Sweet spring (and pediatrician visit!)

We had an informal photo shoot!

We recently endured Elise's 18-month pediatrician appointment, but I forgot to bring home her information sheet and it was mostly a normal visit, so after a brief run-down, we'll talk about how much fun it is to have a toddler (and a 3 1/2-year-old) in the springtime.

It's funny how despite the fact that there were no shots at Elise's appointment, because the doctor recognizes that kids start to develop a memory at this age, the child managed to hate it anyway. I don't think there's any getting around the fact that doctors are scary, and nurses are sometimes worse. Kalina will learn this anew at her 4-year-old checkup, where she'll be tested unnecessarily for tuberculosis ("But it's not a shot!" the doctor will insist, to no avail.). *sigh*

Elise's first fishing trip! She got
distracted by the playground and
caught nothing.

Anyway, Elise hated being weighed and measured, hated having her tummy prodded, but didn't mind too much having her heartbeat checked. Everything was fine: she's in the 75th percentile for height, and up to the 25th for weight, which the doctor congratulated me on. Her head circumference is in the 50th.

Despite two blood draws and comments about Elise's glowing health, the doctor wants to extract some more to keep testing her iron. Her levels were low, and hadn't improved into the middle of the normal category, only the lower end of it. Matt's theory: the doctor is seeing her as a pincushion that can pad her wallet. My theory: leukemia. Why are we always at such extremes? Elise is fine.

The doctor was duly astonished that Elise seems to be recognizing some colors, and that she'd invented her own sign language and was pairing words and ideas with it. For instance, every morning at breakfast:

The neighbor girl helped Kalina
strip the bush almost clean of blooms.
Then, Kalina brought them inside
to be my pets. I was required to water
them every day.

Elise points to a finger-painted picture behind her. "Uh!"
Me: Who made that picture?
Elise: "Deh!" (Proudly pointing at herself.) Then she holds up one finger.
Me: With your finger?
Elise: Smiles and nods. Then pats her tray.
Me: Sitting at your high chair?
Elise: More proud smiles and nods.

She's used the same techniques to regale me with stories about riding the trike (with a helmet!) and how much she misses Daddy while he's at work.

In short, Elise is healthy and bright. She's also enjoying spring, as is Kalina, as is Matt, as am I. Here's how:

When you're 18 months old, life is magical. You wave "bye-bye" to merry-go-rounds, garbage cans and delivery trucks. You can make some amazing sounds with your mouth, and jump quite well and are learning to gallop. Your cheeks are delightfully chubby, and you can fit into any shoes on the rug. Add to this the magic of spring, and life has never been better.


The weather has been so glorious lately that the house is a mess and dinner is always late: we never stay in long enough to take care of our mundane tasks. How can we, when there are flowering bushes to strip free of their blooms (thank goodness we left town for a couple days or else the poor thing wouldn't have a chance at pollination), and yards to run across just for the sake of running, and swings to actually swing in.

That's right: both girls swing now, for just about the first time ever. However, there are rules: don't push Kalina more than a fraction of an inch, and don't imagine that Elise would prefer a baby swing to a big-girl version. As Matt figured out without me around one day to disallow him from doing so, Elise sits nicely all by herself in a real swing, even with some mild pushes, even from her big sister as she patiently waits for her own turn. In fact, she loves it. So much that it's a problem we only have one swing. Who would've guessed?


Kalina has joined the ranks of kids who could swing all day, albeit her feet hardly leave the ground. She's learned a fairly effective type of kick-pump, and sings made-up songs about swinging and shadows and rainbows, and usually clutches a kitten or two, and often wears dresses, and once pigtails, and is humanity's zenith of cuteness with the exception, of course, of a certain 18-month-old learning to gallop.

Look! Pigtails! And real
bubbles!

Every time we venture outside, whether to throw out the garbage or head to Target or play, Elise heads for the bubble bucket, hauls it out, and begins blowing. Lots of practice has rendered her only one or two mouthfuls of bubble fluid (every child has to ingest a certain amount before they figure it out), but lots of successful bubbles. We've discovered that they stick around longer on the grass than the pavement, and that they're marvelously fun to pop with the touch of a finger. Kalina has known this a while, but as I couldn't find bubble fluid last fall, this is Elise's first real bubble season.

Elise insists on a hat even for
indoor gardening. And wearing
her sister's shorts over her own.

We've also been gardening, both for real and pretend. As Matt helped the girls plant seeds, water them, and all that (Kalina knows better than I do), I initiated an indoor craft garden effort that was almost as well received. Now, the girls can dig, water and extract flowers and vegetables indoors and out, all of which we do on a regular basis. Both are working on blowing the seeds off dandelions, with Elise using a vigorous wave as her best strategy, and Kalina honing her force and her aim, and the force of her aim.

Easter egg hunting!

Beyond that, we've been enjoying the neighbors and their kids and their yards. We're so fortunate as to have half a dozen girls roughly Kalina's age living within a few stones' throws of our front door--and a couple even next door. She's now old enough to be thrilled with all of her playmates--even if she's not quite caught on to the idea of actually playing together. Springtime has brought everyone out of doors, which means lots of running back and forth between yards (for Kalina, that must means to our next-door neighbor's) and impromptu games of tag. And then I brought out a wagonful of Easter eggs (a week and a half early), and half the neighborhood, it seemed, joined in to hide and hunt. While Elise loves watching the kids (and finding an Easter egg or two of her own) and covets the neighbor's swingset, she hasn't yet joined in the fray. 

The little line on Kalina's hand
is her caterpillar.

And finally, yesterday afternoon we welcomed into the family two new pets: Hungry and Pet the caterpillars. (Actually, these are our second set of caterpillars: the first Hungry and Pet were squished nearly beyond recognition as Kalina toured them around the yard.) She caught them herself, expertly, as her daddy had taught her. But as he was not yet home from work, it fell to met to agree she could keep them, find a jar and help her outfit it with items from their natural environment to help them feel more at home, despite the fact that they will never again escape the lingering smell of spaghetti sauce. It was also my job to locate and sneak two new, live caterpillars into the jar, while attempting to discard the carcasses of the first two, while sending Kalina off to look for "more leaves, we need more leaves."

For the rest of the evening, Kalina paraded her caterpillars around: they joined us at dinner and slept on her nightstand. She held one while Daddy carefully poked holes in the lid, and carried it all around the yard while they enjoyed some pre-bedtime playtime. 

I have no idea what will become of the caterpillars in the next few days and weeks, I can only hope there's a rather endless supply of them near the swingset where we found the first four, as I have a feeling we may need them.

I will admit that I could use a rainy day or two to catch up on housework, errands, and all the rest. But until then, I'll simply enjoy our beautiful spring days with my two beautiful springy girls.