The 2's are around the corner.

To put it nicely, Esther has been VERY HARD to please lately. She might be going through something physically or emotionally, I don't know. I am assuming that she will get over it soon. I sure hope so.

Today the only thing that made her happy was making a mess at the kitchen sink, so I just let her do it, so that at least some part of her day contained a smile.

We've been sick...VERY sick

First Niklas got the flu last Wednesday. His lasted 8 days.
Esther got the flu on Sunday. Hers lasted about 4-5 days.
I got it on Monday, and I am still recovering, finally feeling better today after 4 days.



Sunday was Swedish Father's Day, but Pappa and Esther were feeling too bad to really celebrate all that much. It was Esther's first day of feeling sick, so she crawled up in sick Pappa's lap on the sofa and pulled up her hood too so that she could be sick with Pappa.

23 months!

The "ebbephant" dress

Church conference

Our church celebrated its 10-year anniversary this weekend by having a big conference. The two main speakers were 2 of the biggest influences in Niklas' spiritual life, and he was sooooooooooooo happy allllllllllllll weekend and I don't ever think I have seen him smile as much as he did for about two days straight. His cheeks were sore!

Our church was totally blessed by the conference and we were all VERY boosted in our faith, looking forward to what God has in store for the next 10 years to come!

Gröt time

Esther likes it when Pappa turns the spoon of gröt into a "hebbicopter" and "airpane/fygpan".

Just some pics

Multi-cultural Esther

You know your child is South African when she looks like this in a winter knit cap. She was borrowing Pappa's to play with and wouldn't give it back.


(seriously, we were in SA during their winter, and everyone went around dressed for winter in a heavy coat and knit cap even when it was like 70 degrees outside. Everybody. Most of the young men had on REALLY GOOFY shaped hats that they thought were very very cool, but I can't find a picture of those anywhere right now. Here are some South Africans in knit caps.)


And, you know your child is Swedish when she loooooooooooves eating caviar that comes from a tube. Yes, a tube.
(This photo is of a classic Swedish crispbread sandwich with caviar on top having originated from a tube. Niklas eats this every day. And now Esther does too.)


Now, any suggestions as to what could be proof of the American in her?!?!

Expressions

Esther has started to scrunch up her whole entire face whenever she laughs. It's really funny.

Overheard on Tarragon Street

We have a beautiful wood stove in our house, and now that the temperatures have fallen we have begun using it all day and night, as an alternative to more expensive ways of heating for the time being.

This means that I have had to learn how to start a fire and keep it going, which has taken me a couple of days.

Today after Esther's nap she wanted to stand by and help me as I tried to restart a fire that had died out. She would rip the newspaper for me, ball it up, and throw it into the wood stove. Then I arranged the wood appropriately and she watched as I lit some matches in order to light the paper, hoping that after awhile it would turn into a nice fire. Now, this technique has usually been successful for me, but this time it just wasn't working, no matter what I tried.

I was getting frustrated and Esther was standing next to me, watching me light match after match with no success in getting the fire started.

Although she was quite patient about the whole thing, I think she noticed my frustration because she looked hard at the glass door covering the wood stove, cocked her head, and said, "Fire, where are you?!?!!"

Overheard on Tarragon Street

Esther continues to have fun putting complete sentences together. She is even using "the" in front of words now.

She is also practicing using a knife.

So, yesterday at snack time, she got to eat one of her favorite foods and use the knife, all at the same time, thus prompting her to say, quite clearly: ESTHER CUT THE CHEESE!

Hahahahahaha!

Not a fan of the conventional

Esther tends to feel that she has to push the limits once she gets tired of using an object the way that it's intended to be used.

Case in point: she is done with just using a swing to, you know, swing on. As in, facing forward, sitting down, etc. Nope, let's throw conventional out the window.






Oh, and the same goes for ladders, too.

The Mongolian look

Just trying to keep her warm.

She is, after all, an African in Sweden.

Trying to start a fall tradition...

I was trying to develop some sort of tradition by having, say, pumpkins on the porch now that Fall is here, and maybe taking some cute Fall Pumpkin + Esther photos, but Esther seems VERY unsure...

...but, she's over it!