Finlay and Gregor in Schleiz!

We all attended a christening last weekend in the illustrious, romantic and fabled township of Schleiz. That's somewhere southwest of Jena, lost in the mists of Middle Germany, surrounded by imposing oak trees, an idyll of respite and wonder in the midst of fairytale landscapes. Something like that.

Here, Finlay met his new little friend Gregor, who was magically converted from a heathen into a saved soul by the Dark Priestess of Dragonlore. Was Finlay ever relieved! Actually, he slept through everything, until the organ woke him up. Then he shouted at the organ for a bit. Gregor also behaved well, christening himself immediately after having the water (or was it Sprite?) sprinkled on him.

Here is a photo of the pre-christening breakfast with Gregor (note that Gregor is eating the entrails of a freshly-slaughtered goat, as befits a heathen) and Gregor after the christening, subdued, contemplative, saved!

PS: Thought for the weekend: If you eat mix so-called "Babykeksbrei" (pablum/infant mush made with baby cookies, which resemble animal crackers) with beer in the right amounts, you end up with something almost exactly like Bananenweizen (wheat beer with banana juice).

Pastinaken!

Finlay eating "Pastinaken" puree this weekend on the train on the way to "Schleiz", where we attended a christening, or rather, a gregoring. Pastinaken are apparently "parsnips". Numerous people - Bernhard? - claim never to have eaten this vegetable. We have, but we've eaten in a lot of university cafeterias.

Whatever - Finlay's disapproval is pretty clear here.

Discovery blanket = "Circle of neglect"

Quoting Leah McLaren from today's Globe & Mail:

"The baby in question is a gorgeous, happy, healthy boy – with a small catch. At the time, he had not yet learned to crawl. Neither was he content to sit idly in one of those hideous plastic bouncy things, playing with a row of terry toys and butterfly mirrors. Strangely, the standard-issue “circle of neglect” was boring to this baby. Instead, he wanted to be ushered around the world all day by the hand: Nothing less than a 12-hour, tottering-adult-guided tour would do."

I'm absolutely sure she's referring to the "discovery blanket" mentioned a few posts ago. Here, they are square. Germans (or Swedes - it's from Ikea) seem to prefer right angles. The description is perfect. Finlay only takes 30 seconds to lunge from the centre of the blanket to the edge, but Christine can now cook a nourishing meal for three and take the empties back to the store in that time.

Hello to Conor, Kerstin and Dave, from Ireland, who we all met last night stranded at the Dresden train station.

Finlay and his Father

Finlay vicariously enjoying a beer at Hackescher Markt last Saturday and Finlay on the kitchen breadboard this evening, after his father and he did a chicken dance in the kitchen. Not sure who was laughing more - Finlay or his mother.

Picknick reloaded

Here is Finlay at yet another picknick (social season in Berlin...) this time in the Tiergarten with his other uncle Johannes, and his cousin Ella. In one of these photos, Finlay is telling Ella that he is now eating pureed beef, potatoes and carrots. We have to be careful now in our kitchen to keep the cat food far away from the baby food.

Finlay and Uncle Andreas

Finlay in a hammock in the Krausnickpark with his uncle Andreas, who is a teacher, and very good at swinging in hammocks!

The Discovery Blanket

Sorry. We've been derelict about posting photos lately. The little one keeps us up at night telling us stories and last weekend we had a friend in from Doha who - kept us up at night telling stories. Thanks James!

Here is Finlay playing with a can of Quaker Oats on his discovery blanket, and also him crawling off the blanket to investigate some apple juice.