My banana is spinny

Anja is beginning to think it's pretty fun to have a little sister around:

Also, this is how dinner goes when her afternoon nap was too short:

Toddler ramblings:

Anja: Daddy! Stop!

Jay: Stop What? Stop talking to Mommy?

Anja: Yeah.

Jay: But we were just discussing important shirt-buying strategies.

Anja: STRAGEDIES!!?? What is STRAGEDIES!!??

Jay: A strategy is a plan for doing something.

Anja: Stratcheteees? Tragedies?

Jay: A tragedy is something terrible.

Anja: Stratcheteee? Stratchaty?

Jay: No, strachety, stracha- stracha-, tragedy. Wait, it's not tragedy. What is it? Strategy?

Anja: Slurp Slurp Slurp! Mmmmmm... that was pretty yummy. That was pretty YUMMY apple juice. THANK you Mommy! What's inside here? What is inside this peanut?

Me: Just more peanut.

Anja: Ohhh. Look. Look. There's nothing inside this peanut! (accidentally eats a piece of cauliflower) Spit spit YUCK. I don't LIKE IT! Ptoooiee. YUCK. Mmmmm peanut butter and jelly. I better check to see if the jelly is yummy (blows out through her nose several times). Mmmm hmmmm. It is yummy! (opens sandwich and eats the jelly out of it with her fingers)

Me: What is your name today?

Anja: I don't know not Anja... maybe some kind of dinosaur.

(after Jay returned from taking both kids to the park and leaving me at home alone for an hour)

Me: Boy, one hour sure goes by quickly.

Jay: That's all that was? Only one hour?

Michigan Trip (now with more awesome)

We have done far too many fun and interesting things in the last few weeks to comment on them all fully, so here is an abridged version:

1. Michigan trip = heroic success

2. Flying on a plane with an infant and toddler to Michigan was easier than driving with them once we were in Michigan

3. Pick blueberries but watch out for ants

4. Anja loves this bobcat

5. Anja loves her cousins

6. Michigan water is warm and doesn't have sharks

7. Miners beach on Lake Superior has bitey flies that are especially attracted to infants and new moms

8. Grandmas are great for holding babies

9. I mean she really likes this bobcat

10. Two weeks of constant attention was just what Anja needed

11. We had a great visit with my grandma who is doing well

12. Anja hid dinosaurs in Grandma's lap and couch and played with every cat toy she could find

13. Also she found deceased cat's ashes on Grandma's shelf and wanted to play with them

14. Having a family camp makes a childhood special

15. Somehow we keep finding fun new places in Marquette like this little island you can get to by wading through shallow water (but not with an infant)

16. This is Levi

17. Sometimes babies cry through the entire service, and then through the whole baptism, and all the way down the hall until fed again, even if they were fed right before the service

18. Anja thinks saunas ("sown-duhs") are okay, but prefers eating pretzels on the camp porch with a stuffed bobcat

19. Jay is Superdad

20. Maija was almost never not in someone's arms for two weeks

21. Dueling scrabble phrases

22. Make sure your kid has cute pajamas because sometimes they wear them until noon

23. Rare event:

24. You cannot pose toddlers but you can try

25. Animals vs trucks

26. "Don't touch my toys again!!!"

27. Ahh... camp

28. Maija is a very smiley baby!

29. She is also incredibly strong and very cute

30. Shadows are popular again

31. Two weeks away from home plus new baby = complete untraining of previously potty-trained toddler (no photo available)

32. Look at my moth!

33. Look my shirt says "Little Finn"

34. If this bobcat were an ice cream flavor, Anja would say it was Supercoolamazing flavor, now with more AWESOME!!!

If you haven't had enough, here's a video of general baby cuteness with smiling and cooing and Anja narrating

And as always, Anja's comments:

(while sitting next to me on a chair)

Anja: I'm all clean with boogers.

Me: You have boogers in your nose?

Anja: No, see?! (shows me her nose)

Me: Okay, good.

Anja: Yeah, I put them on you, see? (shows me my own arm)

Jay: Our neighbors got a new Audi

Anja: Newaudi? What's a Newaudi?

Jay: It's a kind of car.

Anja: Oh. With a face? It can talk?

Jay: No, it just goes really fast.

Anja: Ohhhhhh

Jay: Anja, do you have to go potty?

Anja: No... I'm just going to stay inside and eat butter.

Where to begin

A short summary of recent events and revelations:

1. Potty training fail at Michaels store - requiring a mop bucket and change of clothes.

2. Dog eats dirty diaper. Again. Dog training fail.

3. Tantrums increase 500%. Parenting fail.

4. Homemade pasta so easy a two year old can do it:

5. Petaluma is awesomest town ever - check out local Wings and Wheels Festival:

6. I can now wear real person clothes, just in time for vacation - new mom win.

7. "Being a parent is hard" ~LJR, 2010

8. In Petaluma your kid is the oddball if she wears clothes running through the sprinkler... and playing soccer in the yard... and running around in the street... and riding the tricycle... and playing in the neighbor's yard.

9. A piece of poop that goes through the dryer can be adequately removed with windex. Really.

10. Bookstores are endlessly amusing to a two year old.

11. An infant is not very amusing to a toddler.

12. My daughter more often refers to herself as Daddy, Other Daddy, Buzz Lightyear, Huckle the Cat, Lowly the Worm, Mommy Bunny, and Dinosaur than her actual name.

13. Seriously, Petaluma is cool. Why doesn't everybody live here?

14. We better see some fireflies when we're in Michigan for the next two weeks, or someone will be very disappointed.

15. I left my back door wide open for two hours today and one fly flew in, probably the only fly in Sonoma County.

16. The rest of the country is baking and it's still only 71 degrees here. Our furnace came on again last night.

17. Our kids are disproportionally cute, relative to their parents.

18. Our flights from San Francisco to Marquette could be a piece of cake or an epic fail, there is no way to predict.

Baldness and alphabet

Just like her older sister, Maija has started losing the hair she was born with. She has a few bald patches and now male pattern baldness has really started. So, see you again in about a year, cute baby hair!

And in case you were wondering if Anja is getting enough exercise and mental stimulation this summer when she isn't in daycare, see the following video.

Anja learns the alphabet:

And by the way, Anja really does usually wear pants. For some reason every time we take a video she is pantsless. But the house really usually is that messy.

Osprey and Rays

Just a quick post that I've been trying to finish for a few days. Maija's sleeping patterns have kept us busy. She is pretty good at night, especially for a one-month-old. I usually only have to get up just once in the middle of the night to feed her, with one late night feeding and one morning feeding. During the day however, she often doesn't sleep in her crib at all. She will sleep in her carrier if we walk around with her, but she wakes up if I try to put her to bed. And she wants to nurse almost constantly during the day. So I can't rest or get anything done around the house. Alternating between walking around and nursing ALL day is tiring enough, but then I also have to somehow pick up a toddler while holding an infant to get her out of the crib, high chair, wash her hands, etc. It's possible, but not very easy.

There have been some pretty cute moments here in the last few days. Anja has helped pick out clothes for Maija, and showed her some toys and books. And Maija has started showing interest in Anja too, now that she is focusing more on faces. I caught them both smiling at each other here.

This past Sunday was supposed to be hot in town here (80 degrees, not the crazy high temps the rest of the country was having), so we went to the beach where it was only 67. It was definitely more work with two kids than it would have been with one, and a lot more prep time. But Anja had a lot of fun. We were there for several hours, and for all of that time there were three osprey circling overhead and periodically landing in the nest we could see from the beach. Jay also pointed out a huge ray (bat ray?) that swam right along the shore where he is standing here just a few minutes after this picture was taken. It was awesome.

In conclusion, here is Maija when she is actually sleeping during the day. Jay calls this the "sack of sand" state.

Anja's conversations this week are related mainly to our upcoming trip to Michigan that we've been talking about a lot lately:

Anja: I'm drinky! (this is what she says when she's thirsty)

Me: Anja, do you like your little sister?

Anja: Yeah. She's pretty cute. In her eyes!

Me: Anja, are you excited about our trip to Michigan?

Anja: Yeah, we can fly on a plane. With Grandma and Ivan, they're on the plane. In our living room. Grandma bought me a puzzle!

Anja: Follow me, Mommy. Follow me with all of our friends. We are going to see fireflies (leads me to the bedroom where we catch imaginary fireflies).

Me: Who are our friends, Anja? What are their names?

Anja: I don't know. Rosalie and Ivan and Kai and Sophie!

Baby Maija Bug

Anja's world of make believe is on all the time. From the time she wakes up in the morning yelling for Mommy Bear or Dinosaur, she is always a character from a movie, book or TV, or a random animal. Often she won't acknowledge our comments to her unless we address her as the correct persona. She also gives the dog a name, usually another animal, like Bullseye the horse or Randall the monster. And now Maija is included too. Anja gave herself the name of Frannie the Bunny from a book we were reading, and the little bug hiding on each page became Baby Maija Bug: "What are you doing there, Baby Maija Bug? Don't hide over there, Baby Maija Bug!" Today she told a boy at the playground and the cashier at the supermarket that her name was Big Bird.

Meanwhile, Anja continues to be mostly unimpressed with her little sister. She is pretty demanding of our time when we are holding the baby, especially if Jay is holding her. Suddenly she needs to be picked up, or to play a game if we are holding the baby. Even worse, she misbehaves when we're holding Maija. Twice in the last few days she has taken off running down the sidewalk. Luckily one of us could run and catch her, but if I were by myself with both kids I don't think I could, she is really fast! She thinks this is incredibly funny, but it means that I'll probably wait a little while before going to the park with both kids by myself.

Sometimes there are some cute moments too, and Anja does kiss Maija goodnight and does like to share the new books and toys Maija has been getting, without seemingly being jealous of them.

A few days ago Anja invented a new, better sister. She has been walking around with her imaginary little sister dinosaur. She has been very clear that her little sister dinosaur can stand, and walk, and talk. Also her little sister dinosaur can play games with her, and read books, and play with playdoh. I guess this is the little sister she wishes she had right now? Anja refers to herself as Bigsistersaurus, I am Mommysaurus.

Conversations:

Anja: I do not want to take a nap!

Me: I know. But you only have to take one nap. Baby Maija is sleeping right now, she has to take a lot of naps because she is little.

Anja: Only one nap! Not two... or three... or two. Two is not for sleeping. It is for playing!

Me: Anja, don't pick your nose and eat it, that's gross.

Anja: No!

Me: Would you like a snack of some raisins?

Anja: No.

Me: You really don't want any raisins?

Anja: No.

Me: Just boogers to eat?

Anja: Yeah.

Update

Avoiding the camera with Dad at the Golden Gate Bridge overlook.

Touchdown baby pose.

Lots of hair

3/4 family photo

Petting the baby. Mostly Anja is unimpressed with her little sister, only noticing her when she cries. But sometimes there's a cute moment like this:

I was checking out the schedule of Marin Open Spaces, a local nonprofit that gives free nature walks around the area here and look, it's a picture of Anja from last year! (scroll down to "family walks")

http://www.co.marin.ca.us/depts/PK/Main/mcosd/pdf/Newsletter_MC-POS-Summer-2010.pdf

I remember one of the rangers taking her picture last year when we were on one of their hikes and I told them they could use it if they wanted. Then I forgot all about it until now. Pretty cool.

Conversations:

Me: Anja, are you ready for breakfast?

Anja: Nooooo! I don't like breakfast!

Me: Would you like a snack instead?

Anja: Yeah!

Me: Okay. How about a banana?

Anja: Yeah.

Me: And some O's?

Anja: Yeah.

Me: And milk?

Anja: Yeah.

Me: In your high chair?

Anja: Yeah!

(so I put her in her high chair and gave her breakfast)

Me: That's what they call Mommy Magic

Anja: (laughing) Noooo, that's not Mommy Magic!