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.
We had a fun packed weekend with a visit to Sogn Valley Craft Fair on Saturday and the Nerstrand Big Woods on Sunday. Family excursions have become so thoroughly enjoyable now that Lilly's gotten so big that she can understand and do and remember so many things. She's still talking about how she danced at the craft fair and that we bought the pumpkin sitting by our entrance door there. And the river and all the fallen leaves she saw in the big woods. In the below video snap she's dancing at the craft fair:
And here she is as we're about to leave the big woods:
As I'm at it, I might as well add some more videos. Here she is on the couch surrounded by all her stuffed toy and doll friends:
And here she is playing on the couch with her best friend Anna:
Finally, at one of the local playgrounds, this one by the river next to the farmer's market, playing with our neighbor's son:
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!).
The idea of gardening has always appealed to me, it's always been something I'd like to get more into. But aside from a few crocuses and tulips that I planted sort of haphazardly when I first bought this house in 2003 (I actually planted more that first fall than what has since come up; I just think I didn't do a very good job planting the bulbs deep enough down into the ground), it's remained a nice idea.
Now finally, I'm getting deep and dirty into it.
I think as a mama, creating a garden, nurturing growth, is becoming more in tune with me. I no longer crave being a free bird twittering around; I want the sanctuary of a home with healthy roots.
This weekend I finally got a former flower bed next to our porch, on the south side of our house, cleaned up from a messy layer of wood chips and twigs, old tarp, grass and moss. Then I borrowed the gardening tools of our good neighbors to dig up the hard packed earth.
I'm so proud of my achievements; though it's not a very big lot. Unfortunately, because of the shade from a huge walnut tree, I don't think I can grow tomatoes here. I might have to (ask Leighton help me) build a case garden for the tomato plants and place it on the narrow stretch of lawn between our patio and neighbors on the north side of our house. This area seems to be the sunniest spot in our yard and the tulips I planted there several years ago, still come up every year. Perhaps one day I can make a rose garden here.
Enjoying ourselves on our patio after a full fun weekend of yard work and play.
With all this warm weather, we've been taking advantage of the porch just about every day. Here's a video of Lilly dancing to the tunes on her drum machine. Mama got excited and joined in the fun!
Today our little dancing queen turned a BIG 18 mos–that's one and a half years, y'all! Here's a video of our BIG little girl, dancing and dancing and dancing!
Let's face it: Leighton and I have been struggling with our roles as parents lately. It all came to a top these past couple of days. While Lilly is taking on new tasks every day (she's getting quite good with the puzzle works we got from Lori, leafing through pages & studying pictures in books we also got from Lori and then a stack from Marte--thank you both!, she's understanding tons of words and will got and get things we ask her for, like a book, a doll, a teddy bear, a cup, a spoon, her potty, etc., she's also saying many more days every day (including "bæsje, appelsin, bade" = poop, orange, bathe) and can mimic and connect animal sounds with pictures of animals, she's beginning to identify different body parts--like nose, mouth, eyes, arranging her little kitchen bench, gathering things in her little bag, emptying and filling it, etc., etc.), Leighton and I are struggling not to get bored while we're with her. We both prefer the library events M, Tu, F morning because then we get to interact with other parents while the kids play. W and Th are hard. You'd think we could manage just a couple of days to ourselves, but the hours get long.
So we began contemplating a nanny those two mornings.
But we can't afford it.
Which sucks.
We really look forward to having grandma Julie here, Leighton's mom. She'll be here for a week once Leighton returns from Norway. He'll be gone Oct. 26 - Nov. 5, then she arrives on the 7th. Julie's told us she looks forward to some bonding time with Lilly, and has also told us repeatedly to take advantage of her while she is here. We would really like to go out for dinner, just the two of us (Leighton and I) one night and will try to do that. We still haven't had a date like that. Only in January did my friend Helene stroll Lilly in the park one Sunday while we had lunch nearby. And then in June my friend Hege came over one evening and Leighton and I went out for some beer next door while Lilly slept. (Thanks, all you three!!)
I'm beginning to see why people like daycares. But we do feel it's best for Lilly to be with us till she's at last two (we were thinking three). Or, if we could afford it, another adult person that she could get attached to. I was reading how during the first couple of years, building attachment to a few adults (including parents, but not limited to) is of the utmost importance. My fear is that in daycares (unless it's small and with qualified staff) they don't get that.
Another thing that makes parenting a pain for me at times, is that I'm still the one who puts her down, seeing she likes the comfort of the boob and we don't want to try the cry it out method, or the Ferber-method (where the child also cries it out but learns to self-sooth). For some reason, it's taking Lilly a really long time to settle down for sleep, even when she's really tired. Typically, it takes around 45 min. to an hour, both for her afternoon nap and at night. That's a lot of time when to lie down with her, when you're eager to get other things done.
I try to think of it as bonding time with her, I do love the cuddling, and she is awfully sweet, especially when she falls asleep partly draping my body, or at least a foot on my hip. It's a drag when she's squirmy, kicks me, pulls on the boob and my hair.
On a lucky night, she's sleeping by 8 p.m. and Leighton and I get some time to do some of the things that accumulate in a house, study, read, and write some, maybe blog a little, or respond to some emails.
Many nights it's more like 8:30 or later, but she almost never goes later than 8:45.
She'll then sleep till midnight or so, though often she'll wake earlier, and need comfort, typically by me. And typically she won't let go of me then. The other night, when I blogged the below post, she woke up right as I was finishing it up, and wanted me. Many nights I surrender, don't get to brush my teeth or wash my face, I just lie there with her (because she won't let me get up again). But that night, I refused. I took her with me into the living room while I finished some things. And then we joined Leighton in bed around midnight.
But on a good night she sleeps from 8 till midnight, then she nurses, and then she nurses again at around 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. and around 6 a.m. or 6:30 a.m., and then we get up for breakfast. She naps from around 1:30 p.m. and for a couple of hours.
Recently, however, she's been nursing every hour at night, from midnight till morning. I think maybe she's teething? Or could it be all our moving around? Is she clinging to me as the world is changing constantly for her, now that she's developing at such an exponential rate as well?
Who knows. But it's best to surrender to it, have no ambitions, be thankful for the nights that are easier.
And for days like today. It's a gorgeous fall day. After lots of dark, rainy, cold days, we had some snow, even, today is sunny, fall colors radiant orange, deep yellow, rusty red. After yoga this morning, I raked with Lilly playing around. Then we went for a stroll down to the park, along the river, and by the "Used a bit shoppe" where Lilly picked out a doll. She was so proud of it, walked out the store with it in her arms, and since Rita, the doll we got from our Greek friend Irini in Apollonas this summer, is falling apart, I figured ... And it was only a buck. And Lilly's maternal instinct is blossoming these days, it seems. She loves the dolls in the library too. While she still really likes stuffed animals.
(Northfield, by the river)
After our stroll downtown, we walked home for lunch together, she was playing happily with her kitchen things while I finished eating, and then we lied down for her nap, and there she is now. I imagine we have another half hour to sit here with our computers, Leighton and I, before she wakes up. Leighton might clean the gutters, or wait till tomorrow. While Lilly and I were raking and out and about this morning, he was busy taking boxes with stuff from the office I had at St. Olaf College to the recycling dumpster, and while I was putting Lilly down, he took Greg's truck with our leaves to the compost ground. So now his back is hurting, my man struggles with a bad back. It's hard.
So hopefully weather will be good for yard work tomorrow too.
We also really look forward to visiting with Rachel, our midwife, tomorrow morning. I'm baking an apple cake later today or early tomorrow morning on that occasion.
That's it for now. I leave you with this video that I was watching thinking about Thursday and Friday night, when I felt that the going was getting tough. It made me feel a little better.
Lilly walking and playing at the beach, here in Apollonas, on Naxos, in the Greek Cycladic islands, before we move on tomorrow, first a night in Athens, then one by the airport in Oslo, then over to Northfield, Minnesota where we'll spend this fall after a wonderful summer here in Greece.
As you'll see in this little video, Lilly has thoroughly enjoyed herself here in Greece, talking, walking, interacting with others (her favorite words are "Hei!" (hi) and "Jasso" (Greek for hi), "ha det" (bye) and "bye" (ha det). And BÆÆ to the goats. She'll miss the goats, Dick the dog, the people and children around here. But there will be others to play with in the US. And after that in Norway. And after that...
I feel we have three homes now.
I'll miss Christina, our host, and her family.
Here we all are: Christina, Lilly, and I, this past Thursday, in the village of Kouronos, at a church, celebrating Saint Fanourios. He is the saint that reveals all things that are lost and that people pray for to have returned, be it good health, a job; it can be big or small. He, with his generosity in helping to have such things found, revealed, is celebrated every year on August 27. Everybody bakes a special cake, a Fanouropita, which is brought to church in gratitude. Christina brought a cake baked by her mother-in-law, Flora. All the cakes are blessed by the priest and then everyone shares everybody's cake, after service. I returned home with heaps of cake.
After that, we went to the village of Argokiliotissa, where there is a church for the Virgin Mary, with a natural cave that climbs up, through the mountain, up to a beautiful scenic view of the ocean and the islands beyond. We went there, and, as in all the churches I've been to with Christina, she insists we light a candle for Lilly. So sweet.
We ended that morning with a visit to Christina's husband's uncle in the village of Atsipapi nearby where we had some of the cake they had made for Saint Fanourios, and some home made cherry juice. Lilly got a kick out of chasing their cat and kittens, and visiting with their donkey.
Here's Lilly walking, outside, on our deck, at Flora's apartments, in Apollonas. Hasn't she grown into quite the big girl? We're so proud of her and all her new steps and developments. Right now she's teething; she's gotten three more teeth while we've been here in Greece, a fourth is coming out now, suddenly they're all in a hurry to get out! Maybe the warm temperatures help? Or maybe it's just that time. Right now she's at home sleeping. She's taken to long siesta naps here in Apollonas, anywhere from two to four hours. I think the A/C in the bedroom, plus the dark shutters, help. The bed isn't too bad either. Then she goes to bed at night around 9:30 p.m. and Leighton and I follow shortly after. She still nurses throughout the night, and day, but the night nursing goes by pretty smoothly.
We all get up between 7:30 and 8 a.m. and have breakfast while Christina or Flora sweep the decks and paths. Mornings are my favorite, I love getting coffee going, fresh orange juice, some of the thick lush yoghurt, fresh fruit, musli. We also have Greek honey, bread and jam. Lilly sometimes likes to eat some banana, today she had quite a bit of yoghurt, but typically she prefers nursing in the morning, then will eat quite a bit of bread around 9:30 a.m., accompanied by big sips of water, and then some fruit (peach or tomato) a little after that. After bread, I'd definitely say that tomatoes are her favorite food.
Speaking about foods, Lilly's really into helping herself with a spoon and plate now. I made lentils a little back, and Lilly was so happy to be able to sit on the floor with a little saucer with lentils on it, and feeding herself with her little spoon. I love that it's so easy to clean up a mess down here! Marble floors are the creation of a genius. She definitely likes to be able to sit on one of the stools, between Leighton and I, by the counter, eating meals, as opposed to the high chair we had for her in Norway. At lunch, she'll reach out for bits of tomato, bell pepper, cucumber, bread, ham, turkey, or cheese. She's a big girl now and wants to have that be known and shown.
Leighton and I can definitely see why it'd be good to have a sibling close in age to your child; Lilly much prefers being at the beach when there are other kids there who want to play with her. She also loves interacting with adults too, but as it is, we're kind of at the mercy of chance (who's at the beach when we're there and will they be up for playing with Lilly?).
There are days we don't go to the beach at all, and even when we do, it's only for a couple of hours or so. With our home being so nice, the water so close by, and nature being so spectacular up there, we also like to hang out at home a lot. Lilly loves walking around on the paths in the garden, climbing stairs, talking with Christina (who also speaks English) or Flora or Steljos (who only speak Greek, but Lilly's become quite the Greek talker herself, "Jasso" ('hei'), and "Kala" ('good'). And then of course, it's their dog, Dick. He's only five years old, but quite the patient one with her.
We arrived in Kamares, the harbor town of Sifnos, an island in the Cyclades, Thursday June 25. It was a long journey; we left our apartment in Oslo around 4 a.m. and got to our hotel in Kamares around 9 p.m. Lilly was such a trooper throughout it all (airport express bus to Gardermoen, flight to Copenhagen, then Copenhagen-Athens, bus down to Piraeus, ferry over to Sifnos), such a savvy world traveler, even with a two and a half our delay onboard the plane that was supposed to take us to Athens, waiting for take-off because of a strike by the Greek air traffic controllers. We would walk up and down the isle of the airplane, play with the new plastic BRIO cars I got her for the trip, read her book (Sjøvenner), and, most importantly, make lots of new friends. Lilly is quite the social bug, she loves people and people tend to fall in love with her too. This in particular makes life on the road easy, easier, in fact, than at home. She’s never bored with so many people and places and things to explore. Being at the beach is a particular treat, with new people and landscape around, and the water. All those baby-swimming lessons must be paying off, she loves splashing in the water, walking or crawling in and out of it, sitting down to gather small rocks (she loves the white or black in particular). Eating out can be fun too with other people around to connect with, or cats to look at, but it’s definitely a more active eating experience than before, following her as she crawls around or demands one of us to walk with her, unless she’s happy eating on one of our laps, or in a chair next to us, or, sometimes, sleeping. It’s a dirtier experience too… But that’s the nice thing about being here; she can be only in her diaper, or diaper-free, and then quickly clean up in the water again.
(Kamares, Sifnos, 30 June)
Lilly took her first four steps by herself our first day in Kamares, at the terrace outside of our hotel room. She’s also gotten another tooth while we’ve been down here, and two more on their way. She’s taken to eating octups, loves peach and nectarines (in fact, she first walked for a bite of nectarine), eats lots of bread, and some yoghurt. Last night she downed a big portion of spaghetti. She prefers her spaghetti, like her bread, plain.
We had reserved a room in Hotel Stavros in Kamares for four-five nights and the plan was to rent a car one day, drive around the island, and find something affordable to rent for our two months here. That proved more difficult than expected; turns out the Cyclades have developed quite a bit since I was here last (island hopping during the summer of 1991…). Back then you could run into an old Greek man and rent a cheap room in his house. These days people tend to use the Internet to make reservation in advance, and the Greeks who have rooms to let in their homes are listed by central tourist agents, all prices are coordinated. We were advised to try the bigger islands, Paros and Naxos, so after five nights we took the ferry over to Paros. We spent the first night in the harbor town, Piraikia, then rented a car the following day and began our hunt.
Paros is more beautiful than I remember; we really like the coastal villages of Drios and Piso Livadi. In Piso Livadi we found a woman, Anna, who has rooms to let on the pier, and who also has a son who owns a house in the village of Marpissa, one kilometer inland, that she told us we could rent for 500 Euro per month. We saw the house and it was agreed we would move in the following day after they had gotten it all ready for us. It was a darling house with a cute courtyard. We spent the night at Anna’s, overlooking the beach, with the buzz of the tavernas on the pier below us. Unfortunately, the next day, Anna’s son changed his mind; problems with girlfriend, he explained, need house himself.
So off we were again, took the bus back to Drios, walked around with all our luggage and Lilly in either the stroller or the babybjorn. We’ve stayed here since, first at Alpha Omega, a really nice place close to the beach, we had an apartment with A/C, super nice but a bit above our budget. It’s run by Margarita and George, retired teachers from Thessaloniki, who come out here in the summer to run this place. The wife, Margarita, grew up here, in Marpissa, and her father, Alechos, has a farm in Drios. After a few nights, we moved in at her father’s farm where they’ve set up a few simple apartments. We love the non-touristy feel of it; only the field of Alechos’ farm is between us and the beach. We are surrounded by his vineyard, lemon and lime trees, an olive grove further down. Margarita brings us tomatoes, cucumber, snap peas, and cilantro from her father's garden. She gave us fresh apricots from her garden before we moved out to the farm, as well as pie she made with them. She also gave us all sorts of other treats, much to our delight, and toys for Lilly, whom she loves. Lilly’s favorite is a set of tennis balls she bounces up and down.
After hotel lodging with plenty of eating out, sampling local Greek fare like chick-pea balls, eggplant salad, stuffed tomatoes and bell peppers, in addition to the typical Greek salad and tzatsiki, it’s been really nice to have more of a home again, here in Drios, where we can make and enjoy our own food, prepared with local ingredients. Unfortunately, we can’t get fresh fish, season doesn’t begin till September, only octopus and squid are in season now, as well as small fish, they call it white bait, picarel or sardines. I love the thick creamy yoghurt they make here, and the feta cheese, as well as the harder sheep and goat cheeses that tastes almost like Gruyère or Parmesan.
We are so happy here in Drios on Paros and wish we could stay longer, but unfortunately we have to move out on July 18th when a bunch of French people are moving in here. Tomorrow Leighton is taking the ferry over to Naxos to explore there for us, it’s an even bigger island and I feel pretty confident we’ll find something there.
In the meantime, we’ll continue to enjoy active and lazy times at the beach, meals on our terrace overlooking the vineyard and the Mediterranean ocean, with Naxos on the other side, sipping chilled cheap local white wine, which actually goes really well with the onion and feta in the salad, and the garlic and cucumber in the tzatsiki, snacking on kalamata olives and yummy cheese. We get why the Greeks dine late, around 10 p.m., because it is very hot till then, even with the seasonal winds that provide some relief during the day.
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Thought I'd add to Anne's post this little video of Lilly walking and taking a big fall. Lilly was OK of course but gave papa a scare. She's tough. She was up and walking again not long after her fall.
Here's a video teaser with Lilly, which includes video taken between January and Mach 2009. It's part of a much longer video, lasting one hour with a whole lot more of Lilly. I figure two and a half minutes in is enough for most of you and it comes with a catchy song too–enjoy!
