Yes, we have no...

...bananas! The Wren's newest favorite food. As with other foods, Gwendolyn does not like the mushed up, piecemeal version - it's the whole thing or not at all.

Good Morning, Sunshine

Spring!

Spring has come! The first crocuses are up - here's a patch in our backyard. This is the first true winter/spring we've experienced in many years (treks between Texas and Panama don't seem to count). It's amazing how much more spring-like spring feels when you've been through winter. We feel hopeful, energetic and alive in a way I think we miss in our warmer climates - it's wonderful.

End of Work

At the end of the day, this is an extremely welcome sight.

Gwendolyn and David! Picking me up from work.

Pretzel Sharing

On the final day of Mike's visit, Kathrin came to see us. Kathrin was a postdoc in the Ryan Lab several years ago, so we know each other from Austin and also from Panama. It was wonderful to see her again, and great to have a mini-lab reunion.

Kathrin and the Wren discovered they have something very important in common - an extreme love of the Bavarian pretzel. Kathrin informed us that where she is living now (about 6 hours away, in northwestern Germany), they do not have great pretzels everywhere the way they do in southern Germany. She wisely stocked up before going home. In this picture Gwendolyn is demonstrating a skill we did not know she had - pretzel sharing.

A Visit from Mike

We had a great visit last weekend from my PhD advisor. Mike was visiting a colleague in Vienna, and on the way home to Texas stopped to see us in Seewiesen. The weather was perfect. He had a bit of warm spring sunshine...

...perfect for beers at a lakeside biergarten...

...and checking out the Starnbergersee.

And then snow! So he got a taste of winter as well. We took a cable car up to the top of Mount Laber to get a better view of the Alps.

Gwendolyn was a little perturbed by the apparent precipice.

But she settled happily into Mike's arms at the summit restaurant. We were excited to see they still served gluwein, the hot mulled wine we found so often at the Christmas markets.

After checking out everyone's food and drinks, the Wren took her coaster in hand and started vocalizing loudly. How else to express so much pleasure - a great day in great company!

Frauen und Herren

Now that Gwen Wren is eating pretzels, I have had a few little bits of time to work on a post I have been meaning to do for several weeks. This is old news, but worth sharing. We had a great weekend back at the end of January in which we traveled to the Chiemsee, also sometimes called the Bavarian Sea (quite a hyperbole), for the annual German bat researchers' meeting.

Actually, Rachel was there for the meeting; Wren and I were there to do some sightseeing.

There are two major islands in the Chiemsee, the Fraueninsel ("women's island") and the Herreninsel ("men's island"). As you can see in the above photo, the Fraueninsel is covered in large part by a convent--hence the "Frauen" moniker. The conference took place at this convent; we even slept there and ate there.

Here is the view from the window of our room. We told the nuns we were coming with a baby, so they gave us the biggest room they had: the bridal suite. That's a bit of a weird concept, a bridal suite at a convent! Not quite the atmosphere most people would seek out for a honeymoon.

In between talks, Rachel would come out of the conference room (more like a conference cabin) to nurse the Wren. It was COLD, but the setting was spectacular. In the background is the Herreninsel, home to a monastery (hence "Herren"). In the middle ground is a smaller island, the Krautinsel ("weed island").

Lore has it that the men from the Herreninsel would meet up with the ladies from the Fraueninsel on the Krautinsel, as depicted in this painting I found at the center of the Fraueninsel. The photo isn't the highest quality because I took it in a hurry. I wondered if I was at risk of impropriety taking pictures of what looked like some kind of altar or shrine.

I also felt a little nervous approaching the convent's church. The only entrance was through the graveyard.

Gwen Wren and I spent most of our time walking around the perimeter of the Fraueninsel. And around. And around. When we got too cold we would return to our room, or sneak in to the back of the conference cabin where I would drink the free coffee and listen for how many times I could hear the word "fledermaus" (the talks were mostly in German).

Gwen Wren and I would also join up with everyone for meals, where Wren got a chance to meet some of our batty German friends. Dina frequently took Gwen Wren off our hands during the meal breaks. Gwendolyn was a fan of Dina's scarf. If you look closely at the photo, you may notice that the fare is in fact beer, not food. We stayed up late every night drinking beer and socializing.

Silke was also a big Gwen Wren fan. And vice versa.

A few times, Rachel skipped some of the drier talks to hang out with Gwendolyn in our room.

On the second day, I decided to break the monotony of the Fraueninsel by taking Gwen Wren over to the Herreninsel. On the ferry ride over, I saw this guy fishing near the Krautinsel. I thought of my dad.

In addition to a monastery, the Herreninsel also houses another one of crazy King Ludwig II's crazy castles. This one was modeled after Versailles. Inside, it is even more opulent and ornate than the more famous Neuschwanstein. No photos allowed, but if you want to see some, you can look here.

Who's the Baby in the Mirror?

Gwen Wren has a number of favorite games, but perhaps her favorite one of all is visiting the baby in the mirror. Her father says, "Now it's time to visit your old friend: yourself!"

In fact, I remember that her very first squeal of delight was also in response to her mirror image, in the mirror over her mechanical swing (and oh how we miss the mechanical swing!)

Sometimes, Gwendolyn starts up a conversation with her doppelganger. We're not quite sure what they say to each other, but it is clear that they are quite fond of each other!

Cornucopia!

The Wren is progressing by leaps and bounds! Her pretzel discovery opened the door, and suddenly anything is fair game.

Last night I put a grape on her high chair tray. I left the room for a moment, and when I came back she had reached the bowl on the table and taken the whole bunch in her mouth!

She steadily ate her way down the bunch, mostly just making tiny teeth marks, but mushing and swallowing several full grapes along the way.

We tried her later with pasta, she liked that too. It's so fun to see how much she enjoys this. Milk is still the biggest component of her diet by far, which is nice for all of us. But it's great to see her so happy in her new discovery. Welcome, little one, to the world of food!

Wren and the Giant Pretzel

We have had a major breakthrough. For the past several weeks we have been trying to interest Gwendolyn in solid foods. We've offered her gooey rice cereal, all manner of pureed fruits and vegetables; if we get it as far as her mouth, she makes a face like we've just fed her a sour lemon. In a moment of desperation, trying to distract her so we could eat a bit ourselves, we handed her something a little more solid - a Bavarian pretzel. She loved it! She has been eating them practically non-stop since. "Eating" may be the wrong word; sucking on a fist-sized piece for an extremely long period of time is more like it, but she does in fact swallow some of it. And coos with happiness the whole time. Hurray!

This new development does have its downsides, though. Right this moment, my keyboard is covered with bits of gooey pretzel. And Gwendolyn's front side is a pasty mess. But it's great to see her face light up as she sinks her two teeth into some pretzely goodness - maybe Bavarian sausages are next?

Under the saucer

In the perpetual search for exciting, new activities, Gwendolyn discovers that playing under her exersaucer is nearly as good as playing on top.