A Smaller Friend

Our friend Inari and her daughter Saana (16 months old), who now live in Juneau, were in town and came up for a visit. Lucy and Saana played really well together and enjoyed sharing food as well. It almost became a game that they were sharing cantaloupe - it was quite cute.

Winding Down from Whirlwindy Holidays

Well, it's been over a month since I last posted which seems unbelievable. Our little Bean has turned 21 months old in the last week and we are hunkering down in the -20º to -40º weather to reflect on the good times we had visiting friends and family on the east coast. The trip was of course too fast and time with grandparents was too short, but Lucy blossomed during our travels and she returned home an even more confident and sassy almost-2-year-old who makes me laugh more than anyone each and every day. I'll add some fun info on Lucy after all the photos I want to share from our trip...

The Kasvinsky Clan in VT

At Grandpa Jim and Grandma Nancy's house in CT

Enjoying the warmer day outside in CT.

Lucy in the backyard in Litchfield.

Watching the Bantam River with Grandma Nancy 

Lucy's favorite place to be.

Making a sandwich with Grandpa Jim

Already loves to put on her skis!

Working hard in her kitchen.

Cooking away!

Reading a book in her special chair.

Snuggling with Uncle Chris.

Pulling carrots at KidCity in Middletown, CT

Meeting Great Grandpa Sam, 91 years old!

A chilly day outside with Uncle Chris.

Already climbing trees!

Cooking dinner for the guys.

Hanging out with Grandma Lyn and coveting her scarf.

Saying goodbye at the airport in Boston.

At Seattle Art Museum.

So much to look at!

Cruising by the gum wall in Seattle.

OK, so Lucy is pure fun. I am playing catch up so I will have to ramble on...
The little cutie comes up with things every few minutes during the day that just crack me up, amaze me, and make me so proud and lucky to be her mama. Her vocabulary is just sky-rocketing. She's quite the talker now. She says everything now, in her own way, but she gives every word her best shot. She says all the numbers from 1-20 really well and will continue on past that but it gets a little mixed up. On her own, she'll count to 10 perfectly. She also says the alphabet while following along but does know them on her own as she will say the next letter for you as you recite it. She's using the potty and is diaper-less in the house most of the time during the day now. Trips to town and visits to friends houses, excluded...we're not ready for that yet.
One thing she says now that is hilariously cute: "in-there"- she says this all the time, like it is one word. She says it about the bath when she wants to get in, for example: mama, in-there!
Oh, how about size? Lucy is 31 and 1/16" tall (her carpenter dad wanted to make sure I accounted for the 1/16th). I haven't weighed her recently but she is getting heavy to carry on one arm for an extended period of time, that's for sure.
The other day our windows were frosty while I was getting Lucy dressed on the changing table. She made her grrr sound for an airplane and then drew a jig-jagged line back and forth on the window. I asked, "Did you draw an airplane?". "Yep" she said. Now, this has repeated each day. I think it is amazing.
Other favorite Lucy activities: feeding the animals every night, pulling up a chair to help in all kitchen activities, changing Baka's (her bath baby that she named!) diaper and giving her a bath, pulling out the yoga mats to work on with mama or dada, and climbing up the stairs unassisted with ease (and even carrying things in her arms) without using the railings. She's a mighty-might!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Matt and I hosted Thanksgiving again this year for a handful of our friends. We had a really great time and the collaborative effort for the food was tasty indeed. Where's Lucy you might ask? She is running around playing during these photos. I think she lasted about 2 minutes at the dinner table and decided she had other more important things to do.

Lucy had a fun night playing with Keet, now 3, and Cord, now 20 months. She received much attention from everyone, as did all the kids. We really had a lovely evening with everyone!

After dinner, Matt and Lucy hung out at the dessert table together while Lucy washed up in his water glass. She dipped her hand in his glass over and over and then rubbed it on her face and hair. Silly girl! Her latest discovery is that she can smear food into her hair, maybe this interest in washing herself will help this issue?

Grandma Lyn and Grandbob's Visit

Grandma Lyn and Grandbob stayed with us for about 10 days and Lucy was once again thrilled with all the attention she received from visitors. There were walks at Creamer's Field, lots of reading and special projects with Grandma Lyn, and as always, helping dada with his projects each day.

Grandma Lyn and Lucy work on a masterpiece drawing (above) and a lay out a new native plant garden in our yard (below).

Lucy is never afraid to get her hands dirty and work with heavy equipment.

We feasted on great food - all our own! Sockeye salmon that Matt caught and tomato/cucumber salad, fresh roasted beets and broccoli from the garden. Delicious and best enjoyed with special company.

The trip to the visitor's center was a treat for Lucy! She loved the plane suspended from the ceiling and all the taxidermy animals throughout the displays.

Lucy made lots of "hoo hoo" and "grrrr" sounds for the animals she saw.

Grandbob and Lucy enjoy the film at the visitor's center together.

There is always time to stop and smell the flowers for Lucy.

Grandma Lyn and Lucy sit by the new pond together. Their beautiful new garden is in the foreground.

The visits always go by too fast but we look forward to the New Year when we will be celebrating with Grandma Lyn and Grandbob in VT. We're pretty sure Lucy will be giving out lots of kisses that night and sharing many interesting thoughts with all of us by then.

Grandma Nancy's Extended Stay

We had such a lovely visit with Grandma Nancy who stayed for two weeks longer after Grandpa Jim left for Connecticut. Our time was filled with a lot of berry picking, vegetable harvesting, cooking, and playing.

Lucy had had constant attention from Grandma Nancy and games were played all day long.

Grandma arrived with fun new books so there was also special grandma-Lucy reading time.

It was also a treat to have another photographer around while mama was doing chores and Lucy assisted.

It rained quite a bit while Grandma Nancy was here but we lucked out with a sunny afternoon at the Tanana Valley Fair.

Lucy was more than delighted to see all the animals but she especially took to the sheep and goats. She ran back and forth giggling as she checked all the pens out.

She went on kiddie rides with Grandma Nancy even if Grandma wasn't supposed to.

Many afternoons Lucy and Grandma went for snuggling walks together during which Lucy snoozed peacefully. We are so happy that she was able to spend such special quality time with Grandma.

We miss having Grandma Nancy here and we look forward to seeing her and Grandpa Jim in December. We think Lucy will have a lot to say to them when she sees them again!