15 months

Girls are different from boys. Or maybe Karolina is just different from Peter. This picture of my 15-month-old daughter was taken after she experimented with the scarf (pictured in her lap) to accessorize in a number of different ways. Completely over the head a la "ghost", then around the neck (more conventional) and finally just very casually in one hand, dragging on the ground. She strutted back in forth in the living room, trying out each Look, sometimes with a dance step, sometimes walking, sometimes running. As a friend of mine sometimes describes her (also adorable) daughter -- "weapons grade cuteness".

Also different from her brother -- the cleaning tendency. I've mentioned it before, but this particular proclivity seems to be getting stronger. Now she quickly wipes off any crumbs that hit her lap. I'm glad someone is cleaning around here. I took procrastination to new heights this week when, instead of cleaning the bathroom, I...made granola, coconut custard pie, 3 quarts of chicken stock, AND supervised lemonade making (Peter). (I did, eventually, clean the bathroom, but only because we were expecting extremely fastidious guests (ahem).

Peter has really gotten into cooking lately, after re-discovering his Pretend Soup cookbook (thanks Mamie and Papi!). This week, after the lemonade, he made "hide and seek" muffins practically by himself, and then tried (unsuccessfully) to interest guests Lindy and Piper in his homemade lemon lime soda. He's getting really good at using the juicer. He's been busy lately, and not just cooking. He is also participating in soccer lessons (45 minutes of RUNNING), swimming lessons, and juggling lessons, AKA The Art of Silliness. He also recently tried skiing for the first time, and loved it! Karolina, on the other hand, is suffering from serious "Second Child" neglect and is enrolled in zero classes. Maybe in Portland.

She has her own hobbies of course. Stealing (and eating) cat food (GROSS -- don't tell Pawlene). Singing. "Reading". Working on her language skills (She has added "hot" and "all done" to her vocabulary. Must be all that reading.

Mom's main hobby remains learning how to stay sane while raising two children with a husband who works very, very far away. I continue to make accidental discoveries that make a HUGE difference in how well things go, especially at bed time. This week I learned that moving dinner up half an hour makes an enormous difference in my mood for the rest of the evening because I can actually get everything done before 9:00pm and have a little time to relax and even read a book (!). I'm working on Bringing up Bebe -- thanks again Mamie and Papi. Lots to think about.

Portland

Are pigs flying? Has hell frozen over? What could possibly warrant a blog post that is MORE FREQUENT than my monthly updates on how Karolina has grown? Big news, folks, BIG news.

After five years, Martin has finally won the argument about moving to Portland. With the fate of his current position looking quite dire, he managed to secure a job offer at a start-up (!?!) in Portland, Oregon. And so, we will move.

Martin's first day on the job is February 18, and the rest of the family will follow some months later, after we find a house to buy, Erika transitions her school food job to the next lucky person, and Peter celebrates his 5th birthday with the little preschool buddies that he has spent the last two and a half years running around the playground with.

We will certainly miss all the folks we have been lucky enough to hang out with in Nevada City -- the neighbors and farmers, all the mommy mentors with older children who have taught me so much and passed down SO many goodies, and, of course, the Johnstons:

That was us, this morning, practicing for Portland by hiking in the drizzle.

There is a long list of other stuff we will miss (don't even get me started on our Bay Area clan), but here are five good things about Oregon:

1. We can afford to buy a house that is a short public transportation ride from Martin's job.
2. The food scene really is outstanding, and has gotten even better in the last five years.
3. Good bread.

   Ok, ok, non-food related things. Thanks to Amy for these two reminders:

4. They pump your gas for you.
5. No sales tax!

One request: PLEASE don't mention "Portlandia" to me. Yes, I have seen clips from it. Yes, it is hilarious and very accurate.

That's all she wrote.

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: