Dressing up a storm

As Christmas approaches, so is the number of activities around the place increases. Next week Timmy's group at the Kita are having a Weihnachtscafe, which is something involving kiddies and parents sitting around eating sweets and getting presents. For that as a member of the parent committee I need to organise some games/activities. Then the week after for the smallest kids in the whole Kita there's going to be a Yolka (Russian traditional celebration with a xmas tree, Ded Moroz, etc.). On this day Tim is supposed to come in a costume. This is the first time that the question of costume appeared in our lives. Naturally my thoughts went back to my childhood Yolka celebrations and the costumes my Mum made for me (apparently as a parent you get to live through your childhood once again with your own children and have to deal with all of your issues once again... says psychoanalysis).

In kindergarten I remember having a costume of a squirrel (see below photo), and I clearly recall the tail structure being made out of bits of cardboard and thick wires with orange fabric over the top, and it was very cool. Then at school I always wanted to be a very "traditional" (read: boring) Snowflake, or Snow Queen, or Snow Princess because those white pretty silvery dresses were the envy of each little girl. Well I never got to be any of those (or ever got a Barbie for that matter - thank God for that!)... instead Mum decided to be creative and original, and probably under the influence of all those abstract art history ideas and made me a costume of a ... wait for it... christmas tree. Yep - I went to a Yolka (Russian for christmas tree) dressed myself as a christmas tree. Imagine how I felt when all those spoiled little brats dressed as pretty white Snowflakes kept coming up to me and asking what my costume was supposed to be, and me saying "oh - I am a christmas tree!". In retrospect and to be completely fair I remember having a really good time at that Yolka and it was so cool that Mum made so much effort with the costume. I even remember having green tree-like earrings.


Anyhoo... the point being that, just like Mum, I realised I don't want to dress Tim into anything traditional and boring (pirate, tiger, etc)... until he can pick out a costume for himself at least, so I've been trying to come up with "original" ideas and so far the options are:

1) Koala (to emphasise his Australian heritage)
2) Sigmund Freud (just 'cos he's on my mind a lot lately)
3) his regular self, in the spirit of Wednesday Addams dressed normally for Halloween when asked where her costume is says: "This is my costume. I'm a homicidal maniac- they look just like everyone else."

But I think actually what I'm leaning towards is actually a good old (read: boring) wizard costume. What do you think? Do you have any ideas? And I'd really like to know what was your most memorable costume from your childhood? :)

Laternenfest

Yesterday kids at the Kita had a Laternenfest (Lantern Festival). Traditionally it's in honour of St Martin, but these days it's more of an excuse to let kids walk around with a lantern and sing sonds. Last year we went on one of these but then without an actual lantern. This year kiddies and parents made their lanterns at the Kita and last night the weather was perfect for it - it was very very foggy and made the whole procession all the more magical. There was a little play performing the story of St Martin himself, we sang a few songs, walked around the nearby block in a somewhat disorganised procession and then ate loads and loads of sweet things and drank Gluhwein (despite the fact that our Kita is half Russian, there was a non-alcoholic version for the little ones).

During the eating part of the evening Timmy got seated in front of a big round plate with a very yummy looking cake on it. At this point he assumed that 'big plate with cake' = 'my little plastic plate at home'. Thus he proceeded to eat piece after piece, after piece of this cake right from the platter. I counted that he ate at least four slices. Afterwards our friends Anita, Ilja and Hannes came over to our place for a bit of an afterparty and Tim kept running back and forth to Anita for tickles. Basically he ended up having a huge sugar high that crashed very suddenly with a bit of a tantrum. Such is the hard life of a 1.5 year old.

One and a half years old

Our little man is 1.5 years old today. When I think back to 1.5 years ago and the little wormy squirmy creature that he was, it's hard to believe that it is the same human being. He can do so much, can say what he wants and doesn't want, shows interest in very specific things and is generally a little confident person. Favourite animals right now are dogs and horses. There are a few carriages on the streets for the tourists and Tim just loves to watch them go past. And he also really likes drawing - well actually not so much drawing itself, but playing with pencils and putting them in boxes and packets.

One thing that he definitely is, is not shy. In fact he seeks attention from pretty much everyone. So when we go out somewhere he will try to get the attention of nearby people, by first smiling at them... if that doesn't work then he waves and failing that he makes a loud
grunting/shouting noise. One of the three usually gets the attention of these random people and then he gets all cute and flirts with them by smiling, looking away and smiling at them some more. These days it's cold outside so he parades in his bear-ears hat, which also assists him in getting more attention. The other day we were in a department store lift and it so happened that we were in the middle of it with Tim sitting in the pram. So without any shame he started taking turns looking at the people on either side of him. After a little while the whole lift worth of people was smiling at him... so I said to them "No shame" - indicating Tim. And one man replied "Perhaps he's a future diplomat - he is not afraid of making contact with people". Perhaps...

He's been trying to talk more - actually attempting various words. Over the weekend he started saying 'туда' (Russian for 'there'), and tried making a very cute hissing sound when Jack was trying to teach him to say 'cheese'. Otherwise we're still at the good old 'Mama', 'Papa', 'Dada', 'Baba'. Except that 'Mama' is used for any person that Tim currently wants attention from. So if I'm picking him up from Kita, he says 'Mama' in relation to one of the teachers as we're leaving. When a friend of ours comes over to visit and then leaves, Tim will point at the door and with the saddest eyes will say 'Mama'. Jack is also 'Mama' if I'm not the preferred parent at the time.

Aside from that he's been walking heaps and really enjoys the independence of running to where he wants to... which 80% of the time is the opposite direction to where we're trying to go. Over the weekend we went to Tiergarten and he enjoyed playing with all the dry autumn leaves and had plenty of freedom to run wherever he wanted. Here he is at 1.5 years! :)