The 9-Day Trip

The train ride at Como Zoo!

When we told the girls we were going to be taking a 9-day vacation, they were duly impressed. Nine whole days! And who even knows how many nights? Wow!

But possibly the sheer magnitude of such an idea put them on edge as well, such that as I was scrambling around a hot and humid house on a Friday morning in late July trying to fit virtually all of our belongings into a few suitcases, everyone else frequently let me know that they were "scared." And while most of us learned that there was nothing to be afraid of, Naomi, who isn't really into new people and places, didn't quite believe me.

Poor Naomi. This was possibly not her favorite trip as a whole, although in the end she found lots to like--as did the rest of us--and whenever she tells friends back here about the trip, she makes sure to mention that she "wasn't scared on the trip!" (Not true!) Here's the play-by-play.

Our friends caught on to Rainbow
Looming right away!

We left at naptime on Friday, which only meant we were traveling with a slightly fussy Naomi rather than a sleeping one. No biggie--on Day 1 of the trip, anyone who's not scared is in a pretty good mood. The trip was easy and after a few snacks, stops and mad libs, we cruised into our friends' place right after suppertime.

Elise and Kalina had recently discovered the joys of rainbow looming (making bracelets out of thousands of tiny rubber bands) and we'd surprised them with thousands of new bands to share with their friends during the trip. Elise the Negotiator wondered when, exactly, we could open the bands. NOT IN THE CAR!! We agreed on Saturday morning unless we happened to arrive early enough to use them on Friday evening. And we did! This was a big deal to Elise, as we heard every hour or so, so immediately upon arrival she and Kalina got right down to business helping their friends, Isaac and Lilly, make their own bracelets. Naomi, who'd heard big things about 4-year-old Cora, quickly paired off as well.

Elise explores Pella with her
doppelganger. You can also see Naomi
trying to do the same with Cora, who is
often, but not always, on board with the
idea.

Everything was jolly until bedtime. Despite lots of reassurance from her family, Naomi was not looking forward to sleeping in a strange house in her "new" bunny sleeping bag. Kalina helped by reading stories and Elise "helped" by making jokes, but it's probably safe to say she dreaded it until she fell asleep. While sitting in the dark beside her, I mentally made a note that we might end up cramming her into a pack-and-play at Grandma's house. Only eight nights to go.

In the bright light of morning, all became sunny again. Naomi ate all of two bites of breakfast, and the older kids spread their bands across the living room, working as though in a sweatshop. Fun! Aside from making bracelets, day 2 of vacation was spent playing outside, picking bowls full of blue (and pink!) blueberries, digging plastic toys out of ice for fun, and exploring Pella. We stopped at a yummy bakery, braved the heat (the heat almost won) and saw a windmill. Naomi actually napped and bedtime went a tiny bit better.

Aunt Debbie's dollhouse
looks as nice as her real
house now!

Uncle David and Aunt
Debbie's new house!

Day 3 we spent in Des Moines. We started at a friend's house, where the two-year-old seemed to like new people even less than Naomi does (but was still pretty adorable). The girls headed to a park with Daddy while I had lunch with my old friend. Then we ventured to Uncle David and Aunt Debbie's new house, where all the girls helped her set up her dollhouse, and Kalina and Elise re-set it up after sweetly tolerating lots of help from their little sister. We played some games, walked around their lake and found the solitary goose, filled bags with pretty rocks (a theme of the trip) and ate a delicious dinner, complete with dessert. Back in Pella, Naomi seemed to be getting used to her sleeping bag.

We ate at Hickory Park
and Cy was kind enough
to welcome us and let
us climb on him.

In the morning, Matt and I babysat our friends' kids while packing up--no big hardship considering our kids played better with friends than without them. Then we left some rainbow loops and were on our way.

Our next major stop would be Grandpa and Grandma's house in the Twin Cities, but we had a couple stops to make along the way. First, we ate at Hickory Park in Ames, an old favorite of ours from the college days. The girls were delighted to find that it's pretty much impossible to eat there without getting ice cream. Yum. Not that Naomi ate much of anything except for ice cream (another theme of the trip).

Then we visited Aunt Jeanie, who sends us beautiful hand-made cards every year for our birthdays. Jeanie was kind enough to not only give us a tour of her craft room, but to let each girl make their own creation. Naomi stamped whales and cats, Elise made a sweet card (that she secretly planned to send to Aunt Jeanie as a thank-you note for helping her make the card) and Kalina opted for a bookmark as she is, of course, always running out of bookmarks. In her own signature style, she found a new way to use parts of stamps to get the image she wanted.

Everybody got to make
something with Aunt Jeanie!

Since Aunt Jeanie lives on a farm, we of course had to explore the yard, with its towering pines and the almost-as-towering field of corn, as well as the garden. It was hard to leave this beautiful place, but a taco dinner was awaiting us so we piled into the car for our last leg of our journey north.

Day 4 ended at Grandpa and Grandma's house, where Naomi was a little more comfortable in her sleeping bag (thanks in part to stories from Kalina), but settling down still didn't happen until late. Oh well--it's vacation, right?

Elise on the Frog Hopper,
just before the slight drop
and the thumbs down. She's
in the very middle.

Day 5 was an extra-special one: Daddy's birthday! And a trip to Como Zoo, where we rode the carnival rides since we hadn't really done that before. After a successful train ride, Elise tried the slightly more adventurous Frog Hopper. Fortunately, a thumbs-down sign stops the ride, so Elise was soon off--but she tried! Although she's not planning to ride it again anytime soon, she did enjoy being up high and seeing the other rides, and I believe she also enjoys telling the story (with a dire warning to her sisters to never ride on the Frog Hopper).

The teacups! Daddy got the honors
of riding along, even though Mommy
totally would have if there hadn't been
a vertigo risk!

We then rode the pony carts and after a long wait, the teacups, which Kalina had been yearning after for a while. Naomi, to my slight surprise, tried everything her big sisters did (except the Frog Hopper, of course), possibly due to the fact that she actually has big sisters to ride with. We tried cars and the teacups again, refreshed with a snack and then, to end on a very high note, panned for fossils, minerals and gems! All three girls were over the moon with their own little bag of pretty rocks (Elise even more so than the others, because she's Elise). Naomi napped away the afternoon at home while her big sisters sorted, sifted, gushed over and identified their rocks, and Daddy and Grandpa golfed.

They also caught a toad and played with the decorative rocks around the patio, which they discovered could be written on by other rocks and turned into fairy furniture and food. And then we ate cake and ice cream with Daddy!

Doesn't everyone look
lovely at Pinocchio?

The next morning, all the girls had a very important date to see Pinocchio in the children's theater. We left plenty early and were rewarded with the chance to see some statues at the art museum next door and use the bathroom before, except for the two youngest, of course. After rather precariously determining who would sit by Grandma for which part of the performance (after all, we were negotiating with a two-year-old), we settled in and thoroughly enjoyed the show. Even Naomi remained spellbound during the entire 1 1/2-hour production!

Then we all enjoyed lunch at a bakery, enjoying some slightly new flavors and our free cookie for dessert. Back at home, everybody except the kids was tired and ready for a nap, so Kalina and Elise played with Naomi while she pretended to attempt to nap, while the grownups checked out. Later we explored more outside, including the lake just around the corner from the house.

On Day 7, we decided the girls needed some low-key, yet out-of-the-house fun (lest something or someone get broken) and checked out a really neat nearby playground. Kalina and Elise enjoyed exploring and trying out some different playground toys while Naomi let the grownups take turns being pulled around by the hand to do the same.

Fun with second cousins!

Later, we headed to Aunt Rita's house for a mini family reunion where we met two new girl second cousins (once removed?) right about Kalina's and Elise's age and their very happy baby brother. The big girls thoroughly enjoyed their new playmates and played outside all the beautiful evening. Naomi, however, wanted nothing much to do with anyone new, and instead sequestered Grandma in the small (but magical) upstairs playroom with her. The toddler did come out of her shell a bit to eat dinner (chips and fruit on her plate--a pretty typical meal for her while we traveled) and especially for ice cream.

Panning for cool rocks is very
serious business.

The next day was our last full day at Grandma and Grandpa's. And it happened to be Grandpa's birthday! If you asked Naomi, anyway--she thought it hilarious to wish Grandpa a happy birthday whenever she saw him. Unfortunately, Grandpa will have to wait until December for the real thing.

Matt took some amazing
pictures of the hawk. We were
not quite this close, but close
enough to get this shot.

We surprised ourselves in the morning with a walk around the lake, including a stop at the playground halfway. If we had known we'd end up out for two hours in partial sun right around lunchtime we would have packed accordingly. As it was, we thoroughly enjoyed the first 3/4 of the walk! We even spotted a hawk eating its prey up in a tree--perfectly visible and perfectly content to let us observe it. We could almost hear it crunching, and we were all too fascinated to be grossed out.

Later that day, Elise caught a tree frog and we explored more of the neighborhood. Matt caught a small fish followed very closely by a leopard frog that Kalina spotted. ("Get the fish off the hook and catch this frog!") Grandpa Les removed a few more toes (he always puts them back on, though!) and we examined all the rocks again.

Doesn't this just look like the coziest
place to sleep?

And then it was our last night! Sometime during the trip, Grandma read Naomi a story called My Favorite Things. The end of the story asks the question, "What's your favorite thing?" Naomi's answer? "Sleeping at Grandpa and Grandma's house."And so it was that we all had a good trip--even Naomi!

Elise taught Grandpa how to
Rainbow Loom!

Grandma taught Elise how to knit!

Kalina is 8 and June was great

Kalina decorated her own
birthday cake by her request.
We enjoyed vanilla cake,
vanilla icing and
sliced strawberries. Yum!

Backstage ballerinas,
beautiful inside and out.

There are dozens of things I could write about the month of June. We began with a beautiful ballet and performing arts recital, which Elise was proud of because she didn't mess up in a place she often messes up and Kalina was delighted with because she enjoyed being a Lady Licorice villain. They both performed very well, Elise earnestly doing her very best to give the audience a good show (and succeeding!) and Kalina adeptly and gracefully leading her class around the stage.






And then Grandma and Grandpa came for a visit! We did several crafts we're still talking about, and Kalina figured out swimming under water in the hotel pool. They both took their first pony rides and fed birds at Grant's Farm in a very magical morning. The pony rides were "bumpy" and lots of fun--neither Kalina nor Elise were the least bit scared, although Naomi, who was expecting smaller ponies, opted out.

The 100+ parakeets in a feeding cage were enchanting. The bird Kalina singled out and bonded with hopped onto her arm, a couple more made it to Grandma's hat and shoulder, and one walked onto my arm. Then, with only a few minutes of convincing, bribing and baiting, another finally hopped onto eager Elise's arm. Naomi was vehemently opposed to letting any birds come close to her, so we all got our wish. Perfect!

We also managed to catch plenty of nice fish with Grandpa, including Elise's first catfish, of which she was super proud, and a small collection of minnows and a tadpole.

But of course, June wouldn't be June without a celebration of our oldest girl's birthday!

A few weeks ago I asked Kalina if she'd like to do anything special for her birthday. She thought for only a moment before her awed, enthusiastic voice replied, "Get a library card!" Later, she realized she also wanted to hold a birthday celebration for her mice. I knew we could manage these, and probably a few more surprises as well.

Kalina is a girl that exudes "It's my birthday!" enchantment, regardless of the fact that there are presents and cake and other festivities. She woke up glowing, and glowed all day long, whether brushing her teeth or unwrapping a new pair of roller skates.

This particular morning was a busy one: after a bowl or two of birthday cereal (Lucky Charms, in this case), and a present from Naomi (a sweet stuffed lamb--Naomi's own idea that was very well received by her big sister, who good-naturedly agreed to the name Naomi suggested) it was time to head out to VBS. But wait! The heavy Birthday Girl button didn't work very well on Kalina's light shirt. We needed one more present, which conveniently happened to be a pretty birthday dress. Birthday Girl button in place (which has earned its weight in extra birthday greetings from friends and strangers alike), we headed out the door. Kalina was thrilled that all of VBS sang happy birthday to her at snacktime.

Kalina's mice celebrate their
"birthday," too!

Lunch was also to be special: Kalina and I were to go out on a birthday lunch date, complete with shopping afterward. After all, isn't it sometimes fun to pick out your own birthday present? Kalina thought so! We thoroughly enjoyed our meal and wandering around Petco for an hour oohing and aahhing over everything from bird treat holders, to a friendly cat and a cat with a funny haircut, to a new kind of rodent wheel. But what held Kalina's attention the most was a new mouse cage. After examining several, calling Daddy for permission and even researching in-store via smartphone, Kalina chose a wire cage with connectors that would allow her to hook up her tubes into all kinds of neat configurations. Happy birthday Kalina, and happy birthday Cupcake and Brownie! We lugged the cage to the van, shared a free cookie from the people at Jason's Deli (thank you, birthday button) and headed for the library where a nice librarian who recognized my name (thanks to the hundreds of books I request every year *hiding my head in shame*) and helped Kalina sign up for her very own library card.

Back at home, Grandpa, who had been watching Elise and Naomi, was recruited to assemble the cage, with plenty of help from Kalina, of course. Soon, Brownie and Cupcake were celebrating their birthday with a brand-new home so extensive they could get lost in it! Sweet!

We went out to Kalina's new favorite pizza place for supper, then returned home for cake and presents. Kalina loves to savor her moments, which meant that each card and gift was lovingly unwrapped, explored/read and only reluctantly set down so we could open another. And even so, bedtime was quite late! But it was a pleasure to see Kalina so thoroughly enjoy all of her gifts and feel so loved to be thought of by all of her favorite people.

When I asked Kalina if she wanted to do anything with her friends for her birthday, Kalina said she'd like to do an all-day, drop-off birthday playdate. We compromised on a six-hour drop-off playdate, with five friends because she really has five very lovely friends who get along well together, and pizza for lunch instead of the traditional Russian dish she would've rather had (but probably would've seemed a bit strange to her friends).

Kalina's rainy playdate party with
friends! (No faces and in the distance
for online privacy reasons.)  Did you
notice that Kalina kindly distributed
the family umbrellas among her
friends, wearing only a raincoat
herself??

The day was rainy, but that didn't stop the girls' fun. After initially following Kalina around from mice, to piano, to room, to basement, and back again, they settled into playing nicely together. I kept Naomi happy, pizza was delivered and nobody was in tears. I felt almost peaceful.

And then we started the craft. I knew making hand-sewn mice would be a challenge, but it was the only craft idea I could possibly come up with that Kalina was excited about. (Mental note: next time just pick something myself and be confident she'll love it--because she will.) As it turned out, although enthusiasm was high, sewing skills were all over the map. Fortunately, I was the only one losing patience with endless weird knots and short ends, and each girl managed to complete a mouse. They soon headed off to the Mousetrap board to feed them cheese and attempt to trap them. Fun!

Thank goodness another mom arrived to visit and help, and she helped me put cupcakes on the table for the girls to decorate, and generally manage the chaos that now ensued. But in truth, the "chaos" was sweet, simple, nice chaos and except for the occasional two-year-old tantrum, easily managed. The playdate ended up lots of fun, for me as well as for the girls. Except possibly those endless weird knots... (How did you do that?!? And why?!?)

Kalina treated us all to a
homemade fairy punch one
day.

It's been a big year for Kalina. As a seven-year-old, she gained lots of confidence and ability in activities she's been pursuing (whether of her own accord or her mother's) for years. Kalina learned the basics of a couple new instruments, most of the cursive alphabet, the sign language finger alphabet, how to knit, how to bike without training wheels and how to swim underwater. She was the best ballerina in her class after a two-year gap in lessons (really), took off with piano and enthusiastically dug into Spanish, in addition to making great strides in her other school work. In the kitchen she can chop (carefully), make scrambled eggs and cookies and mostly follow a recipe. She knows her globe very well, has lots of Bible verses memorized and can talk intelligently about many subjects in science. She's been interested in how things work lately and worked her way through a book about inventions. The girl can remember a tune she's only heard a couple times, long ago, and pick it out on the piano, then add simple accompaniment.

Kalina is very gently working on training her mice and continues to pursue meaningful relationships with every animal she sees. She currently wants to be a pet shop owner specializing in mice, rental penguins and axolotls. And yes, she still adores Lisa (formerly known as Lamby), sleeps with her, brings her places, dresses her up and occasionally talks to her.

Kalina plays a duet with
Uncle Tom

Kalina loves stories of when she was little, and has a heart for those who may be a bit helpless themselves (little children and, of course, animals). She's sensitive, dreamy, sweet, smart, funny, trusting and full of beauty. While Kalina may never be on time of her own accord, she puts her whole heart into whatever she's doing, and it truly shows. She likes to organize things and beautify the table, for instance, and has even been known to straighten her own drawers and nightstand without being asked, but would much rather be on "toddler duty" than clear the table, sweep the floor and other such proletarian tasks (although vacuuming is okay).

She dances instead of walking at times (especially when we're in a hurry), excitedly captures all manner of bugs and worms in her hands, and even once, bravely killed a bee that she believed was going to sting her friend. (Yet if you ask her to go down to the basement alone she'll immediately recruit a sister to accompany her--thank goodness she has two.)

Naomi loves to match with
Biscuit!

The girl spends much of her spare time reading everything from Peter Pan (unabridged) to other less-classic fairy books, and has branched out to other memorable characters such as Ramona Quimby. Some of her very favorite books were written 100 years ago by author/conservationist Thornton Burgess, about the lives of little animals in the woods.

Yes, Kalina's head is often in the clouds, but she's responsible and kind enough to come back to earth on occasion. And we're all very glad she does, because we're so thrilled to have spent eight lovely years with our dear, sweet Kalina!





And now just a few pictures from the Fourth of July:

It's nice to know that the Hanks
fireworks tradition will be passed
down...sort of...

Over the Fourth of July, Elise taught
Aunt Debbie how to finger knit!

 

The baby animal stage

Naomi, following directly
after her big sister's footsteps,
holds a "poetry" reading. She
can actually recite significant
chunks of The Poky Little
Puppy and several other not-
easy stories. Yes, the book is
upside-down.

Naomi is getting older, but is she getting bigger? The fact that my tiny girl is still sporting last-year's styles aside, the jury is out, namely because it's hard to set an age for the child. The fact of the matter is, Naomi is solidly in the baby-animal phase of development, which means that, a chronic newborn, any given day she's assuming the identity of a baby polar bear, a baby fish, a baby penguin, a baby meow-meow and much more, and expecting me to know how to parent each of these. Fortunately, having done the baby-animal phase before, I'm totally onto this game. But then again, so is Naomi.

It started with woof-woofs. Naomi's major puppy "phase" (it's only a phase if they ever come out of it, right?) induced her to want to become a puppy, and thanks to her imagination and my apparent adeptness at playing the part of a mommy puppy, she was able to. Her puppy licks at times might be a little too real, but they're no less sweet.

Then she branched into kittens, penguins and sea turtles and shortly after could assume the toddlerish identity of any animal she had ever heard of, although she occasionally mixed up giraffes and zebras (understandable). It's interesting to note that Elise followed a similar pattern: puppies and kittens, penguins and then clownfish, which lasted for about a year.

Naomi can be fairly convincing, if only out of persistence. And I can tell that not only is she learning about important familial relationships (mommy-baby, baby-mommy, sisters-baby, Grandpa-baby, and occasionally even Daddy-baby), but also about the animals themselves.

See, she's almost as proud as
her mommy! She could've
continued all night, fueled
by the enthusiastic cheers
of her family.

The sounds: From miniature to emphatic, Naomi roars, squeaks, woofs, quacks, honks and ribbits to express her emotion as a baby animal. Sometimes she feels teeny-tiny, a mere newborn who can make only a tiny squeak. Sometimes she's a starving polar bear cub that can roar with a fierceness that makes the mommy polar bear forget about the real dinner she was making and jump into action finding some pretend morsel for her cub. Often she's a playful puppy or kitten, or a baby bird calling for its mommy bird. Other times she feels ignored as I'm talking to her sisters, and feels as though increasing her volume will ensure her survival, or at least that of her ego. Roar. Roar. ROAR!!! Silent animals stymie her for a while, but she always finds a way around their muteness. Baby bunnies vocalize their hops, for instance. Baby spiders spin their webs (literally, spin around the room in circles while saying "spin"). Etc. And she's not above making up a sound for the truly soundless, activity-less animals. The baby sloth, for instance, says something like "glurp." Did you not know that?

The sights: Not only does Naomi sound like an animal baby, she also mimics their movements and activities. She hops just like a frog--back legs in between front ones, even though this position looks fairly uncomfortable. She'll walk on all fours, or crawl; she'll flap her wings or curl up into a little ball like a newborn fawn. As a bird, she appreciates a nest as a prop, for added realism. Today she climbed onto a mounded-up brown blanket and declared herself a baby muskrat. Does she know that muskrats live in brown mounds? She really might.

Naomi likes to help me fold
washcloths. She does a
fantastic job, too, and has
branched out to other chores
as well. I think she's the only
person in the family who
likes housework.

The tastes: Naomi seems to instinctively know that all baby animals are after food, and she'll happily-yet-agitatedly baa, chirp, chatter or roar until I grab a handful of air, tell her it's grass or a bug, and put it in front of her mouth. Then she'll sweetly gulp it up, or slurp it if we're being especially silly ("Naomi, you don't slurp grass!" "Yes I do!"). If she's a puppy, she knows to ask for a bone. For unfamiliar animals, she'll cheerfully clarify before asking to be fed (What does a porcupine eat?). Sometimes the answer is, unhelpfully, "porcupine food," which she readily accepts even if she doesn't learn anything by it.

The life cycle: Never mind the fact that Naomi may or may not quite understand that baby frogs are actually tadpoles (and she takes on the identity of a baby frog fairly frequently). She's clearly internalized the fact that birds hatch from eggs and in fact, often takes on the identity of a baby bird that hasn't hatched yet. In this case she walks around in a slightly constricted manner until she proudly announces, "I hatched!" and we all congratulate her as though it actually is her birthday. Then I proactively grab her a handful of air-worms to ward off newborn hunger. I know how it works. Shortly thereafter, she learns to fly, a real-world feat Elise is still earnestly working on (but she found two goose feathers last night, and so feels one step closer--but that's another story).

Blowing her mind: We own a book on animal families, with lots of great photos, that we hadn't looked at in a long time. I pulled it out the other evening, and I'm surprised Naomi got any sleep at all that night. Any given page presented her with multiple pictures of mommy-baby pairs of dolphins, zebras, lions, rhinoceroses, penguins, raccoons and much, much more, with some sisters and daddies around as well. "I'm a baby giraffe, no I'm a baby lamb, no I'm a baby deer, no I'm a baby duckling! I'm this one, no I'm this one." Every turn of the page, Naomi was in baby-animal paradise. If only they were real--except for the big or creepy ones, of course.

Now, Naomi enjoys occasionally becoming specific animals from favorite stories. She's been Biscuit the puppy; Pete the puppy (from a library book); Pal and Penny the puppies (Pete's siblings); and the Poky Little Puppy. She insists, however, that she does not dig holes under fences, and we did, in fact, indulge in some strawberry shortcake not too long ago, just like her namesake almost did. (After all, she really doesn't dig holes under fences--and doesn't that deserve a reward?) Tonight during storytime, she took it another step and acted out the part of the Poky Little Puppy, including sniffing the ground and pretending to sleep.

This cuteness can't last forever, but I'm certain Naomi be up to something just as adorable next. And with any luck, it'll involve some more strawberry shortcake. Or at least a handful of bugs.

Three reasons I'm proud of Kalina

Although most of us would never admit it, there are times when we look at our toddlers and think, "Oh my. Aren't you the fixer-upper." We don't always phrase it so nicely, but we do set to work and try to wrestle them into not eating applesauce with their fingers (something Elise is still particularly challenged by), putting trash into the trash can instead of licking it and not absentmindedly walking off the playground structure. We're all works in progress, I suppose.

We work, and we work, and we nag, if only for the exhilarating moments when our kids toddle off and actually exhibit behavior we've been aiming for, and over which we realistically have not much control. This happens in small ways first (hooray! You stepped around the mud puddle!) and then in larger ways, and the clouds part and we spy a glimmer of hope that things will, actually, be okay even when we are no longer around to remind them five times to brush their teeth.

Kalina, fortunately, does not lick trash and rarely falls off of anything at all. Beyond that, we've seen signs that show she's growing not only in height, but also in depth.

Kalina and Elise at the end-of-the-year
presentation. Naomi sang along from
her seat.

Proud Moment #1: Memory Master
At the beginning of the year, just for fun (because what's not fun about classical learning? My poor kids...), we joined a classical learning co-op that focuses on memory work. We were hoping to make a few friends, get out of the house a bit and possibly even learn something.

As it turned out, the girls not only adored the co-op, but learned a lot. A ton. Pretty much everything, in fact. By winter, they were both begging me to "let" them try for Memory Master, an end-of-the-year challenge that would test everything covered that year, four times. No mistakes were allowed past round two. They were dying to try it.

I couldn't help but remember when Kalina was a young toddler and hated puzzles, hated shape sorters, generally hated a challenge. Anything she thought she couldn't do stressed her, so I either gave her lots of help or put the toys away.

On an AHG hike, we
met a teen who had
become mommy to
these baby ducklings.
He was mobbed by
8-year-old girls, and
kindly let us hold the
ducklings. "I will
never forget this day."

And so I couldn't say no to the challenge she so desperately wanted to take on, much as I knew I might regret it. After all, when a square doesn't fit into a triangle, it's stressful for the whole household. I could, however, say no to the five-year-old--or at least talk her into an alternative "event."

Kalina cheerfully spouted back Latin noun cases, parts of a plant cell, parts of the Byzantine Empire, the associative law for multiplication (and all the others), long lists of prepositions, her presidents, information about the dominion of Canada, and the entire timeline of the history of the world whenever I asked her. When she got them wrong, she uncharacteristically tried again, not once melting into a puddle on the floor (which, um, never happens, um, during spelling tests or anything...).

And the rest of the story is a non-story: Kalina sailed through all four rounds, and earned the title of Memory Master. We celebrated with food. Elise, who would've felt shorted if she hadn't been allowed her very own show-off night, showed off as well, and we then celebrated with more food.

This isn't the random friend in
question, but Kalina did
wrestle it from the lake. "I
felt like I was playing a shark!"

Proud Moment #2: Making a random new friend from a very different culture.
The other day at the park, Kalina decided she wanted to make a new friend. This would not seem like a big deal to a lot of parents, but I was reminded of the times young Kalina literally ran screaming from other children trying to be her friend, or at least play alongside her. "Ew, get them away!"

I okayed the idea (of course--she didn't really need to even ask) and Kalina approached a Muslim girl several inches taller than her. I couldn't overhear the conversation without appearing very snoopy, but soon I saw the girl solemnly following Kalina, and Elise by default, around the playground. Conversation was sparse enough that I concluded the girl spoke a different language, but I was wrong. Kalina discovered the girl's name, the fact that she doesn't speak Spanish (good guess, Kalina!), and the facts that she's nine and has several younger brothers and sisters. She isn't allowed to have playdates, which Kalina was bummed about.

Kalina patiently stayed with the girl, who clearly wasn't used to playing with strange girls around her age, and soon concluded that if she couldn't have a playdate, she'd like to write letters.

Why was I so proud? It's hard to be friends with someone not very much like you, and Kalina didn't give up or lose interest. She waited super patiently for 10-15 minutes, undaunted, while her new friend simply swung in the swing. She smiled quietly and looked out for her new friend's best interests. I would've struggled, but she seemed at her ease. And perhaps most importantly, she didn't run screaming away.

"I feel like I'm flying!"

Proud Moment #3: Two-wheel biking, knitting, ballet, scootering, cooking, Spanish--the list goes on.
At first I was going to write that Kalina's ballet teacher said she dances beautifully (which I knew, but was tremendously fun to hear from an expert). But then Kalina learned to knit in, like, one lesson. And I realized she had also recently learned to ride a bike with no training wheels. And then the next week her ballet teacher commented on how "precious" she is and that she always has something sweet to say about her sisters in class. Plus she's taking off with Spanish, uses her ears to figure out tunes on the piano and can lend a real hand in the kitchen (not one that spills flour all over me or sneaks tastes every five second). And she scooters around the block, supervised of course, adeptly and fearlessly. And she can juggle one Koosh ball.

Everyone is finger knitting, except
Naomi, who only thinks she is. This
led to needles for Kalina!

Okay, maybe some things are only pseudo-accomplishments, but the point remains: Kalina sure is growing! Sure, she still prefers to be on the same level of the house as everyone else (preferably the same room), she can stare off into space for 15 minutes while theoretically getting dressed in the morning and even Naomi's simplest stories catch her interest (especially away from math), but her new confidence and abilities have clearly signaled a new phase in development.

Kalina's certainly enjoying her new skills and I have to admit that I, too, am enjoying the transition from "Don't put your hand in your milk" to "Please clean up the milk you spilled," or even, not too far off, "Please turn this milk into pancakes for dinner tonight."

Congrats, Kalina!

Happy Chicago!

The Easter season usually finds us showing off pretty dresses, hunting for eggs, and spending the occasional few hours in the ER. This year, however, we did something a bit different (although there were still eggs in several forms) and met Matt's family in Chicago!

As Chicago had made it nearly to our short list of places to visit (it's a long list), we took advantage of the opportunity to do plenty of exploring. And although we faced endless parking garages and at least one rude Chicagoan, we were grateful that our plans mostly worked, our kids held up incredibly well and our colds held off until Monday.

We began Friday morning shortly after our feet hit the floor, and arrived at the Museum of Science and Industry not long after lunch. After grudgingly admitting that we'd have to pay a hefty parking fee to park in the garage, we gasped as even this unsatisfactory option looked as though it'd been yanked away from us: the garage's entrance was coned off, presumably because it was full. After 10 minutes on our smartphones in a permit-based parking lot for which we did not have a permit, we were faced with driving around busy Chicago and parallel parking our minivan, along with the other hundreds of vehicles also trying to gain entry to the museum. As we passed the parking ramp entrance, however, I noticed someone had cleared away the cones in our absence. We were in! And now super grateful to drop a $20 for 3 hours of parking.

As soon as we walked into the museum, and after a thorough lecture about what to do if you get lost, we made a beeline for the baby chicks (I may have mentioned the chicks once or twice to the girls). Some kind older girls made room for my shorter ones front and center to actually witness the hatching of an egg! My animal lovers were in awe, although I don't think we learned anything about genetics in the process.

We soon found our way to the impressive weather area, where everything was high tech and therefore hard to  understand (but there were lots of buttons). We eventually found a guide talking about colors of light in a really fun exhibit, and Elise's green shirt was put on display as we watched all green light disappear from the room, and muted browns appear in its place.

Then there was this cow, in the farming section. After the cow, Kalina and Elise got to pretend to drive an actual John Deere combine with Daddy, while I tried not to turn chasing Naomi into a game and Naomi tried to push every button she could find, or at least everything that looked like a button, permissible or not.

Colleen Moore's fairy castle. By the second time around Kalina was ready to sprout wings and move in. Elise would've been more enchanted if she hadn't been pretty worn out by then, although she did single out a beautiful little vase. Naomi was very two.

And then we headed to the hotel, where we had two pieces of good news (in addition to friendly family members waiting for us): the first was that we all had rooms together instead of being scattered across the hotel, something for which I think we will all be eternally grateful, and the second was that pizza was ready for us, thanks to Uncle Brian. We said our hellos to the endlessly cute and entertaining baby Dean, passed out paper plates, and dug in.

The night was late and the morning came early, but Elise, especially, was in good spirits knowing that the day promised the event to which she was looking forward to the most: a trip to the bakery right next to the hotel. Having inherited not only the Grandpa Les baked-good gene but also baked-good genes from the entire Hanks-Owens clan, she was fairly drooling at the mouth. The girls instantly agreed on a cinnamon roll and a fancy powdered sugar donut, and we divvied them up along with a Nutella croissant for Mommy. Yum.

Grandma had come equipped with Easter eggs for the girls to find so once we were full of baked goods, which didn't take long, we hunted through the hotel room and compared treasures, sneaking as many m&ms into our mouths as we could before Mom noticed too much. Elise also invented a "sandwich" with some of her treats: two cheddar bunnies surrounding an m&m. Want one? She's happy to share! Especially with Uncle Brian, with whom she was best buddies by now. 

On a last-minute whim, we decided to walk to Navy Pier with Dean, Laura and Brian. Our brisk pace covered the mile distance fairly quickly, with the Elise talking nonstop to Uncle Brian, Kalina birdwatching for a badge and Naomi wanting to walk as a general rule, but to be picked up every time we crossed a street, passed someone who looked scary or heard a truck (so, every three steps). Once we made it to the pier, we snapped a photo before dashing back so Dean could get a nap and we could eat lunch before heading out again to the next museum.

At the Field Museum, even Naomi could point out Sue. After admiring her and answering all the two-year-old's questions ("Did she bite Daddy?") we headed for the galleries of stuffed animals. Although Naomi insisted on walking a very wide path around the crocodile, she soon began a routine of dividing each group of animals into family members (Which one is the mommy? Where's the baby? Etc.) and the older girls managed to thoroughly enjoy each exhibit without worrying too much about the fact that all the animals used to be alive.

And then it was time for the Terra Cotta Warrior exhibit, which we were especially excited for because we had only just studied them the week before. Everyone thought they were pretty cool including Naomi, who liked them so much she wanted to be in the displays with them. She alternately rested in my arms, it being naptime, and tried to cause all kinds of mischief. We managed to avoid tantrums and setting off any alarms, although my arms were quite sore the next day. Thankfully, Daddy was around to read all the descriptions with her and make it a meaningful exhibit. Kalina poses here as a mirror image of this particular warrior. 

If there's one thing Elise loves, it's shiny rocks, so we had to see the rocks, minerals and gems displays. And if there's anything Elise loves more than a shiny rock, it's a giant shiny crystal, as shown here.

Kalina, who increasingly enjoys photography and seems to have a good eye, captured this angle of the giant crystal.

After Kalina and Daddy had each picked out their favorite gem in almost every case in the Hall of Gems (while the rest of us waited fairly patiently), we accidentally ended up in a big Egypt exhibit, which the girls thought was creepy. We headed over to the Native Americans instead, where Kalina studied the dioramas and we all rested on buffalo skins in a Pawnee dwelling before calling it quits for the day.

At the Shedd the next day, we were all pretty tired but couldn't help but enjoy ourselves, although there's a certain gift-shop visit we would've done differently. 

Kalina and Elise both touched some live starfish and described them as "bristly." Naomi declined to touch those, but put her hands on nearly everything else in the building. Afterward, we enjoyed cobbling together a quick and fairly cheap lunch (thanks to Daddy, who, like a camel, can pick or choose when he eats and drinks) beside a lovely view of Lake Michigan.

"The beluga whale smiled at me!" Beluga whales, of course, can't really help but smile, and especially when encountering these three cuties. We watched them for a long time and half-pretended they were putting on a show for us (or were they really?).

And then it was time for the actual show--which we had accidentally not gotten tickets for. There's no going back through the ticket line once you're through it, though, unless you want to wait an additional 20-100 minutes, but as it turned out, there was a show in store for us anyway.

While we were watching these dolphins, someone official closed the curtain in the background so the non-paying, non-special people wouldn't be able to sneak a peek at the ocean mammal show. Grand music played as, presumably, dolphins on the other side, and possibly some belugas, performed their hearts out. The thing is, the dolphins on our side never got the message that they weren't in the show. They heard the grand music, and they quickly got into show mode. I'm sure we didn't have quite the stunts and acrobatics the paying crowd did (after all, we'd forgotten our pail of treat-fish in the van). But I guarantee we had a better view, as dolphins would jump and surface little more than an arm's length away. The kids were fully convinced we had our own dolphin show, and really, we did.

Naomi very nearly fell asleep on the way back to the parking lot. And perhaps she did a little, because she certainly didn't sleep any the entire way home. 

Happy Easter!