Inga received a gorgeous cat hat from an un-named member of the Andersen family-- I'd place money on it that it was Meg (and amazing puppets! (not pictured because Inga had already taken them up to her puppet theater)).

And a fantastic sweater from a named member of the Andersen clan (Beth). It is Inga's favorite color and fits better than it looks in these pictures (it is on over her christmas dress, which makes things look odd).

Not pictured are wonderful socks from another un-named Andersen, but again, we deduced that it was probably Deborah. Inga was moving too fast to get anything on her feet, but she will be wearing them when she goes outside to play in the snow after her nap.

Thank you and a Merry Christmas to all of the Andersens in New York and Arkanas. We wish that we could be with you.

The alien is from santa, of course. The dollhouse remodel is courtesy Justin at 1 am last night. Which is, why my dear parents, why we needed to get off Skype in NE and drive home last night.

The parents are tired, but Inga gets to nap...We have more shoveling.

Mery Christmas to you all. I hope you are all having as much fun as Inga.

Where babies come from

At dinner.

Inga: My baby's name is "pink"!

Me: Where is your baby?

Inga: It's coming?

Me: Where is the baby coming from?

Inga: The Magazine.

Me: Babies don't come from magazines, where do you think you came from?

Inga: I came from school.

Me: Ummm.

Inga: Actually (Inga often starts sentences with "actually"), I didn't come from anywhere. (starts gesticulating wildly and muttering).

Me: Inga, babies come from their mommies bellies. (long explanation of several of our friends recent pregnancies, distended bellies and the ensuing baby-- Inga's eyes glaze over).

Inga: I have a pink baby! (pulls shirt up) In here (points to belly). I have a pink baby in my belly button. It is getting bigger (puffs out belly). Do you want some milk, baby? (offers her milk glass to her belly button).

Great, I have the world's first pregnant two year old.

Inga

August: I am cleaning Inga's room, she runs up and bites the back of my knee. I reacted instinctively-- which is to say that I did something that knocked her over. Afterwards, I picked up my sobbing child from the floor and asked her why she bit me (she hadn't bit anyone since she stopped teething). Inga replies "I just want to be your little helper." And then starts picking clothing off the floor. Apparently I was seriously repressing her by not inviting her to clean her room with me.

Inga in the car on Tuesday. "I'm a grown-up, right?" Me: (wanting to encourage this because she had been insisting that she was a baby last week) "yes you are!" Inga: "That means I get to drive the car!" Me: awkwardly trying to wiggle out of this by creating new categories, "big-driving grown-ups' and "grown-up kids who can't drive yet."

Happy Birthday Justin

Justin's layer cake that I hiked into the woods (lemon with marmalade-ginger filling). In retrospect, I could have made a smaller cake for the three of us. We ate it for several meals running.

Note that Inga acquired herself a headlight.

Wild River state park

For Justin's Birthday we went camping at a backpacking site at Wild River State Park. It was a couple of miles back in a meadow-- with no one around. Inga wasn't feeling well-- so she insisted on riding on top of Justin's pack....

Playing in the Upper S. Croix River

We went paddling and found the perfect spot for a late September swim.

BWCA -- Rainy Weather

It rained Thursday night through Saturday. We got caught in the rain on Caribou Lake--with no campsites. We pushed on through little caribou and into Pine. We found a campsite about a third of the way into the lake -- it was hidden up a trail on a cliff/hill overlooking the lake. I had not encountered a campsite like it before. In any case, we spent a lot of time in the tent and Inga insisted that we take these pictures. Digital cameras are to her generation what Polaroids were to mine (if my family actually had one of those fancy cameras-- which we did not). Inga loves to pose for the camera and see the immediate result. She takes pictures of us with the compass (she also uses it as a cell phone).

BWCA Trip -- Good Weather

From Sunday to Thursday afternoon, we had great weather-- lots of swimming, paddling, and portaging. For the BWCA nerds, we entered at North Fowl, the very east edge, through little John. We went up and through Mountain and Moose Lakes, Over the first section of the baby grand portage (virtue got lost and did the whole portage plus the southern jag with a pack on -- not bad for an old dog), to Daniels, West Bearskin, Dunkan, to Rose Lake and Rose falls (pictured). We then went south, back through bearskin and Hungery Jack, down and road and through a national fcorest campground to Flour Lake, Moon Lake, Deer Lake, and Caribou Lake. Then it started raining.

Inga Portages

Inga carried her own backpack (containing a sunhat, a water bottle, and her bear) across all of the portages. Some of the portages were muddy, steep, and rocky-- one was well over 600 rods--- Inga did it all. She also helped mommy figure out where we were when we got "lost." And yes, Justin bought her a paddle. Yes, it was a nuisance and no, she didn't use it effectively. I did however, develop lighting-quick reflexes in order to catch the paddle when it went flying out of the canoe. The bear also had a mid-lake swimming "lesson." After that he stayed in the pack unless he was in the tent.

Note that Inga can zip the tent door shut all by herself.

Inga and Daddy

Yes, her hair has bleached out. No, I didn't do it-- the sun did. It still has a little red in it, but you can't see it in this picture.

playing "molecule"

Inga likes to play molecules. In these pictures, she is pointing out that the twist boat conformation of 1-tertbutyl-3,5-dimethyl cyclohexane she has constructed has significant stereo hindrance, and is unlikely to form in real life. If you look closely, you may notice that she is stuffing extra atoms and bonds into her pocket with her right hand while holding up the molecule with her left. She is planning to "fix" this molecule as soon as I turn away.

Birthday (not inga's)

Inga had a lovely birthday- she went to the minnesota zoo, had cake, and open presents -- she was upset that she didn't get to keep the presents, but was happy to ride in the new bike basket. Inga was extra happy to have grandpa (not pictured, but who bought to chocolate-razzberry truffle cake from butter) around for the week.

Sunday evening

Inga had a very, very hard time going to bed after such a fun day. Allie read her the crocodile book (SNAP! is Inga's favorite part of the book) about five bazillion times.

Inga and Great Grandma Blomer

Inga really loves to play with a doll that grandma Lucille keeps for her. The doll has red shoes- just like Inga's favorite pair (featured at the bottom of these photos). Grandma obliges Inga by helping her put the on the doll and take them off again (over and over and over). I thin that the Easter cheese cake saver grandma from having her fingers fall off.

Family Easter

Turkeys, Cousins, and Aunt Barb (or did I get that in the wrong order?). Inga had a blast-- she loves her big cousins and they were terrific at making sure that she was included in their games. Aunt Char brought the girls purple buckets and weird pink hoses- it was the blomer girls who decided that they made good hats. The girls were running around like this for the better part of an hour.