The Johnson's: Sept 28-Oct 4: Bellies & Babies

Just in case you let out a loud gasp at the title of this blog entry, the babies are dolls and the belly is Elin's, so leave me out of it!! In the past few weeks, both Erik & Elin have been playing with Elin's dolls (or "dawlly" as Erik calls them). Erik loves to wrap the doll in a little blanket (square burp cloths work great) and then then pat the baby on the back. A few weeks ago in Sabbath School, there was a song about babies & Mommies and all the kids get a doll to hold. Erik took the doll, patted its back and then raised his shirt and tried to nurse the baby!! The teacher noticed and gave me a wide-eyed look - I could only shrug & laugh! I cannot convince him that only Mommies can nurse a baby; he is so disappointed that he can't get Elin to nurse on him! Elin also likes to give her baby dolls a hug and pat their back. However, she isn't picky about whether the doll is right side up or if it is even a doll (see picture of her hugging a toy car below)!

Erik giving his dawlly some love

Elin hugging & rocking a toy car

Patting her doll (no matter that it's upside down)

Dolly is right-side up, but I was holding Elin & the camera, so not the greatest shot

Elin is learning body parts. She can accurately point to her nose, eyes and ears and is pretty good with cheeks, chin & mouth. She does have a tendency to pinch as she grabs her cheeks, so if you play the game with her - beware!! She also loves to point to her belly. She will walk around the house, pull up her shirt and then touch her belly button. Sometimes, I think she does it to make sure that it is still there! I've tried to get a good picture of her performing this trick, but my phone doesn't have the greatest camera and she won't repeat the trick endlessly for me to give me the perfect shot!

The best picture I've been able to get of this trick - sorry it's so blurry

The kids both recently had their regular, well-visit with the doctor. I scheduled the appointments at the same time, thinking to get everything done at once. However, on the way to the doctor, I started to question the wisdom of my plan. Erik is pretty easy to keep occupied with YouTube videos, but Elin loves to walk around & touch everything and then throw everything on the floor or in the garbage can. We had a rather long wait and Elin was reaching her breaking point just as the doctor arrived. I had just gotten her to sit in a chair when he walked in, so he thought that I had remarkably well-behaved children! Ha! Both kids checked out great, even with Elin's cough. The doctor said that her lungs and ears are clear and that a cough is just going around. Elin continues to gain weight & inches, but is also staying very low on the charts: she is at the 3% line for weight and the 50% line for height. Erik is at the 75% line for both height & weight - this visit was the first time that we got a prediction for Erik - he will be 6 feet 2, at least, when he is grown!

Elin Update:

Elin loves to go to Erik's room to get him up in the morning or after his nap. She will make the sign that we made up for Erik and then point towards his room. On a few afternoons, she has even attempted to sneak away from me and get into Erik's room before his nap is over.

Elin doing the sign we made up for Erik

Elin still loves everything about nursing; she will ask for snuggle time several times during day by reaching for the top of my shirt, laying her head on my chest and making smacking sounds with her lips! I still nurse her 3-4 times a day; I tried to cut down to only 3 times back in mid-August, but bumped it up to as many as 6 times after the doctor told me in early Sept to nurse as often as I could to help Elin get over her cough/cold. That was hard, but thankfully, I'm back to 3-4 times a day.
Elin is great little eater - she wants whatever is on my or Kent's plates and eats almost everything we give her. She also wants to feed herself and does pretty good with the spoon! She loves enchiladas, guacamole, beans, vegetables (broccoli, green beans and peas are particular favorites); she doesn't want baby food much anymore. She will often point to the table and then shake head yes or no when we hold up the various items. Sometimes, she says no to everything and then squawks when nothing is given to her! Umm, what do you want then?!
She has started to attempt a few words - "ooze" for shoes, "is" for this (one of the words she will use as she points to a full table), na-na (for night-night), ah-da for (all done), dada, maaamaa (always long & drawn out), mee-mee (when she wants something that Erik is getting). She also does the signs for more, milk, all done, please, thank you and is working on sorry.
She continues to squirm on the changing table during diaper changes but she will hold still for about 10 seconds if you can find something for her to hold and be entertained by. If you put her down on the table and she is unhappy about it, she will cry and then cover her eyes with her little hands - or she will fling her arms up over her head, scrunch her eyes shut and wail with her mouth open wide!! I find it rather cute - with the added bonus that she holds still while going through her dramatics and I can usually get her diaper changed before her performance is over!
I love her tiny hands - she has long skinny fingers and tiny palms. I think they are just darling.
Elin loves to giggle, play night-night and crawl around on Mama & Daddy's big bed. She likes to hide under the pillows or comforter and wait for us to find her!
Elin likes to empty out her crib when you come to pick her up after naps/in morning

Erik's Update:

Erik loves to build forts or houses with the living room pillows and blankets. In the past week, he has upgraded from building forts to creating jumping pads on the floor.

Erik has begun standing with his arms crossed and his hands tucked under/around elbows. I'll try to post a picture soon, but it is a super cute pose and very reminiscent of how Kent stands!
So far, Kelli is not thrilled with the "3's". Erik is regressing on EVERYTHING lately: he won't feed himself, he won't try to dress or undress himself, he wants to be carried "like a baby" and he has completely stalled out on potty training. Erik was doing pretty well for about 10 days, but then completely stopped. He refuses to sit on the potty now and if we make him sit there, he screams bloody murder and squirms to get off the seat. He hides when he has to go #2 now; I've tried to follow him and get him on the potty but that hasn't worked out for us either. Erik refuses to say that he is a big boy.
Erik wants to direct everything that Elin does; he especially likes to tell her "Elin, no no no no no no. Oh dear. That doesn't go there."
Erik is learning that "Daddy's name is Kent. Mommy's name is Kelli. Baby Sister's name is Baby Sister"!! He rarely calls her Elin!
Funny Story #1: One morning a few weeks ago, we stopped at a red light next to a local high school's football field. Erik looked out his window, saw the field and asked if that was a football field. When I told him that it was, he began asking where the Vikings were! I had to call Kent and share the story right away. Kent seems to be creating another little Vikings fan already!
Funny Story #2: On Oct 1, we had swimming lessons in the rain! I used a single stroller rather than the double one and Erik insisted on pushing it. He did really good at steering the stroller and only ran into a few door frames! As he was pushing the stroller out to the car after swimming lessons, Elin started to fuss (she was tired and wanted me to hold her) so I walked next to the stroller and held her hand instead. After a little bit, Erik started to tell Elin that "My hands are full, baby sister; I can't hold your hand right now"! Ha, ha. I have to tell him quite a bit that my hands are full and that I can't carry him, Elin and all the toys they try to hand me!!!

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