The cat days of spring

We have been having some HOT weather around here. It is only just April and it has been in the 80's this week. I am not really a 80's kind of girl. 70's really suit me better and 60 is even better. The nice thing is it is still really cool in the evening and the mornings are chilly enough to merit a light jacket. After naptime though it has been quite warm. The cats are staying cool the best way they know how.

Schmelig has taken to sleeping on the air compressor for the air conditioner...

And Nurkel can be found in the shade of the water table. It is important to remember they lead very hard lives and we should feel sorry for them.
Perhaps we can blame it on the heat, or all the sunshine, but Mette has experienced some major sleep fails this week. Twice she has fallen asleep in the car or stroller on our way home at lunch time. On tuesday when we came home from playschool she fell asleep two blocks from the house. When we got home I had her in my arms while I took off Otto's shoes, helped him go potty, got him in bed for a nap and got the mail. She never woke up, so I put her down in her crib. There she slept for 25 minutes and was wide awake. Nothing I could do would get her back to sleep so downstairs she came. Wednesday was much the same story. Since she still gets up a few times in the night she really needs a nap, but both days this week she was as charming as ever in the afternoon without her nap. She gets a bit clingy in the evening with me but otherwise seems to do ok. If it meant she slept better at night I might try to encourage it, but alas, it doesn't. Last night being the proof of that. Oh, last night was a long non sleeping night. I have hopes tonight will be better. When she isn't screaming and not sleeping I can hear her in her crib working on talking. I think she is really putting a lot of energy into language these days. I heard her saying "UP" with perfect enunciation over and over, not calling to be picked up, just practicing. She is also saying so much more during the day. Between the signing which she adds to every day and the words her ability to communicate is really coming along. She can now sign,

eat

drink

juice

all done

nurse

hat

shoes

bath

sleep

horse

dog

please

car

bird

stars

airplane

go

stop

night night

outside

book

she can say

mamma

dadda

otto

night night

all done

duck

up

cow

deep grunting sound with body shake that means "yes"

go

but more than anything, her comprehension is amazing. You can say, let's go into the kitchen and she is off and running. Or, get another book and she is off to the bookshelf. Everyday I am shocked at how much she understands and does. If Otto and are talking about getting shoes on to go outside she is looking for her shoes. As eric says, she could use a few head injuries to slow her down.

She also continues to me very mechanically minded. She watched me lock the door while she was trying the knob and immediately gave up on the knob and went for the lock. Awesome.
Mom, MaryAnn, this picture is for you. Don't you think she looks just like Uncle John here. In as much as she can look just like Uncle John, which isn't much, but I think you know what I mean! There is something about her mouth that as soon as I saw it made me think of him.
We had to order Mette some sandals because she has the tiniest feet ever. She wears a size 2-3! Otto at this age was in a 5 1/2. Most shoes that size aren't meant for kids who are walking. We did however manage to get her the cutest sandals you have ever seen. Partly because anything that small is bound to be adorable. She immediately wanted to put them in the shoe cubbies.

And then she tried to put them on herself.

Tonight the heat is breaking a bit and we had a decent thunderstorm. Otto went out on the porch to play in the rain. The thunder was a bit loud so out came the headphones. Best thing we ever bought, those headphones.

She spotted a cat!

Is it just me or does he get cuter all the time??