Soenke still startles me with his ability to mobilize 15 people for a party in a matter of minutes. And in this manner was our New Year’s Eve bash birthed this year. I was all entertained out from the Christmas holidays, and suddenly Soenke flipped open his cellphone and started pressing buttons. Before I could intervene, the deal was done and an international group of folks were on deck with food assignments… from sour cream to Silberzwiebeln, all the raclette ingredients had been divvied up, 3 raclette grills were on the way, and Soenke had even promised to pick up the drinks and pull together 2 dinner tables and 16 chairs. I had swore we’d use paper plates & plastic utensils, but at the last moment my “inner Bree” protested too loudly, and the table was re-set with the nice stuff.

My friend Kirstan Boettger - the consummate party maker - showed up with wrapped party favors, German-English Pictionary (or did we just make it German English?), a pair of dice, and a pile of videos for the kids. (Really, that’s all you need for a great party.)

After hours of wolfing down raclettes, sipping Rhine wines, engaging in a lot of eye-raising discussion, and even a few rounds of Pictionary, the midnight gong struck and out we went for Germany’s hour of wildness. You’ve never seen personal displays of fireworks like you see in Germany. Really, people go crazy. And Andre led the pack this year, impressing us with his bottle rockets and other things that surely would be illegal in 26 states…

I leave you know with a pictoral montage of our totally enjoyable and fantastic evening. No Sophie here - she bowed out at 9pm - but the rest of us made it until 2 !

So Happy New Year to Everyone! I have a good feeling about 2009…

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Hours of raclette-eating make some guests a little giddy..

Kirstan & I goof off in the kitchen:

While the kids check out a video upstairs:

Emily hunkers down under the high chair:

Mehmet & Klaudia “practice” for their future! (those are Frito & Kara’s kids….)

And outdoors, it’s midnight, and it’s firework time! (bring out the bottle rockets, Germany!)…

Andre and his kids (Jack, Brendan, & Vivian - from right to left) are avid fire-workers…

Klaudia, Mehmet, Christine & Jalil get fired up:

Andre & Kirstan in Kirstan’s signature photo pose:

A kiss at midnight! (that’s Soenke and me)

Emily & Kara strike a pose:

At last, someone gives me something with fire! (Frito and Emily supervise closely, of course…)

And finally, a small video over Pictionary as midnight drew near…

Ok, I know this is really somewhat of a ridiculous post, but I tried to capture Sophie’s new and endearing affirmative responses on video. Since she hasn’t learned to say “No” yet (thank goodness!), rather simply shaking her head vigorously if she is not interested in my suggestions, she DOES say “Yeah Yeah” very cutely when we have a deal.

HOWEVER. As we inch nearer to the Terrible Twos, I have recently been witness to Sophie’s first “temper tantrum lite”, which completely caught me off-guard. Normally a sweet, affable child, I was highly startled when - with no forewarning - she burst into furious, red-faced crying when I suggested we hop in the high chair for breakfast, and laid herself face-down, spread-eagled on the floor.

Having no experience in such matters, I attempted to verbally unravel the mystery of her sudden anguish:

“Does something hurt, Sophie?” …. (shaking head, continued crying… I did a quick physical check to make sure nothing was amiss…)
“Do your teeth hurt?” …. (shaking head, louder crying)
“Are you hungry?” ….. (looking up at me in total frustration, as if I am the dumbest human alive, still crying)
“Do you want your sippy cup?” …. (now standing up, standing 2 feet from me, crying as loudly as possible in my direction)

At this point, even the dumbest human alive can figure out that something fishy is up with this child. So, to confirm that this was all a big, fake act, I inquired…

“So, do you want a COOKIE??”

(I know, I know, all moms out there are gnashing their teeth, wailing NOOOO DON’T REWARD HER BEHAVIOR WITH A COOKIE!)

And of course, Sophie’s immediate answer…….

“YEAH YEAH!”

Welcome to the Terrible Twos….. (and we still have over 4 months to go!)

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This video is the cute version of “Yeah Yeah”… not the tantrum!