Escape from Shalott

Don't spice me up!

2012-02-06T09:00:00.003-08:00

Well, it's that time of year: the sick time. We don't get sick often, but this time of year it seems like it's always one thing after another. I was sick last week with a bad-cold-turned-infection, and PDaniel has it this week. Meanwhile, Dangerboy woke up with croup Wednesday night and we had to take him the the ER for a steroid treatment. It wasn't too bad; we'd have taken him to urgent care, but nowhere else is open at midnight. The doctor said he should stay home from school for a couple of days, but he was feeling fine, so I was stuck with bored kids for a few days. Now Cookie-Nut has a bad cough and I'm keeping her home. And getting a little stir-crazy and tired of entertaining children!

I must admit, though, they both stayed home from church yesterday and played well together all day long. That was a treat. I love it when that happens, especially because CN worships DB so much, and he doesn't often, at this point in his life, give her the time of day. I hope it changes.

Cutenesses:

Cookie-Nut at dinner, telling what she did outside in the snow. She’s been saying her “L’s” correctly more and more lately, which makes me treasure sentences like this all the more: “We made a swide. Then we got on our sweds and swid down!!”

One night I made bok choy/eggplant/tofu stir fry with hoisin sauce and a little red pepper. It wasn’t much of a success; neither the eggplant nor the tofu sucked up much flavor, though the bok choy was OK. I was trying to shovel one last bite into Cookie-Nut’s mouth; she’d tried it and liked it, but she was done by this point and was avoiding the fork, begging for raisin bran instead. Finally she ducked under the counter. “No!!” She yelled frantically. “It might spice me up!!”

CN is so funny. She can create worlds and stories with whatever objects are at hand. In the last 24 hours, she’s created elaborate scenarios using, each on a separate occasion, the following: a hymnbook, a couple of shoelaces, spoons, a puzzle, half an orange and a paint set, a zipper, the pull string on the blinds, a partially-eaten banana. In every case, if her attention needs to be redirected (to brushing her teeth or eating her dinner, for instance), it’s very difficult to pull her out of her world, but I love that her imagination is so vibrant.

"Life is Hard."

2012-01-22T18:04:00.000-08:00

Oh, yes, it snowed the other day and the kids finally got to use their sleds, which Grandma got them, and which they didn’t know they owned. DB said, “I’m so happy, I don’t know what to say!” And promptly wrote a thank-you note. They spent much of the morning sliding down the hill in our yard with their friends.

CN had a hard time in Primary today. It’s a hard transition for a three-year-old. For some it’s harder than for others! She kept rolling around on the floor and yelling with the music director didn’t pick her to help lead the music. Or when she WAS chosen, yelling because she didn’t want to do what the director wanted her to.

DangerBoy’s parent-teacher conference was this week. He is doing well, at least well enough for his teacher. She says he is reading above grade level, that he is a peacemaker and a good friend, and that his handwriting needs work. That’s our boy!

We took poor DB to the dentist Tuesday to get his tooth inspected. He'd been running a fever over the long weekend and complaining about a tooth. I wanted to make sure they weren't related. But it turns out it was infected and he had to have it pulled right then and there! Poor kid. It was a molar too, and a new one won’t grow in for a few years. Not only that, but everyone in the office was shaking their heads at his x-rays. Apparently, he’s going to need plenty of orthodontic work. The nurse actually said it looks like his two front teeth are going to come in growing straight out! Heaven forbid. My beautiful little boy.

He was pretty brave, though he had to have some laughing gas after the last shot. He didn’t cry until then. And then he didn’t get completely numb (the nurse said it’s hard when there’s an infection, though I’m not sure I believe her), so he felt it coming out, at least somewhat. He didn’t know what they were doing, only that it hurt, so I think he was shocked when they showed it to him at the end. Traumatic thing for a kid. He wept most of the way home, though he mostly stopped in Walmart, where we stopped to buy him a toy.

Yesterday was my first student recital here at BYU, I played for Briana, a grad student in oboe. The music was hard, so I was proud of my/our efforts and invited family. Mom and Dad came down, Shaun and John Bonner showed up, and we got a sitter so Peter could go. I was nervous about how my arm would do, since it’s been giving me some nerve trouble. I was also worried about Performance anxiety, which has reared its ugly head in the past. But neither was problematic, and while the performance wasn’t perfect, I was honestly pleased with it.

Cutenesses:

On Friday this week, DB and CN was sitting at the breakfast table. CN was eating a leftover cheeseburger for breakfast, and DB had his forehead on the table and was moaning tiredly that he didn’t know what he wanted for breakfast. CN looked up from her hamburger at him and said sagely, “Life is hard.”

Last night when I was putting her to bed, she said, “I like your earrings. I like your hair. You’re so cute! And I love my room, and I love my whole world! Jesus gave me all these things!”

Cookie-Nut (putting on a not-new pink shirt): “It’s a new shirt! The shirt fairy brought be a new shirt!” (What’s the shirt fairy’s name?) “Her name is Porch. Sometimes I don’t like her. But, she has yellow hair.”

First of 2012!

2012-01-08T19:10:00.000-08:00

We went to AZ for Christmas. It was mostly low-key…watched a lot of movies and Dangerboy played lots of video games. Slept in, etc. PDaniel's family is sweet and laid-back. And generous. We went on a couple of family outings…one to an art museum in Tempe and a gingerbread Whoville, and one to an ostrich farm and Picacho State Park, then out for Mexican food. The kids (especially Cookie-Nut) loved the farm. CN was scared of the ostriches, but she loved feeding the greedy goats and deer. One little donkey became her special friend. There was also a lorikeet aviary where the birds slurped up nectar from little cups we held for them and they perched all over us. DB’s favorite part was a hand-cranked conveyer belt he used to ship food pellets to a pen of goats in a big cherry-picker-type thing. He stayed there for a long time.

The other day we went with the cousins to see the Muppet movie again, which we saw over Thankgiving. It’s pretty funny, and the kids enjoyed seeing it again. The songs are my favorite part…they’re by Brett from Flight of the Conchords, the one and awesomely only parody musical sitcom. Both Muppet movie and Flight of the Conchords (disclaimer--the latter is a solid PG-13) I highly recommend.

It snowed this morning. I went to go pick up our Bountiful Basket (-o-produce) and what should I see but K shoveling the snow off our front stairs. It warmed my heart. (K’s our neighbor kid…one of DB’s older friends. Has a reputation for mischief, but really a good kid.)

Kid quotables:

DB (refusing to get a haircut): “I want to have a beard and be hairy like Uncle L.” (Uncle L has long Jesus-like hair and a beard).

CN, after watching the movie preview for “Tintin”: “That’s a great boy because he has to do a really brave job!”

CN: “But Jesus doesn’t love Santa Claus.” Why not? “Because Christmas is Jesus’s birthday, and he wanted presents.” But did Santa bring Jesus presents? “Yes!” So I’m confused, but somehow the whole birthday/present/Christmas/Santa relationship has her confused too, I think.

We were in the car, talking about a trip to the zoo that she doesn’t remember:

CN: “So you lift me up and I see the elephants?”

Me: “Yes.”

CN: “But I can’t see my eyes.”

Me: “That’s right, we can’t see our eyes, except in the mirror.”

CN: “But I can see your eyes! And I can see all the things that I can see! Anyways, I don’t like the sun.”

Me: “Why don’t you like the sun?”

Clara: “’Cause it’s sunning in my eyes!”

Us, Part One

2011-04-05T22:31:00.000-07:00

I met Peter at band camp in August of 1994. We had just moved to Rexburg…we’d come early so I could be there in time to go; it was a requirement of the marching band. The first time I saw him, he and Ryan N. were walking to the practice field, and Ryan was holding drumsticks. They looked approachable, so I asked if they were drummers. Nope! Trumpet players, unfortunately for me (I was in the percussion section, playing mallets on the sideline). I ate lunch with a group of kids that included PDaniel and Wendy A. that day, and PDan told this joke: “What did one blade of grass say to the other blade of grass? Hey, we’re not the only ones—there are lots of us!” And Wendy thought it was hilarious and I didn’t get it at all. It was just part of “Rexburg humor,” which didn’t make any sense, and which I didn’t really understand until later. What would I have thought if someone had whispered in my ear, “there’s the boy you’ll marry”?

PDan remembers that he saw me for the first time standing on the curb being dropped off for band camp. He remembers what I was wearing: white shorts (too short for Rexburg, a fact I was oblivious to), and the James Madison T-shirt Mat Dragoo had sent me from college before his accident. PDan remembers what I was wearing on almost every occasion. I sure picked a good guy, though he puts me to shame—I don’t remember what he was wearing even this morning! Wait, no, I do. But I don't always!

Journal Entries

2011-04-05T22:12:00.000-07:00

A couple of months ago we lost C-Nut’s “Baby.” It’s a little pink plush doll with a rattle inside that Grandma W. gave her, and which she’s loved and slept with since she was an infant. I was surprised how much I missed Baby; PDaniel too. I had a distinct feeling of loss those days, almost as if we’d lost CN’s twin, or at least as if some part of CN had been lost forever. A cloud descended over the household, and we were all a little depressed. I’ve never mourned another inanimate object more than I mourned baby for those few days, as we searched the house and the car (the only places Baby is allowed to go) over and over.

CN’s face shone like a light when we found Baby. I was talking to PDan in the kids’ room when I noticed the underwear-and-sock hanging bag in DB’s closet had fallen down. I reached down to pick it up and reattach it to the pole, when I heard something rattle. Could it be?? It was! Stuffed in with DB’s socks was Baby! I vaguely remembered putting socks away a couple of days ago—I must have accidentally put Baby away too. Hallelujah! A weight lifted from all of us and all was right with the world again.

...

Last night I had a dream that I was riding to a music recital. On the back of a cow. Down a road choked with humongously overgrown tree roots.

...

PDan and I have been reading the first Harry Potter book to DB and he LOVES it. So much more than I thought he would. He knows all the characters, keeps track of their names. It’s so fun to share this with him--PDan and I are having a great time doing all the accents and voices as we read, or trying to—and I’m proud of the fact that he has an attention span long enough to sit through whole chapters at a time. I’m glad his imagination is in such good working order. I see kids in his class that are excellent readers, have great handwriting, play the cello…but I am so proud that my child has a love for stories. Those other things are good too, but I’d rather this, if I had to choose.

...

Saturday afternoon, I lost C-Nut. DB and C-Nut had both had a boring day and were begging to go outside, so we finally tried to go on a walk. But they were being so awful—complaining about the direction we were going, the lack of food, everything. At first I was trying to be accommodating but finally gave up and said we were going home. We’d barely made it around the corner of our apartment! DB planted himself on the sidewalk and said he wasn’t going anywhere, while C-Nut was dying to go home. So I looked CN in the eye (she was sitting in her stroller) and told her not to move, while I went to get DB, who was maybe 10 yards away. CN nodded seriously. But when I turned around, the stroller was empty.

I wasn’t too worried initially, because I figured she’d just gone home. But I looked there, and she hadn’t. Then I looked around some more…no CN. I’d thought Peter had gone to priesthood, but he’d felt like he should stay home and help me with the kids, so he came out when he heard me calling for her and started looking. Esther came out of her apartment too. I wasn’t sure if I should start running somewhere to look, or if I should just look behind bushes and stuff; maybe she was hiding. I felt kind of paralyzed, so I just stayed where I was and kept calling her name. Minutes passed…no CN. Peter said later that at that point he said a desperate prayer, and felt that it would be all right, but started running down the hill. On the way down, he met our friend Madelyn, coming up to the playground with her kids. She was holding CN’s hand. CN had run all the way down the sidewalk, across the parking lot, down the “bunny hill,” and across the street, when Madelyn had found her and brought her back up. Thank goodness. PDaniel and I each made CN cry, getting her in trouble. CN felt terrible. Good…I hope she never runs away again. PDan and I were so distraught we were in no mood to cook dinner and went to In-N-Out for drive-thru burgers. (I hope CN doesn’t think it was some kind of reward).

Conversations with Cookie-Nut

2011-03-27T17:17:00.000-07:00

PDan to C-Nut: You are beautiful.

C-Nut to PDan: YOU are beautiful! And cwazy.

...

(while walking outside—she looks up.) “The birds don’t like me.”

me: “The birds don’t like me?”

her: “ME.”

me: “Oh, the birds don’t like you? Why not?”

her: “Because I don’t like them too.” (pout)

...

(in the car—she looks out the window)

her: “They look like giant broccoli!”

me: “What do?”

her: “The trees! With cheese on them!”

me: “You have a poet’s mind, Cookie-Nut.”

her: “Yeah!”

...

(getting out of the car)

her (angry and annoyed): “They’re waving at me.” (pout)

me: “Who?”

her (still mad): “The trees!” (she sticks out her tongue and raspberries in their direction.) (yells defiantly at them) “I’m going home!” (pout)

Journal Excerpts

2011-03-27T17:02:00.000-07:00

The other night I went to a RS conference at which Claudia Bushman spoke. She really motivated me to keep some sort of journal! Someday I may not remember anything, and it would be nice to be reminded what happened in my life. She focused on recording the truth, no matter how un-pretty. But I want to record plenty of the pretty things too. So, here are some excerpts from the journal I've kept over the last week or two.

...

One thing Claudia Bushman said in her talk last week was something like, “Journaling is a zero-level activity. No matter what you do, it’s better than nothing.” I got to thinking, I worry about not being good enough at music, or writing, or mothering…but maybe all those things are zero-level activities too. Anything I do, any effort I make, is better than nothing; it puts something positive and creative into the world that wasn’t there before. So why not make the effort? Even mothering, which is the hardest…I may not decide to have tons of children, because I don’t think I’d be good at it, but I can do my best with the two I’ve got, right? Of course right.

...

Today we went to a Faded Paper Figures concert at a club called The Mint in LA. We took the kids…it was a short afternoon concert, very family-friendly. The music was a little loud for the kids (Cookie-Nut wouldn’t wear her earplugs), but we all had a blast! The kids danced with their friends the Romney boys and PDaniel and I sang along. It helped that we all knew the music from listening to both albums in the car. The band members (whom I can take credit for introducing to each other) are our friends John Williams and Kael and Heather Alden, who used to be our ward. And now I can actually say that we went to a smoky little club in LA. I admit the whole atmosphere appeals to me. Much better than the overcrowded Dave Matthews Band concert Pete and I went to in AZ. Much more “atmosphere.”

...

PDaniel and I tried for a while to stop watching TV at night so we could do more productive things, but apparently it’s how we reconnect. When we stopped we got kind of depressed.

...

I had a much-needed “day off” yesterday. Now that C-Nut doesn’t take naps any more (and hasn’t for months and months) I really have no alone time. I really need it—it definitely helps me be more sociable when I AM around people. It’s funny—I didn’t want to be an English major because I missed people too much and hated being alone all the time, reading and writing. Piano accompanying was a nice balance, because I had alone time to practice, but the rest of the work was with other people. And music departments can be really nice, supportive communities (like ASU was) so that was great too. Now I am constantly around people—mostly my family, mostly kids—and ache for time alone. And my poor husband is alone all day and aches for together time! So in order for me to be happier together…I need to get away sometimes.

...

So, while PDan took Dangerboy and C-Nut to a primary activity and (when they got home), played with non-Newtonian fluids, I worked on my stories; exercised; tried a new Ramen restaurant for lunch and finished the book Michael K; hit a sale at JCPenney and got a new Easter Dress for Clara (black with white flowers and green trim) and some new sneakers for Caleb. Then we had a nice family evening, ate biscuits and gravy and smoothies, watched some Scooby-Doo; and after the kids went to bed, we watched the Firefly movie Serenity. A good day.

Pictures

2011-02-16T17:19:00.001-08:00

This is Peter--I'm just adding a bunch of pictures for grandmas and pakas. Christi will probably update this with more details later, but one note: the few pictures of dangerboy in the suit are from when he was asked to be ring bearer at our friend's wedding. It was a long day, but he loved it and was very proud of his role in the ceremony.

Cookie-Nut speaks

2011-02-08T22:21:00.000-08:00

Here's my sticky-note collection from the last month or two of wacky quips from our two-and-a-half-year-old:

CN: I need prentzels.
PDan: What are prentzels?
CN: Prentzels means crackers.
PDAN: Oh. What are crackers?
CN: Crackers means prentzels.

Me: Hey, what do you have?
CN (holding the ladybug Pillow Pet she got for Christmas): It's a pillow pet dot com.

Me (changing her diaper): How's your bum?
CN: It's a little Fred.
Me: Huh? A little what?
CN: It's a little Fred.
Me: Oh, you mean it's a little red?
CN: Yeah, it's a little red.

(We're in church. The speaker says something about the Holy Ghost. CN's ears perk up.)
CN (loudly): The Holy Ghost in the pumpkin patch!!

(We're potty training. I'm trying to get CN to tell me if her Pull-Up is wet or dry; she keeps contradicting herself.)
Me: Well, are you wet, or are you dry? Which are you?
CN (smiling at her own joke): Strawberry!

(CN is sucking on a tasting spoon for babies she found in the silverware drawer.)
PDan: Is that a paci?
CN (pulling it out): No.
PDan: Then what is it?
CN: A Space Ranger?

CN (picking up a toy fork someone left on the computer desk): Lookit Mom. I found a clue.
(too much Scooby Doo, maybe?)

(CN is eating an apple. She recently has gone to the doctor for a checkup, and the doctor looked inside her ear "to see if Mickey Mouse or a princess was hiding in there.")
PDan: What's in your ear?
CN: A princess. (Holds apple to ear.) You want some? (Makes slurping noise). The princess lick my apple!

CN to PDan: I wub good night kisses because I wub you!

Cookie-Nut is old enough now to tell us about her dreams. She's come into our room scared of a nightmare mouse. Once she came in crying, asking if Daddy was going to the candy canes. When we asked her in the morning what she dreamed about, she said, "Wotsa wotsa kids go to the candy canes. They so happy!" I wondered why she was so sad in the moment, though....maybe she was being left behind? She said the candy canes were "like trees" and that they were lots of different colors. Sounds fun.

She also talks in her sleep a lot. More accurately, she yells: "Give me that dress! Give me that dress RIGHT NOW!" On another night: "Nooooooo! I don't want to!" Or: "I'm scared of snakes! I'm scared of snakes!" (Shhhhh, I say.) Then she whispers: "I'm scared of snakes." All without waking up.

little question

2010-12-31T19:56:00.000-08:00

Dangerboy: "Argh! Cookie-Nut hit me in the nuts!"

Me: "Don't say nuts."

DB: "OK, she hit me in the balls!"

Me: "Don't say balls either."

DB (exasperated) "Then what I'm supposed to say when I'm talking about my balls or my nuts?!?"

Huh?

2010-12-10T14:14:00.000-08:00

I haven't looked at my blog in so long I almost don't recognize it. Well, I'm throwing it a bone. I've had this on a post-it note for months. I'll type it now (maybe again) and then I can throw it away. It's from Dangerboy:

"Mom, what's an ear-cumber?"

(I don't know...I know cucumbers, but not ear-cumbers. What do you think it is?"

"I think it's shaped like an ear, and looks like an ear, but when you open it up it's green and has seeds."

(That's interesting. Where do they come from?)

"I think they come from rabbit barf."

What I did last summer.

2010-09-19T21:56:00.000-07:00

In conclusion, here's what I learned in my somewhat blind foray into home school. I still don't think I can do it full-time. At least, not the way I'd want to. I had a lot of fun, but I still don't understand when everything gets done. When do I have time to do the background learning it takes to teach someone else, especially about science, math, etc.? And then teach them? And then do all the other things that need doing in life? And then actually have a life, or at least my own hobbies and pursuits?

I know people do it, but I think it maybe becomes a hobby in itself--even a sacrament, and/or a sacrifice. I'm just not that good, I think. Too selfish, I sadly admit.

But, we had fun, and I think I'm going to do it again, this way anyhow. I think it's a fun and educational way to spend our breaks, at least, without getting bored. Hopefully I can convey some love-of-learning that I see so much in my awesome friend Amanda and her kids, who home school with gusto. If I could, I'd send my kids to her school!

For now, stay tuned for our next time. I'll give you a clue...it's be an awfully big adventure!

Who's your mummy?

2010-09-19T21:29:00.000-07:00

Our last "home school" week was almost a flop, but we got one cool field trip out of it, at least! I had rather half-baked intentions of doing cool projects and such that just never got done. Oh, well.

Dangerboy wanted to study mummies. After looking at the picture books l=the library had to offer, I was a bit trepidations...mummies are basically dead people. And pictures of them can be pretty harrowing. But DB was fascinated by them, and not too scared at all (at first, mwahahaha). So we read lots of books on mummies around the world, cat mummies, pyramids, and the terra cotta Chinese warriors (totally different, I know, but I needed another topic).

And we watched movies: the Tutenstein cartoon, not my favorite, but kinda cute; Night at the Museum; Prince of Egypt; and Scooby Doo episodes with mummies in them (this stuff is strictly for fun).

I got a cool book from the library with fun ancient Egypt-themed projects in them, none of which we did. They involved making play-dough mummies, moving heavy books the way ancient Egyptians moved bricks for the pyramids, writing in heiroglyphics, and making a decorated mummy collar. Sounds fun, right? We totally missed out.

I was at a loss about snacks...the book suggested cucumber salad with yogurt sauce, a Middle-Eastern dish. My kids would never have eaten it, but I almost gave it a try. And cheese-block pyramids. Wait, I think we actually did that, come to think of it!

Our field trip was cool though--we went to the California Science Center's exhibition "Mummies of the World." Actually, it was a bit pricey, so PDaniel and DB went while CN and I explored the Ecosystems exhibit, and the boys joined us there later. PDaniel said DB didn't love the mummy exhibit, actually; seeing dead stuff in pictures is less threatening than seeing it in real life. So, it was a bit scary. Understandably. But DB used to be a little scared of mummies, and he no longer is, so there you go. Knowledge is power.
The Center is enormous and technically free, though there is a place where you could (and should, what you can) donate at the entrance. We only had time for the Ecosystems exhibit, which I loved! It is huge, and a really cool blend of fun interactive exhibits and a dose of art/design. I'm too tired to describe it all, but all ages, from toddlers on up, could enjoy it. There's an aquarium area with a touching pool, a "rot" room with all sorts of bugs, an awesome tree room with a tree house and lots of pretending opportunities, an ice room where you can take pictures on a snowmobile and touch a wall made of ice, a huge sculpture made out of fast-food trash...there's a lot to see and do! And we were only in a fraction of the museum. I highly recommend!

Bungle in the Jungle

2010-09-19T20:48:00.000-07:00

Well, I want to chronicle the last two weeks of home school that turned into, basically, themed summer-camp (very little school-type work actually getting done). But it's so long ago that I don't remember everything. Here's my best reconstruction.

Week three was rain forest week. We broke it up into several different categories, and every day we studied books from the library about that particular topic:

Fruits of the rainforest: the kids were blindfolded and asked to guess what rainforest fruits and spices they were tasting--there were obvious ones, like mangoes and bananas, and ones you wouldn't immediately think of, like chocolate and cinnamon. Then we ate rainforest fruit salad for a snack.

Amphibians of the rainforest: I got a Beanie Baby shaped like a tropical frog and we played "poison frog hot potato" with it. We shaped fruit roll-ups like snakes for a snack (yeah, I know they're reptiles, but they're close, right?)

Rainforest trees and plants: we went around our apartment complex and collected various leaves to see how their shape affects the way water rolls off of them. We actually nener got to this part, but we did collect the leaves! We talked about how many decorative plants we have actually come from the rainforest, and how many trees there have large leaves to collect as much sun as possible, and yet how they're shaped so that they direct water right to the forest floor. We also painted pictures of the rainforest using a leaf stamp I got at JoAnn's. We were going to collage with real leaves, but alas, we didn't.

Oh, and we had "Venus fly traps" for a snack, made as shown with cream cheese (colored green) and raisins. DB was obsessed with carnivorous plants for a while, mostly because he thought they were people-sized. They actually grow in swamps, but the rainforest has other carnivorous plants, so we lumped them in. (Shown with our real Venus flytrap, mentioned below).

Mammals of the rainforest, including people. I broke out a pan flute and a recorder (South American instruments) and we tooted around on them for a while. We may have created a band. For snacks we had frozen chocolate-covered bananas. Yum!

We went on two awesome field trips. One was to the Sherman Library and Gardens in Corona Del Mar (free on Mondays--inexpensive any other day). They are lovely--great for a date, you can even eat lunch there--and they have a greenhouse full of tropical plants! We saw some cool ones and asked if they had any carnivorous plants, as I had remembered them having. They didn't on display, but they did in their shop! So we took one home, and DB was thrilled. It perished not long after, but it was good while it lasted.
We also managed to get free-day tickets (available once a month online) to the Huntington Library and Gardens, which have a jungle section outside AND an awesome greenhouse full of rainforest/cloud forest/bog exhibits (including carnivorous plants! Yay!). Those are right next to their children's garden, which is so fun to explore. I have more pictures, but my computer is not cooperating right now. This was a fun week, now that I remember it!
Oh, and for movies, we watched Ferngully, clips from Planet Earth (the birds of paradise are soooo cool!), and Diego. And we could have watched Jungle Book and the Curious George movie, but (curiously) we didn't. :)

Dangerboy at five

2010-09-09T22:03:00.000-07:00

Since I didn't get around to writing about Dangerboy's achievements on his birthday, I'll write some of them now. This is as of 5 years, four months. He:

has graduated from preschool and started kindergarten! He likes it, likes his teacher, and loves being surrounded by kids every day. He is making lots of friends, and indeed considers everyone his friend. He's learning lots and doesn't seem to find it boring at all. Hooray! He doesn't even complain (much) when I have to wake him up in the morning!
can count to 100.
can read "Bob" words pretty well and write all his letters (both cases) and numbers.
can build cool things with his Construx.
can make all sorts of creations using scissors and lots of tape, and loves to wrap them up in wrapping paper.
often makes said creations for people he likes.
does his homework without complaining (usually).
has a job which he must do, along with his homework, before watching TV. He washes the dining room table and is paid for it (50 cents--but only if it's super clean).
loves Scooby Doo! Possibly even more than Transformers, but would never admit it.
is an awesome sleeper.
is learning how to play with his sister, who loves him madly.
loves his friends so much, and is kind to the people he meets--boys and girls.
is a little in love with the new girl that moved in to Tiger Lily's apartment!! (She is also five, and quite a catch).
is just so handsome. Those dimples still make my heart skip a beat (just like his dad, but in a different way, of course).
loves knock-knock jokes and the comics in the newspaper, especially Lio and Baby Blues, both of which he can relate to. He also likes Bizarro.
goes to time-out when told.
puts his heart into everything he does--is known to become too fond of fragile things like towers of blocks and helium balloons.
loves to be told stories.

When I think of more I'll try to write them. We just love him so much. His teachers love him...he is sweet, imaginative, well-behaved (at school and church--we're working on home), exuberant, very loving, kind, and funny. He is so cool. As I write this, I want to go give him a big hug, but he's asleep...maybe I will anyway.

Blast to the past

2010-09-09T21:23:00.000-07:00

So, I have been extremely remiss in chronicling the happenings of our family lately, and am now going to attempt to catch up a bit. Keep in mind, the same thing happened last fall, and I never wrote about out whole summer then either. But I do need to write about my kids, so here's what I remember about Dangerboy's fifth birthday, which was back in May...
I brought treats to preschool--I used my mom's cupcake tree and some awesomely disgusting gummie bugs as toppers. they were a hit. I was told to bring something more healthy too, so I brought strawberries and cheese sticks...completely untouched by those punk kids. Oh well, can you blame them? But would it have killed them to eat cupcakes AND the other stuff?
For our home party, we had some neighborhood friends over. I think I told him he could invite five kids (a couple of them came late and aren't in the picture), as opposed to last year, which was a crazy all-the-kids-we-know-and-their-families extravaganza. We love you, friends, but we wanted something a little more low-key this year. And we got it--the kids had fun playing inside and outside, we had cake (which was awesomely awesome), and there were Transformer decorations. And he got lots of Transformers (which he doesn't play with much because they're too hard to transform--darn you, deceptively simple Bumblebee, the first one we owned!)--so he was happy. A good time had by all.

And here are some old Dangerboy pictures, just for fun. He was two-ish and three-ish in these ones.

2010-08-09T22:14:00.001-07:00

I am the walrus?

2010-07-08T22:25:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm getting behind on my blogging, as usual. But I do want to report on what we've been doing! I've been worse and worse at making time for "school" as our vacation and DB's actual school gets closer and we are so busy. But our large-ocean-animal week was fairly successful, so I'll report on that.

This week (which was a couple of weeks ago) we focused on sharks, dolphins, walruses, penguins, and manatees--basically all the stuff I planned on seeing at Sea World on our field trip (we have passes--thanks Mom and Dad!). As usual, we checked out a bunch of nonfiction books from the library and had a few fiction-y ones on loan from my mom ("Tooth Trouble" was cute, and a good one for preparing to go to the dentist). We did some reading and rhyming, and a little bit of writing (I've been bad about practicing writing :(--he's going to forget all his lower case by the time kindergarten rolls around! Oh well).

And we did some projects: We made penguin costumes. OK: I did. (It was a hard morning to begin with, and the costumes were a bit under-appreciated. But I got a cute picture out of it.)

We made a sand/shell collage with sea critter drawings.

And I bought some diving toys shaped like some of our animals for a day the kids went swimming (DB's learning to dive for stuff).

A couple of our activities were also our snacks. We tasted nori (dried seaweed--"this is what manatees eat!")--but I knew they wouldn't like it. So we made fruit makizushi--that's a sushi roll. Only we used fruit roll-ups, rice prepared with coconut milk and sugar (I think--I can't find the recipe now), and fruit in the middle. They failed because my rice was too soupy--I forgot to refrigerate it--and the fruit roll-ups were super sticky--I should have used wax paper between the rolling mat and the roll. But they tasted really yummy!

We also made peanut butter balls (no-bake) and rolled them in coconut to make "snowballs." We ate "boats" for lunch one day--peppers with tuna inside.

And had shark-shaped fruit snacks for bribes, of course.

For movies we watched parts of March of the Penguins (it was a bit long), A Shark's Tale, and Atlantis. Free Willy was another one we could have watched (I'm saving some of the other fishy ones like Nemo for when we study fish, maybe in the fall).

Then we had our field trip! I really like Sea World--the vast majority of the population won't ever get this close to these animals in the world--aquariums are not rich enough to house them--and I really think it helps a species to have publicity and interaction. I never realized how obviously intelligent dolphins are, for instance, until I saw them interacting with people from inside their tank.

You could do a whole unit just on their Arctic area, which is really a transporting experience all on its own. I love the beluga whales--they look like moving, floating marble sculptures.

So beautiful. We got a really good looks at a GIANT walrus this time too.

And found out from our books that it isn't unusual--they just look like that~! The thing was at least 15-20 feet long, body the girth of a redwood, with a little pinhead. Weird creature.

No more manatees, though. They got shipped back to Florida. Pity. CN got a great pic with her idol, Elmo, though. She couldn't WAIT to see him, and when she did, she couldn't stop hugging him! Or rather, she stood there solemnly, all snuggled into him, until it was time to go. And she went happily, satisfied. Cookie Monster tried in vain to get her attention!

So that was our ocean week. Next time: a trip to the rainforest.

Surfer Girl

2010-06-22T22:43:00.001-07:00

Cookie-Nut is learning how to put on her own clothes. She loves to put on Dangerboy's clothes in particular. Here's CN after getting up from a recent nap. My mom, especially, will appreciate the hair.

Stars in our Eyes II

2010-06-22T22:31:00.000-07:00

On our observatory trip last week, we found ourselves stuck in an intersection in LA. I looked out my window and saw a guy standing at the crosswalk, talking on the phone and waiting for the light to change. It was Michael Cera! I immediately turned to PDaniel and said, "Hey! It's that guy! Look!!" PDaniel also recognized him at once. I tried not to look back again, but I had to before we drove away. He noticed us recognize him, and had leaned up against the pole so we couldn't see his face. Can't blame him. He wouldn't want people taking pictures of him with their phones, and posting about him on their lame blogs, right? Right?

Just kidding, I didn't take this picture. His hair was much shaggier than this.

We enjoyed his characters in Arrested Development and Juno, and I just watched Paper Heart recently, so we were pretty excited. It was my first current-celebrity sighting.

Stars in Their Eyes

2010-06-22T21:49:00.000-07:00

Home-pre-school, second week:

When we did dinosaurs, the kiddos were sick and we couldn't go anywhere. Thusly, we had more time. This week, the "school" thing is rapidly turning into more of a "camp" squeezed into the spare minutes between swimming lessons, trips to playgroup, beach day, the store and the dentist. And our field trips. All of which are pretty darn important too!

But, last week we studied space: You know, the final frontier. Every day we read our "research" books on the planets; stars--constellations, and also where they come from; rockets and the moon landing; and comets and black holes. The whole topic seemed a little more inaccessible to both of them, the pictures in the books harder to understand. (We liked the astronaut's toilet though, haha.) We did our rhymes, and DB persevered in his reading, though it was harder to get him to write any letters. Oh, and we danced to "Age of Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In," 'cause it's fun, and 'cause it's got lots of planet and constellation words in it.

Here are some of our projects: we made a model of the solar system, using our dining room light as the sun. We even labeled a few of the planets:

We also made a "black hole" bean bag game, with the help of PDaniel and his jigsaw. Then we filled up some old socks with beans and tied some sparkly ribbons to them for tails--Voila! Comets. I totally used it in my little-kid piano class too--I quizzed them on their notes while listening to Holst's "The Planets," and they got to toss a comet through a black hole if they got it right.

They also played outside with DB's old stomp rocket, which all kids love.

For treats, we had starfruit,

jello jiggler stars, sun chips and space dogs ( which were....hot dogs), "rocket ships" (which didn't look much like rocket ships, but oh well. They still thought it was cool):

Oh, and on the last day we watched ET and ate Dippin' Dots ice cream (which I called "moon ice cream"). I found some astronaut ice cream at REI, but didn't want to make the drive. Maybe another time. They liked ET, though it was a bit long. CN really liked the John Williams soundtrack.

Then we went on our totally cool field trip to the LA Observatory. It was fun! The observatory is free. If you go during the day, you can see the sun through a special telescope. We'd like to go back in the winter, when we can see through the night telescope at a reasonable hour. DB and CN sat through the Planetarium show quite well, and DB was impressed by it; it was about $15 for the four of us (PDan a student and CN free). DB totally appreciated everything more because we'd been talking about it.

Ancient Voices of Children

2010-06-14T22:32:00.001-07:00

So, the week before last Dangerboy and Cookie-Nut were banned from being around any other children because of what I've come to call "the spots." But they didn't feel sick, so I was left wondering what we should do for a week. I decided to start my summer-home-preschool experiment early.

I had a wonderful mission companion whose mother home-schooled all of her siblings in a way that sounded amazingly fun--each year had a theme, and involved lots of field trips and applied learning. I'm not sure I'm up to quite that level of commitment, but I wanted to try some of the ideas, so I've figured out some field trips that are feasible for us to take, and planned home activities to keep us busy based on them. When the kids were sick, we did dinosaurs and the ice age.

Almost every day, we opened with some music (some familiar ones, but DB is also learning his address and phone number based on a little ditty I threw together). Then we danced to "Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog" (frogs, dinos--they seemed to go together somehow) and sometimes a few others. We did "research" online and in library books on the topic of the day--dinosaurs and their skin, dinosaur eggs, volcanoes, the ice age, and tar pits. I read to DB, he read to me, he read some topical rhyming words (tar, far, car, etc.), DB did some writing in his journal or on a letter worksheet, and we did an activity. Oh, and had a themed (more or less) snack. Then, when the kids were better, we visited the La Brea Tar pits, which they really liked. Especially the tar. (Well, CN just liked running around.)

Here were some of our activities and snacks:

We made dinosaur cookies one day, and made them into ice cream sandwiches the next--super yummy.
We decorated "dinosaur eggs" and went on a dinosaur egg hunt. We learned that some dinos laid eggs in a line, or just on the ground, or in holes, or maybe in trees. So we hid them in places like that.We"exploded" the volcano DB and PDaniel made a while back.
We made "fossil pops" with fruit (the fossils) in frozen juice, just like fossils are found in ice.
We made a big bowl of chocolate pudding in which I hid various animals and plastic dinosaur bones. It was our "tar pit."And we went on our field trip. It was fun--it cost us about $20 for all four of us, including parking. We saw lots of cool bones and a real excavation site. As a bonus, LACMA next door was having its free day, so we had a quick look in there too. It didn't turn out to be a terribly kid-friendly experience for us, but DB was actually interested in a lot of the art.

This week we're doing space. It's been kind of a busy week, and we haven't done as much as I'd have liked before our trip tomorrow (to the observatory) but I'll let you know how it turns out.

Sweet Pete

2010-06-10T22:39:00.000-07:00

PDaniel had a birthday last week. I miraculously got out of work that day (I played Fiddler on the Roof in Garden Grove for the rest of the week) and he didn't have to go to school that day. Yay! So he got to play all day.

I asked him what he wanted for his birthday, and one of the things he wanted was a full Irish breakfast. So we had bacon, sausage, eggs, mushrooms, hash browns, cheese crepes with cherries, chocolate milk, orange juice...and whatever else is in this picture! Oh yeah, fried tomatoes (tasty)!

Then he went shopping and saw Iron Man II, which he liked. Yes, he had to go alone, since the kids had what I've come to call "spots," and were thus unfit to be babysat.

We finished up the day with yummies from Lucilles' BBQ (takeout) and lemon meringue pie. A good time had by all.

My boy

2010-06-09T22:39:00.000-07:00

Dangerboy graduated from preschool today. His class sang to all the parents, then his teacher Miss Lori handed out certificates and said something she liked about each student. DB's was patience. She said he always has lots to tell her and sing for her (?!), and she can't always listen just then. So she often needs to ask him to tell her later, and he is always patient enough to comply.

I thought this was nice and stuff. I'm glad that he's learning patience--he is at home too--but I mean, did he really have any other option in these situations?

Here's something I liked better:

While one of the other girls was getting her certificate, DB turned to me and said, "Mom, look at Riley. She is so beautiful. I really want to marry her."

So I told Riley's mom, because I thought it was cute, and she knew all about it. "Oh yes, DB's so sweet," she said. "Last week Riley was sick and DB made her a beautiful get-well card with sparkly flowers and hearts. And he's sent home hearts for her before on pieces of paper. I say he's a sweetheart--she can go ahead and marry him!"

"Oh yes, DB's a sweetheart," another mom chimed in. "Jack's brought home things from DB before."

I didn't know DB was doing this, but it wasn't surprising. DB is always making stuff for us at home. It's one of the many ways he shows love--making us cards. He also makes our beds for us sometimes, or cleans up a room. The other day he tried to give PDaniel one of his precious dollars, "so Dad won't be poor." He did give another dollar to a person collecting money at Target for a homeless shelter.

So while I'm glad DB is learning patience, if I had to pick one of my favorite things about my son today, I'd pick his big heart. He loves his friends and family so much, and is not afraid to show it. And we love him too!

PS, did I mention we watched Bye Bye Birdie the other day and DB developed a crush on Ann Margaret (see the link)? He totally wants to go see it when I play for it next week, but I think that's why! He totally sings the title song now (CN does too!).

Highlights, and other stuff

2010-05-27T22:45:00.000-07:00

DB showed his enthusiasm for a watermelon I brought home by rocking it, singing it a lullaby and putting it gently to bed on the kitchen floor on a pillow, covered with a blanket.

PDaniel and the kids played with Construx for a good part of the afternoon today. Those things are great--why aren't they made anymore? We got ours on Ebay for DB's birthday.

I got to sit with DB in the sun in front of the library, reading him books.

Cookie-Nut is sick with hand-foot-and-mouth AGAIN. So she's quarantined for the next few days--and we kind of are too. Argh. She had a really light case back in February...the rest of us should be immune. We can only hope. Poor DB, he's going to go batty, especially since there's no school because of the holiday.

PDaniel got fellowship funding for summer AND fall! We are saved!! He's the champion of funding!!!

The checkout man bought our celebratory ice-cream for me tonight. Nice. Two pints of Ben and Jerry's. Not sure why...he complimented me on my earrings too, asked me where I got them--I told them my husband bought them for me for Christmas. He was just being nice, right? Right?

Cookie-Nut was so disappointed that she couldn't actually hug the baby otters on ZooBorns she started to cry. I said, "Don't worry, I'll give you a hug!" This got a small smile, then, sadly, "Baby otter hug." I love how she's putting words together.

DB has requested that I sing the Darth Vader theme so often that CN knows it now, and hums it a lot. It's a little disconcerting to watchyour toddler sweetly cooking food in her toy kitchen while she's singing darkly, "Bom, bom, bom, bom-bombom, bom-bombom..."

Cowboys, pirates, and mommies

2010-05-18T22:50:00.000-07:00

Me: "Cowboys tuck their pants into their boots."
DB: "Why?"
Me: "I don't know, I think to keep ticks out..."
DB: "And tacks..."

Also: Today Cookie-Nut climbed on a piece of training equipment at our local soccer field. "My's boat," she said. "Ho, ho, ho..."

So I started singing the Pirates song: "Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me..."

She loved it! It was just what she had in mind. She tried to sing along with me, and called DB over. "Buddy!" (That's what she calls him.) "My's boat! Buddy. Sit down."

Awww! My little girl's a pirate!

She also loves putting her "babies" to bed. Today she carefully laid a washcloth over the arm of the rocking chair (for washing their teeth), read them books, them covered them up in bed, turned the fan on, and closed the door. Bedtime is one of her favorite games--for her "babies," that is.

Optimus Mummified

2010-05-13T22:49:00.001-07:00

Dangerboy wanted a "Transformer Mummy" cake for his birthday. My idea involved cupcakes, an action figure, and Ace bandages...this was Peter's idea. And yes, HE MADE IT!! My hero. First time fondant maker, no less.

Is it a touch better than mine would have been?...Do ya think? He spent hours! He made fondant out of marshmallows and powdered sugar, rolled it out by hand, and sculpted the head out of Rice Krispie treats! Not bad for an English Major, eh? Oh, and Cookie-Nut was pretty good inspiration. When she wore DB's Optimus Prime mask she and the cake had about the same proportions.

Mother's Day 2010

2010-05-09T23:00:00.001-07:00

I woke up (late) this morning to the sweet smell of mouth-watering crepes, which we filled with all kinds of yummy SoCal fruit. Dinner wan Coq-au-Grape Juice, lovingly slaved over again by PDaniel, for THREE HOURS. Tuesday he is, theoretically, giving me the whole day off for my Mother's Day present. Today was all about the food (he did all the dishes too, BY HAND). He also wrote a very sweet card which I know I'll pull out on difficult mothering days to come.

For her Mother's Day present to me, Cookie-Nut figured out how to climb on top of the (small) file cabinet in my bedroom and look out the window. Thanks a lot, only daughter.

Dangerboy had kind of a punchy day, but it started and ended well. In the morning, he gave me the second of two presents he made for me at school. The first was a rather halfheartedly-made key chain (given with his whole heart, or course). This second was a large card with his hand print in purple on the cover. Inside was a portrait, Mrs. potato Head style, of me, with the caption "MY MOM." Then there was a transcript of a little interview:

My mom's favorite color is: "I think it's pink."

My mom likes to eat: "She likes to eat Japanese food."

How old is your mom? "I think she's 39."

What does your mom do while you are at school? "Going to the store. Sometimes stay at home and plays."

What does your mom like to do with your daddy? "Like to talk."

What do you like to do with your mom? "I like to go outside and play."

If you could buy your mom a present, what would it be? "Buy something to read."

Why do you love your mom? "Because she likes me."

I liked this because I didn't realize how well my son knows me. With the exception of my favorite color (my iPod is pink? Other than that I don't really own any) and my age, which I don't really expect him to know, everything else was spot on. It poked my heart a little to think that the reason he knows his dad and I like to talk, and that I like to read, is that he sometimes has to wait for my attention while I do those things. And I think that sometimes he acts out because he can't have all the attention from me that he craves.

But he needs soooo much! And he loves me soooo much! How in the world can I live up to it?!? And if I can't, will he ever forgive me?

Ah, the questions of motherhood.

My Mother's Day with DB ended outside, with DB counting stars and me tallying them up in a book he made today, a la Curious George. He saw about 61.

And miles to go before we sleep...

End of an Era

2010-04-20T23:17:00.000-07:00

Cookie-Nut has learned how to climb out of her crib. (Cue "Thus Spake Zarathustra"). Goodbye, easy bedtimes, it was nice knowin' ya. Say hello to your friends "naptime" and "free- time-during-the-day."

(What follows is a baby sleep blow-by-blow. For my own record only, really. I know it's not terribly interesting to anyone else!)

CN actually fell out of her crib trying to get out at naptime today. She wasn't hurt, though her ankle got caught between the rungs, poor thing--she eventually fell asleep in DB's bed. But we dismantled the crib tonight and put her mattress on the floor. She wouldn't stay in bed, of course--after putting her down about 10 times, I shut the door so she couldn't open it. When I thought she was tired enough to stay down, I laid her down again and sat in the rocking chair, hoping she'd stay there. Big mistake!! She did, for a while--but then got up and started playing and taking off her jammies. So I put her in some PJs she couldn't remove and left, shutting the door again. This time she was really mad, and took quite a while to settle down.

But, sometime in the middle of the Madonna episode of Glee, she stopped crying. We let her be for a while. When we finally dared to peek, I was worried she was leaning right against the door--but no, she was peacefully sleeping on her bed. Hallelujah! And wearing her shoes, for some reason. She loves putting on shoes. I can just imagine her, bawling but bored, putting them on, doing a little fashion show for herself while screaming and making us feel guilty!

Oh, and she tried to change her own diaper again today, twice. The first time, I found the child, the diaper, and the poo in three distinct places. She clearly needs potty training, but I don't want to tackle the big bed and the big potty at the same time. Can you really blame me?

Why can nobody see she's just a budding performance artist?!

2010-03-25T21:06:00.000-07:00

So, I got in trouble at preschool. While I was helping DB with his morning activity, Cookie-Nut wandered into the play yard (as she always does, because the door is wide open, and there is way fun stuff out there). This time someone had set the paints out--CN got into them, took a paintbrush over to the (real) ducklings, and tried to paint them. Pink.

When I came out, one of the teachers was holding her up, saying, "Whose child is this?!?" (you know that tone of voice). She had paint smeared across her chest and face and was holding up her two little sticky pink palms, away from her, they way kids do when they're messy, and guilty. Some of the paint got onto the duck cage, then in turn onto some of the kids looking at the ducks. The parents complained, and I was told to supervise my child. "For her own safety."

Imagine that.

Cookie-Nut at 20 Months

2010-03-21T21:26:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I posted about our little Cookie-Nut, and I wanted to just take a little snapshot of her at this age, just so I won't forget. They change so quickly, and it's so hard to remember what they were like before once they have. (Our camera situation is still in flux, so I don't have a good picture of her, sorry).

Cookie-Nut has always been quick, and still is--she is always looking for an opening and will take it before you know what's happening. Since she was tiny she could sense when the bathroom door was open (for toilet splashing) or a chair wasn't pushed in (for dinner-stealing). She is still like this.

The other day at the grocery store I had a HUGE order of food and about a million coupons. Cookie-Nut was in the toy "car" at the front of one of those monster "kid-friendly" carts, and Dangerboy was on baby duty, trying to keep her little grabby hands free of stolen contraband. He'd (nicely) pried the Skittles and Hershey bars from her hands while I paid, and I thought we were in good shape. I was on my way out the door (accompanied by a bag boy pushing the other cart--told you it was a big order) when I looked down and saw that Cookie-Nut was chomping furiously on a Snickers bar, still in its wrapper, which she'd deftly lifted after everything else had been taken away.

I couldn't caravan everyone back to the check-out line; there just wasn't room to turn around. I couldn't pocket it and walk away...dou shiyou?!? Luckily the most understanding of the Ralphs ladies was working self check-out, and she took the money I thrust into her hands as I told her what happened. The Snickers bar was pulverized, but that sneaky Cookie-Nut never got a bite. We can't encourage shoplifting, can we?

A week or so ago Cookie-Nut figured out how to take off her pants and her diaper. Since then, she has tried to change it herself. NOT GOOD! I went in to wake her from her nap the other day, and found her awake, sans pants, dirty diaper next to her...and next to that a small pile of poo. Blech! I was going to start potty-training right away, even though it seems early...but we have some extended-family amusement park trips planned in the next few weeks. So I'm just putting her in onesies until all those long days blow over, then we're going to go for it!

Cookie-Nut likes to be dizzy. She loves merry-go-rounds and the teacups at Disneyland, but even twirling will do. In fact, she did this at her doctor's checkup not long ago, and made the doctor a wee bit concerned. "Does she flap her hands too?" the doctor asked trepidatiously. Nope! She just likes to get so dizzy she falls over!

Cookie-Nut's language skills are humming right along--she "counts" (fwee, five, fwee, one, six!), has a ton of single words, and a few combinations. "Where's Shaun?" she asked me casually tonight. Or, "Hi Daddy. Hi Mommy. Mock pees." (that's "milk, please.") Another Shaun one (she loves her uncle): PDaniel and the kids got to meet him at Disneyland randomly the other day, and when she got home, she told me, "Shaun!! Hug!!!" So, she's getting there.

We are also having fun watching her pretend. She still looooves her pink doll, "Baby"--gives her drinks, shares her passie, holds her up in the car so she can see out the window. She played in her toy kitchen, putting things in the microwave and saying "bee, bee, bee" while she pushes the buttons.

Cookie-Nut still has a problem with throwing food on the floor. Sitting her on a regular chair has helped a little (though she likes to get down and run around), but when she's done, if we're not watching, it's all over the floor. She still hasn't gotten over eating crayons, markers, and chalk, but now she often hides to do it. She still has a piercing scream when something isn't going right--it starts low and then jumps up a couple of octaves, fortississimo!

She's big for her age so far, and three of her two-year molars have come in. She takes a nap a day, rarely sleeps in the car, and sleeps twelve hours at night (hallelujah).

Cookie-Nut is so much fun--she self-entertains well, loves books and animals, and is starting to be interested in playing with other kids a little bit. We still have to chase her a lot when we're outside; she loves to explore and will run away as fast as she can, one chubby arm pumping by her side. She is cuddly, gives hugs and kisses freely, and is good with new people (usually) as well. She's a bundle of fun.

How'dja like them apples?

2010-03-16T22:41:00.000-07:00

The guy stacking the avocados at Sprouts told me I have beautiful eyes. Flattering. A couple of years ago the grape guy at the farmers market told me I had a pretty smile. Only twice have I been so complimented by unwitting single guys since my marriage--and they both are produce workers. I blushed. I've never been quite as comfortable around the grape guy....silly, I know.

DB's three wishes

2010-02-27T22:10:00.001-08:00

I was telling DB a bedtime story about himself. In it, a genie granted him three wishes, and here were his picks:

1. I wish for 184 Transformers.

[2. I wish for a real car. (I reminded him he already has lot of Transformers, which can be cool cars too.)]

2. (Revised). I wish for a big family.

3. I wish for a real house.

Sigh.

Anne to the Rescue

2010-02-27T21:11:00.000-08:00

Last week the bambini and I flew to Utah to visit family. We had a good time--the kiddoes ran around with their cousins; we visited "the bouncy house place," Pirate Island (it's in Orem--a cross between the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and Chucky Cheese's), both McDonald's and Del Taco's playgrounds; we played in a tiny bit of snow; the grownups got lots of sweet toddler hugs, and a good time was generally had by all.

Then the inevitable occurred, which was that (most of) the kids got sick. It started with Cookie-Nut's cough and fever (she was also teething, I found out later). I got up with her in the middle of the night our last night there, and had just settled back into bed when I heard a strange noise, which I eventually recognized to be a cough, a barking, hacking cough that sounded like a braying dog. I was lying there, wondering foggily what to do, when the bedroom door opened, and in walks Dangerboy, tears streaming down his face, gasping for air, his voice wheezing as he tried to take breaths. He was terrified.

And so was I. Is this croup? I thought. But where did this come from? I remembered he'd been coughing a little during the day, but nothing serious. I remembered two things--the Anne of Green Gables episode where Diana's little sister Minnie May gets croup and Anne saves her, and what I'd read in my "What to Expect" book about treatment for croup, which I'd read in my paranoid days as a new mom.

I'd always wondered why Diana's parents left her with such a sick little sister, but now I realized that croup could come on with no warning at all. My book said that you could try taking the child into the cold night air, so we tried it, but after a few seconds of cold coughing, it didn't seem to be working fast enough. Anne instructs that water be boiled, lots of it; and I remembered that my book said you could sit them in a steamy bathroom, so I put the shower on hot and had DB sit on the edge of the bathtub. I gave him a puff of albuterol just in case it would help, and tried to call PDaniel.

No answer. No answer again. And again. (He's a sound sleeper) DB kept coughing. I tried to call a nurse at Kaiser, but they wouldn't help me because DB's not insured through them (arghhh!). He currently has no insurance, scarily enough. I was imagining astronomical ambulance bills, then the dreadful cost of NOT getting him the help he needed, when finally I got ahold of an urgent care nurse at Bristol Park.

She casually told me to put him next to the shower, exactly as I'd done, and said that croup is actually swelling of the larynx (who knew?), which could be brought on by a virus or dry heated air (the air in Utah is very dry). By this time, thankfully, DB's coughing had slowed. By the time I hung up, he was sleeping on the couch, and my poor Granny was awake, wondering what in the world was happening. I put DB back to bed--then CN woke up, and refused to go back to sleep until noon the next day. Sigh.

I told my Utah cousin and her husband about it, and they said it used to happen to their daughter all the time; they just take her outside until she stops coughing, no big deal. Anne used ipecac, but apparently this just makes you throw up, and probably doesn't help the underlying problem. But the steam would have worked. So now I know, and you do too!

We were indoors all week, fight a nasty case of what the pediatrician said yesterday was most likely RSV. I got it too, in the form of a devious head cold that's left me unable to smell or taste anything. What with RSV, our vacation, and hand-foot-and-mouth the week before, DB hasn't been to school in three weeks! His mind is fried on television! Wahoo!! And this is Cookie-Nut's third bad cold since Christmas, not counting aforesaid hand-foot-and-mouth and a sinus infection. We are sooooooooo ready to be back among the land of the living.

But, we're feeling a bit better now. Please, please, please, let us get back to boring old everyday life again! And soon!

Note: I just read on Wikipedia about croup, and it says that inhaling hot steam hasn't been "shown" to be effective in treating croup. It says steroids are better, but it seems as though there's a lot of common wisdom that says a hot shower does the trick. Of course, if the croup is severe, and the child starts to be lethargic or is turning blue, then it's a 911-emergency. Just sayin', because you never know what you'll read and then remember later on.

Valentine's Eve

2010-02-13T20:54:00.000-08:00

Dear Mom,

We're doing OK. Cookie-Nut is mostly normal, just has a runny nose and a yucky cough. Oh, and Dangerboy had a bad dream last night--in the fallout, CN woke up and refused to go back to sleep. It was about 3:30 AM and she was up for the day. She had a long nap earlier, but is sleeping quite restlessly now, she's just so tired. Hope we're not in for another long night!

There are so many sweet things about her age (19 months): How she says new words every day; how she brings me little things like dandelions and rocks as if they're so amazing; how she spins in circles just for the joy of falling down. We love her impulsive hugs and, occasionally, even little bites of love or frustration. But one of the not-fun things is definitely all her opinions with very little rationality.

I remember how nice it was when DB was three and could understand things when I explained them, like, "Everyone else is asleep, it's dark outside, mommy is really tired and you are too, so let's just lay down and see if we can go back to sleep." She didn't buy it for an instant! The funniest part was when I was lying next to her, trying to set a good example of "sleeping" and she just kept bonking her head into mine: Bonk. "Ow!" (Giggle.) Bonk. "Ow!" (Giggle.) But the rest was just maddening!

Her latest word is, "Yeah?"--which is actually really nice.
"Cookie-Nut, wanna try some watermelon?"
"Yeah?" It sounds like a question, but we know what she means.

"Cookie-Nut, you wanna go to the beach? "
"Yeah?" And she means it.

"Cookie-Nut, you want some ice cream?"
"Yeah? Yeah!!!!"
"Cookie-Nut, you want some canteloupe?"
"Moe!" (That's how she's been saying "no.") The best part is that she doesn't even think before she says it--she knows exactly what she wants right away.

In other news, I played for a bunch of flute students at a festival today, and thus filled out the holes in our budget for the month. A lady from the ward watched the kids while PDaniel worked on his job talk (he's at his professor's now discussing it with her) and went to get his hair cut. No time for Valentine's day this year, but hopefully we'll get to go out when he comes back. This afternoon PDaniel blew up the big beach balls from DB's birthday party a couple of years ago and they played outside while CN and I picked flowers from ice plants and squirted the leaves at each other. Then I took them both to the beach, where DB collected bamboo sticks that washed up in the storms and I tried to keep CN out of the water.

Then I ate way too much ravioli for dinner.

Well, it looks like this letter turned into a journal entry, so I guess I'll post it and then go switch the laundry.

Hope everything is well! Not too much snow, I hope?

Love,
Chris

PS, thanks for the sweet Valentine's "card" too--I really do like that one! :)

The past week or so

2010-02-10T14:13:00.000-08:00

A week or two back, the kids got into one of my jewelry boxes, which happened to be full of shiny red heart-shaped confetti. I managed to contain a lot of it, but have found it scattered around the house ever since. It's cute, really. I found one in the bottom of the laundry basket. On my collarbone the next morning. Next to the bathroom sink. On the bottom of DB's foot during a tickle fight. Just little reminders of love at home.

Went to Mary Poppins in LA last week with a couple of other women in the ward. It was pretty cool! The effects were the most memorable aspect, I think...my favorite parts were when Burt tap-danced on the ceiling (though I thought he must be so uncomfortable) and when Mary Poppins rose up over the audience with her umbrella at the end and flew away. She flew from the stage all the way over to the balcony and up into the ceiling. It was pretty impressive! The audience in the balcony went crazy when she reached them--so happy to finally get some attention!

DB and CN have been sick. CN has another cold/sinus infection, and they're both getting over hand-foot-and-mouth disease. It's not quite as bad as it sounds--a common childhood illness--but the worst part is that DB has had sores in his mouth and it hurts him to eat. And he's been QUITE grouchy. I guess you can't blame him, but he really has reverted to quasi-toddler-like arguments at times, throwing enormous tantrums when I can't reattach the crusts to his bread after I cut them off, and stuff like that.

One sweet regression: I was lying with him on his bed after his bedtime routine, and he asked me to stay. It was so sweet: he was getting drowsy, so I got up to leave as I usually do, but he'd wrapped his hands in my hair, just like he did as a little little guy, and said softly, "I don't want you to go." Well, of course I couldn't after that! So I stayed until he was almost asleep, the little charmer.

I'm having fun with my new iPod and iPod-friendly boom box in the kitchen (Christmas windfall, along with the shows I've been to recently). I haven't bought much new music yet--poor, poor, poor--but I listened to all the U2's Joshua Tree album yesterday. I'm going to get rid of most of my old CDs next time I do a purge, but that album is still good. I also got a special on an audiobook on Audible.com, which I highly recommend, and have loved being able to "read" which I do other stuff--driving, the dishes. It's like a dream come true.

Cookie-Nut has enjoyed getting into my bedside drawer lately and loves to bring me things from it. She proudly brought me a handful of cough drops, and gave them to me, saying "Meh-shee, meh-shee," and shaking her head. That means, "Medicine, and I'm not supposed to eat it." Smart girl! Every time she does things like that, it reminds me of this song, which I love, and the lyrics "I love it when you give me things,\ and you could give me anything."

A postscript: the song referenced in the last paragraph is the Peter Gabriel version of "The Book of Love." I linked the song as it appears in the finale on Scrubs, which is on in our house sometimes. Was anyone else annoyed that JD's baby was NOWHERE in that finale slideshow, or even the walk-through of the hospital at the end with all the memorable faces? Hel-lo!?!

TMI

2010-01-27T22:39:00.000-08:00

Yuck. Cookie-Nut pooped tonight in the bubble bath (shared with DB) and it wasn't discovered until the END of the bath (because of all the bubbles). Nasty. I was not home; poor Pete had to disinfect the whole bathroom and the kids too. Oh well--I can think of at least two instances of being alone with the kids at night and having to clean up a barfy bed, which is at least as icky. Ah, parenthood. The weird thing is it's gross without being as gross as it would have been five years ago.

Why four-year-olds rock

2010-01-25T22:24:00.000-08:00

When I got home from work tonight (about six hours straight of teaching), Dangerboy had some stuffed animals in a row in the living room, and had apparently been giving them an impromptu Primary talk. Asked to do it again for mom, he sighed and said, "Well, here goes nothin'." He got some scribbly "notes" together, stood behind our electric air conditioner (just the right size for a podium) and gave this "talk:"

"Some kids were gathered around Jesus.
To have a happy day.
So everybody won't be sick.
And won't get shots.
For everybody to be nice.
For everybody not to be mean.
And be lovely like my mommy."

(All this while wearing his "I (heart) Mom" jammy shirt. Love it.)

PDaniel says in the version DB told him, the devil showed up, and the kids laughed at him and threw him in the trash can. Then Jesus showed up and made everybody happy "forever and ever and ever and ever." Nice.

Punch Drunk

2010-01-24T00:11:00.000-08:00

Went to a concert tonight--LA Chamber Orchestra played with Chris Thile of Punch Brothers and Nickel Creek, his mandolin concerto. He encored with a Bach gigue and a White Stripes song. (And this is a side note, but it's been said he looks like Robert Pattinson, but that's just saying...) Lots of fun!

They also played Copland--Music for Theater and Appalachian Spring, one of my favorite pieces ever. Listening to it feels so tangible to me--it always feels like drinking cool water. Have I said that before?

I went by myself. Got to hang out in Borders before and read my book. Listened to Prairie Home Companion on the way up (to Glendale) and an LA Theater Works play on the way back. A very sweet evening.

Arrrr again

2010-01-22T19:14:00.000-08:00

We're walking through the cold today and DB says, "Shimmery timbers, it's so cold outside!" Also, a muddy puddle is a "muddle." (Yes, it is!)

Cookie-Nut likes to say "hi" to everything and everyone. Also, two of her favorite words are "wa-tee" and "wet" (even before this week's storms). This week, whenever we go out, she points to any old thing and comments, "Wet." Today she upped by pointing to a puddle and saying, "Wet. Hi, wet!"

On a sadder note, we've been having trouble getting her to sleep at times. It may be that we haven't been outside much this week (because of all the rain), and therefore haven't worn her out enough, I don't know. As I write this she is crying herself to sleep again. Sad.

Also, between Haiti and these bad storms, with their weird tornadoes in Huntington Beach and impending mudslides elsewhere, it kinda feels like the end of days or something. I don't really think it's the end end, but it makes me want to check on my emergency prep stuff. I think The Road screwed me up for good.

Misc awww

2010-01-21T22:53:00.000-08:00

DB: "Mommy, I want to do the marry dance with you." (in stake dance slow-dance position)
Me: "The merry dance?"
DB: "No, the dance you do if you marry someone."
Me: "Oh...I see." (dancing) "But you won't marry me, right? 'Cause I'm your mom."
DB: "No, but I could marry another girl....like (Tiger Lily) or someone like her. Like (Evelyn)."

(this is the first I've heard of another girl in the picture!)

DB creative spelling: "Pirates" spelled "Piwats" (awww.)

Cookie-Nut new words: "Book" pronounced "butt." Also "milk" pronounced "mock". Also "Eeewww." (about diapers, garbage, etc.)

I love what CN calls "pitty" (pretty): the other day she called a sorry string of flags decorating a second-rate grocery store pretty. It's the little things...

Speaking of little things, I bought new toothpaste the other day. DB: "I was THINKING about that toothpaste! And you just GOT some! My wish came TRUE! I want to try it see what it tastes like!"

Damp

2010-01-19T23:42:00.000-08:00

Between the rain, the overflowed toilet, my daughter playing in the humidifier water, and all the ensuing laundry (towels), life feels damp today. (Dangerboy, flushing later on, after the mess was cleaned up: "Please don't overflow, please don't overflow...")

Quote of the day

2010-01-14T19:54:00.000-08:00

Me: "...so Jesus told his new friends that he would make them fishers of men, instead of fishers of fish!"

Dangerboy: "I'm a fisher of boogers."

Me: "Yes, you are."

Dangerboy the wise

2009-12-09T23:02:00.000-08:00

1. "What?! No hot dog buns?! Now we have to eat our hot dogs like Indians?!?" (dunno where he got that)

2. (after talking about Christmas being Jesus' birthday) "So he will send some power down and get some cake?" (No, he doesn't really do that...) "Well, not the whole thing, he'll just save some for the other guys." (huh?)

3. "Hey Mom, tell me I was good at Blake's today! I didn't punch anyone!!!"

4. (In the parking lot of Trader Joe's. DB is wearing an old black shawl of mine over his head and face, pretending it's long hair, and he is a "rock n' roll kid."):

"Mom, rock n' roll kids have long hair, huh."

"Well, some of them do."

(crossing the road) "And Mom, rock n' roll kids look both ways before they cross the street."

"I hope so."

(trying in vain to pick his nose, but he can't because of the shawl over his face) "But Mom, rock n' roll kids don't pick their noses."

"Nope." (Luckily he took the shawl off at this point, because let's face it, he looked like one of Michael Jackson's kids. About whom I never told him, by the way.)

5. (looking at the fruit pizza I made for him to share with his preschool class. It had oranges and blueberries in concentric circles). "It's good. It's really good. It's really good, Mom. Oh Mom, I just love you. I just love you even when you're make a shape." (or something. It didn't quite make sense, but my heart melted nonetheless.)

6. December 1st, he got up at 7:30 and begged to set up our Christmas tree. We put up the mini tree and the Advent calendar, but he begged all day. When it was finally up that night and decorated, he hugged it, he thought it was so beautiful.

7. Today while watching Scooby Doo, he stuck his gum wrapper up his nose. He tried to get it out with his finger, but managed to push it farther up. then he tried to get it out with an enormous soup spoon, but that accomplished zilch. At this point he started to panic, so he came and confessed to us. PDaniel could see the thing with a flashlight...a quick search on the computer told us to have him simply try to blow it out. I had him give me his gum so he wouldn't inhale it, and a little spit-n-snot later it was out. His first words, a little tearily? "I want my gum back."

8. Vegetables= "Vench-stables."

9. Favorite Christmas song so far: Frosty the Snowman, Harry Connick version.

Pogo Rocket Star

2009-11-18T22:37:00.000-08:00

Lately Dangerboy has been saying he wants to be a librarian-daddy when he grows up, so he can "sell" books to people as well as be a father (which I thought was nice). However, the other day we were watching a clip of Bono and U2 sing "Ultraviolet" in the Rose Bowl...here's the link, but basically Bono wears this really cool jacket with lasers on it, and swings around on a microphone suspended from the ceiling.

DB: What's that?
Me: It's a microphone hanging down from the ceiling that Bono gets to swing around on.
DB: Why?
Me: Because he's a rock star, and rock stars get to do stuff like that.
DB: Oh. (pause) Mom, I don't want to be a librarian-daddy anymore. I want to be a rocket star-daddy.

(Poor librarian-ism didn't have a chance!)

Another one:

DB: Mom, I'm getting big Optimus Prime for Christmas, right? (this has not officially been confirmed) But what else should you get me for Christmas? (very thoughtfully) Hmmm...I wonder...I'm just not sure what I should get...(Tapping his chin) Maybe...a pogo stick?!

(This just made me laugh because it was so out-of-the-blue. I didn't even know he knew what one was. Apparently he played unsuccessfully with one last year at preschool.)

In other news, our camera is still broken...sad. And Cookie-Nut learned how to say "pretty" which is super cute. She still eats crayons, markers, and chalk, and floor food (of course).

A Day in the Life II

2009-09-23T22:42:00.000-07:00

Today, I:

Hacked most of the fat off a roast and put it in the CrockPot (yuck).
Carpooled Dangerboy and one of his friends to and from preschool.
Did four loads of laundry (our laundry room is not in our apartment--lots of lugging back and forth).
Did the morning dishes (no dishwasher).
Made rolls (from scratch).
Made three sandwiches for a picnic.
Forgot the sandwiches, ate emergency-pack energy bar for lunch (pretty yucky. I think my car emergency supply could use some rethinking-the kids didn't even want them).
Played with the kids at the park.
Put Cookie-Nut down for two naps.
Taught two piano lessons.
Played for a 2 1/2 hour kids' music theater rehearsal.
Ate dinner.
Put Dangerboy to bed.
Straightened up the living room.
Watched Glee.
Folded all the laundry and put it away.

I did not:

Eat breakfast sitting down.
Practice the piano for upcoming flute recital.
Put Cookie-Nut to bed (thanks PDaniel).
Do the dinner dishes (ditto).

Today was unusually busy and tiring, but writing it all out doesn't make me feel as accomplished as I thought I would. Hmm.

And now for some bush tea...

2009-09-20T15:14:00.000-07:00

Since Masterpiece Classic has ended, I've been yearning for something clean and quality and uplifting and fun. And not stupid.

Side note: I had high hopes for Glee, since the pilot was so fun--but the following two episodes have pandered a bit to the fun-music-is-always-about-sex crowd and have left me a little disappointed. Come on, people! "I wanna sex you up" at a PTA meeting?!? That's not even believable! (The Josh Groban bit and the thumb-cake bits were funny though).

Really, though, HBO just released the first season of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency on DVD. Yay! I've been waiting for it to come out, hoping it hadn't been canceled--but apparently it survived a season on HBO, despite the fact that it's not about people who repeatedly make bad life decisions!

Just as important, it's quality stuff. Jill Scott does a lovely job playing Mma Ramotswe in all her warmth and traditionally-built glory, and it's filmed entirely on location in Botswana, a country apparently just as beautiful as author Alexander McCall Smith describes. I've only seen the pilot--I hope they can keep up the quality in future episodes--but even just that was enough. It covered much of the material in the first book, and was about an hour and a half long--feature-film length. Well-cast, gentle humor, a love letter to Botswana with all its beauty and some of its dangers.

Like the books, I don't expect to devour the entire series in one sitting--it would probably be too much of the same. And I was iffy about the accuracy of one scene (I didn't remember her kissing that one guy). And if you see it, don't expect to see a totally accurate depiction of Africa today--I recognize that its image maybe isn't gritty reality. But who wants grit in your popcorn, sitting on your couch on a Sunday night? Not me.

Magnifying Cookie-Nut

2009-09-20T14:44:00.000-07:00

Our 14-month-old baby is officially a toddler, with all that comes with it! The toddling, the falling, the talking, the tantrums because she wanted the banana still in the peel, the running, the running away, the climbing, the falling. The getting into the fridge and chomping on strawberries:
Forgive me for what comes after, but this is really the only journal I keep. So get ready for some shameless child-pride and details that you likely don't care about.

Cookie-Nut has lots more signs now, and she can make all of her animal sounds. (Rather than type those out, I'm making a mental note to get them all on video camera). She has more words now too, some more often than others: Mama, Dada, Jesus (identifies him in pictures), wawa (water), Let's go!! (said after she brings me her shoes first thing in the morning), I did it, I got it, what is that (wa' i' da?), cracker (ka-ka), shoes, hat (just a vowel sound--"A."), eye, hello.

She also has a few important signs: car, baby (for her baby doll that she sleeps with at night), and passie. The passie (binky) sign she made up herself; it looks kinda like the sign language "eat" sign. (When she actually wants to eat, she just says "ka-ka" or signs "more"). Before I forget, she also made up the sign she uses for "music" months ago, before she turned one. She looks like she's conducting. I won't lie, it gives me hope!

Cookie-Nut's main activity for the past few months has been finding things, carrying them around the house, dropping them wherever, and then tripping over them. She also still has a passion for eating chalk, soap, and crayons, though she doesn't eat sand or dirt as much as she used to. Or rabbit poo, thank goodness. (We have a lot of rabbits around here. They poop on the playground, and sometimes I'm just not quick enough! They must just look like delicious little coco-puffs or something.)

Cookie-Nut also loves to look at books. A couple of times this week, I've wondered where she is, and found her sitting on her daddy's pillow on our bed, today with her church dress spread out around her, looking at a book.

We were looking at pictures of animals on MSN's Animal Tracks (which we love) and if she saw a picture that really struck her fancy she'd stand up on my lap and kiss the computer screen. She seemed to have a particular affection for "daddy" lions and baby elephants, but she also does this with pictures of herself and her reflection in a mirror.

To sum, she loves: Her daddy, books, going outside, her passie, bottles of milk, and her "baby." And maybe her brother. Usually her mom, but lately she loves Dad more. (That's OK, he's been gone more lately so he's a bit novel.) And dogs. And climbing up on the piano bench and playing a few tunes. And falling off. And crackers. And playing under blankets. And hugs.

"...but I like it."

2009-09-20T13:46:00.000-07:00

Dangerboy, after a long sweet summer, has at long last started preschool! Whoopee! We have switched preschools to a smaller one run by a woman from our ward. It's been a bittersweet adjustment, but DB is enjoying himself. He was definitely ready!

Dangerboy has, little by little, been learning how to read and spell. We've been enjoying the signs he's made for posting around the house, including "Clozd" and "No Bab" (no babies). If we push too much to get him to read to us, he pushes back, but when he's in the mood he's actually getting quite skillful. He likes silly words so far, sound effect words: "flop," "zap," boom," stuff like that. "Poop." You know, the useful stuff.

He's also developed a taste for rock and roll. Unfortunately for me, "rock and roll" for him means anything with a male vocalist and distortion guitar. Oh, and it has to be upbeat--ballads don't count. His favorite song lately, next to "Twinkle Twinkle" is "Crazy Train" by Ozzy Osbourne. And when we're in the car, nothing but his flavor of rock and roll will do--no Dave Matthews Band, no Beatles, no Elvis. These things are not rock and roll. When he finally listens to the good stuff, he scrunches down in his seat, gets a wild look in his eye, juts out his jaw and wiggles it back and forth. Sometimes a little air guitar. Who do you think he got this from--me or PDaniel? I have my theories. His dad has taught him to finish the phrase, "Hey, it's only rock and roll..."DB's still been a little lonely, but I've started back to work, so with some time with babysitters' kids, and school time, I think he's feeling better about life!
Plus, his friend Kasey came back from Japan (OK, like a month ago). Kasey lives a few doors down from us, his parents are fun, and his mom's Japanese so I can practice my Nihongo with her. Kasey is two years older than DB, but they still have fun running around together--their fun being fueled mainly by a mutual interest in bugs. We're so glad Kasey's family is here--at least for couple more months!

A fish story

2009-08-31T23:07:00.000-07:00

(Ok, it occurs to me that this isn't a very good review. But I'm really tired. Just go see it if you can. It's worth it for the opening sequence--but not the music in that scene--and the scene where she runs on the waves, which you can see online but it's way better in the theater.)

Took Dangerboy to see Ponyo yesterday. Hurry, quick, everyone go see this while it is still in theaters! It's so beautiful on the big screen, and the child characters are really cute too. It's a perfect escape from a muggy summer day: immersing yourself in crystal-clear ocean water teeming with life--the fact that the theater is air conditioned helps too! Your kids will like it; no scary parts, really. It's actually the Little Mermaid story, but with more interesting characters.
And more famous people do the voices, if you care about such things.

If you've never seen any Miyazaki films before, this is a pretty good introduction. I'm not a huge fan of anime (Japanimation) but I love this director's films; they're always filled with fabulous creatures and colors and places. A couple of caveats for all these movies: the plots do not conform to any pattern that you'll be used to; also, some of the music is a little too overblown for most American sensibilities. For instance, you may want to run screaming from the theater during the closing credits as Noah Cyrus chirps some hellish ditty about happy little Ponyo. But maybe that's just me.

If you like it, try Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. But those ones are a little scarier, FYI.

Summer #1

2009-08-29T20:45:00.000-07:00

Well, summer is almost over--no,no, it's really not that sad; there's something to be said for having places to go (preschool) and people to see (preschool buddies). But it would be truly sad if summer 2009 were over and we had no record of it. So here goes:

In June, Grandma Wendy paid a visit, yay! and we all went to the beach. Oh, I think we saw Monsters vs. Aliens too. We liked. Here's the beach:And here's a little alien:
Just kidding. Actually, Dangerboy devised some earmuffs for the night the fire alarm went off repeatedly at bedtime, for no reason. It's fixed now, hallelujah.

A lot of our friends moved. They are truly missed (read: We're screamin' bored!). I don't have pictures of all of them (Palmers, you left before we could get back!), but here are a few. Dangerboy still talks about Tiger Lily almost every day. "She loves me," he's been heard to mumble when things aren't going well:
Don't forget to check out the Faded Paper Figures new music video on MySpace. (John, above, is a member. Brooke rocks too, I've heard her.) They were a featured band there, ya know. I'm featured in the acknowledgements of their first album, having introduced the band members to each other (and forgetting that fact until the album came out). Yes, I'm bragging. When one has so few claims to fame, one must make the most of them.

I'll be back with more summer...

It's so haaaaaard...to say good byyyyye...

2009-07-19T16:00:00.000-07:00

Well, it's the beginning of PDaniel's fifth year in grad school, which means that many of the lovely friends we've made here are gone, or leaving soon. Happily, even in this pitiful economy, many of them have still managed to find jobs this year! Whoopee!

The down side is, most of Dangerboy's friends--whom he has known basically his whole short life--will be leaving, or have already. For example, all the other kids in this picture, who DB has played with on a regular basis, will be gone by the end of the year:These friends are gone already (to work at a certain Ivy League school, the lucky stiffs):DB will most miss, I think, his best buddy Tiger Lily, who moved last month. She was our neighbor for almost four years, and they played together almost every day. I'm not sure the adoration was equal on both sides--girls can be fickle--but DB has loved her dearly.

DB had been thinking about Tiger Lily, and told me one day, "Mom, when I'm big like Daddy, and (Tiger Lily)'s big like you, I want to marry with her." Later on, after he had seen the movie Up, he said that he would marry her and move to South America. He even picked a ring from my costume jewelry and presented it to her when she came for her goodbye play date. I didn't hear the actually proposal, but I know she accepted, because I heard her yell across the playground "(DB), let's marry now!"

We miss you, Tiger Lily! (And the rest of your family too!) Here's a picture of the happy couple (with ring and DB's other friend Cheetah-Cute):

Happy Birthday Cookie-Nut!

2009-07-12T16:19:00.000-07:00

Cookie-Nut's birthday was on the 8th. So smiley, so curious, so amazing. The day after this, her first birthday, I left her alone for a minute and came back to find that she'd used a small chair to climb onto another chair, up to her booster seat, and was standing on the arm of her booster seat with her hands on the counter (presumably ready to climb up there!). So scary. Today she got into the toothbrush drawer again and PDaniel found her sucking on a tube of toothpaste...had to call Poison Control just in case...she's fine, of course, but Dangerboy was not this climb-y or into things. Gonna hafta watch this one. (BTW, Poison Control is going away in California. Gone the way of budget cuts. What is this state coming to? This seems like a pretty basic service to me.)

And she is soooooo loud! On July 4th we went to Ruby's for dinner. PDaniel stepped away to take Dangerboy to the bathroom (which turned out to be a messy experience, yuck) and she let out a screech of displeasure that literally made the whole restaurant fall silent and look our direction. As in, "What are you DOING to that child?" I paid the check as quickly as possible and skedaddled. (PDaniel went back for shakes, of course).

(In other July 4th news, we went swimming with our friends, braved the ward breakfast, and tried, with extremely modest success, to view the fireworks at Huntington Beach. Maybe I'll write more about that later).

Anyway, for Cookie-Nut's birthday, we went to Wild Rivers, a water park here in Irvine. Cookie-Nut had fun, I think. Her favorite part was the section with the fountains that came out of pipes and the ground...meaning we probably could have gone to the Spectrum Mall and she would have been just as happy. And we went in the evening, when it was cheaper, so it was kind of...cold. But Dangerboy had a blast and would love to go back, even though he could only ride the tiny waterslides. He and his daddy loved the wave pool too. (Sorry, we didn't get any pictures--should've got a waterproof disposable).
Then we came home and had cake. Cookie-Nut was pretty tired, but since we presented her with the whole cake, she mustered enough energy to dig in. She poked it a lot first, though. With one finger. :) It was a pretty boring-looking cake, if tasty--some random organic white cake mix from Sprouts (I ran out of time), with homemade lemon buttercream frosting. I could eat that stuff with a spoon! And did!

She opened presents in the morning--she got books, yay!

Anyway, in tribute of Cookie-Nut's birthday, here are some things she has come to be able to do since I wrote last:

Walks well
Says "uh-oh," "hi," and "flower" (wow-wow)
Signs: bird, dog, cat, bear, more, all done, fish, drink, milk, and music
Has shrieking contests with her brother--they've started to play together
Rolls a ball back and forth with me
Tries to put on clothes over her head (she did it once but cried)
Readies herself for diaper changes (basically comes and sits down on the diaper mat)
When she wants to be read to, she brings you a book, throws it down on the floor, and sits on you.
All her first-year molars have come in!

She's really growing up, no? This first year has gone so fast.

Bedtime with Dangerboy

2009-07-05T20:15:00.000-07:00

"Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. Please bless Cookie-Nut, and that she'll be nice to everybody, and that she'll get big like me. And that she'll not eat chalk. Name of Jesus Christ, amen."

(Cookie-Nut finds it hard to abstain from sidewalk chalk, that gritty goodness.)

"Mom, why our house is square?"

"Well, there are other houses on top of ours, right? So they need to stack, like blocks. If it was round, would it stack? Can balls stack?"

"No. But maybe if the balls were flat?"

"But if they were flat, would they be balls anymore?"

"No. They'd be frisbees. And then if we cut the frisbees, they'd be cookies!"

Holy jumping watermelon, Batman!: A play in three acts

2009-06-17T22:16:00.000-07:00

Act I:
So, sometimes PDaniel makes some colorful exclamations when Dangerboy runs into him at full speed. If you're a dad of young children, or you're close to one, you know what I mean. I think hearing these, coupled with waaaay too much SpongeBob, have resulted in what I've been hearing lately, when Cookie-Nut runs into DB:

"Mom, she hit me in the barnacles!!!"

When asked where his barnacles are, it's different every time.

Act II:
DB: Ahhh! (giggling) Don't tickle me in the neboes!

Me: What?? Where are your neboes?

DB: (points to his armpits)

Me: 'Neboes?!' Where in the world did you get 'neboes'?

DB: (Proud that he knows the answer to this no-brainier) "From Jesus!"

Act III:
(Dangerboy's watermelon slides off his plate and onto the floor).

Me: Hey! You need to be careful when you're carrying watermelon. We don't want it on the carpet!

DB: But mom! It just jumped out!

Me: The watermelon jumped? I don't think so. Does watermelon jump?

DB: Sometimes it jumps.

Me: Hmmm. I don't think so.

(Pause. Thinking).

DB: Mom, I think I'm right. Watermelon jumps sometimes.

Dangerboy's testimony

2009-06-07T20:05:00.000-07:00

So I haven't borne my testimony in, well, years. But usually on fast Sunday I think about what I would say were I feeling compelled to get up there. And today I felt as though I could share an experience--so I shared one from lat weekend: when Dangerboy screamed, I wanted to whack him, said a prayer, and received a little bit of strength to forbear and forgive.

But I was alone with Dangerboy in sacrament meeting as PDaniel was out with Cookie-Nut in the hall. So I asked DB if he wanted to talk in the microphone. No hesitation: "Yes."

We were in the back row, almost to the stage in the cultural hall. We walked all the way up, hand in hand, and I helped him up to the mike. Yes, I told him what to say (which I've always been ambivalent about), but I only said things that I knew he was aware of--he just needed to be reminded to say them. And despite the fact that he was talking in front of hundreds of people, he wasn't scared at all, and said just what I told him to, no blowing in the mike or anything. I was proud of him, and he was very proud of himself and gave me lots of kisses.

Here was his testimony:

"I'd like to bear my testimony." (That part was a little unintelligible).

"I love my family."

"I love my Grandmas and Pakas." (I'd said Grandpas, so it tripped him up just a little.)

"I like to say my prayers." (This is finally usually true.)

"I love my friends."

(Mom: "In the name of Jesus Christ...")

DB: "Amen."

"Modest" Bathing Suit Review...

2009-06-03T20:47:00.000-07:00

...Ahh, if only it were a Revue...
So I've been looking for a new bathing suit. It's been about ten years since I had a new one, and both fashion and my body are a leeeeetle bit different than they were, say, when I was nineteen. I own two bathing suits--one is a generic black ribbed number I think I got at Walmart; the other one has buttons. And is plaid. I need say no more.

I don't really have the time to go slogging through malls looking for the ideal suit, particularly under florescent lighting (am I right?) so I started looking online. And it became a bit of an obsession.

I'm now familiar with practically all the websites that sell "modest" swimsuits, but I discovered (again) that there are levels of modesty. Most of the the "Mormon-owned" clothing companies sell suits that actually cover the least skin. And then there are suits that cover significantly more, the philosophy being that there shouldn't be a double standard for land and sea modesty. (Which I get.) These sites cater to Mormons, but more often to Jews, conservative Christians, and Muslims.

The Mormony/Christian/Jewish ones usually turn out looking like dresses:That's OK and stuff. I like the sportier ones from Ohana. They look more like something you'd see on the beach since they kinda look like wetsuits: Hydrochic has some sportier ones too, looser, and with sleeves.

Then there are the Muslim suits:
And now I don't feel that I can even pretend to be modest wearing a standard one-piece. But, oh well; I don't like swimming with clothing swirling around me, and I can't really pull off the sporty look. I do like to feel the sun on my shoulders.

So here's my review of the not-really-modest "modest" swimsuits. I noticed most of the "modest" sites cater to women under 30, I think; more flirty than sophisticated. Any of these suits run about $80; a bit of a splurge, but I figure if I play my cards right it'll last another ten years!

I liked Hapari's tankinis best, if I didn't have kids (to stain a white-background suit) and wanted people to look at me (I don't--I just want people who happen to see me not to run away in terror. Like they do when I wear the black suit). Here was my favorite:
I also liked Layers's tankinis, again, if I were 10 years younger and/or looked like the models.
I liked these retro ones, but unfortunately I have hips.
Land's End's suits were nice if a little boring for my taste. They had a great function where you can try the suit on a virtual model of your size...wait, did I say that was a great function? Actually I did it, and realized I did not look good in that suit.

I am pleased with the suit I ultimately bought from Shade Clothing. It's not as flashy but I think it's a bit flattering, and it was cheaper too. (They're even on sale now, running about $50 for a whole suit). I actually sent the top back because some it the stitching was a bit bunchy, so I don't technically have it in hand (the picture below is the web site's not mine!)--but when it finally comes (again), it will be a satisfying end to a long search.

And a long post. Boy, I spent waaaaay too long doing this, but like I said: it was an obsession. And now to find the perfect cover-up...

PS, I forgot to put some of the sites that got the"gong:"

Modbe: Actually does have some cute tankinis, but rainbow-colored ruffles around my hips? Maybe if I were six.
These too-wholesome little numbers. Their site says their suits are meant to draw attention to the face, not the body...but I'd be distracted by the fact that these poor women have to swim in something resembling a body bag.

Musings on a little sister

2009-05-30T23:46:00.000-07:00

"She has a
big
head,
and a
little
teeny
tiny
brain."

Mama said there'd be days like this...

2009-05-30T23:14:00.000-07:00

Lows:

Getting up with Cookie-Nut at 6:00 AM.
Stripping Dangerboy's wet sheets.
Losing Dangerboy at the farmer's market today while I was paying for perfect apricots.
The kids not sleeping in the car as much as I'd hoped this afternoon.
Having too-optimistically agreed to babysit tonight (alone, post-bedtime), having to deal with an exhausted son and baby. The latter screamed intermittently for periods of time, and when she finally settled down, the boys all ran back by her bedroom and woke her up. (If you're reading this, parents, your kids were really fine--it was mine who gave me problems!)
After several time-outs through the course of the evening, hearing DB scream, "I don't love you anymore!!!" at me when I told him he couldn't have another graham cracker. Really wanting to spank him, or something. (Mom, you said this day would come).
Making my dear husband feel bad for having a decent day (he's in Davis at a dissertation workshop). It was after 10:00; I was tired; I was cleaning smeared graham crackers of the chairs and ground-up popcorn from the carpet. It was hard listen to him talk about his day, but I should have tried. I'm sorry honey.

Highs:

Playing with Cookie-Nut on my bed from 6:00-7:00 AM.
Finding perfect apricots at the farmer's market.
Finding a tearful DB at the farmer's market (after losing him, of course--a nice mommy was helping him look for me).
Watching Cookie-Nut walk and push her stroller all over the El Dorado Nature Center (which was fun, BTW, and cheap). She walked more than I've ever seen her. Just charmed everybody.
Reading Dangerboy this book at the Nature Center while Cookie-Nut walked around.
Praying for patience, knowing that DB was just exhausted tonight and didn't need me to punish him; he just needed me to understand. Snuggling up to him for a bedtime story just a few minutes after his little outburst; his kiss on my cheek goodnight.

Cookie-Nut Special

2009-05-25T13:43:00.000-07:00

So I realized I haven't posted on my sweet Cookie-Nut in a while. So here's a little update:

She's now 10 and 1/2 months old.
She's been able to walk since Easter, but is just starting to do it on her own without extra encouragement. Mostly she prefers to crawl or walk holding hands.
She loves to empty her brother's drawers.
She also loves books and the computer mouse.
She loves water is forever sneaking into the bathroom to play in the toilet (she's only made it once so far).
She's been sick about three times in the last month, and theethed once. (So it's been a hard month. PDaniel and I work in nursery, but we won't be taking her in there again for a while!!)
She has eight teeth.
She can say "uh-oh" when she drops something; for a few days "wow" meant "flower" but now it means anything interesting.
She can sign "bird" and does it whenever she hears or sees anything resembling one (including bees, which I think is adorable).
She "brushes" her teeth with me and spits in the sink (I didn't teach her to do this, but again, I just think it's so cute!).
She loves to eat berries of all kinds, and loves food in general.
She is STILL not sleeping through the night.
I caught her scavenging this quesadilla off her brothers plate and crawling around with it in her mouth.

Bloom

2009-05-23T15:39:00.000-07:00

(An impromptu poem by Dangerboy:)

It's spring. The flowers are growing in our backyard.

See? They are so beautiful!

There are no bees in this story.

The sign says you can pick the flowers.

(There are butterflies in this garden.)

And when you pick them, they don't die.

(These were the rules set out by Dangerboy as we were playing together in the hall. It's his fantasy garden--first of all, that it exists; it's pain- and fear-free; and it's immortal. Just like heaven...)

Happy Birthday, Dangerboy!

2009-05-23T14:51:00.000-07:00

Dangerboy is four!!! Where has the time gone? We had a wild party (at our house--what, are we insane?) featuring DB's stomp rocket, giant beach balls, and parachute (not for jumping, just for playing). We try to add something new for outside fun each birthday--so far they've been a success! There should be four toys, but the last two bubble swords have been tricky to come by and break easily--but also very popular and fun! DB loved his party, every crazy minute--the outside stuff, the inside present/almost-hijacked-candle-blowing/Kung-Fu-Panda-viewing/cake-grinding into-carpet madness.

Oh, and before the party PDaniel took DB to Disneyland/California Adventure to take advantage of birthday discounts on year passes...I'll be getting my pass on my birthday in the fall, after summer blackout days. It was kinda crowded, so they only rode Midway Madness and Winnie the Pooh, two of DB's faves. (And on opposite sides of the parks....)

In celebration of Dangerboy, here are some things he's accomplished in the last year:

grown almost three inches and gained seven pounds
learned how to count objects well
mastered putting on shoes and socks, brushing teeth, and going potty without help
learned how to write his name, write and identify letters, and sound out some simple words
remembers his dreams
uses tape, staplers, stickers, beads, and paint without help
has held a baby
learned "arigatou" without anyone teaching him! :) ("Thank you" in Japanese)
can ride a scooter
draws people with faces, arms and legs, hands and feet
learned to be contemplative: "Mom, how we make water?" "How we break the law?" "How the world go round and round?"

We love our Dangerboy!

(PS--If you didn't hear about the party, don't worry--since we stayed home this year, we decided to keep it to families with kids DB plays with on a regular basis. It still added up to a lot of people...maybe next year we'll be back at the Commons!)

By Emily Dickinson...

2009-05-10T14:28:00.000-07:00

Nature, the gentlest mother,
Impatient of no child,
The feeblest or the waywardest,
Her admonition mild

In forest and the hill
By traveller is heard,
Restraining rampant squirrel,
Or too impetuous bird.

How fair her conversation,
A summer afternoon,--
Her household, her assembly;
And when the sun goes down,

Her voice among the aisles
Incites the timid prayer
Of the minutest cricket,
The most unworthy flower.

When all her children sleep
She turns as long away
As will suffice to light her lamps;
Then, bending from the sky,

With infinite affection,
And infiniter care,
Her golden finger on her lip,
Wills silence everywhere.

(Isn't that lovely? Aaron Copland set it to music too. Also lovely. Sorry, no picture. Can't get it to work today. Now I'm just going to take a nap. Ahhh.)

Easter fun

2009-04-28T22:59:00.000-07:00

I don't think I've posted about Easter yet--alas, what a procrastinator's journal misses. We went to Arizona; it rained on our Easter egg hunt, but Dangerboy had a blast nonetheless; PDaniel and I had a fun dinner-and-a-show date (Wildflower Bread Company, then The Merchant of Venice by Southwest Shakespeare Company); DB and Cookie-Nut ran wild with their fun cousins, uncles, and aunts; Cookie Nut took her first steps; I went prom dress shopping with Bonnie and the girls...all that we could ask for in an Easter weekend. And more.

And here are some pics to prove it:
In a moment of weakness, I got way too excited about buying my first daughter's first Easter dress. So I bought two (on sale, of course). Here's the other one.Not the greatest picture (we were in a hurry--late to church as usual), but cute, right?

Please Don't Shake the Narwhal

2009-04-08T12:41:00.000-07:00

Love this book--a little girl goes to the zoo where the animals all want to mooch various things off her. Love the illustrations/design, love how each animal has a distinct voice without really having to say much (you can just hear them), love the inside jokes, love the repetition. Oh, and DB loves it too.

Dangerboy leaps!

2009-04-05T16:53:00.000-07:00

Every so often, it seems, I notice some kind of cognitive leap happens in Dangerboy (and probably all kids). One day, they just seem to have grown overnight, and all of a sudden, they're different. This week DB seemed more thoughtful, and able to articulate these thoughts better. Most of these were on the same day this week, and I apologize for the excessive use of parenthases:

"Mom, how we make paper?"
"Mom, how we make plastic?"
"Mom, how we make chocolate?" (PDaniel says, we squeeze a bunny really hard...joking amongst everybody...I say, no, that's not what we do.) "Yeah, if you squeeze a bunny real real hard, its head just pops off!" (oh dear.)
"Dad, what life is?"
"Mom, why everybody is just on the ground? And the houses? And the roof-es?" (I had to explain about gravity.)
DB, Cookie-Nut and I were doing laundry. He says, "We put clothes in here. But we can't put Cookie-Nut in here! Her would get dizzy! We just wash her in the bathtub."
Sounding out words!! (The "superletters" on Super Why: they spelled VEOE. "Vee-oh" DB said).
(Eating fish for dinner). "But why this fish dead?" (Because meat has to be dead before we can eat it. Sounds harsh, when you put it that way...) "Yeah, so we just cut its head off and put it in the garbage."
(Patting a classmate's poufy dress on picture day at preschool.) "You're just so...fluffy today!"
Points out contradictions in bedtime stories! (Uh oh...Do we actually have to start making sure they make sense?)

And this one's for you, grandparents. It was out of the blue, so we weren't talking about any of you specifically:

DB: "Mom, I don't want Paka to die."
Me: "Oh, don't worry honey, Paka's not going to die anytime soon. But everybody dies sometime. Usually we hope it's not until people are really really really really really really old. Is Paka that old?"
DB: (Brightening) "No, he just wrinkly." (Thinks). "And Grandma too. They just wrinkly. But they not real real real real old."
Me: "But am I wrinkly?"
DB: "No." (Whew.)

New funnies

2009-04-05T16:48:00.001-07:00

Thanks for the tip, Melissa! PDaniel and I had quite a few laughs over this site. Scroll down to "Fan Favorites" on the right for some truly awful/hilarious professionally-(??!)made cakes. (And some really excellently-made ones too: see "Sunday Sweets"). I found the holiday ones particularly funny.

Pride and Prejudice...and Zombies??

2009-04-05T16:43:00.000-07:00

Check it out. Article here. Cover art here. Sweeeeet. I'm kind of interested in it just to see how the author kept so much of the book intact while changing it so much. And it's probably funny.

Dangerboy speaks again

2009-03-20T18:15:00.000-07:00

1. What is something Daddy always says to you?
Please, I think you have to go potty,

2. What makes Daddy happy?
Giving hugs

3. What makes Daddy sad?

Punch (makes him mad a little bit)

4. How does Daddy make you laugh?
Tickle

5. What was Daddy like as a child?
He hit.

6. How old is Daddy?
16 old

7. How tall is Daddy?
This tall!

8. What is his favorite thing to watch on TV?
I don’t know. He likes Spiderman.

9. What does Daddy do when you aren’t around?
Cookie-Nut takes a bath.

10. If Daddy becomes famous, what will it be for?
A somersault.

11. What is Daddy really good at?
Karate.

12. What is Daddy not really good at?
Spanking.

13. What does Daddy do for his job?
Teaches boys and girls.

14. What is Daddy’s favorite food?
I don’t know. Chocolate?

15. What makes you proud of Daddy?
Tickle!

16. If Daddy were a cartoon character, who would he be?
Spiderman.

17. What do you and Daddy do together?
Play a board game.

18. How are you and Daddy the same?
Brown.

19. How are you and Daddy different?
I’m blond.

20. How do you know Daddy loves you?
Hugs me!

21. What does Daddy like most about your mom?
Color with you.

22. Where is Daddy’s favorite place to go?
Disneyland!

Dangerboy's opus

2009-03-08T21:21:00.001-07:00

Ok, here's some stuff off a post-it note I've been meaning to write down:

Dangerboy and I were playing Don't Eat Pete the other day, a great game taught to us by our good friends--it involves eating Cheerios off a grid drawn on a piece of paper. I left the room for a minute, came back and found that DB was busy constructing a masterpiece--he'd arranged the Cheerios on the grid and thought they looked like musical notes: "Look, Mom!" he said. "Cereal music!"

DB loooooves jokes. He loves to make up jokes and tell them--usually they go something like this: "What did the Batman say to the other Batman?" (I don't know, what?) "He just want to crash in his bogeys!!!" (Hysterical laughter). He's got the format down, but needs to work on content...

He also loves comics. He loves Snoopy, Lio, Calvin and Hobbes and The Far Side. No, he doesn't understand any of it, but he just asks "Why?" over and over until he gets it, or gets bored, then moves on to the next one.

DB is my own personal KitchenAid; that is, he is happy to bake with me anytime, and loves to stir. The other day I left him stirring brownie batter for a minute (I know, right?) and came back to find him deep in pretending. "this is the potty, and that's the poop, and I flush it, see?" (stirring madly). Oh, the imagery.

Fangbaby

2009-03-05T22:38:00.000-08:00

Cookie-Nut will be eight months in a couple of days. Wow, this has gone so fast. I am just loving her baby-ness: her bright eyes, her chubby legs, her soft skin, her little pot belly in the bathtub. Her head on my shoulder when she's sleepy (Dangerboy hardly ever did that one). Babies are so fun.

So Cookie-Nut first got her bottom front teeth (normal). Then her top teeth came in--but not the front ones, the SIDE ones (not normal). It was too hard to photograph, so you'll just have to take my word for it. But hence, Fangbaby. A couple of weeks later one of her top front ones came in, so now she kind of looks like some kind of gaptooth hillbilly.

She is not quite crawling, but she reeeeally wants to. She does the whole rocking-on-all-fours thing, but just can't get her arms moving in the right direction. She's also working on getting from tummy to sitting and vice versa; sometimes she's successful, sometimes she faceplants, and sometimes she works herself into a perfect split, which is awesome but she still hasn't held it long enough for me to get a picture.

She loves pictures of family and babies, and has, in the past, waved and clapped her hands at them. She's lost interest in waving lately, but they still make her smile. She also loves her walker (dangerous, they say, but we don't have any stairs or steps, so oh well. There's hardly room enough for her to get around in it anyway). It's fun to see where she wants to go, now that she has a little mobility. DB went straight for the garbage and the vertical blinds; Cookie-Nut just likes to follow us around. She followed me to the shower room the other day, I could hear her running into the door; she followed DB into his bedroom today and was thrilled by it. Also, since the walker has a tray, we've been feeding her there; now that she eats table food she leaves a little trail of baby crackers and chopped up pears around the house. One more thing to clean! But she's worth it.

Arrrrrrrrr!

2009-03-01T22:52:00.001-08:00

So the other night Dangerboy and PDaniel headed over to the ol' Pirate's Dinner Adventure for an evening of swashbucklin' swordfights, seafarin' vittles, and, apparently, shirtless pirates singing, among other things, "YMCA." (We didn't quite understand the connection either...was there a pirate in the Village People? Even so...)

Anyway, DB loved it, though he didn't quite get the fact that these were actors. Why would he? It all looked pretty realistic to a three-year-old. Most of the pictures didn't turn out 'cause it was dark in there, but here's the prow of the ship: Gotta love that stage makeup! Note: if you ever go, 1) don't pay extra for good seats, they're all good; 2) if you join their little pirate e-mail club they'll send you deals; and 3) don't pay to get pictures taken with the pirates beforehand--just get some afterwards. Also, toy light sabers are way sturdier than the sword pictured with DB...just take our word for it. Sigh...

You know you're a grown-up when...

2009-02-27T10:03:00.000-08:00

...your favorite thing on TV is Masterpiece Classic. Right now they're doing BBC productions of Charles Dickens stories at 9:00 Sunday evenings. PDaniel and I really enjoyed Oliver Twist (NOT the musical) the last couple of weeks: Nancy and Fagan were awesome, and I liked the funky Celtic-rock-ish soundtrack. Up next is David Copperfield with Ian McKellan, Maggie Smith and a teeny-tiny Daniel Radcliffe. I don't know how many of the productions are new, but they're new to us. Watching Oliver Twist, we couldn't help being reminded of what a genius Dickens was--such believably round characters--such evil villians, such angelic saviors! The whole thing made us want to take a little trip to Dickens World (yes, there is such a place).

I'm just sad I missed Tess and Wuthering Heights in January (before the Dickens theme started)--I love those novels. I'll have to find the BBC versions somewhere.

Here's to Sunday evenings with a literature-loving hubby, a plate or two of warm brownies, and the BBC!

Edit: Looks like David Copperfield is up to local listings for scheduling--and it's not scheduled here for a while. Pity! Guess I'll have to do do something productive instead for the next couple of weeks.

Father-Son Outing

2009-02-11T09:54:00.000-08:00

We've started taking Dangerboy on little "dates" with either P. or I. It's been fun to have a little one-on-one time with our firstborn, who's probably been a little neglected the last few months. I took him to see Madacascar II last week (he didn't love it, but I thought it was kinda funny). The week before, P. took him to Disneyland for the last time in a while, since P.'s pass ran out this month. (DB's is still good, if anyone would like to take him, haha).

This pic is DB on the Nemo ride--P. caught him at a perfect point of excitement!

Poem

2009-02-08T19:45:00.001-08:00

Harbor Hills Ward: Newport Beach

You emerge from your car, laughing.

“I forgot to tie my dress,” you say,

turning your back to me, and I do it for you.

And I think I understand how Cinderella felt

once, that early afternoon,

when the ball was still imaginary:

Standing there,

in her wrinkled black polyester,

grasping Drusilla’s sash,

her callused fingertips

not fathoming the silk,

it’s that fine, bluer than

Gatsby’s shirts, softer,

wealth slipping through her fingers,

fluttering, catching on a hangnail--

Cinderella hopes she doesn’t smell of onions

as she ties a lopsided bow

on her sister.

I write poems for fun sometimes, and it's fun to have a place to share them. But I'm going to start writing what I'm trying to convey too, just in case anyone feels like they want to give some feedback, which I always appreciate.

I live in a ward in which the economical variance among members is huge. Generally it doesn't bother me, but one morning I felt the difference a little stronger than usual. I was on my way in to church and a beautiful, youthful-looking, skinny, perfectly-coiffed, perfumed sister stopped me in front of the church doors and asked me to tie the back of her dress. The touch of the material was a shock--my hands hadn't felt anything so soft and obviously expensive in a looong time. So this poem is trying to convey that shock, as well as a bit of wonder that two "sisters" could come from such unequal walks of life.

(art by Roger d'Erlander from here)

Sunday on the beach with P.

2009-02-08T08:47:00.001-08:00

2009-02-05T14:56:00.001-08:00

I was trying to get a good shot of both teeth here. But P. got a better one here:Thanks for the cute dress Grandma Rosy and Bonnie! We got lots of compliments. Cookie-Nut is doing great; she's getting up on her knees a little bit, likes to eat her Gerber (baby food), and gets mad when we take away her keys. She continues to charm everyone. She shows zero signs of ever intending to sleep through the night. Sigh...

Dangerboy speaks

2009-02-04T20:11:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to write an update on our friend Dangerboy--it's been a while. It can be hard for a kid to compete for attention when there's a new super-cute baby in the picture. But I've kept track of cute stuff, so there's kind of a lot!

He's actually adjusted quite well, and is turning into quite a dependable big brother. He's just really growing up--he's in Primary (bit of a hard adjustment, that one); his artwork is getting lots more detailed (arms have hands, fish have fins); his memory continues to astound (he sung me the entire first verse of "I Lived in Heaven" last night); and he's really fun to communicate with:

*uses the word "actually" in context all the time

*same goes for "Oh my gosh!"

*often chooses a word to be silly with--for a long time it was "hedgehog," as in, "You're a hedgehog-head!!" After that, it was "bellybutton." Now he's experimenting with "butt," which I think he learned from clandestine veiwing of SpongeBob. Stupid SpongeBob!

*won't let anyone say the word "stupid" in his presence.*says "doops" for "oops."

*says "blana" and "plano" for "banana" and "piano."

*more: "Jacken Sparrow" (Jack Sparrow); "Check out it" (check it out); "gotfor" (forgot)

* "Trust me" and "I'm telling the truth!!" (why do these make me worry...?)

*"Dangerboy, did you know you lived in heaven before you were born? Where's heaven?"
"In the sky." (pause) "I used a parachute."

*He and his friend Tiger Lily made up an awesome game they call "Rocketstar." They stand on the arms of the couch (I know, I know), shout "One, two, three, Rocketstar!!" and jump down onto the couch cushions. (I think it's a combination of "rock star" and space rockets. The game's kinda got a feeling of both.)

*"Dangerboy, quit turning your shoes over--you're getting sand all over the floor of the car! It makes the car even more dirty!"
"Hmmm...maybe we'll have to turn the car over."
"Who['s going to do that?"
"Someone big and strong...maybe Daddy."

(photos "Happy," "Angry," and "Pensive" by Beatta)

Excursion

2009-01-20T22:18:00.001-08:00

OK, so we didn't do anything human-rightsy for MLK day. We did something artsy though...went to the Getty Villa with some friends. It was quite a lovely place to spend the day! I enjoyed: the floors. The ceilings. The hall of muses (the muse of Mime was my favorite--see link). The symmetrical gardens. The frescoes. This mosaic.I like this one at the same fountain--I happened to catch Monkey just before her mom stopped her from taking the plunge:

Dangerboy even decorated his own vase (maybe some of you can read Greek):

Breaking news!

2009-01-12T21:28:00.000-08:00

Cookie-Nut cut her first tooth today! Way to go, little girl! Knew there had to be a reason for so much drool.

(Pic taken by Beatta--more to come!)

Sayonara Di-zu-ni-ran-do

2009-01-11T22:51:00.001-08:00

Well, this is the best picture we got. Oh well! We had lots of fun! My pass ran out Friday, so our very kind friends offered to watch our kids virtually all day so P. and I could go to Disneyland by ourselves. It was like going to a brand new place! We rode all the scary rides, ate at the Cafe Orleans (I ate deep fried ham and turkey with berry sauce and sugar......yum), and stayed out past dark!

The best part was, of course, being together. For instance: we thought nobody was watching when we swing-danced (poorly) to the band playing by Space Mountain--but the attendant at Autopia saw us and thought we were so cute she let us in the back way and we didn't have to wait in line! Wahoo!

We also tried California Screamin' and Tower of Terror (both fun, but I though my aunt Janice would HATE the latter), Star Tours (made P. sick), Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, and barely squeezed on Indiana Jones before the park closed (that ride had been broken almost all day). We also tried the shooting range (I failed--P. hit the tiniest targets) and discovered Snow White's wishing well and fountain. Quite a romantic place at night... Oh, and I intorduced P. to the Toy Story zoetrope, which is really cool.
Thanks again Chelsea and Abe!

Cookies and spice

2009-01-10T12:37:00.000-08:00

So, our beloved Cookie-Nut has reached the 6-month mark! That warrants a birthday post, I think. In the last six months, Cookie-Nut has learned to:

--talk to herself, especially lying next to me in bed in the morning (one of my favorite times of day)

--roll over both ways

--lift herself up on her arms

--alllllmost sit by herself

--charm everyone with her smiles

--belly laugh

--kick her brother in the face (he loves it)

--be nearly smothered by her brother's affection (she loves it)

--chew on her thumbs

--chew on her toes

--thouroughly examine both sides of each hand

--pass an object from one hand to the other (disputed)

--press the end of her thumb onto a surface and rotate her hand around it (a quirky little habit)

--jump in her jumper or on a willing lap

--breastfeed and drink from a bottle too

--eat squishy stuff from a spoon

AND last but not least: Sleep all night! (just kidding...sigh)

Christmas Images

2009-01-08T08:35:00.000-08:00

Our first actual Christmas tree (thanks, Gardener!)

Sleeping next to Cookie-Nut; being almost asleep and then feeling her tiny fingers on my cheek

Listening to the perfect high-school tunes, chosen by Shaun, the king of recorded music, as we wrapped gifts Christmas Eve

"Rock n' Roll McDonald's!" during Christmas Eve dinner. Later, Dangerboy singing it (somehow, it became funny)

Later, pillow-reminiscing with P. about about the music that used to remind us of each other before we were married (me: "Kiss Me" by Harry Connick Jr.; him: "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing"--interesting)

The sweet taste of LOTS of dairy-free cookies my mom so lovingly made for me--thank you Granny Westwood for that raisin cookies recipe!!

Dangerboy in his snowsuit--blue pants, red sweatshirt, red-white-and-blue scarf. Pink cheeks. Blue Eyes. Blond hair. Why did I not get a picture??? (Oh yeah, because he wouldn't let me)

Being tackled by P. while wearing my snowsuit--the strange feel of rolling in snow but being perfectly warm. Why did nobody ever tell me how great snow pants are??

Cookie-Nut in the arms of Mom or Dad, in the rocking chair by the fire

Granny Lois' hands, holding the seashell I found in her garage

Snow, a foot high on the stair rail

Dangerboy, so excited about presents!Dad, P., and Shaun endlessly shoveling the driveway (esp. Dad). (Broken snowblower, alas)

P. looking so awesome and at home in his snow clothes, sledding in the front yard with Dangerboy and Shaun (this picture is either of Shaun or Dad though)The boys in their snow cave
Tears over nachos with P. and John at Gringos

Playing with Magnetix at the Samuelsons'

Cherie's insane theater!!

Dangerboy and Brian N. running around the house pulling strings of gold plastic beads: the next generation of friends

Christmas fun (I'll post more later, I hope)

2009-01-06T23:32:00.000-08:00

This is just to say...

2008-11-02T22:23:00.000-08:00

How many poets does it take to change a light bulb?

Two: One to look at the light bulb and think about his mother, and the other to stare out the window, watching the rain.

(Art: Carl Spitzweg, 1835, "The Poor Poet." Joke: I think I heard it on Prairie Home Companion.)

Poem (not mine)

2008-10-31T22:31:00.000-07:00

I love this poem--the last three lines have really helped me keep going on those days when it's hard to get out of bed and get going.

On Angels (by Czeslaw Milosz)

All was taken away from you: white dresses,
wings, even existence.
Yet I believe you,
messengers.

There, where the world is turned inside out,
a heavy fabric embroidered with stars and beasts,
you stroll, inspecting the trustworthy seams.

Short is your stay here:
now and then at a matinal hour, if the sky is clear,
in a melody repeated by a bird,
or in the smell of apples at close of day
when the light makes the orchards magic.

They say somebody has invented you
but to me this does not sound convincing
for the humans invented themselves as well.

The voice -- no doubt it is a valid proof,
as it can belong only to radiant creatures,
weightless and winged (after all, why not?),
girdled with the lightening.

I have heard that voice many a time when asleep
and, what is strange, I understood more or less
an order or an appeal in an unearthly tongue:

day draws near
another one
do what you can.

Halloween-y

2008-10-30T22:56:00.001-07:00

Ward Halloween party. DB was enthralled by everything--as you can see...I couldn't get anyone to look at the camera! Halloween is DB's new favorite event. He was thrilled about dressing up as Batman, but he said he was going to be a lion "for Christmas." Cookie-Nut was a pink cat, and calmly took the evening's madness in. Nothing quite as chaotic as a ward Trunk-or-Treat, except maybe for the madness in the cultural hall immediately preceding one, as the kids work themselves up into a frenzy of candy anticipation.

Thirty, Flirty and Thriving...

2008-10-24T09:52:00.000-07:00

...well, the first one's true, anyway, har har. The big three-oh was a couple of weeks ago now, but due to various viruses and child sleep problems, I'm just getting around to posting about it! I had an awesome day. It started with a delicious breakfast, a yummy omelet cooked by PDaniel. Then Dangerboy and I went to the Pumpkin Patch with his preschool. It was kinda fun, but it would have been more fun had it not been, like, 95 degrees that day. When I came home, PDaniel sent me off to the mall. I didn't get around much to the shopping, but I did have a leisurely lunch at Wahoo's, during which I read my book. By myself. In the middle of the day. Ah, the bliss.

Then I had my very first pedicure (the Happy Nails lady was shocked!) The pedicure was very fun, though I felt a little weird (guilty?) having a nice Filipino lady pamper my feet while I sat in a thronelike chair...I think P. postcolonialist studies are getting to me. She actually completely exfoliated my feet and legs, gave them a clay mask, and wrapped them in hot towels. I don't know whether my feet were worth all the trouble (I think my face would have done me more good) but it was fun! And I like having cute toes for once. (I also got my first eyebrow wax, because the wax lady said I "really need one." Which, let's face it, was true.) When I got home, PDaniel had made an extremely yummy dairy- and soy-free carrot cake, full of raisins and nuts and pineapple--so yummy I ate it all week for breakfast AND dessert. We opened presents--An Arsonist's Guide to Writer's Homes in New England by Brock Clark and Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver. The day ended with a bayview dinner at Villa Nova in Newport Beach. It was good, though a cheese-free Italian dinner was trickier than I thought, and I wasn't able to eat the ice-cream heart they so nicely brought out for me at the end (I just ate the strawberries). Mostly it was just nice to be out on a date with my real sweetheart--our first night out alone since Cookie-Nut was born. Hopefully not our last. So, an action-packed, very fun birthday, even if it was my thirtieth. Thank you so much P.! I'm simultaneously spoiled and lucky to have you!

Blue

2008-10-22T23:14:00.001-07:00

Poem

2008-10-05T21:16:00.000-07:00

The Life Before

It is Saturday. I am cleaning the back porch, rag in hand,
dusting down an old rocking chair, a table, easel. I turn over
a folding cot, springs rusting, frame bent; creak it open
and start wiping the grit from the inside. Then,

a cluster of spiders. I’ve caught them mid-sentence.
They don’t run for cover, just watch me sideways.
The mother is the stillest. Her brown legs spread three inches across.
She was born here, in the half-light, the warm decay.
Now her young are piled around her, white, each large as a thistle head,
but fragile—I’ve already crushed some—legs as fine as the hairs on my arm.
I could easily wipe them all away, wash my rag afterward, still—

“Come see,” I call to my son.
He doesn’t hear me. He’s watching cartoons,
getting over a fever. His cheeks are pink
and his damp hair curls at his temples.
My husband is next to him, dozing,
his feet up on the coffee table. One hand
rests on the book turned over on his chest.
His other arm holds my daughter,
her small fingers opening and closing
on his skin. Her lips open as she sleeps.

So I lift the cot over the side of the deck, lean over and blow.
The mother catches the wind first and wafts down into the grass.
Two more breaths and her children follow in clumps, like dandelion seeds.
I brush the cot down after them.

Inside, my family rests together.
It is not an unusual Saturday.
I shake out my cloth.

A Day in the Life of...

2008-09-24T20:47:00.000-07:00

Today I...

...walked to the Cyber Cafe and put money on my new laundry card.
...practiced for about 45 minutes.
...finally found the Goodwill dropoff and got rid of some junk.
...tried to pick up "Beauty and the Beast" from Blockbuster. Got instead "Beauty and the Beast--Belle's magical world" which is infinitely stupider.
...watched part of said movie with DB and friend Ladybug.
...worked on DB's patchy immunization record.
...did the laundry.
...hung around outside with my fussy children (and some fun moms and their children in varying degrees of fussiness-or-not).
...nursed Cookie Nut seven (or so) times.
...got DB breakfast and lunch.
...tried several times to get CN to sleep.

I did not:
...make dinner: thanks P.! (guacamole burgers and fresh baked sweet potato fries with fruit salad. Yum!)
...watch Caleb for a couple of hours this morning: thanks Brooke!
...buy fruit: thanks Gardener!

Nobody:
,,,did the dishes. Sigh.

Act IV Puppet Show

2008-09-23T13:24:00.000-07:00

Here's act four of our "puppet show." There are three more acts, an intermission, and two "commercials," but they're really just more of the same. (One of the commercials was for Pampers, because if you'll look closely, you'll be able to tell that the Huggies diaper Cookie-Nut was wearing obviously failed her. But don't look that close if it grosses you out!)

Also, hello to Granny Lois, who is having surgery today. We love you Granny! Get well soon!

Di-zu-ni-ra-n-do

2008-09-17T22:13:00.000-07:00

So we spent today at Disneyland, our first day there after a summer of not being able to use our passes. It was fun, but a little too hot. Thank goodness for Disneyland's Baby Centers...there's one at the end of Main Street (on the right, next to First Aid) and one by the Tortilla Factory in California Adventure. I got to sample both today, and they are fabulous!

They're clean and quiet; they've got AC, nice changing tables, comfortable private/semi-private nursing chairs, mini potties, cute wooden high chairs, and microwaves for warming up bottles. And they'll sell you a pacifier, diapers, or formula if you forgot yours. The one in Disneyland even features a table with toys for toddlers, Victorian wallpaper, and nice old grannies in white aprons. Sooooo much better than camping out on a bench in the heat trying to hide under a blanket while your three-year-old tries to escape.

(Now, if only the mother's lounge at church had more in common with these baby centers....)

On a different note, DB had a great time too. He got to ride Autopia for the first time, and STEER HIS OWN CAR, which was huge. He was so wired by the end of the day that he insisted on dancing in the street right up until we could see the first float of the parade coming. We also strong armed him (OK, we bribed him with ice cream) to ride Pirates of the Caribbean, which he had decided six months ago was too scary. He ran off the ride shouting, "I like that one! It's fun! It's not scary for me!" Oh, and we also tried the new Toy Story Midway Madness, which is like being inside a video game...kinda trippy, but fun (DB loved that one too). Cookie-Nut did great, just catnapped all day and stayed pretty happy. That's all. Oh, and I forgot my camera. Now that's all.

Allergic Colitis...

2008-09-13T13:28:00.000-07:00

...is what Cookie-Nut has been diagnosed with. It means that she doesn't digest milk or soy proteins well, so until she grows out of it, (because she's breast-fed) I can have neither milk nor soy. Sigh. On the negative side, eating out is a pain, no pizza or Asian food (much), or ice cream. On the plus side, I've lost weight, and am eating/buying way fewer processed foods ('cause they all have soy and milk derivatives). And I've made these discoveries:

Blue Diamond Almond Breeze: Who knew you could milk an almond? The chocolate variety tastes and has the texture of real chocolate milk, whole the plain variety tastes very faintly of almonds. Yummy, and waaaaay better than rice milk. (The chocolate kind actually has soy lecithin in it, but since this apparently has no soy protein, it doesn't seem to be a problem.)

Trader Joe's plain ol' potato chips: Ingredients: potatoes, safflower oil, salt. They ain't pretty, but whadya now, they taste like potatoes.

Albertson's artisan kalamata olive bread: (comes in a paper sack). No weird ingredients, and very tasty!

Double Rainbow Chocolate Sorbet: Fudgey and entirely soy-free, which is super rare for chocolate anything.

Also want to put in a shout-out for this great website, Karina's Kitchen, a great blog for gluten-free folks, vegans, vegetarians, and anyone with allergies. She's got lots of great recipes, and most them are adaptable to various food allergies.

One more

2008-09-13T11:01:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah, this doesn't make my all-time-favorites list either, but we liked it. Under the same Moon is about a Mexican boy who goes over the border searching for his mom, who is an illegal worker in the US. (It's basically An American Tail, live action, modernized, no production numbers). It's a tear jerker, and yes, the directors have obvious political views. Still, during once scene where cops raid a greenhouse full of migrant workers, it's hard not to ask yourself, "Wait, why are they arresting these people for picking tomatoes?" no matter where you stand.

Movie Night

2008-09-12T16:47:00.000-07:00

Well, it's Friday and I wanted to post about movies. Isn't it great when you find a good one? I've decided that there are a few common characteristics to films (and books, for that matter) that I end up really liking: honesty, humor, quirkiness, good acting and direction (of course), and a touch of the supernatural. Let me gush about a couple of my favorites, just in case you missed them:

Millions (because I watched this a couple of weeks ago): a pure-hearted little boy who regularly has visions of various saints ( the Catholic kind) finds a large sum of stolen money in his backyard. He and his (much worldlier) brother try to figure out what to do with the loot. Mormon missionaries make quite a funny appearance in this show that riffs on materialism, religion, the afterlife, economics, and innocence. Sentimental? Of course. The colors/filming are great too.

In America: A grieving family of illegal Irish immigrants moves to a scary neighborhood in New York so the dad can try to make it on Broadway. Told from the perspective of a nine-(?)-year-old daughter, the family tries to deal with the death of the youngest son as they try to adjust to a new place. It sounds boring, but it's really funny and heartbreaking and heart-healing. And the girls are so cute. (Disclaimer--there is one married-sexy scene, but it's important.)

(Is it a coincidence that both of these films feature cute kids with British-ish accents?)

Also, this movie doesn't make my favorites list, but P. and I watched it the other night and liked it: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. An unemployed governess masquerades as a social secretary. Amy Adams (from Enchanted) plays the "social" part of that arrangement, and is very funny again. Good date movie. (Disclaimer again: you see a guy's bum in a couple of shots.) (That has nothing to do with it being a good date movie.)

Simple Gifts

2008-09-07T21:14:00.000-07:00

Cookie-Nut smiled at me for the first time when she wasn't quite a month old. She was lying on the changing table and I was talking and laughing to her...and she looked straight into my eyes and smiled back. My heart just stopped.

Those of you who have experienced it, isn't it an amazing feeling? When your child first smiles at you?

Dinosaurumpus

2008-09-07T20:55:00.000-07:00

So a couple of weeks ago, we decided to try a sticker chart to encourage DB to dress himself...when he got enough stickers, we'd all go to the San Diego Natural History Museum. It worked (and he's even made a habit of it, though she still doesn''t really see the point of changing his clothes. Ever). It was kind of a big reward, but we'd actually wanted to go anyway, mostly to see dinosaur bones. Their exhibit isn't huge, but Dangerboy enjoyed it enough that he still tells people about it. They also had a couple of cool art exhibits (one African) and an almost-Imax theater. There we watched most of a wildlife movie...not all, because after a great shot of a crocodile chomping ion a baby antelope's head (and Mommy not covering his eyes in time) DB decided he didn't like the movie anymore and we left.

But Balboa Park, where the museum is located (and also the San Diego Zoo, by the way) we found to be very lovely and peaceful, with lots to do. We ate at a yummy Japanese cafe, and look forward to someday checking out the miniature train museum and the puppet theater, and if we're lucky, someday attending a concert at the really cool outdoor organ pavilion.

Our Lil' Blessings

2008-09-07T20:44:00.000-07:00

So last week we headed to P.'s family's house to have Cookie-Nut blessed, surrounded by family; many of P's siblings were in town, and his brother, who will be serving a mission in Washington State, was ordained an elder during the same meeting. It was really nice...we did both blessings after sacrament meeting in a little room witnessed by primarily family, and P's bro and I both got to bear our testimonies (surprise!). Both blessings were lovely, though DB was noisy through the ordination and Cookie-Nut cried through most of the wonderful stuff P. was saying. Oh well, at least she looked cute...my mom's talented friend Joy made the dress. Thanks Joy!

What the?

2008-08-22T19:29:00.000-07:00

Have you ever seen synchronized swimming? It's so weird it's almost cool. I think it's an Esther Williams holdover. Here's the lovely Esther:

Anyway, "synchro" reminds me of "water dances" I used to make up in the pool with my friends. And make my parents watch. Here's the Japanese team's routine: