last ballet class, practice recital

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...

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.

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.

Halloween snapshots

ready to go trick or treat!

here we go!

 the loot...

mouth full of chocolate treats

we got tricks too!

amazing fall

The full moon on Friday concluded a four-week Indian summer spell that we've been graced with here in Northfield. I'm so grateful we got all these sunny days to soak in the outside before we turn inwards for winter hibernation. My friends and I have vowed to stick to our weekly play-date in the Arboretum where we--six moms and eight kids--have been meeting every Wednesday these last lovely weeks for play and picnic--throughout the winter. As they say in Norway, there's no such thing as bad clothes, just bad gear (det finnes ikke dårlig vær, bare dårlig klær). More about how that turns out later. For now, let me share some of our summery fall magical times with you.

A family excursion to the Lake Harriet - Linden Hills neighborhood in Minneapolis for:

* a trolley ride on a historic train

* play and picnic by the lake

* a stop by the Wild Rumpus, a children's bookstore with hens and cats (among others) roam freely, and that has a little door in the big door for little people to enter through (Lilly loved this part in particular)

* super yummy ice-cream at the local Sebastian Joe in its charming courtyard where there's a giant tortoise to climb and play on

We had another nice family excursion to Cannon Falls, a small town only 20 minutes away, along the same river that runs through our town, for play at the playground, exploring down by the river, then over to the duck and swan pond, wandering along the Cannon Fall trail before and after lunch and milk shake at The Old Market Deli. (For pictures from this excursion and more fall fun, check out our online album, linked under "our photo albums" to the right or here.)

And then there have been all those everyday post-nap loungy times on the porch in the afternoon sunshine, strolls and play at various playgrounds, or along the river, or out at the orchard by the pond in the rose garden, with friends and their kids, or just Lilly and I.

As for indoor updates, Lilly LOVES going to "school;" the "Terrific Twos" class she's in on Monday mornings that's offered by the public schools' Early Family Education Program (ECFE). At breakfast those mornings, she'll talk about all her friends that she'll see in class, and when we get there she'll run excitedly into the building, hugging her friends as they arrive. She also LOVES the toddler gym class ("Wee jungle games") she's taking at the local YMCA on Monday afternoons where she gets to run, kick and throw balls, race tracks and obstacle courses, and more. Finally, she's graduated from the potty and now proudly pees and poops sitting on the toilet. We bought a little stool that's the perfect height for that and she'll position it just right, get her pants and panties down all by herself, and then bend over when she's done (ferdig!). So cute.

P.S. We already made an exception to our weekly play-date in the Arboretum yesterday when we had to dig out our winter coats before heading over to "Wiggles & Giggles" at the YMCA instead during the extremely cold and blustery weather that we were suddenly hit by, a storm described as "stronger than most hurricanes, more intense than the Armistice Day Blizzard, the 1991 Halloween Superstorm, and even the wild storm that sank the Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior in 1975." Now that that storm's behind us, we plan to return to the Arboretum next week, however.

hurrah for Lilly! hurrah for mama too!

It's Lilly's birthday! We celebrated on Saturday at our house with friends. We'll post pictures soon.

I would like to take this opportunity to say a big congratulations and thanks to Anne, who (I'll remind you) carried in her body for 9 long months, and labored for 64 long hours to give life to, our precious daughter; this is a big day for mama, too, who continues to give so much to nurture our Lilly.

Lilly is thriving! She is such a big girl and we are very proud of her! She sends thanks to all for the birthday wishes and gifts, and we do too!

birthday party!

Saturday we hosted a birthday party for Lilly at our house with many of her friends and their families, our friends too. It was a big day for all. After breakfast on the porch opening gifts that family had sent her, Leighton and I were busy getting the house and food ready all day but it was all worth it. Everyone enjoyed themselves and Lilly was the princess of the party, all dressed up in a new dress from great-grandma and great-grandpa Hambrick that arrived while we took a break for lunch.

Lilly was delighted by all her gifts and loved the chocolate brownie cake. Leighton and I were so proud of her when she blew out the candles on her cake right as I was finishing the Norwegian happy birthday song for her (we all sang the English one for her first).

Below are some photos some friends of ours took of her as she was opening presents after we'd all sung for her.

 

garden time

We've been so enjoying spending time outside in our garden (gardens!) lately, clearing space, weeding, sowing, planting, tending, trimming, supporting, watching. I'll post some new pics. soon. In the meantime, check out our most recent album for pics. of us all hanging out in our friends' gardens too! Here's one of Lilly in my friend Marte's garden (her garden is amazing and with transplants she's also been contributing to the growth of our garden):

We're all healthy by now, busy plugging ahead with work when we're not spending time with Lilly or in the yard or with house projects. Always something, of course. But it's all of the good kind. Leighton and I are both feeling a little wistful that our little baby is turning into a big independent girl who's now two to be any day. And I also find myself craving some just Leighton and me time, say out for sushi  or something like that. But then I feel terrible about wanting that, what with her birthday coming up and then father's day: it is now (as always...) about her. It's our anniversary June 30 and I hope we can do something special then, either as a family, or, if we're lucky, just the adults.

spring sickos

We thought we were done with cold season, but then three weeks ago, we were hit again for what certainly must be the last one for a very long time (right?!). We were all at the dentist office having our teeth cleaned (Leighton and I; it'd been two years...), and people were coughing and sniffing all around us in the waiting room. That following night, Lilly started getting congested. Runny nose the following day, then I get sick, and for one whole week we were both out of it. Then we got sick and tired of being sick, and for one week we were out and about again, planting in the garden, playing with the kids in the neighborhood, just a lot of snot to blow or wipe. But then week three begins with Lilly throwing up all over me in bed and then I get to deal with the nausea too, which for Lilly turns into a four day ordeal with diarrhea. So. We're at three weeks today, and finally feeling better. We've gotten Lilly all cozy in her "new" room (our former study/second bedroom, which she's been going to bed in since we came back from Europe last fall, is now *all* hers, meaning our desk and bookshelves are gone and she has her toys, a play/sleep tent, a kids table with chairs, books, etc., in there. And she *loves* spending time in her room, such a big girl.) Then, of course, as of yesterday, it's Leighton's turn. He's been sure to get lots of rest right away and so we hope he'll not have to go through another three weeks of illness.

So that's some of what's going on for us.

Other than that, most things are growing fabulously in the garden, some other things are not. We had friends over "syttende mai" for dinner and drinks, which was fun. The day before we were at a friend's birthday party in a park. And last Saturday, we were over at some friends' house (and fabulous garden) for dinner. Lilly loves playing outside, looking at what's growing in our garden with me, walking along the paths in our neighbor's gardens, sliding on our various neighbors' slide & swing sets, playing in the sandbox one of our neighbors let us have for now. This weekend we should get our kids pool out and filled up with water for Lilly. The weather is perfect now. After a stretch of some unbearably hot and humid days, it's just really pleasantly warm with a sweet little breeze now.

Lilly riding her borrowed trike.

diaper free baby

On Saturday, Lilly will be 23 months, almost 2! Such a big girl. And now entirely diaper free. I'm so glad my friend Amanda told me about the Diaper-Free Baby book with it's explanation of elimination communication. I had never heard of it! We had considered cloth diapers, environmentally friendly diapers, and regular diapers, but I had never heard of the E.C. approach.

Lilly pooped in the toilet before she was a week old (in this post, there's a couple short videos of Lilly as a tiny infant pooping in the toilet) and continued to do so till she was around six months and could sit up by herself to poop in the potty. We had a setback in Greece last summer (she was around one then) because we hadn't brought her potty and she didn't like being held over the toilet again. She got back into doing it in the potty when we returned to the US last fall.

Then this past February, she suddenly just refused to wear a diaper and we accepted that; I feel we'd been a little lazy not practicing diaper free more at the house, so she was still peeing quite a bit in her diaper. She was diaper free in days. She had maybe only one or two accidents while we were out of the house. By March she was peeing in the potty on the plane. Now she even naps without one (but still wears one at night, though it's mostly dry).

I'm very proud of her big girl achievement, but it really wasn't work at all. What the book says make sense: why train our child to be ok soiling herself and then have to go through the trouble of untraining
her from it when her instinct tells her not to soil herself from the beginning. It's been easy, really.

And Lilly loves not wearing a diaper! She loves being without clothes in general, as you can see in this little video of her from earlier this week, spinning around dancing, taking Baby Rita for a turn too. 



Other than music and dancing and mothering her babies and stuffed animals, she loves reading, making "kaffi" (coffee!) and "mat" (food) that she'll feed her babies before putting them to sleep (sove), organizing her things, (pretend) counting them (she's learning...), and playing with her cell phone and new laptop (thanks uncles Blake and Rick!).

fun on the porch

a day's a year; a year's a minute

Lilly's 22 months today; almost 2 years! How did that happen? She's running around, talking like crazy, smiling and charming everyone. She's climbing up stairs and steps, including on slide sets, sliding down super fast, up and down, wiggling and dancing, laughing. Reading books, making coffee, soothing baby, watching Curious George.

Just recently, she's become pretty much completely diaper free. In fact, she peed in the potty even on the plane back from spring break in California! She'll pee on big peoples' toilets too now.

And she will most of the time respect that the boobs (milkies) need to sleep from bedtime till around 4 a.m. or so.

She's let mama leave her with a friend (my friend Mary's daughter Anna) while I go to yoga.

And she's happy.

Today she was so exuberantly happy! When I left her with Mary this morning before yoga, when I came back afterward, all the time after.

Maybe it was the good night of sleep last night? Or the fluorescent green which shines from the trees budding, blue-blue sky, sunshine. Tulips in all sorts of colors, even in our garden, they're on fire. Little purple flowers, I don't know what they're called. The cherry tree across the street in our neighbor's garden; like a spring bride.

So she refused to sleep. How can you sleep a day like this away? Who wants to nap anyways?

But it was my time to work. Leighton would typically be around, but (on my request) was out getting compost for the garden we're making. (he got lots of good soil for two beds we're making)

In the end, I just got up from the bed where I'd been lying next to her. Nursing, shhing, singing, stroking, kissing, cuddling. And I started writing. By the kitchen counter. She came in and joined me, all giddy. Started putting all her babes to sleep, (shh, shh, shhh, "sove," "seng"), talk, talk, talk.

Eventually we went out, did some sliding at our neighbor's slide set. Then strolled down to the co-op to get some tilapia (fish) for dinner.

Back to get that ready. While she watched Curious George. Papa working in the garden. Getting soil out onto the beds.

Then quick eat, and crash for sleep.

Lilly and dog

A fun video of our fearless Lilly playing ball with a dog at her friend Elias's birthday party yesterday.

while I showered

Lilly emptied the spice and tea drawer, got all the tea bags out of the boxes and chewed through my favorite ones; moved into the bathroom where she unrolled all the toilet paper and emptied the kleenex box, dropping the kleenexes into the sink where they all got wet from water; and just, as I was getting out of the shower, had started emptying the garbage can.

Sigh; is this when I get to throw her out of the window?

On the other hand, she's doing an excellent job peeing in her potty. She's been diaper-free all morning, and no accidents so far. I had to get some jeans up from the basement that she'd outgrown; without a diaper all her pants are too big now, revealing the cutest little bum.

Stuff is also running out of her nose, unfortunately; I can't wait for cold season to be over. And not to be a human snot rag anymore. I have streaks of snot on my shirts and pants, even (maybe not surprisingly), inside of my bra, on my nursing pads. Lovely. Getting double use out of those these days, I suppose.

february summary

Nighttime weaning
accomplished: Lilly goes to bed in the extra bedroom between 7 and 8 p.m., then transfers in to me between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. and Leighton goes in to sleep in the extra bedroom so Lilly and I can have more room in our bed. She settles quickly, without nursing, I often can't remember her coming in to me. She doesn't nurse till 4 a.m., often it's not till 5 a.m. Typically, she nurses at 4, 5, and 6, and then we get up for her to pee & poo in the potty. Sometimes she wakes up between transfer and first nursing, could be teething pain, gas, or discomfort, but will most often settle soon again on my arm. Such an amazing change since we started this in January and how things were before with nursing every couple hours from bedtime till morning.

Winter wonderland
Temperatures finally warmed up a little to entice me out on some amazing skiing in the white covered prairie land, blue sky and sunshine. We've gotten lots of snow this winter. Driving out into the country side yesterday, I saw flocks of pheasants and wild turkeys looking for food by the roadside.

Child swap
I've finally found two moms to swap child care with. So far, this has gotten me two mornings with yoga and Leighton and I have one brunch/lunch date to look forward to and are now also planning an early dinner date. (Keep in mind, we've only had one dinner date so far, when Leighton's mom came out to visit in November, so we are very excited about this.)

Urban living
First weekend of the month, we house sat for some friends in Saint Paul. We splurged and ate out, got to visit with good friends in the city, went to the Walker art museum in Minneapolis where they have free activities for children every first Saturday of the month. We headed up to the cities again the second Sunday of the month, Valentine's day, for some sushi. We'd planned on happy hour, but it was canceled with all the people there. So we splurged again; it was worth it.

Manuscripts submitted
I submitted the second half of my manuscript on feminist porn to my editor and launched my next book which will be a collection of mamas' stories about their children's sleep. Leighton received positive feedback on the story he wrote for Lilly from a professor of children's literature at Saint Olaf College and a friend of ours in Norway whose expertise is children's literature and who works with promoting Norwegian literature abroad. We sent the story to my editor who passed it on to the children's department in the same publishing house.

Got a grant
I finally received a big grant I've been applying for; maybe third time really is a charm? I know my proposal kept improving as I got further into the project, and I received helpful feedback from friends. It's a boost to the project and my self-esteem.

Stay or go?
We put our house out for sale this month with mixed feelings. There's so much that keeps us here, so much that draws us to go there. The pros and cons seem to outweigh each other, leaving us rather handlingslammet.

Lilly
has all four corner molars now, but teething's still a pain. She loves books, music, dancing (she's obsessed with Strawberry Shortcake's Let's dance these days), baby MacDonald and farm animals. She has three friends she repeats the names of: Avery, Addie, and Anna (pronounced Annie). She speaks a lot, more Norwegian than English, a lot that sounds like Chinese to us. She loves hugs and kisses, cuddling and playing with mama and papa.