Mar 15-21: Our Little Helpers

Okay, folks, here it is - the unvarnished truth - I'm really struggling to stay motivated to keep this blog updated.  Are you shocked?!  Probably not, but I'm going to put it out there.  I need some encouragement & feedback!  If you read the blog to see what's going on with our little family, let me know by posting a comment or by texting Kent or me.

Since I'm in the midst of trying to get entries for both February & March caught up, the pictures included in my entries are from the past several months rather than specifically from the time period listed in the blog entry title!

Both of our kids demonstrate, at times, a wonderful & much appreciated willingness to help out with little chores or tasks around the house.  I love this!  It sometimes does mean that I have to work a bit longer on a task since I'm explaining and coaching them through it, but that's okay since I want to help them develop a spirit of helpfulness. Erik can often be heard saying "Let me try it" or "I want to help!" or "I can do it for you".   Here are some pictures of both Erik & Elin helping out around the house & yard.

Erik all suited up to help Kent with yard work!

Erik helping Kent dig holes for new plants.  Kent bought Erik a kid-size shovel since Erik loves to dig!

Elin putting clothes in the dryer

Elin "helping" to sort the laundry

Erik loves the little handheld vacuum I bought recently!

My 2nd sous chef!  She got a bit distracted with a snack of Cheerios!

Now, lest you think my children always are helpful and that they were born with some mutant cleaning gene, let me assure you that they help to create lots of messes as well as impede my progress with certain chores (namely, making supper).  Take a look:

This is how Elin helps me load the dishwasher.  She usually also takes a few things out and puts them on the floor!

Erik was playing very nicely with his tractor, gravity wagon & corn kernels.  Then I heard giggling and this was what I found!

Elin loves to dump her cheerios out in her carseat and eat them straight from there.   I love cleaning cheerios out of the car!

A typical pass-time for Elin while I cook

The second phase of Elin's pass-time (sound effects include crying, whining & chants of "Mama")

Third & final phase which includes fighting, screams, bumped heads, etc!

I don't have a picture of it, but Elin also loves to climb up on the kitchen table chairs and play with the salt & pepper shakers on the table.  I usually catch her at it and put a stop to it, but one day she was too far ahead of me and by the time I got there, there was pepper all over the table, chair & floor. Elin watched me walk up to her and she spread her hands out wide over the table and told me "Mess...dirty"!  Yes, thank you, little one, a dirty mess indeed!

Mar 1-14: Our Trip to "Ontana"

The long-awaited trip has finally arrived!  Erik was able to get on an airplane and fly to 'Ontana (Montana, if you want to say it like everyone else)!  He has been so excited about this trip, he has packed his little back-pack several times with all the important stuff like random toys, string, Cheerios, etc!  I actually had to pack our suitcases while he was sleeping so that I could get everything in & the bags closed before he could critique my choices!!  Kent's work conference started on Tuesday, March 10, but we flew out early to spend a long weekend with Kent's family and so we could celebrate Mary's birthday in person on the 8th!  We arrived on Thursday, March 5 and stayed in a condo in the town of Big Sky, which is still about 15 minutes from the ski resort.  The kids once again proved themselves to be great little travelers, though they continue to be highly resistant to napping on the plane!

We had a wonderful long weekend before the conference with Kent's family.  We did some sledding, playing, celebrating, visiting and skiing!  This was my first year back on skis since 2010 - I was a little nervous, but after a very bad first run where I felt completely unsteady, I got my skiing confidence back and had a blast speeding down the hills!  Since I'm trying to get all my blog entries caught up, I'm going to skip most of the narrative here and concentrate on pictures!

Gampa & the kids

Reading stories with Grampa

Gramma being brave & showing Erik how to play her mandolin

Elin getting ready to sled

Erik & his sled

Erik scoping out his next sled run

Erik getting a sweet cuddle from Elin!

Elin getting ready for her very first tube ride! (most likely her last for a few years - they wouldn't let me go down with her & she flipped over at the bottom.  Thankfully, no tears, scrapes or bruises)

Little Miss in the snow with her #1 adoring fan - Daddy!

The kids learning about fondue chocolate!

Proof that Amy Z & I skied a tree run - this picture makes the run look really wide, but it didn't feel or look that wide when we were skiing it!!

The really big news from our trip is that Erik learned how to ski!!  Kent & I tossed the idea around of putting Erik in ski school this year since we weren't sure if he was too young yet.  He was really excited about the prospect, so we went ahead and rented a pair of skis & boots for him.  If he had a horrible time the first time out, then we would return the skis and try again next year.  However, Erik loved it!!  After renting the skis (and before his first lesson), we took him to a nearby cross-country track and pulled him around to help him get used to the feeling of being on skis.  He had his first downhill lesson the next day - and did great!  We went ahead and put him in ski school for the rest of our stay in Big Sky; Kent would ski with him on the bunny hill after his lessons (and got pretty good at skiing backwards himself!!).  Then, on Thursday, after his last lesson, Kent & I must have gotten altitude sickness because we decided it was a good idea to take Erik up on the big chair lift to the top of the mountain and let him ski down the single green run off that lift.  What could go wrong?!  By the time we got from the chair lift to the top of the green run, Mr. K, I was getting a little nervous (you had to ski on a cat-track, through a busy trail merge section, past another chair lift and go past a blue run to get to the easy run!)  After the first few minutes on Mr. K, Kent & I decided that taking your 3-year-old on an "easy" green run was like watching a movie with your parents - it's always worse than you remembered!!  However, all that being said, Erik did GREAT!  He fell a number of times, but he never got upset; in fact, a few times he laughed that his skis came off when he fell.  Wish I had that kind of attitude when I was learning to ski!!

Erik & his super great teacher, Hannah

Video of Erik & Kent

Feb 1-28: Elin's Chatter

Okay, folks, it is actually March 30 as I type this, so I'm going to try & do a fast & furious update on what happened during the month of February.  I would normally just focus on pictures and a few stories or fun facts, but I had made quite a few notes for the month of February to share with you all through this blog and I don't want to just throw those notes away now!  So, this is going to be a very long & very full entry - bear with me!

Elin Update:
Since her hospital stay in December of last year, Elin has become quite vocal and her vocabulary has just exploded.  She amazes us nearly every day with the words that she can say; she's also pretty cute with how she says some words. By the beginning of February, Elin could name most parts of the face and mimic a lot of animal sounds.  I'm going to attempt to post a video of her doing some animal sounds.

Kent & I have tried to keep track of what words Elin can say so that we can share them with you, and to help us remember, as well!  Her list of words is below; the majority of the list was drafted on February 7 with new words added throughout the rest of the month. She adds a lot of "g" sounds to her words, which seems unusual to me since I would think that is a harder sound to imitate.  But that's just me.  Her favorite word this month is "Dada-Daddyyyyy" - she really loves to draw out the "eeee" sound at the end!!  She is a pretty vocal little girl; even if she isn't saying actual words, she will grunt or pant as she plays.  She also loves to "sing" which basically consists of her yelling random sounds at the top of her voice!!

Uh-oh
Weedio (video)
Melk (milk)
Babee (baby)
Book
Gog (dog)
Blan-ket (emphasis on ket!)
Wawa (water)
PooPoo
PeePee
Gar (car)
Bapple (apple)
'nana (banana)
Nite-nite
P'ease (please)
Eyes (emphasis on the I)
No'e (nose)
'uck (stuck)
Runnel (tunnel)
Owe!
EO's or 'eerios (Cheerios)
'hank you
Ooze (shoes)
'EE-orge (George - as in Curious George)
'orry (sorry)
bye-bye
Wuff oou (Love you)
'as (yes)
Bug!

By the end of the month, Elin was good enough with her words to hold mini conversations, such as: "Elin, it's time to go to bed - NO", "Elin, be nice to Erik, please don't jump on him - WHY?"!  That last one occurred on Feb xx and gave me the giggles!  I didn't know that she knew that word and for her to just pop it out so exactly was priceless! She is also very good with non-verbal conversations.  On the 26th, Elin wanted Kent to put her to bed but insisted on him rocking her for a very long time. He tried twice to put her down and each time she would wake up, point to her blanket and then point to the rocking chair. She was very clear with what she wanted!

In other Elin news, she thankfully gained back the 2 pounds that she lost while in the hospital but she is still super tiny.  I can't keep certain pants up - some of her new outfits have had to be set aside since the pants fall down after a few steps.  A positive note about that is that Elin is getting pretty good at pulling up her own pants!  She will reach down with both hands, grab hold of the waistband (plus a generous portion of material) and pull up hard!  Sometimes, she pulls so hard, she topples down onto her bum!!  Elin has also begun to throw temper tantrums - an early introduction to the terrible two's, perhaps. Many of her tantrums consist of her covering her mouth with her hand and sobbing - poor thing, that usually just makes me laugh since I think it's adorable & hilarious.  She is starting to throw things & hit, as well.  Hmm, she learned that from Erik, I'm sure!  Elin likes to crawl onto our laps to look at books, watch TV, anything.  She also is showing some interest in potty-training - she has gone peepee twice (the first time on 2/20 and the second on 2/27); the first time was so surprising since she likes to just sit on the potty & then almost immediately pop back up and run out of the room!   The last random story about Elin is that sometimes she will go to sleep rather violently.  She'll be actively nursing (yes, I still nurse her at night), moving her arm around and then suddenly, she'll fling herself off me, roll onto her back and start baby snoring!!

Erik Update:
Erik is now 3 1/2 years old!  He is finally fully potty-trained - he actually figured out the #2 business in December while Elin was in the hospital and my parents were here.  While we haven't had any accidents, he does occasionally wait until he is in a diaper at nap or bed-time.  I'm still not sure that I'm enjoying his 3's - he is certainly struggling with his boundaries and his interactions with family & friends.  Even though he is always excited to see other people & spend time with them, he doesn't like to respond to questions or talk a lot.  However, there are times when he comes up with some funny statements or stories!  We like to ask Erik how his day was at school and try to encourage him to tell us stories or talk about what happens to him.  He will often tell us that he will tell us later or that he doesn't want to talk. Once he said "I can't find my school talk"!

He also appears to be rule-driven and loves to be able to instruct Kent, Elin or I on what we have done wrong - "Hands to yourself, Daddy" or "We don't hit our friends" or "We aren't mean to our friends" or "We stay with Mommy & Daddy, Elin".  Since he likes to tell us the rules, we've been giving him some new ones, too!  We are working on his manners & table behavior.  He is getting really good at asking permission to be excused from the table.

Erik loves to race.  Once I figured that out, I use his competitiveness to get him to do stuff, like go to his bath, go to his nap, go sit at the table for mealtime, anything!  He loves to yell "I beat you...I win!"  Yeah, um, I let him win!  Other Erik achievements is that on Feb 3, Erik learned how to writhe the letter E!!  He can recognize his name and is pretty good at recognizing Elin's name when he sees them.  He will often spell his name for us.  

A few funny stories to share: Erik calls the sound you make by blowing on a baby's belly a strawberry rather than a raspberry!  Erik told me that while I have milk, he has juice in his boobs just like Daddy!  Another time, Erik told the babysitter that he did not want to do anything when he grew up (ooh, good, that sounds sooo hopeful!)  Towards the middle of this month, in Erik's nightly prayers, he prayed that Grandma and Grandpa, Nana and Pops would all be kept safe and that they would come to his house soon!  (Oh, I pray for that, too, Erik!) And lastly, as I mentioned earlier, we are working with Erik on table manners:  Erik was talking at the table with a mouth full of food; Kent reprimanded him and told him that he shouldn't talk with food in his mouth.  I immediately burst out laughing - Kent had a mouth full of food when he was scolding Erik!!

Elin loves to explore Erik's day-care classroom. She will go immediately to bathroom to wash her hands so she can play with the toys!

Erik at a party at school.  I think it was a teacher's birthday.

The Oliver family came up & stayed with us one weekend in mid-February

Elin giving David Oliver a super sweet hug & snuggle (she stayed like that for a long time!)

Erik's favorite pass-time this month - fishing in the pool!  Not sure what he thought he was going to catch!

Elin reading & singing!

One of Elin's favorite faces!  She is pretty good at giving some "angry" faces!

Elin brushing her teeth while wearing one of Erik's jackets.  She saw it & hard to put it on!!

Getting a "horse back" ride from Daddy!

A Camellia bloom from our yard!

The kids & I at a program at Erik's school

Elin may have the most flexible fingers I've seen!  She can cross her middle finger over her ring finger on both hands!!

The kids love to snuggle in our bed each morning.  Sometimes, I let them watch Curious George so I can shower in private!

Elin exploring some plants in our yard.  I decided it was chilly enough for a hat & gloves!

Elin loves to sneak between the hedges & the house. She thinks she is so clever!!

Erik at the petting zoo on 2/26.  He loved the little all-black goat the best

Elin preferred the animal dummies & the out of order car ride!

Erik spent about 20 minutes wistfully watching "his" goat.  "I wish I had a goat, Mommy" NOOOO!!

Erik is very excited about our trip coming up in March.  His bag is packed & ready to go!

Erik was having a snowball fight with Zachary Oliver and decided to hog & hide all the snowballs (snowballs are a soft, stuffed kind!)

Elin wearing safety goggles while helping out in the kitchen!

Elin wearing the safety goggles again.  A favorite toy this month!

Nightly after-bath routine for both kids - run through the house wearing only a towel