Squirmy Fourth

Lauren at the beach. And watching Rhinelander’s fireworks with Dad and Grandma.

Madison’s fireworks display was June 27. That day, typically squirmy Lauren sat still in church. But, as we sat on a blanket and the fireworks started, Lauren switched from my lap to Nick’s lap and back again, never stopping moving, pointing, and shouting “oooh”. And “boom”. She loved them, but I felt like I’d participated in a wrestling match by the end.

The next week, we headed back up north, as Nick helped his dad rebuild a pontoon boat and Grandma, Kayla and I watched Lauren. We caught the Eagle River Fourth of July parade, and Lauren didn’t like the police sirens, but thought the band was nice. Funny things: Lauren calls cats “mimi” now – Nick thinks she’s trying to recreate the meow. Instead of saying “Y.E.O”, she does say, “A.B.C” too. And she does say “yes” or “no” to answer certain questions; I try to ask them like she understands, and she surprises me.

Kayla wanted to do some water skiing, so I took Lauren in the boat to act as the spotter. Later that day, we were going to go out again, and I said, “Lauren, do you want to go for a boat ride?” and she said, “Boat ride?” I was excited: her first two-word sentence! Kayla remembers good times we had swimming together when Kayla herself was younger, and it’s neat to see her playing with Lauren near the water.

This week, with Kaye on vacation, Nick took Monday off, and we brought Lauren to our sub Tuesday-Thursday, and I’m taking Friday off. The sub, Erin, is great. She has a young daughter a few months older than Lauren (and two sons) and is a stay-at-home mom. Lauren wasn’t perfect (and what kid nearing 2 is?); she argued with Erin’s daughter over a doll. But her good points: Erin loved how she ate her vegetables and wanted to interact with the other kids, and even said she’ll miss Lauren next week. And the quote of the day came from Erin’s 7-year-old son: “Lauren’s parents must never get mad at her, because she’s so cute!”

Madison Heat

Lauren enjoys a bite of a Drumstick, but she’s more of a Popsicle girl. Lauren at the Union Terrace.

On the day of Nick’s birthday, we went down to State Street as a family, shared a pizza and fruit dinner, and strolled around the Union Terrace. Warm weather in the 80s made it a perfect day to get out of the house.

Strawberry Picking

I’m a pretty regular strawberry picker; I love getting a flat, freezing and having berries for my Cheerios all year long. This year, my supply ran out in March. I experimented with store bought frozen and fresh strawberries, but there’s nothing like a bright red center.

What a difference a year makes. Last year, Lauren, at 6 months, was pretty quiet, and we took a breastfeeding break at the car in the middle of picking. This year, she was happy to get a tractor ride out to the field (here she is with Dad). She moved swiftly from helping Dad put berries in our flat, to throwing straw in the flat in exasperation, to taking that first bite of a ripe berry. She covered herself in juice!

A Very Special Birthday

Nick and I turn 30 this year, so in June we held a joint birthday cookout. Here’s a picture of Sam and Lauren in the pool, and Lauren helps Nick on his actual birthday with a chocolate cake.

It was one of the first really hot days of the year. We decorated the house, cooked food outside, and had a fire in our new fire pit. Guest lounged in our hammock. It was great to see everyone.

I don’t turn 30 until August, so for now, there have been lots of jokes about Nick being an old man!

Letters, Numbers, and Animals

Lauren was eating breakfast the other day, and she was saying something that sounded like “Y. E. O., Y. E. O.” I asked Kaye about it, and she said that Lauren is doing her own spelling, like she sees on Sesame Street. The Letter of the Day “Y” day, and the “E” day must have been very impressionable. We’ve loved how she pages through books gently, but it is amazing seeing the English language take. With the Muppets, Kermit is “Ernie” and Animal is “Elmo”, for now.

She loves it when five items are on a page, and you take her index finger, point it, and count 1-2-3-4-5. It’s automatic now, except she likes 3, 4 and 5 the best, so she’ll skip the 1 and 2. She recognizes they are said in a sequence, but I don’t think she knows what the numbers represent.

Animals: A sheep is a “baa.” A cow is a “moo.” A duck is a “duck”. A horse is a “neigh”. And she said “Owl” for the first time because owls are in a book we have at home, but also in her favorite book at daycare. I caught a glimpse of her reading the latter with Kaye, and it also includes a skunk. At which point she holds her nose. Adorable.

Three Pictures

Picture #1: I mentioned a few posts back that Lauren was becoming a big Dora the Explorer fan (we got a book from the library that she loves, “Do-dah”!) and we were going to take her to a Dora appearance in town. Our health club had a season’s opening for their outdoor pools, very kid-friendly, with a jumping castle, Dora temporary tattoos – the works. When we joined the back of the HUGE line to see Dora, Lauren peeked around the other kids and said, “Do-dah, Do-dah!” and pointed. But when it was Lauren’s turn for the at-least-eight-foot-tall Dora to wrap her in a hug for a photo op, Lauren shrieked and grabbed Nick and me. We still got our photo of just Dora.

Picture #2: Nick purchased a hammock for my birthday last summer, and this year, he found a stand for it on sale. We’ve been putting Lauren to bed, lighting a bug-repelling candle, and sit down to chat on these summer nights. As you can see, Lauren is also a fan of it. We put her in and she shouts, “Rock-a! Rock-a!” like we say in the rocking chair.

Picture #3: Couldn’t resist snapping a picture of Lauren this morning after we got her dressed. Sundresses are a fun part of baby girls!

Swimming Lessons

Imagine a cute picture of Lauren in a two-piece pink swimsuit here. (The two-piece is a hand-me-down; I’m not condoning toddler bikinis!)

The more horrible things get at work, the more I put my head down, try to take things a day at a time, and feel more eternally grateful for the little things Lauren does. Without going into too much detail out here on the wide world Internet, my boss was let go. She worked from her home office 2,000 miles away, but the absence is felt. Up in Eagle River, where I found out, I worried that our two-person team (my co-worker L and me) would be dismantled. We were assigned a new boss. Then I found out I have to take six Fridays off unpaid to save the department money. Fine, whatever; the state employees have to take an eight-day furlough and Fridays off during the summer is not such a bad thing. Then I found out one of the magazines wants me to write shorts for them, and since I took an HTML class in the winter, I could start utilizing those skills. So maybe back to full time? Finally, the customer service part of L’s and my jobs might disappear with a new vendor, but the company has “no plans” to lay anyone else off, so they are just shifting around duties right now.

It was with all this turmoil in my head that I found myself at our health club’s warm-water pool with Lauren at 6 p.m. on a Tuesday night. Ten babies, ranging from 6 months to 22 months, splashed the water to the rhythm of the singing teacher, learned about getting the sides and back of their heads wet, learned to move their arms under the water, and played with brightly-colored ducks, rings and Noodles. Lauren smiled so big and laughed, flashing all six teeth, and was praised by the teacher for being brave. By the end she was so tired she let me strip her clothes off her without squirming and wrapped up in a big fluffy towel.

Words of the week: doggie, birdie (sounds like buuurdie) and ELMO. We can’t get enough of that little red guy.

Gardening and “Up North”

Left to right: The view of the lake in Eagle River. At home, the daffodils (”hours”) at their peak. And Lauren at the lake.

On Wednesday, May 20, I realized that I still hadn’t replaced my dying daffodils with the annuals I’d bought the previous weekend. (Petunias, geraniums, mums – tried-and-true stuff that works in our yard). So, with Nick working late, I put some toys in the grass for Lauren and we worked on cutting them down. Lauren was occupied with the toys for approximately two minutes before she went into the garage and found the basketball, tennis balls and best of all, Daddy’s bucket of golf balls. I taught her which balls bounce high, which balls don’t, and if you take the lid off a canister of tennis balls, you can take them out, count them, put them back in and put the lid back on. The golf balls and tennis balls bought me an hour of time and a happy Lor. But at one point, Lauren put everything down, stood up, put her hand on my shoulder, pointed an index finger directly at a daffodil flower, and said, “Hour.” Then every flower, “Hour-hour-hour-hour…” I was surprised and praised her. The words have been coming rapid-fire. “Ball.” “Apple” “Buck” (that’s the buckles on her car set and chair). And a few in passing I’ve forgotten.

After our plant-a-thon, on Thursday, the three of us headed up to Grandma and Grandpa’s property in Eagle River. Nick worked outside while Lauren and I bonded and played. Liz, Jon and Brayden were there for a bit and Lauren just loved seeing her cousin again. The majestic views of the lake were just what I needed to lift my spirits.

The Stairs, Dandelions, and a Booster Seat

Lauren’s first night at the table in her booster chair. Picking dandelions at Grandpa Tom’s house.

This week, Lauren mastered going down steps. At our house, it’s easy because we have two small sets, and she knows when someone holds her hand, she can step down, sit on each one, and move to the next. At Grandma and Grandpa Wenos’ and Grandpa Tom’s house this weekend, however, she slid down the whole flight continuously on her belly, masterfully moving her arms and legs for balance. Scary for Mama, but of course we took some video of it!

The three of us hit both sets of Lauren’s grandparents this week because Aunt Kayla had a piano recital in Rhinelander and Aunt Ellyse graduated from UWSP in Stevens Point. Lauren sat nicely in Grandma Colleen’s lap and rocked back and forth to the music at the former event, earning comments afterwards about what a nice girl she was. Graduation Day was 50 degrees with a cool wind blowing through the ceremony. Lauren and I toddled around the Noel Fine Arts Center (they did a huge revamp since I visited last), and finally went to Grandpa Tom’s house nearby to set up stuff for an overnight stay. After a nap, we joined everyone for a grillout at Iverson Park, complete with playground and slide for Lauren.

The visit to Point was nostalgic. My mom, grandmother and I used to go to the Fine Arts Center all the time for art shows and plays; six months before my 18th birthday, when my mom was sick, she bought me a photograph as an early birthday present, and that’s the last time I was there. (She did make it to my birthday though, and I still have the photograph.) Ellyse called me with directions, giving me street names, and I couldn’t remember where they were. (I’m a true Madisonian now!) I also tried to remember my own graduation day, also outside on the same quad, but warmer, and Nick’s the year before mine, in scorching heat, when I received a violent sunburn.

Lauren loved picking apart the dandelions at Grandpa Tom’s house and running around. She fell asleep in the car heading home on Sunday. We stopped at Great Grandma Gladys’ house on our way out of town, and she gave Lauren a nursery rhyme book, and Nick her old guitar and songbooks, and for me, an old necklace that she bought for my mom and my mom willed to her. Nick has tuned the guitar and has spent time picking out music from memory on it (years of piano and French horn gave him quite an ear), and I’m really enjoying him.

And tonight, booster seat night. The high chair gets to go in the basement, and for next time, the chair is really easy to travel with!

Bead Queen

All decked out in beads.

A bead fascination started around St. Patrick’s Day for Lauren. She’ll loop them around herself or stuffed animals, and just toddle around. (We supervise her).