Great Grandparents

Helen and I went to visit her great grandparents (my grandparents) on Monday. She was instantly happy to see my grandma, but tried to make herself invisible by hiding her face in my neck as soon as my grandpa appeared. This is what she does these days when new men come into her space. Pretty quickly, she warmed up to him and even let him give her a kiss goodbye. She had fun playing with the new doll that my grandma gave her and filling grandma's cart with animals and toys:
She entertained everyone by sitting in her booster chair and practicing her buckling skills:She pretended to nap with her babies:
And then, when she was truly tired, she went into the hall and tried to take a real nap with her new baby:
Now that the weather is nicer and we can count on safe roads and reasonable temperatures, we'll take more trips to see them.

Minnesota Zoo

Last Wednesday, we took Helen to the Minnesota Zoo for the first time. She's been to the Como Zoo, but the big one is something else entirely. There's so much to see, but what she really wanted to do was run in and out of the rock tunnel with the big kids. Eric had to go in after her:
She was mesmerized by the aquarium. She kept doing the sign for fish and saying "Ka! Ka!" for our friend Kate who has a fish tank and taught her the sign for fish:




Here's a video of her trying to greet the fish:

Springtime in the Park

We went to the park for the first time this spring. Last year, Helen just sat in the swings or wherever we put her. Now she's all over the place. It's going to be a fun summer!

check out the tights

Spring!!

Spring arrived in Minnesota last weekend. Here are some shots of Helen soaking up some vitamin D.

Running toward swing set at the home of Aunt Jessica (Deck-uh) and Uncle Nick (Nick-uh)

A leaf!

Enjoying quiet time with Monkey (about 45 seconds?) in a cozy purple nest created by Jess

On a walk in the neighborhood. First ride in the new stroller - awesome!

Ambulance

(video repeats itself - I'll fix that soon)

This is Helen's first story. She likes to tell it several times a day to whomever will listen. One winter day, she and Daddy went outside. She was wearing her boots (seeing these boots will trigger the telling of this story). An ambulance went by - FAST! It said, "wooo wooo wooo," and it had flashing lights (see her finger twirling in the air).
"Ah-mah" means ambulance, but depending on the context, it can also mean Aamera, edamame or arm.
Here's the original post from the day of this most exciting event.

JW Tumbles

Helen's all about tumbling, so we tried out a class at JW Tumbles. She was so excited to climb and explore the space: slides, swings, swimming pool of balls, inner tubes, wobbly boards to walk on, blocks, puzzles, and lots of giant balls for playing "jelly in a bowl." The instructors were awesome, but she was a little afraid of Ian, the one with the deep voice. Overall, I think she'd love a class there. Not sure if it will fit into our schedule, so we might just try to make it for open gym.

Nana and Grandpa B

We spent a fabulous weekend in Wisconsin visiting Nana and Grandpa B (and, of course, the dogs, cats and birds, cousins, uncles and aunt). On Friday, Helen got to enjoy her first warm spring day this year. She LOVED it and kept wanting to go out. On Saturday, it was cold and rainy, so we went to an amazing toy store where Helen found a miniature umbrella stroller identical to her own. We had so much fun all weekend - thanks for a wonderful visit!!

On a walk with Nana and the dogs:

Playing fetch with Hobie:

Grandpa B:

Aunt Angie and Cousin Ben:

Walking the dogs:

Cousins Ben and Jack (photo from Nana):

Feeding the birds with Nana:

Playing Nap

Helen has recovered from her tiny flu. Here she is last weekend playing nap time with Dada and the gang. Lucky for us, she really does enjoy the real thing as well. Not sure how long that will last, but while it does, it's nice for all of us.

And Den I Frowed Up

A couple years ago, we were out to dinner with some friends and their 3 1/2 year old told us a story that ended with, "and den I frowed up." If she could, Helen would tell a similar story about last evening. We were playing on the floor when she gave me a hug and threw up all over me for the first (and certainly not the last) time in her life. I was proud of how I did not freak out at all. At 10pm and 5:30am, she was sick again. Today, she seems better, but she's still not quite herself. For a long time this morning, she sat in her stroller with some blankets and a bunch of babies and stuffed animals and watched me fold laundry - a "game" that would last about 90 seconds on an ordinary day.

She devoured some leftover tofu soup from Tum Rup Thai for lunch, so at least her appetite is coming back. Here are some fingerpainting photos from the weekend, back when she was feeling healthy:

Letter Sounds

She knows all 26! Just kidding. Having the entire alphabet on the fridge was a little overwhelming so we decided to start with just these four. We'll add more little by little.

This video is from last week - anything filmed today would not be so pleasant. She had her 15-month check up this morning with shots, so she's having a rough time. Only one more set of shots at 18 months and then she's done until she's 5 years old - sweet!

23.4 lbs and 31" tall today.

What's Your Name?

Helen sees us using our tongues to make the "L" sound and so she tries to imitate us and ends up with an exaggerated "N" instead.
So, Lulu is "NooNoo," Layla is "NahNah," Alec is "AhNah" and, as you can see here, Helen is "HehNah":

She's sitting in her stroller that we just bought in anticipation of spring. Helen likes to go for the occasional ride around the house, but what she really loves is climbing into the basket underneath: