A bit of this…a bit of that

Well, we got a bit dusted last night. Typical March weather I guess: snow melting one day and back again the next. Still, it is quite pretty. I am getting anxious for spring to come, as I really want flowers around again.

The birds have been numerous this spring. I saw a robin on Friday…the first day of spring appropriately. Knut said he saw 3 of them behind the house yesterday. There has been one black and white bird that has shown up and attacks all the other birds whenever they try to come to our bird feeder, but he wasn’t around this morning. We’ve seen the same 2 birds all winter, and now that spring is here, I see new birds at the feeder every day (when they’re not pecked out by the new black and white one.) It’s a silly and small pleasure, but the kids and I really do enjoy watching the birds at the feeder throughout the day.

Silje has been wanting to learn how to sew, and I got her this plastic sheet to start practicing. I drew a bunch of shapes on it with a permanent marker, and she traces them with a running stitch of yarn. She’s pretty good, if I do say so myself. It’s been a good learning experience for her especially since she likes to get things right the first time, and gets really frustrated when she doesn’t. Every time she makes a mistake, I fix it and say “now what did we learn from this mistake?” And she takes a moment to think about it, and gives me, usually, a very good answer. I then say “It’s a good thing you’re making these mistakes, otherwise you would have not learned so much today.” She then gives me a big smile. I’m not encouraging her to make mistakes, but she’s so fearful of making mistakes, that she doesn’t always try things. I just want her to TRY! She has finished the circle, square, and heart and is currently working on the trapazoid. (Yes, my 4 year old knows what a trapezoid is…do you?)

And here’s Elias just saying hi. He’s moved into David’s room now. I was getting too much in the habit of bringing him to our bed to feed him if he woke up at night, and I’m trying to break him of that habit because I sleep terribly if he’s in bed with us. It’s been 3 nights now, and although the first night he woke up every 1 and 1/2 hours, he now only wakes up once. We put him down at 10pm, and he wakes up about 3, and then again at 6. He used to sleep all the way through the night, but he’s been waking up the last 2 weeks or so. Our doctor said that they need a boost of calories around 4 months, and he’s probably not getting quite enough from me. So I think the rice cereal has been helping…but this kid is growing fast! Knut laughed last night when I started feeding him the cereal, because Elias’ eyes lit up and he practically lunged toward the spoon, and his mouth was opening and shutting like a fish in desperation to get the food in his mouth faster. It’s only been his 4th time having the cereal. I guess he likes it!