Act Three

Yesterday was K’s 4 month well baby visit and first round of immunizations. She is growing well: 13lbs 9oz and 26 1/4 inches. That puts her at the 50th percentile in weight and the 97th percentile in height. Once again it looks like we have a child that it will be hard to find pants for. In comparison to L at that age she is the same height but leaner by about 3lbs. She handled her immunizations well, but it was a bit harder of a day. There wasn’t much playing going on; she spent lots of time just watching the world go on around her.

She can hold her head up very well, especially when there is something interesting to look at.

K still loves faces and people. She is busy charming strangers around us with her smile and then when they start talking to her the smiles only get bigger. I’ve recently introduced some board books to her and true to her character she liked the kitten book with pictures of their faces. She was quite content to look at it on her own, but L had fun showing it to her.

She is not rolling over yet, but when on her back she is pulling her self over onto her side and when on her tummy she is pushing with her foot and trying to crank her head around. I am sure that it is just a matter of time. She likes sitting up in the corner of the couch or rocking chair, though that is almost too reclined for her; she wants to sit straight up.

Although she likes her bouncy chair and the rattles that hang down in front of her when she is in it, she gets so frustrated that she can’t get the rattles into her mouth. She complains and scolds the animal rattles until someone listens and gives her something that she can chew on.

In church on Sunday one of the ladies there was going on and on about how much character she has already, in contrast to other babies her age who just have the generic baby face. She thought K was beautiful and I couldn’t argue with that. She is so much fun, so precious, we like our baby. In typical Friesen fashion Lowell has summed it up by saying “We aren’t taking her back”.

Two weeks ago everything was closed in anticipation of the Great Snowstorm that was coming; we only got a light dusting. This Wednesday it actually did snow and the schools were closed, so no play center for us today.

One thing about Massachusetts it has great snowman snow. This snow was heavy, wet and sticky.

This started out as a great snowman, but L added some antlers and now it is a great snowmoose. The bad thing about this snow is that it is wet and soaks through everything. A person needs insulated rubber boots rather than snow boots in this weather.

K eventually woke up and although L wasn’t ready to go inside I think that he had run out of energy for outside. He is still trying to catch snowflakes on his tongue, but with less enthusiasm. K detests her snowsuit, so we had timed our time outside with her nap. When she woke up she wasn’t impressed but the world was strange enough that she tolerated it for a few more minutes while I coaxed L inside with hot chocolate and a promise to read the book “Snowmen at Night” by Caralyn Buehner.

Christmas 2008, L got a book “Snowmen at Christmas” by the same author, that book is quite cute, this book is no exception. If you have ever wondered why your snowmen does not look the same the next day you should read “Snowmen at Night” to find out what your snowmen does while you are sleeping.

Last night L and I were putting his train tracks together; the challenge for me was use the bridge, tunnel and underpass in one continuous track that fits on the coffee table. Just to make it more challenging I wanted to be an encouraging mom and not dismantle L’s construction. To put it bluntly I was frustrated and done! Lowell was home grading and chided me on my lack of patience with problem solving. How were my children going to develop those problem solving skills? “That’s why I married the man I did” I retorted. I will be the first to admit that puzzles aren’t really my favourite thing, but I will brag about the abilities of that husband of mine.

L and L were looking through an “I Spy” book. On one of the pages there was a dominoes train set up. Lowell commented that they would have to build one of those. He then discovered that the page was actually showing a balloon popper made out of dominoes, blocks, balls, ramps, funnels etc. L interpreted that as meaning that he and Daddy were going to build a balloon popper not just a dominoes train. L persisted and Lowell took up the challenge.

After a little head scratching, some alterations and a few false starts…it worked!

L wanted to do it again, but alas Dad didn’t want to set it up again and it was conveniently bedtime.

As to the railroad L said his trains could hop over the crack in the track.

Ash Wednesday is one of the services that Anglican’s do well; I always find it powerful. Again it was a tear jerker when K was marked with the sign of the cross in ashes; “Remember that thou art dust and to dust you shall return”, but I blogged about that the first time L was marked.

Yesterday we went to a Children’s Ash Wednesday service. I was very curious what they would tell the children. I know that L gets so much, but Lent, crucifixion and death are not concepts that he has yet. Instead the children crowded around the priest on the floor as she pulled surprises out of her bag. The bible says that we are made out of clay, but the bad things that we do make us hard like this mudman (gingerbread cookie) when you try to bend him he cracks and breaks. Jesus came to make our hearts new and moldable again like PlayDoh. All in all this service was a big hit with the kids, especially since they got to take their goodies home.

On a side note L continues to be a goofy clown whenever the camera comes out.

When in New England, do as the New Englanders do. And what, you might ask, is it that New Englanders do? They drive “Subies.” New Englanders have long been fans of all-wheel-drive vehicles. There are lots of hills around and, when winter dumps snow and ice on the roads, they can be a challenge to negotiate. But New Englanders also tend to be of the tree-hugger variety. Many of them would rather be caught dead than driving a truck-sized SUV. That’s why they drive Subarus. We wanted to fit in (pun intended) so we went out and bought one too.

Our Jetta, which we are still very fond of, was getting to be a bit on the small side. With K’s car seat behind the driver’s seat, I could hardly get in and out from behind the wheel. And if the front passenger seat was too far back, L didn’t have enough room to climb into his own seat. We knew we would need a bigger vehicle sooner or later and, after convincing ourselves that we could afford one sooner, decided to start shopping.

We quickly realized that we weren’t going to be able to get everything we wanted. For one, nothing that was going to be a legitimate size upgrade from the Jetta was going to be able to touch its gas-mileage. A few of the larger 5-seaters we drove were rated to get almost 30 mpg (miles per gallon) on highway driving, but anything with more than 5 seat belts barely broke the 20 mpg threshold. We also realized that the only vehicles that were going to drive like our Autobahn-engineered VW, weren’t going to be big enough or tough enough to haul us and all of our camping gear on future road trips and camping excursions. In the end, we tried to get a bit of everything: more room, respectable mileage, and something that wouldn’t balk at a heavier load. We settled on a Subaru Outback.

We had fun plying the salesmen with questions they’d never fielded before. Would the warranty be honored in the event that the car moved to Canada? Does the car come equipped with a block heater? (Around here, block heaters are optional equipment.) Negotiating a price wasn’t quite as much fun. But in the end we were confident we got a good price. We drove the Outback home on Thursday after waiting for a few days for the dealership to order the block heater and install it. We cringe as we watch L climb into the vehicle with his snow and dirt covered boots, but it’s fun to drive and we can’t wait to take it camping.

Wow it’s been a long time since we blogged. We stayed up to watch the Olympic Opening Ceremonies last night, which I thought was worth it. Unfortunately I am feeling the late night so I am not coming up with great things to say about the following pictures. If I don’t blog today it might be another week before I do. So take it for what it’s worth.

Daddy spending some time with K after supper. In this picture they are just talking but Daddy did have K giggling hard the other night. K’s giggle is still infrequent, L has managed to coax it out of her as well. He was jumping up and down, shouting go and stop, she thought it was hilarious.

L wanted to do some snuggling with K.

We have been doing some “crafty” things. L is painting the firestation a rainbow of colours; every colour that he has in his box of paints. If you look for her you will see K eating her doll in the background.

L is being “Sid the Science Kid” while we researched about lizards. Sid keeps his pencil behind his ear.

A conversation with Daddy.

Building farm animals with Daddy; L built his version of a duck and Lowell was trying to make a cow. He spent most of his time designing the udder and hind quarters which worked out fairly well for him. The head is another story.

K’s newest trick is reaching for things with an open hand. Her arm and hand rarely coordinate the way that she would like when trying to get things into her mouth. She compensates by using her feet, bending over with her mouth wide open or a combination of all three.

Sometimes the toy gets away from her and when all else fails her fingers are good enough.

Lowell was flipping channels through the sitcoms the other night, one line we caught made us chuckle. “Change your skirt; everyone knows you’re a girl you don’t have to prove it.” Lowell asked if I was taking notes. Thankfully my children are still innocents…

…and mommy still dresses her little girl.

In some ways I guess babies and preschoolers aren’t much different then teenagers. L has been attempting to exert his will, (maybe to regain centre of the universe status?) and K is a night owl who likes to sleep late in the morning.

K is a great mimic and is trying really hard to learn different sounds. It almost sounds like she says “Hi”. Lowell started making the “oooo” sound to her. Suddenly she was concentrating really hard and working her mouth. After a lot of repetition she got it and was so happy. She is just the happiest when someone will talk with her.