1.5, baby!

Dear William,

I'm sure you can see that the last time I blogged about your monthly birthday you were 12 months old. I'm so sorry! I've had pics ready and funny words in my head, but I'm having too much fun playing "choo-choos" with you than blogging about it! In honor of your 18-month birthday here is our "Ode to William" and some fun pics from our photo shoot in Amsterdam's Vondelpark.

Current words: mama, auto, dada, auto, airplane, auto, dog, auto, moon, auto, cheese, auto, berry, auto, book, auto, baby, auto, slide, auto, Prost, auto, apple, auto, eye, auto, light, auto, all done, auto, poop, auto, bye-bye, auto, papa, auto, amma (Oma), auto, bubba (Bubbles), auto, boppa (Grandpa), and auto-auto-auto! (But only if he hasn't seen anything with wheels recently. You know, like in the last 5 seconds.). *Please note: more words are being added so quickly, this list is already out of date!

Current favorite foods: berries, pear, apple, peach, mango, banana, avocado, grissini, salmon, Cheerios, brezn. He's a Bavarian fruit bat.

Things we love about William:

- his ecolocation. He has an insane ability to determine whether his current location posses the perfect acoustics and echo chamber for toddler screeching. It's pretty impressive.

- his love of sunglasses

- his love of, not one, but two schnullers (pacifiers). Some kids have blankies, stuffed animals or thumbs. Will has his schnullers. He knows they only come out during naptime or nighttime (or museums!) but he sucks on them interchangedly- popping one out after a couple sucks, and popping the other one in, only to loop the process indefinitely. Once he finally falls asleep, one's in his mouth, one's in his hand. Breaking him of this habit is going to be ffffuuuuunnnnn.

- his singular and sometimes dual wave to the public as we stroll Haidhausen. He refuses to sit back in his stroller, and proceeds to lean forward so as to catch people off his left and right sides in addition to those in front. He only does it in our neighborhood; I guess it's where he feels everyone knows his name. He's just getting warmed up for bier garten season and his subsequent run for the White House in 2040 -- his wave is that good.

- pretend time- he's a mean cook, pilot, and driver in his mind

- how he pummels toward you in greeting almost as quickly as he can shriek and tumble away from you.

- his ability to 'sit like a big boy'. He loves to demonstrate this skill anytime anywhere even when it's least expected. Walking downstairs he may stop mid flight to show you his big boy skills. Any curb is tested for it's restability.

- his love of music- when he hears it he'll either begin conducting, clapping, or dancing. It could be organ music, an oompah band, or the Black Eyed Peas. He doesn't care; he just likes to move it!

- his constant refusal to give his parents, or anyone else for that matter, kisses. He'll blow them or plant one on a mirror or shower door at a moment's notice, but like any good teenager toddler, shrug off his parents and grandparents every single time.

- his ability to kick it. Yes, we're getting ugly glimpses of tantrums on the horizon, but overall we want to give huge props to the easy going guy God blessed us with. He's a giggle-filled love who has given us the ability to travel places we'd always hoped of seeing and we're honored to call him our son. We love you William!

He loves showing off his milk-pack to the ladies.

Auto!

Toddler's Travels

As if the joys of toddlerhood aren't plentiful enough, Jeff and I still daringly (and often in hindsight stupidly) continue our non-stop, action-packed travels with William in tow. It will come as no surprise that things have changed a bit now that our darling little boy is not only mobile, but toddler, stubbornly-minded mobile. Yes, our photos and travel experiences are unforgettable and can come across as all-too idyllic at times in our posts, I'm sure.

Oh, loyal blog readers, for you and you only are glimpses into more behind-the-scenes madness with photos not originally posted with the destination or event.

Enjoy the insanity!

Leisurely breakfasts are now filled with trying to get William to get his shoes off gorgeous velour booths and reminding him every 3 seconds that we don't screech like a howler monkey when indoors.

Come here, William. Let's take a picture in front of Vienna's Schloss Schonbrunn.

Smile?!?!

Okay . . .

How about now?

Rejected . . .

I'm going back to what I was doing in the first place -- walking precariously on the ledge of an empty fountain. So there!

When Mama has a cold and Dad's nose is, well, Dad's nose, sometimes diaper checks happen in the most public of places. This one was at St. Peter's Square in Rome.

Sometimes he doesn't even know what he's missing!

All schnuller rules go out the window when we travel. (Add it to my looonngg list of things I swore I'd NEVER do as a parent.) Sometimes it's for peace and quiet in museums, sometimes it's a consolation prize for a few more kilometers of sightseeing in a stroller, but most of the time it's in hopes he will actually sleep whenever and wherever in his stroller.

William: Nu?Nu?

Mom or Dad: Sure thing!

Well, maybe everyone else on the boat had a relaxing canal cruise of Amsterdam . . .

Okay everyone, we're entering Prague's government courtyard, a great place to let Will walk around. Get that kid out of the stroller! Mom's got snacks at the ready. Go! Go! Go!!

It's always reassuring for any parent to see their child be an equal-opportunity tantrum thrower. Wow. If he's not going to sit with Grandma Bubbles for a fun photo at Starnberg Lake, he's not going to sit for ANYONE!

3 more trips to go!!! We can do it!!!

Risky Business

With his parents away for a weekend, what's a mischievous toddler to do?

According to Oma: What happens in Marienplatz, stays in Marienplatz.

From what we can tell it involved unlimited strawberry ice cream and went a little something like this:

Springtime in Paris

Living in Europe, Jeff and I have moments where we just laugh, look at each other, and ask, "Is this really our life?"

Here's one of those moments: My parents come into town, my mom looks at us and says, "Get lost." Okay, she wasn't that rude. My mom looks at us and says, "Leave." So what do any ecstatic new parents do? They got to Paris! What?!?! Is this really our life?!?! Yes! Woohooo! It is!

Knowing our little William was the best of hands, Jeff and I left for a quick Friday night to Sunday night getaway to Paris. While I always envisioned us sleeping in and just enjoying down time, we surprised ourselves by going into hyper-tourist mode and seeing twice as much stuff than we normally could with William. Hello hilly avenues of Montmarte! You're much more enjoyable without a kinderwagon!

At the advice of Paris-knowing friends, we watched the movie Amelie a few nights before we left. It made the Montmarte neighborhood come alive!

We laughed everytime we trugdged up and down Metro stairways, so thankful we didn't have to lug a stroller every single time!

We rented bikes and rode around the neighborhood between the Champs-Elysees and the Eiffel Tower, just because we could!

Fun trying on hats at the Galeries Lafayette.

The biggest highlight of the weekend was being able to see the city at night. Instead of settling into the dark silence of a hotel room at 7:00 for our super-traveler son, we found ourselves leaving the hotel room at 7:00 after freshening up for a fun dinner and night on the town.

We were so giddy -- Midnight! We're out at MIDNIGHT!!!

Sunday was filled with showers which made a perfect Louvre and Musee L'Orangerie day.

We couldn't leave the city without paying homage to Notre Dame, so with our luggage in hand, we strolled around this amazing cathedral en route to the airport.

Ahhh, Paris in Springtime!

Merci, Oma and Papa! It was such a wonderful weekend!

On a totally random, but completely related note . . . .

The Saturday we were in Paris we received an email from my brother saying he and David were having a great weekend too. They included this photo:

What? How did we not see them? Steven and David were at the Eiffel Tower too?!?

They sure were . . . . in Vegas!

My Future's so Bright . . .

. . . I've got to where shades! While some toddlers obsess over their comfort object, mom, or the like, William's chosen to obsess over sunglasses. On a daily basis he can be found ransacking the windowsill by the front door in his search for his favorite accessory: sunglasses. He loves to wear them himself or to put them on his nearest buddy. End result? Absolute adorableness.

Gus, the tried-and-true shoe obsessor, tried a different accessory for a change.

They also help curb the glare from his shiny set of wheels

Ahhh, the perfect fit.

Even Papa got to get in on the fun!

Starkbierfest

Oma and Papa's obvious #1 draw to Munich was William. Jeff and I like to think we're #2, but unfortunately, this trip I'm sure our pull ranking dropped and Starkbierfest slipped right in to second place.

Ahhh, Starkbierfest, how we antcipated you! Bill Milam has always wanted to attend a true-blue Bavarian festival, and we Muencheners want winter to be over with. Enter Starkbierfest to answer both of our wishes!

Monks used to brew beer with more calories during the Lenten season so as to help them through the fasting. More yeast made it darker, hence, Starkbier. Today, this comes as no surprise to our loyal blog followers, Bavarians make it into a huge party! Yes, try a mini-little Oktoberfest at the end of March just a few blocks from our neighborhood at the Paulaner brewery.

We were fortunate enough to score our own table reservation at this fest, so we got to invite our favorite of Bavarian friends to come along too!

(L to R: Lauren, Lawrence, Juliette, hiding Oskar, Jeff, hiding Pete, Michele, and me!)

We ate . . .

drank . . .

and got merry!

I love these beer hall parties. They start out so refined: an oompah band playing traditional Bavarian tunes, Germans slowly sipping starkbier brewed from an age-old recipe, and gorgeously decorated wooden boards boasting cheeses, breads and radishes for knoshing . . .

the next thing you know everyone's standing on the benches singing along to "YMCA"!

Everyone else pooped out, but the six of us stayed on!

A GREAT time was had by all! Thank for being true party animals, Mom and Dad!

Oma and Papa visit!

April brought sunny days to Munich via weather and grandparents! After a few days of touring Berlin, Oma and Papa couldn't take being in the same country as their only grandson and not be with him, so they b-lined here via ICE train. William was lucky enough to have his grandparents shower him with love and affection for 10 whole days . . . some of them with them all to himself, but more on that later.

We had fun just kicking it Munich style, enjoying some of our favorite local spielplatzs and letting this haus frau run a few errands ohne kinderwagen. I didn't know what to do with myself! (Well, I did. I got to visit the opthamologist and optometrist as I earned my first pair of "you're-old, Sarah" reading glasses. Sigh. At least they've got Euro style!)

I'd been wanting to dye Easter eggs with William but hadn't gotten up the nerve to purchase any in the stores because I

1) didn't feel like translating all the directions

and

2) didn't want to do it the German way of blowing out raw eggs to dye.

Leave it to Oma to save they day by arriving with our good ol' American PAAS dye kit!

William LOVED the stickers. He still insists on wearing them on the back of his hand on a daily basis.

Hope

On a beautifully sunny day we drove out to Dachau concentration camp. Not quite the place to take a bunch of fun family photos, but I did manage to snap this starkly-contrasted, simple moment.

On a rainy Sunday afternoon, we took advantage of Munich's 1 Euro entrance fee day and toured the Modern Museum of Art as well as the Alte Pinakothek in less than 2 hours. Jeff Zabel -- super speedy tour guide extraordinaire! Here's Will leading his entourage through the MOMA.

Uncle Steven and David sent along a book for William in order to stoke the fires of the rival university flames in our family. Oma and Papa, presumably on strict order from the uncles, dutifully tried to teach Will USC's fight song and victory sign. William, on the other hand, was just more interested in the page filled with sports balls! Don't worry guys, we have a few more months till football season.

William couldn't get enough of his new bath toy!

We had one last breakfast before sending Oma and Papa off to the airport. It was a wonderfully fun visit filled with fun playtime. Thank you for all the special moments, Oma* and Papa!

* Please note that in previous blog posts the adorable grey-haired woman featured in the above pictures has been referred to as "Grandma". However during this visit, "Grandma", hearing William call her 'Amma', decided to shorten her name and in a fit of Bavarian loyalty deemed it only appropriate to have the German name for a grandma: Oma.

From here on out, we proclaim thee: Oma!