Happy 3rd Birthday, Annika Marie!

This year we kept things simple. On Sunday before her birthday we went to Goodman Pool for the first time ever. And it was great! Both girls loved the experience. Annika hardly ever let go of our hands so that she could jump up and down.  The pool is a zero entry with some fun water spouts, fountains, hoses and other over-sized sprinkler towers. Fun for all ages!
The pool slowly gets deeper until it turns and reaches a deep end where they have a diving board. The girls had fun watching some boys do flips. Emma was not interested in swimming in the deep end or in going down the water slides. Maybe next year.
All was fun and games until for no reason Annika bit Daddy's finger. We took a time out on the chairs and a couple minutes later a break was called for the whole pool. Good timing so we headed home.
Annika requested salami, cheese, yogurt and Cheetos for dinner. We feasted on various combos of those main ingredients when we got home. Emma carried the cake (raspberry with raspberry frosting) while we all sang, including Annika. She blew out the candles in two or three puffs. Then she requested we eat cake and vanilla ice cream outside so we headed to the patio. It was such pleasant evening!
Annika also opened some presents with Emma's help. We gave her Knufflebunny (a book), homemade finger paints, an Elsa shirt, and a refill roll of paper for her easel. Emma was so sweet and made Hop Hop a tiny shirt (the stitches came off so we need to redo it but she was so eager to make if all herself and was quite proud, in Emma's quiet way) and gave Annika an Anna and Elsa shirt. Plus Emma wrote a very sweet card.
On Annika's birthday morning we made chocolate pancakes with whipped cream. Yummy! Later the girls went with Steve to the grocery and hung out at home while I taught Wonder Bugs. We all met at Noodles for lunch, where the girls had Mac and cheese dishes. Annika had meatballs on hers! Such a carnivore!  Atfter not napping we ran some errands and had a nice recap of her birthday meal. Grandma Karen (across the street) stopped by and gave Annika a present from her and Tom- a Bunnies Tale book and a cute bunny purse. Godfather Andrew called to give their wishes as well as Auntie Em. Fun night!
Annika must have had a fun, tiring day because she fell asleep without any shenanigans!  A wonderful birthday season for a wonderful little girl!

Annika- you are still that smiley charmer so quick to laugh. You will talk to anyone about anything that comes to your mind. You definitely know what you want and can stubbornly hold your ground. Your three year old outbursts are loud and intense but you can be calmed down quickly with some distractions. You adore your big sis! Whatever Emma is doing, you want to do as well. Although you have found your own person inside. You still like Barbies while Emma has given them up. You love to run around naked! Just yesterday you wore only your undies outside and then just took those off as well. You rode your bike naked, gardened naked and of course, went potty outside. You have taken on a big girl bed with pizazz! It was your decision to also give up Pull-ups at the same time. Big girl bed, big girl undies for all sleeps. And you are doing amazing! We wish for you a lifetime of following your dreams, doing whatever it is that makes you happy. Keep smiling and laughing! It is contagious.

Annika's 2nd birthday (because now she is 3!)

Trying to catch up a little and delete texts saved in Notability....

Thanks 2 You

Happy 2nd birthday, little A!  You are such a delightful and happy girl. so curious and eager to learn and help. You obviously desire to be just like your big sister in every way and attempt to keep up with her in almost all situations. You have peed on the potty and toilet a few times now although you aren't super interested in actually training. That's just fine for now. I have no doubt that when you want to, you will train yourself. :)  I wish for you to always be able to find the joy in life- that will serve you well from 2 to old age. Keep that good sense of humor and easy laugh.

For your birthday we went to visit Aunt Susan in Cincinnati for the weekend. We left on friday morning, arriving in time to eat dinner at Aunt susan's apartment. the drive was over 7 hours and you were not a happy camper; I spent a lot of time askign you to be quiet. ssh! Aunt susan had made a delicious meal of heuvos rancheros with black beans and these veggie pancakes and latkes. Oh so good. There is no table or chairs at Aunt susie's so we tried to get you to sit still on the couch to minimize cleanups on the rug. You kind of banged around like a pinball but ate well. We sang Happy Brithday to you and you tried to blow out hte candles on top of the Mint Truffle ice cream cake. You slept well in the pack and play in the roommates room.
 The next morning we all went to check out Eden park that has views of the river and kentucky. Then we went to the observatory and enjoyed walking through the greenhouses. the park across the street had the President'os Grove of trees planted in honor of all the US Presidents. then we drove to the museum spot and had lunch in the cafe before exploring the children's museuem.  You cooked a baby in the house that was part of the kid-sized village. Before then you climbed on everything you c

Frozen

It seems as if this blog has been frozen!  Our lives, however, have not- except when frozen actually refers to Frozen, the Disney movie.
I took Emma to see Frozen at the church family movie night last year. She loved it! We listened to the soundtrack on spotify tons of times and evefry time Let It Go came on the radio the volume had ot be turned up. Of course the obvious side effect of all of this was that annika also listened and learned. It did not take too long before Annika was belting out Let It Go- everyhwere, all the time and very loudly. Emma's love of Frozen may have started to diminsh somewhat once her annoying little sister jumpoed on the bandwagon.
Enter Great Grandma, Uncle Chuck (and his sons) and Olive (Grandma's friend).  Come Christmas of 2014 with packages crowding Great Grandma's tiny house. So many Frozen things. Huge stuffed Anna and Elsa dolls, art sets, plates and utensil sets, a lamp, Elsa barbie. Emma decided she was a bit too old for most of the babyish things but was gracious in person during the unwrapping. Since then Emma has given up Barbies and has even taken to creating potions and spells (with her good friend Evelyn) to make Annika give them up too. (It has not worked yet.) Annika on the other hand is completely Frozen through and through. Her babysitter (Rebecca) commented the other day that she needs to teach Annika a new Disney song so that Let It Go can be replaced. (The sitters have encouraged the infatuation by playing songs for the girls on their phones.)
Yes, Annika will still belt out Let it Go with surprising accuracy and pitch. We happened to hear it once on the car radio last week and now she asks for it semi-regularly, the reality and intracacies of radio versus internet lost on her little mind.
The large stuffed Anna and Elsa are constant companions. There was a brief stint of time when Emma would get furious at Annika for taking her Elsa doll, but now Emma does not even glance sideways at the dolls. Annika, however, takes them in the car, sleeps with them in her crib (along with assorted other friends like Hop Hop, Hop Hops parents, Snoopy, etc), plays with them downstairs and sometimes takes them outside. I have had to stitch the bodice on Elsa once and Anna's cap has been removed; I am sure these dolls will fall apart before they are left aside.

On a non-frozen note, Hop Hop went missing two weekends ago. Annika had him at dinner and then when she went to go to sleep he could not be found anywhere. Steve searched everywhere. The next day I searched everywhere. On the next Monday or so Annika answered (in response to inquiries from Emma and I) that Hop Hop was dirty and went in the trash. I emptied all cans and shallowly searched all bags to no avail. During nap times I searched in all bags, nooks and crannies that I could think of. the sewing maching drawers in the guest room. Under all beds. Down in the play room in all baskets, bins and corners. In the thrift pile in the basement. Nothing.  We were all missing that little bunny and Annika's adorable attachment to him. So one afternoon I was down in the basement sewing and decided to look again in the thrift area. The pack and play is also incidentally stowed near here as well. I checked the various bags and under piles and then stood there scratching my head while my eyes wandered over the mess. Wait- was there a small bulge under the zipper of the pack and play bag? I hurried over with my heart thumping and unzipped the bag. Yes!! Oh, there you are Hop Hop, you sweet little bunny. I was grinning ear to ear as if this furry, dingy friend was my long lost pal. When Annika woke from her nap I took him in her room with me. As I grasped the end of the crib with Hop Hop in my hand (just his ears were peeking over the side) Annika's cries and distressing just-woke-up voice instantly stopped when she saw him. "Where was he by?" she asked. I smiled, told her and handed her Hop Hop. She glowed and snuggled him and has not let him be forgetten again. Yet. :) Too bad I couldn't freeze that warm fuzzy moment- this is as close as I can get.

Wedding '09

Paul and Lauren said "I do" this past weekend. To Emma they are Uncle Paul and Aunt Lauren. To most everyone in the family Emma is "a beautiful girl." awww.

So this is the trip where Emma decided that she just can't (won't) sleep on an airplane. She will fuss, cry, scramble from lap to lap, roll, fuss, fidget, cry, lie down, stand up, fuss, rub her eyes, roll over, lie down, scramble from lap to lap, kick and push the seats in front of her- pretty much anything goes except sleep! Okay, she did sleep for about 20 minutes in this sort of awkward position that she ended up in after fussing around for 3/4s of the flight back to Chicago. We were almost sorry that the flight wasn't longer just so she would get a better nap.


Thursday we made it into Philly a little delayed due to weather, and we made it to Bryn Mawr's athletic field just after the start of Karen Anna's lacrosse game. It was wet and coldish so we left to go to the hotel at halftime.

The highlights: more plane trips (no sleeping except once), KA's game, rehearsal dinner in the garden, Cafe Hun, wedding, times with KA.

Want vs need

This morning Annika woke up and promptly went into Emma's room to play with toys. Emma was agreeable to that, except for when Annika said, "rancoon!" Emma flew across the room and placed her stuffed chiuhua, Cancun, up high in her closet. Whew. Annika got a bit more frantic with her "Rancoon!" Pleas. So I took her into her room to change her diaper and clothes. She started banging her legs up and down and whining, "want Rancoon!" So I sang a little bit of the Rolling Stones. You can't always get what you want. But if you try sometimes you just might get what you need.  After pausing for a few seconds Annika said, "need Rancoon!"

Snow Musings

I will have to update about the girls' birthdays later. For now I want to share my thoughts from this snowy day.
Emma had a horse riding lesson this morning; Steve took her. They went with the idea that maybe Emma could stay and help in the barn afterward. we tried once before but it was early in the morning and no one was awake yet. So today was the first day for helping. Steve came home around 10 without emma so I thought something was wrong, but he was only getting her snow gloves and winter coat. Then he came back 20 minutes later to explain that Margie (the owner) told him Emma could stay for 1-2 hours and suggested Steve leave Emma there until noon. Emma seemed pleased so steve came home. (He told me that he took her aside and explained that she was going to be there to work and that she needed to listen and all of that. To which she replied, "Yeah, yeah, I know." We have been getting that response a lot lately. I wish I could have been there to see her lesson and to watch her work.
All morning I kept getting misty eyed thinking about our 7 year old daughter mucking out stalls. I am sure that she would have told me "don't smile!" And this was the first time she has been left on her own anywhere that wasn't church or a play date.  She is getting so grown up. (And yet this afternoon when she was playing Frances family with her little sister it made me smile to watch her riding her stuffed horse around the house. still so much a kid. thank goodness.) Emma, we are so proud of you and amazed at your capabilities and passion at such a young age.
When Emma got home I was so excited to hear about how it went. And Emma of course did not want to tell me. she got a good report according to steve and she told Steve that she would rather muck out stalls then clean her room. Her pants were dirty, her boots muddy and her love of horses even stronger. Emma said that the girls were nice and she could not remember their names. She was the youngest girl there she thinks. Emma is a horse girl all right!

So this afternoon after annika's nap the girls played horse in Emma's room. I was reluctant to leave them alone but Emma seemed in a very peaceful mood so I stayed in the kitchen and checked periodically (and always kept my ears on full alert). They played upstairs with zero incidences for about an hour at whihc point Emma called down and said, "Mama, Annika wants to come down." They were waiting at the top of the stairs, horses in hand. I thought for sure that when they came down the sister playtime would dissolve in tears or anger. They proved me wrong and played so sweetly for another hour. Everyonce in a while Emma would ask me to do something as part of the game and I obliged. I kept to the kitchen to avoid being any inadvertent reason for the game to end. It warmed me heart and steve's too when he got home from running errands. I stole a Twizzler Halloween candy from emma's stash (sorry kiddo!) but shared it with both girls, telling them how much I loved watching them playing so nicely together.
annika was in seventh heaven. She galloped around when Emma said, "'OK, practice riding, Gloria." Emma was so sweet and I think she loved having someone so eager to play her game, mostly following her rules.
Annika and Emma, I hope that you realize someday that as sisters you have a friend for life. Watching you today was just the best. you two are the best. we should take pictures of you two and add them to the quilts aunt Jan made for you. absolutely precious all around-both of you.

Annika is in an indoor soccer class for 6 saturday sessions with other 2 year olds and their parents. today was the second session and it is so much fun. Like the other kids, Annika loves to stop the ball with her hands (crawling on the floor if need be) or carry the ball in her arms. She dribbled the ball for a few steps today and had fun throwing the ball overhead to me when she refused to no longer kick the ball at the wall. She watches the 3 other kids but unlike Emma she does not hang back and cling to me. She will sit by me on the floor for stretching, grab my hand for "duck"ing the ball or running across the court, or let me help her zig zag through the cones. But she listens to the coach, gives high fives, and smiles a lot. at the end of class the coach put all of the balls away except one and they kids (and adults) had a scrimmage of sorts. They took turns kicking/moving/throwing/carrying the ball first to one goal and then towards the other. they played like there was no defense, just an offense that switched sides after every goal. The adults cheered them all on and assisted in goals by shifting the goal as needed. Annika did not mind the clapping or shouting although it did make her stop and look. She happily would run from one end of the court to the other, occasionally touching the ball. It was great fun to watch. When I went in to get her out of her crib this morning the first thing she said was "play soccer today." aw. she did ask about basketball when we were there so we told steve about it and he told her they could play some time.
Annika, you may not choose to play soccer or any sports, but it sure is fun experiencing the newness with you now and sharing something that I like to do too. But No matter what you decide to do, we will support you and encourage you. We look forward to introducing you to new games, sports, activities these next few years and can hardly wait to see who you will become.

Annika and I vacuumed the front room today after soccer (and throwing the ball for the dog a few times- it was too cold for Annika to be outside without her whole winter gear lineup). For a very brief time she did help by pushing and pulling the vacuum with me. then she found it much more fun to scale the couch cushion (that was upright on the couch to keep the dog off) and giggle when the vacuum got too close. steve came home when I was done so I left the vacuum and Annika in the room and went to chat with him in the other. Not that long later the vacuum turned on and we heard a fast-paced pitter patter pitter patter heading our way. I looked over right as I started to move towards the room and there was annika, concern on her face and booking it as fast as she could from the vacuum. I could not stop myself from laughing, which stopped her in her tracks. I turned the vacuum off and still laughing, went to her. I asked her if the vacuum scared her and she said yes. Well if you turn it on, it turns on. I gave her a hug and she quickly went from being concerned to being curious about my sense of humor. Or so I think. She gave some small smiles and that was that. Oh it was too cute.

Annika says her name Hannika, but the N sounds are mushy so it is more like Haahika. So she may end up calling herself Awn-nnika some day instead of Anne-ika like we usually say. Today Emma said she wants to be called Amma. :)

Summer Update

Annika is saying more and more words. Pooh, which means either a poop in her diaper or Emma's blue bear or the Winnie the Pooh sticker on her toothbrush. Bye bye is quite common. Mommy, Daddy and Nanny, which means Annie.  When I ask her a question she will say "No", usually with some force. If she wants to say yes, she will shake her head in the affirmative. It is so cute. The other day she busted out with the word boy. Sometimes girls and boys are both, boy. Just now from the back seat she heard me say I really have to pee. So she says, Mama pee. Mama peepee.
The book that Emma got from Tom and Karen with the music box is a favorite. She asks for help. Help, hop hop and up all sound very similar so we have to pay attention to the context clues. She does not always want to listen to the story, but she does know some pages. Like she says me (which is how the book starts). and she will say and pie. We had some strawberry pie (after the girls and I went strawberry picking. They both ate a lot! Annika was covered in strawberry juice and did not actually contribute any of the berries that we bought.) and enjoyed eating it for dessert and breakfast. Annika loved saying pie, even after it was all gone.
When Annika wants us to stop what we are doing and play with her or read to her, she finds us, pushes us and says go repeatedly until we follow her. She glances over her shoulder to make sure we are following the leader.
Here you go and thank you sound very similar. She will say both  phrases (or is it one?) for many different situations. Just now she dropped Pooh and was saying Pooh with a plaintive tone. After I returned the bear to her she said thank you, Mama. If she wants something she will say here you go while pointing. She will hand you things in this same way. But she has the tendency to be an Indian giver, getting upset if you don't give it back promptly.

We finally turned her car seat around thinking that some of the car angst could be due to the fact that she was watching the back of her seat and landscape cruising by backwards. For our trip to Great Grandma's that theory was blown to bits. It wasn't the worst trip but any amount of screaming makes it far worse than plain okay. When she climbs in the car she rushes for the little seat between the two car seats and plops herself down, happily. She is not quite so happy to be strapped into her seat. Who can blame her? If given the opportunity she will try to climb over the middle front tray into the front or scramble in the passenger door and press the buttons and turn the knobs, frantic to get the chance before being whisked away.


Emma was calling herself a pancake today after realizing that cookies can sometimes be thin (and not just chunky).
Daddy: wow, Emma you are one smart...
Emma: little cookie.
Daddy: that's right, you are the cookie.
Emma: Well, I am the cookie because cookies are thin and I am skinny.
Daddy: Cookies can be thick, like big chunky cookies.
Emma: Oh yeah. Well I am a pancake then because pancakes are thin. Annika is a brownie.
Mama: Yeah, Annika is a brownie.

Both girls love the water.!  After taking swim lessons this winter, Emma can handle herself in pools just fine. Annika has no fear and would walk off the edge into the water if allowed to do so. At Grandma and Grandpa's Annika refused to sit in the infant float seat after getting a small taste of freedom. Steve and I both had the experience of holding her while she bounced on the stairs, tried to walk off the deepest one and laughed herself silly. When I talk about the pool or going swimming she makes a swishing sound while moving her arms in a freestyle stroke pattern (or an odd doggy paddle movement).  Annika likes playing with her water at the table as well. If she is done eating but is left alone for just a tad too long she commences Stage One of Water Play- commence water bottle emptying (on her tray). Or she will take a big swig of water and send it out of her mouth in a fountain. Then if we can't get there fast enough she will quickly swipe her hand back and forth, sending the water out to meet the floor, table, her legs, the dog. It's a water world!

Emma got to see a fireworks show for the first time ever this Fourth of July. We went to the Kniola's annual party and had a blast. Emma dressed for the occasion in her red tee that reads "you crack me up". We went swimming and Emma went down the water slide multiple times and loved it. Annika was happy for a long time in the plastic kiddie pool on the edge. She also enjoyed jumping on the pool steps and splashing Mama. We went back with Uncle Steve and Aunt Darcy to their neighborhood for the fireworks show. Emma covered her ears a few times but really liked the display.  Shortly after she actually said that she was very tired and wanted to go to bed- another first! So I took her back to the house and got her ready for bed. Unlike her sister, she slept through the random cracks and booms of neighborhood DIY firecrackers. Annika went to sleep around 9 (super duper late and she was very angry) and woke up relatively happy at 5 am. We left like thieves in the night by 6 am to keep from waking the entire house. Sheesh.

So there you have a very random summary of things since May. Oh so many stories and adventures to try to remember!