14 Months, Leaps and Bounds

While Karolina (14 months old today!) is growing up just as fast as she can, Peter, who has been sadly neglected in this blog as of late, is making his OWN cognitive leaps!

This photo (and all photos in the last two blog posts) courtesy of Martin's iPhone, since our camera finally bit the dust and we have not yet replaced it. Sigh.

Peter now attends preschool five mornings a week, and he LOVES it. Phew! Those of you who were kind enough to send him a Christmas gift should have hopefully received a thank you note by now with his trademark signature -- Yes! He can write his name! It's all very exciting.

He is still obsessed with all things cars and trucks, but has progressed into the Lego phase. That kid LOVES his Legos. So does his dad, but that's another story. He builds amazing wheeled contraptions, all with an elaborate story to go with them. We still butt heads on a near daily basis, but he really is a sweet kid. He loves his little sister more than anything.

Yep, that's Karolina, on her first trip to the snow (the jury is still out on whether or not the white stuff is really worth all the trouble of bundling up). At least she likes her snow boots (not pictured). When I first tried them on her to see if they fit, and then took them off to replace them with a pair of shoes more appropriate for gallivanting around the library, she immediately went and got the boots, brought them back to me, and waited until I put them back on her feet.

Her other new interest is cleaning. This must be the Jana gene -- she looks more and more like Jana every day. Give her a cloth, and she wipes down her high chair tray. A broom, and she starts sweeping. She loves to clean! And speaking of clean, she actually *asked* to have her diaper changed the other day. She walked to the stairs, pointed up (where her diapers are kept), and once upstairs, handed me the wipes. This bodes well for potty training.

In other news, Peter lost his tonsils and adenoids this morning. He was an excellent patient, and is currently enjoying a DVD marathon and his 4th popsicle of the day (Thanks, Amy!). We are hoping this surgery will help with the snoring/drooling/nasal dripping/other associated general unpleasantness. His tonsils were SO large, the anesthesiologist joked about having no space to intubate the poor little guy. Now we have to figure out how to keep him "still" for 10 days. He will really miss soccer on Wednesdays -- it's been great for him to have a chance to just RUN for 45 minutes once a week. Luckily, he starts juggling lessons in an "Art of Silliness" class a week from Thursday -- that should distract him.

The rest of us are just trying to keep up with a host of exciting job-related changes in our lives. Erika was just promoted to Program Director of School Food at the nonprofit where she has been working for the past year, just in time for Karolina's babysitter to quit (and thankfully replace herself in the same breath). One of the job perks is emceeing the "Food" Film Session at the Wild and Scenic Film Festival this Friday night. Woo hoo!

Martin's job changes are still top secret (and TBD), but look for big changes in the Kosina household some time in the next month or two.

Pawlene is still holding steady, looking for the sunny spots, sleeping a lot, ignoring the deer (who recently decimated our winter garden when Peter left the garden gate open), neighbor cats, and any other invaders of our yard until the weather warms up. No snow at our house yet, but not for lack of low temperatures. Our next house is going to have a more efficient heating system, but for now we have all gotten used to sleeping in a pretty chilly environment (no heat in the bedrooms of this dear old house) and paying a ridiculous amount for heating oil each year (our heater runs on diesel). At least we are warm and dry, and have a phenomenal new cafe within walking distance. The Curly Wolf's "lavender flat white" (my new favorite drink) ROCKS. That, in addition to Polly's Paladar, an underground supper club (in tiny Nevada City!) that I recently discovered, have GREATLY improved the food scene here.

Happy New Year!

All Grown Up at 13 Months

At thirteen months, Karolina likes to accessorize. Except for socks. She hates socks. She is WALKING and I'm sure it won't be long before she requests her first pair of heels. She is also talking. Her first word was "brother". She loves her brother. Her favorite word, however, is "uh oh". I seem to remember something similar with Peter. Walking, talking, accessorizing, what's left? Stay tuned.

She is one.

Oh my. Hard to believe that a little over a year ago we were all wondering who was going to make his or her debut into our family. She certainly has made her personality known over the past year -- this one is adamant about communicating. She points with such Authority at a water bottle, or a snack, or the chair where I nurse her and makes a strong little "Ma" sound that means I want THAT right NOW. If her demand is not immediately met, she repeats it: "Ma MA", which some people think is really cute because it sounds like she is saying "mama". She is not -- she is saying "Get me that thing right NOW."

She loves to stand and cruise around the furniture, closing the occasional gap between chair and wall with what looks very much like an independent step. But create a little distance and she quickly drops down to the Quasimodo crawl -- much faster at this point and this girl does not like to wait.

She will occasionally stand and dance, especially when she climbs into her little rocking chair and rides the thing like a bucking bronco, standing on the seat and holding onto the chair back. Daredevil, this one.

She had TWO birthday parties to celebrate her first year -- the first one with dear friends Amy, Lindy and Piper, who brought fairy wings and bracelets and a crown and a cupcake, oh MY! Amy orchestrated a Korean tradition of offering the one-year-old a tray of various objects. The first object the child chooses from the tray predicts some talent or proclivity that she will have. Karolina chose scissors (!!!), which means she will be good with her hands. Or she loves danger (my own personal interpretation). Time will tell.

Our neighbors (the Barons), Karolina's babysitter (Ariana), and Ariana's mother (Patty) attended the second birthday party, which was on her Actual Birthday. She had her first chocolate cupcake with salted caramel frosting (MA! MA!) and then her second and third (they were minis). The grown-ups had Kir Royal. She wore her new (French) dress (thanks, Mamie and Papi!). It was all very festive.

So far, her favorite birthday present appears to be the pink CELL PHONE that came in her First Purse (thanks Uncle Dave and Grandma Beth!).

I'd like to say that I've got things down, mom-wise, now that I have TWO children, but I still learn valuable lessons almost every day, usually the hard way. This week's theme was letting go (again). As in, does it REALLY matter if Peter smears cookie dough all over the baking tray instead of making his cookie balls in neat, clean little rows? Answer: No! No, it doesn't at all! The cookies turned out beautifully and mom managed to bite her tongue long enough to find this out! Peter was so proud.

And, here is another one that parents hear ALL the time but mostly don't really get until it's probably too late. That unfolded laundry? Let it go. The fact that dinner won't be on the table at 6:30, but will probably happen by 6:50 or so? Let it go. The teetering mountain of paperwork on your desk? Forget about it for 30 minutes and just sit on the floor with your kids. Let them crawl all over you. Be silly. Pay attention. Let them direct the play. Because, what are you really going to remember in 5 years or 10 years or 20 years? The fact that all of your laundry was folded and put away the same day that you washed it? Or the delighted expression on Peter's face when you pretended your fingers were ants crawling up his leg and the adorable new "word" Karolina made up when she pulled herself up and put her little face inches from your face just before she gave you a sloppy kiss on the chin? Priorities, people. Get them straight. Unfortunately I need to be reminded about this 70 or 80 times a day. But I have my moments. And really, that is what life is about for me. Those Moments.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have piles of dishes, laundry, and paperwork to attend to now that those little ones are finally sleeping peacefully...

Karolina is 11 months old...

Wow, that month went by quickly. Here she is at 11 months:

Only now she can do THIS:

I think all of my readers are bright enough to extrapolate what the next Step will be (pun intended).

In other news, I think we have a little daredevil on our hands. Instead of shying away from the VERY LOUD NOISE that the Blue Angels make when flying directly overhead, so close that you can read "U.S. Navy" written on the side and actually SEE the pilot, Karolina gets excited and points at the planes. We took her to Fleet Week in San Francisco last weekend (thanks for putting us up, Aubrey and Tom!) and Karolina LOVED the air show. Riding back to the car on dad's shoulders, she put her hands up in the air as if she were riding a roller coaster. Or maybe she was pretending to be an airplane.

She loves riding on dad's shoulders.

That's out at the farm during one of the very enjoyable member potlucks that we were lucky enough to attend. The grandparents got to come too:

Yes, we had THREE grandparents visiting at the same time. A new record. And now, we have none. Jana departed a few weeks ago after spending nine months in our little town, and countless hours with the wee ones. It made us realize what we are missing, living thousands of miles away from our closest relatives. Both Martin and I grew up seeing our grandparents on a regular basis, and we kind of took that experience for granted until we realized that our children will not have the same experience. The situation is what it is, and we feel lucky to have the time with our family that we do have -- I just hope Peter and Karolina feel as connected to their extended family and their ancestors as we do.

In that same vein, I finally put up some family photos, including a classic shot of my grandfather and the Buick that he drove across the country so many years ago.

Dad, Dave, what year was that? In the early 30s? Funny that Martin and I drove a very different Buick the opposite direction across the country so many years later.

I also put up our Day of the Dead altar recently, again in an effort to make our family feel more connected to those who came before us. I finally have a picture of my paternal grandparents up there, thanks to Uncle Bill's photo collection. The altar got a bit crowded this year after losing two uncles late last year, but it's nice to see their handsome faces in a prominent location in our house.

But this post was supposed to be about new life, and the burgeoning little light that is Karolina Annalaura Kosina. The kid radiates happiness. She is taking her time learning how to walk, but the words just can't come fast enough for her. Her babysitter's mother read her cards and has declared her "The Arguer". I'm hoping this means she will be an attorney. We'll see.

Karolina will be 10 months old tomorrow!

In a rare moment of being ahead of schedule, I bring you Karolina at 10 months (minus one day):

There have been so many developmental changes in just one short month, it's hard to believe. She drinks from a cup, all by herself (with a bit of spilling)! She's got six teeth! She stands up! All the time! And her "Quasimodo" crawl is speeding up (but showing no signs of evening out). She is also a VERY vocal girl these days -- she makes it extremely clear what she wants and does not want. And if the voice doesn't work, she uses The Point. Sue and Lynne and I used to practice The Point back in the 747 Baker Street days. Yes, Karolina is already working on those feminine wiles.

And Peter is learning how to turn on the charm as well. Here he is with his "girlfriend", Iris, at Pagalonthia on Leonard Lake in Mendocino County this past weekend:

They were inseparable for the duration of our lakeside vacation, driving trucks, canoeing, stirring up wasps' nests (valuable lesson there). I must admit she is quite a catch, but I am SO not ready for my children to start dating. Luckily there were lots of other things to keep him occupied: boating, fishing, swimming, dancing, and generally running wild outside in a pack of 15 other children including his buddy, Paxton, from our San Francisco days. Karolina got some social time as well with two other babies who are very close to her in age: Avery and Violet. I love all the old-fashioned names that are making a comeback.

We returned from four days of idyllic bliss to a frenzy of activity -- a Giants game in San Francisco with my parents to celebrate Papi's birthday, a business trip for Martin, business meetings for me, and slightly cooler weather, thank goodness. It has settled into the low 90s/high 80s. This is about the time of year that I am done with summer, and starting to look forward to sweaters and apples and changing leaves. I don't think I could ever live in San Francisco again, with down parkas as part of my basic summer wardrobe (even with the parka, I was STILL freezing in AT&T Park!). But these long, hot summers are draining, especially with two small children who don't know how to swim. Peter is almost there with the swimming thing, but it will be a few years before I can relax on the river with Karolina.

The Farm is cranking out tomatoes and eggplant, and even a few peppers. I made Baba Ganouj for dinner last night, along with a delicious heirloom tomato, cucumber, and pepper salad (all harvested from the farm yesterday morning), and unfortunately Karolina's face immediately broke out in the same itchy red rash that Peter got from eggplant at her age. Next year I really need to learn how to preserve, because my strategy of finding a million different ways to cook the over-productive vegetable of the moment is not ideal. I love ratatouille as much as the next rat, but my family can only take it so many times a week.

After a trip to the farm, where Peter learned how delicious green beans right off the vine can be, he has requested a winter garden. He already planted some sunflower seeds in "his" garden -- we'll plant a real winter garden if I can get my act together in time. I never did get the Butterfly garden in, mostly due to being stumped on how to water it. I'm not so good at the watering thing -- I think my much-abused oregano has finally bitten the dust. Thank goodness for timers.

I learn a little bit more about gardening each year, and some day, I'll have a long-term space to create something wonderful and learn even more. In the mean time, I am grateful for my little back yard plot, for my participation in the farm cooperative, for the fact that we have such great, healthy food to feed our family, and that my kids actually like and eat this stuff (so far).

What, you say? Not enough Cute Baby Pictures? All right, here's one more, slightly fuzzy, but precious shot:

Karolina is 9 Months and 13 Days Old!

Yes, that's kind of how life has been lately. Getting away from me. Look at this child!

She's not a baby any more. Darn close to toddlerhood. I tried taking the traditional "red chair" photo and after about 17 unusably fuzzy shots because she was moving so much (and nearly falling off the chair), I captured this smirk:

Yep, this one is strong willed. In an entirely different way from this one:

The uniform is for Kuk Sool Won -- a Korean form of karate. Trying to channel that aggression. Hair courtesy of cousin Nathan's Monkey Brains.

But back to strong willed. Example: The child will ONLY eat if she is allowed to pick up the food and place it in her own mouth. And don't try giving her Super Porridge if the rest of the family is eating ratatouille. She wants the grown-up stuff. And she eats it. All of it. But it takes her 3 hours. Must be the French gene. Oh wait, we aren't really French. OK, I blame Mamie and Papi Willett. They must have been giving her French eating lessons.

Her 9th month was jam-packed full of milestones. Important ones like: She crawls! But not for the camera (sorry, Mamie and Papi -- I really tried). She also sleeps! As in, through the night! YAY!!!!

Her latest trick is vocalizations of all types and volume. There is the calm baby babble (ba ba ba ba ba ba) as well as the ear-splitting random shriek. She has distinct noises for eating (lum lum) and wanting food (aam). She blows raspberries and waves bye bye. And hello. And just waves. She is mostly very, very calm (to the point where people will ask me if she is always like this). The answer to that question is yes, except when she gets tired or hungry. Or starts teething, as she did this week. She smiles a lot. Most pictures I get of her feature a Mona Lisa-esque grin. She only shows her teeth when she is really laughing, which brother can inspire her to do nearly without fail. He enjoys making her laugh, feeding her water, and trying to get her to climb (???). He even shares his toys with her. Sweet.

As for the rest of us, life is busy! Especially now that Peter is only in pre-school three mornings a week, due to some behavioral issues (we're working on it). Mom is scrambling to make up work hours. Dad is finally back from 10 days in Australia. Jana is learning how to beat the BRUTAL heat. It's in the 90s this week, 15-20 degrees cooler than the last few weeks.

We made it to the County Fair a couple of weekends ago with dear friends from SF: Aubrey, Tom, Tai, and Baby Miriam. Peter is finally tall enough to ride some good rides on his own. We visited more SF friends in Donner Lake last week, where it was cooler. And still MORE SF friends on a trip to the Bay Area last weekend, where it was MUCH cooler, especially on the ferry to Angel Island. We love our SF friends and miss having them around. Who knows what next year will bring. Stay tuned.

And lastly, just to prove that I really do change her shirt sometimes, here is a video of my two adorable children playing nicely together while we rock out to the Beastie Boys (pardon the shaky camera -- I was rocking out too):

Guest Post from Erika: Camping at Matthew Meadow

We recently embarked upon a very special camping trip. Special to me anyway, since I had not been to this particular spot (Matthew Meadow) with these particular people (the Matthews) since 1979. I had heard over the years that this annual trip was still happening, and with a wistful sigh, I always thought how fun it would be to join up again.

The Matthews are dear family friends of my Uncle Dave, and the 1979 trip was especially vivid in my mind for both good and bad reasons, much like our 2012 trip turned out to be. The good back then was the "discovery" of an old cabin site in the meadow, and finding treasures that some gold digger (the property is in Nevada County, about an hour from Truckee down smaller and smaller roads) had left behind over a hundred years ago. That, and designing elaborate performances with my cousins Andrew and Becky to "entertain" the adults around the camp fire. The bad part was when my dog, Dottie, bit Becky's face, resulting in a trip to the hospital over a very long and bumpy road (I appreciated this SO much more on my own journey this time around).

This Spring, when my father forwarded on the e-mail announcing the trip, I decided it was finally time to make another visit to Matthew Meadow. I have my own kids, we are trying to go camping as much as possible this summer (or at least once a month), and we are only 2 hours away in Nevada City. Why not go?

Why not, indeed. My first inkling of trouble was when things started heating up at work for Martin. First, it was just that he had to go to Australia for ten days. Then he would be in San Francisco for a week, just before the trip. And then, it looked like he would have to work through the weekend of the Matthew Meadow camping trip. After months of looking forward to this trip, I was determined to go, husband or not. I am an experienced camper. I know how to put up a tent, light a fire, cook on a backpacking stove. There would be other people there in case I ran into trouble. How hard could it be, camping with a 4-year old and an almost 9-month old? As it turns out, Quite Hard.

We planned to leave at 1pm, to coincide with Karolina's nap. Even with Jana distracting both kids all morning, it took me until 2:45pm to get everything prepped, packed, and in the car. My backpacking stove was MIA, but we inherited a cook stove from Uncle Bill that Martin had fired up at our last camping trip and I was certain it would be easy to use. After a last, desperate phone call to Martin to find out when or if he would be joining us (undetermined at that time), we were off.

It was a jolly journey, singing along to the Beatles, all the way until we hit the construction road block a few miles before Truckee. And when I mean road block, I mean Stopped. People out of their cars, sunbathing. For an hour and a half.

We passed the time reading books, changing Karolina's diaper, and talking about what might be causing the traffic stop. Finally, at 4:45, we were moving again. We found the first turn-off easily, and the second. Then things started getting confusing. The mileage in the directions didn't match the third turn-off, but there was a lake where there was supposed to be a lake, and we forged ahead as the road got more and more gravelly. Then none of the signs were right and I pulled over at a camp store that was thankfully still open. The camp hosts re-directed me seven miles back the other way (on a gravel road) and warned me about the condition of the road I was to turn off on. Great.

At this point, the sun was definitely moving in a downward direction, and I started to get nervous about traveling down a rough, 4-wheel drive road in the dark in my little Subaru. I sped over that gravel road and finally found the correct turn-off, complete with welcoming "MM" paper plate sign. The paper plates made it easy to find the correct route, until we got to the last one, which was marked with a "WW" instead of a "MM". The road got REALLY rough after that one, and I turned around thinking surely the sign had been flipped upside down and we had gone the wrong direction. Nope, upon second glance there was no other option, and so we made a second sketchy Y turn and crept down a road that looked to me more like a stream bed than anything that was meant for cars.

Maybe 100 yards after the first place we turned around, we saw TRUCKS parked and joy and relief rushed through my body. I felt even better when we got welcoming waves from warm-hearted near-strangers that I had not seen in over thirty years. These same folks helped me get the tent up lickety split, held the baby, and even fed us dinner after I realized that we needed to eat PRONTO or there was going to be more than one meltdown.

They warned us that it had been cold the previous night, but I was unprepared for how bone-chilling the weather turned out to be. I stuffed Karolina in a onesie, a fleece sleeper, a fleece sleep sack, my down jacket, and a fleece blanket wrapped around all of that. In the middle of the night, I added a hat. She was fine. *I* froze. To the point where I was seriously debating packing up and driving off at 2:00am. But Peter and Karolina were sleeping peacefully, and we somehow made it through that night.

After sleeping even less than I normally do, when the sun rose, I wanted COFFEE. I opened the new stove and was utterly confounded by how to turn it on. No clue. Real tears came to my eyes. Again, our tent neighbors Rod and Lois took pity on us and gave me hot water for my French Press. Angels. Things improved after that. Peter ate five or six breakfasts (taking whatever was offered to him) and Karolina ate an entire pancake. We enjoyed a gorgeous hike on part of the Pacific Crest Trail, and Peter made a new friend (tent neighbor Rod). Martin even showed up that afternoon, and cooked us a fantastic dinner. We re-arranged the blankets in the tent and I was much warmer the second night and Karolina SLEPT ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE NIGHT FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER. Woo hoo!

Here are some photos from our weekend:

Peter poking around in a pond on our hike.

Peter dismantling a stump. He was *extremely* busy the entire time we were in camp, building ant bridges, tending the fire, roasting marshmallows for his new friends, and more.

Karolina enjoying the tent.

On our hike.

On our hike with the Matthew clan: Ron and Kathy behind us.

Peter on Rod's ATV. Every night at bed time, when we talk about what we are grateful for, Peter mentions Rod and the ATV.

Karolina eating pancakes.

Thank you, Matthews, for welcoming us back, and making this camping trip memorable in a good way!