American Soil

Today, Aliena took her first crap in America!

Let me back up a bit...

We made our second trip to the American Consular Presence (read: poor man's consulate) in Toulouse to yet again try to have Aliena's citizenship papers filed. Technically were were in America (all 50sq ft of it).

This time we were armed with all the paperwork that they neglected to tell us to bring the first time...as in "Alexis' US passport is not sufficient proof of his US citizenship even though it is irrelevant since Amy is also a citizen and was born in the US...so you have to bring Alexis' consular report of birth". I guess for some reason the US government is skeptical of the quality of a citizen's passport when they honestly declare that they were born in another country (as if any cheats would tell the truth!). To make a long story short, the same grumpy lady scowled at our paperwork which differed only in the fact that another archaic bit of paper was put on display (my consular report of birth...whose existence I discovered about a month ago), and finally said that it all looked OK and that the consul would come and watch us sign the papers (tough hob...I know...but at least you get to see your tax dollars in action). Whew....and Grumpy even gave a half-smile as she went back to her cubicle.
Then the consul came out...to glance at the papers. He immediately looked up and said "Aliena? Very Shakespearean" ??????? The look of confusion must have been obvious since he followed that one up with "Do you know what play it comes from?"...uh...no..."Let me give you a hint..." at which time he stated to describe every one of Shakespeare's plays (two people in the wilderness...one is not who they appear to be...a confused individual falls in love...etc...). Finally I asked him which one it was..."Ummmmmm....I just saw it in London last weekend (2 days ago!) and its on the tip of my tongue...I'll remember before you leave." (he did remember...after a trip to his office where I am sure he googled it!).
Then we got the consular stamp of approval....Aliena was recognized as a US citizen. (and there was rejoicing....yaay)...she can now pin the US flag next to her french one. A 3 hour drive for 30 min well spent!

Aliena then celebrated this very exciting event and her second visit to 'America' by soiling her diaper.......and yes......we all heard it.........even the consul...........all 6 times! A momentous poop for a momentous event.

 

Kris Visits

About 2 weeks ago (yeah, I know...I'm playing catch-up), our friend Kris came through town on his inaugural European vacation. Made sense since our village is along the Paris-Stockholm-Milan-St. Girons-Rome path (have euro-rail pass....will sleep in train!). We had a great 3 days packed with activities such as the school party (see previous post), good food, and visits.
The weather was not great, but we managed to fit in a few short hikes to appreciate the spectacular fall colors. Good timing...those bright red and yellow leaves only last a few weeks!

the tour de france comes up this valley fairly often... (la Core)

We also did our best to give Kris a tour of good french food -- cassoulet, snails, lamb, magret de canard, and of course good wine and cheese. I think he liked it...and left a dozen pounds heavier! (at least we did).

No French visit is complete without a peek at a medieval castle...so on his last day here, we visited 2 and a cave with paintings for good measure.

We passed by the castle at Foix and explored the castle at Carcassone. To know what Carcassone looks like, just close your eyes...picture the perfect medieval castle and that's it. Well...maybe add a carousel out front...

The cave was the Grotte de Niaux - which has graffiti from 1642 and fantastic paintings that are 15,000 years old of bison, horses, and ibex. This was Adrien's second visit (the first was when he was 1.5 years old) and Aliena's first (I know...we are slackers on her cultural education - we really should have done it before she turned 2 months...).

Adrien was sure that we would see bears and deer in the cave along with the paintings - and he told me all about how these animals would scratch him. Here is the video....although to fully understand you will have to decode his french-english mix. He does mime a deer scratching him though...!

During the visit, Adrien took a liking to Kris, but he could not manage to remember his name! For the first 2 days or so, Adrien called Kris "that guy". He then must have over-heard us talking about Bruce (memory-lane) at which point Kris became "Bruce"...which must somehow be easier to remember than Kris. We corrected him, of course: "That's not Bruce, that's Kris"...at which point Kris became "not-Bruce" for the rest of the trip!

Hope our little bit of Ariege was a nice enough place to come back for another visit Not-Bruce!

 

Class Party and School Vacation

Its time for the fall school vacation, and Adrien's class had a little party to show off what they learned.

Parents and family were present...as were unwitting house-guests that planned their European vacation at this time of year (sorry Kris!).

They showed off their artwork and had a slide show with some of their activities.

Made walnut macaroons from walnuts they found when out on a walk...and made 'stone soup' for everyone.

They then showed off our talents by singing a few songs... Our boy is the one picking his nose instead of singing! This second song shows him actually signing...for once! (warning...its longer than most non-grandparents care to watch).

the babies

Since I'm slow on the post thing....here are a few photos of the babies!
Morning is loads of fun if its the weekend and the sun is not  yet up! I know I sure enjoyed it...?

Adrien is still obsessed with his cars. Here he is lining them up (did I mention he likes to line things up? Very strange!) and in his favorite outfit (pantsless).

And his discovery of binoculars...

Goodnight! Blow some kisses....

Colic...

If you felt a shiver run down your spine, broke into a cold sweat, and nearly ran out the front door with a panic attach...then you too probably had a child with 'colic'.
And if you said "Oh, but it only last for the first three months or so", then you should be shot...or worse, put in a room with baby cries for 8 hour stretches just to punish you for such insensitive remarks!
For the rest of you...the only way to describe it is that your newborn cries a blood-curdling sob for long stretches of time and nothing you could possibly do helps.
Our baby, fortunately, seems to have a somewhat mild case...as in she screams on and off for the evening, rather than continuous screaming for hours and hours on end. And we are blessed with it not being bad every night! Did I mention that nobody knows the cause (other than that its more common in second children)...nor the cure? For a very mild taste of our fun...here is a short video...(if you want the true experience, turn up the volume and loop it 180 times...she was just getting warmed up):

Fortunately for us, there are old remedies that sometimes help. The one suggested to us could be picked up at the pharmacy for 1.60 a bottle (custom mixed....I love socialism!) and is called 'Eaux de chaux'.

Does the halo around the bottle come through in the photo?
The ingredients on the recipe supplied by the doctor had 2 ingredients: 'eaux de chaux' and 'julep gommeux'. What is this magic stuff? Well, a bit of internet digging gave us the first clues: Eaux de chaux is basically calcium carbonate..or your typical antacid for indigestion. Julep gommeux was trickier -- seems to be some sort of syrup (sugar and water...and babies love sugar!) and some other ingredient that is rarely specified. A bit more digging found that the other ingredient is opium....ahhhhhh....no wonder it mellows out baby!
Takes the edge of, ya know?
Turns out the modern version of this recipe substitutes orange blossom extract for the opium...and presumably works way less well. Fortunately, it still works....at least a bit!

In any case, those angel-smiles make colic bearable....that and knowing it only lasts the first few months!

Sheepish...

First the cows came home...now this! We really do live in the boonies!

 

I love the fact that Adrien is standing in the middle of the street in his socks (no doubt in a sea of sheep-poop) in front of a swarm of sheep - and he is smiling like he owns them!

Art

OK...its been a long time. I'm not sure why...except that I can't seem to find the 20min or so that it takes me to write a post!
In the meantime....here is some artwork from Adrien..