Internet abbreviations

I understand there's a completely different spelling of the English language online, completely justified through instant messaging and comments on online games. My question is: Where's the line? Email is still an internet-thing...does it fit under the "new language" or the "old spelling" of words?

I know--I get irritated when things I record my thoughts with wrong spellings, but most people don't. But, don't most people know that "come" has 4 letters including a silent "e," or do they think it's "cum," like in an email I just read?

I accept internet shorthand, use it even, but some things just don't seem like a valuable use of thought to shorten.

My favorite abbreviation, though, is "roflcopter." Any guesses?

Superhero!

Jeremiah came running out of his room, shirtless, stripped off his pants and diaper in the hallway, ran a few steps, picked up a bib (that had meandered to the hallway from the kitchen somehow), ran to the couch, put the bib on backwards.... Instant superhero!

Basketball

(This is about Isaac, the biggest basketball fan in our family.)

I signed Isaac up for Happy Hoops at the YMCA to introduce him to the concept of sports, as John and I are both a bit lacking in that area. Today was his last class. He's absolutely loved it! He made a basket a couple weeks ago, and has wanted to go to his basketball class almost every day for the past four weeks. (It was only on Wednesdays.)

But he's been requesting to have a different class to go to for next time. Either a swimming class or a gymnastics class. (He thinks the mats are really cool.) So we'll see what to do with him in January.

I don't understand

Okay intrepid readers, I've uncovered a mystery, and I need your help.

What is going on here?

It's Practically Warm!

This morning I put on a fleece jacket when I took Jeremiah out to the bus, and I wasn't cold! Last night John and I were walking downtown, and I was freezing. It must have gotten warmer overnight, because it was an almost warm 27 degrees this morning.
I'm trying really hard to thicken up my blood this year. :)

Fingernail Biting

Isaac bites his nails. It's a bad habit for some, but an addiction for Isaac. His nails are about half the length they should be. Sometimes, though, I suppose his nails are a bit tired of being eaten, so he goes for his toenails. This afternoon I caught him snacking on his toes, and called him on it. He replied, "Yep--I'm just only cleaning my toes," so matter-of-factly. He (finally, after a few independent attempts over the past week) then allowed me to trim and clean his toenails. (His fingernails don't need trimming.)

See you Later Alligator!

I picked up Isaac from preschool today, and helped him fix his coat as he had put it on upside-down, making him the last child to leave his class. He talked to his teachers a little, and then his substitute teacher said, "See you later, alligator!" as we headed out the door. About six steps later, Isaac cracked up and said, "She called me alligator! That's silly!"

Speaks for itself

I never was a big Fresh Prince of Bel Air fan, but Carlton singing a 30 second Mormon opera just may have changed my mind!

Parent-Teacher Conference #2

Yesterday was Jeremiah's parent-teacher conference, and it was great! We had set goals for him with a slew of teachers in June, and he has been making extraordinary progress. He says words out loud (as opposed to in whispers) pretty much all the time at home and most of the time at school. He has started playing with the other kids. He knows what his name looks like (and has started calling himself "Miah"). He loves to wear lycra sleeves and his weighted vest. He's pretty much a cute, happy, easy-going little boy.

His class plays outside almost every day, and often ride on tricycles together. At the beginning of the year, Jeremiah didn't want to ride the bikes, so he sort of watched the other kids. Then he would run after the kids on the bikes. THEN he figured out he could stand on the back of another bike and have a classmate take him for a ride; one day the classmate got off the bike while Jeremiah was riding and Jeremiah fell down and was very surprised. Now Jeremiah will ride the bikes too, and chase the other kids, and play tickling games with them (all while playing on the bikes).

Jeremiah will give correct answers when asked colors and numbers, when they give him some time to come up with the answer. He sings songs, including actions, that the children learn each week. And when they walk through the halls, everyone asks who the cute little boy is. :)

Parent-Teacher Conference #1

We had Isaac's Parent-Teacher conference on Tuesday. Isaac came too, since his conference was immediately after his class. He showed us his classroom, and then he sat with us at the table and listened to his teacher for about 20 minutes. He's doing really well at school. He plays nicely with the other children, he listens to stories, he follows the rules. The only things he has trouble with is sometimes doing something with only general direction, such as "It's your turn, Isaac," when they're playing a game and ten other kids have already had a turn--he doesn't really know what to do; or he scribbles when he's instructed to draw a face, but will do the individual parts when asked. So we'll work on more game-playing and imitation and coloring in general at home. His teacher also said that they don't always understand him when he speaks; we gave permission for the speech teacher to evaluate him, to see if he needs some therapy. (This is sounding familiar...) John and I think that partly he could use some speech therapy, but mostly the things he talks about aren't the normal things 4-year-olds talk about. Ghosts and dragons and things that don't usually exist, doing things that are slightly unusual. "The ghost put the dragons in the cage! Waa waa! That makes the dragons so sad. The Care Bears are coming to help; Good job, Care Bears!" Not that I think other kids don't talk about ghosts and dragons and cages and Care Bears, I just think they don't put them together like that.

Bus

Jeremiah LOVES to ride on the bus. Last night he had a short, late nap and when he woke up (a tiny bit cranky) he went to our living room and was wandering around, listening for the bus, and asking, "Where are you bus? Bus? Coat? Backpack?"

This morning I went in to his room to wake him up (he was happily waking up on his own at the time--lucky for me) and help him get dressed, because "the bus is coming!" He got dressed quickly, with only a little bit of tickling for each of us, and we looked at a book until his bus came. (The book was "Off with their Heads," and the cover had a picture of a standing man. The man's head was a cabbage. We looked at it. We weren't reading it. He wanted to take it to school, but I put it on the floor when we were heading out to the bus.)

He has a cute little excited walk when we go out to the bus, and a little happy grin to go with it. I'm trying to remind him to hold onto the railing as he walks up the stairs, and I try to say bye before he turns to walk down the bus to his seat. I said "bye, Jeremiah" as he was going up the last step, and when he was up, he turned and waved and smiled and said, "Bye-ee! Bye!" I hope the bus driver doesn't mind the extra few seconds it takes. My day is made when Jeremiah says bye to me in the morning. (The bus driver always smiles, so I'm pretty sure he doesn't mind.)

Jeremiah's Shopping Trip

Jeremiah and I went to the store this afternoon. I wanted some yummy french bread, but we needed to pass the apples on the way to the bread, so I waited until the end of our trip to get the bread. Jeremiah adores apples...we couldn't get more than 8 feet away. We put two apples into a bag (one with a couple small bites taken from it), and then were temporarily appeased and able to get the bread and buy our things.

We also "impulse bought" a Spiderman hat and glove set for him. He loves Spiderman as intensely as he loves apples, though not for as long. (He was Spiderman for Halloween. Pictures will come shortly.) He was very happy on the way home, with his Spiderman glove on his hand (the other was in the bag). And the apple had to wait until I could wash it. (Pesticides and all...)

More Leaves Tonight!

Here's the boys playing together in the leaves! They have so much fun, and the weather's been gorgeous, so they've been playing all day long! (The term "playing" involves throwing leaves at each other, running through the piles of leaves, and falling/hiding in the piles of leaves. We have several piles of leaves.)

Newer Tricks

On Thursday, Danielle waved for the first time with her fingers. And now, when I'm telling the boys that Danielle says hi, she will wave with her fingers! So cute!

The girl loves to eat! Cranberry sauce and (canned) green beans are her favorite foods. And she now adores her highchair! no more complaining there.

Danielle loves to play and crawl in the leaves. She doesn't go too fast too far...

And Isaac likes to play with her.

And Isaac likes to play outside and be silly...

And play inside and be silly...

Jeremiah is repeating and saying more words all the time, and comes up with cute things to things to say. ("Where are you Daddy?" when John was covered up in a pile of leaves, for example.)

Isaac started taking the bus to school last week, and Jeremiah was positively jealous at first but is now getting better at accepting his fate. Isaac LOVES taking the bus to school! Today his teacher commented that he was very happy at school.

The boys are both growing. I just bought new long-sleeved shirts for Isaac, but the sleeves are on the short side and his belly shows when he moves...so he'll be getting new new clothes, and Jeremiah will be wearing only-worn-maybe-once-hand-me-downs from his brother.

We had friends over for pumpkin painting last week, and the boys had a lot of fun.
It's true--the pumpkins didn't turn out to be true works of art. But they were fun to do!

Danielle's New Tricks

Here are a couple of Danielle's new tricks from the past couple weeks:

She pulls to standing, cruises along the furniture, and takes a couple steps holding onto a couple fingers.

She plays peek-a-boo! (She's the instigator.)

She claps!

She says "mama" and "dada" discriminately, as well as randomly throughout her babbles.

She has always liked her two fingers from her right hand to be in her mouth, and for the last couple months has liked to sleep holding onto a blanket with her other hand (still sucking on her fingers). The new development in this, though, is... Whenever she's crawling around our house and she goes near a blanket (or shirt, sock, or any other fabric) she immediately stops with her left hand on the "blankie" and her right two fingers in her mouth.

She's adorable.

Pikluk!

So I know I get pretty excited about a lot of Web 2.0 silliness, but this is truly amazing. It's an internet browser for kids, where the parents though firefox or IE select a list of sites it's okay for their kids to visit (with accounts for each child) and then those sites show up as big buttons when they open the browser. The site is http://pikluk.com/ its totally free (although is does require Flash 9 so you may need to update)

I had adapted a greasemonkey script to do the same thing, but this is so much, easier/prettier/better. So tell your friends and cross your fingers that they get Y Combinator funding for the Winter session.

Sunbeam Success!

Today Isaac's new Sunbeams teacher told John that Isaac did extremely well in class today. (After John told me this, I asked if he saw Cade at church...hmm, me neither...and Ben wasn't there either...)

The success, though, is that Isaac had a footstep cut out of paper, which had the words "I will follow Jesus" written on it and a little crayon scribble of something. I asked Isaac what it was, and he replied, "It's following Jesus!" and then was distracted by something else.

He also had a little hat with the same words. And he let Jeremiah wear it for hours after church today. He's becoming a very sweet, obedient, sharing 4 year-old.

Relaxing Game

I wanted something relatively brainless to do before I went to bed (for relaxation/destressing/whatever), and this is what John came up with.

9 Months Old

Today was Danielle's 9 month well-baby exam. (She's only had well-baby appointments, which is great!) And, pretty much, she's perfect. Her growth curve is pretty much straight on, the nurse wasn't concerned about her not eating "baby foods," she's doing everything she's supposed to be doing, including pulling to standing and beginning to "cruise" along the furniture.

And Danielle being 9 months old means...only 3 more months until Christmas!

Sharing

Today in Primary, the children were learning about sharing. The teacher told a story where she gave a pair of her shoes to a lady who didn't have any shoes, and then asked the children what they could do to share their things to help others.

Isaac's friend said, "I can share my green talking dinosaur with another kid!"

(He was sitting behind us in Sacrament meeting and Jeremiah turned, saw the dinosaur, and grabbed it really fast. The boys parents subtly convinced him to share for a few minutes.)

Then Isaac spoke up, "I can share my toys!"

He then gave James a "look" across the room, and continued, "James can share his toys too."

Nod of Approval

I had made brownies earlier in the evening, and right before bedtime came into the kitchen to find...


Cute kid.

Excuse the slight cross-eyed-ness. When his glasses are on it's not as bad as without them.

And please excuse the time on the clock. Yes, it was the correct time. And very much after bedtime. :)

Bananas for bananas!

So, this is my 3,000 word essay...

About half of her food ends up inside of her. So I eat half a banana, she eats a quarter of a banana, and she distributes the rest as she sees fit. (It doesn't show up well in the pictures, but her left eyelashes are covered with banana-goo.)

Isaac helped (he moves, I shoot)

And on the seventh day he rested

Isaac missed his preschool class today. (I do have "first day of school" pictures on our phone...and second day of school pictures still on the camera when we couldn't figure out how to get a picture off the phone...so those will come soon, probably.)

I made brownies on Wednesday, and when I offered Isaac one he declined, stating that it would make his tummy feel yucky. (I thought, When did I teach him that? I don't think I did--maybe he learned something in preschool or Sunbeams about good foods and yucky tummy foods...Hmmm, curious.) Last night he started throwing up. The last time was mid-morning today. And he's kept some soda and cheesy bread down late tonight, after his four hour nap on the living room floor, so I think he's doing better.

"Break-In"

Last night we all went shopping--I didn't notice that Jeremiah's new shoes were of the "wide" variety, of which his feet are not, so we exchanged them for new ones. I brought the things in from the car, and opened Isaac's door for him, and let John bring in the other kids. But after we were all inside, I remember thinking I should lock the car...but I didn't.

So it's 5 now. Someone rang the doorbell 8 times in a row, then rapped on the door a bunch. (I admit, when the doorbell kept ringing, I thought it was Isaac--what adult would do that?! Oh. A police officer.)

So I went outside. And our neighbor had been outside and seen a 28-year-old woman going around our car, looking in the windows, and decided to quickly call the police. The officer thought perhaps the neighbor was confused since young women don't typically break into cars. We checked the car, but there wasn't anything in there to steal other than some car seats (which were still there). I think that some girl was walking around, saw that a car had it's interior lights on and wanted to do a good deed by getting it to turn off, and then ran away when she saw someone had seen her and mistook her intent.

Poor girl.

I tried to close the trunk, and a blanket was in the way of the latch and needed to be tossed inside all the way before I could close it. I guess it's good the alarm wasn't on--when the trunk closed, it would have set the alarm off. :)

The Bus

When Jeremiah came home yesterday, most of my worries were relieved: Did he make it to school, to his teacher? Will he make it back...?

He did.

Even better, this morning when I was taking him out to his bus, he got really excited. I don't know if it was to get on the bus or that the bus takes him to school, but either way is good for me. That made me feel better, that everything is going to be just fine.

The bus bringing him home arrived about 15 minutes early, and pulled up to the side of our house, and honked twice. We have a neighbor that takes the bus home and arrives about 20 minutes before Jeremiah, who lives across the street, so I assumed it was him. A couple minutes later, a lady holding onto a little boy's hand was walking to our door, and everything almost made sense--it was Jeremiah's bus.

Except the little boy wasn't Jeremiah.

We returned that boy to the bus, and traded him for the little boy who was crying, but forgot to ask if he had a coat with him (it was raining this morning). When Jeremiah got out of the bus, he held my hand all the way inside and then some.

I like that he wants to cuddle with me even more now that he's gone for some of the day.

And I think that school will be really good for him. I think he'll be having a lot of fun really soon. (It's still a little new, and he has some fun, but not as much as he soon will have. :)

Jeremiah's First Day of School

I thought I'd be really happy to have Jer go off to school, but apart from the momentary elation of putting him on the bus, I'm a little bit sad. We had a tiny bit of cuddle time this morning, but he was still pretty sleepy when the bus came.

Here's Jeremiah being fascinated that a bus is stopping in front of his house.


And here's us trying to get a cute "off to school" picture for his first day.

I'm sure he'll be just fine. Yesterday he screamed all the way to the car after his orientation; I think he'll have a ton of fun and play a lot, and hopefully be happy to get on a bus again to come home!

Happy, Cuddly, and Cute

Obviously (from the pictures) this entry is about John.

jk

I put new pajamas on Danielle last night, and she was just so cuddly and soft. I wanted to snuggle with her in the rocking chair all night long, but after about ten minutes I resigned myself to sleeping in our respective beds.

So, here she is this morning with her daddy, with her "morning hair." She's just so happy!

Vacuuming Makes Me Sad

Last night I had Isaac (and the big bird-dragon, and the little bird-dragon, and "Zaptos" the pterodactyl) help me clean up the toys in the living room so I could vacuum. After he had helped pick up toys and throw away some garbage, I got out the vacuum.

"Mom, I don't want you to vacuum. The vacuum makes me sad."

"Isaac, why does the vacuum make you sad? It's fun--it makes the carpet clean again, like magic!" (Maybe that's exaggerating my true feelings a bit, but...)

"You might vacuum me. And then you'd have to buy a new kid like me."

Oh!

"Isaac, there are no other kids like you. And I won't vacuum you up. Stay on the couch with the little bird-dragon and the big bird-dragon and Zaptos, and then the vacuum definitely won't vacuum you."

"Someone took my spot!"

As I was slowing down to pull into a nice parking spot I had circled around the hospital parking lot for, a fast black car zoomed right into it from the other direction. When he was about halfway in, he looked at me apologetically and questioningly motioned if it was mine. I nodded, a little sadly. And he paused, zoomed back out, found another spot, and ran into the hospital.

He made my day!

Jeremiah's Update

Jeremiah is three! His birthday was on Monday, though we haven't celebrated it yet. We did sing him "Happy Birthday" a dozen times or so, which he enjoyed. (He sings along a little bit: "Happy birthday ooo ooo, happy birthday ooo ooo! Appy birthday ear ooo? Happy birthday oo ooo!")

Because he's 3, he no longer receives his services (speech therapy, occupational therapy, and one-on-one with an early childhood teacher) that he had been getting weekly. BUT! School starts for him a week from today. And let me tell you that I'm super excited! We have a meeting with his teacher, in his classroom, next Tuesday. Everything is just working out so well. He's imitating everything now--some language or social something-or-other clicked for him--including actions for little songs and words we say all the time and singing. Jeremiah sings "The Star Wars Song," as in, he imitates the song that Isaac dubbed "The Star Wars Song," and "The Crazy Frog Song" (same), and "The Care Bears Song" which Isaac doesn't sing, and a couple others. He's just so cute and sweet and precious.

An interesting thought I've had a few times the last week or so: Because Jeremiah's speech is so delayed, I treasure it so much more. It's like I was given the gift of time with him. Actively teaching him to speak has been interesting and at times frustrating, but now I just treasure it, all the little words he says, all the little things he does. It's wound the strings tighter that bind us together. And I'm really glad I'm having this experience with him--it makes me a better person.

Jer has an eye appointment later this morning. Because he's been alternating the eye he uses this past month, I'm guessing that it won't be eventful. If we could get him to use both eyes, it would be super! But I'm not holding my breath for that one.

Sunbeams

Three and a half weeks ago, I received a phone call (a very apologetic one) in which I was asked to teach the Sunbeams class (3-4 year olds) at church. I almost said no, because Isaac's in that class and I know he does a lot better at church when I'm not in sight. But I said yes--she wouldn't have asked if there were many other choices. And later that day, all the substitutes were asked to continue subbing their respective classes for another two weeks.

Well. Today was the last of the two more weeks. And every week has been a different combination of kids, and consequently a different personality spectrum. Today was high on the feline side of the spectrum--5 of the 6 kids were pretending to be cats for 50 minutes, including the entirety of closing exercises and most of our class time. They weren't the purring types of cats, either; They were the loud, hungry types.

I had a breakdown on the way home from church and closed myself in my room when we got home. So now I'm wondering why in the world I'm planning on calling our new Primary president (who was the last one in the branch) to see if there's a Sunbeams teacher lined up for the next few weeks...and considering volunteering to be subjected to more. Part of me is just stubborn and not used to failure--maybe I just feel some odd need for a new challenge. Or something. But there's got to be a way to get those kids to focus and be interested. There's got to be, I know it.

ITIHANBF

John and I make up new acronyms when we're IMing each other--It's kind of fun to try to interpret what the other has to say.

So, that was "I think I have a new best friend." I think I can have an infinite supply of best friends, because each one is so different. THIS one brought me homemade jams and salsa and applesauce the first time she came over. What more could I ask for?

I know, I'm pretty easy. But I think everyone knew that already...

Another Fun Game

Monkeys shooting balloons. What can get better than that?

(Recommended by my little brother. :)

"The Race"

Alison: Hey John, are we "slow and steady wins the race" kind of people?

Pause.

John: Are we "hold still when the gun goes off and hope the race goes away" kind of people?

A Fun Thunderstorm

We've had some stormy weather the past few days--thunder and lightning and many inches of rain.

Last night, after Danielle had fallen asleep, John and I were getting the boys to sleep in their room.

Isaac was leaning against his wall, whimpering about sitting on his bed, when, all of a sudden (but not unexpectedly) there was a big thunder.

And Isaac started to giggle. "The thunder tickled me! hehehe! The thunder tickled me!"

Smarter than the Average Bear

One of the parenting tricks I've heard over and over again (mostly for toddlers or preschoolers, or at least in reference to toddlers and preschoolers) is to let them choose between two things:

"Do you want juice or milk with your lunch?" "Juice."

"Do you want to hop to your room or skip to your room?" "Skip."

Et cetera.

Isaac doesn't fit into the toddler or preschooler mold very well. This was our conversation in the kitchen:

Isaac: "I want some soda."

Me: "You need to put clothes on first, then you can have soda."

Isaac: "I DON'T WANT TO WEAR CLOTHES! I WANT SODA!"

Me (internally rolling my eyes): "If you want to have soda you need to put undies on. Do you want undies or Pull-Ups?"

Isaac: "I don't want undies or Pull-Ups. I want soda."

Me: "Would you like to wear undies or Pull-Ups?"

Isaac: "Um." Lengthy pause. "Soda."

People swear this strategy works. I'm not one of them. Isaac doesn't care what his choices are if he knows what he wants.

I'm picturing taking him to a restaurant in a year or two..."What would you like to drink?" "I want grape juice, with ice. I would like each ice cube to have a frozen grape in it. Thank you." Pause. "Um. We don't have gr--" "I WANT GRAPE JUICE WITH..." You get the idea.

The Best Part of being a Mom...

Is when it's Sunday afternoon and there are three little children asleep on their beds, one large husband asleep on his bed, and a tray of cookies ready to come out of the oven.

I love being a mom...

The Branch

Oh. By the way, our branch was combined with the ward two Sundays ago. I didn't write about that. I don't have much to say--we don't have callings for the moment, which is nice, but I'm sure will soon change. There's more people now. Maybe something interesting will happen later and I'll write about that sooner...

Danielle's Update

So, everyone knows that the cutest babies are sleeping babies... Especially with two fingers in her mouth...
Danielle was curious about the camera, and came over to investigate.
In many different rooms of the house
She's so happy! And fun and smile-y and sweet.
Can you see her two bottom teeth? I'm not sure--I think you can't see them in this picture. But they're pretty cute! And she's getting her top four teeth right now, too... She's sleeping better at night (not waking up 4-8 times like she was for a week or so), and she has a bit of a runny nose. And yes, that is a shoe in the picture, not attached to a foot.

Danielle still doesn't like baby foods. But she does like small solid foods, like Cheerios and little pieces of bananas. She doesn't really like cold food (ice cream, refrigerated apple sauce...).

She crawls all over the place. She knows what she wants, and intends to get it, whatever it is.

She's starting to babble! I say, "Dadada?" and she says "Mammama!" and it makes me grin. I get this secret thrill...okay, so it's not a secret. I get this thrill--she likes me best! I know it's ridiculous and not (necessarily) true, but it still happens!

A Brief History of our Marriage

Minesweeper: The Movie

For better or worse, a lot of you may be familiar with the work of Uwe Boll (BloodRayne, Alone in the Dark). Well I found a trailer for his latest project I thought worth sharing.

Road Trip!

Tonight we leave for...St. Louis, Memphis, and Iowa! Woohoo! We've been aching for a road trip for months. We're really very excited. Danielle will hopefully sleep through most of the drive, and Isaac will hopefully be distracted from us not being around by multitudes of cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents. John, Jeremiah, and I will be just fine. :)

(Yesterday's) Quote of the Day

"Power corrupts. Absolute power is kind of neat."

--John Lehman

A Joke

What's brown and sticky?

John's Aligning

So, I like to help John with his work. We sit on the couch and cuddle and look through lists and lists of state standards and check the box for the ones that match the textbook question.

Kansas has the most ridiculous standards. The most ridiculous one, though, is the following.

Understands that when he or she is playing a sport outside that sun screen should be applied to the shin.

We were so confused. Why the shin? Not the face or neck or ears or knuckles?

I just figured it out--it's a typo.

"Sun screen should be applied to the...skin."

Bathtub Fizzies

Jeremiah's occupational therapist suggested randomly changing his routine. Like having a different color of plate at dinner or doing things in a different order. So he's forced to notice that things are different. He has "low registration" of his world, meaning partly that he stops noticing things.

Yesterday I bought "bathtub fizzies"--you put a couple in the bathwater to dissolve, and it changes the color of the water. This morning we did a blue one and a red one, and the water was a pretty (though grayish) lavender.

I left the boys to their own devices while I folded a quick load of laundry. And when I checked on them I noticed bubbles in the bathtub...which weren't there before. So I stepped closer. And the water was black, with bubbles. What else did I buy? Oh. I didn't buy anything else. It was just all of the fizzies, care of Jeremiah's brother. And all of the baby wash, care of Jeremiah's brother. I sternly said That's not okay. And turned into the kitchen to cover up my laughter.

So, 20 blue fizzies and 20 red fizzies and 20 yellow fizzies make black. Maybe really really dark brown.

Potty Training Complete?

Maybe it's one of those non-events, where I can't tell the difference between before and after, like day turning into night. But I'm pretty sure it's nighttime now. Isaac's potty trained! I still have him wear Pull-Ups to bed, but they've been dry in the morning. He always uses the toilet! No more diapers for Isaac! WooHoo!!!

Today I went to the library and checked out all of the picture books about potty training (hopefully nobody else wants any for a few weeks) in hopes that Isaac will be happy to not wear diapers, as opposed to able to and unhappy about it. We read 6 books straight through (and then he was finished reading "potty books"), and I think that he's convinced that children can be happy without diapers and that it's fun to be big.

Maybe we can allot $40 a month to ... Spiderman toys? magnetic marbles? books? and underwear every once in a while, I suppose.

Interesting Choice

A sequence of random factoids that culminate in a story:

On the playhouse Disney website, there is an incredible machine game where you place the correct body part on the animal. In keeping with the prevalence of relativism, placing a trunk on a tiger earns you an enthusiastic "Interesting choice!"

We have a warehouse-style grocery store in La Crosse (Woodman's) that sells Breyers Ice Cream for $2.99 regular price (It's typically $5.50 or more)

Alison made quesadillas for our boys last night, including a healthy portion of refried beans to dip them in.

So, we had a little ice cream party; Alison served everyone a bowl of Mint and Chip. By chance Jeremiah received his dessert and sat next to the bowl of bean dip. Without us noticing, after a few bites of ice cream he grabbed the beans and stabbed himself a spoonful. So we got a good laugh out of Jeremiah's meal planning. Not only did he eat that spoonful of beans, once he had a taste he ditched the ice cream and went whole hog on the refritos. Eventually he did settle into an every-other-spoonful routine, but we were more than a little surprised that cold refried beans were a little higher on the food-tasting-totem-pole than, of all things, Breyers mint and chip, (especially considering we're convinced it's harvested from the first snows of Christmas morning by chocolate sprinkling elves from Santa's workshop).

Crossword puzzles

John and I were in two different places at the same time. (I know it's not as hard as me being in two different places at the same time, but it was fun to write!) We did a crossword puzzle together. It was fun; they have a chat that we used at first, but it was really slow, so we used out google chat instead. The sad part was that the answers were sometimes too obvious--"able to be repaired" was "reparable." But it was fun. You can "invite" someone to do a crossword with you, and it sends them an email with a link to the site.

Installing an Alarm

Friday night the small window in our boys' room was opened from the outside while we were home, around 9:30 at night.

Today we had an alarm system installed.

I think I'll sleep better now. After two nights of sleeping for about four hours (and interrupted at that) I crashed last night for 11. It was nice. I do like my sleep, it's true.

So we have an alarm, we had some extra devices installed on the windows in the children's rooms, and we have a sign for our yard, which I really wanted.

We're considering installing a motion activated spotlight on the corner of our house. I just heard about motion sensor sprinklers, which could be plain fun.

Potty Training Isaac

Throughout the day I hear little footsteps running to the bathroom and little tinkling noises in the bathroom. It took me a few days to adjust my thinking from "Don't play in the sink!" to "Oh, Isaac sure pees a lot."

Yesterday was a landmark day. Isaac ran to the bathroom about 5 minutes after he had peed. And then he came out and said, "Mom, wipe my bum please," so very sweetly. Yes! He understands.

Much better than "I NEED A WI-IPE!"

Writing a Letter to the Sun

Last night Isaac didn't want to go to bed. "The sun doesn't want to go down!!!!! The sun wants to stay up!!!!!" I suggested that since the sun was already down (as in, behind the trees and we couldn't see it anymore even though it was still light outside), we could write the sun a letter when it comes up again.

So this morning (way after the sun came up) we wrote the sun a letter. And we told the sun that Isaac gets sad when it goes down, etc, and put it in an envelope and stamped and addressed it, and took it to the mailbox and put the red flag up so the mailman knows there's a letter inside.

(Um, Grandpa...when you get the letter to the sun, could you write back and explain why you--the sun--need to go down and that it's okay for Isaac to go to sleep or something? Thanks. That would help a bit I think.)

Creating money (and lawnmowers)

So every once in a while you see some excitable talk about how banks are allowed to create money. Wikipedia has table in their fractional reserve entry demonstrating this:

Table 1: Private bank T-account
	Action	Assets	Liabilites	Reserves
1	Customer A deposits 100 paper dollars	None	$100 in interest-bearing deposits	100 paper dollars
2	Bank loans $70 to Customer B	IOUs worth $70	$100 in interest bearing deposits	30 paper dollars
3	Customer B deposits 70 paper dollars	IOUs worth $70	$170 in interest-bearing deposits	100 paper dollars
4	Bank loans $49 to Customer C	IOUs worth $119	$170 in interest-bearing deposits	51 paper dollars
5	Customer C deposits 49 paper dollars	IOUs worth $119	$219 in interest-bearing deposits	100 paper dollars

The bank's IOUs and deposits are increasing; there is more money with each step in the process to a maximum of 333 (100 the initial deposit/30% the reserve requirement).

What I realized today is that you can do the same thing with lawnmowers. Suppose Kelvin owns a lawnmower. He brings it to Larry and offers to give him the lawnmower in exchange for a note that says "Redeemable for (1) lawnmower -Larry" Does Kelvin own a lawnmower? Certainly, he bought it first and has a legally binding contract saying he's owed one. Does Larry own a lawnmower? You bet! He's cutting the grass right now.

In fact, Larry could show up to a casting of Oprah and present everyone a certificate good for one lawnmower in exchange for an IOU for one. It's Oprah, EVERYONE gets a lawnmower.

The fractional reserve system would insist that Larry keep one out of nine lawnmowers he accepts just in case Kelvin decides to mow; keeping one out of one lawnmowers like some suggest would pooper the Oprah party, and who wants that?

Isaac's Eating!

Isaac hasn't really eaten a whole lot for two years or so. This week he's been eating again, asking for more corn and carrots and shepherds pie. The only seeming difficulty with this is that he's running to the bathroom every half hour or so. Last night he was trying to get out of his room (after bedtime) and John caught him and was telling him he needed to go to sleep, etc, and Isaac started whimpering. John finally caught on to Isaac saying "...peepee in the toilet..." oh so whimperingly soft. Yes! He eats and uses the toilet! (So long as we don't diaper him. We'll see how long it takes to get him fully potty trained, regardless of his diaper situation.)

Danielle's Finger Trick

Yesterday John discovered a trick that Danielle does, and shared it with our entire branch one family at a time. To his credit, she did it faster for people than for the camera.

Isaac's Before Bedtime Craziness

Isaac's a ton of fun...especially when we want him to get settled down for bed. He's pretty good about keeping us all entertained, and we thought we'd get a little video of him singing (he has a really good ear and changes his pitch to match whatever he hears) but it turned out to be this.

Finances

So, I was just checking our bank account online, and I looked at the balance, and I thought...

"That's impossible!"

In a good way.

I saw a much bigger number there than I'm used to seeing.

Except, it was the available credit we have. Not the cash we have. Maybe next time.

Comments

Hello my dear blog-readers:

I like that you--particularly my family--read my blog. I know that you read it because I mostly hear things from mom...So, I have made it possible for you to leave comments without actually signing in or having an account. We like comments! It makes us feel special and loved (and we all know that those are good things). Please leave us comments!!!

Oh, and when a couple people mention things like "we want more movies of the kids" it happens sooner than it otherwise would. Yes, we take requests.

:)

"Peanuts in my Pepsi"

When John was serving his mission, he met a guy (one of the other elders? an investigator?) who put peanuts in his Pepsi. "It's all about the crunch, man, it's all about the crunch." Sort of ridiculous--the peanuts would obviously float to the bottom, and "the crunch" wouldn't happen until you're eating wet peanuts after you drink your soda.

Obviously not. I just attempted this (because I always thought it was ridiculous). The peanuts actually float to the top (come on, unless you tried it before, you thought the peanuts would sink, too, just like I did). "The crunch" is kind of fun, but about half of the peanuts floated to the back of the glass when I went to drink it, so there was the "wet peanuts effect" after my soda was gone (I used Sprite--I don't know if that affects anything--Did you notice my proper use of "effect" and "affect?" I'm a sucker for grammar and spelling, always have been.) I also used honey roasted peanuts, which I might change in the future (supposing future "peanuts in my Pepsi" episodes) as the honey roasted goodness is removed by the soda and leaves a gross-looking film in the glass.

Maybe it's better with Pepsi?

Danielle's 6 Month Check-up

Danielle was 6 months old on Sunday. Yesterday we had her well-baby appointment. She is perfect--mostly my opinion, but confirmed by our pediatrician. She weighs 16 pounds 6 ounces, is 25 3/4 inches long, has good head control, reaches for things to put them in her mouth, turns toward sounds, is starting to babble repetitive syllables.

It's fun to read through the check-lists of what she's supposed to be doing. It's sort of like "yep, yep, yep, yep, oh?...huh, yep, yep, yep, yep." The oh? is that we're supposed to be feeding her like crazy--eight foods a day. I'll work on that. (She's not a big fan of food.)

She got more immunizations. She sounded extra sad because she's had a cold (not teething unfortunately--I had forgotten that sometimes babies just get sick) and she was tired. But it didn't last all day this time, luckily. She was extra-cuddly yesterday, but still slept pretty well last night (as in woke up twice but only needed to be held to get back to sleep).

Ins and Outs...Mostly Outs

Today:

Danielle is teething--runny nose and fever and sad faces and not sleeping well.

Jeremiah--takes off his clothes before he pees on the floor.

Isaac--throws up every time he eats, but keeps sneaking food into his room because he's hungry.

After-Dinner Conversation

Alison: What's it called when my head says "eat more food" but my stomach says "don't"?

John: Being full.

pause...

Alison: What's it called if I listen to my head?

John (distracted): Willpower.

Alison: Uhhh...

(written as I'm eating my third bbq pork sandwich)

Eating Toes

John was holding Danielle, and put her little foot in her mouth. She looked a little surprised and pleased, and started gnawing on it. John mentioned how easily her foot reached her mouth.

"Like it's hard," I said. He didn't think I could do it. But I did. I put my toes in my mouth (but I didn't close my mouth--I know where my feet have been).

Isaac walked in the room. "Hey, Isaac!...Oh. Never mind." He bites his nails. All of them.

John can't put his foot in his mouth. He can only get it up to his knee when he's sitting. He demonstrated this to me. I thought it was ridiculous, though he's shown me his inflexibility before.

I just checked. Jeremiah can put his foot into his mouth. Unlike Isaac, he doesn't think that toes are a food group.

Isaac's Birthday!

Today Isaac turned four!

Lots of people came over to see Jeremiah, and so I told each of them it was Isaac's birthday.

Each of them (5 different people) said "Happy Birthday!" to which he replied "Thank-you" very meekly.

Then they each asked "How old are you?" and he said, "Um, I'm big."

And then they would say, "How many years old are you today?" and if he gave a number, it was...

"Ten."

Future Army Enlistees

I have a couple kids who seem to be headed to the army.

First is Isaac. He's obsessed with the "command post." And he refers to himself as the Commander. And he "shoots" the "bad guys" (toilet paper) in the toilet.

Next is Danielle. She's been working on her "army crawl," and has become quite good at it.

Jeremiah...we're still waiting to see where to place him...Maybe in the secret intelligence. He's pretty good at keeping a secret...

Danielle's First Tummy-ache

Today Danielle threw up. Many times. She completely emptied her stomach, and ended up dry-heaving. She had her first truly sad expression, not immediately after she threw up the first time (that was followed by a huge smile--she was still pretty happy) but after half an hour of throwing up and getting cleaned up. Poor little girl. She did get cuddly, which is a sad perk for me. Her tummy is empty--she didn't even act like she was hungry in the past seven hours or so. We'll see how she does through the night.

Days of the Week

Isaac is learning the days of the week. I've been using "church-day" for Sunday, because the only place we go on a regular day is church. (Yes, that will be changing soon. For better or worse.) But we've been using "in x times the sun comes up" and following that with the name of a day of the week.

So of course Isaac is picking up on the names of the days. For example:

"No playing soccer! Play soccer on Tuesday! I want to jump on the trampoline!"

"Danielle doesn't want to sleep! Only sleep on Sundays!" (Oh, wouldn't that be fun?)

Isn't he cute?

5th Anniversary

5 years, 4 dwellings, 3 kids, 2 degrees (and a third on the way), 1 really big argument (and a handful of smaller ones).

Yesterday was our anniversary. John spent most of the day working. I showed up at 11:30 with IBC root beer and a key lime pie to commemorate the occasion. It was fun to remember and share stories from our marriage. We've been pretty happy.

Palm fist ninja strike... of Doom!

So I was eating a piece of cake (Sarah's graduation picture cake sans paper picture) and Alison wanders over to the table. She suddenly stared intently at a spot right above my right eye socket. Her lips curled into a sneer, her brow furrowed with intent, and then she sprang. Rotating from the hip, with her fingers curled and palm up, she executed a surprisingly forceful palm strike to my skull. Stunned (and somewhat concussed) I turned to her with a look that I'm sure was something like cross-eyed bewilderment.

Mission accomplished, she stated tersely, "mosquito."

Interesting Maps of the United States

I like statistics, and I think that maps can tell a statistical story in a unique way. I just saw a map that renamed the 50 states with countries which have similar GDPs, and one of my all-time favorites shows the most-used terms for carbonated beverages.

Snails and Puppy-dog Tails...

Isaac and I were looking through a book of pictures this morning, and I was quizzing him on different pictures. He was doing really well. And then I pointed at the snail.

He said, "Umm, that's a marshmallow-caterpillar." Of course, with his r's and l's sounding like w's, it sounded more like, "umm, that's a mawsmawwocatawpiwwa." So I asked him again, and deciphered his interesting word.

Isaac and I took the book over to John, and I pointed at the snail and said, "Isaac, what's this one?" and Isaac said, "That's a snail, Mom."

Eye Patches

Jeremiah had another eye appointment this past Monday. He's good about keeping his glasses on (finally), which is great, except his left eye still crosses in. It doesn't cross as much when he has his glasses on, but it didn't straighten out as we were hoping it would.

Which means he now needs to wear an eye patch over his right eye to let his left eye work on seeing so he doesn't lose his sight in that eye.

We need to keep an eye patch on for 12 hours a day, every day, for a few months. The little problem with this is: Jer doesn't particularly like having a "band-aid" over his eye. I put one on him this morning, and he kept it on for about 3 minutes, because I was holding him and trying to keep him distracted. And after the patch is removed, it no longer sticks particularly well.

I put it over my eye when he took it off, and I tried to keep it on for as long as I could (as though by doing so I could prove that it isn't that bad and is maybe even fun). I think I might have lasted about 3 minutes. It wasn't very fun, and it was really irritating and obnoxious. So, we'll see.

I figured out that at 3 minutes a patch, we'd only need to patch it 240 times a day. (His doctor did say that 6 hours would be good, though 12 is better. So that would only be 120 patches...) We'll work on it, and probably pick up some tape to make it harder to remove. Poor kid. So many little irritating things to keep on his little body. Glasses, a diaper, a patch...

Trampoline!

Tersity

Jeremiah stuck his hand into the box of Cheerios. He had captured two of them and held them tightly in his fist. He stared one down and said "Bye," then swallowed it whole.

Smoke Poop

Isaac's new potty training involves going around naked. (Unfortunately, the transformers are fun to play with but he needed a little extra motivation.)

So he was naked in the kitchen with me and then he raised his eyebrows and said, "Uh-oh!"

He looked behind him...

Then thought about it...

Then said, "Mom! I had a smoke-poop!"

Pause.

"Ex-cuuuse me!"

"Can" and "Should"

Sometimes you should do things just because you can. Other times, even though you can do something it doesn't mean you should.

For example...

This morning I was getting dressed. (Something I should do because I can.) I decided to try on some capris from a couple years ago, which used to be very loose. (Arguably another thing I should do because I can--spend less money on new clothes, consider progress my body has made at returning to normal proportions, etc.) When I sucked in my stomach as much as I could and stretched out like a cat, the pants no longer made me look horrible, but only slightly roll-y in the wrong places (not like there are really right places to look roll-y).

Wearing those pants was definitely something I shouldn't do, even though I could.

Another Nudist Joins the Crew!

Isaac has joined the ranks of our nude-loving family. He's taken this to an extent unprecedented.

His potty-training is the cause. I decided to let him go diaperless, under the (correct) impression that he wouldn't pee all over everything, but would wait to use the toilet. He just didn't care if his diaper was soaking wet or poopy. I take full responsibility for his nudist ways.

He at least had a shirt on this morning, but after bathtime, well, he doesn't anymore.

"No Eating Spaceships"

Isaac and Danielle like to play together. Right now they're both playing with spaceships. Isaac's spaceship is coming down for a landing...wheee! Danielle's spaceship is going into her mouth...Mmmm!

"Noooo. Noo eating spaceships. Blech! Noooo eating spaceships, Danielle. Nooo eating spaceships."

Isaac wipes off the wet part of the spaceship, and gives it back. "Noooo eating spaceships."

Nudist Colony

Yes. It's true. We have a secret nudist colony surfacing over here now that summer is upon us. It appears to be growing, as well.

A relative (who will remain unnamed) stopped by at an unreasonably early hour (around 8 a.m.) a few days ago, and let herself in. Which would have been fine had we been a normal family and awake. But, we weren't. I awoke to somebody opening our front door and made John put some clothes on (no, neither of us were actually naked, just inappropriately dressed to have company--but appropriately dressed for sleeping on a hot summer's night).

Rather embarrassing.

Jeremiah has a notion to become a stripper. This morning as I changed his diaper, he kept saying, "No die, no die." (As in "diaper," not death. Duh.) But I put it on anyway. Only to find him completely naked 5 minutes later. I let him be in his heroic altogether for quite a while before I dressed him again. (And yes, "heroic altogether" was my favorite term from Humanities 202. It cracks me up. Actually, our textbook was rather entertaining and well-written, which happens to be completely off-topic.) Jeremiah stayed dressed for an hour or so...

But as I was saying: a nudist colony. Call before you come over. Unless you like surprises...

So, I have a several point disclaimer before I post this photograph. I am a pretty opinionated guy when it comes to politics; Alison and I talk quite a bit about news stories etc. Everyone is entitled to their own rational opinion, however, and we rarely align perfectly in our policitical beliefs and because it can be such a passionate subject and can cause conflict I will, for the most part, keep the opinions I consider rational to myself.

I will say, however, that there appears to be a lack of reasoned discourse on politics at the moment. I think talk radio had a lot to do with that; it is really powerful to take language that the opposing side applies to itself and turn it into a dirty word, "liberals" "neo-cons" "elites" are examples that come to mind. I think using this as a strategy is effective in the 1984 newspeak sense; one can limit thought and discourse to the strawman that is linked to the word. So Michael Dukakis => liberal => bad, Hillary Clinton => liberal and liberal => bad, therefore Hillary => bad. So we can find the worst example attached to a broad political category and get the general public to associate the worst with the rest, all without much thought on anyone's part.

This is probably an overly personal view into how my mind works, because that whole long- winded worldview critique is just helping me resolve the guilt from posting this (now quite hypocritical) photo to our blog.

Desktop Tower Defense

John taught me how to manipulate time, or to be more accurate, the perception of time. It's pretty simple. You just visit the website handdrawngames.com/desktoptd. After I start playing, my accuracy in time estimation goes out the window. It's great. And, if you want to join our high scores list or see our strategies for playing, you can look up our group, under maskedmallard, used without the permission of the Masked Mallard.

Modern Art

John and I like modern art. Some more than others. Of course.

I think that Isaac might be reading through art textbooks late at night. I let the boys paint a couple days ago, and he came up with this.
It compares pretty well with "Memoria in Aeternum" by Hans Hofmann, which looks like this:
Not that I really understand either painting. But it's fun. (The photo doesn't do Isaac's painting justice.)

Motives

I firmly believe that anyone can do anything with the right motivation. Sometimes it's just figuring out what you need to get you going.

Today that applies to Isaac and potty training. Dragon stickers. Each time Isaac goes pee-pee in the toilet, he gets to put one dragon sticker on his potty stickers paper. When all the dragon stickers are on the paper, he then gets a transformer. There are two sheets of dragon stickers and two transformers; Isaac's had five attempts and three successes at peeing in the last half hour, so he has three dragon stickers on his paper. I do believe I found him the right motivation.

I hope that if he's rewarded for using the toilet he won't want to keep his soaking wet diapers on.

And he's been more excited to eat and drink because it helps him have more pee-pee. Interesting reason for the kid who doesn't eat.

As soon as Isaac's all the way potty trained, we'll start working on Jeremiah. I think he'll be easier and harder. And then I won't have to change their diapers anymore.

Blessings of Obedience

I knew there was a reason to go to church. Other than the spiritually uplifting part, or the fulfilling my responsibilities, or the teaching my family that it's good and right.

How about: To be given an organ. (The instrument, not a body part.)

We just need to figure out how and when to pick it up.

Manly Push-ups

With a title like that, this post has to be about...

Danielle.

She does manly push-ups, it's true. She rolls onto her stomach, and when there's a toy she can't reach she'll push up onto her hands (like a cobra pose in yoga), and if she really wants it still she'll push up onto her toes as well with her back as straight as a board.

She's very strong and very flexible. And it looks like she's going to start crawling soon.

Stripping Wallpaper...Again

Today I spent another hour stripping wallpaper and cleaning the glue off the wall. It's partly mundane, and partly refreshing, and partly fulfilling. I've decided that I need to do something that stays finished, every day. Then when flour is strewn over the just detail-cleaned kitchen (hopefully you think that happens more than it does, which makes it that much worse), at least there is something else that stays done and doesn't get "messed up" by anyone else. A measure of completion. I need to decide what paint to put on the wall, though. And maybe if I can finish in the next couple days I can win the stripping wallpaper race that the Robinson's never said they'd join that I thought would be fun.

Early Childhood

Today Susan (our case worker from Birth to Three) and Theresa (our case worker from the school district) came by to help ease us into transitioning to the school system. When Jeremiah turns three, he is no longer eligible for services from Birth to Three. Luckily, his birthday is the week before school starts, so he doesn't have a "summer vacation" from speech therapy.

Jeremiah will be entering Early Childhood in the fall. He'll be one of six students in a class; there is a teacher, a teacher's assistant, as well as other helpers for the children (including a speech-language pathologist and an occupational therapist) who come in for parts of days. We get to choose how often he'll attend preschool, whether we'll put him on the bus (in a car seat, with other children attending his same school who are also in car seats), and what exactly we wish for him to learn while he's at school. I'm excited for more people to love him and be involved in his life.

I will be signing Isaac up for preschool in the fall as well. I think Jeremiah will go in the morning and Isaac in the afternoon, so I can spend time with each of them individually every day. And hopefully they'll get along better spending less time together, and learning that the rules we have for their behavior towards each other are consistent with their behavior to other children.

A Romantic Evening

Alison and I had a date night tonight (and I mean night; it started after I had fallen asleep at around midnight). We ate way too much chocolate, had a salad to make up for it, and made this
The programming "language" we used is called scratch designed by educators at MIT to teach programming. I put language in quotes because you don't actually type any words, all the coding is done with colorful lego blocks that say "if touches " and "change direction".
So we made a fun game for our date night; sharing the mouse pad on the laptop was the best part ;)

A Summer Storm

Tonight John and I took our kids to Wal-Mart. We needed to stock up on some things (mostly diapers), spontaneously bought Isaac a new car seat and pajamas and toilet paper, and a basket of plastic fruit for Jeremiah. I guess the toilet paper was for all of us.

We checked to see whether it was raining before we exited the store. It wasn't. I think we covered up Danielle with a blanket anyway. As we got to our car, a huge blast of storm hit. Carts were driving through the parking lot unattended, the kids got wet after they were inside our car because the hatchback door was open and the wind made the rain fly instead of fall, we kept chasing after our carts as we were getting the kids in because we thought getting the kids in was our first priority and didn't think about our "stuff."

It was a blast! John and I got soaked.Isaac was talking about "the rain and the wind and the lightning and it was scary and it was fun and it was wet" the entire way home. Jeremiah was laughing. And Danielle was so cute: she looked surprised when the wind blew her blanket off of her and she got wet, but she was happy about it.

Popsicle Sticks

When I came back from Oregon and gave Jeremiah a popsicle, I was impressed that he knew to put the popsicle stick into the garbage. But then I bought popsicle molds. And the first time, Jeremiah put the popsicle stick into the garbage. So I showed him to put the plastic stick into the sink. Now, whenever he has a popsicle, he puts the stick into the sink.

He generalized this "sink instead of garbage" for his apple cores, fruit snack wrappers, and other "garbage."

He tried a piece of raw broccoli today and didn't particularly like it. So he took it out of is mouth, thought about it, and got a cute smile, ran into the kitchen, and came back empty-handed. Then he took another piece of broccoli into the kitchen... He was so proud of himself for putting the "yucky broccoli" into the sink.

While I was making dinner, Jeremiah came into the kitchen with a huge grin and reached up to put a plate from snack-time into the sink, and then went to get the other plate to put it into the sink as well.

Everything goes into the sink. And he's so happy about it.

The Mating Dance

You know how some birds or other animals have a sort of mating dance ritual to woo a mate? Jeremiah sort of does the same thing.

The Colton's came over to help us eat pie on Sunday, and Jeremiah went up to Emily (she's 7) and danced his mating dance for her. It's a cute little dance, but he's just so serious when he does it. He stood directly in front of her, stared into her eyes, and started moving his feet in an intricate pattern.

Isaac likes to dance for Danielle, and Jeremiah does too. And Danielle will crack up when the boys dance for her (good positive reinforcement). So I think that's where this started.

Jeremiah seemed to really like Emily, which is why his dancing seemed more like a mating dance than an ordinary dance. He took her hand and led her to his room to play. He gave her long, long hugs (seriously more than 30 seconds long). And he was sad when she had to go.

Happy Birthday to John!

Today's John's birthday! Woohoo! The big 2-7!

We had salmon for his birthday dinner, with a couple friends. And then we had pie (homemade, of course...but this time the crust wasn't light and flaky...I'd honestly have to say it was...like cardboard...the crust, that is) with some other friends.

And he received a couple birthday presents that he's way super excited about, so I'll let him share that later...

And Isaac almost sang "Happy Birthday" but then he changed his mind. Unfortunate.

Measuring Tape Fishing

Our measuring tape is broken; the locking mechanism no longer works. Which makes it a toy for the boys.

Isaac will hold the bulk of it, give the very end of the tape to Jeremiah, then walk to the other side of the room. As he "reels in" his fish, Jeremiah slowly walks over to Isaac with a huge grin on his face. After Isaac "catches" his fish, Jeremiah laughs like crazy. And then they start again.

Popsicles

Isaac and Jeremiah had a lot of Popsicles while I was in Oregon. Tonight I bought some popsicle molds to make our own. Healthier. Cheaper. Yummier...I hope.

Jeremiah takes us by the hand to the refrigerator, pulls on the fridge door, points up to the freezer, and either signs /more/ or says "pop, pop." And then he gets super excited about his popsicle when we give it to him.

He's so cute and determined we simply cannot resist. Hence the popsicle molds.

Mother's Day

Danielle and I went to California for Mother's Day. We went to the nursing home that my great Grandma Erickson is staying at, along with my parents, Alecia, Rob and Julie, DeeDee, David, one of David's friends who took pictures of us, and my Grandma.

It was fun for me to have Danielle meet her great-great Grandmother.

DeeDee gave great Grandma a couple presents. Silly straws and yo-yos. When Grandma saw the yo-yos, she said, "I don't want a yo-yo!"

My great Grandma is very wise. She told us that "all babies are cute, but when they grow up, they either get pretty or ugly."

And then Julie and I went to meet Lydia (my grandma's roommate) so Lydia could meet Danielle. Something special happens when really old people (she just turned 103, I think I'm justified in calling her old) meet babies. Danielle tried to eat her great-great Grandma's hand, but that's not what I meant. I meant something along the lines of the elderly and the newly born being so close to heaven. It's unique.

It's a little fun being a mother on Mother's Day. But I think I still like being the daughter. Maybe it's just that I have such a great mom. I think I'll be a wonderful mother if I can be more like her.

XKCD: my favorite web comic

Pedicures

Mom and I went to get pedicures today. Danielle watched. She did--she watched the blue water spinning around with bubbles. And she liked it.

Mom had me choose between two different colors for her toes. I picked the salmon-y one. And I convinced her to get flowers painted on them with jewels. SHe was laughing and laughing that Dad think she was silly or something...I don't remember exactly why she was laughing...something about being almost 50 and having flowers painted on her toes...

I have flowers on my toes, too.

Letting the Bird Out

So, I was sitting on the couch with Danielle when I heard the fridge open. We have a refrigerator lock, so it could only mean one thing: Isaac was involved.

Although Isaac has a pretty steady hand when it comes to pouring his own drinks, I try to restrain the child from adventure as best I can. After a moment of deliberation, I rushed to the scene of the crime.

The refrigerator door was open. Naturally I shut it.

Isaac and Jeremiah were at the table, looking entirely innocent. Not willing to be deceived, I examined the situation more closely, only to find...

An egg in Isaac's hand.

"Isaac! What are you doing with the egg?!" I exclaimed.

He so coyly replied, "Mom, I have to let the bird out. I let the bird out!"

Doing my best not to laugh, I tried to explain that the birds only come out when the mommy birds sit on eggs in a nest. Birds never come out of eggs that are in the fridge. I don't think I got through, though.

Eragon

I read Eragon yesterday.

Okay, so I started it yesterday afternoon and I finished it this morning. I did sleep, but only for about 6 hours (not my fault, purely circumstantial, I only stayed up to wake John up so he could grade his exams by early this morning because he had fallen asleep...). I read the last 75 pages or so this morning.

In the beginning of the book, the boy Eragon, angry about his life, converses with his dragon Saphira, "What is the worth of anything we do?" And she replies, "The worth is in the act. Your worth halts when you surrender the will to change and experience life. But options are before you; choose one and dedicate yourself to it. The deeds will give you new hope and purpose."

Even though life is transient, ever changing, hard at times and near impossible at others, the worth of what we do, who we are, is "in the act." When we choose to act out our lives instead of having our life decided for us by seemingly unseen forces, when we truly live and are dedicated to the responsibilities we have undertaken, it is then that we have true hope and purpose in our lives. And until we can truly live for ourselves, with that resolution, we can't truly live at all, but are in a state of ungrowth, like summer vacation when everything we've learned in the school year threatens to fade away into nothingness. It is when we choose to act on our environment that we can grow, that we can change the course of lives--both our individual lives and of the lives touching ours or brushing past.

"The worth is in the act."

Walking with Jeremiah

I like to go on walks with Jeremiah most nights. We point and label objects. We say "Bye!" after we pass (parked) cars. We go and stop on cue. We run together, then take little steps, then big steps. It's fun.

Last night when we were walking, he stopped and said, "Ball!," pointing to...the moon.

I said, "Moon!"

He said, "Ball!"

"Moon! Moon!"

"Ball."

Danielle's Four-Month Check-Up

Danielle had her four-month well baby appointment yesterday. She weighs 14 pounds and 3 ounces, is a smidgin less than 25 inches long, and her head circumference is 16.9 inches. (Of course, this is from memory, so the ounces and decimal for head circumference might be off.)

She pulls to sitting, she track from one shoulder to the other, she falls asleep by herself and will sleep for 7 or more hours. She rolled over all the way yesterday on the exam table--back to tummy to back. And she tries to scoot along by herself. She holds her head very well. She had another round of immunizations, and was unhappy last night when she was falling asleep.

She has an appointment with Dr. Stiers in June. Kris told me to go home and brag. "She's perfect."

Monetarism, since my brain is still working.

Last night I intended to write about some thoughts I've had about money, but I got sidetracked which was probably better for everyone. Except it's still on my brain and I would prefer to spare Alison the forced opportunity to listen to me explain this so I'll hurl it at the vacuum of the internet and pretend I have an audience. I should also point out that there is a significant chance this has nothing to do with actual monetarism as espoused by the great Milton Friedman, it's just my pseudo-random thoughts about money as inspired by his last piece in the Wall Street Journal.

Money is convenient. By I that I don't mean when you have lots life is leisurely, what I mean is that money is more convenient than exchanging goods and services. Without currency we have a dual problem 1. do something that some group of people consider valuable 2. They do something that another group considers valuable 3. You hope those two groups intersect. With currency you still have the same problem, but it becomes much easier to work through multiple steps, A does for B, B for C, C for D and D for A without having to negotiate a trade for goods that no one along the chain wants.

So money is handy because it represents goods and services and abstracts away from all the trading (that and its easier to carry), but this is also a disadvantage. Because it abstracts there is the chance that the money ceases to represent the same amount of goods and services. So suppose a barber and a baker would happily trade a loaf of bread for a haircut, but money is such that if the barber doesn't spend it, he could get two loaves of bread tomorrow and the baker two haircuts (whatever that means). If everyone dropped prices by half everyday, very few people would buy anything because by saving you could get double later. So even though the relative price of a haircut and a loaf of bread are always the same, the constantly shifting price would prevent transactions from happening and cause economic trouble. The opposite is true for the more common situation of inflation. If the price doubles everyday, I'll happily buy 128 loaves of bread on credit and pay it off with one haircut in a week.

It's tempting the think that the panacea for all these problems is to stick with hard currency, no paper; understanding why that isn't a sure-fire fix is something that I realized this week. Hard currencies (think Gold Doubloons) are safe from over-excitable printing presses; there is a fixed supply of gold in the world, so the quantity of gold coins is fixed no matter what governments do (sure you could go dig up some more gold, but the price of gold takes into account the gold in the ground - mining costs; it should even include the probable size of yet undiscovered gold reserves). And there is the problem; take for example China. China's GDP grew by 11% last year, so if the number of gold coins is fixed it must be the case that each individual coin must buy 11% more stuff because there is 11% more stuff available to buy. If Chinese citizens can buy 11% more with their money next year by doing nothing other than putting their coins in a mattress, they're not going to spend very much and will save more. So little gets purchased and the economy collapses.

As I understand it the solution, as proposed by Friedman (at least my crude understanding of it), is that an increase in gold coins of 11%, an increase in the supply of money or the money supply, would keep the prices stable and the economy chugging along. So after periods of rapid economic growth its important to increase money supply; if you don't expect a recession. That's what happened up until the internet boom when the recession was quite mild comparatively, a fact Friedman cited as proof the loose monetary policy was a good idea. So, you can't increase the quantity of gold coins but you can increase the quantity of paper money and as long as government can keep the printing presses under control. Of course that's a big if.