Potty News!

Although we have been very eager for Noah to potty train, we have not pushed it. We've certainly talked about it plenty and have had a potty around for quite some time now that Noah has sat on and used for other things. Until this morning, he had not really made any deposits in it. As I was getting lunch ready for his "school" this morning, Noah stripped down to his diaper. After a while he passed by me completely naked, walking a little funny and stated that he was on his way to the potty. Curious, I snuck a peek into the bathroom - he positioned himself and peed in the potty! We cheered and clapped, took a picture and then made a very important phone call...Phil happens to do quite a good Elmo impersonation, so I told Noah we were going to call Elmo to tell him about the pee in the potty. When "Elmo" got on the phone, Noah's whole face lit up, he was clearly completely convinced that he was talking to THE Elmo and proudly told him that he had been on the potty. Then he raced to get all his trains to "show" Elmo over the phone (he always thinks that the person on the other end can see what he is showing them). Hopefully this is not a one time occurrence, but is the beginning of the end of diapers!

Cooking Club

Last month, a couple of other neighborhood moms and I decided that we should start a neighborhood cooking club since many of us are really into cooking. We decided that we'll meet once a month, each time at a different home. Before we knew it, the list of interested people had grown to 12 couples! Last night, we had our inaugural meal and it was a big success - those of us who organized it were a bit concerned about the large size, but our worries were quickly laid to rest. Pam and I had gone through cookbooks and picked out an Italian-themed menu. Each couple involved was then given one of the recipes and had to come to the dinner with that item prepared (or as close to prepared as possible). Fortunately, we were smart and put all the kids in a different house - and employed a few neighborhood teens to supervise them! The food turned out very good - some things were particularly excellent - and we are all now excited for our next gathering in February.

The Many Faces of Kai

With my favorite buddy (who fortunately thinks it's really funny when I pull his hair).

The Children's Farm

Since Noah will turn 3 this July, he will be eligible for pre-school in the fall. While Noah went to his Mom's Day Out program on Tuesday, I went to visit a pre-school called The Children's Farm which several friends and neighbors have recommended highly. What a beautiful setting! The farm is set well off from any main roads and is surrounded by acres and acres of woods and rolling fields. The school states its goal is to foster intellectual, social, physical and emotional development using farm animals, a garden and nature as the learning environment. When I arrived, the kids (aged 3-5) were all being dropped off. They gathered on a set of logs, waiting for everyone to get there. After a morning greeting with the teachers, we marched up and down a hill, past the main farm house until we reached the barn, sheds and fields were the animals are kept. The children set about collecting pails of food and water and went around feeding animals (most of which were outrdoors - I guess they're used to Minnesota winters!): sheep, goats, ponies, a cow, geese, ducks, rabbits, chickens. Looking for eggs in the chicken coop was clearly a favorite activity (they are collected and eaten during snack time.) After about 20 minutes of this we gathered again for a brief chat with the kids perched on various snow-covered rocks. Then we headed inside where there was about a 45 minute period of "free" time with different centers that the kids could choose from. There was even an area where kids could saw a big chunk of wood into smaller logs - yes, real saws! This was followed by a group "lesson" that involved some reading and writing. Just as this activity was about to get under way, I had to leave. The teachers told me that after the group activity, they would bundle up again, go for a short hike, build a bonfire and enjoy an outdoor snack before it was time to return to the logs for pick-up. Needless to say, I was quite impressed! As would be expected, there is quite some demand for a spot at this school; after all currently enrolled and any of their siblings are signed up, remaining slots are dolled out through a lottery system. We'll keep our fingers crossed. In the meantime, there are other perfectly wonderful options in our area and I'm sure Noah will be happy wherever he ends up.

Winter Wonderland

We are enjoying a temporary "thaw" - actually, as I write this, we are back to winter. The last couple of days, however, the temperatures hovered around the freezing point which felt wonderful! I even saw people running about town without hats or coats on! Yesterday morning, the warmer air temperatures combined with the frozen, snowy ground created a dense fog. As the fog slowly lifted, a layer of thick ice had covered all of the trees. The sun sparkled so beautifully on it all before melting it. These pictures, taken hastily from our back patio don't quite do it justice: (Note the pheasant in the bottom picture - we have tons of them in the surrounding prairies. Dinner, anyone?)

Mamma, Ebba, "Hon"

Lately, Noah has taken to calling me other things than Mamma - though that is still the word of choice most of the time. One day recently, when Phil came home with Noah after running some errands, Noah came racing up the stairs to the second floor yelling, "Ebba.....Ebba...Ebba." Apparently, he had been calling me Ebba in the car too. Yesterday while I was preparing dinner, Noah came over to me with a book that had fallen out of its sleeve and said, "Hey Hon, can you fix this?"

Dinner with Friends

On Saturday, we had Noah's friend Katherine and her family over for dinner - finally, we were able to find a date that worked so that we could get the dad's together! Noah and Katherine just love each other (and Noah also loves her brother Sam's extensive car, truck and train collection!) and see each other frequently for play dates. For at least an hour before Katherine and her family showed up, Noah was running and checking for their car at the door - Phil was amused by Noah's level of excitement! We ended up having a very pleasant evening together. Noah, Katherine and Sam played so nicely together in the basement, coming up every once in awhile to check in with us. Kai hung out on laps and in his chair and then made an early exit to bed. And the adults were actually able to have some conversation! Here are a couple of pictures of the kids:

Noah and Katherine having dessert

Sam and Apple Crisp

Resting after some couch-bouncing in the basement!

Even Native Minnesotans are Cold!!

Today it is so cold that they canceled schools here, which is extremely rare. Apparently, the windchill has to be -30 before they do that, and it was even colder than that this morning! BRRRRRR.... And of course, we ended up having to go out in it. Noah started limping yesterday late afternoon and wanted to be carried, especially to get down stairs (and these days, he NEVER wants to be carried). I hoped that things would be better this morning after a long night's rest, but as soon as Noah got out of bed, he was walking on his toes with his right foot again and also didn't want to go down the stairs. So I dropped Kai off at the neighbors and bundled us off to the doctor's office. After a long wait and thorough examination, the doctor said he thought it is probably some kind of virus that can apparently produce heel pain - never heard of that, but I guess he knows what he's talking about! If Noah still is hobbling around next week, we'll go get an x-ray just to rule out a fracture (which I have no idea how he would have accomplished). Never a dull moment!

Girls, Boys and Cockroaches

Yesterday while Noah and Kai were having dinner together, Noah and I got into a discussion of boys and girls. Specifically, it became a game of me naming a name of someone (friend, family, teacher) and he would tell me if it was a boy or a girl. For some reason, he found this to be highly amusing entertainment. We had gone through all of our friends, neighbors and teachers here and then launched into our extended family members. After getting through all the cousins and aunts/uncles, we finally got to the grandparents (sorry grandparents...not planned that way, you just ended up coming last). Up to this point, Noah had been assigning the correct gender to each name. The last grandparent I mentioned was Morfar (Ebba's dad) and without a moment of hesitation, Noah said "kackerlacka" which is the Swedish word for cockroach!

Sunday Snow Fun & Basketball

Yesterday, Noah and Phil went outside to burn off some energy and play in the snow while Ebba cooked chili and Kai napped. Happily, Noah likes snow this year and enjoys going outside to play in it - no more screaming and struggling to pull on all the outdoor paraphernalia! Though I'm still on the hunt for the perfect toddler mittens....


After lunch, Maddie came over to babysit Noah while Phil, Ebba and Kai went to Minneapolis for a University of Minnesota - Penn State basketball game. It was fun! Kai enjoyed his first athletic event outing and behaved extremely well. He was not at all afraid of all the noise and commotion but rather seemed to find it all quite appealing. We left a little bit before the end of the game anticipating that traffic would get bad and that Kai was approaching the need for a nap and a snack.

Random Pictures from a Low-Key Wednesday

Just a few pictures from our nice, slow-paced day yesterday:

Noah has always LOVED to eat!


No drops of milk wasted in this house....


Kai enjoys hanging out next to Noah while big brother finishes his leisurely breakfast.


Getting ready to go on errands - thank goodness both boys enjoy the car!


This is how Noah feels about going to Target. He loves it! (He still thinks that the toy section is a "museum" - we can look as much as we want, but we never take things home; just say "bye bye" and see you next time.)

Long Time, No Post

Well, I guess I took a little bit of a blogging vacation! 2009 has gotten off to a good start and we're back into the swing of things after a break from our regular routines. The boys are wonderful, seeming to grow and change every day. Kai is such a sweetheart and wins over everyone's heart who meets him. He's just got the best smile that lights up his entire face. Kai loves to snuggle and hang out with people and especially likes to touch people's cheeks which is so cute. Noah is as always keeping us on our toes and entertained. He has miraculously started napping again, which is wonderful for all of us! Here are just some random notes of funny and sweet things that Noah has said/done in the past few weeks that I'm writing down just so I remember them:

**the other day when I went into his bedroom in the morning when he woke up, Noah was holding a little stuffed cow; he looked at me when I said, "good morning sweetheart," and said, "I need to take this animal to Bucks Harbor and find Condon" (Bucks Harbor and Mr. Condon are in the book, "One Morning In Maine", which was a favorite a couple of months ago) ... the things that pop out of his mouth are sometimes so random and funny. When these little babies start talking, you just realize how their little brains are going non-stop!

**last week, I was running some errands with Noah while Kai napped at home with Phil. After we had been in the car for a while, Noah suddenly said, "I need Kai." I thought that was so sweet.

**Noah recently woke up in the middle of the night due to a nightmare, which is a rare occurrence. When I got to his room, he was crying and saying, "monkey, monkey". He never really seemed fully awake and quickly settled down. When I went into his room in the morning, I said, "Noah, did you have a nightmare last night?" He said, "Yeah, it was a scary monkey saying 'ooh, ooh, aah, aah' and it's eyes were scary." Hmmm...I wonder what monkey that was.

**Today Noah told me, "Mamma, I want to go back in your tummy."

**This morning, after the boys woke up, we were all four of us snuggling in bed together. All of a sudden, Noah opened his arms and turned his cheek to Phil and said, "Kiss!" Phil just melted of course.

**Today during our ECFE class, Noah suddenly bolted out the classroom door and down the hall. I chased after him and caught up when he stopped outside the sibling care room which is where we always drop Kai off. Noah banged on the door and said, "I need Kai." I lifted him up and showed him through the window how the caregiver was playing with Kai and that we needed to go back to our classroom but would see Kai in a little bit, which seemed to satisfy him.

**Noah has been obsessed with Thomas the Train during the last few days - even more than usual. He is recreating scenes from some of the Thomas stories that we read together and it's so fun to watch him and listen while he babbles out different sections of the story with lots of drama, "Percy was in TERRIBLE trouble!", "Neville was on the broken bridge but Thomas repaired it!"