Mother's Day Summary

Sunday was my 2nd Mother's Day spent as a mom. It was wonderful. We spent a little quiet time at home before heading up to Whidbey Island to have brunch with Eric's parents. We ate more than our fill and then played a really fun game called Tripoly. (I think we might add that to our shopping list one of these days!) For Mother's Day, Annika and Eric gave me heartfelt cards and some new cookie cutters .... YIPPEE!! Do they know me or what?!!?

The only down part of our trip to the island was the line for the return ferry. We're used to leaving the house and hopping right onto the next ferry. No such luck on Sunday. Instead of our usual right turn to the ferry terminal, we had to turn left and go WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY up the hill to the end of the waiting line. We wound up just beyond the "90 minutes +/- from this spot" sign. Fortunately, the very tired Annika fell asleep and Eric and I had books to read. Our usual 1 hour trip turned into a 2 1/2 hour trip home. UGH!

Speaking of books, can I just say how excited I am that the book club I'm in chose to read "To Kill a Mockingbird"? I love, love, love that book!!! (Not enough to name a child Scout or Boo, but I really do love the book.) It is funny to read it with an adult's perspective instead of a teenager's point of view. Things I missed as a young reader jump out now as critical to the book's development and depth. I savor my time with this book; it is like creme brulee for me. Each little taste is delicious and rich.

21 months old

Yesterday, Annika turned 21 months old. It astounds us to think about how much she's learned in that amount of time. In addition to her vocabulary taking off like a rocket, she's also started doing things like imaginary play and had started really playing with the dogs (she loves to throw toys for Buca to chase). She is also expressing more complex ideas. Yesterday, Eric and I were playing a card game and Annika walked up to Eric and said "Seat. Up." He got up, not sure where this would go and Annika proceeded to climb up into his chair. She simply wanted to sit where he was.


Some of our favorite things she says these days are "uppy down" (still not quite sure when to say up or down, so she says both), "HA!" (when asked what a hyena says), and "whoooossssshhhh" (we aren't sure what she's doing exactly, but she says this while running around with her arms stuck out behind her..... flying, perhaps?)


Who says baskets aren't great fashion accessories?



KISSES!



Showing off her forehead owie



A closer look

First major owie ... and trip to ER

Shortly after we got home last night, Annika and the corner of her bedroom door briefly became one. After 1-2 seconds of silence, there was blood curdling screaming (from her... not me!). I swooped her up as soon as I could get my arms around here and tried to soothe her. I looked for blood and gratefully didn't see any. Then I noticed the goose egg that was on her forehead above her left eye. I rushed to Eric and told him that we were going to the ER. He saw her goose egg, proclaimed "Jesus!" and grabbed his keys.

Fortunately, NW Hospital is a stone's throw away from us and we were in the ER within 5 minutes. Annika calmed down en route to the hospital, but Eric and I were a mass of nerves. We were VERY lucky because no one was in the ER's waiting room when we arrived. We filled out 1 short form and were in the triage room getting Annika's stats evaluated. The nurse decided that the pulse/ox finger thingy was too big for Annika's wee little fingers, so he got the monitor that goes around wee little toes. Annika was QUITE impressed with that! Soon, we were in the exam room waiting for the doctor to check out our baby girl's now golf ball-sized goose egg.

The nurse brought a coloring book and crayons to keep Annika busy .... Eric decided to show her that crayons can also be used to color her toe nails!

The doctor performed a neurological exam on her and proclaimed that she was fine, but wanted to observe her for a bit before releasing her. About an hour later, we were on our way home with instructions to keep an eye out for the brain bleed symtoms and to keep her on Tylenol.

We were all completely wiped out after the ordeal and crawled into bed last night .... only to be awakened almost every hour. It seemed that each time Annika rolled over during the night, she would rub her forehead on her mattress and wake herself up. Poor kiddo!

She had a follow up doctor's appointment today and got a clean bill of health. The doctor said we need to watch her for brain bleed symptoms for another 24 hours, but didn't expect us to see them based on how Annika is doing thus far.

Fortunately, she's going to be fine. She also has another "first" story for her baby book.

Going to church with a toddler

On Sunday, I realized something very important. Going to church with a baby is EASY. They sleep. Sometimes they coo or wiggle, but they generally sleep. On Sunday, I watched some fairly new parents snuggle with their baby during mass; he was quiet and generally snoozed (which is not a reflection on the priest's homily, I hope). Annika, on the other hand, was intent on eating a collection envelope, patting the leg of the person next to us, flirting with the woman behind us, singing at the top of her lungs (when no one else was singing), and being a general wiggle worm. Mid way through mass, we made the transition to the cry room, where we found another mom and toddler. Her little guy, just like Annika, was chatty, wiggly, and busy. It was then that I realized when Annika was a baby, I could peacefully listen to the homily and reflect. Now I'm lucky to catch every 5th word and the general idea of the homily. I had to laugh at the change in church experience as Annika has aged. Fortunately she hasn't gotten to the stage that she resists going to church.... I'm sure that'll be here before we know it.

Trip to the Zoo

The Woodland Park Zoo has a great indoor play area called the Zoomazium. A few times per week, the zoo has toddler play time in the Zoomazium and we decided to check it out yesterday. There were quite a few kids there and lots for the little ones to do. At one point, a zoo employee read a story (Annika was too busy playing to pay attention to the book) and then there was a bunny that the kids could pet (again, Annika was too busy). I think Annika's favorite aspects of the Zoomazium were the fish tank and the climbing structure. Oh, and the African drums.

After spending about an hour plus in the Zoomazium, we took a quick peek at the nearby animals. There was a a peacock right outside the Zoomazium; he was just walking around and preening ... it was spectacular. We also checked out the flamingos (which got a "WHOA" from Annika) and some other animals I'd never heard of... they were funky, fuzzy, gray creatures. There were also some red, fuzzy critters curled up in trees. Annika's favorite animals were the ducks that were hanging out in the flamingo area. EVERYONE near the exhibit (and probably beyond) knew about the ducks because of Annika's ability to scream "DUCK!" at the top of her lungs and practically launch herself out of the stroller while pointing at our feathered friends (one of whom escaped to a nearby exhibit .... probably to distance itself from my child.)

I'm quite excited that we got a membership to the zoo .... first, it pays for itself within 4-5 visits and second, I can see Annika having a marvelous time there.

Spring Colds & Cooper Day

Annika and I are sporting spring colds right now. She's about 3 days ahead of me and seems to be improving, so there's hope! I currently look like Rudolph because of blowing my nose so much. This morning as I was taking Annika out of the car, I noticed she had a crusty nose, so I made a reference to her being a booger nose. Of course, she replied with "boog noshe" .... do I know how to expand her vocabulary or what?!?

Shockingly, we saw snow flakes again yesterday. I was pretty surprised when we saw them on April 1st .... seeing them on April 13th just about made me fall over. They didn't fall for long and none stuck, but they were definitely falling!! I've said all along that it isn't unheard of for us to get snow in March, but mid-April? WOW! Ironically, Annika's day care notified all of the families last week that we need to bring in sunblock for our kids ... I guess it is really critical to keep those snow flakes from burning our kids. ;)

On another note, today is Cooper Day for the Olsons. Eight years ago today, we adopted our golden retriever, Cooper. He was a wonderful dog who made one heck of an impression on us and was with us much too short of a time. Cooper's antics are famous amongst our family and friends. He's the only dog I know of who could open the fridge (without a handle), flip and stove, and take cooking bread out of the broiler without singing himself. Good time! We miss and love you, Coop!!!

Dresses, Cookies, and Beer .... oh my!

With Easter right around the corner, it was time to break out my cookie cutters and get cracking on some tasty treats. I must say, I'm pretty darned pleased with how my sheep cookies turned out (no sheep were harmed in the making of these cookies!)

Our friends Dave and Nic gave Eric ingredients for a batch of beer for his birthday present. Dave and Eric spent the evening brewing up the beer about a week ago. It is done bubbling and now is in the "dry hopping" stage.... hence the green leaves floating on top of the beer. (I figured if my cookies deserved a spotlight, so does Eric's beer!)

I'm enrolled in a 4-week basic garment construction sewing class. Having gone to private/prep schools, home ec. wasn't ever offered, so I never really learned how to sew. I've had a sewing machine for years and faked my way through a few projects, but wanted to learn some true skills. Here's the dress I'm making for Little Miss Thing. (The zipper wasn't in during the fitting shown below, but it is in now... way to go, me!)

Annika recently discovered the joys of splashing in puddles. She went through three sets of clothes in one day because of her puddle splashing marathon. (Notice her jester hat that I made... isn't it a riot?)

Annika doing her best Jerry Lee Lewis impersonation.