Baby News

On a happy note, I had my Christmas present early, as we had our 20-week Ultrasound yesterday. At my last prenatal appointment, we saw a fabulous resident who scheduled it for us with absolutely NO problem. In fact, I didn't even have to see the regular doctor who upset me so much at the prior appointment. HOORAY!! Oh, I guess that's another post, as I forgot to blog about my horrible prenatal appointments thus far. I sure do miss my OB/GYN back in Ames!

Anyway, Kiddo came with us, which wasn't ideal, but he was really pretty good and was excited to "see the baby on the TV screen." I doubt it really looked like a baby to him, but he didn't complain. He counted and sang and danced, but the technician said it didn't bother her at all. The cutest thing was that when she was walking us down the hall to the Ultrasound room, Kiddo said to her, "Thank you for letting me come, too!" without any prompting from us. We were all very impressed with those nice manners!

Much to my relief, everything today seemed to look good. I ate some sweet & sugary baked goods about a half hour before, so the baby was very active and seemed to be practicing some kickboxing moves in my womb! Watch out, Kiddo! It surely looks like we're having another BOY, so Kiddo will be happy. For the last 3 weeks, he has been insisting that we were having a boy, and has helped me select a name. I suggested 4 or 5 names to him and he picked my favorite, so I think we will stick with it unless we get a strong feeling otherwise. The Daddy-O had been predicting a girl, but says he's not disappointed. Maybe we will have a girl a few years down the road when we are better off financially. After all, we girls can be expensive. :)

I've been thinking about what to nickname the new baby, and Kiddo#1 and Kiddo#2 just doesn't sound very nice, plus it could be slightly confusing. Then I remembered how Kiddo was Linus for Halloween, and that Linus has a little brother named Rerun, so for right now, I'm thinking of calling this little guy Rerun. After all, I am a HUGE Peanuts fan. What do you think?

Merry Christmas?

He liked it last year!!!!!

I may have the world's weirdest kid. I finally brought up the Christmas tree. Was he excited? NO! He was hysterical! He doesn't like it! While I was out of the room, he knocked it down and broke his Baby's First Christmas ornament! It's a 2 foot tree-- what could possibly be so distressing about it? I don't know. He's still in time out. I'd better get him in a minute or so. WHAT a pill!

And this is the view out our front door. Not much of a white Christmas. Why can't it snow here? Why must we have rain, rain, and FREEZING RAIN all the time? Yuck.

Okay, enough complaining. Here is a cute photo of Kiddo. Maybe that will put me in a better mood. Hope your Christmas is merry and bright!

Do ya think he likes to read?

My Mom and her husband are set to come visit for a few days, and our humble abode is perhaps the messiest it's ever been in our 6.5 years of marriage. My pregnancy aches and pains, Kiddo's love of messiness, and Daddy-O's end of semester graduate work have all left us with too little energy to do much tidying lately. I thought that Kiddo's room would be the easiest to tackle, so I started there first.

After I picked up the clothes, blankets, and stuffed animals strewn around the room, I noticed the battle had only begun. The floor and beds were COVERED with books. Here's what I found:

• 56 children's books NOT in the bookcase
  
• 2 phone books, under his bed
  
• 1 photo album, of pictures from Lesotho

As a first-time Mommy, I've sometimes struggled with worries about my parenting skills or my hopes for Kiddo's future. One of my earliest anxieties was, "what if he doesn't like to READ? What would I do with a child who doesn't LIKE BOOKS?" My mother assured me that she couldn't imagine any child of mine not loving to read, but I was still skeptical for some months. Looking at his room today, I really have to laugh about that fear. I guess it has been well-established that this is one child who LOVES his books!

He LOVES his "Pwezadents!"

I don't know what President Bush's approval rating has sunk to these days, but he might take comfort in this:

The other night, while sitting in his high chair, eating spaghetti, Kiddo turned to me and said, "We love our current President."

Startled, I looked up and asked, "We do?"

"Yeah!"

To clarify, I asked, "And who's our current President?"

"George W. Bush!" Pausing for a moment, he followed this up with, "I also wuv Wonald Wagon" (Ronald Reagan, of course).

Given that his FAVORITE President is Abraham Lincoln, do you think this means he's a Republican? If so, his Grandpa Martin must be so proud! :)

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I was very lax about Kiddo's bedtime over the Thanksgiving break. Consequently, he was still awake when Barbara Walters' interview with Barack and Michelle Obama aired at 9 p.m. Because he has told me that he "wuvs his Pwezadents," I thought Kiddo might enjoy watching our President-Elect on television. I didn't really expect that he'd pay much attention, but I wanted to watch too, so we settled down in Auntie's living room to watch while Kiddo played off to the side.

Well, I don't know how much he actually listened to, but here is what my little boy took from the ENTIRE interview: "Scoop the POOP!!!"

You might recall that the Obamas promised their little girls a puppy after the election was over. Being a crazy dog lady, Barbara spent a good 5 minutes or so quizzing the Obamas about this important issue. One question that she asked was basically, "Will you expect your daughters to actually take care of the dog themselves?" The Obamas answered that Malia and Sasha will absolutely be tending to their pet's needs. In fact, they will even have to "SCOOP THE POOP!" This phrase made my toddler dissolve into laughter, and until he finally fell asleep-- close to midnight (he is a wild thing when it comes to going to sleep away from home) he repeated, "SCOOP THE POOP!" and giggled several times. I believe it may have even been the first thing he said when he woke up the next morning.

I don't know about your kids, but with my little guy, the more you request that he stop doing something like this, the funnier he thinks it is. So I decided to try to ignore it in hopes that it would lose its thrill. Within a day or two, we no longer heard the phrase. Hooray! However...

Last week at the Library, he asked to play with a group of children seated around a newer toy in the Children's department. They were older and friendly, and of course responded, "Sure!" It seemed to me that Kiddo was just playing away happily, when Daddy-O came over to me and whispered, "Can you hear him? It's so bad!"

"Why, what is he doing?"

"He keeps saying, 'Scoop the POOP! Scoop the POOP!' and he won't stop."

Evidently, the other kids just kind of looked at Kiddo funny, but didn't say anything. We left shortly after that, and on the way home, I recalled that I was pretty sure I had heard these children's mothers discussing their home schooling experiences. I hope they weren't thinking, "Gee, and this is why we don't send our kids to public schools!!!"

Anyway, I know our President-Elect is actually a gifted speaker, and I would like to give Kiddo some other of his more dignified words to remember him by, but currently all I can think of is, "Yes, we can" which is really not entirely original. Any suggestions?

P.O.C. Update

Maybe you remember that I posted a while back about how much I hate, loathe, despise and abominate my camera? Well, it still isn't going to win any awards, BUT...

I did decide to invest in a battery charger and rechargeable batteries. Thank you to those who suggested it!!! I do believe these rechargeable batteries are actually MAGIC batteries. I have had the same two in my camera since the day before Thanksgiving, and have taken several photos and filmed more than 24 minutes of my sweet little Kiddo... and I STILL have power left on them. Wowie-wow-wow!!!

I will definitely not be buying ANY MORE regular old batteries for this fussy little camera. I am a rechargeable "convert."

Yes, I'm still alive...

... just tired and pregnant.

We don't know the gender at this point, but after considering it for a few weeks, Kiddo #1 has finally decided that Kiddo #2 is a boy and has approved our choice for the first name. He has also weighed in on what he thinks the baby's name should be if, gasp, it's a girl. How generous of him, eh? Must be that Christmas spirit! :)

True Courage

Photo: Eva-Lotta Jansson, MSF

In honor of World AIDS Day, here's a link to a BBC photo essay about Joseph, one of the millions of courageous people worldwide battling HIV/AIDS every day. Don't be frightened by the title of the link-- Joseph is one man who now definitely isn't just "waiting to die." He's making his world a better place, one step at a time.

BBC NEWS | In pictures : Lesotho Aids diary - Joseph's day, Waiting to die

Happy Thanksgiving...

...from our little turkey! This one's not for sale! :)

Have a safe and wonderful holiday weekend!

These pictures are just another reason we love the Library: crazy craft projects at Story Time.

Baby Dear

Several years ago, my sister shared a poem that she loved with my mother and me. I had forgotten most of it, but the first line has been running through my mind so much as my son continues to grow and learn. I finally looked it up, and it's so sweet that I thought I'd share. Of course, for my little dark-eyed sweetie, it would require a little adaptation, but here it is...

Baby

George Macdonald (1824-1905)

WHERE did you come from, baby dear?
Out of the everywhere into the here.
Where did you get those eyes so blue?
Out of the sky as I came through.
What makes the light in them sparkle and spin?
Some of the starry spikes left in.
Where did you get that little tear?
I found it waiting when I got here.
What makes your forehead so smooth and high?
A soft hand strok’d it as I went by.
What makes your cheek like a warm white rose?
I saw something better than any one knows.
Whence that three-corner’d smile of bliss?
Three angels gave me at once a kiss.
Where did you get this pearly ear?
God spoke, and it came out to hear.
Where did you get those arms and hands?
Love made itself into bonds and bands.
Feet, whence did you come, you darling things?
From the same box as the cherubs’ wings.
How did they all just come to be you?
God thought about me, and so I grew.
But how did you come to us, you dear?
God thought about you, and so I am here. November 2006 November 2008

Halloween Recap

Here is Kiddo's take on Halloween. The video's a bit wonky because he kept trying to sit on my lap, and I kept trying to get him in front of the camera. Sigh...

He got his first real taste of Halloween this year, and I think he's decided he likes it. I didn't really have a costume for him, but at the last minute I saw a sticker depicting Linus basically like this:

and I realized Kiddo has essentially the same outfit, and a blue fuzzy blanket... plus, he's quite precocious like Linus. So, voila! In two minutes, we created his costume. I did add the sticker to his shirt to "clarify." Daddy-O was shaking his head at me, telling me it wasn't a costume, but at least 3 people stopped and said, "Awwww! He's Linus-- how cute!!!" So there, Daddy-O, it is a costume, and it didn't cost us anything. HA!

We had perfect weather-- 75 degrees... on HALLOWEEN... in the MIDWEST...? Oh, yeah. But we decided it would be easier to keep Kiddo in line if he trick-or-treated at the Mall. We covered about 3/4 of the Lower Level and he ended up with way more candy than we would ever let him eat. After stopping at about 3 stores, he turned to me and said, "This is cool!"

When we got to the Build-A-Bear, he ran into the store. We thought he wanted a bear. Nope, he had found a machine with lots of NUMBERS and BUTTONS, which if you pushed them, played MUSIC or ANIMAL SOUNDS. Kiddo thought he was in Heaven, and did not want to leave. Eventually we dragged him out, by bribing him with Smarties.

All in all, it was a fun evening for Kiddo, and whenever he sees the Trick or Treat bag, he gets excited. Maybe next year, we'll get him a real costume... if only I could sew! I have LOTS of ideas. But that's a whole other post in itself!

Sing Us A Song...

Just because he's cute!



Question: Does it make me a horrible Mommy to admit that his little dance routine with the rainbow flower reminds me of the Munchkins singing to Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz?

You just never know...

This post is for all the current and former Nursery teachers and leaders. I remember the 6 months I was Nursery Leader, and feeling there was really no point sometimes in trying to give a lesson because, who was listening, anyway?

As a parent, I always ask my Kiddo what he did in Nursery, and his answer every time is, "Share!" I'd like to hope that he's actually sharing, but I sort of doubt it. Anyway, since they've started using the new Nursery manual, we sometimes get to see a glimpse of what the lesson must have been, based on the coloring pictures he brings home. But rarely will he ever talk about what the picture represents. Here are two exceptions.

First, this video, from August. It cracks me up, because it is a pretty good representation of Kiddo's true feelings about obeying Mommy and Daddy-O... sigh.



Second, a story from a few weeks ago. While getting Kiddo ready for his after-Church nap, I was singing, "We are a Happy Family" ("I love Kiddo, He loves me. We love Daddy, yes sirree. He loves us and so you see, we are a happy family."), not a song that we routinely sing, for whatever reason. At the end, Kiddo exclaimed, "YEAH! And, I can love others!"

"You can love others?" I asked. "Where did you learn that? At Church?"

"YES. In Nursery."

He didn't care to elaborate, but after I got Kiddo to sleep, I told Daddy-O the story and asked him if he had looked at Kiddo's picture for the week. Daddy-O hadn't seen it either, so he pulled it out of the diaper bag and looked.... Sure enough, the caption reads, "Jesus Christ showed us how to love others!"

So take heart, Nursery Leaders, someone just might be listening after all!

28, a day late

Kiddo hit 28 months last week, so I thought I'd dedicate a post to 28 Things Kiddo Loves. To be extra cute, I thought I'd post it yesterday, on the 28th, but somehow I didn't get it done. So here it is, a day late, but all still true!

1. Typing on the computer, a lot.
2. Coloring, a lot.
3. Leap Frog Videos from the Library-- he mostly has The Letter Factory memorized.

4. Yogurt.
5. PIZZA!!!
6. CD: "Snacktime!" by "The Ladies." I'm just not ready for him to be saying their whole name, though, ya know. But don't worry, Gobby, the whole CD is totally appropriate for my precocious toddler.

7. Making messes, as many as possible.
8. Making his own "music," heavy on the percussive sounds.
9. Nursery.
10. Having "friends" come to visit-- this includes family, out-of-town friends, and my Visiting Teachers.
11. Playing ball.
12. Both Books and Videos: Charlie and Lola!!!

13. His Mum's ever-so dreadful faux British accent. ("Do the voice, Mama!!!!")
14. Spelling-- I stopped counting, but I think he can spell over 100 words now.
15. Brushing his teeth, "by [him]self," thank you very much.
16. Book: "The First Thousand Words in Russian," which I bought for myself in college. I'm fairly certain he mostly just likes the pictures, since he can't read Cyrillic. He can, however, count to ten in Russian now.

17. Taking baths with his foam letters and numbers.
18. Book: HAROLD AND THE PURPLE CRAYON, by Crockett Johnson. He's got most of this classic memorized, also.
19. Song: "Like Me and You," by Raffi.
20. Arguing with Mama about the lyrics to #19. He insists it's "Bolga lives in Russia" instead of "Olga lives in Russia!!!"
21. Even though he's never seen Madagascar yet, he likes to sing "I Like to Move It, Move It," as taught to him by the Daddy-O.
22. Hugs and Kisses from Mommy and Daddy-O.
23. Asking Mommy to sign words, or if I don't know the sign, to finger-spell them!
24. "Dancing" and singing loudly in restaurants, stores, Church, or waiting rooms, but only if it's his idea.
25. His red tricycle, which he's too short to ride, but he likes to sit on it and pretend he's going to Target to "buy diapers."

26. The Phone Book. I am absolutely, positively not kidding. He even has a favorite page, which is only in one of the many phone books we've had delivered to us. Imagine your child saying, "Let's play, Mama. I will get the phone book!"
27. Looking (just about every day!) at photos from our trip to Lesotho.

28. Watching videos of the kids of our friends and family online, and asking me, "Who's that?"

So, there you go, a lot of Kiddo's current favorites. Of course, it's hardly worth mentioning that he still loves EIGHT and W, and the color red. Some things haven't changed!

Kiddo's Portfolio?

I can't remember if I've shown any of Kiddo's other attempts at photography on this blog or not. Either way, he was busy last week, taking photos of sheets and carpet so I deleted most of them. However, these few amused me, and I thought I'd share.

I think that of all the photos he's taken so far,
this is the one in which you can best tell what he's looking at.

Here we've got his forearm, t-shirt sleeve, and our closet.


BOO!
I really don't know how he managed this one,
but it cracks me up every time I look at it.
Makes a good Halloween picture though, eh? :)

Number One Baby

Jennifer also tagged me with this one, about your first baby. I hope this doesn't fall into the category of "TOO MUCH INFORMATION." I really tried not to be too graphic. However, if you've never had a baby, don't blame me if this freaks you out.

First, some photos of my little guy. Note how pale, pink, and practically bald he was-- NOT WHAT I WAS EXPECTING!!!! I really thought people would question my virtue... However, who could be disappointed with a cutie like that? I was really relieved he was so adorable.

1. Were you married at the time? Yes

2. What were your reactions when you found out you were pregnant? I hate to admit this, but I had no clue I might be pregnant until I went to the doctor with an ear infection and the doctor asked, before writing a prescription for antibiotics, "Are you sure you're not pregnant?" Oh, I was sure... I had PMS, right...? That night, I did the math. Then I started FREAKING OUT, and praying to get my period. I felt totally overwhelmed. However, I knew I did want children, so I decided instead to pray for peace, no matter what the outcome. The moment the nurse told me I was pregnant, I felt a calm wash over me that erased the anxiety. THEN, I was really happy.

3. How old were you? 28 when I found out, 29 when he was born.

4.How did you find out you were pregnant? I took 2 home pregnancy tests, but I was in denial until I got the results of my blood test (over the telephone)!

5. Who did you tell first? The Daddy-O, who laughed!

6. Did you want to find out the sex? Absolutely! The Daddy-O said he would have preferred to "be surprised," although, being a witch doctor, he said from the beginning, "it's a boy." I say, as long as I'm having the babies, we're finding out ASAP.

7. Due date? June 19.

8. Did you deliver early or late? I was induced on the 21st, two days late.

9.Did you have morning sickness? Praise the Lord, no. I did have some queasiness for a few weeks, but no throwing up.

10. What did you crave? What didn't I crave? First bananas, then McDonalds McNuggets, Fruit Loops (dry), Crunch Berry cereal (dry), chocolate milk, Cherry Pepsi, lemon poppyseed muffins (gasp!), carrot sticks, pineapple... etc. I also consumed MASS quantities of ketchup and tomato sauce. I easily could have eaten pizza, spaghetti, or lasagna EVERY day. After the fifth month, I never felt full. Ever.

11. Who irritated you the most? Again, this is horrible, but probably the kids I worked with at school. In all fairness, one of them scratched up my wrists and broke my necklace. Another liked to scream and run away from me. One kid asked me why I was so fat. Another told me I couldn't be married to Daddy-O because he was brown and I was white. Yeah, good times...

12. What was your first child’s sex? Boy

13. How many pounds did you gain throughout the pregnancy? 39 lbs, at the highest point (about 38 weeks) . By my due date, it was down to 34 lbs, but I found the whole process very traumatizing. There is a reason I don't have a scale at home!

14. Did you have any complications during your pregnancy? Hmm, this falls under the "do you really want to know?" category. At 15 weeks, I had unexplained bleeding and had to go to the ER. The only good thing about that was getting to see him on Ultrasound 5 weeks ahead of schedule. The ultrasound tech commented on how much he moved, and correctly predicted his gender.

During the last 2 months, I retained huge amounts of water and was uncomfortable all the time, so I had to take sick leave the last 2 weeks of school. But, the real problems began at the very end of my pregnancy, when I tested positive for group-B strep (not such a big deal) and my always-perfect blood pressure suddenly shot up at the end. That's when they decided to schedule the induction. Of course, if you know me REALLY well, you know my major complications all occurred after his birth. :(

15. Where did you give birth? Mary Greeley Medical Center

16.How many hours were you in labor? They broke my water at 7:30 am. But I swear I never felt a contraction until noon, after a LOT of pitocin. Then they were suddenly NON-stop. Kiddo was born at 5:55 p.m. If he'd had a smaller head, he could have been born almost 2 hours earlier. The very nice, but nonetheless dingy, nurse said, "Oh, you'll have him out in about 3 good pushes." HA! Famous last words...

17. Who drove you to the hospital? The Daddy-O.

18. Who watched? The Daddy-O and my Mommy.

19. Was it vaginal or c-section? Vaginal, but with forceps. Blech.

20. Did you take medicine to ease the pain? You bet your sweet bippy. After an hour straight of constant contractions, I could hardly breathe at all. Yeah, I wanted to go natural, but... I'm a total wimp. After the epidural, I felt tired, boneless, and shivered a lot, but I didn't feel anything from the waist down until after he was born. For a brief hour I thought, "hey, that wasn't bad at all." Then the real pain began (from 3rd degree tearing and a grapefruit-sized hematoma)...

21. How much did your child weigh? 7 lbs, 14 ounces.

22. What did you name him/her? Well, you know I'm not posting that. But his first name is my Dad's name, and his middle name was chosen by my husband's parents, and means "prayer." I had considered naming him Isaac, since we laughed when we found out (plus, I love the name), or Moses, since I was reading the Old Testament while I was pregnant and wondered why nobody names their kid after an awesome guy like Moses any more. However, about 2 months before Kiddo came along, Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin named their son Moses, and I REALLY didn't want anyone to think we copied them. I do love them both, but just not that much.

23. How old is your first born today? Two, going on 40.

I always feel disappointed if I tag someone, and they don't want to do it, so here's the deal: if you're reading, and have a first-born, and you want to, I tag you. If you'd rather not, don't worry about it. I promise I'll still love you.

Only six?

I guess I haven't shared enough of my "quirks" with y'all, because I got tagged twice with this one, by Jennifer and by Spring. Either that, or my obvious weirdness makes them wonder what other hidden craziness I might possess. Either way, when I saw this tag to name six of my "quirks," I immediately thought of this scene from Runaway Bride, although I, unfortunately, misremembered the exact words, which are as follows:

MAGGIE (Julia Roberts): But you haven't lost your mystery! You're very mysterious!

PEGGY (the fabulous Joan Cusack, who I LOVE): No. I'm weird. Weird and mysterious are two different things.

MAGGIE: But I'm weird.

PEGGY: No. You're quirky. Quirky and weird are two different things.

So, here are my six. You can decide: quirky, or weird?

1. Ever since I discovered justified text, I think all documents should be justified, unless they're lists or photo captions. I really can't even begin to edit my husband's papers until the text has been justified. So the Ensign and the Friend, while wonderful publications, drive me a little crazy.... as did a book I read recently. I thought all novels had justified text! argh.

2. Toilet lids must be down unless someone is sitting on them, or just about to flush something down them. Really, who wants to look into a toilet? And leaving the lid up is just asking for trouble.

3. I don't think I could ever really pick one favorite of anything, except husband or Mom, I suppose! I have long lists of favorite things, and constantly feel like I must be leaving things out.

4. I really love the idea of gag gifts, and wish that I were rich enough to justify buying them. I just think it would be loads of fun to see the look on someone's face when they open their gift and it turns out to be a Chia Pet, or a Richard Simmons DVD, or some truly hideous outfit. On that note, I guess you should all be glad that I'm not rich because you'd likely be among my victims! (insert evil laughter)

5. You know how on those cheesy radio shows, the disc jockeys have all these buttons where they can play stupid noises or goofy sound bytes? Sometimes I wish I had a little mini-machine that did the same thing. I'm always thinking while I'm talking of little catch-phrases from old shows or movies, or that sound they make at the beginning of every Law and Order scene, but my ability to mimic them is sorely lacking. Sadly, I realize this means I do sort of have something in common with Rosie O'Donnell, because, if you'll recall, on her original talk show, she would push some button under her desk, and a sound byte of "How bizarre, how bizarre" or something else would play... sigh.

6. I cannot publish a post, or send an email unless I've read it several times to edit. And if it turns out I didn't catch an error, I feel upset. I have even been known to edit a post after it's been on the blog a few days if I don't like the way I wrote something. I know-- can you say, "Perfectionist?" It's so bad.

7. Okay, it's only supposed to be 6, but since I'm extra-weird, I'll give you a super-sized TAG with one bonus item: I think I am incapable of purposely posing for a goofy photo. You know how people love to pose for pictures in which they're screwing up their faces, or flexing, or jumping in the air, or pretending they're Charlie's Angels? I don't get that, at least when adults do it. Goofy photos of kids are different. I guess I've had so many "regular" photos of mine turn out looking dorky that I have no need to create any more dumb pictures of myself. Not that there's anything wrong with that...

Okay, so there you go. I can't remember who all has done this TAG before, so if you haven't, I will tag Amy, Rachel, and Mikaela. If you did it and I just forgot, please forgive me. I'm getting old. I may do this for Kiddo, too. Being my son, he's a crazy, quirky little guy.

Look-alikes?

I didn't know my Kiddo was such a chameleon. Is it just my imagination, or does he look a little bit like....


... Samuel L. Jackson?




... Tiger Woods?




... he wants to make a statement?

"Oh, yes, they call him the streak!"

One of Kiddo's latest hobbies is deciding to "get a little bit more comfortable" by suddenly removing his trousers. He doesn't seem to let visitors inhibit his behavior, either-- he's disrobed in front of his grandparents AND my new visiting teacher. Thankfully, he hasn't done this in public YET-- his shoes seem to be a fairly effective deterrent. So far, he's still leaving his shirts on, but I think this is just because the size of his cranium prevents him from doing that alone!

Anyone else have crazy, wannabe-streaker kiddos?

altogether too pleased with himself!

BBC NEWS: 50 interesting words

BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | 50 of your favourite words

Can I call myself a true nerd or not? I really only knew a small percentage of these words! I don't think that any of the following words are as obscure as those listed in this article, but I like munificent, dilapidated, ersatz, expeditiously, and ephemeral.

Another favorite is not really a word, but a Kiddo-ism: "rependous." This is his accidental combination of "remarkable" and "stupendous," two words I like to use to describe his talents! :)

Maybe the "stars" really are like us... ;)

Russell Crowe's Son Destined to Marry Keith & Nicole's Daughter? - Keith Urban, Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe : People.com

This article made me laugh, given that I sort of joke that Kiddo has a list of approved future brides (pretty much just the daughters of my dear friends or people I really admire, with extra points going to those girls whose parents read my blog ... and I request that he should get first shot at Miss Emmarae! :) ). I also thought Mikaela would appreciate this, since she too likes to match-make for Kiddo. It's good to know that Nicole Kidman and I are alike in one way. Too bad it isn't that we could be mistaken for twins...sigh.

Seriously, nobody should be allowed to look this good at 6 months pregnant-- unless we all did!

Gotta love Primary!

I think I neglected to post that almost 2 months ago, I was released from the Primary Presidency and called to teach the CTR-7 class (kids turning 7 years old in 2008). Even though they are a noisy bunch who demand treats and do not seem to realize that they are supposed to walk WITH their teacher to the classroom, I do already love them dearly. They all have their own quirks and cute personalities. For instance, one little girl likes to pause for effect in the middle of a story she's telling, and say, "We-ell, let's just say..." and continue with something like "... that wasn't a great idea."

Yesterday, the kid who I would say generally has the best manners of the group was looking at me intently, I assumed because he was listening to me teach, and suddenly stated, "You're really pale!"

"Yep," I replied, "I sure am."

"Why?" one of the other children asked.

"Uh, well, I was born that way I guess." By then I think the whole class was staring at me, attempting to sum up the situation. Trying to move past the awkwardness, I said, hopefully lightly, "It's pretty scary, isn't it? I look kinda like a vampire, don't I?"

They laughed, but they didn't disagree.... hmm....

If found, please return to:

Have you seen this guy? You know, the one who sleeps peacefully for several hours each night, and takes a nice healthy nap each afternoon?

The child who fell asleep on his own, sometimes so tired he could sleep in the oddest positions (yes, even after insisting we must not remove the shoes) and not even wake when we moved him?

It seems he has been abducted by aliens or something and replaced with this kid. You know, the one who leaves miles of messes in his wake? The one who wants to live it up all day, all night?

The child left in his place wants to party, party, party all the time and has no desire to let the Mama sleep!

This child has seemingly no end to his stores of energy and excitement. He is very cute, but more than exhausting. I am wondering if he has some serious demands, and he is trying to wear me down until I am ready to concede.

If you see my real Kiddo, the one who will cuddle a bit and then settle down and rest a while, please send him home! I miss him terribly, and I'm afraid his alien clone is going to send me to an early grave.

If you're wondering, this is the main reason I haven't commented on anyone's blog in a long time. I apologize. I'm just too tired for words. All I can think to say is to reiterate that you are all wonderful and your kids are beautiful. I hope they are all letting you get a good night's sleep, and maybe even a nice little nap here and there.

How much is too much?

Kiddo "reading" The Monster at the End of This Book,
one of my childhood favorites

If you've been reading the blog a while, you've probably noticed that I write a lot about my Kiddo. And that's natural, I suppose, since he is the focus of my life right now AND I love him to pieces. You've probably also observed that Kiddo is not your average toddler. In fact, he's really a lot smarter than he ought to be at this age. I don't say this to boast. I say it because it's true. But I've been hesitant lately to say TOO much about him and what he's been doing these days, and here's why: People are always stopping us to ask us how old he is, or to comment on how well he speaks. Sometimes they've heard him counting, or spelling "EXIT," or saying his ABCs or singing. If I had a dollar for every time we've been told that he's smart, I'd probably have a good start on his college fund. Some people have commented that we should "have him tested." Others tell us he should be on TV, many have suggested that I should definitely home-school. And some people, when told that he was two in June, look at him in shock, then look at us, look at him again, and shake their heads. And I wonder what they're thinking.

Daddy-O thinks some of them are uncomfortable because their kid doesn't do what Kiddo does. He is also afraid that the people who are really excited about Kiddo's skills might try to steal him. I know there are some people who just think he's cute and delightful. Some make a big point to say that I must work with him A LOT, which I don't think I do really. I think some probably think we're prideful and just drill him all day so he can show off and make us look good. Have you seen the movie Parenthood, in which Rick Moranis is pushing his toddler, Patty, to be the world's greatest genius even if it kills him and his wife? Yeah, well, we're not like that at all! Frankly, for the first year, I thought Kiddo would be much more like Steve Martin's little kid who just likes to spin around a lot-- and I was fine with that.

But Kiddo isn't like that. And I am proud of him. But I would be proud of him no matter what, because he is my son and I love him. To me, he's the best kid ever just because he's my kid-- not because I'm so special, or even that Daddy-O is special, but just because he's his own little wonderful guy. He also just so happens to know lots of countries adults have never heard of, and can tell you the authors of all his favorite books, knows the words to many songs, and now, knows all 43 U.S. presidents' names and "numbers." He likes to play with calculators. He doesn't build with blocks. He spells with them and makes 2-digit numbers. But it's because he likes to do these things, because he is innately curious, and he is possibly just a genius.

All we've done is had a home with books and maps and toys. We've read a little bit to him every day. We sing every day to him, and play different kinds of music. I like to talk, so I talk to him a lot. He doesn't watch a lot of TV, but he does watch Elmo or Arthur or Letter Factory almost every day-- maybe too much on some days. We've pointed out letters and words and numbers, just because we thought he'd need to know them some day. We answer his many, many questions the best we can. We've had no definite expectations for him, except that we hoped he'd be happy and enjoy learning. Heck, I mostly bought the U.S. Presidents placemat because I thought it would be interesting for me to learn. I thought it would be years before he picked it up himself!

Really, a lot of the things you're supposed to do, I haven't. I had to quit breastfeeding after 3 and a half weeks because of all my meds. We don't buy organic because we can't afford it. He's never had fish because I can't stand even the smell of it. He gets pizza at least once a week. You can hardly get him to eat a vegetable these days. I rarely play classical music, even though I like it, but because he likes music with words. I haven't always picked him up when he's crying. Sometimes I let him cry it out. We're not in a Play Group. The only special activity he regularly goes to is Story Time. He started watching segments of Elmo's World at four months just so I could run to the bathroom or take a five-minute shower. I've spanked him a few times, which I regret, but haven't totally given up. Sometimes I'm very distracted by my own stuff. Sometimes I wonder if I've somehow doomed him to a life of nerdiness. Other times I feel terrified that I won't be able to guide and teach him well enough for him to reach his potential because, for heaven's sakes, I'm really not that smart!

Anyway, what I'm taking a LONG time to say is that, I do want to share what Kiddo is doing, and I want you to know that it is for the right reasons. But I also really hope it doesn't make anyone uncomfortable. I just wonder sometimes, how much is too much? How much is too little?

WARNING: Could be hazardous to your health!

So, I haven't blogged much lately. Not a lot is going on here, really, except that the guys have icky colds and Daddy-O's grad school assignments are really eating into my computer time. Hmph! ;) And then there's Kiddo's recent feeling that HE needs to type too. He actually tried to push me off the chair this morning! Kiddo now has about 20 or so sight words now, and has learned to spell them all, too. So now he wants to type all those words every day. He gets very excited every time he sees the W for Word appear on the computer screen. But he gets a little impatient waiting for the program to load, so I've taught him to watch the hourglass until it pops up. Here's a photo of some of what he typed today. He doesn't totally get the concept of the spacebar yet, so the words run together. Can you find them? I count 14 that he made on purpose, 2 by accident.


Last week I found a book called Pizza at Sally's at the Library. Not only is the whole book about making pizza (one of the great joys of Kiddo's life), but there is also a page with lots of signs and Kiddo LOVES traffic signs. He even decided we needed to name the cat in the book, as well as the children in the "School Crossing" sign! However, the bad thing about this book (other than the cat helping to make the pizza-- yuck!!) is that the word PIZZA is repeated many, many times and now Kiddo can spell it, too. Daddy-O and I learned long ago that if we said "PIZZA," no matter how quietly, the kid would start begging for it. So, for about a year, we've been saying "p-i-z-z-a" instead. Ha, ha. Yeah, so now we have no code word for pizza. As my niece Emily pointed out, it's not like you can even say it in a different language, because it seems that the whole world calls it the same thing. I had thought that one of the good things about being so much older than my kid was that I'd be able to spell things so he wouldn't know what I was talking about. But it's all over now. We're going to try spelling it backwards, but it's only a matter of time I guess, before he figures that out too. Sheesh.

The other thing preventing me from blogging is that I joined Facebook last week and have been spending LOTS of time on that. Probably too much time. At least that's what my back, neck, and wrists have been telling me. But I tell you, that Facebook is addictive! It has been so fun to find friends who I haven't seen in years! And then there are all these dumb little things that you can add to your profile that are sorta fun, even though they're hardly necessary. The sad thing is that I'm a horrible correspondent, and now I have even more people I want to stay in contact with so I suppose I'll be even worse now. :( I apologize. I love you all. Really I do. And, hey, if you love me back, even just a little, leave a comment, okay? :)

"You can do it! I know you can!"

Australia?

I was checking my sitemeter today, and it said someone checked the Blog from Australia! I'm not sure who it was, but my Kiddo loves Australia! It's his "favorite country." We've taught him to say, "G'day, mate!" so he can fit in if he ever goes there. ;)

I've been wishing I knew someone who was going to Australia who could send him a postcard or even a cool little souvenir. But what do you do? Email everyone you know and say, "Hey, anybody going to Australia?" as though it's just another everyday activity? Well, I have actually thought about it!

So, anyway, if you're in Australia, post a comment and let me know who you are and if I can bribe you into getting a little surprise for my Kiddo.