Updates from the home front

I've been calling home everyday to speak to Astrid on the phone (she smiles and laughs when she hears my voice on the phone) and to get updates from the home front.

Astrid has been her usual happy self. Uwe's been doing a great job caring for her in my absence. It took a lot of scheduling and rushing around to do it as a single parent, but he was able to handle it and I'm proud of him.

Also, this entire week that I've been away on business, Uwe has spoken to Astrid in German. We're trying to raise her to be bilingual in German and English, so that she'll be fluent in both languages without an accent. When she's older it will be advantageous for her when studying and traveling abroad (especially if she decides she wants to study or live in Germany one day).

As it stands now we're still waiting for her to say her first German word. Uwe keeps trying, and we occasionally have "German days" on a weekend day where Uwe and I both speak only German and immerse Astrid in the language.

The update I received from Uwe this morning was that he went into Astrid's room at a quarter to 7 to wake her up, but according to Uwe "she was already up reading". I had to laugh out loud when he told me that. It makes her sound like an adult. She does love her books. I'm flying back tonight but I'll be home late, after Astrid's bedtime, so I won't be able to see her until tomorrow (Saturday) morning.

Will she recognize me? Will I receive a warm welcome home? Will she be mad at me for being gone for a week?

I will be bearing gifts from the Pottery Barn for Kids store in Ohio:

1) A book called, "Grow Up" which has cute illustrations of baby animals and what they grow up into (i.e., a puppy grows up to be....a dog).

2) A wooden xylophone
I think Astrid will love playing with this musical instrument.

3) A baby cell phone that looks like a real Nokia phone
It'll be interesting to see how long it will take her to figure out it's not the real thing and get bored with it. But it was only $3 and another mother here said her 18 month old loves this phone.