We were born a travelin' clan

We've been moving around a lot the last month or so. After a weekend trip to Iowa in mid-November, we spent a week in Green Bay over Thanksgiving and a week in Springfield, Missouri and then Kansas City over Christmas. Before that, we celebrated an early Christmas in Minneapolis with Grandma Cathy, Grandpa Dave, and Uncle Jesse.

The girls are much better travelers, but it's still a hassle to move around so much. Thank goodness they are both pretty patient and well behaved in the car and the plane. No traveling disasters!

It's also been a snowy month. During periods of good health, we've gotten outside. Meredith has been in the joint backyard ice rink exactly once so far this season.

We haven't been writing much here, but at least we've taken some pictures. The highlights:

Saturday morning drama

I overheard Meredith and Jen from downstairs:

Meredith: ...REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY--
Jen: (calmly and matter-of-factly) That's enough reallys.
Meredith: ...REALLY WANT TO!!!

A few moments later when she comes downstairs I ask Jen what was the fuss about.

Jen: She didn't like the clothes I had set out for the concert and said that she wanted to wear her star outfit because, quote, it's the only outfit I love so much that I kiss it. See!

Christmas and other changes

Things have been busy here! We had a great week off in Green Bay for Thanksgiving. The girls spent two days with Grandma and Grandpa while Derek and I went up to Door County for some time together. We did childless things like staying up late watching Jon Stewart, eating in a bar where people were smoking on the other side of the room, and seeing the new James Bond movie (I thought it was awesome.) Door County must be much prettier in the summertime, though - it was very cold, grey, wet and empty. Elly has named Grandpa Dave "Baba," for some unknown reason (though it is also her word for banana - connection?). He is quite proud of this sobriquet!

Then, we prepared and had Thanksgiving with Derek's extended family, who were impressed by how much energy our girls have. They were running around the couch with a cousin, first chasing, then chasing by hopping like frogs (though Elly only waved her arms so she could move more quickly), etc. etc.

We got home late Saturday night and sprung into action unpacking, cleaning, and then refilling the house with Christmas stuff. There's a fresh white pine in the living room (sustainably grown), with the straw ornaments mostly on the lower branches, a lit garland on the banister, and Santas and carolers everywhere. Mer really enjoyed decorating with me.

In other news, Derek has secured a new job - the plan is that he'll work three days a week at an area theater as their finance guy. It sounds like a cool job. He hasn't started yet; we're working on finding daycare for Elly and getting ready for this adjustment.

And, I can't believe it's only three weeks to Christmas! I don't know how it sneaks up on me, what with the stores starting the Christmas displays on November 1, but it does. I don't feel ready at all.

-JRR

Elly combines words!

UPDATE: Pictures!

Big news - Elly's language developments took a big jump forward on Friday and this weekend! Previously she used lots of single words and a few signs, and would occasionally combine the sign for "more" with the word for the food she wanted. She also said a lot of things that we couldn't decipher.

But on Friday, she asked me for "more fish" [for goldfish crackers]! I was so excited that she did it about 15 more times. Since then, she's identified coffee as "Dada drink," asked repeatedly for "more juice," referred to our whole family as "Mama Dada Mdith" and my favorite, called Sadie's collar as "Sadie go walk?" She also slept much of the last part of the trip to my grandparents,' who I call Oma and Papa, and when we woke her at their house she asked me "Oma Papa?"I was so proud of her for listening and remembering where we were going! Mer was really excited, and that set the tone for Elly.

She had a lot to say this weekend - I think Oma and Aunt Jody were a bit taken aback. She has a lot of catching up to her big sister, though! More seriously, though, they were such sweet and friendly girls with Oma and Papa and Jody and Dan. They had a lot of energy, but also patience for all our grownup conversation and care for Oma's many breakable things. I'm so proud of both of them.

-JRR

Fall and Halloween

October was the month of sicknesses. We're all trying to get better. We did manage to have some fun. Halloween was a blast. The girls went trick or treating. Meredith enjoyed getting a big bag of candy booty. We've enjoyed the unseasonably warm weather outside. Elaine has been trying to stretch out the sandbox season for as long as possible. Elaine has also been getting the art bug. She loves to draw and color.

Some recent pictures!

Medical fun

Having two young kids means a lot of bugs get brought home and shared with the family. I've always been someone who has succumbed to colds and the like fairly easily. In the last couple of years I've been living a more healthy lifestyle, which has improved my disease resistance some, but not entirely. Recently, we've had a nasty bought with illnesses.

Last week, just in time for the visit from Grandma Cathy and Grandpa Dave, Elaine and I got nasty colds. I always seem to get sick around their visits. Some have suggested that it's psychological. I think it's simply a curse. Anyways, by early last week both Elaine and I were improving, but I had this nagging back pain. Elaine was generally irritable. By Friday we seemed well enough to be able to go on our planned weekend trip to Iowa.

Saturday morning I woke up in no condition to go anywhere. I had a fever and severe pain in the middle of my back. We consulted with the family doctor (Jen's dad), who made some predictions and advised a trip to urgent care. We were worried that one possibility was the virus that causes chicken pox, which Elaine hasn't yet been vaccinated against, so she came along on the urgent care visit too.

Turns out it wasn't that virus, but we also learned Elaine had a double ear infection. No wonder she hasn't been her normal, cheery self! After eliminated some possibilities, the doctor recommended I go to the ER, so that they could do further tests on me.

The pain was so great and in such a strange location that the ER doctor was worried enough to do lots of tests. The most likely possibility was a virus of some sort or another, but it was still troubling enough to do bloodwork, get chest x-rays, and call in the MRI guy from his nice fall weekend day to scan my midsection. It was the day of firsts for me. It was my first ER visit since I was 4 years old and had to get a tick pulled out of my head. It was my first chest x-ray. It was my first IV. And it was my first MRI. My fear of needles and enclosed spaces were both put to the tests. I was at the hospital from 10:30 to 5:30. The good news: they eliminated all worse-case scenario possibilities. It really looks like a nasty virus that will hopefully get taken care of in a few days. Also, I got some codeine to finally manage the pain. I am now somewhat functional and coherent--though still quite under the weather.

So, I'm thankful that even though I feel pretty terrible that there is not something seriously wrong with my body. When I get over this bug, I know I'll be even more appreciative of my good health.

Fall pictures

Some pictures from the last couple of weeks, and a couple from way back in early September. We've been busy going to apple orchards, partying with the neighbors, entertaining grandparents, going to school, going to Sunday matinées, using up green tomatoes, shaking sand out of Elaine's clothes each day, and biking.

Jen and I have also been doing Weight Watchers the last three months. I won't share Jen's accomplishments (she can do that if she wants), but I've now lost 20 pounds. I've found I can still eat lots of great foods--only not in the amounts I could when I was 17.

It's gotten colder in the last day. We've had a lovely fall thus far, but now most of the leaves in our early shedding ash in the backyard are down. The leaves have been blanketed by a cold, wet rain. More cold and rain is expected. Summer is but a distant memory.

Pumpkin goodness

When I was in my youth, we'd frequently have waffles on the weekends. Sometimes we'd get a special treat, particularly in fall, and have pumpkin waffles. As the days got shorter and colder and it was even more difficult to get out of a warm bed on Saturday morning, the smell of pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg would eventually pull me out of bed. It was a method I much preferred to forcing me up for the day than the one favored in December: Blasting of a Bing Crosby or Ann Murray Christmas album over and over and over again.

*****

We had a full weekend that featured among other things, perfect fall weather. On Saturday, we went to the Augsburg homecoming football game and watched the Auggies (yes, they are really called that) handedly defeat the Oles (from St. Olaf, yes, they are really called that). Meredith and Elaine liked watching the action on the field. Elaine would clap along with the crowd to be part of the excitement. During the fourth quarter the girls got a little antsy and starting playing around with a little ball. Meredith took a swift kick at it and landed it in some poor woman's face 15 feet away. (Apologies were quickly offered.)

From the football game came the ArtiCulture opening. ArtiCulture is a local visual arts education nonprofit. Meredith has taken a couple classes there and celebrated her fourth birthday there. I've been volunteering with them a bit in recent weeks. They have an awesome new space on Franklin Ave which we got to tour.

On Saturday night, Jen went out to party and sing karaoke and eat some fabulous homemade Indian food. She didn't have a drip of alcohol to drink because she had to drive back in forth to Maplewood, but had so much fun she was a little loopy afterwards.

Sunday morning featured pumpkin waffles. Both Meredith and Elaine ate them up quickly; though Elaine seemed to prefer the whip cream topping to the waffle itself. Since I had leftover purred pumpkin I made some pumpkin cookies that I now need to get rid of lest I gain back some weight. After waffles, we packed up and went apple picking in near Jordan with friends. Meredith got a pony ride in too!

In the afternoon, Jen and I drove back to Minneapolis to see a play at the Jungle Theater. It was a Mamet piece, A Life In the Theater. I definitely recommend it for some excellent acting. Afterwards we drove back to the 'burbs to procure the kids. We returned to Minneapolis to have dinner with the neighbors. The only problem was that both Elaine and Meredith had fallen asleep before dinner. Despite multiple sincere efforts, neither one stirred. I eventually gave up and let them sleep. Apparently they both had an active weekend. The two girls proceeded to sleep a full 13 hours! They arose Monday morning no worse for the wear and ready to face the week.

Autumn blues

The days are getting shorter and cooler. The last full day of summer is reportedly this Sunday. It makes me get preemptorally depressed thinking about the cold winter getting closer and closer each day.

Warm, beautiful fall days are still ahead of us; plus, the changing colors of trees in the next month. I do love fall. But I'm still sad to see the garden start to wither up with each cold night.

This year's growing season was an improvement over the past two years. The biggest reason for improvement: having a dog. Sadie did an excellent job scaring the squirrels away from the garden. Two of the squirrels met unlucky fates. Still, she couldn't be outside all of the time and they did chew up countless tomatoes and just about every zucchini and squash. At least this year we got to eat some of the actual tomatoes ourselves!

I planted a full two dozen tomato plants last spring. We got a good crop, but I should have gotten more. Our garden plot is becoming more shaded each year by the giant ash tree in our backyard as well as neighbor's trees. Next year my plan is to move the garden plot to the side of the house, which gets more sun. I put four tomato plants, some beans, and broccoli there this year to test it out, and everything did pretty well except for the broccoli. I never seem to have success with broccoli, unlike the neighbors who get the most massive broccoli plants that produce enough shade to have a picnic under.

My favorite tomato varieties this year were the Cherokee Purple (heirloom), the Black Cherry, the Persimmon (heirloom), and the Celebrity. The Beeksteak did OK. The Pruden's Purple was good but didn't give much fruit and the Better Boy was the worse of the bunch. The Celebrity and Persimmon tomatoes have been simply delicious, the later being a beautiful golden fruit.

So next year, more of those, plus some more. I'll use manure and compost the plants more heavily. That, with the additional sun, will hopefully mean even more tomatoes in 2009.

Oh, and I'll probably plant some other veggies.

Another birthday!

Today is Meredith's birthday! She is a five year old. Five years ago, almost to the hour, she looked like this:

Of course, now she's in kindergarten! Meredith loves football. She makes all sorts of artistic creations with paper, crayons, glue, tape, and ribbons. She loves learning about weather and animals and dinosaurs. Meredith can skip and dance and do a mean air-guitar. (Sometimes she can do air-guitar at the same time as air-drums and air-trumpet!) Meredith loves playing with her friends and has become a kind and fun big sister to Elaine. She's so much bigger than the 7 pounds, 3 ounces she was five short years ago.

Last night we celebrated Meredith's birthday early with the family. I made her a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and raspberries on top. She unwrapped her presents, which included science books, a light-up globe, a pirate hat, Connect-4, a pretend cell phone, a piggy bank (since we're starting an allowance), and a Meredith-sized broom. Yes, she had asked for a broom.

Next weekend we'll have a party with Meredith's friends and classmates at the Como Zoo. It will be reptile themed per Meredith's request. We'll be sure to take pictures and post them here!

Jen is 30

Last Saturday we celebrated Jen's birthday party. Believe it or not, she is now a bona fide 30 year old!

We had a nice get together on the Minneapolis Queen paddle boat and a picnic at Boom Island Park afterwards. The weather cooperated perfectly. It wasn't a surprise party, as Jen knew the basic parameters, but I had kept her in the dark on most of the details. At one point during the festivities when we were trying to figure out some small detail Jen exclaimed to me, "You haven't told me enough for me to be helpful!"

The biggest surprise was the arrival of Jen's brother and sister-in-law, David and Olga, from Tulsa. (She was wondering why I had gotten so much steak and corn on the cob for Friday's dinner.) I suspected that it was going to be a worthwhile surprise when she lamented a week before how she had been hoping her brother would call her to tell her they could make it for her birthday.

We also had cake from Jen's favorite bakery, the Franklin Street Bakery. A couple of days after I had ordered the cake, Jen asked if she could count on some cake on her birthday. I said, "Oh, oh, sure. It'll be taken care of. You like chocolate?" The response reportedly did not put her at ease. Latter, she followed up and made helpful suggestions where some good cake could be procured. I simply told her "not to worry about it," which put her at even less ease. Note to readers: It's generally not a good idea to just tell Jen not to worry about anything. Actually, it's probably good not to say that to people in general--and definitely not to Jen.

It probably didn't help a couple days before that I said to her that I'd get around to figuring out some food for her birthday.

In the end, we all had a fun time. Meredith loved running around with her friends at Jen's birthday party. Elaine got lots of good grandparent attention over the weekend and is getting ever more comfortable with people who aren't her mom and dad.

On Sunday, we had a relaxing rainy day. The most exciting thing was Sadie catching a squirrel in the neighbor's front yard at the end of the walk. The dumb animal actually fell out of the tree after successfully getting away from Sadie the first time. Meredith saw the whole thing and wasn't too traumatized. I don't know if I could say the same thing for all of the adults present. Now there are two former squirrels buried in our garden. Here's hoping for a couple more before next spring's planting season!

PICTURES!

Elly's words - and steps!

Our little Elly turned 17 months on Saturday, and took her first, unsteady steps from Mommy to Daddy! We have waited a long time for that to happen, and I have no good explanation why it happened then. Her confidence increased somewhat - her record is 8 steps - though she is mostly still crawling everywhere. We are very excited.

Elly's speech is also taking off, and we thought it would be fun to record her first words here. (List not in exact order) :

1. Daddy (dada)
2. Mommy (mama)
3. bye-bye (buh buh) (also uses for night-night)
4. no
5. ball
6. fish (ish)
7. that (da)
8. down (dow)
9. water (wa wa) (for drinking water, baths or lakes, etc.)
10. go
11. kitty (kih-tay)
12. up (uh)
13. baby
14. book (ook)
15. Pooh (00h)
16. Meredith (muh-ith or mer-mer)
17. Ellen (eh-wen)
18. Junior (june)
19. Michelle (Junior's mom) (ju-mama)
20. cheese (eese)
21. duck (duh)
22. Grandma (gra-mama)
23. whee (for deciding to slide down)
24. all done (ah-da)
25. eat (ee)
26. Sadie (suh-duh)
27. teeth (eeth)
28. uh-oh
29. shoe (shoo)
30. sock (ock)

signs:

1. milk
2. all done
3. eat
4. more
5. bye-bye

-JRR

Counting time

Meredith likes numbers and counting and other math skills. One morning last week she started reciting her new skill with no warning. Here is a video demonstration. Don't worry, it's not as long as you first may think!



Without interruption of a cameraman, Meredith was able to get down to the mid-70s before getting bored.

First day of kindergarten!

UPDATED: Below is Meredith's picture in her classroom on her first day of kindergarten. She reported having a fun day that was very "busy." Her bus ride home was long, but she liked looking out the window. They had recess, and snack time, and lunch and she got to see friends from other classrooms. At some point I'm sure there was some learning in there.


This morning the whole family brought Meredith to school for her first day of kindergarten. It is in the same school, just down the hall, that she did pre-kindergarten last year (International School of Minnesota). But it's been a long summer and the excitement that it's kindergarten has made Meredith to be a little apprehensive.

It's understandable. She has new teachers, mostly new classmates, a new classroom. It's all very different for her. It didn't help this morning that she had to go to the bathroom when we got to the school. Fortunately her classroom has its own bathroom right there. She went in, but then had a bit of trouble getting out! It's no fun to be stuck in a tiny bathroom and not knowing how or when you'll emerge. In a quick moment she was helped out, but a little shaken from the experience.

Meredith has been getting over a cold and the bags under her eyes make the fading black eye from earlier in the summer reemerge. But the pictures we took of her are still really cute! (We'll show them here within the next day.)

Meredith's teacher told her all the exciting things they were going to do in kindergarten. With tears, we were able to separate from Meredith and tell her goodbye. We know before long this will all be familiar and she'll love school, just like last year in pre-kindergarten.

This afternoon Meredith will experience another nerve wrecking first: a ride on the school bus! Each day I'll drop her off in the morning and she'll ride home on the bus. We'll have to do a follow-up report on how that goes.

In summation, wow, the girl is growing up!

Pigtails!

Elaine's hair is just getting long enough for pigtails. She had some in her hair over the weekend. We thought she looked super cute.

Rocket ship art

Meredith draws lots of pictures. She loves her coloring books. She has an alphabet workbook that has connect the dots and mazes and other similar exercises that she'll sit down for nearly an hour doing. She is especially good at the mazes. Meredith also does a lot of cut paper glued together in two and three-dimensional forms.

Below is just one recent examples of a picture. The lighting isn't very good. But it is Meredith's picture of a rocket ship. On the right is me and on the left is Meredith. I believe the rocket ship has a launch tower/scaffolding, but was unable to confirm that. Above the rocket ship is the Sun, which is where we are apparently going.

Seven years of bliss

Today is our 7th wedding anniversary. According to one internet source, it is the wool or copper anniversary!

We celebrated our anniversary a little early during our trip to Missouri this summer. (Incidentally, if you find yourself looking for a good Italian restaurant in Springfield, Missouri, be sure to get in touch with us!)

It's hard to believe it has been so long. It seems like yesterday that we got married in a hastily reconstructed ceremony after being chased indoors by a torrential downpour. Those who were there can attest that ain't no exaggeration!

Since then, we moved to Minneapolis. Got a cat. Got new jobs. Got a house. Got a kid. Got another kid. Got a law degree. Got a new career. Got a dog.

So we've been busy these last seven years.

Does the seventh anniversary mean that we'll have a lucky year? I hope so. Although the last six years have been filled with good fortune too.

My gosh, we look so young!

...and Meredith's milestones

Meredith at, let's see, six weeks shy of five years old:

Likes to:
--make intricate art creations with cut paper, glue, and crayons and/or markers.
--brush her own hair. (Sometimes she needs help with the back.)
--watch the PBS show "Wordgirl," which features superhero-with-vocab lesson storylines.
--talk about science. Recent questions: Do germs have eyes? How long after the dinosaurs did people live? Why does Daddy have to flip the circuit breaker all the time? (All our air conditioners appear to be on the same circuit in our 100-year-old house.) We continue to play the "animal game," an animal-only version of 20 questions that she is astoundingly good at, usually while I am doing dishes.
--play with the dog, who is remarkably tolerant, especially of being used as an "air guitar."

Is working on:
--swimming! She has recently begun enjoying going underwater and jumping in. She continues to work on actually swimming, i.e., not sinking when she can't touch. Derek and the girls had a chance encounter with Mer's swimming teacher from school at the beach yesterday, who was impressed by how much she's learned this summer!

--helping around the house. She is expected to clear her plate when she's done and help clear the rest of the table.

--her birthday. She is very excited about her party, and friends are immensely important to her right now. I appreciate how much she enjoys and remembers the friends she sees less often, as well as her neighbors, who she sees almost every day.

Derek, any additions?

-JRR

Elly is 16 months old!

Hard to believe Elly is 16 months old. We're still waiting for her to decide to walk, but here's a roundup of the rest:

Elly's favorite things:
--making the sign for "more" - when she's hungry, when she wants something, when she wants something else, and also at other times.
--talking (babbling) to us and to herself, almost non-stop
--pressing buttons, especially the toys that play a song, and also turning the TV on and off. (This makes Meredith VERY frustrated if she's trying to watch her one show a day.)
--climbing stairs when we look away for just a moment
--looking at pictures of her family

Elly is working on:
--her vocab! She has perhaps 15 words and 4 signs.
--walking...she's seemed so close for so long. She stands up by herself, but has yet to realize she can move her feet. She's also not crazy about walking holding onto adult hands - she'd rather drop to her knees and crawl there herself.

Mid-summer pictures

Below are some highlights from this past month. We traveled to Missouri to visit grandparents. We hosted the other grandparents in Minneapolis. We've had a lot of swimming fun. Meredith did a week of "art camp" in the mornings and Elaine told her first knock-knock joke, sorta.

Swing time!

Meredith's first shiner

Meredith is a tough girl. Like many preschoolers she gets lots of bumps and bruises, but usually doesn't let injuries get in her way of having fun. Sometimes though a spectacular injury occurs.

The below picture was taken the day after Meredith suffered from a football drill gone bad when she collided with her sister who had snuck on to the drill course. Both girls were howling at first, but Elaine calmed down quickly and suffered no visible injury.

Meredith, on the other hand, had part of her face sticking out. After some ice, a consult with the family doctor (Grandpa Kerry), and some rest, the swelling decreased. It will be a while before the black eye disappears. Meredith assures us that she still loves football.

The Porch: Before and After

We've been in our 100 year-old house for nearly 6 years now. Over the years Jen has voiced that we need to do something with the porch. Apparently using it as storage/overflow isn't doing something.

What did we need to do with the porch? For starters, Jen told me, some decent furniture to sit on. And maybe a carpet to cover the beaten up floorboards.

After a multi-visit Target adventure, we were able to procure some chairs, table, and carpet for 50% - 75% off. After a few frustrating hours of chair construction, the porch was ready to go!

BEFORE
Picture it also with 6 garbage bags full of pillows and stuff from the last (false) lice panic. I put the chair on the curb with a "free!" sign and it was gone within an hour.

AFTER
A place to relax in the early morning or evening with a drink and book.

Next up: Painting said porch...

Missouri dreamin'

Owing to a de-centralized, cooperative method of picture-taking (a.k.a. sometimes my parents' camera was there, sometimes my brother's, and sometimes ours), pictures from our recent vacation are now scattered about the country. I hope that we will have at least ours to post here soon.

In the meantime, I thought I'd share some of the highlights of our weeklong visit to my parents' house in Springfield, Missouri:

--Elly started eating like a toddler! Which is to say, not all pureed, and enjoying feeding herself macaroni and cheese and such. And last night she ate spaghetti and meatballs with gusto - both brand new foods. What a change from two weeks ago!

--Meredith learned to jump in the pool, and is working on her swimming. It's amazing how much more comfortable she is after swimming every day for a week.

--Meredith got to sneak down early in the morning and snuggle with her grandparents. To hear her anticipation, this is a top-priority activity. Very sweet.

--I only billed one hour the entire week. Hooray! I did check my Blackberry frequently, though.

--Derek and I got away for a 4-course, 2-hour anniversary meal at a nice Italian restaurant in Springfield, Gilardi's. Check it out if you're in the area - it's delicious northern Italian fare in a beautiful old carriage house in the historic district. Evidently the Italian owner-chef married a woman from Springfield. Nice way to import talent.

--We drove back overnight on the fourth of July and enjoyed spotting fireworks throughout central and northern Missouri. Many kudos to Derek, who proved himself an able overnight driver both ways, with only post-4 AM help from me. The girls slept, as planned. Lovely, but a 2-day recovery from staying up all night.

-JRR

June pictures

Summer has begun and we've done our best to enjoy it. In June we went to Wisconsin twice, we went to a bunch of beaches and parks. We've spent time with grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, and friends. Sometimes we took pictures.

Elaine shows her stuff

Elaine is a quick mover, but she's been in no hurry to walk. She has been crawling, cruising, and "scooting" for many many months now, but hasn't been all that interested in walking. She seems to get where she wants just fine through her other methods.

But each day she does give us indications she is moving towards walking. Her favorite activity this past week is to do an unassisted stand from the sitting or crouching position. She'll stand for a bit and then plop back down. We captured one of the brief instances on video.



Oh, yes. She does like to clap for herself just about every time.

Bouncing Meredith

Earlier in June, Meredith got to participate in the Pre-Kindergarten Olympics near the end of the school year. It involved several fun relay races. Well, "race" in that the kids were going very fast. No winners were recorded or tracked. Each kid of course got a medal at the end.

May pictures

A baker's dozens of pictures from May. Occasionally--these days--we remember to take out the camera. We'll try to do a good job taking pictures in June.

mid-May musings

Loyal reader, you may have noticed that our blogging has slowed in recent weeks. It's not just your imagination. Here are a number of factors, in no particular order:

1) Some of us have been sick. Off and on. Nothing horrible. And we're feeling better now. But every time one of us is sick it sets us back on everything else, farther and farther into the red.

2) More happily, the weather is nice! Gorgeous, even! And Derek has been consumed with tearing out bushes and sod, planting the garden, scraping long-peeling paint from the garage in the continued quest towards painting the garage, and other outdoor tasks instead of blogging.

3) We had a garage sale last weekend. I don't think I've ever had one - they are a surprising amount of work! And this may be our last, because they are also not economically sensible. We may have made minimum wage. But we did sort through and rid ourselves of a variety of things, which needed to be done. And doing it jointly with our neighbors was fun. We even made T-shirts (yes, as if we were in high school.) And the kids found a toad, which was not caused by the garage sale but which kept them very busy during it. Poor toad.

4) We have had guests. Not a lot - you are also welcome - but Derek's folks came for a long weekend and we've had a couple of friends to dinner. I forget how much I like our friends when we are too busy to call them. And then it's so fun to see them. I wish I could find a better balance there.

So, in a nutshell (or four) that's what we've been up to! Happy Memorial Day to all!

-JRR

Elaine's communication skills

Unlike her big sister, who acquired new words in an orderly, almost dogged fashion, Elly is a much more freewheeling communicator. But here is our attempt to catalogue the words and signs that she spontaneously uses (as opposed to those she has repeated after us, which is a much greater number) so far:

Words:
--dada
--mama
--dog [doh]
--kitty [kee-tee]
--no
--car [cah]
--down [dow-nuh] (when she wants to be put down)
--hi
--there (dar?)
--that (dah)
--all done (ahd or ah-da)
--yes (ya) (showing her Norwegian heritage?)

Signs:
--milk (often made while drinking or milk is mentioned (as in, "I know what you're talking about!"); we hope she learns to make it when she wants milk soon!)
--all done (a one-handed version, with flair, sometimes accompanied with 'ada!')
--a wave for 'bye-bye' or 'good night'

And, for fun, here are the words that, if someone says them by accident, make Sadie start jumping with excitement:
--walk
--outside
--go
Meredith has learned to say, 'Are we going to take the dog for a [stage-whisper:] walk ??!!" Or, better yet, "w-a-l-k," or a similar combination of letters. We know what she means. But Sadie usually doesn't, which is good. Very perceptive of Mer, I think.

-JRR

Overdue pictures

April has been the month of warm spring days and snow. Here are some overdue pictures from some of our April adventures.

Allergic to water

While driving to school today we passed a drainage pond that was previously frozen. We celebrated the sign of spring and how nice it was to see open water. Of course, I have to make everything into a science lesson. Sometimes the results are interesting.

Meredith: I love water. Water is great!
Derek: Did you know our bodies are made out of a lot of water?
Meredith: Yeah! [pause] If you were allergic to water, you wouldn't even be a person!

Meredith quotes: Family, et cetera

Meredith has given some memorable quotes recently. Many dealing with family relationships. Others on the subject of school and fairness.


While walking the dog:
"How come I have to do all the work and you get to have all the fun!?!"
The offense was that her job was to open and close the gate and I got to be the one to walk the dog equal to Meredith's weight and surpassing her muscle mass. I assured her that I didn't think that was true that she did all the work.

After being told to turn off the TV, Meredith challenges the ruling while following me upstairs during Elaine's pre-dinner diaper change:
Mer: It's not fair!
Der: Just because you can't do something you want doesn't make it not fair.
M: It isn't fair!
D: I don't think you understand what fair means. In any case, we need to wash hands for dinner.
M: I do know what it means! I have to tell you. I wanted to watch Dragon Tales.
D: You watched two other shows already and it's time for dinner. You'll be able to watch Dragon Tales another day.
M: But it's not fair! Today I got to watch Curious George and Super Why! but not Dragon Tales!
D: Yes. We don't get to watch Dragon Tales every day. You saw two--
M: Some days I get to watch Curious George and Super Why! and Dragon Tales! Today I only got to watch Curious George and Super Why! It's not fair! I want to watch Dragon Tales!
D: Well, that's not really how fairness works, and usually you don't watch Dragon Tales because we have to eat dinner, like we're just about to. It is only a special occasion. Tonight we have to eat dinner.
M: You're not listening to me! I'm trying to tell you about fairness! [she starts stomping to stress her points]
D: Meredith! I don't like the tone you're using. I need you to behave. We can talk about this, but you need to be patient. No more stomping, or flailing, or yelling.
M: I' M YELLING BECAUSE I'M FRUSTRATED! IT'S NOT FAIR THAT I CAN'T SEE DRAGON TALES!
D: Meredith. There are going to be consequences if you can't improve your behavior.
[stomping and kicking of furniture ensues]
D: Meredith, I'm going to count to three and if you don't stop there will be NO TV tomorrow.
M: AARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHH! IT'S NOT FAIR! [stomp! stomp!]
D: Okay, no television tomorrow. Now, let's settle down or there will be more consequences.
M: Hmpphth!
[pause]
M: [calmer] It's not fair that I can't watch Dragon Tales.
D: Meredith, I know you're upset because you wanted to see Dragon Tales, but we can't watch TV whenever we want. We need to eat dinner now. If you're frustrated, we can talk, but that kind of behavior is not acceptable--even if you feel it isn't fair.
M: [hopeful] Maybe I can watch Dragon Tales tomorrow?

Making pizza for Meredith, Jen and myself:
Mer: We're putting mushrooms over the whole thing?
Der: Yes.
M: Everyone likes mushrooms?
D: Yes.
M: Zach doesn't like mushrooms; even though they're so good!"

Meredith learned about dinosaurs at school:
Mer: Some kind of meat eaters travel in groups.
Der: What are the groups called?
M: I don't remember.
D: Why do they travel in groups?
M: I don't really know. So they can find food really good? And triceratops do too.
D: Are triceratops meat eaters?
M: No!

Telling me about learning how to make graphs at school:
Mer: What you do is make two lines. And then you put lots of squares between. And then, then, you call out the things you would like to see that other people would like. And then what you do is, and if, like, if someone likes something better than the other one, they win.
Der: What do you do with the squares?
Mer: With the squares, you kind of draw a shape of that thing in the squares. Like if I had spaghetti then I make a kind of a wiggle. And that is a graft! [sic]

A conversation in the car:
Mer: How do you know people in your family by looking at them?
Der: You don't know people in your family by looking at them. You know they are your family because you grew up with them.
M: But how can you tell by looking at them?
D: You can't.
M: Then how?
D: Because they are part of your family when you are born.
M: What if you are walking down the street... I'm going to give an example. It's just an example.
D: Sure. An example sounds good.
M: I'm trying to ask you my question about looking at family members.
D: I know this is hard to ask so I understand. I really like talking to you about this though.
M: Okay. This is just an example; if you are walking down the street and see someone in your family? How do you know? Like, if you were on the street, how would the daddy know, how would you know I'm your daughter?
D: Well, I know you're my daughter because I was there when you were born.
M: But I'm not a baby now.
D: No, you're not a baby now. But I remember when you were a little tiny baby when you were born and I knew you were my daughter and I was your dad. And now you've grown and you're bigger, but I still remember you being born and growing.
M: Can you use pictures to remember?
D: Well, pictures help us remember things, but I'm not going to forget you are my daughter. I don't need pictures.
M: But if you forget can you use pictures to remember?
D: Pictures are helpful and nice to look at, but I assure you I won't forget you're my daughter.
[pause]
M: How do you know your cousin if you see them on the street?
D: You know them, because you have met them before as your cousin. If you didn't meet your cousin and you saw them on the street, you wouldn't know they were your cousin.
M: You wouldn't?
D: No. But you have met your cousins. So you would recognize them, right? If you saw Zach on the street, you'd remember him?
M: Yes!
[pause]
M: I haven't seen Zach in a long time...

Later in the car:
M: I have lots of cousins. Zach is a real cousin.
D: A "real" cousin?
M: Yeah. He's the biggest kid cousin.
D: He is? What about his sisters?
M: His sisters?
D: Yeah. Natalya [age 14] and Kayla [age 17]?
M: They're not kid cousins.
D: They're not?
M: No! They're grown-ups!

And later:
M: Jaz is a real cousin.
D: What about his baby brother Soley?
M: Soley's not my cousin.
D: But if Jaz is your cousin and Soley is his baby brother, then Soley is your cousin too.
M: Soley's a baby.
D: Why does that matter?
M: Babies aren't cousins.

More milestones

Elaine had her first-month checkup yesterday. (Derek brought her, since I am (always) at work, so this is hearsay, but I think we can believe him.) She was only about 25th percentile for height and weight - a proportional little peanut - and the doctor thought her development was right in line. Good news! We think she's pretty great, but doing things in a different order and timing from Meredith. Good to have input from someone who thinks of it as a sample larger than 2.

A snapshot of Elaine at one:

Elaine's favorite things:

• pulling up on EVERYTHING - the bed, Daddy's pant leg, even the dog.
• babbling constantly. She's rarely quiet. It's good we don't go to concerts or live in an apartment.
• including real words in her babbling: fish! dog! all done! ooh! (Pooh, as in Winnie the.) meow! (when she sees a picture fo a cat.) She's saying more than that, but that's all we have gleaned so far. Derek thinks maybe she's speaking French.
• finding and following her sister and the dog, around and around.
• grinning at you, hiding her face, then quickly looking back and grinning even wider. It's the cutest thing in the whole world. (And no, I'm not biased at all.)
• looking at books. Each new page is exciting. She loves both being read to and crawling over, knocking books off the shelf, and crowing with delight to sit and look at them by herself.

Elaine is working on:

• cruising. She hasn't quite got the idea that she can pull up and then move - we'll see when this happens!
• more teeth. She has the front four, plus significant bumps on her gums.
• feeding herself. She doesn't quite have the chewing part and is just not that interested. But she eats a wide variety of pureed foods.
• making herself understood.

-JRR

Elaine is now one

Yesterday was Elaine's birthday. It's hard to believe she was born just one year ago. She was less than 7 pounds and cried and slept a lot. Now she's crawling and scooting everywhere, pulls up an every eligible object, doesn't like to nap, and enjoys being silly and interacting with people.

For the birthday party on Saturday, all four grandparents were able to make it. Both girls got a lot of good attention as a result. In the late afternoon, we had friends over for Elaine's birthday party. The weather was just good enough to take it outdoors for a little bit. Sadie did well with all the kids and adults running around and yelling. She's been with us for less than a week and is already comfortable and settling in.

Elaine got a birthday cake, of which she had no real interest in partaking. She did some cake smashing, however. Her dad and sister did most of the unwrapping of gifts.

Just in the past week, Elaine has gotten noticeably more verbal. Their are fierce debates as to what constitutes a bona fide word. The alleged vocabulary now includes dada, mama, buba (baby), it-tay (kitty), dah! or ah-dah (that), duh! (dog), turt (turtle), and frah (frog). She is making a lot more non-word verbal communication too. Elaine understands more than we probably realize. I sang the words "clap your hands" and without any other visual cues she started clapping her hands. One of Elaine's favorite things now is to initiate peak-a-boo and clap her hands.

For your viewing pleasure, pictures of the past weekend:

Annoying Troll

With the weather changing, recovering from a cold, not getting enough sleep,getting a new dog, and grandparents visiting, Meredith was a bit manic this last weekend. Add some sugar from Easter candy and birthday cake, hilarity ensues.

I don't know where she got the idea of an "annoying troll," but Meredith randomly pulled out this attention-seeking routine this weekend.

Introducing Sadie

So the dog now has a name: Sadie. Here are some pictures taken after we picked her up and on her first day with us.

Sadie is adjusting to her strange new home well. She's learning where to sleep and where not to sleep. (I have to teach her to get off the couch.) She is learning the neighborhood on multiple walks and trying to figure out who (both dogs and people) are friendly. All squirrels, to my approval, have been deemed enemies by Sadie.

Sadie is good at taking direction. She likes everyone, but seems to follow me around the house a bit. It's not so much needy, as it is "Hey, I'm here. Let me know if we're going to do anything."

Still having some piles of snow outside, Sadie will roll and rub herself on the snow as if it is the best thing in the world. We'll see how much she'll roll in the mud this spring.

Canine

Our household just added a new member of the pooch variety.

She's a three year old beagle-lab mix. Her former name was "Lady." We're trying to think of a new one.

A name that sounds similar to Lady might help a little bit in the transition. Some ideas:

• Daisy
• Mattey (as in a pirate's first mate)
• Sally
• Sadie
• Rascally
• Olivia
• Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout
• Snowy
• Spot
• Sparky
• Pesky
• Captain Licky Face
• Wendy
• Georgie Girl
• Rhapsody
• Noodle
• Belle

Any thoughts or additional suggestions?

Bunnies and Eggs

Meredith has been looking forward to Easter the previous week. She was counting down the days. We had talked about the Easter egg hunting a little bit and the Easter Bunny's role in it, but it hasn't been a big focus around here. Nevertheless, Meredith has been talking to someone because the day before Easter she gave both us parents a long speech about all the things she knows about the Easter Bunny. Among many tidbits was that the Easter Bunny can't talk.

We found ourselves the day before at the Midtown Global Market. We ended up staying longer than planned with the unplanned, good fortune of seeing the Easter Bunny come in to take pictures with kids. Well, amend that. Meredith told us afterwards that it wasn't the real Easter Bunny, but a grown-up dressed up. She knows because the fake Easter Bunny had gloves on. Meredith still enjoyed having her picture taken with the pretend bunny and Elaine didn't freak out for a couple of seconds of picture taking.

On Easter we spent much time with the neighbors and connected friends and families. Six kids went about an excited egg hunt through one house and two snow-covered yards. My hope is that next year, due to a later in the year Easter and a warmer early spring, that we'll be able to conduct an egg hunt without snow and cold. I think it was March 26 of last year when we were able to walk at Minnehaha Falls in shorts with the thermometer passing 80! We got ice cream that melted faster than we could eat it!


PICTURES!

Elaine explores the slide. Meredith tries to help.

More info from Meredith

Recently I received one of those email forwards with lots of personal questions from my sister Sonja. I decided to have Meredith answer them for the purpose of the blog. I deleted all of Sonja's responses, but there was at least one answer that was identical to Meredith's. I'll keep it secret though.

Meredith's [mostly] verbatim responses:

1. What time is it? Daytime

2. What's your full name? Meredith Lael Reise

3. What are you most afraid of? Bears

4. What was the last movie that you saw in a theater? Bee Movie

5. Place of birth: At a hospital

6. Favorite food: Chocolate and cheese

7. What's your natural hair color? Kind of browny-tanny

8. Ever been to Alaska ? No.

9. Ever been toilet paper rolling? I don't know what that means.

10. Love someone so much it made you cry? No.

11. Been in a car accident? No, I dont' think.

12. Croutons or bacon bits: Bread bits.

13. Favorite day of the week: Christmas or Friday.

14. Favorite restaurants: The Indian Restaurant.

15. Favorite Flower: Sunflower, because it's so tall.

16. Favorite sports to watch: Football and basketball.

17 Favorite drink: Orange juice.

18. Favorite ice cream: Chocolate and vanilla.

19. Disney or Warner Brothers: [After explanation] What's Bugs Bunny?

20. Ever been on a ship ? What ship? Rocket ship or sail ship? Okay, neither.

21 What color is your bedroom carpet? Kind of bluey and a little gray--I don't know what kind of color that is. Orange? White?

22. How many times did you fail your driver's test? What does that mean?

23. Before this one, from whom did you get your last e-mail? I don't know.

24. What do you do when you are bored? Sleep a lot, cry a lot, eat a lot.

25. Bedtime: I don't remember.

26. Who will respond to this e-mail the quickest? Mommy?

27. Who is the person you sent this to that is least likely to respond? What does that mean?

28. Who is the person that you are most curious to see their responses? Everyone.

29. Favorite TV shows: Dragon Tales. Nothing else.

30. Last person you went to dinner with: Grandma and Grandpa and Daddy and Elaine.

31. Who do you think will be President? Which one is the girl one? Clinton.

32. What are your favorite colors? Red and purple.

33. How many tattoos do you have? One. [?]

34. How many pets do you have? One.

35 Which came first, the chicken or the egg? The egg?

36. What do you want to do before you die? Always eat chocolate?

37. Have you ever been to Hawaii ? No. I don't think so.

38. What countries outside the U.S. have you been to? I don't know what that means even.

39. How many people are you sending this e-mail to? I don't know, lots?

40. Time this survey ended: Daytime?

Outer space

Today Meredith learned about outer space at school. She has agreed to give me a lesson.

• Astronauts have to wear special clothes; otherwise if they don't, they'll float in the air on the moon or their rocket ship.
• Shooting stars are made of rock.
• The rock hits the air and that's what makes the light. Then they try to find a place to land.
  
• There's not very much air in the sky.
• There are four different planets that go around the sun and one is our planet.
• Our planet is the Earth.
• The astronauts need to wear their helmet and mask to protect against the sun and the stars.
• The sun is the brightest star.
• The Earth looks different when you're in space.
• The sun is in space.
• People can get to space in a rocket ship of course.
• People can walk on the moon but need special clothes for different reasons. Their clothes have different things for different reasons.
• People can't go on the sun.
• The other planets are smaller than ours.
• We can't see the other planets.
• You can see the Great Wall of China up in space or on the Moon maybe.
• When you're going up to space it's hard to say goodbye to the Earth we live on.
• Teachers need to be well trained to go into space.
  

Spring break in Green Bay

Last week was Meredith's school's spring break. There was nothing spring about it except for some melting of snow that revealed our long lost friend: grass. Jen's law firm does not have a corresponding spring break, so I took Elaine and Meredith to the exotic locale of Green Bay, Wisconsin.

We spent some time with Grandma Cathy and Grandpa Dave, and got to see Aunt Sonja and Uncle Chris and the cousins, Kayla, Natalya, and Zach. Meredith enjoys being around her cousins! They are nice, friendly, fun, interesting kids. Even better, Meredith likes playing with Zach. He's a big kid, but he also lets her boss him around. What could be better? In all seriousness, Zach is simply a good sport who plays very nicely with a sometimes pushy four year-old. (She just knows what she wants I guess.)

In Green Bay, Meredith got to go to her first basketball game with her grandparents. They saw the UWGB Fighting Phoenix Women win their first conference tournament game. Apparently she had lots of questions to pepper at her grandparents throughout the game. We went to the Wildlife Sanctuary and saw a bunch of animals. We saw eagles, owls, snakes, giant fruit bats, and an eagle nest; but Meredith's favorite part by far was feeding corn to the geese and ducks.

All in all, it was a fun trip to Wisconsin. The five hours of driving both ways went relatively smoothly, with the girls sleeping most of the way back. It would have been perfect had Meredith not struggled with nightmares every twenty minutes in the car.

For your viewing pleasure, some video and pictures from the last week!


We won't have Elaine babysit anyone anytime soon:


Meredith had a bit of sugar on this day:


PICTURES (More pictures from Wisconsin will be added in the coming days)

Mid-winter pics

Here are some pictures from the last few weeks. They include shots from the visit from Grandma Gail and Grandpa Kerry, the art show at Meredith's school, and last weekend's trip to the Minnesota Children's Museum. We also have evidence of Elaine pulling up. She's doing it a lot these days, with ever-increasing confidence and stability.

First, a clip of Elaine's new trick: clapping.

Queens are bossy

This afternoon, Meredith gave me a primer on the world of kings and queens. Among other things, I learned:

• Queens are very bossy because they are in charge of the castle.
• Kings are in charge a little, but not as much as the queen
• Princesses are not in charge at all.
• A prince is a little charge.
• Princesses are not at all bossy.
  
• A prince is not bossy either.
• Queens like to be bossy. She doesn't know what else queens like to do.
• A king's job is to take care of the princess, but the queen's job is to keep the princess safe.
• The princess is kept safe by stopping her from doing things she is not supposed to.
• A prince is not kept safe.
• Kings are the dads.
• The queens are married to the king.
• If there were queens, there would be 100 queens in the world.
• Princesses like to dance and soft and gentle music. Ballet music.
  
• Princesses don't like rock and roll music, but Meredith says she does.
• She bets that princes like rock and roll.
• Queens listen to rock and roll and kings listen to gentle music because rock and roll music is "in charge" music.
• Kings and queens drive cars because they are the mom and dad. They don't ride horses.
• Kings and queens live in kind of pointy castles.
• There are 100 princesses in the world and 100 princes and 100 kings.
• Princesses go to school. She doesn't know what they study.
• Princesses put on a dress, put on a crown, and put on little fancy shoes--not normal shoes.
• Princes has a little kind of fancy style of thing on him and then a little crown.
• She doesn't think there are any pets in the castle.
• Princesses eat whatever there is for dinner, breakfast, or lunch.
• Fairies know princesses, but not every princess has a fairy, but a lot do.
• Fairies have wings on their back and magic wands and they put up magic spells.
• Fairies are helpful.
• Fairies don't live in the castle.
• Fairies are girls.
• Fairies don't have crowns. They have a little any-colored clothes.
  

Traveling girl

I've been delaying a post in the hopes to get a couple of corresponding pictures and/or videos. But no luck thus far! They will have to come later.

Elaine has pulled out a few new tricks this week. First, kids her age like pulling things out of other things. So Elaine likes to pull books from the bookshelf, pull papers out of the printer, grab anything out of a drawer (she'll spend 10 minutes trying to get a drawer open for this purpose), and pulling toys out of a bin. In the last week, on several occasions, she has started to place items in containers. Very soon, I know, we'll have her cleaning up after herself!

Elaine also began clapping. It's a little on the later end developmentally for clapping. She's done other sophisticated stuff with her hands for a while (waving, pointing, wagging her finger, etc); but the clapping hands are brand new. She uses it to celebrate, to get attention, and I think as a modified sign for "more." When she wants more food she seems to clap. It appears she also used it to request being picked up.

Incidentally, Meredith has been practicing snapping her fingers. It's a difficult and frustrating task for a preschooler. Meredith is doing pretty well at it! She has the movement right and often makes a good "snap" noise with her right hand. I try to encourage her, in part, by telling her I don't snap very well with my left hand either. Every once in a while she practices winking too.

Lastly, Elaine is "traveling." She's been able to pull up on parents' hands and other things for a while now; though, she hasn't been all that excited by it. This week, she has pulled up on the bottom stair and a couple other objects, and "traveled" a few steps over, unassisted. Today, she did this a couple times, as a means to trying to figure out how to go up the stairs when a parent or the cat went up. It won't take her long to realize that walking (and climbing the stairs) are necessary for keeping up with her big sister.

Leap Day!

Mer was excited to hear that today is Leap Day. What's that, she asked? My first explanation was a shorthand, off-the-cuff explanation involving the earth traveling around the sun taking a little longer than what we call a year, because people made calendars, so we have to catch up. Mer understands about catching up - she also understands about having backups for things, like an extra sour cream in the fridge at all times - but her astronomy is not that strong yet.

Second try: it's a holiday! She was deflated to learn that it did not involve 1) decorations or 2) special songs or 3) desserts. At least not traditionally.

Third try: February 29 rarely happens, so it's special - only every seven years! I said. Four years, Derek reminded me. The earth takes 365.25 days to go around the sun, so every four years. Of course. Evidently my astronomy is not that strong either.

-JRR

Cousin props

A belated congratulations to Natalya Jensen, cousin to Meredith and Elaine, on her excellent spelling abilities. She won her school and got to the final round of the regional spelling bee. She is pictured in this Green Bay Press-Gazette link.

Twenty questions

Meredith likes to play an informal game of 20 questions. Usually, she thinks of an animal and we ask yes or no questions until we get it. Sometimes it's difficult because she isn't sure about the answers. For example, apparently tigers hibernate. When asked if her animal was bigger than Elaine, she said she didn't think so. She then said it was bigger than her and even bigger than a horse. It's difficult to narrow down to this size-shifting creature.

I got to think of an animal for Meredith to guess. She narrowed it down to an animal that had a shell, was small, and wasn't a turtle. She asked, "Is it the size of a snail?" "Yes, exactly the size of a snail." After a moment, she correctly guessed it was a snail.

Other times it gets easier. When asked if her animal has four legs, Meredith says yes, but then starts consulting the picture of a crab on the fridge. After counting quietly to herself she allows that it might have six legs. She tells us though that people don't eat these animals because they have pincers. This is despite seeing frozen crabs every time we go to Coastal Seafoods.

Top songs

The following are the top 25 most played songs in order in my iPod. Meredith has a hand in every last song. (Well, I see one song that isn't a Meredith request; but I'm too embarrassed to admit which one.)

1. Rocket Boy - Liz Phair
2. Bicycle Race - Queen
3. Here Come the ABCs - They Might Be Giants
4. Good Vibrations - The Beach Boys
5. Alphabet of Nations - They Might Be Giants
6. Daydream Believer - The Monkees
7. Wendy - The Beach Boys
8. Rock & Roll - Led Zeppelin
9. E Eats Everything - They Might Be Giants
10. Help Me Rhonda - The Beach Boys
11. Come Sail Away - Eric Cartman of South Park
12. We Will Rock You - Queen
13. Final Countdown - Europe
14. We Are the Champions - Queen
15. It's Not Unusual - Tom Jones
16. Baba O'Riley - The Who
17. Free Bird - Lyndard Skynard
18. Downtown - Petula Clark
19. Flying V - They Might Be Giants
20. Go For G! - They Might Be Giants
21. Seven Nation Army - The White Stripes
22. Won't Get Fooled Again - The Who
23. Wouldn't It Be Nice - The Beach Boys
24. Sloop John B - The Beach Boys
25. Fun, Fun, Fun - The Beach Boys

Careful with baby

Meredith's pre-kindergarten teacher is expecting a child next month. This has given her class many opportunities to discuss babies. (It also caused Meredith to ask Jen for the first time recently how the baby gets inside the tummy in the first place. The answer was deferred.)

Earlier this week, the children were asked if they had any baby advice for their teacher. Reportedly, Meredith had one piece of important advice: "You have to be very very very very very very very very careful with the baby."

We continue to have to say things like: Get off your sister. Let go of your sister. Don't pull on your sister. Don't wrap your legs around your sister. Don't throw things around your sister. Don't drop things on your sister. Don't wrap your legs around your sister. Be careful! Don't put things in your sister's face. Stop blocking your sister. Don't push your sister. Get your feet off your sister. Don't wrap your legs around your sister. Stop jumping around your sister. Please get your legs off your sister!

With all that repetition, it's nice to hear she's internalizing at least some of it. Now if only we didn't have to say it in the first place.

Learning the Minnesota ways

Most days when I drive Meredith to school, we listen to music on the iPod. We do a good job of taking turns. Meredith requests The Who or the Beach Boys these days. With some of the songs, she asks me to do the singing while she pretends to do drums or guitar or both. Even when I was hoarse and unable to put out anything remotely musical with my voice, she firmly requested my participation.

This morning we were listening to the Moody Blues. I was singing along mindlessly while we were driving down I-394. Meredith says something in the back. "What is it?" I ask. She repeats, "You don't have to sing, daddy." I.E. stop singing, it's annoying.

I comply without hesitation, because frankly, I'd find my singing annoying too. I'm fortunate that she tolerates my singing most of the time and even continues to request it. I know that won't last forever. What I find remarkable is the hint of passive aggressiveness in her request. Now, true, she was simply reminding me that I didn't have to sing as she didn't request it for that song. Most four year olds are incapable of intentional passive aggressive speech. Usually I'm finding myself explain things like, "Telling me the food I made you is 'really yucky' is not very nice. There are better ways to express it." Then we go into the examples of better ways. Four year olds are still generally brutally honest.

This remark has simply caused me to reflect on the suggestions I'm making to her, as well as the communication I'm modeling. Much of it is of the polite, passive aggressive, Minnesota nature. I have my own mixed feelings on what's known as "Minnesota nice." By and large, I prefer the way people communicate and deal with each other in Minnesota and the Midwest in general. Spending time on the East Coast has taught me that there are brusque, less tactful, simply aggressive ways to talk. And I didn't like it, even though it was refreshing at times.

At this rate, our girls will be true Midwesterners. Hopefully, polite, respectful, and friendly, and not too passive aggressive.

Reflections are

Elaine loves looking in the mirror. I'll hold her in front of the mirror and she'll smile and wave and try to hit it. One wonders at times what she thinks of this reflection. Does she think it's another baby? Perhaps one very clever at copying her actions?

It's become clear over the past weeks that she recognizes my image as a reflection. She'll look back and forth between me and my reflection and treat us the same way. She easily makes eye contact with my reflection and does silly things.

Today, I lifted a hand-held mirror of Meredith's to Elaine's face. She did something interesting. She saw her reflection in the mirror, then deliberately looked behind her to see who was there. After a momentary search, she gazed back at the mirror and waved. She then smiled and then started to try to hit the mirror. It seemed quite clear to me that she recognized that the mirror reflected people in front of it, but was unsure at least on this occasion if the reflection was herself or another baby in the vicinity. Sometimes it's difficult to figure out how these kids think. They have so much to learn and put together on a daily basis. Good thing they are so curious.

Rock and roll

We have a couple of girls who appreciate some good rock and roll dance moves.

Elaine often hits the keyboard until it plays this song she can dance to. Sometimes she looks like she's going to fall right over, but she'll stop herself with her hands.



One wonders where Elaine learned her dance moves...

Winter pictures

Some pictures from the last couple of weeks as we deal with the continuing winter cold.