Gretchen can use a straw now. Every time I pick something up while holding Gretchen, especially when in the kitchen, she grabs it and puts it in her mouth. Olivia's water cup was no exception. Usually I take advantage of the fact that my arms are longer and hold the cup out of Gretchen's reach, but one day her determination and complete lack of regard for her own personal safety won out. She waited until I had a moment of distraction, then lunged and captured the cup, immediately putting the straw in her mouth. Though she couldn't figure out how to make the straw work that particular time, I've let her continue to try. After much spluttering, she has finally mastered the straw and can now get a drink of water whenever I leave a cup within reach.
Gretchen is also able to help out when she's getting dressed. If I aim her arm towards the correct hole in her shirt, she'll push it through. Bryan appreciates the fact that she's willing to stick her legs straight out and hold them still while he puts on her pants. I suppose that is preferable to the kicking and rolling that used to be the norm. :)
It seems I never have any Olivia news recently. She's developing new skills, too, just at a slower, less obvious rate. She picks up new words ("beautiful" and "friends" are her latest vocabulary enhancers) and gets better at things she could already do, but she's in refining mode rather than learning mode. She and I DID manage to complete a game of Candy Land last week, and the only cheating was when I stacked the deck so that she got the upcoming character cards (and the ones we'd already passed were quietly removed). She also enjoys playing her Uno Moo game, although she's still a bit fuzzy on the rules.
Keep an eye out for the Bonus Post coming this Wednesday.
Pictures:
02 February 2014
26 January 2014
January 19-26
We spent last weekend visiting my family and this past week with Bryan's family because I had orchestra in Lima. Olivia happily adjusts to quickly to visiting now, and is generally friendly to everyone. Gretchen, on the other hand, has reached the "I don't recognize any of you people, so stay away" age. She's too young to remember people from trip to trip, and too old to go trustingly to just ANYbody. She warms up a little after a few days, but by that time we're leaving...
Olivia's vocabulary has exploded again. Or perhaps it's just her pronunciation that has improved. Whatever happened, both her grandmothers noticed how much easier she was to understand than when they saw her last month. Bryan has also noticed, pointing out that she uses words like "probably" correctly. My favorites are some of the phrases I've heard from her lately: "What you whining about? You're fine.", "Gretchen needs to get a grip.", and "Yes, that would be fine." I can't imagine who says any of those. :-P
Gretchen learned a new trick: she can shake her head. Her favorite time to practice is while she's eating, which makes getting the spoon into her mouth extra challenging. She also likes to open her mouth as wide as it goes, start making noise, and shake her head back and forth against a nearby surface (usually my shoulder or knee). I can't tell if she likes the sound it makes, the disorienting sensation it produces, or the fact that she's successfully doing three (kinda) things at once.
Gretchen has been spending large amounts of time rocking back and forth on her knees. She doesn't actually crawl, yet, choosing to continue dropping to her stomach if serious moving is required, but she's practicing considering the idea of using her knees. She seems to appreciate the extra height that she gets from being on her knees.
Continuing along the Gretchen trend... She's trying to pull herself up on things. Thus far, her choice of things to pull up on has been rather poor. She favors baskets, blankets, and my skirt, all of which are rather unstable. I think she'll do better once she decides to use furniture as her brace.
Pictures:
Olivia's vocabulary has exploded again. Or perhaps it's just her pronunciation that has improved. Whatever happened, both her grandmothers noticed how much easier she was to understand than when they saw her last month. Bryan has also noticed, pointing out that she uses words like "probably" correctly. My favorites are some of the phrases I've heard from her lately: "What you whining about? You're fine.", "Gretchen needs to get a grip.", and "Yes, that would be fine." I can't imagine who says any of those. :-P
Gretchen learned a new trick: she can shake her head. Her favorite time to practice is while she's eating, which makes getting the spoon into her mouth extra challenging. She also likes to open her mouth as wide as it goes, start making noise, and shake her head back and forth against a nearby surface (usually my shoulder or knee). I can't tell if she likes the sound it makes, the disorienting sensation it produces, or the fact that she's successfully doing three (kinda) things at once.
Gretchen has been spending large amounts of time rocking back and forth on her knees. She doesn't actually crawl, yet, choosing to continue dropping to her stomach if serious moving is required, but she's practicing considering the idea of using her knees. She seems to appreciate the extra height that she gets from being on her knees.
Continuing along the Gretchen trend... She's trying to pull herself up on things. Thus far, her choice of things to pull up on has been rather poor. She favors baskets, blankets, and my skirt, all of which are rather unstable. I think she'll do better once she decides to use furniture as her brace.
Pictures:
19 January 2014
January 12-19
Gretchen's sleeping problem was fixed by adding a fan to her room. A lighter sleeper than her sister, she seems to have accustomed herself to having white noise while she sleeps. Whenever we travel, we put a fan on so that the noise of older people still being up doesn't keep her awake, so Gretchen took our week and a half of travel and became dependent on the fan. This was easily fixed (although accidentally discovered), so that's good.
Olivia seems to be too busy to bother with going to the bathroom. She will go when required (usually in return for some sort of reward or privilege), but often she doesn't like to leave whatever she is doing. Since she's still remarkably terrible at deciding for herself that she has to go to the bathroom, even when she's in between activities, I've taken to requiring a bathroom break every couple of hours. Using this method, we've managed to keep her (mostly) dry.
Gretchen's mouth is a little lopsided right now. She has had five teeth (three on top) for several weeks now, but has shown no signs of getting a sixth to even things out. On the plus side, she is learning to use the five teeth she does have, so she is more likely to chew her food before closing her eyes and swallowing forcefully. She still has her moments where she decides that teeth are useful only for biting and not chewing, and then she twists her head on her neck (very much like Danny Glover before he shoots his gun in the Lethal Weapon movies), stretches her neck as far as it goes, closes her eyes, and gulps.
Gretchen has a philosophy about life: If it exists, it is edible. She will try anything. Food, people, toys, dust bunnies, furniture, animals, etc. When we visited the Kleins on Wednesday, she ate a board book. Now, I know what you're thinking. All babies gnaw on board books. This is true. Olivia used to eat her board books, but no significant chunks ever came off. Gretchen was EATING the board book. When Steph noticed that there were actually pieces of book missing, we dug a quarter sized chunk of paper pulp out of Gretchen's mouth. Every time we thought we had it all, Gretchen would grin and we'd see that she still looked like she had more than her aforementioned five teeth lining her gums.
Jacque came to visit for the second half of the week, and she and Olivia had a great time playing with playdoh and dancing around the house. Gretchen tolerated this new person when she had to. :) While visiting, Jacque did try her hand at bread dough for the first time, and it turned out great. At least as good as Olivia's. :)
No pictures this week, but I do have two videos (password BarhorstBrewed):
12 January 2014
January 5-12
Olivia got a toy kitchen for Christmas. It sits over by our attic door and holds some pots and pans she got last year, a basket of plastic Easter eggs, assorted empty spice jars, and some plastic fruits and vegetables. She enjoys pulling out the fruits and veggies and passing them around for people to eat. Her favorite thing to do in her kitchen, though, is bake cookies. That's all she bakes, in fact, and she makes them all the time. She'll bring a pot of cookies and a spatula over to everyone else and pass out cookies until she decrees that they're all gone. Then she goes back and bakes some more. :)
I don't know if I mentioned this before, but Olivia can sing her ABCs. She can also identify most (if not all) of the letters, her numbers up to 10, and even numbers up to 18. She counts to 10 very well, but after that becomes more sporadic, usually hitting 11, 13 or 14 (I have trouble telling which it is), and 16 before jumping straight to 20.
Gretchen has decided that she'd rather do most things standing up. The only problem with this is that Gretchen's standing skills are terrible at best. She has no balance (probably because she stands on her toes), her feet slide out from under her, and she always looks worried about falling over. Recently I've been able to use a fun looking toy to convince her to sit for a while.
If you'd asked me two weeks ago about the girls' developmental milestones, I'd have told you that Olivia was potty trained and Gretchen was sleeping through the night. In fact, I've made both those statements in previous posts. A month seems a long enough trial period to celebrate success. If you'd asked me the same question one week ago, I'd be lamenting the fact that Olivia pees on the floor and Gretchen wakes up for no apparent reason and refuses to go back to sleep. We're back to timers and rewards (stickers this time) for Olivia. Gretchen refuses to be comforted, and holding her keeps her awake, so she just cries herself back to sleep. Both girls improved over the course of this week, but they're not where they were two weeks ago yet. :(
Pictures and Videos:
I don't know if I mentioned this before, but Olivia can sing her ABCs. She can also identify most (if not all) of the letters, her numbers up to 10, and even numbers up to 18. She counts to 10 very well, but after that becomes more sporadic, usually hitting 11, 13 or 14 (I have trouble telling which it is), and 16 before jumping straight to 20.
Gretchen has decided that she'd rather do most things standing up. The only problem with this is that Gretchen's standing skills are terrible at best. She has no balance (probably because she stands on her toes), her feet slide out from under her, and she always looks worried about falling over. Recently I've been able to use a fun looking toy to convince her to sit for a while.
If you'd asked me two weeks ago about the girls' developmental milestones, I'd have told you that Olivia was potty trained and Gretchen was sleeping through the night. In fact, I've made both those statements in previous posts. A month seems a long enough trial period to celebrate success. If you'd asked me the same question one week ago, I'd be lamenting the fact that Olivia pees on the floor and Gretchen wakes up for no apparent reason and refuses to go back to sleep. We're back to timers and rewards (stickers this time) for Olivia. Gretchen refuses to be comforted, and holding her keeps her awake, so she just cries herself back to sleep. Both girls improved over the course of this week, but they're not where they were two weeks ago yet. :(
Pictures and Videos:
05 January 2014
December 22-January 5
After much holiday traveling, we finally returned home this past Thursday. It was snowing in the morning when we left Steve and Murry's house, so the drive took longer than usual. As we drove, we debated the wisdom of leaving in time to get Bryan to work rather than having him work from home one more day. The snow continued to fall pretty heavily all day, though, so I guess it was better to drive in the morning.
Olivia's most treasured possession is now the Barney stuffed animal that her Grandma found her for Christmas. Murry apparently had to drive an hour and a half to find it (because Barney isn't really a "thing" anymore), but find it she did. It sings the "I love you" song, but it's not too obnoxious and we've convinced Olivia that Barney has to sleep, too, so it gets turned off for naps and bed. It didn't leave Olivia's side for two days after she opened it, but now she takes occasional breaks from holding Barney to do other things, too. Somehow I do not have a picture of Barney yet, but I think Jacob took some, so when I get those pictures up then you can see it.
Although Gretchen had not yet conquered forward motion when I wrote the Christmas letter, she is now beginning to look like an old pro. She doesn't crawl yet, preferring to move along like an inchworm most of the time. She does occasionally slip into an army crawl, but her favored motion is to stick her little rear up in the air and then lunge forward with her arms. When on carpet she'll get up on hands and knees and rock for a little bit before dropping to her stomach, but she's failed too many times on the hardwood to care much anymore. Olivia, though surprised at first, has been adjusting well to the necessity of keeping her toys on elevated surfaces if she doesn't want Gretchen to get them.
Olivia's surfaces are going to need to get higher soon. Gretchen is also trying to pull up on things, although she is again thwarted by the hardwood floors. It's also not really a fair fight, because her mother insists on keeping her toes warm with socks and/or sleepers. Even the feet with sticky things on the bottom are still too slippery. On the rare occasion that she does get to a standing position, Gretchen mostly balances cautiously on small portions of her feet (usually her toes, but sometimes the sides of her feet) and looks tremendously concerned at her precarious position.
Alison and I are training for another half marathon. This one is in April, so most of our training will be done when it's cold and dark outside. These two things alone would not be a huge problem (although they would make running miserable), but there's also ice to consider. Here, at least, almost all of our snow has a layer of ice underneath, making running particularly treacherous. I tried running at the local Y, but 17 laps to a mile is tedious and I worry about my knees (I had a knee injury in high school related to running lots of laps around the gym during track practice). I decided to give treadmills a try, and decided that I like them well enough to go to Planet Fitness for a quarter of the cost. Bryan decided, though, that driving to Planet Fitness and back every night was more than a little inconvenient, so he insisted that we buy a treadmill for me to use during the winter months. Hopefully this will keep me running even after this half marathon is over. :)
Our Christmas photo was (we think) the best family one of a photo shoot that happened about a month and a half ago. If you would like to see and/or order the other photos (including some individual ones) or if you'd just like to laugh at the spectacle that is Olivia hating pictures, try clicking this link. If the link doesn't work for some reason, someone please tell me so I can try to fix it!
Pictures:
Olivia's most treasured possession is now the Barney stuffed animal that her Grandma found her for Christmas. Murry apparently had to drive an hour and a half to find it (because Barney isn't really a "thing" anymore), but find it she did. It sings the "I love you" song, but it's not too obnoxious and we've convinced Olivia that Barney has to sleep, too, so it gets turned off for naps and bed. It didn't leave Olivia's side for two days after she opened it, but now she takes occasional breaks from holding Barney to do other things, too. Somehow I do not have a picture of Barney yet, but I think Jacob took some, so when I get those pictures up then you can see it.
Although Gretchen had not yet conquered forward motion when I wrote the Christmas letter, she is now beginning to look like an old pro. She doesn't crawl yet, preferring to move along like an inchworm most of the time. She does occasionally slip into an army crawl, but her favored motion is to stick her little rear up in the air and then lunge forward with her arms. When on carpet she'll get up on hands and knees and rock for a little bit before dropping to her stomach, but she's failed too many times on the hardwood to care much anymore. Olivia, though surprised at first, has been adjusting well to the necessity of keeping her toys on elevated surfaces if she doesn't want Gretchen to get them.
Olivia's surfaces are going to need to get higher soon. Gretchen is also trying to pull up on things, although she is again thwarted by the hardwood floors. It's also not really a fair fight, because her mother insists on keeping her toes warm with socks and/or sleepers. Even the feet with sticky things on the bottom are still too slippery. On the rare occasion that she does get to a standing position, Gretchen mostly balances cautiously on small portions of her feet (usually her toes, but sometimes the sides of her feet) and looks tremendously concerned at her precarious position.
Alison and I are training for another half marathon. This one is in April, so most of our training will be done when it's cold and dark outside. These two things alone would not be a huge problem (although they would make running miserable), but there's also ice to consider. Here, at least, almost all of our snow has a layer of ice underneath, making running particularly treacherous. I tried running at the local Y, but 17 laps to a mile is tedious and I worry about my knees (I had a knee injury in high school related to running lots of laps around the gym during track practice). I decided to give treadmills a try, and decided that I like them well enough to go to Planet Fitness for a quarter of the cost. Bryan decided, though, that driving to Planet Fitness and back every night was more than a little inconvenient, so he insisted that we buy a treadmill for me to use during the winter months. Hopefully this will keep me running even after this half marathon is over. :)
Our Christmas photo was (we think) the best family one of a photo shoot that happened about a month and a half ago. If you would like to see and/or order the other photos (including some individual ones) or if you'd just like to laugh at the spectacle that is Olivia hating pictures, try clicking this link. If the link doesn't work for some reason, someone please tell me so I can try to fix it!
Pictures:
29 December 2013
Bonus Post: Side-by-Side
Merry Christmas! Since we have been (and still are) traveling, I haven't really had time for an update. To hold you over until next week's post (which will cover two weeks), I've put together a picture-heavy (read: only pictures) side-by-side view of the girls. I'm really last to the party on this one, as several others have done it already. Regardless, here it is:
22 December 2013
December 15-22
We're trying to get Olivia to eat better vegetables. After a rough start a couple of weeks ago with a carrot soup that she absolutely refused to touch, we broke out the raw veggies and dips. First termites on a log (because all I had was golden raisins), then carrots and peppers with dips. She's now progressed to willingly taking at least one bite of whatever raw or steamed veggie I put in front of her, though soups still send her running. We're also trying to cut out the demands for different food and we've discovered that she eats better when foods are presented one at a time, so we've evolved a kind of course system to dinner. Closest to Olivia is the night's vegetable, followed by the main dish, with a fruit or bread option on the other side of the table. She can move on to the next thing after she's had a bite or five of whatever is in front of it. It's been going well, and meals are much more peaceful. As a bonus, Bryan gets the sides he's always wanted. :)
Some time ago, Olivia decided she absolutely could not sleep unless there was a light on in the room. We had a small lamp, so we used that to keep her from turning on her bedroom light. Over time, though, it became apparent that she does not sleep as well with a light on (shocking, I know). Since we're also hoping to night-potty-train her eventually, I decided to get her a toddler clock that doubles as a night light. To keep her from turning on the bedroom light, I rearranged the room so the bed is in a different corner. Her new clock changes color (from yellow to green) when she's allowed to leave her room in the morning. Once she gets used to that, we'll be able to take the gate down so that she can go to the bathroom whenever she needs to. The only problem? She unplugs the clock. At least she's sleeping in the dark again, though.
Olivia made the bread for dinner the other night. This is where you say, we know, Johannah, that Olivia helps you make bread. There was a 15-minute video about it once, remember? That's not what I meant, though. Reread the first sentence, pretending that you don't know that Olivia is only 2, and you'll have a better idea of what actually happened. I measured the water for her (3/4 cup in a 4 cup container so she wouldn't spill getting it to the table), helped her remove some especially sticky dough from her fingers, and provided verbal direction. That's it. Olivia measured the yeast, salt, and flour, stirred everything up, kneaded the dough, put it in a pan, used her fingers to poke holes in the top of the loaf (for some reason known only to her), and put it in the (still cool) oven. We ate it for dinner that night and it was delicious.
Lest you think something happened to Gretchen, we still have her. She had a lull this week and didn't really do any new and exciting things, so I don't have any stories. I took some pictures, though, so that you can see that we don't completely ignore her! :)
Pictures:
Some time ago, Olivia decided she absolutely could not sleep unless there was a light on in the room. We had a small lamp, so we used that to keep her from turning on her bedroom light. Over time, though, it became apparent that she does not sleep as well with a light on (shocking, I know). Since we're also hoping to night-potty-train her eventually, I decided to get her a toddler clock that doubles as a night light. To keep her from turning on the bedroom light, I rearranged the room so the bed is in a different corner. Her new clock changes color (from yellow to green) when she's allowed to leave her room in the morning. Once she gets used to that, we'll be able to take the gate down so that she can go to the bathroom whenever she needs to. The only problem? She unplugs the clock. At least she's sleeping in the dark again, though.
Olivia made the bread for dinner the other night. This is where you say, we know, Johannah, that Olivia helps you make bread. There was a 15-minute video about it once, remember? That's not what I meant, though. Reread the first sentence, pretending that you don't know that Olivia is only 2, and you'll have a better idea of what actually happened. I measured the water for her (3/4 cup in a 4 cup container so she wouldn't spill getting it to the table), helped her remove some especially sticky dough from her fingers, and provided verbal direction. That's it. Olivia measured the yeast, salt, and flour, stirred everything up, kneaded the dough, put it in a pan, used her fingers to poke holes in the top of the loaf (for some reason known only to her), and put it in the (still cool) oven. We ate it for dinner that night and it was delicious.
Lest you think something happened to Gretchen, we still have her. She had a lull this week and didn't really do any new and exciting things, so I don't have any stories. I took some pictures, though, so that you can see that we don't completely ignore her! :)
Pictures:
15 December 2013
December 8-15
If you're receiving this by email for the first time, see the beginning of this post.
I remember having little cupcake crayons when we were kids. Mom would take all the broken pieces, toss them in a muffin tin, and melt them down into new crayons for us to use. Olivia has a lot of broken crayons, so I decided to do this. I wasn't able to mix the colors with the same reckless abandon that my mother did, but I did pair a couple up to fill the tins a bit more. This ended up being a good thing, because I didn't know how long (or how hot) to bake the crayons, and managed to melt them down until the colors were completely mixed. So instead of the swirly colored crayons we had, Olivia ended up with some new solid colors. At least I was cautious, so she didn't end up with six shades of brown. She was intrigued by them and seems to like using them better than her regular crayons.
Gretchen has been practicing her consonants. She's especially good at mamamamama. Her other favorite right now is ba (usually just one at a time). She held up a ball the other day and said, "ba," sounding especially smart. We'll just ignore all the other things she labels as "ba." :)
A follow-up appointment for a second flu shot and a check on her ear infection gave us the opportunity to weigh Gretchen again. At 7 months, she was 16 lbs, 10 oz, which is still over a pound lighter than Olivia was at six months. This surprised Bryan, because Gretchen eats meals like she might never get fed again. She puts away more food at one meal than Olivia does in a week. Apparently she also burns it off faster.
Olivia sounds more like a big person every day. I'll call her from the other room, and she'll answer with, "yes, mommy?" She also says, "bless you, baby Gretchen" when Gretchen sneezes, says thank you without being prompted (not all the time, but sometimes), and asks Bryan to "brush the girl's hair" when he puts her to bed.
It's cookie walk time again, so I have more Spritz notes:
-I use medium eggs and the chocolate recipe calls for 2 large eggs. This year my batter seemed especially dry, so I put in an extra medium egg. This was a good decision.
-Soften the butter in the microwave before adding the sugar.
-Roll the dough into a log. It's not that hard, and the time saved is tremendous.
-The chocolate batter is easier to work with if it is slightly chilled. Do not chill the vanilla batter. The recipe didn't lie to you. (Side note: If you're one of those people who buys the Pillsbury cookie dough just to eat the dough with no intention of every baking it into cookies (that's everybody), you should make vanilla spritz and put the dough in the fridge. I tasted mine, and I'm pretty sure that's how Pillsbury makes their cookies.)
-Don't be afraid to use more than one click per cookie. One and a half is often the magic number.
Also some notes about Austrian chocolate balls:
-Double batches are very workable. Larger than that would be unwieldy.
-The recipe says to dip each ball in the frosting, but I get impatient and stir them all into the frosting instead. (Bonus to this method: the whole cookie gets a chocolate coating, instead of just the top.) Six batches at a time is a bit much for this technique, though. Actually, how does using some sort of frosting tip sound? That might be easiest.
-Large eggs make the batter a little too moist and the cookies flatten in the oven. Add a little extra flour and you're good to go.
Pictures and Video:
I remember having little cupcake crayons when we were kids. Mom would take all the broken pieces, toss them in a muffin tin, and melt them down into new crayons for us to use. Olivia has a lot of broken crayons, so I decided to do this. I wasn't able to mix the colors with the same reckless abandon that my mother did, but I did pair a couple up to fill the tins a bit more. This ended up being a good thing, because I didn't know how long (or how hot) to bake the crayons, and managed to melt them down until the colors were completely mixed. So instead of the swirly colored crayons we had, Olivia ended up with some new solid colors. At least I was cautious, so she didn't end up with six shades of brown. She was intrigued by them and seems to like using them better than her regular crayons.
Gretchen has been practicing her consonants. She's especially good at mamamamama. Her other favorite right now is ba (usually just one at a time). She held up a ball the other day and said, "ba," sounding especially smart. We'll just ignore all the other things she labels as "ba." :)
A follow-up appointment for a second flu shot and a check on her ear infection gave us the opportunity to weigh Gretchen again. At 7 months, she was 16 lbs, 10 oz, which is still over a pound lighter than Olivia was at six months. This surprised Bryan, because Gretchen eats meals like she might never get fed again. She puts away more food at one meal than Olivia does in a week. Apparently she also burns it off faster.
Olivia sounds more like a big person every day. I'll call her from the other room, and she'll answer with, "yes, mommy?" She also says, "bless you, baby Gretchen" when Gretchen sneezes, says thank you without being prompted (not all the time, but sometimes), and asks Bryan to "brush the girl's hair" when he puts her to bed.
It's cookie walk time again, so I have more Spritz notes:
-I use medium eggs and the chocolate recipe calls for 2 large eggs. This year my batter seemed especially dry, so I put in an extra medium egg. This was a good decision.
-Soften the butter in the microwave before adding the sugar.
-Roll the dough into a log. It's not that hard, and the time saved is tremendous.
-The chocolate batter is easier to work with if it is slightly chilled. Do not chill the vanilla batter. The recipe didn't lie to you. (Side note: If you're one of those people who buys the Pillsbury cookie dough just to eat the dough with no intention of every baking it into cookies (that's everybody), you should make vanilla spritz and put the dough in the fridge. I tasted mine, and I'm pretty sure that's how Pillsbury makes their cookies.)
-Don't be afraid to use more than one click per cookie. One and a half is often the magic number.
Also some notes about Austrian chocolate balls:
-Double batches are very workable. Larger than that would be unwieldy.
-The recipe says to dip each ball in the frosting, but I get impatient and stir them all into the frosting instead. (Bonus to this method: the whole cookie gets a chocolate coating, instead of just the top.) Six batches at a time is a bit much for this technique, though. Actually, how does using some sort of frosting tip sound? That might be easiest.
-Large eggs make the batter a little too moist and the cookies flatten in the oven. Add a little extra flour and you're good to go.
Pictures and Video:
08 December 2013
December 1-8
Justine recently discovered how to send out the weekly blog post in an email to specific people, so I added a couple of names to that list. If you've started getting emails of the blog posts, that's why. There are opportunities for change:
-If you don't want to receive emails for any reason (you already visit the blog on your own each week, my witty writing incapacitates you for prolonged periods of time, you can't handle the insane amount of Olivia and Gretchen propaganda, etc), let me know and I'll remove you from the list.
-If you currently visit the blog periodically but would prefer to be on the email list so that you don't have to remember to check for your weekly pictures, let me know and I'll add you.
-If you know people who would appreciate the emails (probably because they don't have a gmail account, so logging in to read is unreasonably difficult), give me their email addresses and I'll add them to the list.
We have something outside one of our windows that Olivia refers to as "the mouse." Bryan and I cannot figure out what she means. We've speculated that it may be one of the few stubborn leaves still clinging to the tree, or perhaps the bump on top of the street lamp... No amount of questions or examinations provides enlightenment. Almost every day, though, Olivia comments on "the mouse" that she sees outside. (At least she specified that it was outside... The first time she brought it up I thought maybe she found a mouse in the house!)
In addition to recognizing most of the alphabet, Olivia also recognizes several numbers. She has a book that has numbers only on the even pages, and she was pointing out all of the numbers to me as she read (nevermind the story, mom, look at these numbers!). She went through 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and then got to twelve and said, "Oh, a ten and a 2!" This does lead me to wonder whether she thinks that 1 is called "ten." However. I told her that a ten and a two was twelve, and she replied with her typical, "oh, okay" before turning the page. "A four and a ten!" "That's fourteen." "Oh, okay. *page turn* Look! Mom! A six and a ten!" "Sixteen." "Oh, okay. *page turn* Mom! Eighteen!" That's right. She said "eighteen," not "eight and ten." We haven't had this discussion again, so I'm not sure if it was a fluke or not.
-If you don't want to receive emails for any reason (you already visit the blog on your own each week, my witty writing incapacitates you for prolonged periods of time, you can't handle the insane amount of Olivia and Gretchen propaganda, etc), let me know and I'll remove you from the list.
-If you currently visit the blog periodically but would prefer to be on the email list so that you don't have to remember to check for your weekly pictures, let me know and I'll add you.
-If you know people who would appreciate the emails (probably because they don't have a gmail account, so logging in to read is unreasonably difficult), give me their email addresses and I'll add them to the list.
We have something outside one of our windows that Olivia refers to as "the mouse." Bryan and I cannot figure out what she means. We've speculated that it may be one of the few stubborn leaves still clinging to the tree, or perhaps the bump on top of the street lamp... No amount of questions or examinations provides enlightenment. Almost every day, though, Olivia comments on "the mouse" that she sees outside. (At least she specified that it was outside... The first time she brought it up I thought maybe she found a mouse in the house!)
In addition to recognizing most of the alphabet, Olivia also recognizes several numbers. She has a book that has numbers only on the even pages, and she was pointing out all of the numbers to me as she read (nevermind the story, mom, look at these numbers!). She went through 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and then got to twelve and said, "Oh, a ten and a 2!" This does lead me to wonder whether she thinks that 1 is called "ten." However. I told her that a ten and a two was twelve, and she replied with her typical, "oh, okay" before turning the page. "A four and a ten!" "That's fourteen." "Oh, okay. *page turn* Look! Mom! A six and a ten!" "Sixteen." "Oh, okay. *page turn* Mom! Eighteen!" That's right. She said "eighteen," not "eight and ten." We haven't had this discussion again, so I'm not sure if it was a fluke or not.
Gretchen desperately wants to be crawling, but can't figure out how to get her knees to stay underneath her. She is not helped by the cold weather, because her pants slip all over our wood floors. Olivia learned to crawl when it was warmer out, so her sticky little bare knees couldn't get away from her. As compensation for not being able to crawl, Gretchen is discovering alternate methods of locomotion. On a soft surface (such as the bed), she tends to just roll all over the place. No edge is safe from Gretchen's exploration. On hard, smooth surfaces, she sits and watches the world go by, spinning herself around on her rear to better catch the action. By the end of this last week, she was also attempting to pull herself along the floor (while still sitting).
Pictures and Videos:
01 December 2013
November 24-December 1
We took family pictures last Saturday, which was an adventure. Of the 75 pictures snapped, Olivia was smiling in exactly two of them, and those two were individual shots. We did manage to find one group picture where Gretchen was smiling and Olivia seemed more contemplative than whiny, so we ordered that one for the Christmas letter. As Jacque (who was visiting) and I looked through the pictures, she pointed out that at least Bryan and I smiled the whole time. The photographer agreed, noting that we were often looking at the camera as well. We're so talented. :)
Last week we traveled to Bryan's parents' house for Thanksgiving. We were able to spend four days there, and got to see his brother and sister in addition to some extended family. He also got to see some exciting football games, which made him happy.
Olivia is potty trained. She's worn diapers only at night-time for a little over a week now and has been (mostly) accident free. We did have some trouble during naptime at Grandma and Grandpa's house because the house was so big that we couldn't hear her quiet waking up noises in order to catch her and stick her on the potty right away. Other than 2 naptimes, though, she's been fine. I even have a nifty waterproof pad that I made for her carseat in case of leaks in the car.
Gretchen loves food. You already knew this (I think), but it bears repeating. To date, she's enjoyed green beans, carrots, zucchini, sweet potato, spinach, yellow squash, pumpkin, mango, pears, peaches, applesauce, oatmeal, apricot, and zweiback. She's tried leeks, but not enough times to be convinced she likes them. This is in addition to whatever soft foods we happen to have on our plates when she's finished her food (bananas, tomatoes, mushrooms, lasagna...). She also happily takes bites of whatever she can grab out of her mother's hands, which means she sampled melon, bread, and crackers when I wasn't paying attention.
Enough updates. Time for pictures.
Pictures and Videos:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)