first words

First words are very important to me. My mom kept a list of my first twenty or thirty words, and I loved to read it over and over again as a child. I don't know if it mattered so much because I love words, because all kids love to hear about themselves, or something else entirely. I have always kept track of my baby's first words. (Jonah: uh-oh. Caroline: dog.) I've been watching carefully for Miriam to start talking. I am now ready to call it, but I'm not sure what word was first. How did this happen?!

I was pretty sure she was saying "go" a month ago. But since it wasn't consistent and didn't have any rhyme or reason, we chalked it up to babbling (which is not completely out of the question. She is a very babbly baby). Then I thought she was saying, "hi!" This one I was more confident with, because it always had the same tone and always occurred after Jonah or Caroline walked in the room for the first time in the morning. Still, it was hard to recreate and Josh wasn't quite sure we should count it.

Not how you sit in a cart.

Well in the last week or so, she has said both regularly. When we went to visit Brandon and Stacey, the other kids all went outside. Stacey was holding Miriam, who started waving her arms around and saying, "go!" So maybe she was saying it all along, but only when she felt very strongly about it. She also greets most children (but rarely adults) with a hearty, "hi!" I heard her say it at least four times during church today.

So now what will I tell this little dear in a few years when she asks about her first word? I guess I'll say, "Well honey, at around 11 months you started saying 'hi!' and asking to 'go.'" The which-word-was-first debate will just have to fill our evenings and car rides for the next 20 years  (or until we get something more contentious to discuss).

is it good morning time?

Today is a big day! Caroline got her first clock.

Here's hoping it helps her stay in her room past 5:00am.

10 years

In September, we will celebrate our 10th anniversary. There was a time that we dreamed of going to Spain for our 10th anniversary. Children's ages being what they are, however, that might have to wait for 15 or 20 (or we could take them with us, which would be fabulous and educational and not at all the trip we dreamed about 10 years ago). That said, we still intend to party the best we know how. This morning, I made the first real payment on our trip to Alabama. It may not be Spain, but we will enjoy it nonetheless. Alabama football game*, here we come!

*My first. Even Jonah attended a game when we lived in Tuscaloosa. This will be my first, however, and I'm pretty excited.

some things I'm good at

Like Kayla, I've wanted to write this since I read Janssen's list of things she's good at. I was motivated to finally put pen to paper (except this is not written in pen or on paper) when I heard myself say, "I'm not very good at summer vacation!" True story. So here we are: five things I am good at.

1. Food. At one point or another, I wrote in this list that I am good at "trying new recipes," "trying new things," "cooking with what I've got on hand," "planning food for celebrations," and "not wasting food." I think I'm just good with food. I'm a pretty good cook, a good eater, a good shopper, and I love to talk about and plan food.

2. Word games. I love Scrabble, crossword puzzles, and the yellow section in Cranium. Give me a vocabulary test or word puzzle and I will happily play.

3. Changing plans. This one is actually funny, because I'm naturally pretty terrible at handling changes in plans. After many years of hard work, though, I'm getting pretty good at rolling with whatever comes after an initial grumpiness phase (sometimes 2 minutes, sometimes 2 days). I think I'm much better at finding the good in huge setbacks than I am at graciously handling small upsets. I've had many changes in my life plan big and small in my 30 years, and I'm getting better at it all the time.

4. Understanding opposing opinions. I discovered at a pretty young age that I'm good at understanding where other people are coming from. This sometimes exhibits itself in extreme empathy as well as a desire to stick myself in the middle of arguments between people I care about. I'm also decent at understanding what people mean when they can't find the right words.

5. Getting outside. When Jonah was just a few years old, we would eat breakfast at the park from May-September rather than miss the cool part of the day. When we lived in Alabama, I was always suggesting we go to the park when other families had retreated inside for the summer. I don't love swimming, but I am pretty good at not letting hot weather keep me from spending time outside.

It's been nice to consider this question for the past few months, so I'll ask you: What are you good at?

these kids crack me up

Caroline: Jonah, why are you doing that? That is not fun.

Jonah: Chores aren't supposed to be fun. But sometimes they can be if you make a game out of them.

Me: Mm-hmm

Jonah: Like when I clean my room and I wander around picking up Legos like a robot.

Caroline (with a distressed look): Oh no! I forgot to tell Daddy something!

Me: What did you forget to tell him?

Caroline: I forgot to tell him I'm sorry for spilling my water. Let's send him a message!

(Then a few minutes later)

Caroline: I want to go to Aunt Toni's house. Let's send her a message and see that we can.

Josh was gone earlier this week, so the kids made him welcome home signs. Caroline told me exactly what she wanted hers to say: "I love you Daddy. I love you so much. And I don't want to die. And I love Mommy so much. And Jesus Christ. And I want Mommy to read me books every time. So when I go to bed, I will cry. And I want Nutella for dinner. And I will spit out my beans. And my sister Miriam. Sometimes we want her to be the Sift (Sith) and the candy and swimming lessons and my teacher."

Jonah (reading): Mom and Dad had ten kids.
Me: That's a big family!
Jonah: Well, it's easier for a Mom and Dad than just a Mom with ten monkeys.

sky

I will never get tired of wide-open sky.

Dear Dad,

I've been watching Frasier at night while I do the dishes. It makes me think of you. I tried watching Friends, which also makes me think of you (though not in the same way). It's entertaining enough, but I just haven't gotten into it, even though most of my friends have seen every episode at least once. Is it because I can remember what you had to say about it? Or is it because I prefer Niles and Frasier's snooty humor?

I'm glad you never had to live as a widower, but Martin Crane does remind me of you in some ways. You would be very welcome to come and live with me and bring a ratty old armchair with duct-taped tears. Then you could sit in the chair and watch Jonah do knee drops and flop drops and share Lucky Charms with him. I don't know how the years went from those days to now that he's seven. On his birthday, we went to the children's museum. Ros and Mom and I all think you would be fascinated by the design of some of the exhibits and rooms.

We played Ticket to Ride this weekend and I wanted to deal you in. The talk around the table about playing games with you was all happy. But tonight, it's making me a little melancholy.

I miss you.

Here it is, noon, and I haven't even gotten dressed yet. I have brushed my teeth, but it wasn't that long ago (gross). I finally sat down to a lunch of leftover pasta when Caroline started calling to me from her room where she is supposed to be resting.

Caroline: Are you eating searcle (cereal) Mommy?
Me: No. I'm eating pasta.
Caroline: Is Daddy in there eating with you?
Me: No. It's just me.
Caroline: Are you eating pasta and searcle?
Me: No. I'm just eating pasta.
Caroline: With a spoon?
Me: No, with a fork.
Caroline: Then why do I hear a bowl and spoon?

At this point, I just walked over to her and showed her my bowl of pasta and fork. Now that her burning questions have been answered, I'm eating in relative peace. Mm...cold leftovers.

birthday week 7.0

My boy will be seven this week. SEVEN! As is our custom, that means he chooses the meals for the week. After tonight, which has already been planned (and the food needs to get eaten), the meals of choice will be the following:

Stephanie's salmon with potatoes and broccoli*
shrimp scampi with linguine and garlic bread
baked ziti with salad and garlic bread
hamburgers with french fries and watermelon*
vanilla cake with strawberry frosting and homemade strawberry ice cream

As you can see, it's not quite a whole week. Between leftovers and his birthday camping trip this weekend, however, we should be pretty set.


*Repeats from previous years.

"when we go in the recycle bin..."

Saturday, we went to Jonah's Let's Play Music recital. After the recital, we had lunch at Peter Piper Pizza. Caroline was really struggling to figure out the words. It went something like this:

"Mommy? After the recycle..after Jonah's recycle..when we go in the recycle bin, can I have a snack?"

"Today, at Peter Pan.."
(Jonah: It's Peter Piper Pizza!)
"Today, at Peter Pan Pizza..."

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to the mothers I know and love. I am surrounded by examples as varied and impressive as anything I could imagine. There are as many ways to be a good mom as there are to be a good person, I think. But especially, Happy Mother's Day to my mother, who I try to emulate. I do not ever recall feeling that I wasn't important to her or worth her time. Even when I can tell she is busy or worried about her own things, she always makes time for me.

(I have other pictures where she's actually looking at the camera, but my kids love to read with Grandma. This is definitely a favorite.)

To Josh's mother and step-mother who are fabulous examples of how to love a son. It's fun to watch them be grandmas but also how much they still love their little boy (now a grown man). It gives me hope that I will always have a place in the heart of my own little boy.

(Again with the not-looking-at-the-camera thing. This is one of my all-time favorite pictures of Josh and Marilyn.)

(Let's round out the picture collection with this classic of Jo Anne and Jonah. They were having too much fun to bother looking at the camera.)

And Happy Mothers Day to my babies. I'm still kind of weirded out by the fact that I am someone's MOM, but it's a pretty great gig nonetheless.

ROAR

Caroline has the best lion's roar. To get the full effect, come over sometime and read the book "Monty's Magnificent Mane" to her. For a preview, though, here she is humoring me during breakfast this week:



(Never fear; I don't really understand what she says in the beginning either.)

quesadillas

So I was sitting on Caroline's bed tonight thinking about how whatever we know as children is normal. I remember being so surprised and fascinated by the way other families did things as a young adult. This was even before I lived abroad for a few months, and even that was Europe--forget experiencing normal somewhere even further from what I knew. Many things I am intentionally trying to instill in my children as normal. Others will probably happen accidentally. As I was wondering what sorts of things I may be inadvertently teaching the kids as normal, I remembered waiting in line at Taco Bell at the Wilkinson Student Center at BYU.

I asked the girl behind me (who I knew, but I can't remember now who it was) what she planned to order. "A quesadilla," she said.
"A what?" I asked. I'd had three years of high school Spanish, so I was fairly confident it was something cheesy.
When she explained the concept of a quesadilla to me, I immediately assumed it was a fake Mexican food invention of Taco Bell, ala that double decker taco or the Doritos taco shell. The only thing I knew were cheese crips, which are open-faced. I'm still a little embarrassed by the whole thing, but thankfully I don't remember teaching her all about why her quesadilla wasn't a real thing.

Yesterday, we had lunch at El Charro in honor of Dad's birthday. Mom ordered what the menu called a "cheese tortilla," which was a giant flour tortilla (mmm, Sonoran tortillas are the best variety) folded in half around melted cheese and other toppings. I felt slightly better about not going to college with any knowledge of the quesadilla, since I certainly never ordered one as a kid. I loved tostadas until one day someone suggested I just order a taco since I would fold the tostada in half to eat it. Even if I did order a tortilla with melty cheese, it would have been a cheese crisp at Little Sombrero and a cheese tortilla at El Charro. So there. I did spend many days after school perfecting making cheese crisps in the oven, though. Katie and Erin were correct: they are so much tastier made in the oven than in the microwave.

We eat quesadillas here. They are a cinch to make two at a time on the griddle, deliciously crispy on the outside, and easy for the kids to eat because the melted cheese is stuck in the middle. I feel like it's my duty to my children to make sure they're familiar with the cheese crisp and cheese tortilla as well, lest they repeat my mistakes. Isn't that the whole point of parenting anyway?