Saturday, July 05, 2008
Little Adin
Adin's up to some new tricks. A couple of weeks ago, I put him on the changing table, which usually makes him cry, but this time he laughed! It's happened a couple times and I was able to record it once. It's so fun, so cute.
Then yesterday, I set him down on his back on the floor and went to wash my hands. When I came back he was on his tummy with his arm trapped underneath him. This didn't take me too off guard because I have caught him rolling onto his side a few times. He finally made it all the way over!
Our Stimulus Check Summer Trip
We took a trip earlier to help stimulate the economy. On the way we saw a ferocious bear. Erik made friends with him so that turned out ok.
We stayed in Green Bay Wisconsin and visited the the National Railway Museum. Erik got to crawl around on a bunch of trains. This is the cab of the Big Boy, the largest steam engine ever built.
After looking at some real trains that didn't move, we got to ride on a train. It was pretty fun.
We took the S.S. Badger across Lake Michigan. After assuring the captain that he would be very careful, Erik was allowed to steer.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Summer update
I'm so glad I did that flurry of posts a couple weeks ago, since we have had very poor internet connectivity since then. Adin is getting more vocal, cooing a lot. He is able to bat at little toys that hang above him. He can lift up his head on his tummy and when held on my shoulder.
Erik has been saying lots of sweet things about Adin the last couple days. He told me this morning "I like his eyes." Aaawww. We were all sitting reading and he kept absent mindedly patting Adin's head. Erik helped Joe take the sides off his crib and make it into a toddler bed. He says he was very careful with the tools! He is proud of the bed, will show it to visitors and is even sleeping in it!
Erik has been saying lots of sweet things about Adin the last couple days. He told me this morning "I like his eyes." Aaawww. We were all sitting reading and he kept absent mindedly patting Adin's head. Erik helped Joe take the sides off his crib and make it into a toddler bed. He says he was very careful with the tools! He is proud of the bed, will show it to visitors and is even sleeping in it!
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Hail!
Saturday we had a hailstorm. I was out gardening and the weather seemed fine to me. I heard the sirens go off around 5, so I went inside. Joe turned on the weather and there was a big storm heading for us. We went in the basement and when we came up an hour later the ground was covered in pea sized hail, with some hail up to quarter size.
Erik ran around the yard singing to himself while Joe and his mom cleaned up. Then Erik wanted to help.
Erik ran around the yard singing to himself while Joe and his mom cleaned up. Then Erik wanted to help.
Arty Party
Other people's babies
We went to a baby shower on Memorial Day. The very clever hosts created a Parenting Olympics. Joe and I were on Team Tinkerbell, the team that beat Team Transformers. My event (which I won) was dressing a Barbie doll.

Although I had to go first (a distinct disadvantage) and have two boys (same), my years of Barbie dressing served me well, and I won by two nanoseconds, approx. Joe's event was Playdough sculpting and I'm sad to say that he lost. However, could you sculpt a dragon?

Adin spent the shower being cuddled by the grandma-to-be. Erik made friends with their dog. Well, the dog wanted his bread and he managed to tolerate her watching him eat it.

Although I had to go first (a distinct disadvantage) and have two boys (same), my years of Barbie dressing served me well, and I won by two nanoseconds, approx. Joe's event was Playdough sculpting and I'm sad to say that he lost. However, could you sculpt a dragon?

Adin spent the shower being cuddled by the grandma-to-be. Erik made friends with their dog. Well, the dog wanted his bread and he managed to tolerate her watching him eat it.
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Brother sweater vests
How big is Adin?
Erik is funny

Erik, Adin and I had lunch with my co-workers today. Adin slept through the whole thing but Erik had fun. He played with some cooking toys and was completely enchanted by Anna, the other two year old visiting. If she left the room he asked "Where Anna go? What she doing?" When he was just playing on his own, he did his usual thing of talking and singing to himself non-stop. People kept telling me how funny he is. I have to agree!
Monday, May 12, 2008
A new week
Erik's seems to be sorting things out this week. He just seems calmer and a little more together. He's started referring to Adin by name instead of calling him baby or baby brother. He'll sometimes say good morning or good bye to Adin. The hitting has really decreased, too. My parents have been here for almost a week, so that has really helped. He's gotten plenty of attention and fun. I'm kind of hoping that he stays on an even keel after they leave. We'll see.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
smiles and not so smiley
Last weekend Adin started flashing the pseudo-smiles. He's too young to really be smiling, but at least passing gas seems to make him happy. It's fun to see what he'll look like in a few weeks, once he starts to respond to us with smiles.
On the other side of the coin, last week Erik was struggling with being a big brother. He wasn't sleeping well, took a long time to fall asleep and woke frequently crying from bad dreams. During the day he's easily upset and was starting to act out a bit. When we first brought home Adin, Erik was a little more rambunctious than usual, but last week he was hitting and drawing on furniture and things. My heart just breaks for him, because I know this isn't his true personality, he's just trying to process a situation he doesn't understand. I wish there were a way to tell him that even though there's this loud munchkin who gets held in our arms all day long, we still love Erik so much it's bringing me to tears just writing this. I guess we'll just have to keep giving him hugs and kisses and let him process it in his own toddler way.
On the other side of the coin, last week Erik was struggling with being a big brother. He wasn't sleeping well, took a long time to fall asleep and woke frequently crying from bad dreams. During the day he's easily upset and was starting to act out a bit. When we first brought home Adin, Erik was a little more rambunctious than usual, but last week he was hitting and drawing on furniture and things. My heart just breaks for him, because I know this isn't his true personality, he's just trying to process a situation he doesn't understand. I wish there were a way to tell him that even though there's this loud munchkin who gets held in our arms all day long, we still love Erik so much it's bringing me to tears just writing this. I guess we'll just have to keep giving him hugs and kisses and let him process it in his own toddler way.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
Flying Solo
Well, all the grandparents have gone home and Joe just left for work. It's just me and the two munchkins. It will just be for the afternoon, so I'm not too worried. I'm more concerned about tomorrow. Our neighbor emailed to let us know her son has croup. I was mentally counting on Erik getting to go over and play with the big boys this week for a few hours, like he usually does.
People ask who we think Adin looks like. It's easier for Joe to see the similarities to his side of the family, and for me to see the similarities to my side. When I look at Adin's face, I sometimes think he looks like my dad or my Bestefar, probably because of the forehead and eyebrows. Sitting here at the computer, with the way the light is hitting his hair, right his hair looks red, red, red, and in profile he reminds me of the baby picture of my mom that's hanging above her parents' bed. I think Adin's eyes are much bluer than Erik's were at birth. Erik had grey-blue eyes, but I think Adin's are truly blue.
My internet connection won't let me post a photo right now, but I'm sure everyone will have lots of opinions to share in the next few months, as Adin fills out a bit.
People ask who we think Adin looks like. It's easier for Joe to see the similarities to his side of the family, and for me to see the similarities to my side. When I look at Adin's face, I sometimes think he looks like my dad or my Bestefar, probably because of the forehead and eyebrows. Sitting here at the computer, with the way the light is hitting his hair, right his hair looks red, red, red, and in profile he reminds me of the baby picture of my mom that's hanging above her parents' bed. I think Adin's eyes are much bluer than Erik's were at birth. Erik had grey-blue eyes, but I think Adin's are truly blue.
My internet connection won't let me post a photo right now, but I'm sure everyone will have lots of opinions to share in the next few months, as Adin fills out a bit.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Hurry! Hurry!
Spaghetti!
Easter Sunday

Joe's family came to town for Easter weekend and Erik had a great time with them. I don't seem to have taken any pictures, though. Ooops. However, our friends Jen and Zach came over Sunday afternoon with their daughter Eleanor. Erik loved playing with her and asked after for quite a few days after she left. Here's a picture of the kids in their Easter clothes before they decided they'd really rather just wear diapers.
Getting ready for Easter
Thursday, April 03, 2008
"Help! Fire!"
Erik watched a video in which Elmo visits a fire station. Then on Saturday, Joe and Erik visited a transportation museum and got to ride on a fire truck. Today, Erik brought me a book about Sally the Sea Ferry, in which she uses the water from her wake to put out a fire on a fishing boat. Afterwards he talked about the book and started yelling, "Help Sally! Fire!". We pretended to spray water. Then he said, "help mama. Fire in my house." so I pretended to spray water in his little play house. He was sitting in front of it and seemed to realize what would have happened had I really been spraying because he said, "mama, I'm wet! I need a towel, I'm wet"! So I gave him a towel and he pretended to dry off. He did the same thing later, pretending that his crib was on fire, then requested a towel to dry it off.
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Excuses excuses
Ok, so I won't be able to post any pictures for a while...I seem to have lost our camera. I took out the battery on Saturday to charge it and haven't seen the camera since. sigh.
This afternoon our friends Erika, Brooke and Evan came over to play for a bit. Erik and Brooke had fun, they had a little picnic on the floor of our front room and drew on the Magnadoodle. But Erik really wanted to go downstairs and I thought we should stay upstairs, since our friends couldn't stay too long. I told Erik we'd go down in a few minutes after Brooke went to the store. He sat down and played for a while, then looked up at her and said, "Thanks for coming over today." Subtle, huh?
This afternoon our friends Erika, Brooke and Evan came over to play for a bit. Erik and Brooke had fun, they had a little picnic on the floor of our front room and drew on the Magnadoodle. But Erik really wanted to go downstairs and I thought we should stay upstairs, since our friends couldn't stay too long. I told Erik we'd go down in a few minutes after Brooke went to the store. He sat down and played for a while, then looked up at her and said, "Thanks for coming over today." Subtle, huh?
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Four Eyes
The kid really loves muffins
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Manners
We went to brunch at the home of our friends Noel, Kristin and Grant. Grant is four months younger than Erik. One of the things Kristin had made was an egg fratatta. We didn't give it to Erik at first because it was too hot. When he saw us eating it, he begged for some "pizza". So I cut him a little bit. He's not developed a taste for eggs so I wasn't sure if he'd like it. He took a bite, looked up at Kristin and said, "it's pretty good".
Erik's grandparents were here this weekend, as Grandma Lois was on her way back from a week in Bogata, Columbia. (Blogger isn't letting me embed the website right now, but you can learn more about the trip at http://www.good-sam.com/bogota/index.asp). They left this afternoon and gave a ride to their friend Joyce. Joyce had been down here visiting her grandsons Cole and Nash. Erik wasn't very quick to warm up to Joyce, partially because he barely napped today. But as they walked out the door he said, "Bye Grandma, bye Joyce".
Erik's grandparents were here this weekend, as Grandma Lois was on her way back from a week in Bogata, Columbia. (Blogger isn't letting me embed the website right now, but you can learn more about the trip at http://www.good-sam.com/bogota/index.asp). They left this afternoon and gave a ride to their friend Joyce. Joyce had been down here visiting her grandsons Cole and Nash. Erik wasn't very quick to warm up to Joyce, partially because he barely napped today. But as they walked out the door he said, "Bye Grandma, bye Joyce".
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
A little Norwegian
We read Erik a couple books in Norwegian. Well, I guess I read them in Norwegian, Joe reads them in English! One of them is a translation of "Where is Spot?" It keeps asking if Spot is in different places in the house. Then Erik lifts a flap and the text of the books says, "no". This weekend Erik began saying "nei" which is Norwegian for "no". Totally out of the blue. I sort of forgot this January to check into the Barnehage we tried this fall. Now that he's mostly given up his morning nap, it might work. It was so hard to contact them, I kind of dread going through that process again of trying to register.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Erik's World - Baby Brother Edition
There have been requests for more info on how baby brother is coming along. He is now at 30 weeks gestation. Ten more weeks to go! He's about three pounds and 17 inches long. We still don't have strong feelings for any particular name. Joe likes David, we both like Thomas, Kevin (Erik's friend from ECFE) said we should name him Tyler.
Arizona

Erik and Papa at the playground. Unfortunately, the camera wasn't handy when we saw the two havelinas walking by.

At a county park with Mama and cactus.

Erik had lots of fun visiting Great Grampa and Great Gramma. They read books, watched golf, and played with some Beanie Baby birds.

Joe's Gramma noticed Erik standing with his foot up like this and she thought it was very funny. So then he had to do it about a hundred times to make us laugh.
Erik's on Flickr
Al Franken put a picture of Erik on his Flickr site. (Flickr is a site where you can post lots of photos.)
Don't you think Joe and Al have very similar hair?
Don't you think Joe and Al have very similar hair?
Muffin Man

Remember a few months ago I wrote that Erik was in the bath and said, "Water going down the drain"?
Since Christmas we've been on a big muffin kick. A couple times a week he helps me mix up (usually blueberry) muffins. We always sing "Do You Know the Muffin Man" (just like we always sing "Rub a Dub Dub" while washing his hair). So now he knows the muffin song pretty well and will sing it while playing on his own, but he can't say Drury Lane. During a bath, earlier this week, he was singing "Muffin Man" in the bath and said, "Do you know the Muffin Man who lives in the drain?"
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Erik Endorses Al Franken

St Louis Park, MN --
Early Tuesday evening, Erik Lindell endorsed Al Franken in his run for the Democratic endorsement in Minnesota's US Senate race.
In related news, our precinct went Obama over Clinton 2:1, which seems to be consistent with the rest of MN. Also, on my way out of the bldg, I saw Congressman Ellison and shook his hand.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Toddler Prayer 102
One of Erik's little friends is spending a couple days in the hospital with RSV. Joe called to tell me this just as I was preparing Erik's lunch. So I decided instead of saying our usual "Hands Prayer" where we sing a song, we would do the kind of prayer where you make it up yourself. I asked Erik to fold his hands and to say "Dear God" (pause for Erik to repeat) "thank you" "for food." "Please make Claire feel better". He seemed to find this all very odd and I can't say he really participated by repeating, but he did listen. We did it again at dinner and it went a little better. It got me thinking all kinds of thoughts about what makes prayer prayer, does what Erik did "count", I wonder what does "count". But after a while my brain started to hurt so I just decided that it didn't matter what I understood about prayer, that God would take care of it.
Joe and I each had the experience today of asking Erik "Why?" and having him say "Because". This was a first for us.
Erik is really humming along learning pronouns. Yesterday he kept practicing saying "We are flying on a plane", emphasizing the "we". Today he tried saying "I am lying on the floor" instead of saying "Erik's lying on the floor".
Erik had a great time in Arizona this weekend, visiting his great-grandparents. On the car ride from the airport to their house he was practicing saying "Hi Great-Gramma. Hi Great-Grampa." He warmed up very quickly to them once we got there. I'm sure getting there at lunch time and being fed by them didn't hurt!
Joe and I each had the experience today of asking Erik "Why?" and having him say "Because". This was a first for us.
Erik is really humming along learning pronouns. Yesterday he kept practicing saying "We are flying on a plane", emphasizing the "we". Today he tried saying "I am lying on the floor" instead of saying "Erik's lying on the floor".
Erik had a great time in Arizona this weekend, visiting his great-grandparents. On the car ride from the airport to their house he was practicing saying "Hi Great-Gramma. Hi Great-Grampa." He warmed up very quickly to them once we got there. I'm sure getting there at lunch time and being fed by them didn't hurt!
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Toddler Twos
Erik is becoming more and more of a toddler. He will often answer questions "no" that he clearly means yes. For example, I'll ask if he wants water, he'll say no as he's reaching for the glass and immediately takes a drink.
He has definate opinions about with whom he wants to do things. Today, he wanted to play basketball with me, rock in his chair with Joe and only I was allowed to read certain books. If the other parent offers to do it, yowza, he lets us know what he wants. Sometimes it's flattering and sweet to be chosen, sometimes it's a relief not to be, often it doesn't matter one way or the other. He's pretty receptive still to us saying, "you can say, 'Papa do it, please'" and then he'll say it nicer.
He's also huge into throwing. Fortunately, so far it's mostly confined to balls and usually we're playing catch.
It's sooo helpful to remind myself that he's not becoming a bad tempered child, he's just going through a normal and necessary phase of asserting his independence. I just hope this continues to be helpful as we get deeper into the Twos!
He also has a great sense of humor. He loves to do things that make us laugh. He just learned to jump in place with his feet leaving the ground. Once he did it and fell on him bottom. I laughed and so he tried to fall every time. And if he says something that makes me laugh he'll keep saying it as long as I keep laughing.
He has definate opinions about with whom he wants to do things. Today, he wanted to play basketball with me, rock in his chair with Joe and only I was allowed to read certain books. If the other parent offers to do it, yowza, he lets us know what he wants. Sometimes it's flattering and sweet to be chosen, sometimes it's a relief not to be, often it doesn't matter one way or the other. He's pretty receptive still to us saying, "you can say, 'Papa do it, please'" and then he'll say it nicer.
He's also huge into throwing. Fortunately, so far it's mostly confined to balls and usually we're playing catch.
It's sooo helpful to remind myself that he's not becoming a bad tempered child, he's just going through a normal and necessary phase of asserting his independence. I just hope this continues to be helpful as we get deeper into the Twos!
He also has a great sense of humor. He loves to do things that make us laugh. He just learned to jump in place with his feet leaving the ground. Once he did it and fell on him bottom. I laughed and so he tried to fall every time. And if he says something that makes me laugh he'll keep saying it as long as I keep laughing.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Erik sings the alphabet
Here is a You Tube video of Erik singing his ABCs.
Erik spends much of his day singing the alphabet. Anytime he sees printed letters he will sing "ABCs" or say "E-R-K spells Erik".
Erik spends much of his day singing the alphabet. Anytime he sees printed letters he will sing "ABCs" or say "E-R-K spells Erik".
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Soup
Last week Joe picked up a can of Minestrone soup at Trader Joe's. He heated it up for lunch today and much to my delight, Erik loved it! He kept asking for more peas and beans (green and kidney). So I thought maybe I should look up a recipe, figuring it would have a lower sodium content. The TJ soup had about 800mg per serving, the recipe in my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook had 1100 mg per serving! So I went online and did a google search for low sodium Minestrone. I found some recipes but I also read that Progresso and Amy's brands have canned soup that has half or less than TJs. Lucky Erik gets more beans!
Also, Joe suggested that I could make the BH&G recipe with low sodium beef broth. We suspect that's the source of the high sodium. The recipe calls for three cans.
Also, Joe suggested that I could make the BH&G recipe with low sodium beef broth. We suspect that's the source of the high sodium. The recipe calls for three cans.
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Awww
Well, our internet connection isn't letting me post pictures from Christmas so I thought I'd let you know some of the cute things Erik is saying now. Let's see...
I often ask him "Can Mama help you?" so he's started asking for help by saying "mama help you". However, he can't really pronounce the words so it ends up sounding like "mama hype yew". Very cute.
We were driving home and he wanted to kick off his boots. I thought I'd talked him into keeping them on but when we got home I turned around and saw he had bare feet! I said, "Erik, you don't have any shoes or socks!" and he laughed and said "Goofball!" Sometimes Joe & I call him a goofball when he's being silly.
I love that lately when he wakes up from naps, the way I know he's awake is because I hear him laughing. I peek in the room and ask who the gigglepuss is. That just makes him laugh more. So sometimes he now will laugh and say "Erik gigglepuss".
Frequently during the day, but especially if he sees writing somewhere he'll say, "E-R-K spells Erik".
I often ask him "Can Mama help you?" so he's started asking for help by saying "mama help you". However, he can't really pronounce the words so it ends up sounding like "mama hype yew". Very cute.
We were driving home and he wanted to kick off his boots. I thought I'd talked him into keeping them on but when we got home I turned around and saw he had bare feet! I said, "Erik, you don't have any shoes or socks!" and he laughed and said "Goofball!" Sometimes Joe & I call him a goofball when he's being silly.
I love that lately when he wakes up from naps, the way I know he's awake is because I hear him laughing. I peek in the room and ask who the gigglepuss is. That just makes him laugh more. So sometimes he now will laugh and say "Erik gigglepuss".
Frequently during the day, but especially if he sees writing somewhere he'll say, "E-R-K spells Erik".
Monday, December 17, 2007
Another church nerd in the making
Erik has developed a cold in the last few days. Sunday morning it really hit him full force and he's been napping a lot since then. Joe went to church and I stayed home with Erik while he napped. Then when he woke up we drove over to catch the last hymn and go to baby Sunday School, or Lambs, as we call it. About half an hour into Lambs, I decided Erik needed to go home and go back to bed. He was too tired to put up a fuss but after we put his coat on he plaintively requested, "more church please".
Saturday, December 01, 2007
Snow!
Joe and Erik went outside this afternoon and played with the neighbor boys. As you can probably tell, Erik got very snowy. Even his eyelashes turned white. Erik enjoyed walking in the snow but if he fell he was pretty helpless to get up again. About a half hour after they came in, he was at the door , requesting "outside...snow".
Friday, November 30, 2007
Our first glimpse
Here's your first picture of Baby Lindell! Would you like to guess the gender?
It's a boy!
Yes, we had our ultrasound this morning. I was pretty nervous since I have friends who have had unexpected results during this procedure. Everything seemed to be fine. Nothing urgent enough to schedule an early visit with an OB anyway. The only surprise was that I went in thinking I was 19 weeks, 2 days into this pregnancy, and the baby measured a week or two bigger. The technician said there isn't that much variation in size until the third trimester so the measurements are fairly reliable. I just find it hard to believe I'm 20 weeks, 6 days! I guess this little guy will just come out when he's good and ready.
It was fun to get to see his profile. Erik didn't really cooperate with that and we weren't able to see his profile. The new little guy was much more active than I remember Erik being during the ultrasound. That makes me nervous as I think Erik is plenty active! Joe doesn't really think it's predictive though. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
We welcome any boy baby name ideas.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Saturday, November 17, 2007
No camera, no pictures
Well, I probably won't be posting too often for a while. Our digital camera broke so I can't put new pix up unless they are from my neighbor. Joe and I will have to get busy and shop for a new camera.
We had the neighbors over for dinner. It was fun, the three kids ran around from room to room playing with toys and needed minimal supervision. So the four adults could sit and talk and eat. It's really fun to see how comfortable Erik is with the boys. Joe and I took him to his room to change his diaper and when we came out they'd moved to the back room. Erik walked into the front room and called, "boys...boys" like a parent calling his kids home for dinner!
We had the neighbors over for dinner. It was fun, the three kids ran around from room to room playing with toys and needed minimal supervision. So the four adults could sit and talk and eat. It's really fun to see how comfortable Erik is with the boys. Joe and I took him to his room to change his diaper and when we came out they'd moved to the back room. Erik walked into the front room and called, "boys...boys" like a parent calling his kids home for dinner!
Saturday, November 03, 2007
Trick or Treat
Erik is all dressed up and ready to go out into the neighborhood.
He's so intrigued by the little mittens you'd think he'd never worn them before. Maybe it's because his actual mittens have elastic at the wrist and are slightly harder to pull off.
One Year Later
You may recall that about a year ago (Dec 6) Erik was just starting to be interactive while reading books. Here's an update. The lighting is pretty bad. I was taping it myself while home alone with Erik and didn't notice how overexposed it was until later. I wasn't sure he'd do it all again, since he'd gone through it with me a couple times. So, just enjoy the home video quality.
Practice makes perfect
Erik and I practiced at home before Joe took him out Trick or Treating. He learned his lines pretty well.
He really enjoyed coloring on the package Joe received from Amazon. It's great that he's old enough now to play with random things. Today green seems to be his favorite color. Just like mama.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Choices
Erik is just starting to be able to make some simple decisions. Up til now, he mostly would repeat the last option we gave him (milk or water? -water). On Monday I was putting his shoes on him to go outside. I grabbed his white shoes. He started saying, "brown brown brown". Ok, we'll put the brown shoes on! Tuesday morning I asked if he wanted Cheerios or a banana, he paused a really long time, and then said "apples". It's great to see that he keeps ideas in his head that he can pull up on his own without me offering them. So this afternoon I asked him which costume he wanted to wear trick or treating tonight. He chose the pumpkin.
It worked out well, we went to Mac for lunch with Joe today. Erik was already wearing regular clothes and I didn't feel like changing him. So I put the firefighter costume on over his clothes and he really got to wear both costumes today.
It worked out well, we went to Mac for lunch with Joe today. Erik was already wearing regular clothes and I didn't feel like changing him. So I put the firefighter costume on over his clothes and he really got to wear both costumes today.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
At the Zoo
Last Saturday we took Erik to the Lincoln Park Zoo. He had a great time and loved it.
He's learning to say many animal names like giraffe...

and of course he's been saying "fish" for a long time.
Erik can also make many animal noises so when we told him what animal we were looking for he would make the appropriate noise. I think Joe was disappointed there were no elephants, and I was disappointed I didn't get around to buying an ice cream cone. But these were minor compared to the fun of taking Erik to see so many animals.
He's learning to say many animal names like giraffe...

and of course he's been saying "fish" for a long time.

voting booths are now open
Monday, October 01, 2007
Do it yourself potty training
Last January I bought a seat to put on our toilet for when Erik is old enough to start trying. I wanted him to be very used to seeing it. It hung in the bathroom for months. Then this summer he became very interested in Mama and Papa's use of the toilet so we started having him sit fully clothed on his seat. Then he would tear of one square of toilet paper, throw it in, flush and wash his hands. He loves doing this. A couple weeks ago we had Erik sit naked on the seat while he was waiting for the bath to fill. This worked well because he was super excited about the bath, so sitting on the potty didn't bother him, and well, you know what listening to running water does to a person.
Thursday afternoon Erik was playing when he looked at me and said, "poopy" and pointed to himself. I asked if he wanted to sit on the potty and he beamed and ran to the bathroom. I took his pants down and sat him on his seat. Imagine my surprise when he, uh, well, peed and pooped in the potty! Since then he will ask to sit on the potty a couple times a day. Sometimes something happens and sometimes nothing happens.
It's pretty cool. He's so proud of himself.
Thursday afternoon Erik was playing when he looked at me and said, "poopy" and pointed to himself. I asked if he wanted to sit on the potty and he beamed and ran to the bathroom. I took his pants down and sat him on his seat. Imagine my surprise when he, uh, well, peed and pooped in the potty! Since then he will ask to sit on the potty a couple times a day. Sometimes something happens and sometimes nothing happens.
It's pretty cool. He's so proud of himself.
Whatever happened to September?


Well, here's the thing. For those of you who don't already know, we're expecting in April. So if Erik's sleeping, I'm sleeping too. I sleep a completely ridiculous amount of time. I'll be glad when this first trimester exhaustion is over. So, despite many adorable things happening in September, it's completely gone from Erik's blog. Oh well.
And may I suggest that you sign up for Google Reader or an RSS feed to your email, if you don't already do this. In Google Reader, you create a Google account. Then you can set up Google reader with the blogs you read. Everytime you log into Google, it will update you on your blogs. So then you don't have to check them all everyday, it will let you know if there's anything new. That's what Joe & I do. For the RSS feed, I guess it sends you an email with a link to new posts. Joe thinks this would be the best option for anyone who considers themselves not so tech savvy.
I hope to see more of you all in October!
Barnehage
Today was Erik's first day of Barnehage. We had signed up for a Birth to Two-year-old parent and child class, but it was canceled due to only five kids enrolled. So we checked out the class for two year olds. The biggest drawback is that it's during Erik's regular naptime. I haven't decided for sure if we'll join the class. I hate to think of him as fussy every Monday morning as he was today.
We showed up, had some free play time before circletime started. At circle time we sang a hello song and "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes" in Norwegian. Then we went down to the gym to run around. The theme for the month is free time activities. So the instructor, who chose the unfortunate name Huldra, had the kids run back and forth doing different actions (hop, crawl, kick) while labeling them in Norwegian. Erik lost it at this time. He went to the door and cried that he wanted to leave. I sat by him and persuaded him to stay by letting him know next would be snack - juice and bread. So we went back upstairs and he drank apple juice and ate bread with brunost. We left then. I decided not to stay for the final half hour of art.
We showed up, had some free play time before circletime started. At circle time we sang a hello song and "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes" in Norwegian. Then we went down to the gym to run around. The theme for the month is free time activities. So the instructor, who chose the unfortunate name Huldra, had the kids run back and forth doing different actions (hop, crawl, kick) while labeling them in Norwegian. Erik lost it at this time. He went to the door and cried that he wanted to leave. I sat by him and persuaded him to stay by letting him know next would be snack - juice and bread. So we went back upstairs and he drank apple juice and ate bread with brunost. We left then. I decided not to stay for the final half hour of art.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Changes


One big change in Erik the past weeks has been his teeth. He cut four upper teeth last week and is cutting two more lower teeth this week.
This is very hard for me to believe, but Erik is also saying a new word (or two) pretty much every day. Today's word was "pizza". Our good friend/real estate agent Brent Johnson had a gathering for his friends/clients. I told Erik we were going to get pizza and every time I said "pizza" he said "pi-a". It was very fun. At the pizza place/movie theater they had huge blow up black and white stills from movies. One was from "Alice in Wonderland". It showed Alice, the Cheshire cat, and the rabbit holding a big watch. Erik liked this poster and I named the animals for him and said there was a clock. When I said clock, he started clicking his tongue. He's been doing this lately and I wasn't sure what, if anything, it meant. There's a book we read about sounds and I always click my tongue for the clock. I didn't put two and two together until tonight, because he's never done this while reading the book.
This summer Erik has been very interested in pushing his stroller and somewhat frustrated that he can't reach the handle. Today I got him a Graco doll stroller - free! He was quite taken with it and we put various dolls and stuffed animals in it and he pushed them around going, "wee! wee!" He got a little upset when he couldn't climb into it himself but was easily distracted.
Erik's in a very fun stage right now.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
The clothes make the boy

Erik was experimenting this morning. He thought he might dress up for the BBQ/baby shower we're hosting this evening.
Erik has been up to some fun new tricks this week. On Saturday, while Joe's parents were here, Erik said, "Grampa", clear as day. Then Monday he said, "cheetah" and Tuesday he said, "oval". Not the most useful words in daily communication but it's fun to hear him imitating so many words. He was at our neighbor's house on Monday and she said he put his head down and did a somersault out of the blue. Then, when they were outside he saw Gavin's scooter laying on the ground. Michelle said Erik picked it up, put one foot on it and started scooting! Wow!
Sunday, August 05, 2007
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)