Five weeks

This week has been pretty crazy. We (ie. mainly Jack) had to run around and organise a whole bunch of paperwork "occupying various administration buildings", like make apostilles of various documents, get copies certified, change Tim's birth certificates because they made a mistake in my name, which can bring about problems later on if I want to prove that I am indeed his mother. Tim also got his passport - well here they call it a Kinderpass (ie. passport for kids) and it's valid for six years. So funny - apparently it is valid for that long, but "should the child's appearance change in that time" we should come and make a new photo. I mean - what? He might not stay so tiny and look the same in six years?! Shocking!

On Thursday the weather finally got nice and we went for our first picnic in Tiergarten. It was really nice to be outside and in the warm air. Tim slept throughout the whole ordeal which gave Jack and me a chance to nibble on cheese and ham, and drink some beer. On a side note - I now have a new addiction - Malt Beer... it's without alcohol, but doesn't taste as bad as non-alcoholic beer and still comes in a full size beer bottle :)

This week we also bought Tim a wooden stand with things hanging off it - sorry, I just have no idea what is the proper name for something like this. We also hung a mirror there and he's been fascinated with the whole arrangement. This is actually the first thing that can entertain him on its own for around 20-30 mins. We have no idea how soon he'll get bored with it, but then we'll just have to hang other stuff off it. Yesterday as I was watching him play he pushed one of the figurines with his hand, first accidentally but then he noticed it and twice did it deliberately. Well, at least it looked pretty deliberate to me.

Right now we are noticing him growing almost overnight. Especially his nose and hands are so much bigger than when he was born. His eyesight is getting better, too. He can concentrate on things for much longer now. For example, when he is lying on his back he can follow his favourite rattle with his eyes as we move it in front of him from all the way on the left to all the way on the right. Faces are also something that he likes to study very intently, and has been smiling quite a lot... I'm yet to catch a moment and take a picture, because mainly it happens when we're holding him and then we're so happy that we just keep looking at each other and don't think about grabbing the camera. One of these days... :)

Yesterday Jack did a wonderful thing and washed the balcony so we can now enjoy the outdoors from the comfort of our own home. And right away we even had some entertainment go past in the face of many drunken louts on a beer bike :) I think that'd be something fun to do one day if we got enough volunteers together in Berlin at the same time *hint hint*

Below is a random photo of Jack and Tim, with Tim in a shirt from Greg and Tanti and socks/slippers from Zoya & co. (thanks guys!)... I think this outfit makes him look very mature ;P