tropical pets for a cold winter

We added two animals to the grovestead. I am so glad for these two...they keep my home feeling warm and tropical even when it is cold and freezing outside.

Elsie loves the goldfish in her My First Words book. She points to them on each page and says proudly, "shhhh" So we thought we needed to get some fish of our own. When I had my niece, Mara, for an overnight I decided getting fish would be a "fun aunt" thing to do. And it was!

We named the orange and white one Scoobydoowhop from our favorite song lately from a favorite CD Slugs and Bugs. The orange one is named Jimmy. Long story, but Elmo's goldfish is named Dorothy, we have friends, Jim and Dorothy and when I suggested we named them Jim and Dorothy, Ivar started calling the other fish Jimmy. Jimmy stuck.

So meet Scoobydoowhop and Jimmy. A very happy addition to our home.

lots of laundry

It's pretty awesome when you take your kids to a going away party and your son throws up in the middle of the kitchen in front of everyone. Yep. Awesome.

It was a long, long night of the flu, sleeping mostly on the floor of Ivar's room hearing him moan, "Mom, I need you."

That was Monday night/Tuesday morning and we took it easy all day. Even cancelled plans for Wednesday.

Wednesday night Ivar started back up again. Apparently a relapse. The only perk of this round is that he learned my lingo and would tell me each time, "Mom, take this bowl. It's grody." His saying grody made me happy to know him.

 Not to be left out, Elsie woke up at one in the morning with the flu too. Thank God for Rory. I thought I was going to die.

We've been washing bedding all week, snuggling on the couch while watching tv, eating cinnamon toast and apple sauce. We're going to survive, but this was a doozy. (And so far, all friends with us on Monday are still feeling fine. Phew.)

a visit to Alison's

Friday night we went to Edina to visit Alison, our next door neighbor when we lived in Minneapolis. She had made the sweetest sign on her door to welcome us. Ivar said, "I,V,A,R! That's Ivar!" And then Alison explained what an exclamation mark means. "A line and a dot means I'm excited you're here!"

Alison moved shortly after we did, and sold her house this summer. We helped a bit and she showered us with gifts for stopping by. She gave Ivar his big boy bed, gave me a picnic table and all sorts of awesome wrapping paper and she gave Rory a huge plant and light set up so he can start his garden in March, down in the basement.

When we were there Ivar sang his latest favorite song for her, This Little Light of Mine. When it's time to hide it under a bush, Ivar covers my finger and I try to get it away. A silly little game. Then when we sing, "don't let Satan hoo it out" I try to blow on his little light. The forth verse we sang, "All around Alison's apartment." Usually we switch that one depending on where we are, (all around the neighborhood, all around the whole wide world, all around our little house...)

But since visiting Alison's, that's all we ever sing. "No, Mama! Sing Alison's Apartment! All around Alison's Apartment!"

Elsie and Ido

 

+Elsie calls Ivar, "I do." One day she'll speak those words at her wedding. Until then, she uses them first thing when she wakes up, standing in her crib with her wrist twisted, palm up, shoulder scrunched "I do?"

+The kids play together all the time. It's a noticeable shift in their relationship. They mostly wrestle and roll on top of each other. It lasts long enough, until someone starts crying. (Not always Elsie...)  

+Elsie wakes up before Ivar during their afternoon nap. We'll play downstairs, but if I'm not watching her she will sneak upstairs, push his door open and poke him in his bed. This does not go over well with Ivar. Or with his mom. If I catch Elsie sneaking up the stairs, she will laugh and squeal, totally busted and then look at me very seriously as I carry her back down the stairs saying, "no. no. no. no. no."

+Ivar and I made up a new favorite game this week. It's called, "Ah! Company is coming!" During this game, I race around a chosen room trying to clean it as fast as possible. There is no company coming, but it's a pretty great mind game for me. Ivar loves how spazzy I become and runs around telling me, "Mom! The company is coming!" And then I scream and yell that I've got to hurry! 

+Along those lines, often when I go to pick up the living room and sunny room, I wish I had a rake to gather all the randomness that is strewn on the carpet into one big pile. I'd call it The Toy Rake or The Knee Saver.

 +Our kids are a blast. And the days seem to be going smoother. I recently told Rory, "What if we end up loving them being so close together?!!" (So far it has been trying and hairy and we'd space our next kids more than 20 months apart next time around.) But they're becoming play friends (which was the hope and plan from the beginning. The 20 months were intentional.) It's a joy to watch them play and wrestle and snuggle.

...and a joy to tuck them in for the night so that mama can have her alone time.

polar bear plunge

...or a santa bear plunge. Either way, super fun.