Sassy and 16 Months

And so it begins, the start of the "terrible twos". Yet another thing They don't tell you before you have children. The fight for independence sometimes starts shortly after your child turns one and lasts until they reach, oh, four and a half or so. Karolina had her first tantrum last week. It was a DOOZY. It lasted all the way through dinner. Impossible to hold a conversation because of the screaming. Impossible to eat with a small, inconsolably angry child ripping fully loaded place mats off the table and clinging fiercely to my right (fork wielding) arm.

Yes, that child.

God or The Universe or Whoever also seems to have ignored my *specific* request for a quiet, calm, girl child who would be content sitting in a corner and playing with dolls for hours on end. Instead, I got another one who must Move Her Body All the Time. Example:

She repeated that about 30 times, accordingly to our beloved babysitter, Patty, who shot the video.

It could be worse. She is awfully cute. And she is a little parrot -- repeats everything. Tonight she tried to sing the ABC song (after Peter's rendition), only without any actual words, just random sounds. She can carry a tune! And she LOVES her brother. The only way I can get her to change direction once she starts running (usually away from me) is to ask her: "Where's brother?" Then she STOPS immediately, looks around until she locates Peter, and starts running towards him. She rarely walks, preferring instead most often to go Full Speed Ahead.

Speaking of brother, he is doing surprisingly well with Daddy in Portland during the week, but is very much looking forward to the move, or at least the new house, but only after confirming that they do, in fact, have Christmas in Oregon. Tonight he wanted to help CLEAN, and so I handed him a spray bottle and a rag and he cleaned the outside of the oven, the kitchen cupboards, and the entire living room floor. He didn't want to stop.

Also, for you Willetts who may have been wondering whose sense of direction Peter inherited, we are happy to announce that Peter's ability to find his way around is very much a Kosina trait. We observed Peter jump out of an elevator (at a hotel in Portland) and RUN immediately, without any hesitation, around several corners, making various turns, directly to our hotel room after only visiting it once. This was while mom, of course, was still stumbling around across from the elevator, carefully reading the signs and trying to calculate which way to go for room 430. Phew!

Yes, folks, we were in Portland over the weekend, looking at houses and drinking very good (Stumptown) coffee. No, we did not find a house to buy. Yet. Erika is still trying to wrap her head around the many differences between Nevada City and Portland, and already waxing nostalgic about country living. Stay tuned for the final edition of "What I Learned from Living in the Country", which will open with bird calls (Erika can now identify the song of the Nuthatch and the cry of the hawk in addition to the more common calls of the crow, jay, and sea gull.)