three words

Since the visit to the pediatrician when he was concerned about Kiddo's lack of expressive vocabulary, she's chosen three words. I think the order the words emerged depends on who you ask.

The first one she said was "da-da." She says this word on command, and I use it shamelessly to defuse bedtime stress. When my husband is losing patience I tell Kiddo to say it, she smiles and complies, and my husband is reduced to putty. I'm not sure how long this will work, but he even knows what I'm doing and still succumbs to the trick. Today she announced "da-da" when she found the recorder, not because she thinks it's him, but because he plays it with her.

The first word she volunteered was "bye." Since she has waved bye-bye for a long time, we instruct her to "say bye-bye" all the time, when we're leaving, when a parent is leaving, when we put the computer away, turn off the TV, or whatever. One day she started saying it too.

And then there's the first word she uses in multiple contexts, which is "mama." She says it sometimes when she sees me, sometimes when she wants me, and she used it on Sunday when I bore my testimony, so my husband had to remove her from the chapel because she was so loudly horrified that I left, and she pointed to the speaker to identify whose voice she heard.

I think she's about to say "Jesus." She recognizes Him in many pictures, and said something almost like it when we were looking at her sacrament book on Sunday. I would like her to learn that word.

She may only know a few words, but she loves to talk. Call us up, and you'll hear.

open and shut

When people get married, they realize that they do things differently. For example, my husband likes doors to rooms to be shut (it looks orderly), I like them to be open (it looks, well, open). I won that difference of opinion; we keep the doors open.

My daughter apparently takes after my husband in this respect, she pushes closed all the doors in the house. But, whenever she closes a door, that implies that she has now shut herself into a room, and is not able to open it up to get herself out. (It is a skill she wants, but is both not tall enough or dexterous enough to accomplish - yet.) So far being stuck in the room has not concerned her, but that could be because I only give her a few moments before I open the door, and surprise! it's mama!

In fact, we played that game for a long time today. She would close the door to my room with her in and me out. After a few moments I would knock then come in. She would squeal with laughter, then walk to the door so she could close me out again, and again, and again.

saying prayers

We had dinner with some of my friends from school yesterday. It was really nice. The three of us met in my first year here, their second. Since that time we've all gotten married, and now have four kids amongst the three of us. In two months, we will also all have our PhDs (yeah, I'm the last one, but I started later...)

As we all gathered at the dinner table, Kiddo found herself in her chair while people were still gathering. She faithfully folded her arms, bowed her head, and started jabbering. I was impressed, and went to get my husband to show him. My friends asked if she was okay, and I just smiled and explained "she's blessing the food." She gets it, or as much as she can at this age.
I'm pleased with what she knows.

enough said

a good visit

Here is Kiddo and her grandma doing what they do best, reading books. Oh, and they also sing: speckled frogs, miss molly's dolly, snowman, hands on head, ducks, all these songs and more. And walks. Cause Kiddo loves a good walk to the mailbox and back (okay, so she's not so hot on the back, but she loves going down), and to the park. What a fun week they had together.

My week was less fun, but super productive, and I'm that much closer to being done. And my husband received a teaching award! He's amazing. His department gives two teaching awards, yeah, he won both.

Thanks for coming grandma, and hanging out for the week.

a release

Yesterday I was released from my calling as Stake Young Women's President. There are still a few loose ends to tie up (for example, I have 12 table cloths still hanging in my closet, and the church key), but today I feel strangely focused. It's as if a large portion of my worries have suddently disappeared - oh wait, they have, they are someone else's responsibility now.

There are not other things clamouring in my head for attention, there is not an alternate to-do list (one for school, one for church). I just do school today. Kiddo hangs out with Grandma. It's so quiet in my head. I could get used to this.

One other time in my life has a release felt this liberating, it was when I returned home from my mission. I loved my calling, but I can appreciate the silence.

cheerios

As a congratulations to myself, I am actually posting a picture of my daughter today. (In the next picture in the series, the cheerios are all over the floor, she loves dumping food out of bags. I won't show you that one.) From this picture it looks like we are moving. But no, on the right is my disseratation data, and on the left are some quality boxes that showed up at Christmas time. We have no better place for them, and we will need quality boxes soon.

So, the fourth chapter is drafted. Soon, my mother-in-law shows up, and she gets to sing to the baby while I edit, edit, and edit. As you may remember from your schooling days, after you write the rough draft you feel so proud of yourself. Then you re-read it, and want to cry because it is so poorly written, and there is still so much to be done. Remember me in your thoughts next week, because I'm about to go to that dismal land of second draft.