Category Archives: Lark

Lark / Motherhood / Toddler

Motherhood Update: Lark at 2.5 years

August 16, 2019

Larky inherited my skintone, and therefore will be inheriting my love of sun protection (hopefully).

Saying: Lark is in full conversation mode these days, and the things that come out of her mouth are often unintentionally hilarious. She loves imaginative play and is often yelling at Prim to come join in on whatever fantasy she’s creating. Though 2.5 is such a fun, verbal age, I am lamenting the end of Lark’s soft r’s (she’s recently started calling our nanny “Morgan” instead of “Mow-gan,” which is heartbreaking) and she’s also started calling me “Moooo-ooom!” like the teen she apparently is (I usually answer with a similarly intoned “Laaaa-aaark!”

Eating: Lark is much less picky than Prim (thank the lord, because I don’t know that I could manage to battle both of them every night) and will almost always try what’s put in front of her (and usually eat all or most of it.) She has caught on to some of her older sister’s phrases though and will regularly scream “I DON’T WIKE THAT!” and “I want SOMEFING ELSE!” so, y’know, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows — she’s still a toddler.

Lark’s Favorite Things: Lark is very imaginative and loves playing dress-up and pretend. She can often be found in the playroom “putting the babies to bed” while wearing some sort of amazing ensemble like a rainbow tutu, fairy wings, a magenta fleece hat and sequined Minnie Mouse ears.

Reading: Lark is currently very into The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry and The Big Hungry Bear as well as Love You Forever and Giraffe’s Can’t Dance.

Larky wears her feelings on her face just like her mama.

Latest trick: Lark recently learned how to climb in and out of her crib, after Prim convinced her to climb out of our travel crib on a recent trip to Tahoe. I’m happy to report that this hasn’t been too problematic yet. It’s more that she now has the option to climb out in the morning and go up into Prim’s bunk bed, where the two of them will play and talk until the green light comes on. Though, the pair of them walked out of the room at 8:30pm last night — an hour after I put them down — to tell me that Lark “had a bloody nose” (she didn’t). Luckily I was able to usher them both back to bed without much issue.

Favorite toys: Lark is very into cooking in the play kitchen and can regularly be found stirring a pot of felt food while wearing a “glove” (aka an oven mitt). She will present whatever she’s made and proudly announce, “It’s lemonade!” “It’s soup!” or “It’s chocolate milk!”

Sweetest things: Larky definitely has her own personality and is pretty independent, but man does this girl love her sister. While I suspect that she might have a little bit of a harder time adjusting to a new sibling than Prim did (Prim is pretty much always pumped to have a potential new playmate), I think she will also be so sweet to her new little brother when he arrives. He’s certainly been getting lots of Larky love and attention in my belly!

Aggressive snuggles while watching The Lion King.

Favorite thing about this age: Two and a half is such a sweet age. Lark has so much personality, but is still the snuggliest little thing. She’s really straddling the line between little kid and big kid, and it’s so sweet to watch her navigate relationships with Prim and other big kids, while still holding onto a lot of that little kid sweetness.

Lark / Motherhood / Toddler

Motherhood Update: Lark at 2 years

February 19, 2019

Saying: Lark’s language skills continue to amaze us. She is so verbal and is now speaking in full sentences. She loves to tell (yell at?) me about her day when I get home from work, which is hilarious and adorable. (“I go to dance class! I go in, Mama!” Lark recently got to join Prim’s dance class since she finally reached the minimum age of 2 to join, so getting to go into the class rather than just staying the waiting room has been a big topic of conversation in our house.) And while Lark’s speech is very clear for being newly-two, I love how she still mispronounces certain words like octopus (“hock-a-post”) and sleep/sleeping (“afweep/afweeping”).

The other day Lark decided that she didn’t need to nap (despite clearly being tired) and spent over an hour standing in her crib screaming. When I finally gave up and got her and Prim up from their “quiet time” (quiet… haha YEAH RIGHT) Prim asked why Lark was so upset. I told her I didn’t know and asked Lark, “Why didn’t you nap today?”
Lark: “I talk to you.”
Me: “You wanted to talk to me?”
Lark: “Yeeeeaah!”

Lark’s Favorite Things: As I mentioned, Lark recently got to join Prim’s dance class, as they have a minimum age of 2 to start. It has been the sweetest to see these girls in their leotards and hear all about how much they enjoyed class and how they “jumped over Swan Lake.” Lark grooves to any music she hears, so I’m glad that she’s bringing her sweet moves into the class now too!

Reading: Room on the Broom, Moon, and I Want My Hat Back.

Latest trick: Lark is slower to warm up than Prim is (although, EVERYONE is slower to warm up than Prim. She’s everyone’s best friend the minute she meets them.) but once she’s comfortable she is so sassy and silly. We are constantly joking about what a teen Larky is because her attitude is so front and center these days. This girl has the best side-eye in the biz, and let’s get real, that serious resting face of hers she gets 100% from me.

Favorite toys: We bought Lark a scooter to match Prim’s for her birthday this year, and while Prim wasn’t really into riding her scooter until age 3, Lark is already a scooting pro (no doubt due to watching her older sister zip around on it). It’s so funny watching her sail by on her scooter with one leg in the air and a big smile on her face.

Sweetest things: Lark and Prim continue to be the best of friends and are so, so sweet together. When Lark joined Prim’s dance class, Prim spent the whole class encouraging her and holding her hand — clearly so pleased that she was finally able to join in the fun. That evening after their first class, we FaceTimed both grandmas and Prim excitedly told them, “Larky was in my dance class today!” which was quickly followed up with Lark yelling, “I go IN! To dance class!” (OMG these girls. I can’t.)

Favorite thing about this age: Lark loves to sing just as much as Prim does and she knows so many songs now. It’s fascinating to see how quickly she picks up new songs, and it’s so sweet to hear her singing to herself before she goes to sleep or from her carseat in the backseat of the car.

Lark / Motherhood / Toddler

Motherhood Update: Lark at 18 months

August 16, 2018

Saying: Oh my gosh… EVERYTHING! Lark is whipping out new words every day now and is proving to be quite the chatterbox. She probably has 100 words at this point, which is sort of insane.Eating: Lark is still a great eater (thank goodness, because age 3 is proving to be P-I-C-K-Y for someone in our house) and eats just about anything I put in front of her, whether it’s pizza or chicken and roasted veggies with tzatziki. The arrival of 6(!) more teeth has made mealtime a bit easier, I think, though the onslaught of them all coming in at once certainly cramped nap and bedtime for quite awhile.

Sleeping: As I mentioned above, Lark recently got 6 teeth over the course of just a couple weeks (all 4 molars included!) It was rough stuff for sure, and I felt so bad for her because she would be soooo tired but clearly unable to sleep through the pain. She ended up staying up late with us a couple of nights, which while not ideal, was pretty sweet nonetheless. I feel like we have had so much less one-on-one time with Lark over the past 18 months than we had with Prim, so it’s nice to steal those random moments with her where there’s no one else stealing the spotlight.

Doing: Lark has finally started walking full-time now. She took her first steps at 15 months while we were vacationing in Vienna, but continued crawling for weeks after that. For whatever reason she decided that she would walk when she was sure she had mastered it — none of this toddling around BS for Lark!

Latest milestone: Lark is walking and climbing and basically trying to do everything Prim does, including climbing up onto the arm of the couch and then jumping onto the seat cushions (cut to me yelling “how many times do I have to tell you not to climb on the couch!” I am SUCH a mom.) With all the walking and talking it has become clear that the baby stage is officially over, and let me tell you, my heart CANNOT TAKE IT.

Favorite toys: I recently unearthed numerous old phones and iPods when we moved into our new house. Having no use for an iPhone 4 or ancient Blackberry, I put the lot of them into the playroom for the kids to play with. Lark loves to make calls and often walks around with the phone up to her ear saying, “Hewo, Pim?” (Hello, Prim?) and let me assure you: it’s the most adorable thing EVER.

Sweetest things: Lark is a much more snuggly kiddo than Prim was, and now when I put her down for nap or bedtime she lays on my shoulder as I hold her and sing to her (she loves “I Will” by the Beatles.) Prim has caught on and now requests I hold her while I sing her song (“Blackbird‘), so really Larky’s snuggliness has turned into a win for all of us.

Favorite thing about this age: Hearing Lark’s vocabulary expand and watching her turn into more of a “kid” is so sweet. She clearly wants to do everything Prim does, and Prim is (usually) very good about including her in her play. One of Lark’s favorite words is “yeah” and it’s so cute asking her a question and hearing her yell out “Yeah!” like it’s the most exciting thing she’s been asked all day.

Baby / Lark / Motherhood

Motherhood Update: Lark at 15 months

May 18, 2018

I’m a couple days late in posting about this little love, but we’re in full move-management mode right now, which has kind of taken over a lot of my brain. 

Saying: Lark seems to be picking up new words on a daily basis right now. I am constantly surprised by the words coming out of her mouth (I recently tried counting the number of words she has but stopped when I got to 30). The way Lark talks is also so hilarious, because everything is sort of yelled like it’s an emergency. One of her favorite words is “bike” (of course, little Dutch child) and it seems like she’s constantly upset that she can’t ride the loopfiets yet because she’s always pointing at it and yelling “BIIIIKE!!”

Eating: Lark is still obsessed with Thai curry (girl ate two GIANT bowls of it last night), but her newest love is cereal. I introduced a fork and spoon at mealtime when she turned one, and she’s become very competent with both over the last three months. Since she wants to have everything Prim has, and Prim sometimes has cereal as part of her (very large) breakfast, Lark has gotten to try out her skills on Rice Krispies and Special K (the only non or low-sugar cereals they have here). She’s now regularly pointing at the boxes on the shelf and shouting “Eeeereal!” at me.

Sleeping: I recently weaned Lark, which ended up being a very easy transition. KC took over nap and bedtime duties while he was home over a long weekend and she slipped into the new routine without issue. This is the first time in 3 years and 8 months that I haven’t been pregnant and/or breastfeeding, so it’s been kind of strange and amazing to not be attached (literally or figuratively) to a baby for the first time in such a long time.

Doing: Lark is becoming more and more of a toddler each day. With all of her new words and skills, I find myself wondering where my baby went. She is very clearly the second child, as she wants EVERYTHING Prim has right now — toys, food, all of it. She also recently added “me too” to her vocabulary, which might just be the most second-child phrase of all time.

Latest milestone: Lark is walking assisted these days and can stand unassisted quite well. I have no doubt that should could walk if she wanted to, but just like Prim, she is clearly going to walk when she decides to — with no help or coaxing from us. Whenever you’re ready, girl!

Favorite toys: Lark has recently become OBSESSED with babies. Prim has two dolls — “big baby” and “little baby” — that she sleeps with and carries around often. Lark somehow wised up to these toys and would spend much of her day screaming “BABY!” and pointing to the dolls. After I heard her wake up from her nap screaming “BABY!” everyday for a week, I finally decided it was time to get her a doll of her own. She snuggles and kisses her baby, and I am honestly kind of dumbfounded at how baby-obsessed these two girls are. I haven’t tried to push dolls on them at all, but they are still just the sweetest little mamas to these babies of theirs.

Sweetest things: Lark has started giving “real” kisses recently, as opposed to the sweet, open-mouthed baby kisses. She will often climb into my lap, give me a big hug and then grab my face with both hands and kiss me. I’m sure she will be mortified someday to find out that she once liked kissing her mama on the mouth, but man do I love those sweet, drooly kisses.

Favorite thing about this age: Hearing Lark communicate what she wants has been so amazing (and helpful!) She seems to have finally transitioned out of the extremely clingy stage and is now exploring and playing more on her own. Seeing her crawl into the kitchen, point to the fridge and yell “CHEEEEESE!” or watching her crawl to the back door and scream out “POOL!” is so much nicer than the insistent but indecipherable shrieking she was doing just a couple of months ago. She seems to understand me more as well when I tell her that she needs to wait her turn or not do something (I mean, she’s not always happy about it, but she at least seems to understand it.)

Baby / Lark / Motherhood / Personal

Forgotten Photos, Part One

May 2, 2018

After it had been sitting on the shelf for a year or so, we broke out our nice camera when we went to the Keukenhof a few weeks ago. When I got around to loading the photos onto the computer after our trip, I was surprised and delighted to find a bunch of images captured from the first few days after Lark’s birth We did have the sense to drag the camera out for such a momentous occasion, but I apparently was suffering from “new mom brain” just long enough to completely forget about the photos until after Lark was a year old. She was the tiniest little thing. Can you even believe those little legs?? I mean, just give me all the heartbreak emojis and another baby immediately. Where has the time gone?! And let’s not forget about (little!) big sister Prim! She was just 21 months when Lark was born. I definitely felt like she was such a big kid at the time, which, compared to brand-new Larky, she was, but now looking back at these pictures I’m like, she’s a baby!

Also that no-makeup + robe + unbrushed hair look is straight #newmomlife all the way. We even had a few pictures of the kraamzorg taking care of Lark, since that was the week she was at the house. That little hammock is how she would check Lark’s weight every few days (look at those teeny feet peeking through!) Luckily, though Lark was very little, she breastfed and gained weight like a CHAMP.

Oh man, all the feelings, guys. All the feelings.