Linnea's Journal

Linnea ate waffle and fruit salad for breakfast.  For lunch she ate most of shepherd's pie with meat, carrots, potatoes, and green beans.  She also ate whole wheat tortillas and her cherries. Just in case anyone is interested:  Child Care Resources is celebrating 50 years in the Missoula community with free rides and free Ice Cream at the Carousel on March 12th, 5:30 - 7:00.  Bring friends and family.  All ages of kids are welcome. Linnea is such a little snuggle bug in the mornings when she arrives and I love it!  So cute.  She was saying lots of words with her soft voice; "Atley?"  Yes, Atley's coming.  "Nor Nor?"  Yes, she's coming.  "Avi?"  Yes, she's coming.  "Svea?"  Yes she's coming too!  Then she saw the picture on my shirt.  "Mickey?"  Yes, that's Mickey Mouse.  Then she leaned over to examine my ears!  Ok, I'll go get my hearing aids and put them in!  :) First picture: ...

Linnea ate two servings of French toast and ate strawberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate pork chop, whole wheat toast, sweet potatoes, and applesauce.  The meat was cut in tiny pieces and I mixed it in with the sweet potatoes and applesauce and fed her.  We have a routine at meal times that the highchair kids "come out" first.  The three 'older' ones still try to come out early and always have to ask.  At lunch Nora said, "Gary, can I come out!?"  Linnea said, "no."  Haha!  Thank you Linnea. Speaking of Linnea and Nora;  This morning Linnea was holding out a toy towards Nora and Nora reached to take it.  Of course that's not really what Linnea was wanting Nora to do.  How do you explain to a 2 -3 year old (in this case; a very sensitive 2 - 3 year old!!  ha!) that the babies hold it out for you, but don't really want you to actually take it!! This first picture was taken shortly after Atley arrived and these two were ...

Linnea ate whole grain Chex cereal and ate two servings of peaches for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ground beef, bites of whole wheat hamburger bun, bites of tomato, ate avocado, and ate half of oranges.  It is SO nice to have Linnea back today.  It's obvious that's she's not 100% yet (her eyes are so expressive and she kept looking at me and it was obvious how she was feeling), but she did really well and never complained about anything.  So nice to see her and snuggle sweet Linnea. First picture;  We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend and the kids were busy all morning.  New dress-up clothes!  Well, new to them anyhow!!  Atley and Linnea were the only two kids here when I took the picture and they were talking to Lauralea.  Isn't this cute?  Love this picture.  Linnea asked for help putting her's on, I added the headband, and then Atley joined in too. Two more pictures of Linnea hard at work.  We call it...

Linnea ate brown rice and raisins for breakfast.  For lunch she ate salmon, whole wheat dinner roll, riced cauliflower, and mangoes. The best way to start the Blog!  Snuggling with Gary!  Thank you Linnea!  This is basically our daily routine until someone else arrives.  She's looking at a book that she brought for me.  It has farm animals in it and she was identifying them; and she was especially excited to see the farm dog and puppies.  :) I took this first picture shortly after Atley arrived and Atley was being silly on the mattress and making Linnea laugh.  Atley's favorite thing in the world; make somebody laugh!!  So following with that theme here's the second picture:  The three older girls were done with breakfast while Svea and Linnea were finishing up.  Sometimes, when Atley finishes a meal early, I have to ask her to go play on the other side of the room.  She'll come to the gate and provide entertainment for t...

Linnea ate toasted whole wheat English muffin and oranges for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ground beef, whole wheat elbow noodles, peas, and applesauce. First picture: Linnea and I played this game before anyone else arrived.  She was filling the cup at the sink (behind her) and bringing me something to drink.  And I would drink it and give it back; "yum yum yum."  Thirteen times.  Ha!  Yes I counted. Next picture;  This is one of Atley's favorite things to do; someone in the chair and she makes lots of trips piling on the toys.  Then spinning the chair.  So Atley worked hard and Linnea just kept on reading her book.  Haha!  Then when Nora arrived she was quizzing Linnea about the color of the hearts on Linnea's pants.  "What color is this one?"  She'd tell Linnea the color; "pink."  "What color is this one?"  "Red."  I love how they learn SO much from each other.   And sometimes it's even good s...

Linnea ate French toast and three servings of strawberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate "hearty paleo stew" with meat, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, carrots, and tomatoes.  She also ate crackers and tropical fruit. First picture: Linnea was in the chair and Atley kept bringing her more toys and then spinning the chair for Linnea.  You can see Atley's long hair flying a little and she's moving pretty fast.  (And the picture is a bit blurry too.)  Second picture: Linnea always gets so excited when Svea arrives and in this second picture she was rolling around and trying to get Svea to join her. Next picture:  Avi and Nora were doing some selfies with my phone and Linnea got in on the action!! Last picture - the three oldest girls were doing some art in the preschool room so I was hanging out on the mattress with Linnea and Svea and here's Linnea doing some tricky maneuvers!  :)

Linnea ate waffle and two servings of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate chicken, bites of whole wheat tortillas, ate corn, and baked cinnamon apple. Linnea listened to me talking to Avi about a bruise on Avi's lip.  Linnea said, "I have lip."  (nice sentence)  Then she pointed to her lip.  :)  Good job you little cutie.  Speaking of little cutie; I tell Lauralea all the time how sweet and affectionate Linnea is.  I noticed Lauralea was in the Daycare room for a few minutes this morning getting some hugs for herself too!  Haha!  Linnea has been so affectionate lately!  I love it! Here are some pictures from Linnea's morning:  Reading books on the couch after getting her hair fixed!  Second picture; Atley had on the lady bug jacket and brought the puppy jacket for Linnea to put on.  (Atley and Linnea were the only ones here and Atley plays with her very nicely.)  Then they went to the mirror to see how i...

Linnea ate kix cereal and mixed fruit for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ground turkey, most of whole wheat hamburger bun, ate avocado, several bites of tomatoes, and ate her cherries.  She always makes me laugh at the window waving bye to Daddy.  When he drives away I watch her eyes and they don't move; just staring straight ahead!  Haha!! We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this morning and Linnea was totally into exploring everything.  I just took this first picture when she was being her cute little self reading books.  She and Atley were the only two here for at least 45 minutes and two or three times she came and sat by me.  Thank you Linnea!  That was very sweet and I loved it too. This toy exchange has a "barn animal" theme.  Next picture; Linnea is wearing the horse mask and Svea studied Linnea for a long time with no expression.  We've actually had kids in the past who were super scared of the masks and we'd put them a...

Linnea ate oatmeal and baked cinnamon apples for breakfast.  For lunch she ate hamburger stew with meat, carrots, green beans, tomatoes, and potatoes.  No whole wheat dinner roll and she ate apricots. First picture:  Hey what a treat for me and I think Linnea was enjoying it too!!  She was here first and it was 30 minutes before Atley arrived.  That's not too unusual, but this morning Linnea was SO cuddly and she stayed pretty close to me until Atley arrived!!  So we did a few selfies and I picked my favorite on to post.  Second picture: we frequently make "sidewalks" with the big blocks, but Linnea laid this one down by herself and then she was testing it out. Lauralea came upstairs and we were talking.  She said, "Ok Gar Gar."  (Rhymes with "hair." Ha.)  Linnea looked at her with a frown and said, "Gary."  haha!  And she said it very plain, slow and deliberately.  So cute.  Lauralea said, "Oh, ok."  :) ...

Linnea ate French toast and two servings of dried plums for breakfast.  For lunch she ate bites of chicken meatball (Substitute for pulled pork today.  Costco had these meatballs - organic chicken - no sugar added - cheers!), ate whole wheat toast, peas, and strawberries. These first two pictures are from first thing this morning and Linnea was working so hard to keep up with Atley and Nora.  First they cleared all the stuffed animals off the mattress; Atley said, "Let's move these so we can have a party!!" Then they packed all the animals across the room, made a pile under the window, and then did everything in reverse.  So I guess the party consisted of packing things back-n-forth! Next picture; they followed up that activity by moving on to the dress-up clothes.  Again, Linnea was playin right beside them working hard to get some clothes on.  I like how all 3 of them managed to get the shorts over their heads!!  Svea wasn't feeling well toda...

Linnea ate whole wheat toast and two servings of mangoes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ground beef with pasta sauce, whole wheat spaghetti noodles, riced cauliflower, and fruit salad.  The minute Daddy Eric drove past the window this morning Linnea pointed at her hair to be fixed!  "Hair hair hair."  You bet; let's fix your hair! First picture; I liked how Linnea worked hard to get this headband on her head.  After I took this picture I showed it to her and she chuckled.  So cute.  Second picture: As you can probably guess Linnea was looking at that same book I posted on Monday.  "Baby baby baby."  Yup, that's a baby and I guess they look pretty good upside down too!!  (You can zoom in on the picture!) Next picture: Atley said she and Nora were "flying" while running around with their arms stretched out!  Linnea started mimicking them and she had her arms out and running in tight circles!  :)  Last picture: ...

Linnea ate whole wheat bagel (toasted and buttered) and ate grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate shrimp, brown rice, stir fry vegetables, and raspberries. Linnea is almost always the first one here so it was a treat that Nora arrived a few minutes after opening!  Linnea was excited that someone besides Gary was here when she arrived!!  Both girls were running, squealing, laughing, and giggling from one side of the room to the other side!!  It was adorable.  First picture: They were in the box together,  peeking out and I managed to get a picture before they vanished and moved on to something else!! Next picture; It was still just Nora and Linnea here and they were putting on dress-up clothes.  Once again Linnea is showing off the "Atley method" of how to wear your shorts!!  Ha!  Nora was doing the more traditional way except she had both legs in one leg hole and the shorts then fit her pretty well!! Haha!! Last picture: Well if ...

Linnea ate a large serving of bran cereal with raisins for breakfast.  For lunch she ate chicken, no whole wheat pita bread, ate avocado, half of peppers, half of cucumbers, and ate pears. Linnea was saying, "bye bye" in this cute little voice and also waving bye to Atley's Momma this morning.  Little cutie.  First picture: Linnea LOVES this book.  She looked at it everyday last week.  It has several babies in it and she looks at them and says, "baby, baby, baby."  It also has mirrors on every page and if you zoom in you can see she was looking at me when I took this picture.  She looked at herself and said, "Nay Nay." Next picture: Well Atley arrived and she's doing what she does best!!  Being hilarious and making the other kids laugh.  In this picture Atley is showing Linnea the proper way to wear shorts!!  It was pretty cute how Linnea followed her lead and did the exact same thing Atley was doing!! More pictures: I turned t...

Linnea ate cream of wheat cereal and dried plums for breakfast.  For lunch she ate baked beef kabobs with meat, pineapple, zucchini, and peppers.  She ate brown rice and some pineapple on the side. First two pictures: Linnea working the clothes rack again!!  She put the headband on by herself and it was so cute.  Then she was trying to stick the 2nd head band on as well without much success.  She was wearing the shorts around her neck and pushing the school bus all over the place.  I tried to take a picture of her racing into the igloo with it.  About the time I got the camera ready she was yanking the shorts off her head.  :) Next picture: Atley can make these books sound SO interesting!!  It's hard to describe unless you've heard her!  And it's even harder to ignore!  Haha!  Just kidding.  For example, this morning I counted NINE different songs she was singing (at a very high volume) while looking at the books...