Since I’ll forget to mention it later on, I want to just apologize up front for not having pictures of Maddie’s first Annual Kammer Family Pinse Picnic in Frederiksberg Garden. It was a beautiful day and we all enjoyed it, but although I remembered the camera, I had left the memory card in my laptop.
D’oh!
But start downloading this quick and relatively small (<20MB) video of Molli Malou chasing a butterfly in the course of our Rount-the-Lake bike ride yesterday, and Maddie's first outdoor pool dunks. (Click on the picture to download or view the video.)
I mentioned in the previous post that Maddie had been moved to her very own room recently. The photographic documentation follows.
Look through them again, chronologically, and observe how quick she is to kick off her dyne. (“Dyne” is “duvet” in America, but since “duvet” is a French word I figure I might as well stick with the Danish. I didn’t even know what I duvet was until Trine introduced the dyne into my life, so it’s always been a dyne to me.)
Because of her (literal) knee-jerk rejection of bedcoverings, Maddie must be bundled tightly into bed when it’s time to put her down for real. Not that it matters: we still find her in the morning with the linens in a heap below her feet, and, back when she was still sleeping in the pram, her legs would be up and over the bottom lip of it.
Saturday we had a visit from our friends Steve & Elisabeth (or Elizabeth), and their daughter Becca (short for Rebecca). Becca was supposed to be two months older than Maddie, but ended up being eight days younger.
The beautiful weather let us enjoy the entire day outside.
In the late afternoon we took a stroll down to the lake, where Molli Malou wasted no time getting into the water at The Swimmin’ Hole.
Since Maddie seemed to take so well to having her own room, we made it official.
I’m so damn anal I actually measured the placement of Molli Malou’s name on her door to be sure I had the same distance from the top of the door and the same spacing between letters. The colors look different, but that’s just a trick of the light.
We’ve decided that for shorthand purposes (that is, in SMS messages between Daddy and Mor) we’re going to use the abbreviations MM and M for the eldest and youngest. So each girl is going to need another M for her door.
We also finally printed some photos, and have at last got little sister into the action on our Family Wall.
It went beyond warm on Monday to being actually hot, so we inflated the little pool we bought last summer. We have a 40.000 liter pool sitting in our basement, and its 17-degree Celsius temperature probably compared favorably to the water coming out of that hose.
But Molli Malou had the time of her life in that little pool, and you’ll see in the video even Maddie got to enjoy herself in it.
After lunch Molli Malou and I took a tour around the lake. I figure it was about a 7 km ride total, maybe 8: six around the lake, plus 1-2 to and from the path.
Molli Malou was amazing: she never complained and the only inconvenience she presented was a disconcerting habit of leaping off her bicycle all of a sudden to go running off after butterflies. The video will delve deeper into that narrative.
I’m amazed to be living so happily somewhere so essentially rural.
I’m not the only one living happily here.
That picture, above, was taken just moments after I’d been startled by a black snake slithering across the path in front of me. Molli Malou didn’t see it, so I had to explain it to her. It put the fear of God into her, and what looks like a sweet smile in that picture is actually concealing her terror: she had been afraid to pose there in the grass because she was sure there were snakes everywhere.
So, you’re a 4-year old who’s just ridden a 6-year-old’s bike about 7 kilometers at a pretty good pace, stopping only now and then to race frantically after butterflies or climb trees or pose for photos. Surely you’re exhausted enough that we can ride by the playground without—
Never mind.
Back home, Mor has little sister playing on her playmat on the terrace. Molli Malou rushes straight to her.
And Molli Malou says, “You know I bet Maddie would like? I bet she would like to swim in the pool!”
And she’s right.
That’s it! Now enjoy those videos!
Oh man, those photos are so sweet it just makes me want to cry that i can't be there to enjoy those two gorgeous girls up close and personal. Molli was amazing to be able to cup that butterfly so gently in her hand. There were so many great photos I just wanted to print them all. However, I especially love the last one of Molli holding Maddie. And I also love some of the photos of Maddie naked and in the hat with the other baby. I need a good photo of her in a hat to go with the three I already have of H, S & MM. Thank you for making my day!
I second Deb's comments. The pictures are great but I miss seeing them in person. I like the sequence pictures as well. AML Dad Pop-pop
What wonderful footage of both girls. I miss them like crazy and cannot believe I have not seen Maddie yet. It makes me SOOOOO sad that I am missing her babyhood. If only we could win the lottery!! I am so impressed with Molli's butterfly catching. She was so gentle cupping the butterfly. Most kids would have clapped and killed the poor thing. Tell Molli I am proud of how gentle she is with nature. Tell her that the butterfly is also happy that she is so gentle!