Ingers, Mommy, and GW went to Macy's for the "Day in the Life of an Elf" display and to see Santa. Ingers was not so keen on Santa. I promose though no children were harmed in the shooting of this photo. She was only in his lap for a second or two and we didn't try to make her smile.

This photo is priceless to me though. She will really get a kick out of it when she's older.

Sea of Balls! (Poor quality phone videos)

Here are two of the 6,000 swan dives Ingrit took into the "Sea of Balls!" Ka-blooey! ... She was initially reluctant, but fortunately some two-year old was there to grab her by the rear-end and shove her in. (Not captured on film, sadly.) After that, she couldn't get enough of it.

Ingrit and Daddy went out to cheer for some weirdos. (Awards ceremony for a scrabble tournament that Daddy did not play in.) On the way home they took a little detour to find some buried treasure in the parking lot of an auto repair shop. ... Seems a little against the spirit of geocaching: middle of town, nowhere near a park, wondering if the treasure is any one of the ten thousand Arby's wrappers that had blown into the hedges.) But we made the score and had a little fun. I mean, you can't go hiking in the woods every day.

Grandma and Ingrit getting ready for Zoo Boo at Como Park.

Gnome

Ingrit and I just got home from the gym. She looked so pretty in the sun I had to take her picture, but she wasn't into it. She wanted to play with the camera herself. I am mean.

She's getting in and out of her high chair by herself. Ingrit is saying a few words. Most notably she has added the phrase, "oh wow". You'd laugh to hear it. You couldn't help it. It's very serious.

Also pictured is the splash fountain by our house.

Pumpkin Patch and Apple Orchard

Pumpkin picking is fun.

Apples are yummy yum.

Geocaching and Fish Printing---you know typical Saturday for the Ingers and fam.

Just got home from geocaching (found 8). Ate lunch at a place that offered a uterus and stomach special...almost tried it, but we'll wait until next time.

And we're off for "fish printing" and interactive children's music at the grand opening of Silverwood Park in St. Anthony. It's a beautiful park with no geocaches hidden there yet. We're going to scout out a place for one.

The shuttle for the grand opening festivities is a trolley departing from the school parking lot across the street. Fun fun.

Happy 5th Anniversary, David!

It's our fifth anniversary today. David won with roses and perfume and a sweet card. Thanks, David! I gave him a new hat that he picked out at the state fair a few weeks ago.

The three of us ventured down to Silverwood Park open now in St. Anthony. It was so pretty. They have a really nice visitor center, ampitheater, outdoor fireplace, paved and wood chip trails, a foot bridge out to an island to picnic on, and they offer art classes that sound interesting including paper making and book binding. I think I can see taking a book binding class.

Ingrit had fun chasing some ducks.

When we came home Ingrit tried to ride her trike. She's almost got it! Now we've got to find her a helmet. I was looking at Wal Mart, but the smallest they had said 3 plus. Guess I'll have to shop around some more.

Big girl beds and trikes....I don't know...where did my baby go?

Ponytail

Ingrit wore her first "real" ponytail outside to color on the driveway with chalk tonight. It wasn't windy. It really just stuck straight out. Wonder of wonders, she didn't fuss with it and it's still in her hair! Favorite things around lately:

frozen juice pops

edamame

eggs

frosted mini wheats

climbing on the couch

big girl beds---so happy

climbing into and out of the car

the kitty

Big Girl Bed

Today was the day Ingrit decided to plummet from her crib. Luckily, I caught her.

Ran out to get a toddler bed ASAP. She LOVES it. Of course, she hasn't actually slept in it yet. She did pretend though. This might be a long night for the Herfel and Watkins' house.

Particular glee was found in bounding out of bed and running around the house squealing.

Stuff that babies and moms did today

I had the day off today, so I took Ingrit to Como Zoo. She rode the old carousel there. She loved it. Think her favorite zoo thing is still just the plain old mallards. She loves them.

We watched Sparky the Sea Lion do a little show. Later on today we spent a lot of time at the fountain park thing near our house. Ingrit got soaked and loved it. She played near another little girl and then spent a bunch of time climbing on some playground equipment.

By the time we got home we were both tired. Ingrit fell asleep eating supper! Very comical and sweet until Jack barked his fool dog head off.

She's in bed right now, crying for a minute before I go back in to comfort her again. She's not used to me putting her to bed. Oh well.

'

Yesterday I took her to wal mart and she rode this little airplane ride. It sang an obnoxious song.

State Fair and Family Visits

The great MN get together had a new visitor this year--The Ingers. David, Ingrit and I just got home from Ingrit's 2nd visit this week. Turns out she loves Spam Curds. I am such a bad mom for knowing that. Blame David though. I actually brought a healthy pasta salad with tuna for her lunch, but once Dave let her try his Spam Curds it was all over. She also dug on some chocolate malt from the dairy building and some buffalo chips from the food building.

Other things she really liked included the miracle of birth building. She liked the baby chicks. We all did some people watching.

Ingrit's first visit to the fair was Thursday with Grammie and Auntie Kathy. That day was the first time she ever went on a ride, the merry go round. At first she screamed and flung herself around my neck like a little shrieking monkey. And that was before the ride began.

Today Ingrit loved the merry go round and was all smiles.

Let's see another first--Ingrit's first pony tail. It's on top of her head and looks very silly and great. She went to her first family reunion last Sunday. She got a wagon from a friend of mine at work and loves to pull it around and go for rides in it down to the park.

Ingrit's saying "knee" now and "eye".

I'm so faired out that I'm having trouble thiking of anything else.

Summer Vacation

Ingrit and family vacationed up in Cable this year with the Herfel/Houser clan. Ingrit really seemed to love that she could wake up in the morning and within seconds be in grandma's arms only to an hour later be following Grandpa around. She really got to know her cousins and aunt and uncle too. She knew everyone's name and seemed to do some bonding.

Ingrit had her first boat ride. She also drove a little car around. She took a ride a Grandpa's hog, okay, not really, but she sat on it with him--in her WI Badgers outfit. Needless to say, I think Ingrit might possibly have been Grandpa's very favorite person that day.

Very relaxing trip. David fished with his dad. It was so fun to have our little person running around under foot.

Ingrit got a serious kick out of running out on the dock and shouting "duck". We were feeding them bread so they did come when she called them.

15 Month Well Baby

22lb 140z

32 7/8"

This makes weight right around 50th percentile and her height right around 98th.

She's progressing very well on all fronts.

Doc and med student were impressed that she can go to the bookshelf and get the book we ask for by name. They predicted that she'll have a big language burst by the time her 18 month check in comes up.

We'll see! So glad to have such a happy, healthy, (advanced!) little girl on our hands.

Sourdough and Swimming

Made my first sourdough today. Turned out great!

Ingers spent the afternoon swimming in the yard and finding things to put in the pool. Sticks float. Buckets full of water are heavy. It's fun to sit in your yard chair with your feet hanging in the water.

Whistling!

Kay, so it started out that Ingrit was learning to blow on her hot food, but when she does it she whistles!

Girl's whistling...pretty cool Land Ing!

Long Lake Park--I'm Looking for my Friends, I'm looking for you! Hey, there's Ingrit! Watch what she can do!

The family went geocaching at Long Lake Park last weekend. Ingrit's becoming quite the park connoisseur. She's super excited to see kids, slides, tunnels and climbing stuff. When we find the caches she gets excited to see what's in them and often picks out her own swag--toy zebra might be the best find yet.

We're getting ready for Herfel Family vacation up in Cable, WI next week. Last summer Ingrit was just 3 1/2 months old when we were there, so this summer should be quite a different experience for all of us. She'll still be sleeping in a play yard, but she'll be walking and going in the lake and sharing ice cream cones in town and telling Grandpa and Grandma H all of her new jokes. She might even be following her cousins around! We're all looking forward to a week up north in the woods with family.

Nowadays Ingrit pretends to read. She points to words make souns like she's sounding out what they say. She'll also "read" a book to you if you ask her. Still not much English coming out of that baby, but boy does she understand a lot! She can point out body parts like a pro--even on animals in books. "Where's the monkey's toes?" She also will hear words and go get books with those words. She'll grab "Goodnight Moon" when someone says "Goodnight." Loves to read.

Two weekends ago we spent the day out at G and G W's house. Ingrit splashed around in her wading pool, gave hugs and kisses to the people and the dogs and ate her first whole fresh peach. Mmmm. Juice ran everywhere and I've never seen someone enjoy a peach so much!

If any adult enjoyed anything as much as Ingrit likes just about everything, they'd be loopy happy. And generally considered quite nuts I'm thinking.

One more funny thing Ingrit's doing lately. When she sees a kid or someone she knows or Jack or PJ, she holds out her pointer finger and shouts, "Hey!" I think she's doing it like "Sid the Science Kid" does. It's super funny. Okay, one more thing, the telephone. Always fascinated by it, now the Ingers holds it up to her ear and says, "hi".

We like to play at the park. We like to eat pizza. We like to run and climb.

Ingrit waited until May 9th to really start walking, but then she TOOK OFF! And didn't look back.

Oh, yeah! I forgot to add that Mommy made this funny little blue suit that Baby's sporting-with help from Grandma W of course!

Summer!