Elin started out this week by being soooo close to crawling - she has figured out that she can lift one of her hands while she's on her hands & knees, so I just know that she'll soon figure out the coordination necessary to move both hands and knees! Watch out, Erik's toys!! Elin turned 6 months old on Friday, December 20 and she celebrated her "birthday" by crawling for the first time!!! We were able to get it on video, too. I'd post it, but have never been able to get a video to successfully post to this blog. I went back to find out when Erik first learned to crawl and was shocked to realize that Erik didn't crawl until he was 9.5 months old!! Elin totally won this round. Wow. I'm very proud of her for learning to crawl, but I'm not really ready for her to be mobile! Gramma & Grampa Johnson were here to witness this milestone, so they were very pleased. They are threatening to teach her how to pull herself up on the furniture and walk along it, but I've hopefully but the kibosh on that!
Another wonderful thing that Elin is doing lately is giving "hugs" - often when I pick her up, she grabs hold of my shoulders with both of her arms, buries her face in my neck or shoulder and just hangs on. She also will cling to me when I try to lay her down on the changing table or on her playmat and after I successfully extricate myself, she will reach up with both hands to hold onto my face. I love it; she's such a sweet, wonderful baby!!
We did have a scare this week at Erik's daycare. Kent and I had been at an appointment on Wednesday morning and noticed lots and lots of police cars blocking driveways and roads as we got closer to our neighborhood. We then saw a car accident that appeared to involve a brick wall around a neighborhood - there were at least 3 fire engines and a lot of police cruisers there. They actually had the road blocked off. We were able to get home and then I immediately got into the car to go get Erik from his part-time daycare. I arrived at the daycare (after having to drive near the accident site again) only to be met at the door by the head of the infant/toddler program saying that the school was on lockdown. That stopped me in my tracks! I was told that it was okay for me to pick up Erik and take him home, but not to linger in the parking lot! Yikes. I got to Erik's room where I learned that the lockdown was due to armed gunmen in the area and that Erik's teachers had been anxious enough about the situation that they had taken the kids and kept them in a large storage room that didn't have any windows (Erik's classroom is on the back of the building with 2 easily accessible windows during some construction that is going on). I decided to high-tail it home! I learned later that the accident we had seen was actually the 3 armed robbery suspects that had caused the lockdown. The police had been chasing them and set up roadblocks and blow-sticks. The gunmen ran their car into a neighborhood wall, totally obliterating it. The police were able to catch them in the neighborhood they had crashed into. That neighborhood was on my Top Five favorite locations when we were last house-hunting. Can you imagine looking out your back window to see the brick wall come down or to watch as the police tackle & arrest some bad guys?! Freaky!
Kent's parents, Roger & Mary Johnson, arrived for the holidays on Thursday evening, Dec 19. They arrived before the kids were in bed, so they got to play with them a little bit that first evening. We had a nice, "leisurely" Friday that included lots of shopping (I just have to say that I thoroughly dislike Christmas shopping!), errands, playing and chores and ended with a train ride in Tavares, Florida! The train ride is normally a 30-45 minute loop and, during the holidays, includes singing, cookies and a visit from Santa. However, there is some repair work being done to the track and as a result, the train was only able to go forwards and backwards on a 1-2 mile stretch of track. I found that a bit annoying, but Erik didn't notice anything was wrong. Thankfully, we got vouchers for a future train ride to compensate!
Our week ended with Sabbath School and a quiet Sabbath afternoon. Kent is still sick with his cold and elected to stay home to rest, so Gramma Mary and I took the kids to Sabbath School. It was a packed house! We got there a few minutes late (of course) and had to split up in order to find chairs. Mary got the easy assignment and sat with Elin, who promptly fell asleep and napped throughout the rest of the class! I sat with Erik in a cramped little section of the class and proceeded to spend the rest of the class chasing him over chairs, picking him up off the floor and dragging him back to his chair from the center of the classroom. Normally, Kent does this part, which I am VERY thankful for. by the end of the class, I felt like a sweaty, limp rag. A friend and I were joking that we should just come to class dressed in spandex, tennis shoes and headbands since it is such a workout! Elin wore a new Christmas dress from Nana Chalker; this inspired a photo session after we got home. :)
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