Siri walks

SIRI WALKING AT SEVEN MONTHS!!!!!

Unbelievable but today Siri walked five steps all by herself! She just let go of our ottoman in the living room, stood unaided completely on her own power for three seconds, and then took FIVE deliberate steps. After these five steps, she didn't fall down either - she just sat down on her butt - with a lot of muscle control, and then just looks at mommy like " yeah, no biggie really, mommy." Of course I was shocked:) Simply crazy that we run into all of these kids that are just shy of 12 months and just barely walking, not to mention many that are seven months not even crawling, and here Siri is constantly getting angry and bored with us if we don't let her walk all around the table, chairs, floor lamps using anything she can to balance herself as she goes! And don't get Daddy started on those four teeth that she got - two on top and two of the bottom. Soren still has the scar on his shoulder from where she bit him last week. And this is the second time she's done that to him - but I say she bites you once, shame on her. Siri bites you twice in the exact same spot, shame on Daddy - unfortunately:)

Siri is also fearless in swim class, which she has been to now with Daddy a total of three times. She is perfectly comfortable on her back in the water leaning against Daddy, or on her stomach spitting out water as he helps her to kick her legs.

Inari is also doing brilliantly in her swim class. She always raises her hand to be first in the water with her teacher, is great at floating on her back in the water and blowing bubbles - all of what is necessary for her to be able to enter the next swim class up from pike to eel.

While Inari is still great friends wit her buddy Allastar, intriguingly enough it would seem that Siri and Teagan, Allastar's baby brother are also on the way to being great friends. We have great pictures of all of this, but Soren will have to be the one to figure out how to get them from our Digital Camera onto the blog.

Big hugs and kisses from us all as we prepare for St. Patrick's Day! Mwah!

Today we are trying to stay true to feeding Siri real food versus relying on breast milk. She has always been very interested in food that Mommy and Daddy are eating. She will literally grab your plate, as well as the food as it is on the way to your mouth if possible. When we say grab, it's a real going for the gusto type grab, like knock you off balance if you have the misfortune of holding her and forgetting just how much the girl likes the idea of food. However, when it comes to baby food, nothing has been a big hit. Inari, while not to interested in Mommy, Daddy or anyone's food before she had a full set of teeth loved sweet potato baby food. Couldn't get enough of it. Siri on the other hand looks like we've just given her laundry detergent and told her it's rock candy... or something like that. In short, she hasn't liked sweet potatoes, peaches or peas, but today pureed pears gave us hope! I suppose we'll try again tomorrow.

Video problem?

If you are having problems watching the videos, try clicking on the video titles on the right side of the blog.

Siri Cam

Siri and Mommy.

Inari freestyle

Inari having fun with the camera.

Today the family went with Inari to her best friend Alastar's birthday party. It was at Travel Town, a really great outdoor train museum in the middle of Griffith Park. Trees, flowers, shrubs, and the grand metal carcases of the industrial revolution. Just off of Forest Lawn drive, it is deep in the park, sandwiched between Forest Lawn Cemetary and the Horse Trails. Despite the proximity of the Cemetary, it is a very pleasant kid friendly place. Geared towards toddlers and the grade school set, it is a last resting place for many old passenger cars, turn of the century locomotives, and just plain old trains. Every weekend they are booked to capacity with children's parties and families riding the little makeshift train that circles the entire attraction. Needless to say, though it is hidden in plain sight, most Angelenos don't actually know it even exists until they have children and are invited to the park for a kid's birthday party. Just like us.

However, at the ripe old age of three, Inari is a veteran when it comes to Travel Town and so are we. Tomorrow we will be returning for another birthday party for yet another friend of Inari's from her preschool class. But today, as always whenever Alastar is involved, it is all about Alastar.

Inari and Alastar have been very close friends since Inari was 1years old and Alastar was 2. It was purely by chance that they met when Alastar's mom and I started going to the Westside Family YMCA to work off post baby weight and meet other moms in desperate need of an hour long break from the most exhausting work any of us have ever had or will ever have since. I don't know if you've heard, but being a parent is tough - to say it is highly rewarding is a given but the actual work of the whole thing is a completely different animal entirely tailor made to go. At most YMCAs in Los Angeles, parents that want to workout - particularly new mothers - can leave their children in Childwatch for an hour with reliable caretakers while they take an exercise class ( usually on little to no sleep - the cruel irony of being a postpartum woman in a weight obsessed culture). Strange as it may sound, many moms that I know, myself included look forward to pushing their bodies to the limit during these childfree times in between the myriad times that we are pushed to the limit trying to take care of our children while they are hanging on us, nursing on us, chewing our hair, dropping their favorite sippycup into an open sewer and/or all of the other crazy mommy challenges that happen when you are trying to juggle folding up a recalsitrant stroller, transporting a child from said stroller to a childseat, or just getting your child to preschool or ballet class on time and in one piece. But these are my issues. Alastar's mother Mary and I have since become very close friends, but it was the unique relationship that Alastar and Inari formed all on their own while waiting for us every week in Childwatch that brought us and subsequently our two families together. And this was before both of them could really even talk - especially Inari.

It's been over a year now, two moves ( Alastar's family to South Pasadena, our family to Encino) and two new babies ( Inari's baby sister Siri and Alastar's baby brother Teagan) since Inari and Alastar have regularly been in each others lives. Unfortunately, when Alastar's family moved to South Pasadena the trek to West LA to make it to the YMCA became too much of a long haul. But still whenever Inari and Alastar see each other, they are inseparable. Even though Inari wasn't the only guest at Alastar's Travel Town party, once she arrived, they only played with each other, wandering amongst the old trains and once or twice team crashing the other birthdays in the park ( which was sometimes a bit problematic:>). On the little train ride around the park, they sat together, and my husband tells me that Inari was stroking Alastar's hair during the whole ride ( this allowed by a kid who is definitely on the aloof side about being touched). Why wasn't I there to see it first hand, you ask? I was hanging back with the younger siblings, Siri and Teagan which both Inari and Alastar came back to play with after their ride around the park. This is why I can report firsthand that both Inari and Alastar were quick to remark to one another several times what "good babies" their friend had in their younger sister and younger brother, respectively.

To say that the Krabbes had a really good time at Travel Time today would be quite an understatement. That it was really hard for Inari to leave her friend when it was time to say goodbye would also be an understatement of great magnitude nearing the tragic.

last night Siri actually said her sister's name while we were doing our bedtime ritual. What is our bedtime ritual you ask? Well, for the time being it mostly revolves around Inari's bedtime, which is 9:30pm. After wrestling with Inari to wet her hair and comb it into two braids ( which often requires a TV bribe of one of her favorite shows to be watched while her hair is being combed), and brushing her teeth and getting into pajamas, the whole family sits in Inari's room and we all say what we liked that each person in the family did that day. Of course, I have to go to the bathroom in the middle of it all, and while Soren is in the middle of telling Inari what he liked that she did that day, Siri gets up on the edge of Inari's bed and starts bobbing up and down saying "Nari, Nari!". Soren of course turns to Siri, unsure that she at 6 months has actual said what he thinks she's sad, so h says to her, "Siri, can you say Inari?" to which Inari aptly replies, "She already SAID it daddy." Funny, huh?

Valentines Day Greeting 2010

En lille hilsen fra hele familien.

Hi from the USA Krabbe family.

short video

A short video from this morning. Siri watches herself on the screen.

What is this?

Second post.

This is the first photo of hopefully many. I'm showing Siri how this thing works.

She is now 6 1/2 month old. Crawls, stands and says "mama". I'm still working on "dada".

First ever Blog Post

Hi/Hej

Saa proever vi det her Bloggeri.

Jeg sad forleden at taenkte paa at nu da Flikcer kontoen var blevet fyldt op maatte jeg goere noget for at holde DK familien up to date med vores lille LA familien. Loesningen er nu blevet til denne blog.

Meningen med denne blog er at jeg vil saette billeder op af de smaa og skrive lidt om hvad de og vi gaar og laver til hverdag. Saa kan I jo beslutte Jer for om det er interressant eller ej, men I har da ihvertfald muligheden for at tage den beslutning.

Det med at blogge er noget nyt for mig. I ved jo alle er jeg hader at skrive lange (og korte) emails, men jeg vil proeve at faa dette til at virke.

Soren