The Monarch

This last weekend I took the girls up to Brainerd to visit Grandma and Grandpa. While both the girls love visiting, Berlin is especially fond of the big yard and different outdoors to play in and discover.

We got there Friday night and Berlin immediately went outside to see what kind of creatures live in Grandma and Grandpa's yard and to see what kinds of flowers might be available for picking. I was sitting inside when Berlin came running inside sobbing like her heart was broken.

"What's wrong sweetie?" I asked her.

"There was a Monarch and Sadie ate it!" Berlin cried. Sadie is Grandpa's yellow lab.

"Oh no! That wasn't very nice of Sadie was it?"

Just more sobbing.

Turns out that Grandpa had saved The Monarch (which was actually a huge, very ugly hummingbird type moth) from Sadie and was holding it. After Sadie was put away in her kennel Berlin was given the moth with the understanding that it was injured and wasn't going to live long.

Well, Berlin decided that she wanted to put The Monarch in her bug container. Yes, she has an empty yogurt container with holes punched in the lid which travels with us everywhere we go. She currently has about 8 caterpillars in there, 5 of which turned into cocoons over the weekend.

Anyway, she got out her bug container and sat on the step to remove the lid. She set The (big hairy) Monarch down and, lo and behold, Dido, a dog visiting Grandma and Grandpa's house, came up and snatched that moth from right next to Berlin.

Poor Berli started shrieking at Dido, "Stop! Dido, stop! No! No, no, no!" But Dido was not impressed by the hysterical girl. Dido chomped that moth to pieces and swallowed it right in front of Berlin. You would have thought Dido had just eaten her favorite toy from the wailing that ensued.

Thankfully Grandpa came out and distracted Berlin with hugs and cycles of life information, which Berlin seemed to actually find quite interesting.

Whew.

                                                   (Best picture I can find of one of the moths...ew.)

P.S. If Berlin comes running up to you with her hands cupped over something, chances are you might not want to find out what's in there.

Exhausting Love

Having an almost one year old is exhausting. Let's be honest. The reason why I haven't been blogging much is not just due to running more. It's because I have an almost one year old. And he is exhausting.

There is the whole finding healthy foods that he is able to eat and out of those select foods finding the few that he actually wants to eat. It's a wild guess to try and decipher what is going to fit his fancy at any particular meal. The things he never rejects are blueberries, raspberries, cheese, pasta (most of the time), scrambled eggs (with cheese in them), pancakes, and yogurt. But he can't live off of those select foods, and everything else is hit and miss.

Then there is the whole part about  literally watching him almost every second that he is awake. He is on the move, crawling and pulling himself up on things, which is great, but that also means that he is a huge danger to himself because he doesn't know what being careful or cautious is all about. And he doesn't know the rules yet.

Speaking of, we are also having lots of discussions about the word "no" which mostly consist of me sounding like a broken record and him screaming at me. He is a lot more willing to try things over and over again than his sisters were. :) 

And he is just busy, busy, busy. Always wanting to do, do, do. Which means he gets bored a lot, which means that I have to find new ways or toys to entertain him. He also likes to be busy as soon as he wakes up, which lately has been 5am or 6am. Most days I feel like I haven't slept in so long.

On top of all that, I just really, really, really, really, really love this kid. Seriously. He is the cutest, sweetest, funniest, most loved boy of all time. He has the best laugh ever, I wish you could hear it right now.

We finally moved him into his own room last night, which, let's be clear, it's not like I was holding off on this and not getting enough sleep just because. He room was occupied and unavailable so we were making do and using a corner of our room for him. It worked just fine. But I was nervous going to sleep last night, and feeling a little sad and melancholy that the day had finally come and really feeling the fact that he is becoming less and less of a baby. Since he is our last baby, I do not at all regret the time that he got to sleep in our room - regardless of how little sleep I got. However, I got a truly real full night of sleep in my own bed last night with Kye in his room and I feel like a new person today. It's awesome.

So this morning I am celebrating the fact that this busy and tiring boy is getting older. I am reveling in the fact that I remember thinking how much easier it was to have a two and a four year old when I found out I was pregnant with this most loved boy in the world.

I will always, maybe forever, miss the baby days, but here's to full nights of sleep and - in the future - no more changing poopy diapers!! Haha!!

Walking Berlin

Sometimes it is hard to take Berlin on a walk.

This is what I sound like:

Berlin, stay on this side.

Pedal faster sweetie!

Berlin, please pay attention.

Watch out!

Come on! You need to stay with us.

Berlin, please focus and pay attention.

Focus, please.

She tries to have conversations and drives off the road. She tries to watch her shadow and forgets to keep pedaling. Sometimes she just stops pedaling for no particular reason that I can find. There have been a few times that she coasts to a stop, only Tryn is the thing that makes her stop when Berlin isn't looking and crashes right into her.

At one point during our walk Berlin was chanting to herself, "I am focusing, I am focusing, I am focusing." Only she was focusing so much on her chant that she drove herself right into the grass.

Steve gets to teach her how to drive a car.