peek-a-boo

Here is a more upbeat posting for those friends of ours expecting or hoping to be expecting soon...on the weekend both Jens and I played a frisbee tournament so needless to say after an early start, a full day of playing on the field and with Zoe on the sideline we were pooped! After the biggest meal Zoe has ever eaten and her much loved bedtime bath we were having a bit of pre-bed play time. Jens and I were slumped on the sofa almost asleep, moaning about our sore muscles as Zoe was popping up and down behind a stool. Initially we thought 'oh cute she's loving her leg muscles' but we soon realised that she was actually playing peek-a-boo with us. Once we realised this we encouraged her no end and she couldn't hold back her excited screams and giggles and ended up peek-a-boo-ing us more than 30 times! Oh isn't she gorgeous!!! So come bed time the entire family had sore legs.

will and me

willem would have to be zoe's most tolerant playmate. he doesn't mind his eyelids being pinched, zoe crawling over the top of his head and usually he doesn't even lose it when she steals his toys. but watch out zoza given those rogacki genes i'd put money on will being stronger and most definately taller than you one day!

chooks are tops

yes would you believe it, my daughter is a chook fan!

Daily grind

Vivien has been back at work for a couple of weeks now and that means we've had to come up with a new routine for dealing with Zoe during the day. This is how it goes: Zoe wakes up for the first time at about 4am; she's not wide awake yet but lets off a little whinge to make sure everyone knows she's around. With or without earplugs, we inevitably wake up. Until a couple of nights ago, Vivien would feed Zoe for a first time, then put her down again - now, we let her fret for a couple of minutes, after which she'll usually fall asleep again. But only for about an hour, so that between 5.30 and 6 she definitely gets her first feed. On three days of the week, Vivien will then get up, get dressed and drive to work, where she's usually by far the first person to arrive. If I'm lucky I get to sleep another hour with Zoe next to me. If not, she'll poke or hit me in the face till I'm wide awake. By 7 we head into my little office where Zoe will happily take apart anything within her reach and I read my mails (good time for an early morning chat). At 7.45 she starts getting a bit bored so we switch rooms and perhaps watch the German news at 8. Then it's time for breakfast for both of us - porridge for Zoe, muesli for me. Sometimes I'll get some of the porridge too, spat at me, which means it's high time for me to shower. Zoe will use the opportunity to maul the poor bathroom plant a bit more. At around 9.30 it's high time for some Leonard and the inevitable morning nap, which recently has lasted for about an hour. I'll happily join in. After some household chores like doing the dishes or the washing we will head off to the beach at around 11, to check out the surf and perhaps throw in a latte and read the paper at my favourite cafe. Back home at around 12.30 it's lunch time for Zoe - this time it'll be something yummy like mushed up broccoli and tofu or lamm and rice. After having cleaned up the ensuing mess it'll be around 1.15 and Vivien will come home. Smiles all around. Vivien will take over from there and I will head off to the more relaxing part of the day: work. At 9.30pm I'll be back and, if we're not too tired, Vivien and I will actually get to spend some time together. It's all good so far, but how do people manage with three kids?

Thanks, Leonard

As easy as it is to get Zoe to sleep at night these days, it's almost impossible to coax her into taking a daytime nap in her cot. Even if she's really tired and yawning all over the place she will scream the house down the moment we put her into that cot. It's as if we've reached some kind of agreement that for going to sleep so easily in the evenings she gets to avoid her room all day. So what do we do? One way of getting her to sleep during the day is to head outside, put her in the pram and push for about one minute and the little rascal is in dreamland. A ride in the car will usually also do the job. But what happens when it's pouring outside and we don't feel like driving up and down the streets? Last week I rediscovered Leonard Cohen. It was one of those grey and rainy days and his music just seemed to fit. And it kind of made Zoe and me even sleepier than we already were. So to the gentle and very deep voice of Leonard singing "I´m your man" I picked Zoe up, held her in my arms and within seconds she was asleep. The trick was then to lie down without her waking up. I decided to go for the coach and even though she stirred a bit, she stayed asleep on my chest. Not long after I was gone too.