What is in season...

All sorts of unidentifiable things are blooming around here right now. Just thought you might enjoy seeing what we see. (Nu får du se vad vi har för blommor just nu!)

Kaky kaky everywhere

Nothing like a bit of good old Kaky to gnaw on.

Lydia is finally big enough to just hand her one of these crunchy "breadsticks" when we are out and about to while away the time until we can come home and she can get what she's waiting for, some good warm mama milk and maybe a bowl of pureed carrots.

A few days ago I gave her one of these suckers around 7 pm, and she chewed and chewed, but she couldn't get to the last bit that was tightly grasped in her hand. When i put her to bed around 9:30, that last bit of the kaky was still tightly grasped in her hand! Ha. Sweet little girl.

What's blooming right now...

Just a few glimpses of what is in bloom at the moment in the area..... Hibiscus is everywhere here...so goooorgeous!

giggles

IOh yes, there is nothing funnier than Daniel saying "gosseungan" over and over again. (That's "little snuggly kid" for all you non-Swedish speakers. I could watch this many times...

The fancy park...

We spent a gorgeous Sunday out at a park on the fancier side of town...

Families galore flocked to this park, and people were delighted to watch Daniel playing with Lydia....

Lydia tried her hand at the slides (watch out for holes in the slide!)


We tried to take a self-timer photo of ourselves, but Lydia was so interested in the grass that she couldn't focus on the camera. Alas, here's the best and most recent family pic.

And here is my personal favorite: Lydia wasn't quite sure what to think of the texture, color, smell of the grass....but generally speaking she reallllly enjoyed it, and probably managed to get a few little pieces in her mouth too.

Palm tree in the roman ruins?

(can you see the latin script over this door?)

We took a wee trip out to the countryside to see some old Roman ruins...

Lydia enjoyed most of the ride, considering that there was always a new face to smile and someone new coming up to kiss her every now and then.

We were told, according to our guide, that this 4th century church has a proof of the Muslim account of the birth of Jesus (where apparently he is born under a palm tree instead of in a stable)...first time i have seen an ancient roman cross symbol with a palm tree in it though!

Sitting up...

Sitting up is a great milestone.

That means that you can put your little bundle of joy in her crib or on the floor (padded by pillows) and walk into other parts of the house while she plays. And as long as we don't overdo it, she's pretty happy to just play.

But I still can see the twinkle in Lydia's eye...she's saying, "don't worry mom, soon enough I'll figure out how to climb my way up and outta this crib."

Lydia's white friend!

Yes, Lydia does not ONLY hang out with Arab babies...she likes to mix it up every now and then.

Take this sweet Dutch/German boy, for example. Sweetly learning the basics of "MINE" and maybe even "sharing" too.

As you can see, Lydia is VERY excited to have a friend her size.

They almost look like they could be brother and sister, eh? Well, no siblings in the pipeline for Lydia just yet!

surprise on our doorstep....

It's not every day that you come home from a nice outing and find this laying at the foot of your stairs. This fellow has had a few drinks too many, and must've thought our dirty old apartment staircase was a perfect cool, quiet place to sleep it out.

The funny part was his VERY LOUD snoring, which had lured the neighbors out of their apartment to stare and take turns trying to wake him up. That's gonna be a heck of a hangover, brother.

the daily mess fest

About 4 times a day, we wrestle with Lydia to get some pureed goodness into her belly.

Here is a glimpse of what that process usually looks like:
You can tell that, just like Pavlov's dogs, Lydia is well trained by now and...she know's whats coming! (Yes, that is a dirty bib...let's just say that when they get a certain over-ripe smell to them, we wash them good!)

For some reason, her foot is acting as a bit of a security blanket for her in these photos...


Today Lydia sampled a bit of pureed carrots/pumpkin/squash. Of course, it's just the real thing, no salt, spices, nothing. Doesn't that just make your mouth water?
Looks like she doesn't mind it too much. It was so good it even made it's way in her nose!



And at the end, there is a sweet cookie that always mocks her (haha, you are too little for cookies, baby!) Thanks Mary-Hall for the perfectly sized baby food cup.

20 minutes later.....I couldn't help myself from adding this "licking the spoon" photo....who cares if the spoon is in backwards!