On the move!

Annika is crawling!  We have gone from the doctor mildly concerned that she wasn't meeting her 9month gross motor milestones to an active baby.  Who is also not so little. We don't have confirmation on the little thing and no actual verifiable evidence. But she has some chunky thighs that even strangers notice.  And she feels heavier and looks different after every sleep.

Three days ago she was only sort of crawling a few short "steps" at a time.  Yesterday afternoon we had to set up the gate to keep her out of Emma's art area and the computer space.  She explored the sliding glass door, got close to the dogs water dish, tried pulling herself up on the octagon table, rattled the gate and generally just want everywhere in the back room.

Yesterday when I went to get her from her afternoon nap she was standing in her crib.  She has only done that once before.  This morning she was also standing after her nap and when I did a reset this afternoon.  Yay!  Now to make more progress on the gross motor skills she needs to walk while holding on to furniture.  She is starting to move her legs when standing so its a start.  All this good sleep is working to her advantage!

Go little baby, go!

Let's Pretend

There probably is a post with this title already!  It is Emma's favorite game to play. We pretend to be the Frances family (like the Bread and Jam for Frances characters) quite often- daily actually. And sometimes hourly. She has added Lily as a character and sometimes Annika is just the new baby Annika while Baby Katie scrubs in as Gloria.
On the way home from the nature center this afternoon Emma says, "Let's pretend that this is a bus and you are Lily the bus driver. I'm Frances, Annika is Gloria, and Daddy is Albert." OK I say, "Stay in your seats and keep quiet! you're on my bus now!"  Said with a smile of course.  Then Emma replies, "You're Lily and you live with us." OK but then that was that. The game ended without any warning.

Yesterday we played Barbies in the basement. She wanted me to talk for some of the girls so I did. But then she would ask, "who said that?"  So I would tell her. As I listened to her she talks but also narrates as if we are enacting the pages right from a book.  "Let's go to the beach, said Mia. So they all got dressed and went to the beach. Let's pretend that Ariel climbed up the cliff and dove into the water and swam and swam."  It is really fascinating to witness but a little hard to follow along. (It's hard to narrate!)

Mother's Day 2013

With two it is even sweeter!  Emma and Daddy kept whispering and talking for a few days leading up to Sunday. A mysterious package arrived in the mail mid week. Emma made some picture cards for Grandma, G-Bugga, Nanie and Great Grandma and said, "but why? They aren't my mommy!"
Sunday morning Steve and Emma got up early with Annika and let me sleep.  Not that the sleeping was great, but being able to lie in bed for awhile was heavenly.
Then a breakfast in bed that still has me smiling came up the stairs with Emma and Daddy. Emma insisted that I have my usual oatmeal, plus she picked out Surprise muffins to make, Steve cooked bacon, there was delicious tea, juice with fruit, a bowl of fruit and an iPad mini!  It was just the best.  Emma stayed and helped me eat the wonderful spread with just a few crumbs making it in the bed. We played with the iPad a little and I found a song from Zumba. Emma asked to not hear it again after a few minutes! It was will i am's Scream and Shout. Steve came back up later with baby and we got a group photo. 
Perhaps the piece de resistance was the card. I don't know where Steve finds them but he always manages to get the best blank cards. This one was blank but for the beautiful hummingbird and flower art on the outside and inside. Emma wrote "Happy Mother's Day Love Emma" and then added her own flower that matched the drawing. She also drew a hummingbird to match and it looks fantastic! She is a very good artiste. (Steve also had his own sweet message.) I am so lucky!

 

I am loving watching the two of my girls grow up. I can't remember what we did for the rest of the day and I don't need to. The morning is memory enough for me.

Trim It Up

It was really past time to trim Annika's old man hair style.

BEFORE

AFTER

SO MUCH HAIR!

Over the River...

..and through the woods to Grandmother's house we go. Great Grandma's house that is- finally after a long hiatus. An unintentionally long stretch between visits ended this past Saturday. It is just so hard to do the trip with both girls, especially since Annika had been so fiesty.
It was so sweet to watch Great Grandma with Annika. Annika really studied her face and didn't smile much at first. Gma's face would light up as she baby talked some words and phrases. Annika would watch her and blink. During lunch Annika became a bit more animated and smiled back. Annika loved the swedish meatballs and over done green beans. Even though she "flat lined" on the growth chart, you wouldn't guess it by watching her eat. That girl can chow down!
 Gma had given both girls a stuffed toy- the stuffed animal is a token Grandma gift. My collection was quite large by the time I reached the "too-old-for-toys" age. Grandma used to tell me how Grandpa would say, why are you getting another sruffed animal? And Grandma would say because they are so cute and cuddly. So now Annika has a large blue bunny with sewn on patches to make it appear a little whimsical.  Emma got the annual noisy bunny. It shakes and moves while playing a hoppy song. The one she got from Gma last year (or the year before) is a favorite. Emma also received a Disney Princess art set- activity book, cardboard scene to color, puzzle and crayons. Emma and Gma had some puzzle time after lunch. It was cute watching Gma get all impressed when Emma found a piece.
We hit the road pretty early since both girls had missed their naps. The first 30 minutes or so in the car were a nightmare!  Emma was having tantrums for dropping her art set, losing markers, losing puzzle pieces. "When are we going to go back to Great Grandma's?" Huge sobs and screams. The back of Steve's seat was being pushed. The tears were rolling and her face was beet red.  She couldn't manage a polite request for picking up the dropped items, which added to the stress. After talking things through (multiple times and getting to the point of threats and promises of rewards (so bad!!)), she finally chokes out a strangled "please help me Mommy" and I turned around to help her collect whatever item she just had to have right that second. We started to drive under an overpass and the van got darker and darker. "What is happening to us!!" Emma sobs and screams. It was so funny. I had been wondering the same thing since the overpass was not very wide. It didn't make sense that we should not able to see the floor of the van or our groping hands. What happened to us indeed.
Eventually Emma calmed down. That was just when Annika decided to scream. The Nuk didn't help so we just had to wait it out. She fell asleep after awhile, followed closely by Emma.
Whew. In the middle of Emma's tantrums Steve asked her to "Ask us again, Emma, when we are going to go back to Great Grandma's."  She made us tell her why and of course she didn't like the answer- not for a long time because we don't want to go through that again.

Sweet Sisters

Well, it starts off sweet and then progresses down the road that only a 5 year old can follow.

Snow Fun

Yesterday could have been another one of those days when Emma and I push each others buttons. It was a half day of school, which tends to lead to rough days even if they start out fine. (The early release started/ended with a children of the world parade. It was really cool to see the kids all dressed up (even Emma) and singing It's a Small World and another song with hello in many languages.)  Back at home the party was over pretty quickly. Just a typical scene of a 5 year old who saves her poor choices and tantrums for Mommy.
After rest time in the afternoon and a painting project that took longer to set up than it did to occupy her time I suggested that Emma get dressed and go outside and run around. She surprised the heck out of me by saying OK, with enthusiasm even.  I even said that she didn't need to put on her snow pants unless she was planning on rolling around in the snow. 
So while she was outside tromping in and out of the front yard I finished up with the dinner prep and prepared to go outside as well. She came in just as I was getting ready and was super excited that I was going to head outside with her. "That's just what I want you to do!" She put on her snow pants while I got suited up.
She was quick to show me the huge snow pile by the birch tree that has the shepherds hook poking up out of the top of it again. We made some faces in the mound with our shoe print holes. Then on we trudged through the yard. Very soon she suggested we play hide and seek, "and you count first. I know right where I am going to hide." So I wandered around until she was ready. She wasn't in the mailbox! She wasn't under the car! She was right next to the large snow pile we marred earlier and giggling like crazy.
Somehow the game fizzled right out. I took the old wreath off the side of the house and Emma immediately grabbed for it. "Wait, I want to play with it." So she giggled and pulled it over her head. "I'm your wreath that you want to keep but I run away from you. So sleep Mama." I laid down to sleep on the ground. "So while she was sleeping the wreath ran away," and she got up and ran away, holding the wreath like an inner tube around herself.  "Now you have to try to catch me!"  So I ran after her and when I caught her we tumbled to the ground. We both laughed a lot. We kept playing that until I got to be the wreath.  I ran around just out of her reach. "I'm going to get you, Wreath! No, don't go to the snowbank!" But I ran right to the large snow bank in our neighbors driveway, hurtled myself over, and to allow some time for Emma to catch up, I fell to the snowy ground and pretended to be having a hard time getting up. (Well some of it wasn't pretending- it is not easy for a Wreath to maneuver!)  Emma clambered over the snow bank and piled on top of me. We laughed a lot.  "OK, I am going to sleep again. Now you run away. I'm going to catch you, Wreath. Come back here, Wreath!"  So many giggles and laughs.  I really wonder what the neighbors were thinking as they saw us chasing each other with the large wreath wrapped around us.
Then when we tired of the wreath we just chased each other. "You can just leave the wreath on the ground." But she still narrated using the Wreath character. Pretty funny.
I made a snow angel and she helped me up.  We made snow balls and played catch while sitting on the ground. "It counts if it lands on the ground close to you." 
Then the baby woke up and I had to go back inside. But when Emma came in it was all smiles for both of us.  Being outside warmed us up from the outside, in. :)