first day

She started school this morning,
And she seemed so very small.
As I walked there beside her
In the Kindergarten hall.

And as she took her place beside
the others in the class,
I realized how all too soon
Those first few years can pass.

Remembering, I saw her as
She first learned how to walk.
The words that we alone made out
When she began to talk.

This little girl so much absorbed
In learning how to write.
It seems as though she must have grown
To girlhood overnight.

My eyes were blurred by hastily
I brushed the tears away
Lest by some word or sign of mine
I mar her first big day

Oh how I longed to stay with her
And keep her by the hand
To lead her through the places
That she couldn't understand.

And something closely kin to fear
Was mingled with my pride.
I knew she would no longer be
A baby by my side.

But she must have her chance to live,
To work her problems out,
The privilege to grow and learn
What life is all about.

And I must share my little girl
With friends and work and play;
She's not a baby anymore --
She's in Kindergarten today.

building skills

Oh the life of a 10-month old!  Little Anika has a new skill every day - it's hard to imagine how a brain can grow so fast!  To name a few key developments: this month she has learned: to wave, say "hiiieee" appropriately, give a high-five, point, to ask for what she wants without screaming (hurray!!!). She's been fascinated with in/out and with things that open/close, and today she learned to stack the stacker. She was so proud of herself when she got the thing filled to the top!!  We love these new skills as she's ever more interactive and plays so much now. She's also established that she loves the water in any form or temperature (today got blasted by the fountain stream changing size and laughed at it!).

eat your beans

As a preface, this story is probably not internet-appropriate ... and yet it's just too great to forget.  Last night after dinner, in the bath, Miles was washing his parts (yes, all of them), when he suddenly had the most puzzled, interested look. He looked up and asked, "we have beans for dinner?" - yes, Miles, we had bean burritos - next, all of a sudden: "there are beans in my peni" (although I should know better, we call his little part a "peni" because it's such a cute little word for such a cute little part). He was very excited -There are beans in my peni - over and over. (chuckle) I didn't give him an anatomy lesson about his testicles, or tell him that the "beans" where there even before he ate dinner ...

worth every penny!

 Although this looks suspiciously like a question on my recent board exams, in fact it is the start of Anika's recent hospital adventure ...

I will start this story by saying that when Anika began to crawl a few months ago, we established the "not safe for Nica" jar, into which went all of our favorite marbles, pebbles, rubber bands, etc. For the most part, Miles and Adelaide have been pretty good about keeping small choking toys off the floor ... but not as good as Anika is at finding the very last one ...

Nica spent 4 days (and a camping trip) with a penny lodged in her esophagus before we figured it out and took her to the emergency dept, and this morning she went to the operating room to have it removed.

We were thrilled with all the compassionate care by the staff, and even more thrilled to have our happy baby back to us - and hungry!  We haven't yet decided what to do with "the loot" (which is only a bit corroded on the edges).

little backpackers

July 2013: our first pack-in camping trip as a 'family of 5' was a raging success!

Adelaide carried an impressive load in her new backpack (thanks, Wisconsin Gma!) and had legs full of energy (of course, the "gummy stops" didn't hurt any!).

Our surprisingly tough little boy earned himself the nickname "2-mile Miles" by hiking long past when we planned to carry him. He was thrilled at the chance to "pee on a tree" for an entire weekend.



And little Nica tuckered herself out eating pine needles and fell asleep in the hammock before campfire time. That was okay because she didn't have a chance to eat the fire.

My new goal is for Nica to go on an "annual backpack trip" every year of her life, and she's off to a great start!

in=out

At 9 months, Anika has now been "out" as long as she was "in" and she seems to know that this week marks her first milestone in independence. Her new skills include responding/following when we call her name, playing "may I have it," throwing things, and standing up. Although she's ever more opinionated, she's smiley as ever.

 She adores hes siblings and she's lucky that they love to entertain her and care for her (although Miles seems to have a propensity to use his feet!).

 She's a great eater ... of basically everything BUT food!  (We're still working on the food bit.) Just like her brother, she's a little peanut, and she doesn't seem to be in much of a hurry to change that!

She's been nothing but joy (well, except for the dairy-free business!) and we love her to death for that huge toothless grin, the flappy-arms excitement, her big-eyes inquisitiveness, and of course her 'wilderness skills' (here, on her first camping trip).

Spring Chickens

This spring has been a whirlwind of new critters and new developments at our house. To start, we got baby chicks. Awesome, hilarious, and challenging. It's been a great adventure teaching Miles to handle them gently, and trying to keep them out of "Nica-ville" (because if she can get one, she squeezes a death-grip on it!).  We've made it through the 'baby chick' phase with no tragedies!

We also added a "praying mantis egg sack" to our zoo ... and last week a whole pile of baby praying mantises hatched out.  We're trying to keep them alive with 'fruit crawls' (flightless fruit flies) but our success rate is yet unknown.

Little Anika has gained mobility (hurray Sneaka!) but she's most adept at backwards and circular travel. Amazingly, she is able to sit herself up from a lying position (the first few times, we were sure she had been helped, but now she does it regularly - I am honestly shocked that she has the core strength for that at this age - I've signed her up to be an Olympian (no pressure!)). She's by far our smiley-est baby -- she seems to expect that someone is smiling at her at all times, and she looks around until she finds a smile. Perhaps that's a learned habit - the benefit of having 2 older siblings is that someone IS always smiling at her!

Little Miles has seen the most change this spring. Although he's still a little peanut in size, now at 2-and-a-half, he's matured into a full-blown little boy. His language has exploded such that he now speaks in full expressive paragraphs and gives us precise insight into his busy little mind. We used to marvel at how much he could communicate with a few carefully chosen words, and now he narrates his entire world-view "I slipped but I got up and I'm fine because I'm a toughie." In the past few months, he's been full of endearment: "You are my FAV-orite mama" or "I want a hug from your tummy" and "Can I sleep on your tummy?" when he crawls into my bed in the morning. I get the feeling that these are the things he's wanted to say for months but until now he hasn't had the words. These days he has as much language as personality and it has been all together hilarious and lovable. I feel so proud of him, and yet this time around I know what a transition he is going through, and I am mourning the loss of the baby boy I love so much.