Crazy for Radishes!

Anika cannot get enough radishes. When she wants something, she opens and closes her hand quickly and yells, "mamma mamma mamma mamma". When she sees a radish, her hand moves faster and her yelling becomes more insistent. We have given up trying to make her wait as we bite off parts of it for her or cut it up - we just give her a whole radish and hope the whole thing does not go in at once.

Hippy Cookies

So last night Ani had sugar in the form of chocolate chip cookies. Kevin has made it clear to me that if she has sugar like that again at night, I get to bounce her to sleep. I kind of like my quiet time at the end of the day and I will not willingly give it up.

So... I made Ani some hippy peanut butter cookies to consume during daylight hours. "Hippy" because I found the recipe on my worn Lauren's Kitchen cookbook. It was the first cookbook I ever purchased - after I had copied too many recipes out of it at the local Barnes and Noble during my college years to call it "referencing" any longer. I love that cookbook. Anyhow, the cookies have honey, peanut butter, egg, vanilla, spelt flour, baking soda and salt. Super easy and Anika loves them. She is getting very good at asking for more in sign language. 

And just like clockwork, she took her nap at exactly 12:30 and slept for 2 1/2 hours.  

Yep. Anika is Finnish

A Saturday night, all of us exhausted from yard work and being outside, seemed like a good night to bring Anika into the sauna for the first time.  All three of us (Kevin, Anika and myself) got in our new Christmas bathrobes and trooped from the house to the sauna.  Kevin filled a rubbermaid bucket with warmish water and Anika and I sat on the low bench together - her in the bucket.  She had a fantastic time - playing with cups and her pig duck. I cooled her off by dumping cups of water down her back and putting a wet wash cloth over her face. She loved it!

When her ears started getting red and her cheeks stayed flushed, it was time to vacate the sauna.  We have learned to stop doing an activity while she still likes it.  There is no need for a meltdown if it can be prevented.

Hot, hot, hot!

Wow. Minnesota has warmed up in the past week! Anika wanted to be OUTside all weekend. When we would try to bring her in before she was ready, she let us know her displeasure by yelling loudly and thrashing about. Sometimes becoming a wet noodle on our arms.

Anika's new skill set includes: wet noodle mini-tantrums, running while "singing", walking backwards while maintaining eye contact with someone in front of her, eating with a fork and standing in the middle of the room and shrieking. All important skills on the road of life - at least her road of life.

The pavement is the only place that her feet seem to feel comfortable. Walking on the grass is currently off the table as is walking on dirt. I bought her a rake to give her a little something to do on the grass - and blister preventing gardening gloves of course. What does our 15 month child do? She wears the gloves and runs up and down the sidewalk singing. She tried to take the rake inside to sweep the carpet. Another meltdown when it went back where it came from.

we have a walker

We spent Anika's Birthday in Minneapolis - Black Friday shopping, meeting Santa, quality time at the Children's Museum, did I mention holiday shopping and Santa? 

 

Anika started walking just one day before her Birthday - on Thanksgiving.  If she was better at walking when she met Santa, she would have run away as fast as she could.  She did not stop crying until we were down to the 2nd floor of Macy's (Santa was on the 8th).  Oh.  Did I mention that Anika developed a fear of elevators while we were staying in Minneapolis?   It is a good thing that she won't remember much about the experience and perhaps she will one day LOVE Santa.  We have NO PLANS to see another Santa this holiday season.  

She is getting better at walking every day - oh yes.  And she is getting to be quite the dancer when she hears her favorite music: Elmo's World Song, Sandra Boynton's Cows, and of course anything I sing for her.  

Happy Holidays!

In and Out

The current obsession/skill set for Miss Anika is "in and out".  Blocks go in and out of the box, cheerios go in and out of the bowl, little people and animals go in and out of the barn, and anything goes in and out of a oatmeal container.  Anything.  We have multiple oatmeal containers so each room in the house can have at least one.  Putting kitchen magnets in and then covering the container and taking the cover off and taking the magnets out can keep Ani entertained for at least 7 minutes.  Yesterday we played with her barn - yes, putting animals and friends in and; out of the upper level - for 20 minutes.  Do you know how long that is in baby years?  About 3 years.

She has not mastered putting her toys in the toy bins and leaving them there at the end of the day - there is always the out part of "in and out" to contend with.

If we are not putting things in and out of containers, we are playing chase - Kevin is usually the chaser and Anika is the chasee.  She squeals in delight and they go around and around the ottoman.  This morning, Dolemite got involved and Anika became the chaser and the kitty the chasee.  That did not last long before D jumped onto the window sill and swished his tail at her.  Soon she will be tall enough to get him - he had better watch out!

Walking update: not yet - at least not by herself.  She will take a few steps behind a walker or chair or to get from furniture to one of us - but not without something to lean on.  She will stand up by herself in the middle of the living room and drink from her cup and then sit back down, but hold on to her hands to get the ball rolling and she sits down every time. One day she will just take off and we will never be able to catch her again!

Playing Catch Up

July 2011, picking weeds with daddy

So over the course of the year, I have been getting pictures and blog titles ready and then not actually posting the blog entry.  Not good since this is going to be Anika's baby book... Her birthday is right around the corner - literally - and it looks like I need to clean house.  I will try to do these in order.


Anika and I went for a walk with LouEzza in June to check out a fairy house a few blocks away.  Ani was MUCH more interested in chatting Sophie the giraffe up than doing anything else.  She also has a mermaid with her, but Sophie seems to be holding court.

June 2011, making friends with Sophie

Over the winter, Mary, Ella and I met at Northern Grounds to knit and have coffee - sometimes I brought Ani and sometimes my mother watched her so I could have uninterrupted adult time for an hour or so.  Anyway, Ella sewed this fantastic reversible bonnet for Anika - she also gave me the pattern.  It protected Anika's face many, many times and because it was so great, I used the pattern to make her a fall version with a broadcloth outside and a blue fleece inside.  It was not as easy to make as Ella implied.

June 2011, swinging in Ella's hat

June 2011, swinging in Ella's hat

June 2011, still swinging in Ella's hat

Every year, I make Caid a pinata for his birthday... well, how could I make one for Caid and not Grant (his younger brother)?  This might be my last pinata for a while.  The shape is no big deal to make, as long as I don't have an Anika hanging on my legs.  It is the fluff.  The fluff is individual squares of tissue paper glued on one at a time.  Oh yes.  It is quite the time consuming feat.  Maybe when Anika is 5...


June 2011, checking out Grant's birthday pinata

June 2011, staring down Grant's monster birthday pinata

Our friend, Mary, knit this fantastic shrug for Anika - it is the only piece of clothing that she wore this spring and she can still wear this fall.  In fact, Anika wore it today as an extra layer to keep her cuddly warm, but not too warm, after her afternoon bath.  We LOVE it!

May 2011, in Mary's shrug

 

By 8 months old, Anika had 8 teeth.  Her molars have been threatening to come in since then, but nothing yet.

July 2011, new teeth!

July 2011, chasing the cat, without crawling



July 2011, family picnic at Olcot park, Virginia

Before Anika (which is how time is measured now), we had almost always worked on a project on the weekend.  Going for a drive without purpose is a foreign concept for us.  So we decided to get out of our comfort zone and have an adventure. We took off in the morning for the North Shore and ended up in Grand Marais for dinner.  I guess we did have a purpose for the trip... we wanted to get sauna rocks.  We came home with six rocks and a very crabby baby.  We have not taken off for a drive since then.

August 2011, eating in the car on the North Shore

Our independent child.  In August the only way we could get a spoon of food in her mouth was to give her a spoon of her own.  That of course evolved - she needed food on her spoon also.  She was not coordinated enough to get it in her mouth... I am sure she could do it now, but we learned our lesson - once bitten twice shy - maybe I will try a full spoon again tomorrow, maybe not. 

August 2011, mastering spoon feeding

We are building a garage.  Or should I say we are using our life savings to have a garage built?  Regardless of how you say it, our mini one stall garage was demoed, a huge hole was dug in our yard and filled back in again - multiple times.  Heavy equipment rested in our yard for most of the summer and we could not resist sitting in the cab of the mini hoe and pretend to dig.
 
Since then, the shell of the garage has been built, power lines buried, sidewalk and apron poured and a beautiful retaining wall built.  Soon the inside of the garage will be complete and we can finally park inside.

September 2011, with daddy in mini hoe

For mother's day, we finger painted flowers on freezer paper, put them in magnet frames and sent them off to the grandmas.  So we decided to send some new art for the frames for grandparent's day.  We need a new craft for the next holiday.  Anika is now 24 pounds of wiggling opinionated baby - I could barely hold her in September.  Perhaps a nice play dough craft for Christmas...

September 2011, "finger painting"a masterpiece for grandparent's day

15 seconds to glory

barley cereal hair

So big!

Eating update: who knew that a high chair would change our lives. Ani is able to pick up food easier - because of the lip on the tray, she is able to relax in the chair and only a few pieces of food end up on the floor (3-9).  She eats ALL of her mango yogurt and barley cereal for breakfast and there is no Tom Foolery.  I would not have believed it if I did not repeatedly experience this lovely behavior. Mealtime no longer takes 90 minutes and looks like this:

Anika has been crawling for a few months - she has her carpet crawl (normal) and her hardwood crawl (butt in the air with straight legs) down pat.  She cruises furniture and will let go to get from the chair to the ottoman.  And yesterday she stood by herself for her new record time: 15 seconds!  Look mom, no hands! We have been told over and over again how each stage (rolling off the changing table, crawling into the bathroom and shutting the door, eating old toast off the floor) was going to change our lives.  Listen up! Having a baby changed our lives.  But, I believe them this time about walking...

Anika just raised my shirt and gave me a raspberry - I did not remember how much that tickles!

We have been reading to hippo and having a lot of tea parties lately - sometimes kitty kitty gets involved.  We teach the stuffies to drink from a cup and eat from a spoon.  They are getting proficient!  And getting a lot of veggies in their diet - more than anyone else in our house.  Then we relax and read books to them.  This afternoon, we had the first real snowfall - Ani stopped reading, stared out the window and said, "oooh, ooooh" and pointed at the snow.  Then she showed kitty kitty (her stuffed cat) the snow and ooooohed some more. 

 

 

peek-a-boo

Anika - on the North Shore, 8 months old

Our darling, sweet baboon is moving around - really moving around. We have gone from playing possum to inching along furniture.  When I was told that when she figured out how to crawl she would be MOBILE within a few days, I did not believe it.  Everything else seemed to happen so slowly.  Well, the wise ones were correct.  She is very mobile - a high speed crawler.  It is so adorable when she wags her butt quickly because she is moving so fast - until I see where she is going.  Cornering a cat in the bathroom is not a good way to make friends.  

What a lively child. As I am writing this she is trying desperately to pull herself up to a standing position under the table on the hardwood floor - good thing Kevin swooped in to intervene.  Crawling is already old hat as is pulling herself into a standing position.  We have advanced to using furniture as a stabilizer to move around and take swipes at the toys we leave out for her. 

Recently, she got bored with sitting around while the adults did adult stuff and she decided to play peek-a-boo all by her lonesome. Adorable.  My favorite is when she plays peek-a-boo after we have read 5 books and sang many lullabies and I think nap time is about to finally start.  Then she starts with peek-a-boo and signing "all done".  Still adorable, but not funny. 

Is it bad that I left the Cheerios that she deliberately threw on the floor, on the floor so she would eat them later - so something would get into her belly? Just asking. 

swinging in the park

gas, gas and more gas

 

mango yogurt face

If someone would have told me in my 20s that one day I would be obsessed with my daughter's gas, I would have laughed in their face - well, more like swore at them, perhaps in a different language so it did not sound so harsh, smiled and walked away.  Well, my 20s are over and we are currently obsessed with Anika's gas.  Oh yes.  She was one gassy and therefore unhappy baby by bedtime. 

Gassy foods:
Pears
Prunes
Peaches
Apricots
Raw Apples
Carrots
Peas
Brown Rice
Oats
Broccoli
Cucumbers
Peppers
Beans

Who knew that almost ALL of the foods you feed a baby are gas producing?  And if you feed said foods to your already sensitive baby, by bedtime she will freak out for an hour or two and then pass out because all of her energy is sapped.  Oh - then she will flail around in bed - the current family bed - because her gas problem was not solved.  Hence her parents will wake up stiff and bruised in the morning. Our darling, gentle flower, has been eating the top 9 foods on this list.  Almost exclusively.  We did not want her to be constipated so we made sure to have pears or prunes with EVERY meal.  What were we doing to her?!

Non-gassy foods:
White Rice
Applesauce
Avocado
Sweet Potato
Mango

non-gassy breakfast tray

Her breakfast tray is currently orange.  Her lunch tray, snack bowl and dinner tray are the same.  Orange.  With the occasional avocado thrown in there - but remember we live in Ely MN - good avocados are not hanging out at the grocery store waiting for us.  So we are back to orange.  At least we are spicing up her life with some yogurt, winter squash, cinnamon, cardamom, egg yolks - and tomorrow, fennel.  Once again orange spices, veg and a little white yogurt thrown in there, which turns orange when we add mangoes.

Almost every food we have made for Miss Anika has been spit back out of her mouth. Carrots that her dad and I made for her last fall, came right out of her mouth.  But Earth's Best carrots in a jar were the cat's meow - she could not get enough of them.  Sweet peas that I steamed and ground up for her fresh - no way in hell.  Split peas that I soaked overnight, cooked, processed and froze, barely made it in her mouth before they came right back out (and yes, I did mix them with a fruit to increase their baby friendliness and texture), but Plum Organics: Spinach, Peas and Pear mix in the squeezy thingy... heaven for her taste buds.  All of that processed food joy is over for now.  Thank the stars that she has consistently consumed the sweet potatoes that I make for her (which by the way are the easiest baby food I have made to date) because that is just about her only veggie on her approved list.  At least we have a happy baby who goes to bed de-gassed by 7PM each night. 

happy de-gassed Ani

laugh out loud!

No matter how many hours of fussiness Anika needs to share with us, she also shares joy...

teeth

I will admit, I was a bit nervous about Anika cutting teeth.  Anika is a joy to be with most of the time... but when that bewitching hour starts, Kevin and I are not shy about tag teaming it (handing her off to the other).  I thought teething meant the bewitching hour(s) would now be an all day event.  Don't get me wrong, she has been SO much better since she started seeing the chiropractor, but she still has her moments - sometimes all of moments get wrapped into one lovely 3 hour session of crying and flailing about.  But her moments are not related to her teeth - we have not noticed a big change in her - no extra crying, no pulling on her ears, no fever... there is the extra drool as you can see from the picture above... but the only side effect from drool is a little rash on her neck and the dryness level of her onesie. 

What an independent child. Anika has started eating solid foods - rice cereal, sweet potato, banana, pears, avocado and this week we are adding chickpeas and carrots.  Hot damn.  The very first time I have her a sippy cup, I demonstrated how to use it and she grabbed it from me and started drinking.  We have created a monster.  After the solid food part of meals, she will not finish up and drink formula from a bottle - we have to put her formula in her sippy cup so she can do it herself.  And of course she cannot drink well in her high chair, so we move her to the bouncy chair.  Of course.  We are embracing her independence - what else can we do?  There is no changing a  babies personality and why would you want to? 

Miss Anika is starting to sit up by herself.  We have stopped cheering when she rolls over because that is old news now, but we have started cheering when she grabs for an object while sitting and moves/falls toward it... on to the next stage -- crawling!

mommy's yoga time

Excited about the ceiling fan!

For the past 35 years, mornings have been my own time.  Time to drink that steaming cup of dark, rich coffee while I peruse magazines or the paper or a good book.  Maybe throw in a little meditation and my morning sun salutations.  Those days are long gone.  I have heard people say that the child they added to their lives joined their current life.  In other words, the parents did not change, the child conformed. Who are these people?!  I no longer linger over coffee - IF I get to drink my cup before it gets cold I consider myself lucky.  Meditation is one of those abstract concepts that I can just see off in the distance - fuzzy and out of focus.  But damn it.  I am going to do my sun salutations. 

Miss Anika lays on our bed, the fan spinning above her to keep her amused while I start my warm ups - the circle of joy.  If you have never done this lovely circle, please, please check it out and do it at your desk or pause and do it while you are washing dishes or perusing your bookshelf.  It will be a very rewarding experience.  By then she is talking away (see video below!) and I have to chat with her during my wide legged forward bend.  Then comes the sun salutations and I can get a few in before I need to have another conversation.  A few more standing poses and now I need to move Anika to the mat and do some child friendly cat and cow.  Like my yoga practice, my life has changed.  It is much richer and I take more time to pay attention to the things around me to chat about them with my daughter. 

buzzing bees

Anika is sitting up everywhere - in her ExerSaucer, in her high chair, in her stroller, in the corner of the couch.  She loves it.  It is a whole new world for her and she is loving every minute of it!  She is so distracted by everything around her - and who wouldn't be?  There are so many, many thing to look at and touch and put in her mouth.  It is great fun to see things new again - I had no idea how much fun a ball of used tin foil was until Ani laughed at it.  Her laugh is infectious.  Check out a video I took a few days ago of her laughing at her crazy, spastic bee.  (Which I bought to get up to the free shipping amount on Amazon - one of the best purchases this week!)

Anika still spends plenty of time on the floor and she is almost rolling over by herself... almost.  We only have 1 1/2 to 2 hours of awake time to play and we have to change 3-12 diapers in that time and convince her to drink her formula.  You see, Anika like to play with her formula unless she is starving.  She has learned how to blow bubbles back into the bottle.  Not our favorite skill of hers.  We start feeding her in our arms and then when she starts getting distracted and moving her head from side to side to side, we move to the bouncy chair where we hold up a book for her to look at while hold the bottle.  Some days it is helpful to have 2 of us feeding her.  Like it is helpful to have 2 of us change her diaper - not a number 1 diaper, but a number 2 diaper.  One of us holds her legs away from the offending diaper and the other cleans all of the poo that hides in the folds and crevasses of her lower half.  Yes.  My life and conversations revolve around Anika's diapers, how fast she is growing, and buying formula and other daily supplies.  I am working on getting my own life.  One day soon I will have something new to talk about.  It might be time to take my subscription to the New York Times off vacation mode and start reading something other than Parent's magazine...

 

 

our first stroller ride

It is still damn cold in Northern Minnesota.  So cold that we have not even thought about taking Ani outside for any length of time.  Not even for 10 minutes on the front porch.  Nope.  No way.  She is a sensitive little girl.  Anika seems to think that the sun burns skin like acid instead of warming skin like a blanket fresh from the drier.  But two weeks ago, the temps started be at least 20 degrees on a consistent basis so we bought Ani a stroller (and a sheepskin rug).  We first practiced sitting in the stroller in the house and then moved outside. 

You can tell first glance that we are first time parents. Oh yes.

First the stroller has killer shocks and a wheel that turns better than an IKEA cart.  Then we have a sheepskin layer to keep her warm, then Ani is in a snowsuit with a fleece hat, covered with 1-2 blankets and then the entire stroller has a cover to keep out the sun and wind.  We wondered if she was getting any fresh air in there... but at least she was happy.  Not one peep from her during our first walk. Nor from her second, third or fourth - she just looks around dazed and amazed at this whole new world. 

anika and the whale

Kevin has been working on a specific skill set with Anika: pulling the star and making the whale vibrate.  Some days are more successful than others...

arrested development

The first time Anika sat in her Bumbo chair I had to prop her up, quick take a photo to prove what a big girl she was, then immediately pry her crying body out of the chair and pop in a pacifier.  She has evolved since then (as you can tell from the photo progression).  Now Anika likes to play with toys we put on the tray that attaches to the chair.  By "play" I mean looks at them, try to eat them then sweep the toys off of the tray and onto the floor. 

first time in bumbo chair

12 weeks old

14 weeks old

15 weeks old (almost)

Anika has grown out of the top two sleepers and is about to bust out of the frog suit at any moment.  In fact last night, during the first of many meltdowns, we took her out of the frog suit in case her feet were getting squashed.  It stopped the meltdown in its tracks.  Shortly there after, a new one started. She is a sensitive child. 

So sensitive in fact, that sleep training is proving to be a daunting task.  She needs quiet, darkness, and someone's arms to snuggle into.  But when she is 3 years old that might be a challenge to provide so we are working on eliminating the arms part of the trifecta.  I will let you know how it works in a few months :)