New Playground, Farmer's Market, Leif Talking

We tried out a new playground, the school playground in walking distance. Now that school is out (it gets out in late June here), we can play there in the morning. It's pretty fun, although the big slide was a little wet and when Leif went down it he flew off the bottom. A couple cries and he was back to playing though.

We also tried out a local farmer's market. It's held on the Vassar College campus, about a mile walk from our place. It's very pretty. There are about 20 vendors - veggies, fruit, jam, a few stands with ready-to-eat food. Unsurprisingly, this family bought fruit. Three pints of berries, and within about 2 minutes we ate 2 pints.

And we go on walks almost every day. Our street is part of a big "U". It's about a mile from one top of the "U" to the other top. So you can get a pretty good walk in just staying around here. Plus it's a neighborhood where most porches and gardens have decorations - the girls love seeing all the different things, and have their favorites. Llama planter house, witch crashing into porch house, ducks in garden house, etc. It's a very friendly neighborhood, lots of people out on their porches or walking. So we get to say hi and chat a fair amount. It's also fairly tight knit. We went on a family walk yesterday evening after dinner. We saw a woman we didn't know on the other part of the U. After chatting a bit, she said "oh, are you the family that moved into the rental? I didn't recognize you." Also, her husband did an internal medicine residency at UW-Madison! (50 years ago) Which came out after saying we were from Wisconsin and Kurt was doing a residency at Vassar Brothers. Small world!

The hard part of the walks when it's just me is how to transport three little people. The girls can walk sometimes, but then of course it's super slow. I like to try to get a little workout. And sometimes we have errands - there is a Rite Aid in walking distance, among other things. My typical is to put the girls in the double stroller and Leif in the Ergo on my back. It tends to make me and Leif pretty sweaty but it works. If anyone has another solution I'm all ears...

These are the things I always forget to put in these days - what Leif is up to developmentally. It's always fun to look back on what the girls were doing when, poor third child doesn't have as much of that. About a week ago he started saying "ba" ALL THE TIME. He loves balls, and he loves his bottle. So those were both "ba". But also everything else he's pointing at. I'm not sure if he sees the world in balls and bottles or if he just only knows the one word. Starting yesterday he was varying it up some. Bottle is closer to "baba" now. And he's making some other sounds/words. He is still obsessed with any ball he sees. There are two porches nearby that have hot air balloon shaped wind socks. When we are within sight distance "BA BA BA". He gets so excited.

Also he has gotten really into using big boy utensils. He loves stabbing his food with a fork. I guess it's classic younger child behavior - he wants to do everything his sisters do.

In general he is just such a happy excited guy. Signe a few days ago said "Leif is just so full of joy." I asked Kurt if he said that and he didn't remember saying that to her. Regardless of who said it first though, it's true. He walks into a room with anybody in the family and he's got a huge smile and laugh and pointing and happy. He loves people. And things. He's just full of joy.

 One time on a walk Signe wanted to go in the Ergo. It worked pretty well!

 Berry fiends at the farmers market

 You're welcome for making the coffee table so comfy Freya

 What a daddy (the clothesline is strung between the house and the garage and it's on pulleys. Fun!)

 A little clothing-optional bocce ball

 New playground

 That's one way to do it

 I got them a science kit after they asked for it. I think someone in Daniel Tiger had one. This was an experiment putting dull pennies into flasks of water and lemon juice, and seeing what happened. 

 New jammies from Aunt Kris and Uncle John :-)

 Leif and I have a game where I hit balls with the bat and he brings them back. So, fetch.

A little selfie with my boy

Meal Planning, Visit to NJ

We're settling in and had a better week this week! It certainly had its ups and downs. I started a meal plan from 100daysofrealfood.com (you can get them free if you sign up for their email on the website). It's great, it gives you a shopping list and breakfast/lunch/snack/dinner every day. I cooked and baked all Sunday morning to prepare. And our week has gone so smoothly. AND we've been eating so healthily! Veggies, whole grains, protein. Both Kurt and I have lost weight. And I think the kids' moods have improved, both from just getting used to things and due to a better diet. 

The girls helped me go shopping for the meal plan. It was a long trip and they got a little crazy towards the end, but when we got to the cash register, the cashier said they were the most excited to help kids they'd ever seen. It's true, they, especially Signe, absolutely adore helping with most everything. I need to appreciate that!

We signed up yesterday for swim lessons for the girls at the community center I've been lifting at. It's a class where they'll be expected to be in the pool by themselves. Of course either Kurt or I will sit nearby on the deck, at first anyway. But it's a big step! 

Leif's big thing recently is saying "ba" constantly. He loves balls, and he loves his bottle. So it's ba ba ba all day long. He's turning into a helpful little guy too. When we're ready to eat he goes to his highchair (and can almost climb in yikes). When it's bathtime I tell him and he charges upstairs. He just has pretty good coordination in general so we don't need to have a gate on the stairs, which is so nice. His main stinkery thing he's been doing lately is putting things in the toilet...nothing too terrible so far, but still gross. The girls didn't really go through that phase, because when they were his age, we just had the bathroom closed with a child-proof handle cover. We can't do that now because the girls can't open it when they need to potty. 

Last week I visited Meg and Dave and baby Jamie in New Jersey! We even stayed overnight. It was a fun adventure although the NJ Turnpike is NOT fun. Those lanes are so narrow and people dart in and out and AHH. It was fun meeting the cute little guy and catching up with Meg. It's only about a 2 hour drive from us. We'll be back in mid-July to celebrate her birthday.

Nothing much planned for the 4th - Kurt has Friday off, yay! We'll probably just unpack and organize more. There are fireworks over the Hudson so we might look into that. It's just that, traditionally, those darn fireworks are set off at night, so far past bedtime...there are always snakes!

The secret staircase. They love the tool kit.

Meg and Jamie and us

Freya got a much-needed haircut. Waiting for our turn.

We went to a party for Kurt's work. It was really fun. This was a game we found in the basement. The girls did pretty well giving clues (after a couple rounds of just telling the person what was on their forehead).

Playing doctor at the playground

Big climber

Freya is starting to "get" pumping.

We were playing a game Freya made up. The person on the top of the hill is a flower. The people at the bottom yell "I'm going to smell you" and run up. And smell the flower. 

Monster

Leif playing flower game too. While chewing a stick.

Cool girl

Kinda gross but I thought illustrated their personalities well

Signe really wanted to picture. They helped me cut those flowers from our garden!

Jumping game

Helping me make heart-shaped biscuts

Mama, I found a secret way to go down