The Question

Well, we got it. From Alexander. The question.

"But when you decide that you want one, where do you get a baby?"

Alexander is six years old, just finished kindergarten and will enter first grade at a new school next year. He would not be satisfied with, "the baby grows in mommy's belly, in her uterus."

"But how does the baby get there?"

For a moment, I freaked out. Had no idea what to say. I have a tendency to over-explain which makes kids (and my husband) zone out after a few minutes. I almost said, "Ask your father." But I stopped myself. I could do this. Just keep it simple.

So I told about a sperm from Papa and an egg from Mama getting together to form an embryo which grows into a fetus which grows into a baby in Mama's belly/uterus.

I bit my tongue to keep from explaining 'embryo' or 'fetus.' No way was I going to try 'sperm.' I waited for questions.

But Alexander just nodded, thoughtful for a moment, then went back to his book where fish were laying their eggs.

And that was that. The Question. Answered!

At least for now.

Annabel's Funny Sayings

Okay, I think it's time for another post about the funny things Annabel says. I've been saving these up for a while. A smattering of moments from the last six months:

Annabel likes to lay her hands on either side of my face, look into my eyes and say, "Mama, you're my sweetie-pie!"

***

Back when she was still trying to distinguish between boys and girls, somebody asked her, "Is Alana (baby cousin) a boy or a girl?"

Annabel thought for a moment then said, "She's a sweetie-pie!"

***

Cousin Alana has a red splotch birthmark on her hand. Months ago, at a family brunch, Annabel pointed to it and said, "That's Alana's bookmark."

***

Annabel:  We had a lovely day today.

Me:  Why was it lovely?

Annabel:  We went to the ice cream shop and saw purple ice cream and it was marionberry ice cream and that was lovely. Also, it was a gorgeous day."

***

Annabel's speech:
At 2.5 years she said 'w' in place of 'l.' Awana instead of Alana.
Sometimes, she said 's' for 'th.' "That's what I sink."
She also couldn't say v's at the beginning of a word. "We're going on a little wisit to grandma and grandpa's house," and "I am wery, wery angry right now!"

Now she's three, and the only sound she still has trouble with is that darn 'v.' One day while Annabel, Mieke, and I were taking a bath together...

"Mama, your cute little wagina is so pretty."

"Oh, thank you. Do you think it's little?"

Pause for thought. "Your cute big wagina is so pretty!"

"Thank you." I looked at Michiel, who was wrapping Mieke in a towel. "How come you never say that to me?"

"What? You want me to say you have a big vagina?"

When Annabel gets out of the bath and Michiel is drying her off, she likes to say, "Human body!" Just that. No full sentence. Just a declaration. We don't know why. And she only says it when Michiel gets her out of the bath, never for me.

***

At night Annabel likes to give kisses before  bed. Not only does she want to give hugs and kisses to everyone and their uncle, but she has a special kiss routine with me. First, she gives me a kiss on one cheek, then the lips, then the other cheek, the forehead, and the top of the head. Then she says, "Now you do me." And I have to kiss her in that same pattern.

Milestone

Tomorrow our little Mieke will be three months old. Yikes! Yesterday she rolled from back to front for the first time. Who knows what she'll do next!

Aside from that milestone, here's what's going on in the life of a three-month-old (in a random string of thoughts). She loves loves loves her siblings. Normally, she's rather stingy with her smiles, but when brother or sister comes roaring/giggling/squeaking into view she's all smiles. Both Alexander and Annabel love their sister and are very sweet with her...sometimes too sweet. There is such a thing as too many kisses.

Mieke is fond of sticking out her tongue, especially when she coaxes someone else into joining her. It's one of my favorite evening activities. When we lie her on her tummy, she does a pretty good job of holding up her head. It won't be long before I can carry her on my back. I'm really looking forward to that!

Mieke is looking more and more like herself, but if I have to compare I'd say she looks most like Alexander did when he was a baby.

She's still sleeping in bed with us, and although I sometimes get anxious to get her out of our bed, I so enjoy cuddling with my last little one. Neither Alexander nor Annabel slept with us for more than the first week or two, so this is a treat. Even if I often wake up sore from being in one position for too long.

It's hard to believe that this sweet, calm baby we have now was once the crying baby of doom every evening. Now she usually falls asleep shortly after the kids' bedtime and it is sometimes possible to get something done in the evenings. Like a blog post, for instance. Amazing.

Annabel's Birthday

And so I am finally getting around to writing about Annabel's birthday, which was on February 21st. She turned three! What a birthday! This little girl ruled the day. First she awoke to breakfast and presents in bed, a Nankman family tradition.

Next, we visited (wisited, as Annabel says) Grandma and Grandpa's house where she got birthday doughnuts, which she happily shared with her Auntie Jo Jo.

For her birthday, Annabel got a bunch of dress-up clothes. (Some of them are the same clothes Jo and Kev and I used for dress-up as kids). Here she is in her fairy princess outfit:

 And then, of course, there was the pizza party with Jo, Jennifer, and Lauren.

On the weekend, we celebrated with a fancy tea party, complete with hats, gloves, and fancy dresses. And her friends Willow, Gwyn, and Karis.

And don't forget the cake. (It's pink on the inside.)

And a lot more presents, most of them girly. Happy Birthday Annabel!

Mieke Grows

It wasn't exactly her birthday, but we celebrated one month anyway with muisje muffins (anise muffins) just like we did for Alexander when he was one month old.

Now, Mieke is six weeks old and she weighs 12 lbs. That's half a pound lighter than I weighed when I was six weeks old. We're pretty much assuming she'll be a fat baby. Already the rolls are starting to form.

And her personality is taking shape as well. Aside from evening bouts of fussiness, she's a calm and sweet baby. She greets the world with a look of awe and has ready smiles for her siblings. She loves to be naked. Not surprising in this family.

Already she has a strong reaction to music. When I sing to her, she opens her mouth and lets out a sound that she doesn't make at any other time. I call it her singing. It's super sweet, and it encourages me to sing, which I often forget to do.

Birthdays!

We've had two birthdays this month, so before the month is over I thought I'd better give the birthday report. We'll start with Alexander who turned six (6!) on Feb. 9th.

Let me take a moment to marvel at the fact that I have a six-year-old. Wow!

I remember being six. I remember getting on the bus to go to kindergarten. I remember being scared to be with so many other kids and not knowing what to do. I remember getting those little half pint cartons of milk at snack time and not knowing how to open mine until a boy next to me showed me how. I remember lying down on mats for nap time, sitting in a circle and passing letter-characters around, singing songs, clamoring for praise from my teacher Mrs. Gex. (I don't even know how to spell her name since I couldn't read at the time.) And I remember having a bright and vibrant internal world. It's amazing to me that my son has entered a period of life that I remember so vividly from my own childhood.

But enough about me. More about the birthday boy.

For his party, Alexander invited five friends (Sage, Sebastian, Leo, Nate, and Noah). Michiel took the boys to Northwest Kids Club for a morning of rambunctious play, while I stayed home and got the cupcakes ready. They returned for opening presents and a decorate-your-own-cupcake party. Lots of fun and not too difficult to manage.

The next day we had a second party with the Gerlits clan. I got to exercise a little creative energy on the cupcakes. (With Mieke as young as she is my artistic ventures are rather limited, but I had fun trying marzipan for the first time.) Alexander wanted an orange octopus, so here's what I came up with:

More presents for Alexander and a whole slew of Legos. He's been busy with them ever since.

I'll save Annabel's birthday for another post.

First Smile

Mieke gave us her first real smile today at five weeks old. This isn't it. But I wanted to include a picture since we didn't capture the actual smile.

I was holding her this morning, after a night of lots of crying. She looked into my eyes and her mouth widened to a big smile. All my exhaustion of the night before melted away. Mieke smiled at me! She's smiled lots of times before but always in her sleep or while looking at the wall, and those don't seem to count.

When I said, "Oooh, she's smiling," Alexander came over and she gave him a big smile too. Another for Annabel when she ran over. That's the moment I want to remember from today: three heads bent over a baby, inviting her to smile again.