Business as usual

This is the second week that Neil is back at work. Our daily routine has set in again, with Finn going to his "Zwergerlpark" daycare Tuesday and Thursday mornings, Lily's physiotherapy being on Monday and so on. Next week will be the last session of therapy for Lily. For those who don't know: Lily was born pigeon-toed, with a pronounced bend in her feet, especially in the right foot. For about 5 months now we have had weekly therapy sessions and I have been doing exercises at home with her. (I admit I often slack at that.) Her feet are basically massaged and stretched and then secured with a bandage to get rid of the bend. It has worked pretty well and I can leave the bandages off now, or just put them on at night. Another thing we are working on is - get this- rolling over. Lily somehow managed to miss that milestone, and the therapist showed me how to teach her to roll from her back to her tummy. We practice, but she still can't do it on her own.

This is strange especially because her other gross motor skills are well developed: she is crawling on all fours now, and pretty fast. She can sit very well and get into a sitting position from her tummy. She is pulling up on things, trying to stand. At just 8 months old this is pretty early. I guess she will learn how to not be stuck on her back eventually.

It is a joy to watch Finn and Lily play now. Lily just does things a bit ahead of her age and Finn "regresses" a bit - and they are a perfect match. They have crawling races and giggle their heads off. Finn shouts "Lily, come, come!", and Lily comes. She just adores him, even when he drives his bobby-car over her hands. (Ouch!) And this morning for the first time FINN came running to me crying. Lily had hit him on the head with a wooden toy hammer! A bit later in the day, Finn took his revenge: in an unsupervised moment he stole Lily's Cheerios box off the table. I ran back into the living room when I heard suspicious noises, but too late. THIS is what I found:

Oh well. (Note to self: don't leave Cheerios box on dining room table anymore.) I put them all back in the box, while Finn was standing in a corner "thinking about it". I can't get them here so I can't waste them! And I guess it doesn't matter if Lily eats the lint off the rug AFTER her cheerios or with them. :-)

But these little nuisances aside life is pretty good these days. We are all healthy and enjoying being a family. We do have a date for Finn's bronchoscopy: January 31st. He will have to check into the hospital (a children's hospital in Munich) on the 30th. But if all goes well and they won't find anything Finn can come home on the 31st. We hope and pray he will handle the procedure and anesthetics well. Lily is not allowed into the hospital, so I will probably stay home with her and Neil will check in with Finn.

Here are a few more pictures. One of their favourite games these days is "pirate's cave" in Finn's bed. His bed has two removable bars, so I can make an entrance to the "cave". Lily also likes riding the red rocking horse, especially when she can race after Finn on his bobby car (Daddy pushes Lily). Also, Finn ate with chopsticks for the first time the other day. He didn't do too bad!