Linnea's Journal

Linnea ate brown rice and raisins for breakfast.  For lunch she ate most of salmon, bites of whole wheat dinner roll, ate cauliflower, and mangoes.  First I want to wish everyone a very merry Christmas.  This will be the last Blog for Linnea until she returns on January 2nd!!  Gonna miss you Linnea!! Linnea was making me laugh this morning.  She was up very close to my face, four inches maybe, and was studying my eyes, then all of my face.  It was too cute!!  Also, she's kind of fascinated watching me put my hearing aids in my ears every morning.  What the heck are you doing?!?  She'll go to one side, look in that ear, go to the other side and examine that ear.  :)  Another cute thing she was doing this morning: Snapping her fingers.  Have you seen her doing that!?!  She was using her thumb and middle finger - perfect form - and even made the "snap" sound once!  :)  She was also blowing kisses to Lauralea. ...

Linnea ate toasted whole wheat english muffin and half of oranges for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ground beef, whole wheat elbow noodles, peas, and applesauce. Linnea was watching Lauralea get ready for work and she knew Lauralea was about to leave.  She was saying "bye...bye...bye...."  Then she was touching Lauralea's boot and saying, "boot...boot....boot." I LOVE Linnea's morning rituals and routines!  I primarily love it because I know routines help children feel secure, but it's also very very cute!!  Now this week since Atley is gone Linnea is here by herself for sometimes 40 minutes.  I sit on the couch and she brings me toys.  This week it's been "milk" cups and I pretend to drink.  She also takes off her shoes and socks and brings them to me.  And this week every day she's started touching the top of her head and talking.  Oh, you want me to fix your hair?  Big "yes" head nod! I took this first picture when Li...

Linnea ate french toast and strawberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate hearty paleo stew with meat, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, green beans, and carrots!  She also ate crackers and tropical fruit. Linnea was so sweet coming in this morning and she acted happy to be back!  I missed you too Linnea!  :)  The first thing she did?  She went to the changing table, pointed up at it, and then motioned at her hair!  You want me to fix your hair?  She did a big head nod "yes!"  That was too stinking cute!!  (I sit the kids on the changing table because it's the perfect level for doing their ponytails! Until they are as big as Atley!!) Here are some ADORABLE pictures from this morning!!  We've talked about this poster several times, but not today.  She was standing there and I said, "Linnea, where's Elmo?"  She turned around and pointed at him and I was ready with the camera!  :)  Good job!!  Second ...

Linnea ate half of kix cereal and ate mixed fruit for breakfast.  For lunch she ate half of turkey burger, no whole wheat hamburger bun, no tomatoes, bites of avocado, and ate half of cherries.  We ate lunch early and went down for naps early!!  It was a tired Monday morning! We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend.  First picture: We also changed a few things, including bringing in another big box, cutting a door in it, a few windows, and putting some chairs in there with dolls sitting in the chairs.  You may also notice some picture frames in the entry room to display the kid's art work.  Everyone was busy as usual on toy exchange Monday; But everyone was also very tired this morning.  Weekends are not easy for kid's schedules and I don't anticipate it changing much until maybe after the new year!!  Haha! Linnea was a trooper all morning even though it was obvious she was tired.  And she kept playing and staying engaged ...

Linnea ate oatmeal and baked cinnamon apples for breakfast.  For lunch she ate a large serving of hamburger stew with meat, carrots, green beans, and tomatoes.  No whole wheat dinner roll and she ate a large serving of apricots. So in this first picture Linnea was wearing the lion suit and waiting for Daddy Eric and Anders to drive by and wave.  Then she heard Lauralea and headed for the gate to see what Lauralea was doing! And that's why she was not at the window Daddy!!  Haha! Isn't Linnea starting to say lots of words!!  Wow!  She was mimicking lots of words this morning and it was so cute.  She says some things very plain; "Atley"  "Gary"  Haha!  No, really she does!!  I had her say "Gary" for Daddy and also for Lauralea!  You're so smart Linnea!!  :) Here are a couple more pictures from this morning;  She was examining the binoculars, but I took this next picture primarily because it showed-off her ponyta...

Linnea ate french toast and dried plums for breakfast.  For lunch she ate pulled pork, bites of whole wheat toast, ate peas, and strawberries. First picture at Daycare this morning: Linnea was playing with this doll and she kissed it's head so sweetly two or three times.  I got the camera and asked if she'd do it again.  Nope, that's not happening.  She was on to something else.  She read books, played on the mattress, and she was also playing with the phones.  She bought a phone to me and held it up to my ear.  :) Linnea pointed at her hair this morning and looked at the changing table. (That's where I fix the hair on the smallest kids.)  You want me to put a ponytail in your hair?  She was totally asking me.  So cute.  When I put her on the floor she immediately went to the mirror!  I love this picture!!  :)  Her face is so serious!!  I've mentioned this to Momma Becca a couple of times, but she doesn't f...

Linnea ate whole wheat toast and two servings of mangoes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ground beef with pasta sauce on whole wheat spaghetti noodles, ate cauliflower, and fruit salad. First picture: Moments after arrival - she's gotta sit in that chair and take off her socks.  My first activity: grab the camera and get a cute picture of this smiling little girl. Next picture: Atley was spinning Linnea in the chair and I like how Linnea is just focused on the toy she's playing with.  Moments earlier Atley had been talking to Linnea about "hanging on" because they were going for a "ride in the airplane!"  :) Last picture: Linnea came by with the "frog suit" and wanted me to help her put it on.  I was feeding Svea a bottle and wasn't available to help at that moment.  A short while later I looked up and Linnea was strolling across the room.  It was only a couple days ago when Atley decided she could start trying to put on the animals...

Linnea ate bites of whole wheat bagel and two servings of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate chicken, no whole wheat pita bread, ate avocado, half of cucumber, bite of peppers, and ate pears.  I've mentioned several times how much the kids LOVE having the slideshow at meal times with the digital frame.  Nora's Momma Emily is in two of the pictures and Nora loves it so I want to have a picture of each parent on our slide show.  :)  Atley does a running play-by-play of who is in each picture while Nora and Avi add commentary.  :) We were at the window waiting to wave bye to Avi's Momma and Atley started bonking her head on the glass.  And she wasn't very gentle with herself!!  Geez!  Avi joined her in the silliness, but I noticed Avi was much more concerned about self-preservation and was gently bumping the window with her forehead.  All of this was making Linnea giggle. Here are some pictures from Linnea's morning.  Atley t...

Linnea ate bran cereal and raisins for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of shrimp, ate brown rice, stir fry vegetables, and raspberries. We had a good morning at Little Treasures: especially for a Monday!  Ha!  Actually Monday's aren't bad, they can just be a bit hectic from lots of weekend activity, maybe a different sleep schedule, and the kids adjusting to being back at Daycare.  But it sure doesn't take long for them to be right back in the routine!  Lauralea always tells the kids "bye" and gives loves to every one!  This morning Linnea wrapped her arms around Lauralea's legs - first time - and Lauralea was thrilled.  :)  "She hugged my legs!"  Ha! First picture: Atley, Nora, and Linnea were running back and forth across the room getting all the stuffed animals and lining them up on the window sill.  Linnea was very cute chugging along trying to keep pace with the the other two!  :)  Second picture: Then after "windo...

Linnea ate cream of wheat cereal and bites of dried plums for breakfast.  For lunch she ate baked beef kabobs with meat, peppers, and zucchini.  She ate brown rice and pineapple too. This first picture is leftover from yesterday afternoon.  Linnea piled on top of Avilene and when Svea observed that she wanted to join in as well.  So cute!  This is just my opinion, but here is one of the primary differences I've observed over the years between boys and girls at this age:  These girls can play like this on the mattress, but it rarely escalates into something more!!  Throw one random boy in the mix and there is a very good chance it will continue to get wilder and crazier and someone will eventually be howling!!  :)  Testosterone is a marvelous thing!  This is just a side note, but about 15 years ago Lauralea and I were licensed for 12 kids and for almost 2 years we had 11 boys and 1 girl!  Testosterone flowed freely and wildly! ...

Linnea ate waffle and fruit salad for breakfast.  For lunch she ate a large serving of shepherd's pie with meat, green beans, carrots, and potatoes.  She had no whole wheat tortillas and she ate cherries. More pictures of Linnea in the chair!!  Haha!  The girl loves that chair!  Oh, I've mentioned this before!!  Linnea is usually the first one here every morning and she plays in the chair a lot!  Then by the time others start arriving she's ready to move on to other things.  But she comes back to it a few times during the morning too! Avi was asking if we could play in the tunnels so we got them down and hooked them together.  Svea is at the bottom of the picture and Linnea is crawling in front of Svea.  The "older" kids get bored with this pretty quickly, but the youngest ones love crawling through it! Avi, Atley, and Nora have been playing with the animal suits a lot this week.  Linnea brought the lion suit to me and w...

Linnea ate french toast and two servings of strawberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate a large serving of "whole 30 chili" with meat, sweet potatoes, peppers, and tomatoes.  She had no whole wheat dinner roll, but she ate her tropical fruit. You frequently see a picture of Linnea in this chair, right!?!  She loves the chair!  When Reid came back to visit several weeks ago he said, "This was MY favorite chair too!!"  Yup, lots of them have liked the swivel/rocker chair and giving each other rides in it.  (We've retired more than one of them!!)  And that's exactly what Linnea and Nora were doing first thing this morning.  Nora was pushing Linnea around and around. Here are a couple more pictures from this morning.  Nora arrived earlier than usual; same time Linnea arrived this morning.  So she was giving Momma Megan a love too, along with Atley and Linnea.  The following picture: Linnea, Svea, and Nora playing in the same ar...

Linnea ate whole wheat english muffin and two servings of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate pork chops, no whole wheat toast, ate (riced) beets, bites of sweet potatoes, and ate applesauce. Linnea was here for almost 60 minutes before anyone else arrived this morning.  We had some music going, but she was totally absorbed in a book and it was very quiet.  I sneezed REALLY loud (sorry Linnea it came fast and I couldn't warn you) and poor girl; she started screaming and running from the books to the couch where I was sitting.  "Save me Gary!  Save me!"  Apparently she didn't realize I was the culprit causing her so much fright!!  :) This first picture was taken yesterday afternoon.  I love several things about this picture, but primarily because it's the first group picture at the window with little Svea!!  :)  Secondly, I like how they are all spaced evenly apart!  There were five school boys outside doing what 7 & 8 y...