduation and job hunt, our move to Baltimore, a trip to Germany, and the adjustment to a new city.

Yes, it’s been quite a first year of life for Miss Maria Joy, or “Missy Miss,” “Gabi,” “Ria Ria,” “Baby Babes,” or even “Princess Face,” as she is sometimes known around here. There have been moments of extreme stress in learning to care for three children, balanced by moments of pure joy, like when Maria first started giving us her infectious morning smiles. We look forward to her little greetings of, “Hi!” and her belly laugh, but we also are thankful for her ability to play quietly by herself for ten minutes here or there. She is resilient and stands up to her big siblings, but she is also gentle and quick to give a little pat with a comforting “Ei, ei.” (“There, there.”) She’s slightly skeptical of strangers and has a calm but serious side before she warms up. Her mischievous side shines through when she pulls Mama’s hair or makes a beeline for an un-gated staircase.

We are so glad that Maria is a part of our family and can’t get enough of that seven-toothed grin and those slobbery kisses. Though we occasionally feel a twinge of nostalgia for the warmth and frailty of brand new life, we also relish the excitement of watching her discover her world and become her own person. I’m sure before we know it, she’ll be dancing in her big sister’s footsteps, but for now, we’re happy she’s just who she is: A bald, sweet little ONE year old.

Happy Birthday, Missy Miss. Alles Gute. Wir lieben Dich!

Last week, Simona was nearly expelled from Kindergarten.

What? Sweet Simona, kicked out of school within the first month?

Yes. Back in early September, we received a letter from the city school board that three of her immunizations were not up to date and that she would need to be fully vaccinated by September 12 in order to continue attending school. We thought she current on all shots, but the school office insisted she was not.
So we quickly found a doctor and scheduled appointments for her and Maria (9 month check up). Fortunately, the doctor and the nurse both confirmed that she was fully compliant with all CDC-recommended immunization schedules and didn’t charge us for the visit. (Glad Maria had an appointment, too, so it was not a total waste of time!) The nurse also offered to upload the records to a system that can be accessed by city agencies, including the City Schools.
After two more trips to the school front office, I was told that that should take care of it.

And then I got home after a long morning of wrangling three children at the dentist’s office, complete with the bad news of cavities, only to find a message telling me that Simona was out of compliance and that, for the sake of her and the other students’ health and safety, she would need to be expelled. After a few frantic phone calls to the school and to her doctor (and to Caleb, in tears!), we finally found out what the problem was.

The school had incorrectly entered her date of birth to show that she was born on 12/06/06 instead of 06/12/06. Meaning that she would not have been born yet when she received several of the vaccines. (Also meaning that she would not be old enough to be in Kindergarten yet, I might add. . .) The computer was generating an automatic “non-compliant” message. After reassuring the secretary that I was sure Simona was born in June and that yes, I do have the birth certificate to prove it, she believed me and corrected the date, oh-so-graciously not requiring me to bring in the birth certificate (which they already have on file anyway!). Problem instantly solved.

Phew. Education and future preserved; expulsion from Kindergarten avoided.

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!

This period of waiting to know “what’s next” has been an interesting limbo land for us. It’s a *bit* like being seniors in college, trying to figure out all over again “what to do after graduation.” Except that this time, we have less angst about making a decision that will define who (or what) we’ll “be” as grown ups. [We have come far enough to know that the answer to that question likely will be dynamic throughout our adult lives. . . ]

Instead, we have replaced that with angst about how our decisions impact our kids. I say that half-jokingly, since we believe that their little lives are shaped much more by who we are as parents than by where or how we live. But, the truth remains that “what’s next” for us does have a major impact on what their lives will look like for the next few years. And for Simona, who soon will be leaving behind early childhood for the elementary years, SCHOOLS are becoming an issue.

Though it’s impossible to know for sure where we’ll live after May, the nature of Caleb’s career makes a large city more likely than a smaller town. And for a variety of reasons, we prefer urban living to suburban life. Which makes schools something to “figure out” rather than just “attend.”

Here in Atlanta, we happen to have moved into the district of a new, highly touted public elementary school. We like the neighborhood for other reasons, too, and would be happy to stay in this area. Enrolling in a great school would mean filling out a few forms, and that would be it.

Should we return to Washington, D.C., matters would be a bit more complicated. The District also has some high-achieving public schools, but we would not be able to afford to live in-bounds for one of those schools. Fortunately, the DC public schools “out of bounds” lottery allows residents to apply to up to six OOB schools, and all public charter schools admit students by lottery, too. Which means that, despite our Mennonite connections, we’ve been hedging our bets and rolling the dice, so to speak.

The results of the OOB lottery were published last week, and Simona “won.” She’s been admitted to one school and is in the top 3 on the waitlists of three other schools. Of course, we still have to figure out whether we’ll be moving back to the District or not; whether she is accepted to any of the charters; where Caleb’s job would be; and where we can afford to live without being terribly far from schools or work. Minor details.

All of this planning and applying and pondering may, in fact, turn out to be wasted time, since we may end up moving to a totally different city. In which case we’d be back to square one, trying to figure out school options all over again.

Yes, it’s not like it used to be, folks. Gone are the days when Grandpa walked eight miles, uphill both ways, through the snow to get to school. Somehow, though, that doesn’t seem so bad after all. . .