Whenever we go vacuum the car Douglas plays with his reflection.
Trying to get creative so I don't go nuts. Speaking of nuts, Douglas frequently says "Ah, nuts!". Then he tells us Uncle Nate taught him that. Funny.
Pretty sunset along the river during one of my many walks.
I took Doogles to visit the local Catholic church.
It's beautiful inside
I love the stained glass throughout the church.
I have a 30+ pound weight named Douglas, and I walk miles each day, but whenever I want some extra exercise I work my abs on the bed.
I use water to exercise my shoulders and triceps.
I use our Bob stroller for biceps and squats. By the way, I love our stroller and I'm glad Sam insisted that we bring it. Douglas has been all over this little city thanks to that stroller.
Remember when I said that Douglas is no longer so willing to give me a "Cheese!" when I point the camera at him? Well, he certainly was willing yesterday. I took him to a really neat play area near our apartment. We spent over four hours there and Doogles loved it. I actually really enjoyed it as well.
One mother brought her young child to play. He had a significant amount of "stuff" coming out of his nose as he crawled in and out of the ball pit. I give Doogles three days before he is sick again. Hopefully I'm wrong. Children.......little disease carriers. I'm changing the meaning of the title of my blog. S = Sam. D = Daniel. d = disease-carrier.
I taught him to say "Timber!" whenever we felled a Lego tower.
Sam takes her hearing aids out at night. She doesn't hear this, but it takes me a while to fall asleep when I'm lying next to this heavy breathing.
Sam may be able to escape the breathing, but neither of us can escape the movement. Whoever "sleeps" with Douglas does not actually sleep, but instead takes multiple short naps interrupted by Doogles' position changes and sleep-talking. Last night I took a turn with him. I folded up his little blanket to try to keep him on his side of the bed.
One hour later. So much for my blockade.
Two hours later. It will be wonderful to return to our house and put him in his crib on the other side of the house.
I love the European appearance of many of the homes/apartments on these narrow streets.
We toured the Palais de Congres (now the opera house), which was the temporary home of the French government from 1940-1944, when Germany occupied France.
"Figaro!"
He found himself
Okay, I just devoured yet another croissant. Now I can sleep. Bonne nuit!
Sam and I take turns sleeping in the bedroom with Douglas, because whoever is NOT sleeping with Douglas usually has the better night of sleep. The other night I took a turn. At 6:00 in the morning Douglas started crawling on me saying, "Need food. Want something to eat. Need food." I ignored him hoping that he was sleep-talking and he would eventually flop back over to his side of the bed and go back to sleep. His hand worked its way over my arms and up my chest, eventually reaching my facial hair, at which point the realization set in and he cried out, "Where's Mom, Dad?! Go away, Dad! Mom come in! Open door! Turn on light!" I moved him back to his side of the bed and told him we weren't going to bother Mom; that he needed to go back to sleep. He did exactly that after a few more seconds of whimpering. I almost laughed out loud at the thought of his little hand running across my face and realizing that it was Dad, not Mom, who was sleeping next to him. We don't tell him that we switch off sleeping with him. Normally I just slip into his room after he is asleep, and I'm up before he wakes up.
I'm including a few videos that could be fun to watch years from now to see some of the routine things Douglas helped with during our time in Vichy.
Doogles is still learning to pick up his feet when he runs. This week he fell a few times, hitting the same knee each time. Obviously he was not happy when I sat him down to take a picture of his "owie".
We visited Puy de Dôme, a mountain (in Utah it would be considered a hill) peak that looks out over a chain of dormant volcanoes.
15-minute train ride up to the top of the mountain.
Yoga class getting ready for an elevated experience. Taylor, do you like my pun? :)
Looking out over the Auvergne region.
Paragliders come to the peak to catch their air and soar over the area.
Douglas is currently in the "hands-in-my-pants" phase of his life.
Fastest caterpillar I've ever seen
Research station on top of Puy de Dôme
See all the little white things? Those are millions of little fluffy seeds from the surrounding flowers.
Saturday night we attended the last horse race of the season at our local race track. It was a "Trot" race, which is a mild version of a Ben Hur-like chariot race.
Yep, pretty much the same as Ben Hur's chariot race.
Some pre-race fun. Douglas would run to the fence, turn around, and yell. . .
. . ."Hi Mom!"
Then he would run back to the stands and start all over again, although in this photo he is walking slowly toward Mom because the running caused him to evacuate his bowels into his diaper.
He waved to me as well.
I included another video of Douglas typing because I think it's funny when he types something he doesn't like and he says, "No no no" while he wags his finger. I taught him how to use the "Shift" key. Kids are amazing with technology.
Update on the food battle with Doogles:
Douglas is now eating "white butter" sandwiches, which consist of white butter on bread. He also eats almond butter sandwiches and applesauce. He tried a croissant the other day, but he will only eat the soft interior. I bought a different kind of yoghurt (Activia) and Douglas tried a few bites, until a tiny piece of fruit entered his mouth. Now he calls them "Dad's yoghurt" and he won't touch them, because he doesn't like chunks in his yoghurt. He will eat some of the chocolate pastries.
Today I tried making an avocado sandwich for him. He used to eat them. I lost that battle. After eating his usual two yoghurts for breakfast, I took away (or hid) everything he likes to eat and told him that he could have a mint/yoghurt/white butter sandwich/cracker/cheddar bunnies/etc. after trying the avocado sandwich. He refused while we were inside the apartment, so I took him to the park carrying nothing but the avocado sandwich, water, and some mints hidden in my pocket as a reward if he tried the sandwich. At the park he surprised me by asking if he could eat the avocado sandwich (I know he was starving by then). He ate a few bites and remarked, "Mmmm, avocado sandwich. So yummy!" I thought, "Well, duh! You have a world of food out there if you'll only try different things." Not 10 seconds later he returned the sandwich and told me he didn't want anymore, and he wouldn't touch it again. I'm not sure how long (legally) I'm allowed to starve my child, so I brought him back to the apartment where he promptly devoured half of a white butter sandwich (including the crusts!) and two yoghurts. I started cutting his sandwiches into four squares, because I hate throwing food in the garbage. I make him eat one entire square before he gets another one.
Oh, I forgot one thing. As we left our apartment this morning I told Doogles we were going to the boulangerie (the bakery) to buy some food. He doesn't care about the bakery, because he won't touch most of the items they offer. However, this time as we checked out the lady at the counter offered him a small piece of a French baguette. You know, the kind with a very hard exterior? The kind that will tear up the roof of your mouth if you aren't careful. Can you see that I don't care for baguettes? Anyway, Douglas ate it within two minutes, rock-hard crust and all. He never eats hard crust! He was hungry.
Oh my, I'm ready to go back to a war zone. Parenting is too hard. :) It IS a war zone. Lots of daily battles, some of which are won and some are postponed to a later date. Some are not worth fighting. This child (a two-year-old!) has tested me more than anything else I've done in life. I find myself repenting daily after getting mad at Douglas for one reason or another.
I suppose I get frustrated because I care. If I didn't care, then I would let the little man eat sugar all day long and I would prop him in front of the TV to keep him entertained while I do other things.
