Tahoe and crawling

How to pose your children for a portrait:

Maija is really getting around now. She crawls everywhere and pulls up on everything, and is just starting to let go and stand for a few seconds unassisted. She likes pulling books off the shelf and turning the pages.

Maija is loving fulltime daycare, and is a favorite there. When I come to pick her up, it is common to find another parent or older child holding her - everyone wants a turn. Everyone tells us we are so lucky to have had two "easy" children. Of course we think we are lucky, but not so much just for that reason!

A few weeks ago I took both kids by myself to Tahoe to meet up with a group of 25 coworkers for the weekend. I was there for two days before Jay came up for the last day. The drive up went really well, but before I could celebrate being Supermom, both kids decided to have various versions of colds (details omitted for sake of grossness), and neither wanted to sleep through the night. I went to bed with both of them at 8:00 the first two nights. The snow was covered in ice so we couldn't really play in it. Anja kept falling down since it was so slippery, "Mommy, I don't like snow!"

But at least we did get a cute picture. See below for smiling Anja and stunned baby face Maija.

I made a little hole in the snow with my boot and stuck Maija in it.

In local news, Anja LOVES the local horses. There is this one, at Pinky's Pizza, and also her favorite, named Champion, on the sidewalk downtown.

Comments from Anja and Maija:

Me: (talking to Maija whose foot is on her tray) We don't eat with our feet or hands.

Anja: No! We don't eat with our feet or hands. Or our toes, or eyes, or hair, or beards! Hahahahaha!

Anja: Maija goes to work.

Jay: She does? Where does she work?

Anja: At Berkeley!

Jay: What does she do there?

Anja: Uh, birds. She looks at all kinds of birds!

Me: What should we have for dinner tonight?

Anja: Ohhh, just some different kinds of stuffs. I don't know what kind. (puts finger on chin) We'll have to think about it.

Anja: Mmm.... it smells like movie night!

Me: What does movie night smell like?

Anja: It smells like strawberries!

Anja: (looking at all the cars as we are driving through town) Mommy, look at all the cars! There's fifty-five thousands of them! There's SO MANY cars!

(by the way, the next day at the same place she told me there were SIXTY-five thousands of them)

Anja: Mommy, your name is Sue! And Daddy’s name is Jay. And she’s named Heather. And she’s named Maija. And she’s named Blue, and she has front feet and back feet. And she walks on them!

Maija: Da.

Jay: She said “Daddy!” (does victory dance)

Anja: (squriming in her seat like crazy, trying not to pee her pants)

Me: Do you have to go potty?

Anja: No…oooo. (continues to squirm). I’m just… doing… yoga…

Anja: Maija doesn’t have any teeth. She doesn’t know how to talk. She doesn’t know how to say noodles or cup or tissue.