Aug 24 - 30: Does that Make You Happy?

I'm getting close to being caught up - this is the last entry that I need to post to be done - I'm so excited!!  Let's see if I can catch you all up on what the kids are doing/acting lately.  Both kids have adapted to being back at home for the past week and a half very well.  Erik started a new "school year" on August 18 (he missed the first day); he is in a class for 2 & 3 years old and has 2 new teachers, who are wonderful.  When I took him on Wednesday, he had no qualms about me leaving him (that didn't happen last year); his new classroom has Thomas train toys which I'm sure helped ease the pain of being left!!  I think that Erik is one of the older kids in the room this year, which is great by me since he has always been the youngest in the past.  By the end of this week, his teachers told me that Erik acts like a big brother to some of the other kids in the room, particularly to one little boy who is blond & blue-eyed.  Erik will direct the little boy to where he needs to go and will hold his hand when the class has to go to assemblies or other rooms for various classes (music, Judiaca, etc).  So proud of him!

On the other side of the equation, Erik has been trying to use kisses, pouting and hugs to get out of time-out!  When he is in time-out, I let him sit there until I'm ready to talk to him about why he was sent there and then he can get up.  Lately, when I come to talk to him, he will listen to me talk for a few minutes and will then lean forward and give me a kiss & a hug.  He refuses to answer questions or admit to misbehaving.  What a little turkey!  The first few times it happened, I had a really hard time not laughing, but then the humor wore off!  We told him that he couldn't get up until he answered our questions about what he had done wrong.  It is so frustrating when we ask him questions and he acts like he can't hear us or says "what?"!

Kent has been teaching Erik about family relationships and I will often hear Erik tell Elin that she is his sister, Kent is his Daddy, etc.  When we got to the lake and Erik saw Mary & Roger, he told Kent "There is your Mommy and that is your Daddy!"  Super cute.  Other funny things that Erik has said lately is "My ears are growing", "Daddy is so sad that I hurt myself", "I can't until I'm older", "when I'm grown, I'll try to eat [insert any new food item here: soup, vegetables, etc]".  We've also been working with him on the various emotions - happy, sad, disappointed, upset, etc.  When Erik is naughty or sassy, we tell him that we are not happy with him or that his behavior has made us upset.  Erik seems to be picking up on it and after doing something (or not doing something), he will often ask us "Does that make you happy?"

A picture I left out of the lake posts.  Erik sitting "in" a tree at the lake!

Elin has also started to offer kisses when she is told no!  What is it with these kids?!  Elin started her trick the week before we went to the lake.  She likes to drop her water cup onto the kitchen floor; when Kent or I tell her "no-no" her response is to pucker up her lips, lean towards you and say "na-no"!   Elin likes to hold her hands out, palms up, with a hopeful expression on her face, when she wants something/someone.  I think that I've posted a picture of her holding palms out in a previous blog, but we finally got some better shots of her doing it when we were at the lake.

Elin continues to struggle with teething.  She now has 11 teeth - all 8 of her incisors plus 3 molars. However, the last few molars to pop out caused sleeplessness, fever and some congestion.  While we were at the lake, she started waking up a few times each night as well as coughing.  As a result, both she & I were a bit worn down by the time we got home (I got up with her every night to help her get back to sleep and to hopefully prevent her from waking up everyone else in the cabin).  Elin's cough kept getting worse, so I finally took her to the pediatrician and we were prescribed nebulizer treatments of Albuterol.  Elin also had some slight fluid build-up in her ears, but nothing that would require antibiotics.  By the end of the week, Elin's cough is getting much better and she is sleeping through the night again.  She still has audible chest congestion and she has shared enough of her germs with me that I'm also sick with a sore throat and ear aches.  I cannot wait until we are done with teething!

I didn't take many new pictures since we got home from the lake, so I'm including some more photos from the family photo shoot that we did in early July.  Enjoy!!

Elin's walking skills - she loves to carry things on her arm and walks with her arms upraised!

Erik's latest haul from the library!  We are allowed 25 books and so we got 25 books!!!

Aug 17 - 23: Our Lake Visit, Part 2

In addition to all the water & outdoor activities that we did, we also spent time with some of Kent's extended family.  We were very happy to be able to see some of Kent's cousins and their families, as well as Kent's sister, Natalie & her husband, Casey, on this trip to the lake.  Family began to arrive on Thursday afternoon and stayed through Sunday.  On Friday, we all played on the lake and then, on Saturday afternoon, there was a large get-together with even more family.  I am missing some pictures of the indoor water park at Thumper Pond that we went to on Sunday morning; we again had to convince Erik to go down the water slides, but after the initial bout of crying, he loved it!  We spent Monday fishing (Kent), doing laundry (Kelli) and trying to collect all our stuff from around the cabin so we could pack!  We flew home on Tuesday and both kids, once again, did great while traveling, even though they didn't nap much (Erik finally fell asleep just as we were approaching Orlando - the turkey)!

The Johnson's

Hugs for Auntie Natalie

Uncle Casey & Elin

Pictures from the large family gathering on Sabbath afternoon:

Cousin Becky & Elin

Great Uncle Sparky & Elin

Great Aunt Agnes & Elin

Our family with Great Aunt Agnes

Aunt Darlene & Elin

Agnes, Elin & Mary

We introduced Erik to the fine art of making campfire s'mores.  Elin got a teensy, tiny taste as well:

He was trying so hard to stay clean while eating the s'more.  He actually did really well!!

Elin worked really hard on her walking skills while we were at the lake.  She got really good at maintaining her balance and was getting better about not walking on her tip-toes by the time we left:

Elin didn't care about any obstacles in her path.  Look at how Kent had to get under the dock!!!!

She loved to pick up leaves and then wave them around like she had found a treasure!!

It has been a long-standing tradition at the lake that each child gets a bath in the kitchen sink.  Here are Erik & Elin's entries for the sink-bath hall of fame!

Another lake tradition: Getting ice cream at "Granny's Pantry".  Sooooo good!!!  Erik did really well with his ice cream cone, especially since this may only be his 2nd ice cream cone ever!

A shot of almost all the grandkids at the lake this weekend (Elin is missing):

On Left: Erik, CJ, Caleb, Uncle Curt. On Right: Amber, Tori, Stacey, Preston

Sunset is a favorite view to see (and try to photograph) at the lake:

Aug 10 - 16: Our Lake Visit, Part 1

We spent a lovely week and a half at Otter Tail Lake in Minnesota with Kent's family.  The lake cabin has been in Kent's family for almost 4 decades (I think) and Kent spent time there every year as he was growing up.  He goes through withdrawal if he can't get there each year!  We tried to make sure to cram as many activities as we could into our time there.  In the interest of time (I'm working on this blog entry over Labor Day Weekend), I'm going to focus on some of the hundreds of photos that we took rather than "talking".

Overall note: Elin loves, loves the water and always wanted to climb down the stairs into the lake.  She really just wanted to get her toes in the water!  Erik had lots of fun, but we had to force him onto all the watercraft while he cried and fussed.  After we started out, he would calm down and then have a great time.

A beautiful day at the lake:

We had lots of fun at the lake and tried to be outdoors & playing early in the morning and then staying out as long as possible.

We went for boat rides:

Auntie Natalie let Erik "drive" the pontoon.  He was most interested in the horn button!!

We played in the water:

We went for kayak rides:

Oops! Elin fell asleep during her kayak ride!

We rode (drove?) the Jet-Ski:

Kent wind-surfed (he was very lucky that the lake had bad weather when we first got there and sent him lots of wind):

We paddle-boarded, though neither Kent nor I took any pictures of these events.  Grandma Mary has promised to email me her pictures when she can download her camera to the computer.

We fished (and yes, I went out on one of the fishing trips and managed to catch a fish using a baby-sized rod).  Erik & Grandpa also fished from the dock at the house:

We flew kites (the kites are on fishing poles!):

We went for walks, bike rides & stroller rides:

Erik has a bad habit of not looking forward when riding his bike.  If we didn't hold on, he hit every yard...on both sides of the street!!

Erik & Grandma decided to switch places!

We drove the tractor:

For Elin to drive the tractor, Kent had to push down the accelerator with one hand while steering with the other.  Very hard to do!!!

Erik learned how to shuck corn:

We played with Uncle George & Aunt Marsha's dog, Tucker.  Both kids loved Tucker, who was very patient with them:

This is Kent...Erik and I slept three nights in the tent.  It was fun to camp with him.  We watched videos on the IPAD before bed and it was kind of a treat for him I guess as we don't normally do that.  We didn't get rained on although it did sprinkle as we went to bed the third night.  Things went pretty well although the first night I woke up at some point and looked at Erik's sleeping bag and he wasn't there!  I hadn't given much thought to the risk of him escaping from the tent but I did panic slightly.  After a quick scan of the tent I located him about 4 feet from his sleeping bag behind my head!  He was just laying on the plastic of the tent.  I slowly moved him back to his blankets and covered him up.  He didn't wake up.  Each of the other nights he would launch off in another direction and I'd pull him back.  The other nights he got to sleep on the bottom bunk in Grandma and Grandpa's room so he had a good time sleeping in different places.

The first night in a tent

Wake up Time!