Baby Bjarnason: L is for Ladybug and Lilja

We've had an unusually warm winter this past month which has allowed for a lot of much needed outdoor time! We did have a cold spell in December, but it also brought SUN and blue skies so I was completely OK with 20 degree weather (for those of you who are from the midwest, 20 is cold for us northwesterners)! We were able to take a little trip down to the ocean the last week of January for the fun sport of razor clamming! There were some firsts on this trip, like Kris didn't break ONE clam shell (his past record was something like 3 out of 15 NOT broken). And on occasion, I've been known to break one as well. Not this day out! We also had record type temperatures for a dig in January. I don't know the official temp, but I do know Kris and GW were close to digging in their t-shirts. AND it wasn't raining sideways. Another much appreciated miracle! And one last "first" GW wasn't on the beach an hour (or two) earlier than necessary, which is his MO. We rented this rickety old a-frame, where all garbage cans have more than one purpose. You can figure out one, the other is a door stop. I'm guessing the house is slightly a-tilt! After we finished up dinner, Lilja discovered a ladybug, which must have arrived via the lettuce KW brought? All I know is we should bring one with us everywhere we go. That little ladybug provided Lilja with hours of entertainment. She gave it a tour of the A-frame, she fed it lettuce (tried to I should say), showed it to neigh-neigh, put it on all of us, and talked to her/him most of the night. We finally got LJ to put her/him down on the fireplace (which we weren't using) and said ladybug disappeared. At first she was quite distressed that it was hiding, until we told her it was probably just napping and we'd see it in the morning. That didn't stop her from calling out, Ladybug, where'd you go? You napping? and all sorts of questions for the MIA ladybug. This was all much more exciting than the puzzles and books I brought. The next morning I think she'd somewhat forgotten about the bug, until Nana found another ladybug on her hat. The ladybug obsession started ALL over again. It wasn't the same ladybug from the previous night, but she thought it was, so that is all that really matters. From now on, I'm bringing one of those cute little spotted bugs with us.

On the way to find Daddy & Papa

Diggin for clams

Crackin peanut shells with Papa (and Rollie of course)

This past week LJ has been on the verge of being sick, but it really only manifested into a cold. We were using the warm humidifier to help with any nighttime congestion. Until one night she heard it "gurgle" and told daddy she didn't want that 'midifier' in her room. He tried to reason with her, but we all know it is useless to reason with a 2 year old. So that night/early AM (2:30) I heard "mommy, mommy, mommy", I go into her room and ask what's wrong, she tells me "my bed is dirty"! I could see it was 2 dark spots which turned out to be from a bad bloody nose! She had smeared it all over her face and hair and was quite upset. She told me she wanted to sleep in our bed, which I knew wasn't a good idea, didn't want it to become habit. We got everything cleaned up and her back to bed with no problems. In the morning, she discovered that neigh-neigh had evidence from the nose bleed and wasn't real happy about it, but it was better than the alternative, which was me putting him in the wash right then. What's a little blood on your neigh-neigh right? The next night daddy tried to tell her that if he could turn on the humidifier she wouldn't get a bloody nose again, but she wasn't buying into it. He was sly enough to hide it behind a chair in her room and I know it's helping her breath easier at night. No more nose issues. Daddy scores a point there.

Daddy also scored another major point with Lilja...he took her to the Point Defiance Zoo. They went on a day I was at work, so I missed out on the festivities, which sounded like a good time. Kris was pretty proud he took some photos, which I almost wish he hadn't. Upon viewing photos, I was mortified that he took her out in public looking like she did. She definitely had bed-head and I'm not sure why he put her in her black dress shoes with jeans...but I guess that's better than taking her in her jammies! Also better than just hanging out at home, so daddy scored some points with me too! I imagine any other mother that looked at the 2 of them put the pieces together..."oh...i get it....her daddy got her ready!" Major disappointment of the day was she didn't see any kangaroos. Hmmm...maybe we need to take a trip to Australia!

The big fat walrus and a view of LJ's hair from the back

Ahhh...look at that hair!

She's got some of the cutest outfits, and this is how daddy dressed her,
oh and did I mention the hair?

Embarrassment of my week...when we go to the grocery store, I can usually sidetrack Lilja away from those obnoxious 'car' carts and get her strapped in the old stand by grocery carts. Well this time she was afoot and jumped into one of those germ carrying, oversized car carts. I wasn't in the right mind for a tantrum over it, so I just proceeded on (after sanitizing the steering wheel as best as I could without her pushing my hand away) with our grocery excursion. Not only do they not steer properly and I nearly knocked down a few end-aisle displays, it had this annoying little horn she continued to honk throughout the store, meanwhile saying BEEP BEEP. OK, that part was pretty cute, but I was over the rest of it, and will have better control over her next time we walk by those things!

And beware according to Lilja there are coyote thieves around these parts...not thieves who steal coyotes, but coyotes who steal. If things are missing, like a sock, or my shoes, or pretty much anything, she says the coyote took it. Darn those coyotes! Quite the imagination. Perhaps when she's a bit older she can tell her teacher the coyote ate her homework.

Grocery shopping at the Children's Museum in T-town

Dressing up like a Raven at the museum

Lilja knows her name starts with the letter L, and when we're playing with our alphabet puzzle, she says, L is for Lilja. She also loves to tell other little kids her name and ask what their name is. I'll have to video her saying her first and last name. It's pretty darn cute.