a quiet Sunday afternoon

My husband had baby duty most of the day as I visited another congregation for my calling. By the end of the day, he was all tuckered out. Luckily our daughter is perfectly content to read on her own. In this picture she is reading a children's book, but she is just as happy to read the Time magazine, the Ensign, and vaccination reports. I like these two people.

kitchen help

The other night Kiddo wanted to help with dinner, in the form of stirring the pan on the stove. Since that pan actually held hamburger meat that was browning, this seemed like a bad idea on multiple levels. But, as she is prone to do right now, not getting her way was accompanied by a loud scream and then sorrowful crying while holding onto my legs. Which has its own problems, since I was trying to make dinner. Then inspiration struck:

I would give her her own pot, her own spoon, and since she's pretty smart, something in the pot. It worked like a charm. She was happy, and stirred, and stirred, and stirred.

Except, I chose to put dry lentils in the pot. And apparently those are good.

In addition to being tasty, they also make great noises when dropped on the floor (no picture available). So my plan mostly worked. Next time she'll be cooking Cheerios.

An additional bonus: later after the floor was coated with lentils, so were her feet. That could be uncomfortable unless you walk on your toes. Ta-da! New skill acquired.

note: the scream and crying tend to be a making-dinner-thing. In most instances she yells a little, then moves on with her life.

15 months

Her 15-month anniversary was almost two weeks ago, but we visited the doctor yesterday. She was model patient, for a 15-month old. She was not fond of having her ears looked at, but let's be honest, it's not that comfortable.

All in all, she's a healthy kid. Her head circumference jumped from the 55th to the 90th percentile. (Her height and weight continue of their appropriate curves though.) But the dr was pretty sure that was measurement error. Having watched the measurement process, I could guarantee it was measurement error. Kiddo was mad to be there, and was letting the nurse know. The doctor was also surprised and mildly concerned that she has no words (none, we repeated, not mama, not dada, not bottle, nothing). Perhaps he would have been less concerned had I told him other members of her family take their time too. He was not as impressed as I thought he should be with her myriad of animal noises and motions.

So that night at dinner I decided to do a little talking practice. "Say mama." I instructed. She looked at me, but no words. "Can you say dada?" She looked at me with her thinking look, then with great concentration said "Dah. Dah." No, it's not her first word. But she says "Dah!" all the time to indicate things, and she showed me she can say it twice. She's so smart.

This gem is from a Sunday morning, where we hadn't got her dress on, but she asked to wear her boots. She's great.

at the store

I have many pictures to post, and no time to do it, so instead I will write this.

Kiddo and I made a quick jaunt to the store today. First, I approached a sweet parking space just as someone else did. I stopped too early so that he could take it, then he motioned me in. Thank you kind sir. I hope when he saw my little one he felt better about his good decision.

Once we got inside the store, I asked my daughter if she wanted to walk. Since our communication is pretty sophisticated these days (considering one of us doesn't talk), she immediately leaned forward so I would know to put her down. We had taken all of two steps when she reached up so she could hold my hand. Is there any more perfect moment? I think not.

She let go five or six steps later when she realized there was freedom to be had. She loves walking in big spaces like stores. Later she made a break for someone else's cart (our list was not big enough to merit a cart), and kept trying to push it, so our trip was then over, because she was pretty upset. (The donut hole seemed to aleviate the pain though.) After paying, the check-out lady handed me a pen to sign my credit card receipt. Kiddo wanted to help write (and was tired, so her tolerance was small). I couldn't sign it with her reaching for the pen, so I set her down, and instructed her: Cry really loud so everyone will know you're at the store. Recall, our communication is finely honed; she did just as I asked.

Now we're home, and she's asleep, and I'm still happy she wanted to hold my hand.

the end of this sprint

My parents are going home today. I have worked very hard, and am now caught up with my analyses. In other words, I cannot write any more, because I haven't yet run the data. I will do that tomorrow, and start writing again. And of course, there is always editing. Oh yes, there is always editing.

My cute daughter has loved being with the grandparents. Grandpa tickles her belly, and she laughs her sweet laugh. Sometimes if he holds his hand next to her belly, she moves it the rest of the way so they can have tickle fun. Grammy reads and reads to her, and takes her on multiple walks to the mailbox everyday. My daughter could wish for little more.

I have missed her (and my parents) while I worked long hours each day, so it will be nice to be around more, but I have not missed having to make dinner, do the dishes, and take care of the house. Come back soon.

Luckily, my husband's mom comes soon. With all this help, I just may finish my dissertation yet.

Grammy!

My mom is in town, because she loves me, and is helping me get more work done. She watches my girl while I write and write and write. The only downside is that now I have no excuse not to work.

But I expect to make great progress on my dissertation, and Kiddo is already thrilled to have another member of her entourage. Grammys are good like that. I've been anxiously waiting for her, and am so grateful for her help. (And with any luck, grandpa shows up before the end of the week!)

hi, hi, hi

Kiddo has figured out that when she waves at people, they smile, and wave back. So she now waves at most anyone she sees. Once they wave back, she smiles even bigger, and waves again. If she sucks you in, she'll do it as long as you continue to wave back. She even got the big burly somewhat gruff man in the back row to smile at her.

In Sunday School during her walk up and down the aisle (yeah, my kid is the one walking around, but she's at least being quiet), she would pause at each row to wave at the person there. They would smile and wave back, then she'd move on to the next one. "Hi!" she waves.