Potty time

So it is potty training time in our household. I am not certain if we are training Ani or she is training us. Anika's daycare has been putting her on the potty 4-5 times a day since she was 18 months old - I think it is one persons full time job to take all of those kids to the potty, wash hands, pull up pants and cheer.

Ani lets us know when she want to use the potty and when she has just wet her diaper and when she wants to wash her hands. All with the same word "paaie". But no matter what her real meaning, we head to the bathroom, set up the staging area and sing songs as she sits on the throne.

In the event that something makes it into the toilet, we all clap and cheer. If it was a false alarm, we just clean on up and go about the business of our day.

Yesterday I hopped into the shower after I had just changed her night time diaper - which happened to have a messy surprise - when I heard her pitter patter into the bathroom and say "paaie". What?! Now?! I talked her through putting up the toilet seat then taking her seat off the hook and putting it on the big toilet then getting the stool.... all while speed showering - rinsing the shampoo as fast as I could. Then I had her back up to the shower so I could take her pants and diaper off. I need to pause here to let the non-parents of toddlers know something here. The 15 minutes in the shower are the only 15 minutes that belong to you - no sticky hands grabbing for you, no spills to clean, no poopy diapers to change. Just hot hot water beating on your shoulders and the sounds of ABBA in your head. Instead, I was singing the ABCs while Ani fake peed in the potty.

She is lucky she is so cute and likes to give hugs.

Basil

So when you have a garden, you have to weed and water it all summer - which is actually enjoyable. But then comes the harvesting season -- Fall. Why is everything ready at once?!  The tomatoes have gone wild this years as has the basil.  We already have picked the plants clean twice and there is still basil out there, begging to be picked and eaten.  And the green peppers... we have never had so many. 

The weather has turned damn cold and the kale, carrots and radishes are catching up to the hot weather veggies.  It is a cornucopia out there.  Anika and I  pick a few carrots and cherry tomatoes for dinner each night, but the tomatoes usually don't make it back to the kitchen.

At 22 months, Anika is old enough to help out processing some garden veggies. Wow that happened fast! She used to cry when I used the food processor, but if she is the one to push the button it is a different story. She helped put handfuls of basil into the food processor and watched in glee while they became basil mash.  She does not like to eat pesto, which we had later that night, but she likes to be a part of the household.

Ani helps out with dinner most nights, she points to her apron and then to mine and then lets me know exactly where she wants the step stool to be placed.  Usually in front of the sink so she can wash her hands 4-5 times and then over to the works space so she can take tops off of tomatoes or put the cut up grapes in a bowl or mix some other veg.  We practice counting grapes or tomatoes as she puts them in the bowl.  4 is a favorite number as is the 5, 6 combo.  I did not know how much joy she would bring to our lives.

 

Rocking hippo

My dad made Anika a rocking hippo. Yes, a hippo not a horse or a moose. I asked for a hippo and he delivered.  He carved it out of a log and added the rocking parts after. Every time we would go to my parents house (every 2-3 weeks) I would check out his progress. He started it before Anika was born and finished it before she turned 6 months old.

 

My dad liked the process if making things from wood. He liked to look at the wood and see what it had in mind for itself. He was a very talented man.  What he did not like was the finishing of a project. When it was finished it had to be perfect - which could take months to years of taking a little off here and sanding a bit there. So finishing became my job.

beeswax finish

I used a beeswax finish to keep the dirt off and give it a nice warm tone. It was not as difficult to make as I thought.  (Which is good because my dad also made Anika enough blocks to fill a 5 gallon bucket - which I need to finish.) Anika had no where to hold onto, hence a saddle needed to be made.  I picked up an issue of Mother Earth News hoping to see what a saddle should look like - no saddles but a lot of chicken coops.  So I guessed.  I used some great scrap fabric I had from Hannah Johnson Fabrics in Duluth and a few belts I found at the Goodwill in Ely.  

Ani just looks at it. She has been on it once and hopped off at her first chance. I think I will move it to the living room and we can take turns riding it while watching some African documentary.

Raspberries galore!

Anika has discovered the joy of fresh berries. First, the strawberries in the garden - her job was to take the berries we handed her and place them in the bowl. About a third made it onto the bowl and most of the rest made it into her body - a few lost soldiers painted her face and clothes.

Now it is raspberry season. And for those of you who have been here before, you l know that our neighbors Pete and Rosemary have a huge raspberry patch with abnormally large fruit. Anika has been helping them pick whenever we are all in our backyards at the same time. Pick = fill her belly. When the neighbors are not outside, she makes a bee line for our mini raspberry patch. The plants are a perfect height for her and a good height for Elmo to pick as well!

We love our berries!

New Boat!

So we have been talking about lake shore. I guess not talking about just lake shore, but about buying a "cabin" cabin on the lake. As in a cabin with an outhouse and not a cabin with a granite tiled bath and a hot tub.

Our first step was buying a motor boat which Kevin accomplished within a day of our decision to buy. Second step, pick a lake and test it out!

Anika was a bit overwhelmed at the boat landing. We went to the Fall Lake public landing and there were a few canoes - 6 and their people, mainly boy scouts - and another motor boat. She clutched onto me for the first 30 minutes and then she sat on "daaee's" lap, pretended to drive and munched carrots. Suddenly, all was well in her world - until it started getting hot hot.

We cooled off our feet in the lake while Kevin loaded the boat. A great way to spend a hot morning in Ely.

Duluth Weekend

Instead of one long summer vacation, we are taking a long weekend a month. Anika is a good traveller as long as the car ride is not longer than 2 hours and we stop at a playground to swing after an hour.

Our June weekend was spent in Duluth. Miss Anika did not like the temp of the hotel pool, but she did like the in-room hot tub. It came as no surprise that she did not want to wade in Lake Superior but she did like to throw rocks and watch the splash Lake Superior offered back to her.

The Great Lakes Aquarium was fantastic - we had planned to go to the zoo as well, but the flooding made that impossible. Instead we spent time in Leif Erikson park, the Rose Garden, Park Point (where there was an art fair) and the Lake Walk. And of course Jeremy' half birthday party - the real reason we choose that particular weekend to head out of town. Happy Birthday Jeremy!

smelling roses in  leif erikson park's rose garden

picking a rock to throw

throwing that rock into lake superior

walking to the hotel pool

playing on a wood ship at the park point beach

Day at the Zoo

So just a few days before the Lake Superior Zoo flooded and the polar bear, Berlin, escaped, Anika, Nana and I visited said bear and the lions. It was Ani's first time seeing live animals. She thinks bears are for cuddling and lions are to be kissed.

Anika loved the zoo. She got braver as the morning went on, but not brave enough to get more than 10 feet from the lioness who was laying in wait for her. Smart girl.

looking at the lioness

who was looking at her

Birthday Cake

My little brother's birthday is tomorrow. Oh to have a summer birthday... He always had a beach party with a piñata and angel food cake and lots of sunshine. My birthday is on a rainy day in October. I admit it I have been a bit jealous of his birthdate for a long time.

I texted him to see if he had a cake request - his comment: deep dish Chicago style pepperoni pizza. I countered with chocolate dipped potato chips. He accepted. I would have wanted something with frosting, but I have learned that a gift for someone should be something he likes, not what I want to give him because I like it. So dipped potato chips it is!

So easy - I bought ripple chips and a bag of good quality chocolate chips. Read: not Nestle's. I melted the chocolate (an entire bag) in the microwave and then stirred in a touch of canola oil - a trick I learned from Amy V's mom when making peanut butter balls. The oil will give the chocolate a nice shine when dry, a lovely alternative to looking dull and unappealing.

Then dip your chips and place them on parchment paper (or wax paper) to dry. I put the parchment paper on a cookie sheet so I could pop them in the freezer to set - it is 80 degrees here today. I stopped when my cookie sheet was filled. I still had chocolate left so I sprinkled almonds on parchment and poured the remaining melted chocolate over them, making a poor man's version of Martha Stewarts' winter bark.

Tomorrow will be a good day! Sugar highs all around...

New Kitty in Town

Zippy, my mom's new kitten, and Anika were getting along famously until Zippy started getting a bit nippy - Anika was traumatized for 30 to 45 seconds and went back to being BFFs. Our cats at home avoid her at all cost, so to have a kitty playmate is so exciting that Ani needs to stand in the middle of the room and squeal. Yes, I got that on video, but I have no idea how to upload it from my phone. One day...

Movie Night

Jack came over for dinner tonight - we always hope that dinner guests will wear her out and she will fall right asleep when they leave. Right.

We ate, they played in the dirt pile outside, made some play dough shapes inside, ate some popcorn while watching Toy Story 3... it wore me out. But not Miss Anika. Oh no. Kevin has been putting her to sleep for about an hour now. If anyone has a "go to sleep damn it" trick, please speak up!

Weekend Warrior

So our little Anika had quite a few firsts within the last 48 hours. First time swimming in a pool, first visit to the Front Porch coffee shop, first haircut (just her bangs - in the bath), first bike ride, first time falling asleep on the couch and first fever.

Saturday was BUSY. We decided to have a family day - which usually means going to the park - which is how we started the day off. But it was damn cold and windy so after we played for a while and said hello to a duck family, we headed to the coffee shop. Mommy and daddy needed a warm up and Miss Anika needed an animal cracker snack. I think that we don't know many people in town - we have been here for almost 8 years but we don't get out much - but we ran into 5 people we knew.  5 is a lot of people to know in a coffee shop that at maximum capacity holds 30 people.  Anika played with the plastic tea set, and Kevin and I chatted about our plans for our summer project - landscaping.  

the park

Front Porch

During Anika's nap the Fitzpatrick Family arrived and so did our new maple tree.  After a little lunch and leg stretching, they headed to the hotel to get into the pool and we followed shortly after.  Anika LOVED swimming.  If you can call standing in the kiddie pool and sitting on her dad's lap as swimming.  We do. 

swimming in the kiddie pool

swinging in the park

Then yesterday, I chopped Anika's bangs in the bath (a first) - she was unusually lethargic in the bath - I could barely get her to splash water on the floor.  Since I was on a roll, I trimmed her nails and quickly popped her into the bike seat (another first) and took off for the park.  She perked up.  But not too much up.  When we got home, I put her on the couch while I made lunch.  I came back in the room 15 minutes later and this is what I saw... she has NEVER fallen asleep on the couch before.

"watching" Gnomeo and Juliet

Later that night, she had a temperature of 101 F.  This morning she was just fine - the fever is gone, she is eating some foods again and Anika started the day off meowing at and chasing the cats.  A normal day with no firsts. 

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.  

Cushions Galore

So Mother's Day is a celebration of mothers right?   We don't have to celebrate by having breakfast in bed or planting flowers, we can celebrate by driving 250 miles (one-way) sans child can't we?  For my first Mother's Day - last year - I spent the weekend in Minneapolis. My own mother, good friend Mary and I shopped and shopped, ate out and stayed the night in a nice hotel and spent the next morning listening to the Dalai Lama.  The shopping part seemed so wrong since the real purpose of the trip was to see His Holiness but we could not stop ourselves.

The best shopping stop was Treadle Yard Goods.  I had never been in a good fabric store that had that kind of selection.  Places like Hancock Fabric and JoAnn Fabric do not count as "good" fabric stores but they certainly have selection - "good" fabric stores carry corduroy and batik and quilting fabric.  I picked up 2 yards of sale butter yellow paisley corduroy - sale meaning $12/yard verses $16/yard.  These 2 beautiful yards just sat in my fabric stash.  I kept looking at them and thinking I had to make something really special with them since I bought them when we saw the Dalai Lama.

A few months ago, my father passed away.  Within a few days my mother needed to change how things looked and felt in the living room.  She had my brother and I haul the couch out to the garage and eventually to the landfill.  I managed to save the cushions - and recovered them with a mix of corduroy fabrics.  Anika loves to jump on them, lounge on them as she watches Gnomeo and Juliet, use them as a step stool to reach buttons on the stereo and play with her little people on them.  It was a good save.

Road Rash

It was going to happen - Anika would fall on the sidewalk. I still was not prepared when that day came and I am not ready for it to happen again. Ever.

Friday, my mom was here so Kevin and I could go to a talk given by Ghandi's grandson. Anika was running toward me, hands full of plastic shovels and she tripped on her slipper sock. Since she couldn't catch herself with her hands, she caught her herself with her face and her legs flipped over her head into the rocks.

It did not happen in slow motion it just happened.

I quickly scooped her up and almost had a panic attack myself and made a beeline for a nuk and a place to hold and rock her.

My mom explained the signs of a concussion (Anika did not have one) and to counseled me on heading straight to the ER (no need). Thank you mom. How would I parent if I did not have such a great support system?

In a few hours Anika was acting normal again and the crisis was over - at least for now. Even with multiple applications of wheat germ oil, her face is going to take a lot longer to heal.

Free wheeling

It was a beautiful day. The sun warmed the deck to a lovely temperature and encouraged the removal of socks, shoes, and heavy winter sweaters. My mom even pulled out the 4 wheelers and we took Ani for her first ride. There were no tears and no shrieks of joy, she was calm as a cucumber. We had 20 minutes of motorized fun in the sun. And then more outside time watering Nana's garden and digging in the dirt. You would think that all that fresh air would have exhausted her... Nope. It is 9:23 PM and I can still hear her banging her feet on the bedroom wall.

But she does it so sweetly...

Gym Night

So once a session, the Ely ECFE (3 classes worth) spends the evening in the high school gym. Anika loved it! Balls to chase, hoops to spin and throw, kids to run around with AND her first experience in a bouncy house.

We spent a fair amount of time watching the other older children going in the bouncy house, jumping around, and sliding out. Then we spent some time practicing going down the slide. She was ready. She had the entire house to herself - but all she did was sit there. Another little girl went in to show her what to do and Ani just sat and watched her. We coaxed her out and down the slide and she smiled and signed "more". She didn't mean back in the house, she wanted to slide some more. And so she did.

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!