Harry Potta!

I am reading Harry Potter in German right now. It is outrageous fun--right at my proximate level of development (cue: Vygotsky followers shout hooray!).

It's also somewhat disconcerting. I mean, I am a child of the Harry Potter-midnight-releases generation. Among my greatest grade-school worries was the mystery surrounding the "J.K." in J.K. Rowling. Is the author a man or a woman?!?! Someone, PLEASE TELL ME! (Man, those were the days). I've read the first 3 books in the series a dozen times and was the same age as Harry, Ron, and Hermione as each successive book came out until 2008 or whenever that was (Hey--I'm a fan, not an obsessive fan). I was studying in Oxford in 2005 when the fifth came out and bought a coveted "U.K. edition." You don't think up beautiful book relationships like this. They're a gift.

Suffice it to say (ha!), I know these books well. They're imbued with the English spirit--as British as mashed peas. So, that long-winded, mostly irrelevant history was just to add to my ethos in saying that reading Harry Potter in German, a language that for me is so reflective of the German way of thinking, is like eating a pumpkin whoopie pie with cream cheese filling in the middle instead of cream. It's a bit different than what you're accustomed to, but not at all disappointing.

So that's how I feel, if that makes sense.

Hodgepodge!

I want to go to the Barktober Fest today and watch some retired greyhounds race for charity... but Nooooo. Not cool enough for Pat. So instead we are lounging around volleying the "what are we going to do today?" question, taking pictures of Berret, and imagining what it would be like to have money and eat good food. ;)

P.S. We just came back from doing something! We attended the Great Trade-in event at Toys-R-Us and got a SAFE crib (not a brand name, but an adjective...) for Berret, who has been sleeping in this hazard of a drop-down side crib held together with plastic hardware and tape. (SHAME SHAME!) Then we had some cheesecake at Chili's and Ber actually slept on the bench next to us. What an angel.

P.P.S. We fed Berret his first rice cereal yesterday evening. He wasn't a big fan last night, but today ate up everything and got the hang of eating with the spoon.

A bit unsure... (okay, definitely disliking...)

Hmmm... swishing... appraising the nuances of this nutty wine rice cereal with his oh-so developed palate.

Not bad! I think he is converted.

This is Berret's new and improved 'do. We think it looks SO hip. Bravo, Pat, for your visionary infant fashion instincts.

And he's standing! He LOVES to stand.

to me, poetry is memory, the remembered feeling of experiences. Successful poetry is a snapshot of a moment--an emotional photograph wherein that intangible nugget of memory survives. I think I'll be writing some poetry once in a while to better remember this time in our life. Ber is just growing up too fast for memory unaided.

Berret seems very independent--he gets upset when he can't do something on his own. today he was "swimming" on the carpet floor like a madman, trying (unsuccessfully) to get somewhere. He is getting the hang of feeding himself, however, so when I give him a bottle he loves to practice.

Pat is waiting for me to watch "Das Experiment"--a German psychological drama. Berret is sleeping sound. Good night :)

(almost) 4 months

(swashbuckling bandana: our latest innovation in hair-hiding techniques)

(our serious little boy)

Sweet-smelling little Berret will be 4 months old on Saturday. He makes our lives happier (read: crazier) than they've ever been. What a cutie-patootie. We love you, Suessber!

(a smile :)

(we think he looks like Opa Hofmann in this picture)

(sittin' pretty)

(what IS that thing?!)

I haven't had this much fun editing pictures since I was a teacher's aide in high school and spent hours on the paint program... :)

Love from Texas!

Berret went swimming in a pool for the first time today! Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures... I was too busy having fun swimming myself. And, of course, what Berret Wagner could mark this momentous occasion with anything but a poopy swimming diaper? He leaked into the hot tub and the pool. Thatta boy.

Here he is pre-swimming pool.

Here he is a few weeks ago before we moved... I love this picture :) (Pat wants y'all to know he took it)