Progress on the molar front

This just in: after a six-month hiatus, Calvin Jesse has recently started to teethe again. And today, I felt that first molar finally break through! (Wish me luck the next few weeks as the rest will likely follow soon....)

At the library

I love going to library time with Lucy's class. I love getting to know the kids in her class, I love reading to them, I love making them laugh with silly voices, I love checking in their books, and I love the extra grin and hug Miss Lucy gives me when she sees me there. 

I love teaching the kids how to look up books they are interested in on the computer, and seeing their eyes get big when they find out there are twenty books about Transformers in the library. I love it when they start to understand how to find a book by author, or how to look in a certain section for books on animals.

But mostly, I love seeing how comfortable Miss Lu is when she's busily reading a book. At the beginning of the year, she was sounding out little BOB book readers. And now she's checking out chapter books (usually something in the rainbow fairy series), finding a spot, and diving in.

Awesome.

Blue skies

I have never quite gotten used to the fact that, even though it's the middle of winter and I have snow still stacked over a foot in my backyard, the skies here are so blue. And if I want to get rid of the snow, all I have to do is drive off the mountain and head towards Santa Fe. This is about 15 minutes from my house, looking back toward the Jemez Mountains.

He won't appreciate this when he's older, but ...

... speaking of playdates, Calvin Jesse has decided that he doesn't want to be left out of the fun when Sissy and her friends play dress up. I think I need to invest in some dress ups that aren't so sparkly. 

It's even funnier because it's always this particular dress, and he always goes around knocking over block towers, playing cars, and being generally grubby (check out his face). He just does it with a little extra flair this way. 

Cute cooks

Miss Lu is always up for cooking. Especially if it involves some kind of dessert. It's a great playdate activity because they're involved for a while, then they play while things bake and cool, and then they come back again to decorate (these particular cupcakes ended up elegantly frosted in purple and yellow). 

It also helps that she has a wide array of fashionable aprons to choose from :)

Raining babies

In the next four days I'm helping to host two baby showers. Yikes! (Seriously, I don't what it is, but people around here have tons of babies. Which is a good thing, but it does lead to a lot of showers. Hey—any excuse to get out of the house for a bit, right?)

Anyway, I'm in charge of little favors for both showers. And while the favors are essentially the same (one's a mixed bag of deluxe malt balls and yogurt covered raisins; the other has the two in separate bags) and I used the same bags for them, I think they came out cute and different enough that people who go to both showers won't be too disappointed at getting the same favor ... I hope ... oh well, they're all done!

What the?!

Miss Lu loves to say "What the?!" to express her surprise and/or confusion. The thing is, sometimes I want to ask her the same thing—what is going on in her marvelous little mind?

1) I tell her to get dressed for a walk to the park. While it's reasonably warm, there is still snow on the ground. When I ask her why she won't put on pants (let along boots) she says, "Because I'm trying to encourage Spring!"

2) At dinner, Mr. Nick and I note that Calvin Jesse needs a haircut because he's getting a mullet. "A mullet?! Oh no! Is he going to die?" is Miss Lucy's seriously concerned response.

3) Lately Miss Lu likes to play "would you rather" games, presenting various scenarios from which we need to choose an option. For example, "Hey Mom, would you rather die, or would you rather break both arms and both legs?" (I chose broken limbs).

Last night's "would you rather" question stopped Mr. Nick and I in our tracks wondering "where does she come up with this stuff?"

"Hey Dad, would you rather that everyone in the whole world dies, or that God dies?"

What the?!

PS She then followed up with evidence of her mormon theological training: "But don't worry, if God dies we'll still have Jesus!"

PPS Reading back over this entry, it appears that Miss Lucy is also thinking a fair amount about life and death. Guess we'd better see where that's coming from ...

Presenting: Calvin, pianist extraordinaire

Calvin Jesse adores playing the piano. Every day he's up on the stool, pounding out notes and pressing the preset buttons. Recently he's started to sing along too (if you listen close you can hear him sometimes). 

Sketch-o-rama

Miss Lucy and I had a sketching party this morning, focused not on making a perfect drawing, but on drawing what we actually saw instead of what we thought should be there. She drew me, and I drew her. Very fun!

Snazzy

"Look Mom, they're all blue!" —Miss Lucy, fashionista

Take 12 Challenge: February

This month I decided to take my twelve pictures on Valentine's Day to capture the holiday (and the craziness!) throughout the whole day. Nick and I celebrated early this year—based on how the day went, that was a good choice this time around!

Never heard a prettier song about being pregnant

Kissy face

Yes, you're right. He is so dang cute. I look at this picture and just want to kiss him all over that sweet face and end up on those little, perfect lips. I won't even mind the various bits of little boy dirt and snot that are constantly present no matter how many times I scrub him off :)

Fairy bites

Lately, Miss Lu has been pretty insistent that she obtain some form of dessert after every meal. I don't know where she gets that ... anyway, the latest hit? "Fairy bites," aka pieces of a hershey bar topped with whip cream and sprinkles. Everything in Lucy's world is better with sprinkles.

She's also not opposed to the sugar cookies our secret Valentine's family brought over the other day ...

We're scientists

In this house, and in this town, we are all scientists. At least, that's what Miss Lucy told me. That's why she keeps on throwing these (disgusting!) sticky, stringy hands up on the ceiling. She's given me strict instructions not to take them down. Apparently, we are performing experiments to see how long it will take them to fall on their own ... we're coming up on day three ...

He's still, for a moment

Calvin Jesse reading his latest favorite book: Goodnight Moon

Logical concerns

Today at church, Lucy's dance teacher came up to me and told me about how the other day at dance class they were talking about their spines and how to curve them. To help illustrate the point she was making, the teacher asked the kids to curl down and imagine that they had a tail they were lifting up.

She said Miss Lucy raised her hand and asked, "Wait, if we have a tail there, how would we go to the bathroom?" As her teacher tried not to laugh, the rest of the girls in the class thought about it for a second and then began to nod in agreement with the question.

Leave it to Lucy to really think through all the implications of an imagined tail ...