Bubble Swords and Baby Stars

Last month I got some bubble swords for the kids to play with. I stuck them in the bottom of my closet and promptly forgot them. But being stuck at home, toilet training Lilli, I've been looking for ways to entertain the kids. And I found the bubble swords!

Tipton thought they were really cool. And he was really excited. But you can't tell from these pictures - he seems to be channeling "Goth Boy." Black t-shirt with a skull on it, dark grey sweat pants, black socks, black shoes. Or maybe he was just really focused on making bubbles.





Lilli, on the other hand, is little miss sunshine. When she's not screaming about something, that is. Here she's trying to get the bubblesword/wand back into the 'scabbard' with the "bubble juice."

She had trouble with that, so she decided that it was much more fun to run around and stab all the bubbles that Tipton was so seriously making.

When she tired of that, she poured all the "bubble juice" out of her scabard and threw everything down.

"Lilli, what happened?" I ask
"It's broken!" she replies, innocently.

After the bubble fun ended, we decided to empty the water out of the sandbox. This was no easy task. It took about 20 minutes of all three of us bailing water. Afterwards I carried Lilli straight into the tub to hose her down. She also required an outfit change. Look at those blue eyes! She looks so serious...

But this is how she usually looks!

Lilli was awfully quiet while I was making dinner. She had decided that her baby doll needed a few accessories.

Still plodding away on the Grow With Me tank top. Hopefully Lilli will catch on to the potty training thing tomorrow, because I need to go to the yarn shop - I'm almost out of the main color!

Baby Doll Baptism

Lilli did pretty good with her first "real" day of toilet training. There were more successes than failures. I bought a second little potty this evening. Tomorrow is supposed to be nice (sunny, relatively warm) so I'm hoping to spend most of the day outside, with the new little potty (much less tracking of sand into the house.)



We were outside for a bit this afternoon. Only, someone had left the lid off the sandbox and it rained most of last week. So it was more like an "ocean" box (lots of water, sand on the bottom.) The kids loved it! Lilli brought out one of her baby dolls to play in the water.



In these pictures you can see my old pastry brush in her left hand. And you can see that her head is wet. She was using the soggy pastry brush as a hairbrush. You can also see that there is more sand outside the sandbox than inside. Or maybe you can't how much sand is actually in the sandbox because of all the water.

In knitting news, I am going to make this tank top for Lilli. I cast on for it over the weekend and started the main color this evening. It's moving along pretty quickly (for me.) It's looking like it will be a little big on her, but then she can wear it overtop of turtlenecks and longsleeved shirts - after all we are in Sweden (where apparently summer was the first two weeks of June) and the layered look is "in." Here is my progress thus far:

And Counting...

I just put a counter at the bottom of my blog. Because I need confirmation that my friends and family are actually looking at this blog. I'm insecure like that. Actually, I just think those little counter things are pretty cool. I'm a geek. I keep bringing up my own blog just to see the number at the bottom change. Have I mentioned that we've started Lilli's toilet training today and I'm sort of trapped in the house until she gets the hang of it? (Which hopefully will only take a couple of days.) Anyway, counters are cool.

Manifestos, Naps and Pregnant Toddlers

Tipton likes to play. He doesn't always want to stop what he is playing to do things like get dressed, eat or go potty. Sunday morning I threatened to take away one of his toys if he didn't get dressed. He eventually got dressed. And when he came out of his room he had Daddy help him write a sign for his room:

I guess that means he'll be putting away his own laundry from now on.


Sunday morning was the first day in a long while that it wasn't raining. So we hopped on the bikes and rode down to the beach. It was a windy day. On the way there it wasn't so bad. Lilli's bike trailer acted kind of like a sail and I didn't have to do too much pedalling. On the way back, however, I was pedalling into the wind. And the bike trailer acted like a giant sail. Ugh! It was so windy that I had to carry Lilli while we walked on the beach because the wind kept knocking her down. We played on the playground for a bit, walked on the beach for a bit and even walked out to the end of the pier. Very, VERY windy! We were going to stop at a pizza place for lunch on the way home, but it was starting to rain.

We were all very tired when we got home. After lunch, Daddy and Lilli took a nap.



Today is Monday, July 9th. And Lilli is starting "serious" potty training. She's been going pee (and even poo!) on the potty, randomly, for over a month now. And we have no houseguests this week, and no one is sick. So I've decided that it's time to get serious with the toilet training. So far she is doing great. I think she'll "catch on" much quicker than Tipton did.

In other news, Tipton and Lilli have discovered that they can put balls up under their shirts. And run around and the ball doesn't fall out! Lilli thinks this is GREAT fun! It was kind of a shock the first time I saw her with a ball under her shirt. I had a premonition of things to come (hopefully a long, long, LONG way off!) But she sure is cute!

I Took This Quiz

What kind of knitting needles are you?

You are bamboo.Warm, cozy, and thoughtful, you take your time and enjoy how things feel, smell, and taste. You love the craft and beauty of traditional things, and you value the comfort and experience of knitting as much as the results. But while you are reveling in your warm cozies, don't get stuck. Warm is wonderful, but so is the whole wide world!
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What I've been Up To

I have another blog, a knitting blog. But I haven't been very diligent in updating it. I have in fact been knitting - I just haven't been very good at updating the blog. But I am trying. And in my effort to be more timely in my posts, I have decided to only have one blog. While I love the idea of having a separate blog dedicated to knitting, it's just not working out. So from now on I will post my knitting progress (or lack thereof) and pictures on this here blog. And without further ado...

I finished Lilli's sweater! It's a Raglan-in-the-round sweater.

I purchased the pattern off Little Turtle Knits I really like the pattern. Very straightforward, very easy to read. And I especially like that it has every size you could possibly need. However, I am not happy with my choice of yarn. I ordered it off the internet (the yarn) and it is the first time I'd ever ordered yarn online. I wasn't really sure what I was getting. I like the colors. But I'm not too thrilled with the texture of the yarn. I guess it's okay knit up, but actually knitting with it was a pain. It is thick in some places and really, really thin in others. Now, if this were some handspun stuff I wouldn't care, but it isn't. It's Knit Picks Get Away (35% Tactel, 35% Nylon, 18% Cotton, 12% Acrylic). I was expecting a little more consistency. I have not yet tried this sweater on Lilli. Truth be told I'm a little afraid to. I will be very sad if it doesn't fit. But I need to just suck it up and try it on her. Because I want to make this sweater again. And again and again. I want to make one for Tipton, and I'd like to make one for myself, too. With different yarn, of course. I should go back and re-read what yarn the pattern calls for. That is where I seem to get into trouble - substituting different yarns. (That is how my other, knitting, blog began...) I also might try playing around with the sleeves. They seem kind of long and skinny. But that could just be a gauge issue. Or I could just blame it on the yarn...

After I finished the sweater I needed a quick project. Something that would give me instant results. Enter the wash cloth(s). First I made one with a simple seed stitch. It has already been used several times, so please forgive the fading.

Next I made up a pattern as I went along. But I don't have a picture of that one. Lilli claimed it as soon as I'd woven in the ends. It's in the bathtub right now.

Then I wanted to make another ball band wash cloth (from Mason Dixon Knitting.) I had a little yarn leftover so I decided to make a second one, with reversed colors. But I didn't quite have enough to complete it, so I finished it with different colors. I am in the process of making yet another ball band wash cloth with the colors I started at the end.

The first two pictures are the same washcloth - I couldn't get decent lighting (it's been raining for the past three days)

And then yesterday morning I was reading some knitting blogs and came across this. So of course I went here and got the pattern. I was going to finish the third ball band wash cloth before I started on Grrr. But I just couldn't wait! It was just too cute a pattern. I knit the whole thing in one day! It knits up fairly quick, I guess. But I'm kind of slow with the loop stitch, and kept loosing count of how many rows I'd done. (The perils of knitting while the children are awake...) I can't wait to make another one!! I also really like that the pattern includes a loop to hang it up.

And it wouldn't be a Ramblings post if there weren't some cute Lilli pictures. This morning she has been rocking her babies. In the second picture she's having her baby say "Cheese!" Too cute.

Still More Fun with Donna and New Shoes and Tipton's Sore Throat

We were all very tired after a long, soggy, fun-filled day at Legoland. So Sunday we just hung out in Malmo. We went down to Lillatorg (the Little Square) for lunch and at outside at Victor's.

Lilli and I had the meatballs (and they were the best I've ever had here!) Donna and Dave had some sort of pork dish with riso pasta. Tipton ate the apples, salami and cheese I'd brought as a 'backup.' Then we walked down to Gustav Adolfs Torg. Dave got us Daim McFlurries and we sat in the square and had dessert.

From there we walked to the Hansa Mall and went to Vincent's - a children's shoe store in the basement. I had a suspicion that Lilli needed new shoes. And sure enough, she did. Two sizes larger! So we bought her some new sneakers and new sandals. We also bought Tipton some new sandals.

Later that afternoon Tipton went over to Aaron's house. Donna and Lilli and Dave and I went to Coop (kind of like SuperTarget/SuperWalmart) and got a roast chicken for dinner. And some new rainboots for Lilli. After dinner I picked Tipton up from Aaron's house. He was tired, very tired. I tossed both kids in the tub for a quick bath. Tipton was shivering when he got out. NOT good. He had a fever. So I called Sam (Aaron's mom) to let her know that Tipton was sick (since he had just spent the past three hours at their house!) Then I called Adriana, Samantha's mom, to let her know that Tipton wouldn't be able to play the next day.

Monday morning Donna packed up her suitcase. Lilli didn't want her to go. Donna held Lilli upside down one last time (one of Lilli's favorite things in the whole wide world is to be upside down.) And just for good measure she held Tipton upside down, too.

Then Dave took Donna to the airport. It was very quiet after that. Tipton was not feeling well at all. He had a very high fever (103.1, even on tylenol/motrin!) And a sore throat. His throat was hurting him so badly that he didn't want to eat or drink, or even talk! Because talking hurt his throat. (You KNOW he's not feeling well if he stops talking.) After lunch I put Lilli down for a nap, and Tipton VOLUNTARILY decided to take a nap, too. Both kids slept for a good three hours.

Tuesday morning I loaded the kids in the car and took them to the doctor. We didn't have an appointment, but I can't work through the phone menus to get an appointment (they are all in Swedish.) So we sat and waited until a nurse saw us and gave us a time for an appointment. Then we went grocery shopping. I bought Tipton some new rain boots. Actually, these are his only rainboots - his other "rain" boots are really snow boots. We went home and put the groceries away, then went back to the doctor for his appointment. And once again I was underwhelmed with the quality of healthcare here in Sweden. The doctor didn't ask what medications he'd been on, didn't take his temp or weight. He did look in his mouth and ears. And listened to him breathe. They did a strep test on him. (I had to explain what was going to happen (the swab in the back of the throat) because the nurse didn't speak enough english.) It was negative. So the doctor said it was probably just an upper respiratory infection, and it would go away eventually. And he walked out the door. Sure enough, Tipton's throat has gotten better (it is now Thursday.) So all is well. (Or at least on the mend.)

Glad Fjärde av Juli

"Happy Fourth of July" from Malmo, Sweden

No big 4th of July fireworks celebrations here in Malmo, Sweden - it's just not a big holiday over here. Go figure. But the kids and I managed to do a few fun things to celebrate. (Dave had to work.)

Lilli started the day by reading to one of her 'babies'.

I warmed up an apple/cinnamin roll-type bread that I'd bought as a special treat for breakfast. Lilli really liked it. Tipton did not. I had printed off a few patriotic coloring pages and connect the dots for the kids to do. Lilli liked coloring in the "twinkle stars."

The kids played Triominoes. Not sure what was going on with Lilli. I think maybe Tipton was winning.

For lunch we did the American thing and got fast food from the Burger King drive thru. Then came home and had a 'picnic' lunch while watching a video. It was kind of cool outside - too cool to have an actual outside picnic.

Tipton had a Hot Wheels Acceleracers movie marathon, watching all FOUR dvds. Including the micro episodes. But he's been sick this week, so I let him.

After Lilli's nap we did a few more art projects. I thinned out some blue and red paint with water. Then dropped "puddles" of it onto white paper. Then we used straws to blow the paint around the paper. It was supposed to look like fireworks. And mine did, sort of. Tipton just wanted to play with his straw and use the paintbrush to paint the entire paper blue.

Lilli just wanted to paint her hands and use her hands to paint on the paper. A few minutes into this I realized I should take off her shirt. Good thing, too.

Afterwards Lilli cuddled on the couch with her babies while I cleaned up from the painting.

For our final craft, we made special patriotic crowns. I had meant to make bbq for dinner, but forgot to pick up the necessary meat at the store. So instead we had hotdogs, fries and meatballs (we ARE in Sweden after all.)

Happy Fourth of July!

Oh, and we Tivo'd the fireworks from DC, we'll watch those tonight - don't you just LOVE the internet?