A Winter Start

We don't have pictures, but this last weekend we all went sledding. DOWNHILL sledding. And while Lilly was hesitant at first, I think she had a good time. It helped that, as we were pulling up to the sledding hill, friends of ours just happened to be doing the same. Lilly went down with papa; she went down with mama; and she went down with friends too. Never alone, but we think she was very brave.

We end up leaving because she was cold. And hungry too. We were all hungry after all that fun and cold, fresh air. Before settling in at the table for a special helping of mac & cheese, Lilly warmed up on the couch with mama.

Rosy cheeks!

After lunch, we all went out as a family to shovel snow. Lilly has her own snow shovel and did her fair share. And while papa shoveled the long driveway, mama shoveled the front sidewalks. (It all goes a lot faster with help, I can tell you that.)

Mama and Lilly made the first snømann too. Although, I think that's debatable. I could say they gave a good and creative go at it; I'm still a proud parent, after all.

See the blob to the right!

Then, after all the fun with snow--and not wanting to to end the fun-- we went out as a family to pick out the perfect little juletre a whole two weeks early. (We've even decided to host our tree party before the holidays this year.)

The traditional and only accidentally ironic monkey on top!

We brought up the holiday music, and had a fire going. A good start to winter. All after the first big snowy day.

Pumpkins and Trick or Treating

What starts with this...

This...

This...

And this...

And this...

And this...

Ends with THIS...

AND THIS...

But has a little bit of this in between!

like mother, like daughter

Lilly has inherited this kåpe of Anne's (recently received from her grandparents in Norway). --And in case you haven't seen the resemblance before, here are a few pictures as proof that mama and daughter do in fact share the same jeans genes!

Lilly started preschool!

first day of summer school

Earlier this summer after we returned from Norway, Lilly went to a few weeks of "summer school" at Montessori Children's House. She absolutely loved it. She was always excited about going to school each day and became very fond of the teacher. But as June ended, so did school for the summer; school was on vacation, or på ferie, as Lilly would say.

Luckily Lilly was scheduled for three weeks of summer day camp at River Bend Nature Center. So for the last weeks of July and at the beginning of August, Anne and Lilly would make the short trek just 25 minutes south of Northfield to Faribault. While Anne used the time to write, Lilly was introduced in a fun way to nature. Each day Lilly would come home with crafts and also reports about what she'd done. Again Lilly became very fond of her teacher; so much so that when I took her and her friend back to a Saturday event in August, she was a little disappointed that her teacher wasn't there.

Then came a week long music camp back at MCH! Lilly loves music and dance so we thought this would be a great experience for her. She was also reunited with her teacher from earlier in the summer as well as some of her new school friends. But after a week, school was på ferie again.

first day of preschool

Even though Lilly had already started preschool, practically speaking, mama and papa approached the first official day of preschool with much anticipation and all the emotions that typically come with such milestones. We all went to an introductory meeting where Lilly met her new teacher, toured the classroom, and picked her cubbyhole. She has made it clear that she is up to this journey outside the home. Every weekday morning when dropping her off at school, I unbuckle her seat belt and wait for one of the teachers to come get her from the car; hand in hand she leaves with the teacher for her daily adventure and doesn't look back. I feel proud. I feel like my daughter has introduced me to a exciting new world. Then I drive away and that wonder gradually fades as I start my work day.

We are two weeks in and Lilly still loves school. We were a bit worried how things would go since Lilly is not with the same teacher that she grew so fond of earlier this summer. But Lilly doesn't seem to mind. She's met new friends. She seems to be settling in to her own pace at school. And already tomorrow, Anne will attend the first parent meeting.

summer fun, kid's books, and role-play

Every weekend in August, Lilly and I have been getting out for some summer fun. We've been to the Walker Art Center, the Como Park Zoo, the Children's Museum; to a fun day event for my job at Laura Baker, the nature center in Faribault, and more.

A couple weekend's in a row, Lilly and I stopped in at Garrison Keillor's Common Good Books to read kid's books and found a really great new picture book that I'd recommend called The Woods. Actually, Lilly and I often stop in at the Wild Rumpus children's bookstore but have just recently visited The Red Balloon Bookshop for children too. I think these stops to "read books" are more for me than her (as might be the case for all the other stops elsewhere) because Lilly really just enjoys being out and about doing new things wherever.

Here's a video of Lilly "role-playing" at the Walker Arts Center; that is, learning to wield a sword, something I was a bit hesitant to have her do. But, while she did want to "hit" things with it for about a week afterward, the fun has apparently waned.

Band-Aids

Quite a while ago we got some "Hello Kitty" Band-Aids. Lilly became a bit obsessed with these and wanted a plaster (band-aid) even if she didn't have a scrap or cut. Come to think of it, she's rarely had to use a band-aid because of a scrap or cut. Almost right away I figured this was going to be an expensive game to play, so it seemed like an opportunity to get craftsy and make our own band-aids with paper and crayons and tape...

Lilly then became obsessed with this, so we I spend a lot of time these days designing our own band-aids...

summertime!

Drinks outside this spring

It's "summmmertime" as Lilly likes to say whenever the sun is out. We've been enjoying hanging on the porch again, planting in the garden, playing outside. It's so interesting to see what a difference a year can make. Whereas last year, we found ourselves constantly worrying about Lilly running out into the street, we can now let her play outside some by herself, close to the house (with a frequent eye on her). She'll find her toys in the garage: her trike and chalk and bubbles. She'll play in the sandbox. And slide a little. Look at the growing plants and flowers.

Mostly, of course, she prefers us to play with her, or, rather, that the girls next door come over to play with her. They are both ten and Lilly so enjoys their attention.

Sorry we haven't posted much here lately, but it's been a busy time. Leighton's gotten more hours at Laura Baker, giving me less time to write. The time that I have been getting, I've devoted to polishing my book manuscript, putting together a proposal to lure the interest of an agent to help me find the right publisher, and developing my three websites: two blogs and an online resource center, which Leighton has been helping me with a lot: we envision it as a family business down the road.

Though we've been busy, never feeling like there's enough time, we've also been feeling truly blessed by the generosity of friends and family in the last few months. First, dear friends decided to bestow upon us their super nice Subaru. Then my parents offered to buy us all tickets to come visit them in Norway this summer. -- We're leaving on Wednesday, and the same friend who gave us her Subaru is taking us to the airport. Are we lucky, or what?

For Easter, Lilly got a garden kit from grandpa Kent and grandma Cheryl. We planted the seeds in the pots outside last week, and she worked so carefully to do it right. -- And fortunately, her idea that stirring the soil again after planting the seeds, did not kill the spirit of these hardy plants: radishes, carrots, beans, peas, lettuce, and spinach are already sprouting.

We've been planting together in my garden too, and though her helping me sometimes feels like it's undoing what I want to get done (or at least slowing it down significantly), her joy in helping me do real work is definitely worth it.

We return from Oslo just in time for Lilly 's three-year birthday, the day after which she'll begin preschool at the Montessori children's house in town. Preschool summer program that is, but still?! Such a big girl. Not a baby. Not a toddler. -- A preschooler.

Big girl on her trike this spring

Other recent landmarks include me not having to lie in bed with her at night till she's asleep. Though putting on pajamas and brushing her teeth are not among Lilly's favorite things to do, as soon as we're through with those tasks, we can go to bed, nurse and cuddle a little, and then I can get up after ten minutes or so, usually by 8:30 P.M. and with her still awake (she always wants the door ajar, just so, just as I remember wanting it as a child: precision is key). -- As opposed to before when I'd have to lie there for up to an hour, waiting for her to fall asleep (and often falling asleep myself).

It's pretty amazing to me how smoothly this transition evolved; she was just ready for it. Though it was exasperating at times before to lie there with her for so long in the evening, I'm glad we never did the cry-it-out (or monitored crying) method.

In July, Leighton turns thirty. A big day that deserves celebrating in style (please: any creative ideas?).

Speaking of parties; Leighton and Lilly are at some friends for one as I write this post on this warm Memorial Day holiday, giving me some peace and quiet to enjoy myself on our porch. And smell the fresh grass being cut by our neighbor; the lily of the valley in full bloom and the few lilacs holding on. Not a bad holiday.

At the pool last summer

Also to look forward to, is summertime at our city's pool. It opens the weekend we get back from Norway. We've purchased our summer passes and I look forward to picnics and playful (hopefully also some lazy) afternoons there this summer. It's been a wet, cold spring, so I foresee plenty warm summer days. Hey, it's summmmertime, you now?!

make like a tree and be

It'd been a while since I'd gone to yoga. I used to go during the evenings on weekdays. But I felt like that cut into my family time so stopped going altogether. This doesn't make much sense, I know, but trying to find a good time to fit yoga into my schedule, when busy with my new job and internship and working on our websites and my thesis, proved difficult for me; especially since I'm super sentimental and find it hard to get out of the house when I "should" be spending time with Lilly and Anne.

However, yoga really is such a good investment in my health and well-being that I should make the time for it too. Anne and I decided that Saturday mornings, after she gets back from her yoga class, would be a good time for me to go; it would be a good start to the weekend (which we like to think of as family time) and leave the rest of the day open to do things all together.

Leaving the studio last Saturday, I was feeling energized. Sure it helped that we had perfect spring weather. But my practice that morning was great. A bit stiff, yes, but great. During class the instructor said something that made me think (something he had recalled another instructor saying) which made a lot of sense and can be thought of as a good outlook in our everyday. We were just finishing tree pose when he reminded us that "a forest would be boring if all the trees were the same."

Every person is different, every practice is different. In yoga we must remind ourselves that our practice is exactly where it should be for us individually. And we must remind ourselves that our practice will change, as will the needs of our bodies. We shouldn't force a pose, but instead we work with our bodies to find the pose that fits with the abilities of our bodies and our needs during that practice.

In our daily lives we might be tempted to compare ourselves with others, and try to mold ourselves and our lives into the form of others; we might push ourselves into doing something that is not right for us at the time.

I think it's truly interesting when you consider just how different trees and plants really are, and how with every day each grows in new, totally unique ways. Think of how, for example, the plant in our kitchen window reaches for the sun; and how, if rotated in its place, it reaches for the sun in a new direction, completely changing form and the possibility of growth in the future. Or how, if trimmed and pruned, trees grow new branches. To grow and thrive, these are all living with their needs in mind, so to speak.

Something like that. We spent the rest of the day outside. Originally with the intention of working in the yard, we let ourselves relax and enjoy the spring day; the winter this year has been long and cold, keeping us like many Minnesotans indoors, waiting for better weather to get outside and re-energize ourselves. We worked a little, played a lot, went for a walk into town, and opened our porch for the afternoon. Lilly got to play on the slide next door, ride her trike, blow bubbles, and even dig around a bit in the sandbox (which was opened for the first time to dry out). She even skipped her nap and went to bed earlier than usual. Which gave mama and papa some time to re-energize in other ways.

thanks be to hubs, good friends and family!

Thanks to Leighton, good friends and family, I've been treated to quite the birthday celebration this year! It started Friday a week ago when I found a little gift bag by the coffee pot with six tickets to see a theater performance of Sunday on the Rocks that same night. Leighton had been emailing with a group of my closest girlfriends in town to meet me up for dinner at my favorite restaurant in town, Chapati, serving yummy Indian food, before going out to see the play. We all had such a good time. One had brought a chocolate cake for dessert and I got many nice gifts (on top of their treating me to dinner and drinks), including a journal for all my thoughts and a gift card to work one morning in a coffee shop while Lilly would be at my friend's house.

The festivities continued on Saturday when we had friends over for dinner and then Sunday night we finished my birthday cake. First thing Lilly said to me Monday morning, on my actual birthday:

Lilly er så glad i mamma. Og sjokoladekake.
Lilly loves mama so much. And chocolate cake.

We all went out for lunch for the free birthday sandwich Hogan Brothers Acoustic Cafe offers. Lilly was sick with a cold, so other than our lunch outing, I was home with her all day, but it was a good day still.

And then, get this, on Tuesday morning we drove up to the cities to pick up a new car that our dear friends Nancy and Stephanie offered to us as a gift! A super nice blue Subaru Outback station wagon from 2000. WOW! So now we have two cars, which is so nice for us, especially since Leighton's been working from 4-6 p.m. lately, leaving Lilly and I fairly house bound. And this car is such an improvement to the old Volvo that has all sorts of problems, which we haven't had checked because it would have left us carless while being fixed.

I got the cold Lilly and Leighton have been having later in the week, but I also got a couple of writing gigs. With that on top of all the rest, I can't really complain, now can I. Thank you all dear friends and family for thinking of me with sweet wishes, cards, and gifts. I am so grateful!

Lilly "almost" three

Conversation in the car on our way to the gym this morning:

Lilly: "Lilly er stor jente."                         
Mamma: "Ja, det er du, jenta mi."                    
Lilly: "Snart seks! -- Eller kanskje tre."           

Lilly: Lilly's a big girl.
Mama: Yes, you are, sweetie.
Lilly: Soon six! -- Or maybe three.

Strolling her cart around the house after lunch, dressed up with her pajamas, Lilly looks down on the floor:

"Unnskyld, Maria fly-fly."
"Excuse me lady bug."

Lilly makes movies

Last Saturday, Lilly and I spent the day in the city while mama got some time to work. It was the frist Saturday of the month, which is the Walker Art Center's "Free First Saturday" with family programs geared toward kids: the theme this time happened to be "Going to the Movies." The main activity was in two parts, 1) make a clay figure and 2) have it animated in stop motion. Lilly was a bit too young to participate in this without help from papa. When asked if she'd like to make "Frosty" out of clay she said yes, so I made with a version from the materials we were given; and when after waiting for quite a long while in line it came time to animate, I tried to get her to help as much as possible by having her stick letters to the backdrop and push the car along. Unfortunately the art center didn't think of offering to send these animations via email so kids and parents could enjoy later. But I took a video with our digital camera, which I've cut and looped on iMovie!



Lilly and I will be spending more time together now that Anne is working more mornings. Today, along with other arts and crafty things, we made another movie! First we made a drawing of "Old MacDonald" and his animals, which we then took a video of while singing the song. And finally I've imported it onto iMovie to cut a few clips together, but haven't got it finished to upload onto YouTube. It's silly, really, but it was something to do.

when not reading to my daughter

A couple weeks ago I was washing dishes in the kitchen when I overheard Anne reading books to Lilly in the living room, out of sight. One was a book (Roar of a Snore) I enjoy reading to Lilly, which I read often enough that to hear it read by someone other than me was a bit strange at first. I suppose this would be the case, usually, because no two people read a book aloud in the same manner, with the same tone and inflection, etc. But to hear it being read to Lilly by someone other than me was the strange part; or rather to hear Anne interacting with Lilly, through the medium of this particular book, and creating a totally different experience out of it was what made me pause for a moment and really listen to Lilly in her lived experience, practically out of my control as she was learning and growing.

To be sure I can expect more moments like this, but it was, as far as I can recollect, the first time it hit me so strongly; that Lilly is out there on her own, no matter if she is with Anne or me; that Lilly is and will continue to be always just out of reach.

Now for the living-in-the-moment experience: it wasn't any jealously or loss that I felt at that moment, when I listened to this from the other room, as Anne took on the role which I felt was reserved for me, between Lilly and me; but instead it was one of those moments that makes being a father--I mean one of those moments that has been for me as a father--the very elusive essence of fatherhood, that indescribable something about fatherhood. In that moment as in others I was opened to the "whole new kind of love" which I had been warned of.

Anne and Lilly read a number of books that evening as I washed and dried the dishes. Perhaps it's nothing special, really, given the routine-ness of it all; but it will, for me, always be a part of my fatherhood, and stand out as a night to remember.

Happy belated Valentine's day!

I hope you all had a lovely Valentine's day yesterday! Leading up to Valentine's, Lilly's had a lot of fun painting hearts at "school" (ECFE each Monday morning), making cards, receiving cards and Valentine's, and some Valentine's gifts. But when I told her yesterday morning, "today's Valentine's Day," her excited response was: "cookie!!" Like her dad, our little miss Lilly (who today turned 2 yrs. 8 mos.) is a chocolaholic. We had quite the battle of wills going on over lunch yesterday, me insisting she'd eat just a little more bread and cheese before the cookie. I think it's safe to say she willed me out before devouring this huge chocolate chip cookie within seconds (apparently it has the right consistency of crunch and softness).

I thought I'd also include these little video clips of her dancing in her "Valentine's Dress," a Christmas gift from mormor and morfar that just arrived after being shipped from Gran Canaria two months before.







And then one of her playing "witches" with papa.

holiday season chapter four: Happy New Year!

We've had a jolly good time with the holidays, from Halloween through Thanksgiving, Christmas and then celebrating the beginning of a New Year.

I think to Lilly the tree was the most magical part of it all, and she was so sad when the garbage truck came to pick it up last week, still processing that one.

Lilly helped me bake Hershey Kiss Cookies, unwrapping the chocolate kisses and then putting them on the half baked cookies (before eating some! These cookies were her favorite kind, I bet because she helped make them, and probably the chocolate had something to do with it too).

Christmas eve we had friends over for a traditional Norwegian yule celebration.

Since we're half American around here, we also had a busy Christmas day opening gifts Santa had left in stockings and around the tree (thank you all!).

We had a traditional Norwegian Christmas tree party around Epiphany: Lilly's friends, and ours, came over and we sung and danced around the tree while eating the remaining cookies and snacks, sipping gløgg (Scandinavian mulled wine). Lilly still breaks out singing "Å jul med din glede," "Jingle Bell," and "Twelve Days of Christmas" several times each day.

 

New Year's Eve has always been significant to me, so I wanted us to have a fine night. And indeed we did. We all dressed up and I made a very nice meal for us all with Sockey salmon, saffron risotto and salad.

 

 

Happy New Year to you all!