Books

Alina loves books and paper.

The first time I noticed this was when I was traveling with her at 6 months old, and she kept reaching for my boarding pass. I finally let her have it, and she carefully held it, content to have the paper between her fingers.

When she picks up a book, she is very careful. She'll try to go through the pages, and sometimes she'll even stop and look at pictures. But for the most part, her fun is in turning the pages. For this reason, I have used board books with her so much more than I ever did with David. When David was tiny, books were isolated to our lap time when we read together. For Alina, books are part of her everyday play.

This photo was captured at the end of a day when she was ready for bed. (Yes, that's the bright summer sun streaming in at bedtime--we generally keep bedtime confined to the rooms with blackout curtains, but this night must have played out a little differently.)

 Anyone who has ever had pigtails before knows how good it feels to take the rubberbands out and rub your scalp. Ahhhh, that's instant relief. So pardon the crazy hair--but we also captured her with a bedtime story, which she loves. Almost as much as she loves her bedtime head massage.

Water Mania

This boy loves water.

He would stay in the bathtub for hours if his tummy didn't tell him to get out and go find breakfast.

 He has a creek to splash in, but that's not enough.

He can't leave alone the "low-spot-on-our-street" puddle in our culdesac that fills up any time someone washes their car or uses their hose or it happens to rain.

He just loves water. Since Daddy has bought a hose, I can't seem to keep my newly built flower garden dry. He likes to watch the water pressure of the hose send the dirt over the brick wall surrounding the little spot of earth. I need more top soil and mulch before I will put plants in it, so I partly claim responsibility for that temptation of moving dirt with water.

But I guess we knew early on that he liked water--remember these pics?

Food, Glorious Food

 You know how some people say they live to eat, and others that they eat to live.

Our girl clearly falls into one of those categories, no contest.

 But I guess it's not too much of a secret, given those darling chubby cheeks.

Alina will often lose dropped food in her bib and on the tray directly below her bib, because it is blocked from her view. Once she finishes with all the food in sight, she has taken to checking her bib for more.

Ah, the joys of self feeding. This week I gave her a spoon to work at some yogurt on her own. She was about 10% successful at getting the spoon-dipped yogurt up to her mouth.

I love having a moppable floor--I didn't have that with David. I  had carpet that kept getting more stained by the day, no matter how hard I tried to spot clean it. Now that I am sweeping up all the dropped food, I see why carpet under a high chair is an impossible situation.

He, She

 He likes to play the piano.

She likes to sit at his feet and whimper until she gets a turn.

 He likes to make up new songs, pound on the keys, and use all 88 keys in varied intervals.

 She likes to spread her whole hand over just two or three of the keys and let them ring.

 He likes to barely lift up the lid and watch the hammers bang the strings while he plays.

 She likes to feel the vibrations of the piano by pressing her little hands against the soundboard.

A match made in heaven, these two! While we are getting a lot more squeals from Alina when David pushes her too far in his teasing/big brother in charge kind of way, they have some moments of pure delight together. I'm glad that they like to share the piano--it is a major focal point of our daily lives.

Fourth of July

We went to Kepler Park near Palmer with a gathering of other families, many thanks to Lindsay for pulling everyone together. This was the first 4th of July that I looked forward to--every year it seems to be such a downer of a holiday in Anchorage, since fireworks are few and don't begin until midnight. This gave us an outing at a lake, time with friends, and a chance to pull kids together for a short patriotic program. Yes, that's just what  we needed to feel celebratory.

 One of the kids caught this fish, and I think every kid on the lake inspected it at least fourteen times.

 This little net was genius for water play. It allowed many many minnows to be caught in the lake. As far as I know, none of the kids got leeches, so that's always a plus in these northern waters.

The patriotic program was perfect with a few songs, reading of the Preamble, and an explanation of the colors on the flag.

Daddy and David took a paddle boat out on the lake for an hour or so. 

Apparently David was keen on jumping in the water for a little swim while they were paddling around. This last time was the only jump I saw, and it took my breath away. Clearly Sam was enjoying David's adventurous spirit, and David was proud of himself for doing it as well.

David floated on his back, holding onto Sam's hand while the boat paddled along. He was having a great time!

 Trying to get back into the boat was a little tricky--but they worked it out.

 Meanwhile, this bathing beauty was enjoying some time in the sand.

She didn't care for the cold water too much, so it was no problem at all to convince her to stay put in the sand. I'm glad she wasn't trying to dart into the water--it would have been a long afternoon of keeping her on my lap for safety. Such a sweet little girl, to just be content in the sand.

She also got in some good cuddles with her Daddy. Alina's red, white, and blue dress was on purpose for the holiday--but her swimsuit was a great coincidence. I remember buying it last summer on clearance. I had butterflies in my stomach as I thought about a baby girl wearing such a cute little swimsuit. She looked even cuter than I could have imagined--roly poly thighs and all. 

Oh, and then there was the BBQ feast that was a lovely spread. I couldn't help myself on these next two pictures--kids diving directly in to the jello, especially with a brownie in the other hand of the little boy. 

By the time they finished, the jello castle was pretty well annihilated. Clearly this table was a bit of heaven for the kids.

Alina was such a good sport. The sunshine exhausted her, and before the rest of us had our seatbelts on to drive home, she was already fast asleep. 

Bear Tales

We have officially seen our first bear around town. We've spotted a few here and there in the wild from the safe distance behind a vehicle's window, but nothing around town.

Which is saying something. The city limits of Anchorage house more than 200 bears known to Fish and Game. To attract a bear with your garbage is a $200 fine. In fact, my friend saw bears go through her neighborhood 6 different times in two summer. Her neighborhood is about 1 mile from me, and closer to the busy-ness of the highway. So we've counted it as a blessing that we have not had any bear encounters in our neck of the woods.

I constantly wonder how much or how little I should let David play outside. Yes, he plays in our creek. But it's only 12 inches across and doesn't have fish of any size to draw feeding bears. One-quarter mile down the road is a much larger branch of the Campbell Creek that is big enough to draw bears. And draw bears it does. Some parents agree with my approach to allow him outdoor play, and others do not. To each their own.

On July 3, we awoke to our trash strewn all over our driveway. We had landscaping trash in the garbage can that prevented it from properly latching, so a bear found a meal in our driveway. They emptied two bags of garbage, strewn all over, and really licked every last baby food jar clean. The landscaping trash included a bunch--like a ton--of rocks, so the bear was unable to knock the can over and reach anything beneath the rocks (the can was actually too heavy for the truck to pick up, so that weight was very substantial). Sam did a thorough job of cleaning up the trash and pouring bleach water on our driveway to try and get the food smells off our property. 

The next night, I awoke to the sound of thumping around. I peered out the window, and figured out that a bear was getting in to our neighbor's trash can. They were knocking the trash can around between the cars on the driveway and the garage door, so the noise was very loud. I awoke Sam so he could watch it with me. As it turned out, because of the angles of our windows and the cars in the driveway next door, the only way we could watch the bear show was to lean out the kitchen window while balancing around the sink. I think the neighbors across the street were probably just as entertained with our perch as they were with the bear licking clean the trash can next door.

To Sam's credit, his thorough cleaning paid off. The bear did not seem to pay any attention to our driveway or our can on that second night. We awoke again late last week to our garbage can tipped over with new claw marks etched into the lid--but this time the bear couldn't get inside because the latch was on.

So we have a bear proof garbage can. It looks mostly like other city garbage containers, but it has a latch that can withstand a bear's curiosity. Our little culdesac has been known to have bears on it. In fact, our neighbor told us that our front porch used to be a spot that one local bear liked to take a nap. Can you imagine? Neither could we. Apparently previous owners were lazy with their trash, so the bear would come to our property to have a free meal, then curl up on the porch for a nap.

When I moved into this neighborhood, I decided that we would pay for a bear proof can at any cost. You can imagine my surprise when I called to inquire about the upgrade. I winced as I thought of how high the price could hike, then laughed in disbelief when I was told that a bear proof can was only $2/month more than a regular can. We are the only ones on our street with the specialized can . . . it would be nice if the neighbors paid the upcharge as well. 

I'm mostly used to the idea that we live in bear country. It doesn't paralyze me with fear like it used to. But we always apply caution whenever we can. I listen for the neighborhood dogs, and they will alert me to a moose during the daytime hours. And I pray for protection to be upon our family. Oh, how I pray.