Beach Trip

What a glorious long weekend at the beach! One house, my whole family, endless fun. The weather was perfect...as good as it is in the summer. The kids and big boys even jumped waves.

Standing, Legoing, and Writing

Oops! I actually composed the following three weeks ago and forgot to post it!

Tomorrow Mieke will be nine months old. Yikes! In September, on the 25th to be precise, she pulled herself up to standing for the first time. Now it's all she wants to do. She especially likes to crawl under the table and stand there. Won't be long before her head starts hitting.

She's still our Buddha baby with all her chubs and rolls, but now that she's a lot more mobile, I suspect she'll get leaner. She's getting into eating solid foods, but breast milk is still her go-to meal. No teeth yet.

Alexander and Michiel went to a Lego Expo up in Portland, which was amazing and wonderful, and they came home with tons of loot--a few minifigs, a game, etc, etc.

And our Annabel is learning so much in school. Already she's about a year ahead of Alexander at that age. Shhh, don't tell him. The other day she was writing letters and declared, "Look, I wrote Oma!" I started to give her some that's-very-nice-dear praise without really looking when I realized that she actually had written "Oma." Then she said, "I want to go visit Oma so I can show her what I wrote for her. Let's go today!"

Halloween

All of us dressed up this year. Jo came with us on the Goblin Walk in downtown Silverton. All the businesses give out candy in broad daylight so we get to see everyone's costumes. We usually meet a whole bunch of friends and end up forming our own little mob on the sidewalk.

 Annabel stole my minion eye, so I joined Jo in her Dia de los muertos makeup. I think we're going to do it again tomorrow.

 And Mieke, like all of our children, appeared as a gnome for her first Halloween.

 Alexander had the coolest costume in his tractor that had working headlights and a secret compartment for candy.

And I had fun with the makeup, but I much prefer painting other people's faces. It's a whole lot easier! Happy Halloween!

6 Month Update

As of July 16th, Mieke has been in this world for six months. Time for an update.

Stats: 23lbs and I don't know the length. She's a little chunk.

She's so proud of her tongue. The moment I start making happy noises to her, she'll stick out her tongue and wait for praise. "Look what I can do, Mom!"

She sits reliably. Doesn't have any teeth yet. Drools like mad. Sucks her thumb, or fingers, or whatever part will fit in her mouth. Yesterday, I found her sucking on her toes. And just in the last week she has started moving around, trying to crawl. She pushes up with her hands and scoots herself backward. Or she'll sit with one leg bent back and sort of pivot herself around. I can't leave the room for long without worrying that she'll find something too small for her.

But what a happy little girl! So easy-going. She really is our Buddha baby. When she wakes up in the morning, she doesn't cry or whine, she just looks around and smiles and waves her arms. She can be awake and entertaining herself for half an hour before she starts to fuss.

She is very attached to her Mama and Papa. Sometimes, we're the only ones who'll do.

The annoying thing is that she likes to pinch me while nursing. The back of my arm, my breast, my armpit. She'll take a pinch of skin between her fingers and roll it back and forth. I often pin her hands against her body, but she works them out again. And of course, this is the time of distracted nursing. If there's anything going on in the room, she'll be popping on and off and spraying herself in the face. Fun times.

Mieke sleeps sometimes in her crib in the kids' room, but often I put her to sleep on the floor in our room. Then she joins us in bed when she wakes up to nurse halfway through the night. Sometimes, when she's cuddled up with me, she'll straighten her legs and press her toes against my thighs. The other morning I woke up to find four little toe prints, round and perfect, adorning my thigh. They stayed for half the day!

Mieke loves to watch her siblings! They are the most interesting people. And they love her so much, though sometimes it gets a little too physical.

Her favorite song is Skidamarink a-dink a-dink. It almost always brings a laugh.

Papa Don't Breathe

We all do this. Mishear song lyrics. Who hasn't wondered about Blinded by the Light? "Wrapped up like a douche?"

But when kids do it, it can be especially delightful. I may have mentioned before that Alexander loves Guns and Roses. Welcome to the Jungle is one of the first songs he really rocked out to. A couple of months ago he was playing Paradise City, and I was singing along.

Take me down to the Paradise City

where the grass is green and the girls are pretty

Oh, won't you please take me home.

Alexander said, "Mom, I think he's trying to say 'where the girls are British.'"

"Oh," I said, "you think it's 'where the grass is green and the girls are British?'"

"Yup."

"I'm pretty sure it's 'where the grass is green and the girls are pretty.'"

Alexander looked at me like I was completely out of touch, and said, "Mom, girls are always pretty, everywhere."

* * * * *

And we've got one from Annabel too. We've been listening to some Madonna lately. Now, Annabel's a strange little creature in that she hardly ever sings along with music, but a few hours later or maybe even the next day or next week, she'll bust out with the lyrics of a song during normal conversation. She won't sing it; she'll just all of a sudden say, "Mariposa ole!" or "It's hard to be a woman." Often, it takes me a moment to trace her words back to the song they came from.

Once, she was sitting on Michiel's lap when she suddenly put her hands over his mouth and said, "Papa don't breathe."

He took her hands away and said he didn't like that, but she did it again. "Papa don't breathe."

This went back and forth and after a few more times, Michiel and I figured it out at the same time. "Papa Don't Preach!" We've got a little Madonna fan in the house.

Papa don't breathe, I'm in trouble deep

Papa don't breathe, I've been losing sleep

It kinda works.

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.