Yet a Stranger in the World

What a happy mother I am. Linnaea’s first encounter with football: watching the Chiefs trample the Jets. Life is good.

It’s growth spurt time! Linnaea’s been demanding food every three hours or so, around the clock for the last day or so, and the food supply is playing catch-up. Many, many diapers and a tired mother result. I count it a blessing that this started after we got home from vacation!

We’re back from a wonderful week at Kabekona. Linnaea was great in the air (the two-year-old sitting behind us on our last flight made her (and us) look really good) & on the ground (grandparents are the best babysitters). I’m sure you’d rather look at pictures than read my jibber-jabber, though, so here you go:

Lifejacket? Right.

Bathing suit cuteness from Portugal (Thanks, Nana!):

The waking-up face:

With Nana & Duke (AKA the Duck of Death):

With new best friend, Adam:

Pater introducing Linnaea to the Malmborg rock bass:

Hello, rock bass.

Queen over all the lake:

We decided it would be a good idea to take Linnaea for a wade in the lake:

She found the experience rather… startling:

Oops.

It doesn’t get any better:

Until next year…

Home again, home again, jiggety jig.

Tomorrow: Kabekona! Can’t wait can’t wait can’t wait to be there. The getting-there bits that have us trapped with a screaming baby in a metal tube thousands of feet up in the air should be interesting, but hopefully not too interesting. Anyhow, we’ll be back to post in a week or so, maybe even with baby-at-the-lake pictures.

For those interested, here‘s a detailed “Lake Assessment Program” report. The Rev. Alexander Malmborg mentioned on page 8 of the report is Linnaea’s great-great-grandfather, the (Rev.) Hal Malmborg on page 7 her great-grandfather.

Today, Linnaea is two months old (despite being nine weeks old tomorrow night). It hardly seems like it has been that long since Linnaea entered this world, yet Julia being pregnant seems so distant. It has been, and continues to be, very exciting watching Linnaea grow and learn. She has developed so much already – every few days figuring out something new, every couple of weeks a dramatic change in how she perceives her environment and her ability to interact with it. Currently she holds her head up pretty well for long periods of time (but she’s always done that) and is so very cute when viewed from behind, her big head with its soft swirl of reddish hair balanced precariously on her little neck and her ears sticking out…we need to get a picture of that. She no longer likes being on her stomach, though can arch her back and hold her head and shoulders up for increasing longer periods before getting frustrated and demonstrating the power housed in her little lungs. She has started trying to talk. While silent and observant most of the time (when she isn’t crying), when she wants to she will jabber about things. She also actively tries to get her mouth to formulate sounds. It is very interesting watching her work at trying to make a specific shape and get a sound from it. There are a couple of sounds that she will repeat, so the language center does seem to be developing. She has a strong geotropism, hating to be anything but upright – except around feedings. She also hates falling asleep, and will fight it with every fiber of her being if she thinks there is something more interesting going on. Of course, such a battle usually means that the only interesting thing going on is her anguished and exhausted cries. It is difficult to think how different things will be, how much more she will be able to do and understand, two months from now. Next, we are waiting for Linnaea to find her hands. She sucks her thumb quite well and purposefully, but hasn’t really discovered her hands yet. After that, hopefully, she will begin to physically manipulate her environment, which will then lead her into rolling, and then perhaps crawling… Oh but I am getting ahead. We’re not prepared for a mobile child yet. Ah, Linnaea, daddy’s precious angel. How does the world look to you today?