Click! Click! Take a pic! Pic!

Lately, Miriam has been fascinated with the camera. More specifically that they take pictures. And even more specifically that she can control what pictures are taken. For a while, I would pick up the camera and there would be twenty or so red-fade-to-peach shots of her fingers over the lens.
Then she got better and there was a whole bunch of this:

I'll spare you the hundred or so other virtually identical shots, varying only in which portion of face is included and the degree of overexposure. She for some reason kept pointing the camera at herself. It may have been the egocentric take-pictures-of-yourself thing that all the kids are doing these days, but I don't think so. For one, she would say "SAY CHEESE MAMA" as she was doing it.

Anyway, her aiming skills have improved dramatically. When I picked up the camera the other day, there was a pictoral diary of her day. I loved seeing the things she found important enough to document by photo. See for yourself. And don't worry, I've trimmed it down from about 30 to just a few.

Her pink bear Zeebo:

Her dirty clothes:

Her baby doll "Baybuh Baybuh" sitting in the doll stroller:

Herself in the mirror:

And... her brother Eli:

There were lots of pictures of Elijah. The first one he was clear across the room, just in the corner of the shot. In the following ones he got bigger and bigger until he was the main subject. I love that he is important enough to her to be so prominent in her picture-taking. And I love that she is important enough to him that that he's watching her in most of them. I wondered a little bit why I wasn't in any of the pictures. She must have known that I would have taken away the camera.

Good Eater

The other night at dinner after polishing off two and a half baby food containers (the Gerber 2nd Step size), Elijah was still not satisfied. He finally took the spoon away from Brent and carefully put it in his mouth. Each time Brent took it away to put more food on it, Eli would break down. But once he he got the spoon back he was all about the concentration again. This kid is four and a half months old and already feeding himself! That's genius if I've ever seen it. Treat yourself to another Moore family post-dinner video. Bon appetit!

The happiest sound in the world

The hardest part is figuring out which is Elijah and which is Miriam!

Two-year-old logic

EXAMPLE #1
We are on a walk with Elijah in the sleepy wrap when Miriam vacates the seat of the stroller and is now pushing it. She stops on a regular basis to pick up rocks and sticks and other sundry items to put them in the undercarriage part of the stroller. I realize that she is trying to crawl into the area, which is made of a thin canvas-y type of material upon which is stamped very clearly that it is not to be used as a baby carrier.
Me: Miriam, don't crawl under there.
Miriam: I want to go under there.
Me: You can't fit under there.
Miriam: Yes I can fit.
Me: It says it's not for little girls.
Miriam: Oh.
She immediately stops trying to get in and turns to me.
Miriam: Put Eli down there? For little boys?

EXAMPLE #2
We are in Boise with Miriam crying in her bed. Due to the facts that we are transitioning to no naps and that we are on vacation, I get her out. When it's time to go back down, I lay her down to change her diaper and find it is completely dry.
Me: There's nothing in this diaper. It doesn't need to be changed.
Miriam: Yes! Change my diaper!
Me: But there's nothing in it.
Miriam: Yes! Change my diaper! Clean diaper please!
I show her the empty diaper.
Me: There's nothing in it! It IS a clean diaper!
Miriam: There's toots in that diaper.
I changed the diaper. Without letting her see me rolling my eyes.

Great book. Not so great movie.

A while back, I listened to "Marley and Me" on my ipod. It was absolutely wonderful! I loved Marley and thought about him all the time. I also loved John and Jenny and completely felt like a member of their family as I listened to the book. I laughed right out loud at times at the crazy situations that Marley would get himself into and imagined how I would react. The writing was fabulous, the story flowed, I laughed right out loud at times and I got a little choked up at others. I would and do recommend the book to anybody.
As soon as I finished the book, I requested the movie from the library. It came this past week and we watched it over the weekend. It was one of the worst book-to-movie transitions I've ever seen. Honestly, I couldn't stand Jennifer Aniston as Jenny and Owen Wilson was just not John Grogan. It seemed like the whole plot of the book was Owen Wilson (and I say Owen because it wasn't John) wanted a different job and didn't want to be stuck with his wife and kids but by the end he realized that having a family was great. Oh and he had a dog named Marley. Owen spent the whole movie wishing he was a news reporter, whereas John in the book loved being a columnist. Sebastian, his movie best friend who goes off to Columbia to write a big article on drugs was not to my knowledge a part of the book. And maybe because it's just the movie, but you really don't see much of Marley at all. Yeah, he gets kicked out of obedience school and he chewed up some couch cushions, but that was about it. You don't really see how he's the "worst dog in the world" or how he just loves the family he has. I know it's hard to put an amazing book into two visual hours, but it would have helped to stick with the plot and have more about Marley. That could have been done with a simple narration. The point is I really didn't like the movie. But I LOVED the book. So don't let the movie keep you away from one of the most enjoyable reads I've had for a long time!

Lovin' this boy!

Elijah is officially one of the most amazing little four month olds ever. We had his official appointment on his official fourth month birthday, and the doctor said he was a "perfect specimen." Yep, those were his exact words and nope, I don't think he's ever used them about any other kid before. He lands delicately into the 80th percentile for both height and weight, making him a perfectly proportioned little big guy. Although four months old, his 9 month clothes are getting pretty snug. The doctor commented about the congestion, which he has had virtually all his life causing the growly breathing that first led to one of his nicknames being "Beast," but that didn't affect his perfect rating at the end. Miriam was an attentive older sister, telling the doctor that Eli's favorite color is blue and demonstrating how he grunts. She also was extremely empathetic, crying as loudly as he did when the shots came. He quieted down as soon as I had him wrapped up in the sleepy wrap with his binkie. It took a sticker from the nurse for her. Either way, it was a magnificent appointment for a magnificent little boy. I LOVE THIS KID!

Five Six Seven Eight

Miriam attended her first official dance class this morning accompanied, of course, by her Mama, her Daddy, and her brother Eli. It was at the community center and advertised on one flyer for kids 2-5, on another kids 3-5. Either way, it was a pretty big span of ages and I was afraid my little 2.5 year old would be the littlest and most immature one who wouldn't follow directions and would make all the other kids and parents mad. Especially if they had the 3-5 flyer. But when you go into something expecting it to be rather awkward, you're usually pretty pleased with the results. Positive negativism, as I always say. Miriam did great. She was one of four little girls. One girl is three and a half, exactly a year older than Miriam, and the other two were twins who are three turning four. All of them were extremely attracted to the wall-sized mirror and the barre. I was glad that both the other moms and the grandma had cameras. Miriam was the second tallest of the four, the only one not in a leotard, and usually the first one to raise her hand and say "I KNOW" when the teacher asked a question even if she didn't know the answer. She followed directions during stretching and was able to at least attempt the things. She did fantastic at walking on tiptoes across the floor with her arms up in a ballerina position. She did surprisingly well at the gallop step. Skipping was an issue, but she wasn't aware that she was just running, so all is well there too. She was a fabulous hip-shaker, partly I'm sure due to her love of the Wiggles. They hip-shake quite a bit. Brent's favorite moment came when one of the twins seemed sad and was standing apart from the group. Miriam walked up to her and threw her arm non-chalantly around her shoulders. She looked at the girl and gave her a big cheesy grin. I could not but laugh. The class was scheduled for 45 minutes. Forty two minutes into it, Miriam turned towards us and lolled her head to the side, her body virtually limp. That's always a sign that she's not going to be doing anything anybody asks her anytime soon. Sure enough, she made a beeline for the sidelines and said "ALL DONE!" She collapsed and watched her friends finish the last three minutes. All in all, it was a perfect class and Miriam was a perfect little lady.

Welcome Home!

We've been home for three days, but since I haven't finished unpacking this is still current news. We had a fantastic time in Boise and flying with one adult, one two-year-old, and one baby is really not that bad. Eli slept the entire flight there, and Miriam was just thrilled with life on an airplane. On the way back, our flight left at bedtime so I figured they'd both drink their bottles and fade away. Not so.
Miriam not sleeping on the flight back to Salt Lake:
Eli not sleeping on the flight back to Salt Lake:
As you can see, they were both in great spirits. I think they knew that they'd just had a fabulous week with their Nana and Papa who love them and were heading back to their Daddy who loves them. How much happier could two kids be?

How cheap am I?

Brent wanted a Master's celebration camping trip to Southern Utah and I wasn't willing to take a baby and a two-year-old. Nor would I think that the baby and the two-year-old would want to participate in the hikes that Brent had planned. So he went south and I took the baby and the two-year-old to Boise to visit my parents and their Nana and Pop. While I was there, I left the kids with my mom for an afternoon so I could hit a few thrift stores and hopefully replenish my dwindling supply of clothes that I enjoy wearing. I was thrilled to find quite a few things at St. Vincent's, all at an amazingly low price with an additional 35% off for Memorial Day, and brought them all to the counter to purchase. Cindy, the surprisingly stylish bleached-blonde cashier, was gushing with the customer ahead of me about the American Idol finale. When it was my turn, I continued the conversation which led to, among other easy-chatting topics, my having attended Utah State and the NBA Playoffs. As she was ringing up the last of the items, she casually asked if I liked anthropology. For about three seconds, my mind raced as I tried to come up with a connection between the topics we had skimmed and the study of humankind. Was USU known for their amazing anthropology department and had they just come out with a groundbreaking study in anthropological discoveries? How did I not know this? Or perhaps I just seemed like the kind of person who would have studied anthropology? Or maybe the big "NBA Cares" campaign originated with the Jazz and so as a Jazz fan I should obviously have some anthropology connection? Apparantly as my mind raced, my facial expression froze because Cindy said, "you know, the store?" Oh! Anthropologie! The store! Of course! "Oh yes, I do but I try to stay out of it... the prices here are much better!" The truth of the matter is that I've never been there, although I am aware the I do like their style. I'm pretty sure I fell pretty high on the fashion-lameness scale by not responding immediately to the question. But I'm going to take it as a complement that perhaps the clothing I had selected and therefore myself as a person has an Anthropologie-esque-ness to them. Man, I am stylish!

Master in the House

It is with great pride and deep honor that I announce that Brent has finished the requirements for his Masters of Urban Planning program. He is now Brent Moore, MUP. Ah it's nice to have letters! It was a little sticky after he turned in all his stuff on time yet it wasn't finalized even after the deadline for teachers to give grades came and went. Gulp. After talking to one professor who forwarded everything onto another professor who finally got this put together, Brent recieved an A for his final professional project, which had to do with comparing land values across Salt Lake County, how they change over time, and devising possible reasons for the value and the change. Fun stuff. Anyhow, when you refer to Brent in your thoughts and conversations, please remember to call him "Master Brent." CONGRATULATIONS BRENT!

Still insinkerating

For those who have checked this blog over the past month, you must think I use my disposer a lot. And I do. See, I have two great kids who love to eat......but despite what they look like and the enjoyment they get from it, they don't always finish their food. Their mama has no qualms about it anymore, however. If you wonder where I've been or what I've been doing for the past month, just listen to the whir of the garbage disposer and know I've been pretty happy. Oh, and don't mind Eli's demon eyes. He's really a nice kid; I just didn't feel like editing out the red...

In-sink-erating

Most of my adult life has been lived without the aid of a garbage disposal but with the desire to have the aid of a garbage disposal. It was a luxury that just didn't come with any of the apartments I lived in nor the house Brent and I bought. I figured the decision to purchase one would be like other major purchase decisions... the one of us that wanted it least would finally want it enough to justify the purchase. That's how we finally got a sprinkler system, a couch, and a computer. Every time I visited my parents, I would toss stuff down the sink and sigh, thinking about how nice it was to just scrape and go rather than to push stuff into the garbage unless it was too gross and then all the way into the outside garbage unless it was too watery and then into the toilet. But then I realized that Brent's parents don't have a garbage disposal and therefore Brent is not aware of the glory of just rinsing away globs of gross stuff rather than having to transport it first to a garbage can and then outside. He therefore would never want one because he never knew the glories of it. You can never know the good if you've never known the bad. So I decided to do it myself. I used my birthday and Christmas money from last year and shopped around. I found a good deal and a coupon and with a deep breath, set up the appointment. The plumber came, took one glance under the sink and declared I needed to call an electrician first. I was so excited to get going that I didn't even think about needing to get power to the thing. Sigh. So I called the electrician who came over for a few hours last week. Miriam dubbed him "Nice Guy," and was amazed by his yellow sunglasses. She asked politely for her blue sunglasses so they could wear their sunglasses together, but sadly we didn't find them until after Nice Guy left. After the electrician graced us with power to the netherregions of the kitchen sink, I called the plumber back. He showed up, and Miriam referred to him immediately at "Nice Guy." I'm not sure if she thought that the original Nice Guy was back or merely that anybody who would come over and help mom fix the sink is a Nice Guy. Twenty minutes later we were up and running. Or more appropriately, up and grinding. I turned over my coupon, and Nice Guy #2 said he didn't have a calculator and did I know what 15% of the total was? Anyway, I LOVE HAVING A GARBAGE DISPOSAL! It is complete freedom in the kitchen. Clearing out leftovers is a breeze, rinsing a toddler's plate is cake, and oh I love the smell of ground up citrus rinds. Sometimes I'll eat an orange just to grind up the peel and breathe in the scent. I should have made the purchase years ago!!

Primarily talent

The big Primary Talent Show was Saturday morning. Miriam chose to sing the ABCs, and we practiced all week long, using a glue stick as a microphone. She was doing awesome, but I wondered how she would do in front of people. I shouldn't have worried. The first little girl who volunteered to go shared a video that she had made with her toys acting out a story. Then Sister Thomas asked who wanted to go next. Miriam immediately hopped up and went to the microphone. She asked me to go with her, but stood and proudly sang the song without crying or laughing or turning away. She ran back to her seat so excited and smiled and laughed and clapped throughout the rest of the 10 minute show (it doesn't take long to showcase about 9 primary kids). She was so proud of herself and told everybody that we saw that day about the "Talent Show." Here's a shot of her in the spotlight!

Have miracles ceased? Behold I say unto you, Nay!

Miracle #1: I am back in the swing of church and was giving my lesson to my Beehives on Sunday. Because Eli does so much better if he's not getting in or out of his carseat, we walked to church. I pushed Miriam in the stroller and had Eli in his wrap. He fell asleep on the walk to church, stayed asleep through opening exercises (we have Sacrament last), and continued sleeping peacefully through the entire lesson. He started fussing and crying after the closing prayer and as the girls were filing out of the class. Perfect timing!

Miracle #2: Brent opted to stay home and utilize the three hours of nobody-else-home time to work on finishing his Master's thesis (barring an unforseen catastrophe, we should have his degree in May). Which meant I was going to be in Sacrament meeting with a two year old and a two month old alone. And being in Sacrament meeting with the two year old and two parents was hard enough! But Miriam was an absolute angel! She sat and talked with Eli and Piper, the baby girl behind us, most of the time. She asked for some goldfish and sat munching on them until some of them swam off the bench (it was more like getting thrown off, but as she let go, she said "swim swim swim!"). When asked, though, she quietly got down and picked them all up. She then colored until the closing prayer. Elijah was awake at the start of the meeting, then finished his bottle and fell asleep. And stayed asleep. Easy as that. It was the calmest and most relaxed Sacrament meeting I have had for the past two years! The patriarch and his wife even commented how good Miriam had been and that she definately earned an A+. Hooray!

Miracle #3: This morning at 5, Miriam started screaming and crying saying "OW! HURT!" She has constipation issues (considering the last post, it may be in the genes) and hadn't pooped for a while. An hour and a half later after two enemas (she hopped on the potty after the first and it all fell out), 12 ounces of pear juice and a lot of straining, she finally produced. Exhausted, she went back to bed and back to sleep. Eli had gotten up in the middle of all this. Brent gave him a bottle and put him back to bed. After washing the night's bottles, I decided to risk going back to bed myself. I hate having to wake up to crying, so frequently I'll just stay up once I'm up but I was so tired... Anyway, I woke up sometime later and felt rested! I checked the clock and it was 9:30. YES! NINE THIRTY IN THE MORNING AND BOTH OF MY CHILDREN WERE STILL ASLEEP! I luxuriated in bed for about fifteen minutes, which really is my favorite thing to do in the world and which I needless to say don't do much these days. There just is nothing like the feeling of being rested and still in bed, stretching and thinking. Ahhhh! Anyway, they both started stirring about 10 and have both had marvelously happy days. And so have I. It's amazing what a little (or a lot of) sleep can do for a mama and her two kids!

Can I get an HALLELUJAH!?!?

Focus

Some of my favorite Elijah expressions come when he's trying to poop.

When he is all done he can finally rest.

Our Ikea makeover

I am sometimes terribly frustrated with our bathroom situation. We have one full bath and then a tiny little powder room. And our full bath is pretty little, too. We've just always lived with it, but lately the lack of liveable space due to storage of bath toys and towels has really been bugging me, especially with the addition of a baby boy and all of his bath stuff. So a few Saturdays ago, I left Brent home with the kids and made my first excursion to Ikea. Wo. I was overwhelmed and all alone. I looked at all of the displays upstairs for like an hour before feeling like I could make a decision and even then I stared at the shelves and the hooks in the home organization area for about a half hour before putting anything in my big yellow bag. Then as I trekked towards the cash register, I doubled back about four times, changing my mind with every pass. Anyway, I finally made it to the registers and then home with a shelf and some wall hooks, feeling pretty successful. Miriam and I got the drill out one morning and put everything up. She was so proud to show Daddy the new shelf when he got home from work (I was too). And I love it! I've never liked towel racks because they're so unfunctional. But now I feel that we are making our tiny space work for us like it never has before. Plus, our door hit the towel rack and could never open all the way. I never knew it bugged me, but I cut the shelf to fit in the space and now that the door CAN open all the way, I am amazed at how much more I like the place.

Before: lots of towels shoved onto the rack, a plastic milk crate of bath toys in the corner and a door that doesn't open all the way. This picture was taken standing on the toilet, just to give an idea of how little the place is.

After: towels accessable, toys off the floor, with the door opened all the way adding mere inches to actual area but feet to perceived space. This was also taken from the toilet, hence you can see into the toy bins which you normally can't from a standing position.

I feel like it's a complete success. And although Miriam has always loved baths, she has really gotten into them lately. I like to think it's because she put up the shelf that helped the bathroom to be organized so well. Today she asked for a bath during the day, which I really like because it keeps her contained, content, and clean. All good things. She really got into it and was there for over an hour. Once when I peeked in on her she was playing waterslide. What a girl! And don't worry... the video is only 13 seconds...

The Social Smile

What a difference a week makes! This is Eli last Tuesday. I know, it's pretty pathetic.

And this is him today.

I don't know if he was ready to socially smile last week and just didn't feel like it, or if it just hit perfectly, but he started working his dimple the day we got home from the hospital. He's also starting to talk a bit more. He likes to say "oh!" when we beep his nose. Yesterday he was sitting on Brent's lap on the couch with me and Miriam on either side of him and all of us were laughing at each "oh!" I remember when my sister Kelsey was a baby thinking how sad it must have been for Nathan, my oldest brother, to only have mom and dad to laugh at him. I'm so glad that Miriam likes Eli and thinks he's funny. I haven't done a scrapbook page for a long long time, but after a great photo shoot this morning, I put one together to mark this momentous day. Really it just means I get to show more pictures of my cute little boy without you having to scroll through them all. Never say I don't think of what's best for my blog followers.

Home Again, Finnigan

Brent called me this morning from the hospital to say that Eli was coming home! Hooray! He had been off oxygen the entire night and they never had to use the "deep suctioning," but just the bulb that every baby comes home with from the hospital but rarely gets used, in my experience at least. But I now know how to use it. I'll admit I kind of freaked out when Brent told me he was ready to come home - what if he got sick again? What if he needed to be deep suctioned again? I guess I'm the kind of parent that is cool as a cucumber when the kid goes into the hospital, but scared to death when he comes home. Is that normal? It was just that all of the sudden we, his parents, had to take responsibility of his health again and I wasn't sure I was ready to do that. But when I got up there and saw the little guy, I could tell that he'd made huge improvements even in just the night that I'd been away from him. He got home about 3 this afternoon and has had such a calm and peaceful time since. He's been happy or sleeping the whole time he's been here and has only needed to be cleared out once. Welcome home Elijah!

March Madness

And this time it's not basketball. Things have been CRAZY lately. You can tell the state of my mind when I posted yesterday by my title. I tried to do a clever little acronym with the RSV thing, but Really Very Silly would be RVS. Which is... nothing, really. RSV is what we've got going on and, sigh, Really Silly Very doesn't make much sence. Anyway, Elijah is a star. He produces lots and lots of snot for the nurses to suction out. It's pretty gross but cool in a strange sort of way. He is still on oxygen, but it's a really low level. The doctors say that he should be off of oxygen for 12-24 hours before they let him go home so we're still just hanging out here. And here is a good place to be. Primary Children's is seriously the best hospital I have ever had anything to do with. Great nurses, very friendly and personable care. I feel that they actually know who I am and want to help me and they take the time to know me and Elijah. So thanks for all of your Pennies By The Inch donations. I'm reaping the benefits. I'm at the computer station in the Parent Support Center now, but I'm heading back upstairs to check on my little guy. My mom got here this evening so she's rocking him now. Miriam loves being here, but politely requested to stay home and play this afternoon, so Brent's with her. WHAT A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD!

RSV: Really Very Silly

So last week Miriam came down with a terrible cold. She was snotty and coughy and sneezy and just gunky. So of course Elijah got it too because Miriam is such a good sharer. Thursday and Friday nights they both just coughed away and it was kind of pathetic at our place. Saturday night Eli felt really hot so I checked and sure enough we had a temperature of 101.4. Wait... for kids this little, they care after it hits 100.4, right? So I called the doctor on call and she said to not worry but call the office Sunday morning and schedule an appointment (of course she said that... why do they even have doctors on call?). So Sunday I took Elijah in to the doctor's and sure enough, he has RSV. And they want to hospitalize him. At Primary Children's. And they want to take him there in an ambulance. They didn't want him to be off of the oxygen, see. So they strapped my little guy onto a stretcher and toted him off into the ambulance. I know that RSV is serious, but it's also pretty routine, so I was able to enjoy the whole thing without needing to worry. In fact, it was absolutely hilarious! This tiny bitty guy was strapped into his carseat and the carseat was strapped onto this huge stretcher and it took two big burley guys to get him into this huge ambulance just so he could have a little fan on his face. Okay, it was 100% oxygen coming out of the fan, but still it felt a little like overkill. I laughed the whole time. Inside at least. Outside I politely answered all of the questions and was the picture of a concerned mother. He was just so dang cute! I wish I had my camera, but at least I have a little one on the phone. My favorite shot is the one inside the ambulance where he's waving his little hand. It looks like "Hi mom! I'm in an ambulance! How cool is that!?" It was my first time in and ambulance and the whole time I felt like Tom Hanks in The Burbs when he crawls into the ambulance and says "I'm sick! Take me to the hospital!" Anyway, we made it to Primary Children's and he made it through to our little room and we've been there ever since. He's still on the oxygen and they come in and suction him out every few hours. It helps a lot and he breaths much better for the first few minutes afterwards until he builds it all up again. Because it's a virus they really don't have a medicine they can give him. It's just take care of the symptoms until it runs its course. Which could be two days and could be five. I stayed with him last night and now Brent is with him while I came home to put Miriam to bed and take a nap myself. So although I could elaborate on the story a bit more, I'm just going to go to bed.

My Favorite Things #4

Every March, the Girl Scout Cookies get delivered. Oh how I love Girl Scout Cookies. As a side note, I was the biggest cookie seller in my Brownies troop. Two years ago, I discovered Girl Scout Cookie Ice Cream. Now, I'm not a huge ice cream fan. I like my fair share of soft serve cones, but otherwise it's just a dessert. But I have found my VERY FAVORITE ICE CREAM of all. Thin Mint Cookie Ice Cream. It is a chocolate mint ice cream. BOTH chocolate and mint. Then it has thin mint cookies crushed up in it. They get all chewy and kind of taste like a mint brownie. Oh it's good stuff. Two years ago I was thrilled to discover it, and bought a half gallon of it each time I saw it at the store. Then the "limited time only" expired and I had to wait for the next year. Last year, I bought the first half gallon I saw only to be disappointed that it was merely chocolate ice cream with the cookies in it. Good, but not delectable. Later that season I saw a half gallon that was white mint ice cream with the cookies in it. I didn't even bother purchasing. I wrote Dreyer's Ice Cream a mild complaint in the form of the question "is there anywhere I can buy it with chocolate mint ice cream this year?!?" They sent me a coupon for a free half gallon of ice cream which I gave to the neighbor boys when they watched Miriam one day while I went to pick Brent up from work. I'm sure they enjoyed it. But no response to my chocolate mint ice cream question. This year, however, the Thin Mint Cookie Ice Cream has chocolate mint ice cream in it! HALLELUJAH! What joy! Brent wondered how much of the proceeds the Girl Scouts get from the Dreyer's ice cream sales. Whatever it is, add it to the cookie sales they get each year they've got to be making a decent profit. After purchasing a $5 Scout-a-Rama ticket from the same neighbor boy who got our ice cream coupon last year, Brent decreed that the Boy Scouts need some help. I'm just going to stick to my ice cream.

Give peas a chance

Miriam most repeated creative creation is "Funny Man." I'm not sure where she got it, but she draws him, colors him, makes him with Play Doh, and organizes her toys to be him. It amazes me to watch her identify eyes, ears, feet, and the sundry other body parts she thinks are important enough for Funny Man to have. The other night we were having lasagne with a lovely side dish of peas. Miriam decided to make Funny Man right there. She took two peas, deposited them into the lasagne and declared "eyes." Then she took another pea and said "mouth." And another for "head." Not sure if the head was supposed to be big enough for the eyes and the mouth to be on, or if head is something else in her mind. She continued on until she had a complete Funny Man. She didn't eat her lasagne that night, although quite a few of the peas made it into her mouth. She gobbled up the leftovers, however, when I served them without the peas. Maybe the creative pull of the pea is just too strong. I know most all kids play with food, but thanks for indulging my belief that my daughter is an especially creative genius.

A Month of Elijah

Eli turned a month old on Monday. I tell you, I simply adore this kid! For the most part, he's pretty chill. Yesterday Brent had city council so I was doing the nighttime bath books bottle bed routine alone. At one point, I had a post-bath Eli on the couch getting his pajamas on when a supposed-to-still-be-in-the-bath Miriam came running through the room. I set Elijah up with some homework and made sure he could see the window blinds (perhaps his favorite thing in the world to look at) (besides his mama, of course) and went to finish cleaning Miriam. Including a face wash and hair shampoo. Eli just laid on the couch taking it all in. Amazing. Anyway, he's a wonderfully amazing little boy. He usually has only two or three short wake-ups in a night. And although the past few nights have been the exception, I'm going to say that they're the exception and not the new normal. He fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, is no longer in the running for World's Homeliest Baby. His receding hairline has receded enough to make him look pleasantly bald and not the malnourished thin and scraggly look he had for a while, his cradle cap has mostly all flaked away, his baby acne is clearing up quite nicely and if we're lucky won't scar (it was really bad for a while). He adores his mama and daddy, and knows when they are in the room. He also knows when Miriam is in the room and loves her too. He's also very forgiving when her love and adoration are a bit too smothering. I love that I can hear his humming and squeaking whether I'm rocking him or he's sleeping across the room. I love his eyes, his facial expressions, his hand control, and mostly I JUST LOVE ELIJAH!

PBS Musings

For some odd reason (okay, it's all Eli's fault!), the television has been on a lot more often than normal lately. I'm awfully glad that Miriam likes to dance and sing along with the characters and answer all of their questions and even play with her other toys rather than just sit and stare. If that were the case I might be rethinking our routine. But as it is, I'm aokay with it. STILL, here are some random comments about the PBSKids morning lineup.

*Did you know that Curious George is narrated by William H. Macy? And produced by Ron Howard? No wonder it's such a quality show! It's honestly one of my favorites.

*The only thing I'd change about it, in fact, is when they cut to the "kids" part, the narration is "George is a monkey, so he can do things you can't do." I wish they'd change it to "you don't do." Cause quite frankly, most of the things George does I COULD do if I wanted to, but I just don't. It also might be part of my focus-on-abilities-not-disabilities background.

*And speaking of disabilities, there is a dog with three legs and a girl in a wheelchair on Clifford. There's a boy with one arm on Maya and Miguel. And a dragon in a wheelchair on Dragon Tales. I'm not sure if they're really trying to make disabilities more approachable, but I find it incredibly entertaining.

*Ziggy Marley, Bob's son, does the theme music for Arthur. Just an interesting tidbit.

*It bugs me a bit that Clifford and his friends talk with each other when there are no humans around, but as soon as humans show up they can only bark. I know I'm getting picky, but gosh can't the rules stay the same? They do for Curious George!

*On Word World, all of the animals talk. Except for Dog. He has a huge house and can spell, but he can't talk. He's not a pet, either. He just can't talk.

*Sid the Science Kid goes to kindergarten and there's only four students in his class! What state does he live in, anyway!? And the teacher always bases her lesson on the question that Sid asks that morning. Is it luck? Did she already have it planned and was just relieved that Sid asked the question he did? Or is it kind of like a Montessori situation where it's student-guided? And does the teacher really have everything for every lesson there every day? I'm impressed.

*Barney isn't purple. He's magenta. Which in my book is much closer to pink. I would just say they're going with a different purple, but when they have all the kids wear purple to Barney's birthday party, they're not wearing magenta. They're wearing purple. And even lavender. But not magenta. And when they sing "purple is the color of fun fun fun," the crayon that Barney holds up is not the same color as him. And it really bothers me that they speak-sing a lot of the song. Even if you know the tune, it's really hard to sing along.

*I still love Sesame Street. And I recently found out they have podcasts that you can download to your ipod! Miriam loves to watch these and she's awfully adorable when she does it, too.

*Between the shows on PBS, they have a little preschool class with a teacher and students. Miss Lori was the teacher last season and she was absolutely wonderful. Now they have Miss Rosa. Miss Rosa I'm sure is a wonderful teacher, but she's awfully awkward in front of the camera. And her interactions with her students just doesn't feel natural. Miss Lori at this point does the Reading Time segment and nothing else. I hope that was a promotion for Miss Lori and that they didn't just demote her because Miss Rosa is younger and flashier and bilingual. I highly prefer Miss Lori.

*Mr. Steve does their music section. Last season (the ones where he's wearing a long sleeved red shirt and sitting down) I thought he was a little awkward. But he's come a long way. This season's takes (on the playground wearing a red polo) are quite a lot of fun and I find myself singing his songs throughout the day. He's a boy-next-door kind of a guy and I just want him to do good.

*I highly prefer the weekday lineup to the Saturday cartoons. It's not even worth turning the tv on on the weekends any more! But it just feels like a good morning to know that after George and Sid, Super Why will come on.

That's all for now. I'm sure that I'll wake up in the middle of the night with an insight that I forgot to share, but until then... may all your tv watching be happy!

I would have chosen Jacob

I have officially joined the ranks of those who have finished the Twilight series. It took me a little while to join the bandwagon of this one. My sister Kelsey gave me the first book for my birthday this past September. Despite how much talk I heard about it I just hadn't gotten around to reading it before that. I am going to share my thoughts on the series, and while I'm not planning to write a summary, if you want to read the series without my opinions which may or may not be spoilers, then stop reading here. I'll be honest about the first book: I enjoyed it, but it made me frustrated. I didn't agree with the choices that Bella made and Edward quite frankly bugged me. He seemed to me to be incredibly arrogant, overly protective, and self-righteous in his opinions (meaning that he did what he wanted to and nobody else's ideas mattered). He knew he was gorgeous, he knew he was intoxicating to Bella, and he knew he could do and say anything and she'd just go along with it. Plus I thought it was creepy that he sat in her room at night and watched her sleep even before she knew about it. And Bella just accepted it all! Like it was fate! Oh I just wanted to give some gumption to that girl! I felt that she was just becoming Edward rather than developing her own persona. I am fully aware that as a person reads a book, she automatically may transfer her own experiences and emotions onto the characters, and I am also fully aware that I perchance have done this. But I dated a few guys like Edward. The kind who knew they could have anybody they wanted, and wanted a girl who would just to orbit them and tell them how wonderful they were. The kind who didn't take the time to find out about the girl's talents and potential and to help her become who she could be. Anyway, to say the least I had a hard time with the first book. I was telling my sister Erin about my feelings and she gently reminded me that the book was written for adolescents. Hmmm. It made me think, and I ended up requesting the final three books on CD from the library. The series definately got more interesting as it went on. It introduced Jacob (well, I guess he was in the first book but he wasn't a big player), who tried to woo Bella away from Edward and was initially moderately successful. I felt that Jacob was perfect for Bella and that she was an idiot for considering anything else. He was funny, down to earth, focused on her rather than on himself, brought her joy and happiness, helped her learn and become and develop, and in general trusted her judgement. I loved how he was confident, but not overly so. He made mistakes but moved past them rather than beating himself over the head with them. The saddest snippet of the book was when Bella saw her future as it would be with Jacob: happy, sunshiney, and with two dark haired kids running around. And she still turned and walked away from it. Sigh. Yes, things ended up fine and dandy for everybody involved, but I'm not one that likes to depend on fate. See, when fate chooses somebody for you, and unfortunate things happen (as they always will in any relationship), then all of the sudden you're stuck thinking "WHAT CRAPPY LUCK DO I HAVE THAT FATE CHOSE THIS FOR ME?" Rather than if you take responsibility for your own relationship choices, and unfortunate things happen, then you think "OK, what choice can I make now to improve this...?" And although Bella was happy with Edward, I think I would have liked Bella as a person better if she had become the person she would have with Jacob. And I think she would have liked herself better. So I think I've made my point in enough ways that everybody can see the reasons that I wish she would have stuck with Jacob. Although if she would have stayed with Jacob it wouldn't really have made as interesting a read what with forgoing the whole vampire/human relationship. But another great thing about the book is that just as I felt the whole shebang was nothing more than a twisted love triangle, the plot thickened and honestly became pretty interesting and intense. And quite satisfying. I became very intent in how things were going to end up and began looking forward to bottle-washing time when I could put my headphones on and hear what they were doing. I finished the final book just this week and was very satisfied with the resolution. It not only held my attention through the entire series, but the grasp on said attention was stronger in the middle of the fourth book than it was in the first. Needless to say, I've already requested the DVD from the library. As soon as it comes out, we'll be the 15th person to watch it. And since they usually get like 50 copies of movies, we'll probably be the 1st people to watch the copy we'll get! So exciting!!