April Flower

Unlike the Danish flora, Molli Malou has been blossoming this month. She sings, she jumps, she puts her own boots on, her “vampire” teeth have finally come in, and her hair is developing a cute little bob or wave. She’s become fascinated with herself and her appearance, and likes to look at herself in the mirror, or to see pictures and videos of herself on the computer and television—preferably in an endless loop. (So don’t be surprised if you see her pointing at a computer somewhere and exclaiming, “More Molli!”)

But once again I’m playing catch-up, so we have to go all the way back to Easter weekend, where we’ll begin with Molli Malou opening her gifts from Nana and Pop-Pop:

The first gift met with some real puzzlement at first: why would anyone give her a dull brown bunny?

It didn’t take long to figure that out.

She was genuinely excited by the denim skirt, too.

Later that day (Easter Sunday) we went up to Værløse and Maria delighted Molli Malou with her extraordinary hats.

The weather was nice enough that we were able to let Molli Malou run around outside without a coat for the first time all year. She entertained herself for at least fifteen minutes just stepping up onto the deck and then “jumping” off, narrating the entire sequence in her curious blend of Danish and English. (“Op ad trapperne… one, two, ti… hop hop hop!”)

One of Maria’s hats had this beautiful garland of silk flowers around it, and Maria took the garland off the hat and tried to set it on Molli Malou’s head. It was priceless, but unphotographable: this is the closest I could get:

And we kicked a ball around the yard for a few minutes with Fernando.

As we do every year we went up to Klaus & Birgit’s for Easter lunch, which this year fell on Anden Påske Dag, or “second Easter day” (which may be three words instead of one)—that is, on Monday, which is also a national holiday here.

Unfortunately, Molli Malou fell asleep in the car on the way up (as we’d hoped), but woke up between the car and the portacrib that had been set up for her to finish her nap in upstairs. She refused to nap. She wasn’t cranky at all; we just knew she needed her nap and did everything we could to try and get her to sleep. Trine even took her out for a twenty-minute drive to try and conk her out. Nothing worked. So I don’t actually have many pictures of the Easter lunch this year.

But here’s Molli Malou in her Easter outfit:

One day, a character in a book I was reading to Molli Malou was wearing a scarf. Molli Malou seemed to like the word “scarf,” so I asked if she wanted to wear one. She said she did. I found an old bandana and tied it around her neck, then brought Molli Malou to the mirror. She was ecstatic. I asked if I could take some pictures, and she not only agreed—she actually smiled on cue!

“Big smile!” I’d say, and she’d flash those crazy pearly whites:

The thing is, she understands the concept of photography now, so when you take pictures of her, she has to see them immediately (God save you if you’re still using film!). Then she will sometimes request additional pictures, even offering subjects. “Daddy Molli picture!” she exclaimed to me in this instance. So I took a half dozen pictures of us and actually managed to get a half-decent one:

Never too many bath pictures:

Among Molli Malou’s favorite games is Sov! (or, in English, “Sleep!”), in which participants are told to sleep, must then pretend to sleep and snore, and may only cease when Molli Malou shouts, “Wake up, [your name]!”

That the command for sleep is in Danish and the demand to wake up is in English is not unusual. Molli Malou’s language is developing very quickly, but also very randomly in terms of English/Danish distribution. The act of eating food is always spiser mad, for example, but the mad itself may be “oatmeal,” “noodles,” or “frikadella” (which I’m sure I’ve spelled incorrectly).

A car may randomly be a car or a bil, regardless of whom she’s talking to. A bike or trike is always a cykel, boots are always støvler, the living room is always stuen, and (weirdest of all) my laser-printer is always “larmer” (literally: “noise-making”)… but glasses are nearly always glasses, now, even though she knows the word briller, a picture is always a picture, and coffee and tea also go by their English names (although kaffe and te are so close that it’s almost irrelevant).

She also refers to the contents of an especially soiled diaper as “stinky poo,” which I am proud to take credit for having taught her. Most of her other bodily functions and parts, however, are spoken of in Danish, even though she knows most of the English words. (I haven’t yet figured out what English word to offer her for her genitalia—with which she was recently deeply obsessed for about a month—so we might just stick with the Danish “tissekone,” or “pee-lady.”)

She loves to wear her cykel-hjlem, even when just touring the apartment.

And now, courtesy of Jørgen, some pictures he took from earlier this month, which are among some of the most adorable pics ever taken of her.

I should also mention she’s finally been sleeping later. The trick seems to have been two-fold: (1) limiting her afternoon nap to no longer than two hours, and (2) putting her to bed at 7:30 or 8:00 instead of 7pm sharp. She’s been waking up at seven or later in the morning most mornings since we’ve started that regimen, and we’re all a lot happier in the morning because of it.

I should also mention that it’s just a little over two months to her second birthday, and we are planning to throw a party. I realize the prospects of any American family making it over here are slim to none, but you are all invited!