Mid-September Update

A couple of weekends ago we had a reunion with our PEPS group. This is a group of families that we were matched with a couple of months after Larson was born for support and friendship. The weekly meetings have long since ended, but we still love to get together every now and then to see how all the little ones have grown. See Nate below, rocking out on his kid-sized guitar! It was a lot of fun and even more chaotic now that 4 siblings have been added to the mix!

Yes, boring title for the post, but we've just been ticking along without any truly major happenings. Sometimes that's a good thing! I started my MPH classes last week, so that presented a fun new set of challenges, but so far everything is going well. It's quite different to be a student in the post-wireless-perpetual-web-access era...all the students in my classes who I presume to be a generation younger than me just whip out their laptops every day. I actually showed up the first day with *gasp!* notebook & pen! Not to worry, I have all the class webpages bookmarked and am so far keeping up with the electronic parts of my education.

Cora is starting to engage more with the world these days and it's a lot of fun to see that there is, in fact, a little personality developing in there. Still can't go for more than an hour or so without getting cranky and in need of a nap, but it's so much fun to see her looking around and smiling when she's up for "playtime."
We're enjoying (probably) the last remnants of warm weather this week, but you can definitely feel the transition to fall, as the sun comes up later and later each morning. Even though fall and winter are my favorite times of year (yes, can you believe a native Minnesotan would tout winter as her favorite season?), I always get a little sad every year when my alarm clock no longer goes off before the sun comes up.
We set up the playmat below for Cora's enjoyment, but I think Larson has spent more time on it than she has :) He was showing her "how it worked" in the picture below. Hard to believe when they're laying side-by-side that Larson was once that small! How time does pass quickly...

Hope everyone has a great week!

Smiles and strikes

Well, it turns out the Boeing machinists aren't the only people on strike. Larson is currently on a nap strike. Over the past couple of months he's occasionally had "no nap" days, but since Labor Day and moving into a new room at school, it's been a more frequent occurrence. But surely missing a little 1.5-2h nap in the afternoon could hardly be a big deal, right? Well, let me just invite you to come to our house from 5pm until about 8pm on no-nap days and you can observe the fallout firsthand! It's like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde...

Well rested, Larson is such a delight. Creative, agreeable, talkative, inquisitive, and most of all compliant. Sleep-deprived and all self-control goes out the window! Lots of crying and screaming over every little thing so that we spend most of our evening trying to get him into bed "early" only to barely get the pajamas on and the lights out by the usual time. What a trial! No fun for anyone involved, I can assure you. To his defense, I think he does try to fall asleep at naptime, but can you blame a curious and energetic 2+ year old boy for not being able to fall asleep in a non-dark, slightly noisy room full of other curious and energetic kids?

If anyone out there has any experience with this or suggestions, we are open to them! Of course, all the guilt has begun anew for me because he will, of course, take a rather long nap in his own bed on the weekends. I can't help but feel that it is my responsibility as a parent to provide the conditions to allow my child to be well-rested. If only I could magically have him here every day with me from 1-4pm...

On a slightly more uplifting note, we've had our first smiles from Cora! It may not appear like much in the photo below, but I can assure you that this was the real deal. I'm just not adept enough yet at our new super-duper camera to capture it perfectly for preservation. Not to worry, though, I'm sure there will be more to come!

Apple & Berry Picking

This weekend we went to a local farm where you can pick your own apples. Way back in the day, Brett and I used to go to an orchard about an hour's drive from Chicago to pick apples every fall. It was huge and they had lots of different varieties for picking. We both have really great memories of going there. Sadly, a year or two before we moved away, urban sprawl caught up with our beloved orchard: it had been sold and was to be transformed into a suburban neighborhood. We were so bummed! This was the first picking excursion we've made since then and, though the "orchard" was really pretty small and there was only one variety ripe for picking, we had a good time anyway.

Larson was very intent on carrying the basket himself! It would seem that he still could learn a bit about discriminating which apples are good to pick and which should be left on the tree, but overall he did a great job. We also had fun looking at all the other vegetables they had for picking: lettuce, greens, cucumbers, tomatoes, herbs - you could even dig your own potatoes! A very cool concept.
Here's the little guy: rain boots on, ready for puddles and mud! He's sporting his "Larson Family Winery" hat that we picked up in Sonoma last year.
They had these fun wood cutouts all over the place for taking photos...Larson was a little confused and wondered why he couldn't "get on" the tractor. :) As you can see from above, Cora spent her first apple-picking excursion safely tucked in the baby wrap. Hopefully next year, she will actually be cognizant of what is going on!

Below you'll see Larson learning to shuck corn for the first time. I decided that this was definitely an outdoor activity :) He loves to eat corn on the cob and does a pretty good job at it, too. We got four ears in our farm box last week. Sure makes me miss the yummy corn that we used to be able to buy direct from the farmer on the way to our Minnesota cabin while growing up. The Northwest definitely has some food greats (fish, berries, etc), but nothing beats sweet corn grown in the midwest. Speaking of berries, Cora and I hauled in a large container of blackberries yesterday, picked from the side of a running trail near our house. Yummy!!!

On another food-related note, we received information in our CSA newsletter today about the Slow Food convention held recently in San Francisco. This is a movement to raise awareness about local, sustainable agriculture, to pass on these values to our kids through education and to promote healthy eating through maintaining nutritious variety in our diets. Anyway, they have a petition they are gathing names for to present to the federal government that outlines the movement's goals/values called the "Food Declaration." I'll put a link to it in the sidebar, if anyone is inclined to sign it. You can also read more about the movement here. Hope everyone has a great week!

Aunt Kate comes to visit!

Even though my sister is a busy SAHM to my adorable nephew, Wyatt, she managed to coordinate everything and come out solo to see us for 6 days last week. Of course, when Kate and I get together, our time is typically taken up mostly by gabbing, so it was a little bit different this time with two wee ones to look after. She was a great help and support, though, and the days went by too fast, as usual. Here she is feeding Cora her first bottle, which went swimmingly well, unlike Larson's first one (which I think Kate did also!).

We took advantage of some nice afternoon sunlight to coordinate a photo shoot of Cora when she was awake and managed to get some nice shots. Plus lots of other ones with all kinds of weird baby smirks/facial expressions. How quickly everything will change, though, so I'll be glad to have even the funny ones captured in a photo.

We had a few trying days of toddlerhood rearing it's ugly head last week. The worst was the morning we took Larson to get a new pair of shoes: it all started with him wanting to take his socks OFF after I had put them so that he could do it again by himself, then we had particulars about getting into the car, and everything snowballed from there (don't even mention trying to get his foot measured!). Lots of crying. And screaming, too. We did manage to actually purchase a pair of shoes that fit, thank goodness. The funniest part about it all was that Cora was unhappy in the car when Larson started crying and I think it put her to sleep! I guess it was a form of white noise, if you will. :) I especially liked the weird look I got in the shoe store from another mom with a toddler -- as if HER child never, ever threw a fit, I'm sure! Best just to ignore it, get the job done and move on, if you ask me.

Thurday we had a great morning at the zoo and ate a picnic lunch at the playground nearby. Note to self about bringing lunch to the zoo: don't put your food in a paper or plastic bag that might be easily penetrated by a crow or other such crafty scavenger while the stroller is parked outside an exhibit! Wouldn't you know that the only thing they got off with was the chocolate alphabet cookies I brought as a treat for Larson.
We had fun feeding the birds with the seed sticks, and Larson did a great job standing still for the green bird to eat all of his. The one on my shoulder was apparently waiting for scraps.
Thanks for the super visit, Aunt Kate! We really enjoyed all your help and all the goodies that you brought us. We all hope we can see you (with Wyatt and Uncle Mark) again soon!

There IS some Norwegian in the boy!

It's official. See this stuff to the left? Yep, everyone in my (maternal) family likes it. I can eat it by the bagful, my sister loves it, my mom loves it and her sister loves it. The dichotomous candy that you can buy in dozens and dozens of varieties in Scandinavia: black licorice. Brett hates it. In fact, he hates it so much that it's officially banned from small spaces that we might both occupy - like cars. I bought a big bag of it in bulk at the grocery store yesterday and decided to offer it to Larson today just to see how much Norwegian is in him. Not to worry, he LOVED the stuff and immediately asked for more, as the brown-black drool dripped down his chin. Little buddy, you have no idea, but you just made your mommy really proud! Now I know that I have to hide it along with the chocolate, way back in the pantry. (Chocolate loving, by the way, is a trait he gets from his daddy's family, so we've got most of the candy categories covered :)

Relaxing weekend

These are some photos from a couple of weeks ago which I meant to post earlier, but got a little sidetracked. Spent a lovely weekend laying low and hanging out with the family. Tended the garden, soaked up a little bit of sun, took photos of cooperative children :)

It's hard to believe that summer is almost over! Apples & pears are appearing to replace the berries and cherries. School is starting soon. It's getting chilly with the window open at night.

On an unrelated note, I read an interesting book last week: Parenting, Inc.: How We Are Sold on $800 Strollers, Fetal Education, Baby Sign Language, Sleeping Coaches, Toddler Couture and Diaper Wipe Warmers -- and What It Means for Our Children. It's basically an analysis of the big business that parenting has become and how we, as American parents, all too often are sucked right into it. The author doesn't profess to be immune to it all, but her interviews with the people who own companies that market goods and services to parents and consumers are pretty eye-opening to the ridiculousness of it all. You can't help but think as you read through this: "but I didn't go to 500 different music, language & art classes before I was 3; or have a fraction of the toys (not to mention Baby Einstein, but don't get me started on that one) that are available today and I turned out fine...maybe it's not so bad for my kids to engage in a little unstructured play or - gasp! - to actually help mom and dad around the house for an afternoon instead of attending the how-to-get-your-toddler-into-an-ivy-league-college-class-du-jour.

Anyway, I recommend the book for a quick read. Who knows if the statistics are sound (the only part of the book I know anything about is the chapter on the effects of TV/media on kids because one of the researchers quoted is someone I've worked with...plus I don't think the AAP would recommend no TV under age 3 without some data to back it up...), but it provides some nice food for thought for anyone with kids (or who just shops for kids :)

Hot weekend

Whew! Getting through a stretch of 87 degree days with no AC and just two fans was a bit of a challenge. Fortunately, Monday brought with it a return to our more temperate summer weather, which I am very grateful for. It was especially hard now that Cora has taken to the baby wrap and I couldn't have her in it for more than 5 minutes before we were both drenched in sweat. Yuck! The picture to the left is a dahlia from one of the planters on our bedroom balcony. I decided to try out our new camera for some close-up shots just as the sun was going down and the lighting was nice. When I planted them this spring, I was hoping to be able to cut them for use inside the house, but the plants haven't yielded that many blooms thus far. Probably need more Miracle-Gro, as I learned from my mom, the expert gardener, when she was here visiting. I'll work on that.

Here's Cora all stretched out in the summer heat...I think this pretty much sums up what we all were feeling! It's funny how moving out here has completely reset my thermostat for what kind of heat I can tolerate. In the Midwest, it's not uncommon to have weeks and weeks of weather like this, with close to 100% humidity to boot! Now if it gets above 80 degrees, I'm feeling it. We bought the shirt she's wearing on our trip to Kauai in March; Larson has a matching one and they both wore theirs yesterday.

This was Larson's fun Saturday afternoon activity with dad: washing the truck! As you can see, he is all grown up and can spray down the sides all by himself.

The open water swim went well and Larson had a great time with his friend, Malia. No pictures, though, because Brett didn't want to bring the camera. Despite the heat, Brett said the water in Lake Washington was still pretty chilly. The highlight for Larson was getting to see both an ambulance and a firetruck when they were called to the race location to tend to a participant. Lights, sirens and everything!

That's all for today. Here's Cora sleeping peacefully. She's still doing a great job sleeping at night, with pretty long stretches for me to sleep as well. During the day, it's a little harder; there's a lot of holding involved...I've forgotten that 1-2 hours awake is about all that a newborn can handle before they get overtired. Unlike Larson, she likes to be held and rocked and then put down, whereas all he needed was motion (swing, carseat, etc) but didn't seem to care a bit about being held. I guess this is just an example of their different personalities and temperaments showing themselves! So much to learn about my little one...