The Olson Zoo Weblog

It is amazing with Helen’s difficulty with balance that she can walk in someone else’s shoes. Here she is in Daddy’s shoes while waiting for him to come home.

Our guest blogger today is Esther Olson, age 5 months:

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Helen has developed to new heights. She has finally decided against knocking down the three to four blocks that she has built to adding as many as she can. She is now up to 10 blocks!

She has also started potty training this last week. We are going at a very laid back pace. She is not really sure that she loves the idea but definitely loves the praise and attention she gets afterward. I certainly love changing less diapers, although any of you people that have already potty trained a child know that the process of getting them to do it consistently in the right place is usually harder than changing the diapers themselves. I am not expecting this process to end any time too soon. I was happy to hear that one of her friends from church who didn’t have much interest previously, decided that she wanted to go on the potty because Helen was too! The peer pressure starts already?

Esther is now into clothes that both other girls have worn. I couldn’t  find a picture of Laura wearing it, but I remember her doing so. Helen is pictured in the shirt at 23 months. Now Esther is in it at 5 months. What luck (or not) she has of being the third girl!

Esther is now 5 months old! She is so big! She really is attentive to what is going on around her especially people, lights, Martha, and any kind of screen (especially the computer screen when it has the psychedelic screen saver or the T.V. playing a movie - I know, she is only five months and she is already watching Veggie Tales).

Of course, there is the proverbial question of “Who does she look like?” There seems to be an awful lot of people saying, “Oh, she looks just like you!’ (mom), or “She looks just like Jeff!” or Laura, or they really don’t know. Here is my thoughts for today. I think that she has Jeff’s mouth, my eyebrows, Aunt Jennifer’s hair, Aunt Emily and sister Helen’s social personality, Laura’s eyes, and a whole lot of other characteristics just her own that wrapped up into one baby makes her one of the cutest, lovable little human beings on the face of the earth.

She has started eating rice cereal this week and usually seems to go at it with gusto. Just like Laura, she really does not like to lay on her stomach. She has started rolling on to her side from her back and likes to stand whenever she gets the chance.

Helen is one ball of energy and happiness (unless she is hungry or really tired). She is growing and developing as well. Her new tasks are running, hopping, eating with a fork and spoon, and talking (she says 84 words spontaneously to date).

She craves attention from anyone but definitely loves her Papa’s - all three. We pick up Jeff’s grandpa, Stan, on Sundays to bring him to church with us. Whenever Helen sees him walking to the van she says “Papa Papa!”. Recently, Grandpa Ross was coming to pick her and Laura up to go the Science Museum. We thought he was coming around 10 am. He came closer to 11 am because it was so cold outside. She said “Papa Papa” about 30 times a minute for about an hour and a half because she was so excited to see him. When he is there, she comes over and gives me a hug on the leg and says “Bye Bye!” and she is ready to go. Sometimes when she knows that she is going somewhere, she gives me the hug and says “Bye Bye!” before anyone has come to pick her up. She just loves going places. This fall when we had family over she was in route to give someone a hug and then she saw Grandpa Matejcek and changed courses to yell, “Papa!” and then give him a hug.

Her favorite toys are her dolls, blocks, balls, water, any kind of play with food - like tea parties, and picnics, crayons, and of course, whatever her big sister is into.

Laura is a great big sister! She just loves to hold and comfort her new little sister Esther. She thinks that Esther is the cutest one in the family because she is so little. She says she loves kids and especially babies (hmmm….I think that I have heard that same statement coming from her paternal grandma). She loves to read and do math. She told me yesterday day that she has said that she wants to be a lot of different things when she grows up but she is not sure what she really wants to do. Some of those things are veterinarian, dentist, pediatrician, mother, teacher, horse owner. The last couple of days, Laura has been asking, “When is the next time I get to see the dentist?” When asked why she wanted to see him, she exclaimed, “He is just so nice!” I told her she could see him at church tomorrow and she smiled and jumped up and down. Wouldn’t all dentists like to get that reaction?

Laura is involved in ballet, swimming, and homeschool co-op where they do art, gym, and a weather class. She has an awesome imagination and loves to pretend that she is the mom. She loves cooking, coloring, creating things, playing in the snow, sledding with Dad or Grandpa, movies, field trips with Grandpa, among other things. Her new favorite color is cherry red since she saw the red dough when we made candy cane cookies for Christmas.

All is well at the Olson household and things are starting to tame down after the addition of number three. Esther is developing more of a routine and so is the rest of the family. Of course, there are still upsets to the routine every week, like when Jeff wanted to have his gallbladder taken out, and this or that kid (or mom) didn’t get enough sleep to function well. But such is life, right?

We just sent out a Christmas/New Year’s/Birth Announcement letter and card.  The letter is copied below.  Or you can view a PDF version of the letter.

Here is the card:

January 7, 2009

Dear family & friends,

We hope you enjoyed a wonderful Christmas and New Year!  We are so grateful for all of you, and we pray that you will enjoy God’s blessings this coming year.

The year 2008 was an exciting one for our family as we were blessed with the arrival of Esther Roanna who was born on August 12^th.   Esther is now almost five months old and she has a really fun personality.  She is “talking” a lot and letting us know how she feels about things.  Her smile can melt your heart and she is definitely the cutest baby we know (of course!)

Helen, who turned three in October, has continued to grow and develop.  She has been such a wonderful gift to our family and is very popular in the church nursery with the caregivers, who love to hear her say “see ya!”  She has by far the most outgoing personality of all of us.  She lavishes kisses on her dolls Mei Mei and Ling and many people in her path. Helen has completely recovered from her open-heart surgery in the fall of 2007.  This past year she started getting regular speech and occupational therapy to help her catch up developmentally.  She has taken swimming lessons at the YMCA, and she enjoys going on outings with Grandpa Olson and big sister Laura.

Laura turned five in June and started homeschool kindergarten this fall.  She is learning to read and also loves math.  Most of all she loves when the teacher (mom) reads to her.  She also loves when dad reads to her at bedtime.  Laura has been taking ballet lessons and had her first recital in June.  She has also been going to swimming lessons at the Y, and she’s continued to sleep over at Grandma & Grandpa Olson’s and go to Bible Study Fellowship every Tuesday night and Wednesday morning during the school year.  She also had a blast at Vacation Bible Camp at church this summer, and this fall started Sunday School (with Grandma Olson as her teacher!)

Rachel has continued in her roles of a stay-at-home mom and teacher, but this year added the extra responsibility of one more kid.  She keeps our house running smoothly and serves as secretary and taxi driver for all the girls’ various appointments.  Rachel continues to be active in the MOPS group at First Free Church and has joined a local homeschool co-op, Kingdom Builders, where she is treasurer.  Rachel and Jeff are both grateful for our wonderful small group that meets weekly.

Jeff finds that life, while often too busy, is very good.  This summer he fulfilled his promise to the girls to build a playhouse.  And yes, it is a pink playhouse…Laura loves to tease him about being in a “girly family”.  He continues to work at the same company (15+ years and counting), now Thomson Reuters, where he works as a software engineer on the Checkpoint tax & accounting research website (checkpoint.thomsonreuters.com).  Jeff is active at church, where he continues to work on the website (www.firstfreechurch.org), and helps provide computer support to the office.  He is also on the leadership council and sings on the worship team.  Two days before Christmas he decided it would be fun to have emergency gall bladder surgery.

Visit our website, www.olsonzoo.com and click through to our blog and photo gallery if you are interested in keeping up with us through the year.

Thanks for reading our letter, and may you know the peace that Jesus Christ brings.

Love,

Jeff, Rachel, Laura, Helen, and Esther Olson