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January 30, 2008

Potty

So all of a sudden (as of yesterday), Linna loves to pee on the potty. Before this she displayed zero interest. But she wanted to get naked ("All nude!" she says) and sit on the potty and read a book, and then she peed, and had a great time dumping it in the big potty, wiping, flushing, the whole bit. Then she wanted to do it again, so Ethan read her a book, and yes, she did it again. And again and again. If that's all there is to it, cool.

Another fun activity is that she likes to make her dollies (and stuffed animals) go to bed. She runs out of the room, covers them up, then comes in and says, "Shhh!" Then a moment later, "Wake up?" and she runs out to get them and wake them up again. Over and over and over. I gave her a cardboard box to use as a bed, and I want to take a few minutes to sew some bedding out of scraps. I think she'd love it.

The other thing she would probably love (and Ethan too) is a dollhouse. But I can't handle the thought right now of ANOTHER big toy with lots of little pieces. Maybe rotation is the answer?

In other news, she can totally count! She got a nice wooden peg-and-shapes toy from Molly for her birthday, and she loves to sort them into the right colors, and count them as she puts them on the pegs.

Posted by ktingey at 09:58 PM | Comments (0)

January 22, 2008

Cozy

So I got this bath wrap from Pottery Barn Kids that was on sale, a pink kitty one. Ethan has a yellow lion. When it arrived, Linna was very excited and wanted to wrap herself up in it right away. Once she was all wrapped up, she said, "Cozy." Cute. Then we had to go somewhere (oh yeah - out to sushi, our one dinner out while Jeff was gone this time), and she didn't want to take it off - she held it tightly around her and said emphatically, "Cozy! Cozy!"

It seems like every day she speaks more clearly. Jeff keeps having to travel - pretty much every week in January so far - and when he comes back he's always surprised at how different she is. Linna and Ethan are more and more able to play together, although they're also more and more likely to squabble as well. Jeff got Linna this singing ball from the Children's Exchange (great place), and she and Ethan fought over it. But she will also tell Ethan to sit down so she can roll it to him. She can almost play Cariboo, and is even willing to take turns and relinquish the key.

Posted by ktingey at 05:44 AM | Comments (0)

January 15, 2008

TWO!

Can you believe my Linna turned two yesterday? She kept saying, "Happy to you... Linna" for a few days before, or anytime someone mentioned "birthday." So she got something about it. Then on the day, she was so happy when we brought out her cake with candles and everyone sang to her. The smile on her face was unbelievably cute.

We had a small party, though as usual, I almost got too ambitious. I mean, she's TWO. She doesn't care what we eat. But whenever people are coming over I start planning the menu. (And I always think of Mom, who planned all our parties with us.) I even bought this huge thing of Brie, thinking I'd do that salmon-and-brie thing Mom used to do, but fortunately I realized that was utterly ridiculous for a two-year-old's birthday party, even if there were more grownups than kids. So I just set it out with the other fancy cheeses. I also abandoned the crab chowder (made it for dinner, as described in my personal blog), and this curried quinoa salad from my new Cafe Flora cookbook. I still made stuffed mushrooms (so-so) and an artichoke dip for our bread and crackers. Fruit, veggies, salame and turkey. Plenty! And then of course the homemade cake and the ice cream (not homemade this time). The cake had Nemo on it.

As I said, it was small - Lori and Leland came, and Mandy, and Molly and Liam. Then a bit later, Leah and family, which instantly doubled the size of the gathering. Ethan and Leland had fun playing together. And Linna got several new toys that made her very happy. Then last night Anna and Will came by with a present - a Groovy Girls doll. It's really cute, a fairy with pink hair (Linna has named her "Rosie"). I admit to a little dolly envy, because at least for last night, Linna was far more enamored of Rosie than of the doll I made her, which she threw on the floor. Twice. But I can't blame her, because Rosie is pretty adorable.

Tonight Mandy came by for dinner (Jeff's back in Seattle), which was so nice. Linna was very happy to see her, and gave her a big hug and kiss. And she kept wanting Mandy to do things. Lately she always says, "No mama. Linna do it!" but tonight she was saying, "Mimi do it." Have I mentioned she calls Mandy "Mimi"? It's cute. Mandy likes it too. Linna is very attached to Mimi.

We were sitting on the couch, and Linna was standing near us. Teddy was lurking, ready to jump up on me if I acknowledged his existence. And then suddenly Linna put her arms around his neck and said, "I love you Teddy!" She squeezed pretty hard, but he just took it.

Posted by ktingey at 05:54 AM | Comments (0)

January 12, 2008

Reddy-red

These days, for some reason, Linna makes most one-syllable words into three syllables: reddy-red, wipey-wipe, pinky-pink, ricey-rice, milky-mik, etc. I don't really know why. I guess it's cute.

Less cute is her new habit of painting with her spit. Originally she did it on the wall, and on me, but mostly now she sticks her finger in her mouth, gets spit on it, and then paints it all over her face. Charming. She also sometimes sticks a finger up each nostril.

But she IS cute. She'll say, "Mmm, delicious." And also, "Yucky milk!" (Not about MY milk, of course.)

She's turning two in just a few days, which is unbelievable. She's a big, big girl.

Posted by ktingey at 06:36 AM | Comments (0)

January 02, 2008

No-man

Linna likes snowmen. Jeff draws them on her back to get her to go to sleep, so she asks for "No-man? No-man?"

And now we're in the snow, in Sunriver with Ann and Zack and Mika and Mandy, and we made real snowmen. It was pretty exciting. Pictures at some point.

It's been really fun watching Linna and Mika together - they absolutely love each other. They follow each other around, and for the most part play very well together. Except that sometimes Linna doesn't want Mika to do something, and she says, "No Mika."

Speaking of speaking, she is talking up a storm. She says many, many things. And much more clearly than she used to, with ending consonants and everything. It's exciting. In our bedroom here there are two stars above the bed, and Linna keeps saying "Stars up high."

Anyway, I'm sure there's lots more to say but I can't think what!

Posted by ktingey at 11:57 PM | Comments (0)