The little copycat

Lily is so funny. You know how they always say babies learn by imitation? With her that is absolutely true. I notice it much more now than I noticed it with Finn. Probably because Lily imitates Finn most of the time, and it is just SO obvious. It started months ago when I saw Lily pick up a toy phone that Finn had just dropped and babble into it. Now, when Finn is safely out of sight Lily will pick up his toy tractors and play with them just like he does, complete with making the sounds. Watch her:

Other things I find not so funny. For instance: Finn had to show Lily only once which button to push to start the dishwasher or that it is a lot of fun to play with the knobs on the stove. The cool thing is that this will make Mama come running, wagging her finger and shouting "Nein, nein!". Well, guess who is wagging her finger back at me with an impish grin on her face. I have also caught the two of them standing in front of the stereo, Finn gladly showing Lily which buttons to push without touching them himself because that is a big no-no. People keep on telling me how nice it is to have two children so close in age because "later they will play together so nicely". Yeah, right. Do you mind if I send them over to YOUR house to play once in a while?

What else is new? Neil's birthday has come and gone. He is 33 now, just like me. He didn't have to go to work since Easter Monday is a holiday in Germany. We had friends from church over at night for a little bit of a celebration. My sister Ulli was still here with us too.

Finn is still getting used to not sleeping in a crib. It is a bit of a struggle and after some desastrous naptimes we decided to give up on trying to make him nap. Now we do a "quiet time" in his room, and of course he doesn't fall asleep. Which does NOT mean that he is not tired, though. Maybe when the novelty has worn off he will start napping again. For now he will go to bed earlier at night. He is better about staying in his bed at night, but is still quite fussy. It makes me a little sad for him. He used to love his bed and snuggling up in it, even if it took him a long time to actually fall asleep. Now it is like he HAS to come out because he CAN.

Except for a bit of a runny nose both Finn and Lily are healthy for now, believe it nor not. Neil took a day off today and just left for Munich with Finn. They have to go back to the children's hospital where they did the bronchoscopy to have Finn's lungs x-rayed. The doctors wanted to do that when Finn is healthy, to have a comparison, so this is their chance. Who knows how long Finn will be well. I don't know if I mentioned this before, but Finn is on asthma medication and cortisone now. I am not thrilled about him having to take that stuff every day because of the side effects, but his doctor is hoping it will prevent Finn from getting pneumonia almost every time he catches a virus. Hopefully in the summer we can wean him off it.

Last weekend we took advantage of the nice weather and went exploring in a nearby forest. Kristin and Karl will recognize it! We also went on a short bike trip, with Lily in the trailer and Finn in his seat on my bike. I am SOOO longing for warm weather!!