My name

annikka

As I sat working at the computer, Annikka kept asking to spell her name. She is very proud that she can spell out her name, and wanted to show you that she can do it all by herself. :) "I love spelling my name." So this is Annikka finding the letters on the keyboard (all by herself) to spell her name, then I hit the return key twice and she asked if she could do it again.

annikka

annikka

annikka

annikka

annikka & eila
(After a few rounds of Annikka, she wanted to add Eila. I had to tell her which letters to find, but then she add little sister, too.)

eila

Snow day

From Jan/Feb2011

We woke up to a winter wonderland, so the girls and I got to spend the day together (i.e. school was canceled). We bundled up and went out to play in the snow.

From Jan/Feb2011

From Jan/Feb2011

Annikka loves to eat snow, and Anna teaches her to get the snow from the bushes that hasn't touched the ground.

From Jan/Feb2011

It's lots of fun sledding down our hills,

From Jan/Feb2011

and luckily our Iowan neighbors have great sleds.

From Jan/Feb2011

All that snow also provided for great snow angels.

From Jan/Feb2011

Eila didn't enjoy touching the snow, but she loved watching all the action.

From Jan/Feb2011

Swimming

We don't seem to feel life is busy enough with two kids, so we signed them both up for swimming classes/lessons.

From Jan/Feb2011

From Jan/Feb2011

From Jan/Feb2011

From Jan/Feb2011

From Jan/Feb2011

From Jan/Feb2011

Both are very happy and enjoying their time in the water.

Weird

Partial transcript of a discussion between me and Dana about Annikka's swim lessons, with Annikka in the room:

DANA: Does Annikka dunk her head all the way under water?

ME: Most of the way, but the top of her head doesn't go under.

DANA: Does she R-U-B her E-Y-E-S?

ME: Mmmm ... sometimes, but not too much. Why?

DANA: Well, they say that if kids are hesitant to dunk, it might be because they spend too much time R-U-B-B-I-N-G E-Y-E-S.

ME: That makes sense.

DANA: That's why they say we may need to buy her some G-L-O-V-E-S.

ME: What?

DANA: ...

DANA: Oh. G-O-G-G-L-E-S.

ME: laughing

ANNIKKA: What did you say to Daddy?

Weird, huh?

Ski lesson

From Jan/Feb2011

Annikka went skiing at Mt. Bachelor.

From Jan/Feb2011

Doesn't she look ready to go?

From Jan/Feb2011

From Jan/Feb2011

After optimistically starting out just gliding around with Daddy, we signed her up for an actual lesson.

From Jan/Feb2011

She loved riding the magic carpet to the top of the "run".

From Jan/Feb2011

From Jan/Feb2011

Overall, it seemed like the instructor covered a lot of ground with her - walking in her boots, walking with one ski, and actually skiing down the slope with her hands on her knees, tips together (aided by a worm clip).

From Jan/Feb2011

She said she had fun and wants to go again - Daddy is very happy. :)

Mountain weekend

Although we had a delayed start, everyone had a fun weekend at the mountains.

From Jan/Feb2011

From Jan/Feb2011

From Jan/Feb2011

From Jan/Feb2011

From Jan/Feb2011

From Jan/Feb2011

ER

Tonight we were trying to leave town for a weekend in the mountains, but we got delayed by a visit to the emergency room ...

Annikka's class had a Valentine's party today, and we didn't look over her candies before we let her pick one out. As luck would have it, she picked the one peanut butter filled chocolate heart out of the bag and ate 3/4 of it before commenting, "this tastes like peanuts."

After waiting about 15-20 minutes to see what kind of reaction developed, we decided that we should go into urgent care. Upon hearing "peanut allergy", they immediately pounced on her to get all her vitals (before we even finished at reception), and then gave her an epi shot. Her coughing, redness, and swelling all got better. But ten minutes later, another epi shot and we were sent to the emergency room (they even offered to call us an ambulance).

From Jan/Feb2011

She was hooked up to machines and got more meds at the emergency room, followed by a grape popsicle.

From Jan/Feb2011

Finally allowed to leave after nearly 3 hours (a little before midnight).

From Jan/Feb2011

Luckily, Eila slept through the whole thing.

From Jan/Feb2011

Is having pictures from the emergency room a sign that you blog too much?