I was clearly not expecting to have many photos this week because I am trying to stay off of my phone and be more "in the moment" with the girls. Well, obviously it didn't work so well because I ended up with probably more photos this time around than previous updates! Ah well. As I starting sorting the photos for this week's post, I came across quite a few "selfies" by one perpetrator. Guess who?
Apparently Ri has spent a little more time with my phone as I left it aside than I thought. Anyhow, let's begin this week with "wake-ups" and "bedtimes" lately. Usually, as the girls wake up, they all pile into Reagan's sleeping space because this is where I'm usually getting her stretched and changed for the day (or I am just waking up myself). Much of this time is spent snuggling or just rolling around the mat...
...or I'm trying to snap photos in the dark room with my flash and blinding everyone. Yes, Ri is in her pajamas AND her Snow White dress...in which she slept.
Sometimes, bedtimes look like this...where sisters attack poor, exhausted babies...
ACK! This is her, "scared" face when her sisters come running for her. Hehehe...
As for some of our activities for the week, we did some dry pasta threading...with beads.
The original intent was to make necklaces, but they decided to use pipe cleaners instead and make crowns.
The girls played some dress up...
Love her "bead necklace" crown. She was so proud of herself when she came to show me that she had "made" a crown.
Tay spent some time looking through the "I Spy" book...and while she was doing that, I looked around for Ri and found...
...this.
Hm...she wasn't really sleeping. I didn't try waking her, but kept peeking back at her and she was just playing around with her baby doll and wrapping her up in various spots on the floor and pretending to sleep as they "traveled" around the...room?
We did have a snow day, which made Tay VERY happy. That girl really loves snow. I hope we get a bunch of it before this winter ends...it has been a strangely warm winter...and I was expecting a ton of snow here in Germany. How I miss my Hanover winters...
SPLAT.
In the meantime, this was going on inside the house. A little "friendly" shoving...
Smiles for the camera...
BIG smiles.
Lots of static in her hair...she was hiding under blankets with baby.
Some bouncy fun in their blow-up castle while our neighbor's kid was over for a visit.
Playing with blocks. She built a castle (starting from bottom of photo), the bridge to the castle (with the red and blue towers), and the rest of the village, which she was still building.
This one came downstairs after getting her socks for school with this headband on. She asked if she could wear it to school. I said, sure...if I could take a photo of her wearing it. This is the face I got. I think she's learning from her baby sister.
And then her peace sign.
Then we got ready for our walk to school...baby waiting patiently for me to get the other two out the door.
I love that we can walk to school. It's only about a half a mile and we leave with plenty of time to let the girls stroll...(or I'd go crazy).
It rained on us that day while we walked to school. Puddles galor.
Someone looks worried.
As I mentioned before, Tay is really on a "writing" kick lately. Jeff and I get little notes daily. "I'm so happy that you like my (I'm) writing"
"Will you come to my party?"
"Dear Grandfather, Aunt Jane has been very good. Love, Violet and Jessie." - Boxcar Children
Now, on to the little one of the bunch. She turned 10 months old this week! She does this a lot lately. She really wants to stand up on her own, but hasn't mastered the whole balance thing yet.
She's gotten much faster getting around...she's a mover.
She like playing with the tail of this blanket that Aunt Gina got for her for Christmas. She likes to sniff it like a flower or plop the fluffy tail on her face.
She thinks it's hilarious.
So do I.
She plays a lot on the kitchen floor with random objects I toss at her to keep her distracted (and away from the garbage can and recycling bins).
She always has this surprised look on her face when I give her something new.
She has been a bit of a night owl lately, so I just let her play with whatever until she gets tired enough to go put her down. Here she is playing with Unni's arrows.
Look at this cute little stinker's face. She knows she's cute. It's my weakness.
Oh, she has also learned that she can control her eyelids. She loves playing this game. This was at the on-post Subway restaurant while we were waiting for our car to get cleaned (thanks, Jeff).
She looks so funny with her eyes shut. Why?
Did I tell you she mastered the art of "smiling" for the camera? This is her "fake" smile.
She does it a lot.
See? The left photo is before I said, "Smile!" The right photo is after I said it. Perhaps I am sticking the camera in her face too much.
She has been standing on her own for a few seconds lately...but I can't get a good photo. This is as close as I can get. She hasn't taken any first steps yet, though.
The 10-month snapshot. This pose is taken with her leaning against the couch.
Yaaaarrr. Pirate baby.
And now, on with her silly faces:
One day, Jeff took the car in because we thought we had a little oil leak, but alas, I had left my carrier in the car. For me to get any chores done while the girls are at school, I usually wear her on my back. Well, I pulled out the Baby K'tan to see if I could still get her in it...I could. But...it wasn't so comfortable for her (or me...) so I just snapped a photo and snuggled and played with my baby and the dishes just waited.
She's been eating much more solids lately...and we've been working on self-feeding.
Here is a series of photos where I just let her practice with some oatmeal on her tray and a couple different spoons. It was a messy affair, but she (and I) had some good sensory fun.
She was successful half the time in getting the food into her mouth.
Other times, she needed two hands to get it to her mouth.
Sometimes she missed and got her chin...
...or her neck...
...or her armpit, which she found very amusing. She also got her eye at one point (in case you couldn't see the oatmeal smeared by her eye brow).
She tried feeding with both hands.
She likes to transfer objects from one hand to the other.
She does best when she flips the spoon upside down like this. If I hand her the spoon in this position, she almost always gets the food into her mouth.
Of course, she continues to pull up on everything.
...and makes faces at me. The duck face continues.
Big containers are so much fun to play with...especially when it is empty.
This weekend, we ventured out and found a nearby swimming pool! It was a miniature waterpark for for the girls! See the giant slide?
My mountain man driving us there.
This place was fantastic. They had a wonderful, shallow play area for the wee ones with a few fountains and a slide.
A deeper area with some really fun features that are hard to describe, and I have no photos to show you, but it's like a round-about that every once in a while, they turn on and the water moves around in a circle with a strong current like a lazy river...but it's only a small circle. Yes, there is some fear of drowning if you're not a strong swimmer, but with a flotation device like Ri had on, she was having a blast just riding that current around and around in the circle...and she could actually paddle herself out of the current if she wanted to. I was a little too scared to get in while I was holding the baby, so I'm not sure how much "pull" or "push" it had, but they were moving at a pretty rapid pace!
She's Tay swimming toward part of the "circle of current" while it was off.
Baby just enjoyed licking the water. I think her tongue stayed out of her mouth the entire time we were there. Yuck.
This place was awesome. And for all five of us, it was 11.50 Euros (about $15) for two hours of fun.
Best part of a trip to the pool? Within minutes of getting in the car, the two babies were conked out for a good hour nap.
Another activity we did this weekend was go for a hike on a trail that was right down the road from our house. Tay climbed a hill to see what was on the other side.
Here's the trail.
Lots of fallen leaves.
Beautiful forest all around us...don't you just love that "curve" in the tree trunk? And the color of the moss on it? Tay and I pondered hat could have caused that curve before it grew straight and tall on top.
My little hiking trooper.
At the turnaround point on our trail. We ended up at some train tracks.
A tiny lonely leaf, still hanging on to he branch.
The girls exploring some stumps in a clearing.
I did do some of the stroller pushing...
The two littles rode most of the way...except when Ri wanted to explore a bit.
Her look for most of the ride...except when she was sleeping.
The clearing in a panorama.
Walking with her "umbrella."
Leading the way!
Love this place.
Lastly, I made some sikhye (a fermented Korean rice drink made with malt barley flour - non alcoholic) and it turned out fantastic! Here's where I learned how: http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/sikhye
We had some crazy fog this weekend, too...thought I'd share a couple photos of the fog. I never knew German "fog" was a thing...but apparently it is.
Eerie.
Happy Sunday (now Monday for me). Hope everyone has a wonderful week!
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