Translating Bjornspeak

I've been thinking about writing a blog post about Bjorn starting to talk for several months now. I've kept procrastinating in hopes of getting a video clip of him actually *saying* some of these words, but since it seems that his intense interest in the video camera (which causes him to rush up to me and attempt to snatch it out of my hands approximately five seconds after I begin shooting) isn't going to end anytime soon, I thought I should just go ahead with the post already!

If I'm remembering correctly, when we took Bjorn in for his 15 month doctor's appointment, the item on the language development checklist for his age read something like "uses words to name at least five objects." He was right around that level of language development at the time -- just beginning to name a few things other than Mommy and Daddy. By the time his 18 month appointment rolled around, I had a vague sense that he was saying more than five words, but I wasn't sure how many -- maybe a dozen? Two dozen?

To get a more concrete picture of where his language development was at, I started a list of all the words he was trying to say. By 19 months, he had easily blown past the 100 mark. It looks like Bjorn is learning from his chatty older brother that talking is a pretty fun pastime! Granted, many of Bjorn's words are probably only intelligible to me and Aaron, and only within an immediate physical context that makes it possible for us to guess what he is most likely attempting to say. Still, when you've had no means to communicate other than crying and gesturing for the first year and a half or so of your life, even a 100-word vocabulary with questionable articulation seems like a pretty amazing development.

A few of Bjorn's favorite words these days:

FOOD/DRINK - pickle, olive, popsicle, apple, applesauce, banana, meatball, berries, yogurt, pizza, pasta, waffle, pear, cracker, water, milk, juice, cookie, coffee (no, we do not give him coffee! but he is fascinated by my coffee pot and all its weird noises)

HOUSEHOLD OBJECTS & LOCATIONS - bowl, fork, chair, DVD, computer, light, camera, clip, cord, keys, garbage, floor, wall, kitchen, bed, paci, potty

BODY PARTS - belly, eyes, arm, hand, mouth, ears

ADJECTIVES - hot, cold, hungry, messy, heavy, stuck

VERBS - try, trade, eat, carry, back (meaning "put it back on" or "give it back"), shut, push, help, hug, go, park, pour, see, jump, dancing, hiding

CLOTHING - socks, shoes, boots, shirt, pants, hood, glasses, hat

VEHICLES - airplane, bus, car, truck, van, train, ambulance, bulldozer

ANIMALS - doggie/puppy, panda, cow, piggies (may refer to either pigs or toes), bear, duck, cat, squirrel, horse

MISC. - alley, home, pictures, baby, snow, shovel, all gone, please, knock-knock, other, else (meaning "something else" or "someone else"), up/down, out/in, off/on, yeah/no

Interestingly, Bjorn does NOT say "more," but rather persists in saying "neh neh neh" while doing the baby sign for "more." This reminds me of when Leif was a toddler and for quite some time referred to blueberries as "za za," who knows why!

At 19 months, Bjorn is also starting to put together a few simple two-word phrases, such as "Where Dad?", "Grandma sleep," and "Go, Leif!" However, much of the time he has a knack for communicating a whole sentence worth of information through a single word. If you are standing with him at the bottom of the stairs and he looks up at you and says something that sounds like "key," he's actually trying to say "carry," as in, "Carry me upstairs!" Or if Leif eats a quarter of his dinner and declares himself done, while Bjorn has rapidly cleaned his plate, Bjorn will point to Leif's nearly full plate and declare, "Trade!", meaning "I want to trade my plate for Leif's!" And we are starting to get that classic toddler proclamation, "Self!", meaning "Hands off, Mom/Dad! I want to do that ALL BY MYSELF -- or suffer my wrath!!!" I'm sure we will be hearing plenty more of that in the year(s) to come :-) .

Aunt Jessica, Cousin Rachel & Cousin Libby

 Our third and final Thanksgiving gathering was at Gock and Grandpaw G.'s house on Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend. Unfortunately, I was apparently too busy herding children and eating delicious food to take any pictures! Leif and Bjorn loved seeing their grandparents, Auntie Sarah, and all the dogs, as always, and enjoyed the additional excitement of having their South Carolina cousins, Rachel and Libby, in town for the holiday. The cousins had another chance to play together two days later when Jessica and the girls came over to our house for dinner. The video below was shot after dinner when the kids were all hanging out in the living room with Aaron and Jessica. (Mitch had flown back to SC that morning, otherwise you would probably catch a glimpse of him in this video as well.) Not a whole lot of action, but enough to give you a sense of Libby and Bjorn at age 1 1/2, Leif at 3, and Rachel at 4.

Thanksgiving at Erik's house

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we had another fun family gathering, this one at Erik, Tami, and Vivian's house. Leif and Bjorn's Grandma and Grandpa B. were also there; Auntie Mirja was getting over the flu and so did not make it. We feasted on appetizers of fruit, shrimp with cocktail sauce, and garlic-topped crostini, followed by lasagna and several Thanksgivingy side dishes (corn pudding, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes with marshmallows). Leif, Bjorn, and Vivian all took advantage of the Picky Youngster Tasting Menu, consisting of plain, cold lasagna noodles with a side of jellied cranberry sauce. In the end, it didn't matter a whole lot what was on their plates, since they could only stand to be torn away from their Matchbox car races to sit at the dinner table for about five minutes, anyway. Bjorn did his best to keep up with the big kids as they drove laps through the kitchen, hallway, bedroom, and dining room. We all noticed and remarked on HOW WELL all the kids got along and maintained their good spirits throughout the evening -- an unprecedented occurrence! As I said to Aaron, any gathering where perpetually happy Bjorn is the kid who requires the most attention qualifies as a VERY GOOD evening.

Thanks to Erik, Tami, and Vivian for the delicious feast and good times hanging out with the fam!

Bjorn perusing "How Proust Can Change Your Life"

Vivian and Leif tending their carefully-designed parking lot

Bjorn getting a ride from Grandma B.

Thanksgiving Day

We had three separate family gatherings over Thanksgiving weekend this year, and the one on Thanksgiving (at our house) was the most low-key. Since we knew we would be having turkey with all the trimmings at Gock and Grandpaw G.'s house on Sunday, we decided on a simple menu of crepes with raspberry sauce for Thanksgiving Day lunch at our house. Gock, Grandpaw G., and Auntie Sarah entertained Leif and Bjorn while I made a pile of crepes, and Gock brought her always popular fruit pizza for dessert. And since it was Thanksgiving, we also enjoyed a bonus dessert of pecan pie (courtesy of Sarah and the fine people of Bakers Square) a little while later, after cleaning up the first round of dishes and roughhousing with Leif had enabled us all to build up an appetite again. I'm thankful for all of our extended family members who make my kiddos so happy whenever we see them!

Leif and Gock planning their Black Friday shopping strategy

Leif ate every last bite of his large pile of whipped cream (he insisted on pushing the spout on the whipped cream can by himself), then passed the untouched piece of pecan pie to his dad to finish. Aaron did not protest.

Bjorn ate an entire pint of raspberries (dipped in whipped cream) in lieu of pie.

Happy Halloween!

Leify McQueen

Amy & Aaron with Pumpkin Bjorn

Autumn at MN Zoo

No glorious fall color pics here, I'm afraid...just goats.

Oh yeah, and one cute boy posing nicely (!!) atop this sculpture of a dog/wolf-like animal that we passed by on the way back from the goats.

On these beautiful early fall days, we've hit the MN Zoo several times in the mid- to late afternoon, heading straight down there after Bjorn and I pick up Leif from preschool. Leif continues to be pretty disinterested in most of the animals at the zoo, but he does think buying the little pellets from the goat food dispensers and having the animals lap up the pellets from his open palm is lots of fun. Since the "farm" area where the goats are located is at the very far end of the zoo, I get a good workout by pushing both kids in the double stroller all the way there. Leif then happily walks on the way back and is motivated to keep moving by the promise of a stop at the playground once we make it back to the central plaza near the main building. I hope we can continue this pleasant outdoor autumn routine for at least another few zoo visits before we need to switch over to our indoor winter routine of sprinting around the Tropics Trail, pausing only to check out the various caves and tunnels along the route.

We *suspect* that Bjorn may actually have an interest in looking at the animals, although we have not been able to fully test this theory yet since there is always a pressing need to catch up to his older brother who is speeding on ahead. If we make it to the zoo as a family one of these months and can divide the kiddos (one child per parent), maybe Bjorn will finally get his chance to check out that cool looking pond full of ducks and flamingos for longer than 30 seconds!

Twin Cities Marathon

All right, so this was maybe not the photo you expected to see when you came to the post entitled "Twin Cities Marathon." Well, it was not the photo I expected to post, either! Sadly, though, we managed to somehow miss both Aaron and Sheila as they sped by Mile 18 (near my parents' house) despite having five of us (my parents, me, Leif, and Bjorn) out watching for them for over an hour, so I don't have any pics of running people to post here. They must have been going so fast they were just a blur as they went by us. Indeed, Sheila got her name in the paper for coming in ninth in her age group (WAY TO GO, GOCK!!) and Aaron broke 4 hours, so they must have been hustling!

Bjorn and Leif were both pretty wiped out by the time we walked back to Grandma and Grandpa B.'s house, so they sat on the kitchen floor and kicked back with a couple of cold ones. That really hit the spot.

Next time we are on marathon spectator duty, we're planning a giant sign complete with bells and balloons so the runners we are watching for can't miss us, even if we miss them!

Rochester

The boys and I took a road trip (can it be called a "road trip" if you only drive 90 minutes?? Well, we left the city, in any case!) to the exciting destination of <drumroll, please> ROCHESTER, MINNESOTA in late September. Aaron had some house projects that he needed time to work on without little people underfoot, and I thought it would be fun to take the kids on a 24-hour out-of-town adventure with Erik, Tami, and Vivian. My reasons for picking Rochester were: (1) it's just far enough away to feel like we're truly out of the giant sprawl that is the Twin Cities Greater Metropolitan Area these days, yet close enough that I could count on one or both boys sleeping for just about the entire drive; and (2) they have a Children's Museum there. Ironically, we did not even end up making it to the Children's Museum, but the boys still found the trip pretty darn exciting. After all, it did feature:

- an overnight stay in a hotel
- two, count 'em, TWO swims in the hotel pool
- dinner at Vivian's favorite restaurant (Perkins)
- visiting Erik, Tami, and Vivian in THEIR hotel room all the way at the other end of the very long hallway
- Bjorn getting to play in the bathtub for as looooong as he wanted to while his brother slept for another hour on Sunday morning
- a breakfast buffet at the hotel
- a stop at Gock and Grandpaw G.'s house on the way home, including Leif's first time riding on a horse with Grandpaw!

I did not get many pictures on the trip, but did manage a few at Perkins to prove we were there :-) .

Vivian & Tami

Bjorn, Erik & Leif

Bjorn, Amy, Leif, Vivian & Tami

Since the trip was a hit, we'll have to head down to Rochester again sometime -- next time with Aaron!

Little Cha-Cha

So there's this Sesame Street video called "Sleeping Beauty Dances" that features a character named Prince Cha-cha-cha-charming. Leif really likes this video and will occasionally exclaim with great gusto, totally out of the blue and just for the pleasure of saying it, "Cha-cha-cha-charMING!" It would of course be impolite of me not to reciprocate and say "Cha-cha-cha-charMING!" back to him with an equal (or as near to equal as I can muster) level of enthusiasm. As a result of Leif and me going around saying, "Cha-cha-cha-charMING!" to each other for no particular reason, Bjorn is focusing a surprising amount of energy for a 16-month-old with a tiny vocabulary on learning how to enunciate "cha cha cha!" He has also caught on to the fact that the phrase "cha cha cha" refers to dancing, so he will vigorously dance/stomp on the floor (or table, or couch) as he practices saying his cha-chas. This is, of course, extremely cute, and has led to me dubbing Bjorn "Little Cha-Cha." (Leif, by extension, is Big Cha-Cha.) Below is a photo of Little Cha-Cha practicing his moves on the coffee table. I'll try to catch it on video one of these days!

Doing some computing

Bjorn and Leif inherited this cool toy computer from their cousin Vivian a while back, and it looks like Bjorn has gotten the hang of how to use it!

Amy's birthday

A couple of pics of me and my little boys from my birthday in August....

Bjorn says, "Chocolate cake! Give it to me! NOW!!!" (Really, who needs words when your body language is this expressive?)

 Leif generously offered to blow out my candles for me. Since I used number candles in lieu of regular birthday candles, his task was actually *easier* this time than blowing out all the candles on his own cake back in February had been.

Thanks again to everyone for helping me celebrate, and especially to my parents for humoring me and driving all the way over to Grand Avenue to get the Café Latté turtle cake I had been craving!

Popsicle time

Eating popsicles on the back steps -- one of Leif's favorite things to do in summer 2013!

Nap? ME?? Never!!!

We've had our share of challenges trying to get Leif to sleep enough over the past year and a half. No, make that the past three and a half years -- i.e., ever since he was born. Always a short napper even as a baby, he started dropping his morning nap by around age 1, and after turning 2 he was rarely able to fall asleep for a nap at home. Initially, this meant lots and lots of car naps (or being carried into the house after falling asleep in the car), and since turning 3, more and more days of skipping nap altogether.

Of course, there are still some days when he is clearly NOT going to make it through the afternoon without a snooze. Apparently, my error had been trying to get him to lie down in some logical location (such as his bed or the couch) to nap. A spot he chose himself is shown below:

He had actually curled up on his unpadded wooden chair in the dining room and started to fall asleep there while he had been watching a DVD. When I roused him up enough to get him to climb down from the chair (so he would not fall off), he simply moved to the hardwood floor, sprawled out on his back, and went back to sleep. Looks comfy, eh? Maybe I'll have to try it next time I have insomnia....

Playing with Rachel

Leif got to have a special one-on-one play date with his cousin Rachel one evening in early July while Auntie Sarah (who had been watching Rachel) was at her golf class for a couple of hours. They spent quite a bit of time in the back yard filling up their cars at the "grass station," and then retired inside for a snack and Leif's all-time favorite activity, playing with Matchbox cars on the window seat (a.k.a. the "car shelf") in the dining room. We've heard from Jessica that Rachel is not very into cars when she is at home, but she is always up for playing cars with Leif whenever they are together!

BBQ at Auntie Sarah's house

In late June through early July (yes, I'm a bit behind here!) we enjoyed Aaron's sister Jessica and her girls' traditional summer visit to Minnesota. As always, the kids had a blast playing together at Auntie Sarah's back yard barbeque. A few highlights from that gathering are below.

Sweet cousin Libby! (~13 months -- same age as Bjorn)

Rachel (4 years old) & Leif (3 years old)

Aaron, Libby & Bjorn

Rachel and Leif getting bubbly with Gock G.

Baby zip line

One of Leif and Bjorn's favorite local amenities is the playground at the school across the street from our house. Although the school is for grades 3-8 (soon to change to grades 4-8, I believe), Leif has enjoyed climbing on some of their playground equipment since he was a toddler, and at around a year old, Bjorn is already finding a few things he is able to do there. When given a boost, he's especially fond of the zip line!

Just another day...

Just another day at our house. Yeah, Leif goes around in his underwear a lot. Usually he is at least wearing a t-shirt....

More notably, count the number of boys playing cars on the Car Shelf (known, in some former life, as the window seat in the dining room) in the top picture! Yep, Bjorn is now tall and adept enough to play with Matchbox cars right alongside his big brother. Leif is even occasionally tolerant of this practice.

These days, Leif is a big fan not only of climbing on things, but also of diving and jumping off things, preferably head-first. It's a wonder he has made it to the ripe old age of almost 3 1/2 with no emergency room visits. Knock on wood....

Crazy-hair Bjorn

Leif has long been known for his crazy hair (his head puts on quite a show whenever his hair has not been cut for a while), and now that Bjorn has more than an inch of hair on his head, he can start following in his big brother's footsteps in this arena, as well. The following 'do was courtesy of Aaron at our ice cream stop at the DQ in Hinckley on the way back from the North Shore a couple of weeks ago. Bjorn had gotten pretty sweaty riding for hours in his rear-facing car seat in the back seat of my car (whose air conditioning does not really function), and sweat, as Aaron found, makes a kid's hair spike quite nicely. We'll see if we can recreate this look for his kindergarten school photo in a few years.

Best friends

In late June, we took our first (short) road trip with two kids, heading up to Lutsen on the North Shore of Lake Superior with Grandma and Grandpa B., Erik, Tami, and Vivian for a long weekend. Unfortunately the weather was cruddy the entire weekend -- until the day we had to drive home, of course! As a result, I did not take many pictures. I do have a video of one cute kid highlight from the weekend: Vivian spontaneously declaring (and Leif enthusiastically agreeing) that she and Leif are best friends. They even repeated the declaration once the video camera was on and topped it off with a whole lot of hugging. This was a very sweet and much appreciated moment of harmony between two cousins who are -- how shall I put it? -- sometimes not *quite* on the same page about what to do and how to go about doing it. Maybe when they are not seeing eye to eye we can show them this video as a reminder that they should be nice to each other since they are, after all, best friends (by their own declaration).

Toddler Bjorn

The biggest news at our house this month: Bjorn is walking! He started taking his first few independent steps right around 13 months, and within a week he was walking all over the place. Sigh...hard to believe our sweet Baby Bjorn is turning into Toddler Bjorn. Fortunately, he's still quite sweet, although he is starting to work on developing his toddler attitude.

Bjorn is 1!

Bjorn celebrated his first birthday back in mid-May. I was hoping to post pictures from his party by the end of May, but here it is nearly the end of June already and I am just getting around to it. Somehow time flies when you're busy trying to keep a three-year-old and a one-year-old reasonably well-fed, well-rested, and happy. Go figure!

Bjorn's birthday this year fell on a Saturday, so we got to spend the late afternoon and early evening of his big day celebrating with all of our in-town family members. The weather cooperated, and we had a great time hanging out in our *fully fenced-in* (thank you, Aaron!) back yard when we weren't inside eating Buca takeout and birthday cake. Leif was pleased that his little brother is not yet capable of opening his own presents, so he needed considerable assistance (which Leif was very happy to provide).

Hanging out in the yard with Grandpaw G.

Practicing stair climbing with Grandma B.

Leif was excited when Auntie Tickle Monster arrived!

Bjorn driving the big-boy car (a gift Leif received on his first birthday two years ago)

Another fancy (ha ha) birthday cake, courtesy of yours truly. This is the traditional spice cake made with baby food prunes and pears that I made for Leif on his first birthday.

Bjorn approved of the cake selection!

The birthday boy accidentally showing the correct number of fingers to indicate his new age :-)

Thank you to everyone for coming and making Bjorn's birthday such a special day!

Playing ~ 11 months

I took the above pictures because I was struck by the similarity between how Bjorn plays with this toy at home (turning it over and spinning the wheels with his hands) and Leif's recent obsession with turning over all the Cozy Coupes and tricycles at preschool to examine their wheels. It looks like I've got a couple of future mechanics on my hands!

And I don't know what's so magical about the space underneath dining room tables, but Leif and Bjorn sure both like it. I can't blame them -- I remember feeling the same way when I was a kid!

Adventures in self-feeding

Around 11 months, Bjorn reached that fun stage where he wants to feed himself everything -- including yogurt and oatmeal -- preferably with his hands, although occasionally with a spoon. I can usually manage to slip some spoonfuls of food into his mouth relatively neatly in between his own crammed fistfuls, but he still winds up with food smeared in some unexpected places (e.g., eyelashes, ears, the top of his head) by the end of the meal much of the time.

Hard to get messy with puffs! But apparently, not nearly as much fun....