Word Update

This week Miss Mouse has been working on putting two words together. We have phrases now! There aren't a whole lot of them, but it's progress nonetheless.
*Clean up = me up
*Fix them = fix 'em (fixing hair, fixing something broken, etc.)
*Excuse me = q me (that's the easiest way to show how it sounds)
*Thank you = thaa you
*Twinkle, twinkle = as in "little star"
*Wee, wee, wee, all the way home = as in what the 5th little piggy did. Sounds like "wee, wee, wee ohm"
New words:
*people = actually fairly clear - it developed because I told her we were giving all the cookies away to "people".
*tinkle = I've worked on the phrase "potty on the toilet" diligently now for several months. She, in the last week, decided it is called 'tinkle'. I couldn't care less as long as she's interested in it, whatever she calls it!
*garbage = my little helper loves to put things into the garbage and says it quite clearly.
*rabbit = also fairly clear
*bunny = has gone from "dee" to "unny"
*zebra = beebah
*giraffe = baff (similar to the bath, but obvious if you look at the context)
*turtle
*kite = from our "abc" book
*apple = she's had this one awhile, but I've forgotten to mention it
*drum = from our "abc" book
*flower = ditto above
*mouse = might have mentioned this before, but it is very clear now
*sun = "abc" book
*bright = bite, bite (as in "sunshine is"...)
*auntie = though, I'm sure there are no guarantees either of them will get to hear it!
*Alex = Lex (I don't think he'll mind the "nickname" for now).

Miss Mouse, Meet Santa

We took Miss Mouse to meet Santa and Mrs. Claus last night at a local "Santa Village". After being warned by a friend (Regan) last year that the Santa Village at the mall has turned into quite the racket, we've steered clear of there (sidenote: at the mall, you can order your "portrait package" and are "allowed" to purchase the copyright to your photos for $35 in addition to your package order....for those cheapos like me, you can still get a single shot, but it is $10 for a 4X6). Last year, with teething nights and days, it just didn't work out to take Miss Mouse anywhere to meet Santa Claus, but this year we were determined that she have the chance to meet the big, friendly dude in red. On advice from the same friend, we checked out the Santa Village last night around twilight. We stopped at a barn first to drop off our canned goods donation which was our "ticket" into the village (other than that, it is free, and if a person really, truly couldn't afford the canned goods donation, there is nobody really checking to make sure whether you do it or not...nice option for those who probably need the food pantry services but still would like their kids to meet Santa). There was a little train running around the barn, two of them actually, that Miss Mouse fell in love with. We stood and watched the toy trains for several minutes. It was pretty hard to talk her into going back outside to see the reindeer. She loved the trains!

Back outside, we trekked over to the reindeer. There were three of them, but I think two of them were antlerless (Mrs. Claus later said that was due to some "infighting" among the reindeer crowd). Miss Mouse really liked them, too. Although I think reindeer are supposed to be fairly shy, these guys/girls were really quite friendly and came right up to the fence to sniff at their visitors.

Next stop - Santa and Mrs. Claus's house! I had dressed the Mouse in her snowboots for warmth but was carrying along her fancy, black church shoes for her Santa picture (which, by the way, one takes on their own camera - eliminating the need for 'copyright' buying!). I had planned to dress her in a cute pant-outfit, but she insisted (peese! peese!) on wearing a dress with tights! What a Mouse! Anyway, we unbundled the Mouse, changed her shoes, and I unpacked the camera while Daddy and Miss Mouse signed Santa's guestbook. The house smelled like caramel rolls and was decorated for Christmas just beautifully. It was definitely a place I could have spent some serious time just sitting and sniffing and admiring decorations! We were directed over to a parlor-type area where Santa was sitting in a red shirt and overalls. It doesn't get a whole lot better than that. I'm so excited to think my girl will grow up thinking of Santa in bibs!

All afternoon we had been "preparing" for our Santa visit. I had explained that Santa might be loud, but that he is very nice. So, Miss Mouse had repeated, all the way down to the Santa Village (it's on the south end of town), "loud" and "niiiiiice". I figured we were as prepared as we could be. I had also told her he would be wearing red and would have a beard. Everything turned out to be true except the loud part. Santa was very nice and mild-mannered and just leaned down and talked in a normal voice to the Mouse. She was not about to sit on his lap, however. The lower lip quivered, and she made a dash away from him muttering "nooo, nooo, nooo". We convinced her that it would be fun for all of us to sit with Santa and have our picture taken (the elf volunteered her services). As you can see in the picture, she still wasn't terribly thrilled, but she did acquiesce. I had visions of a screaming, terrified Mouse, so a serious one pretty much equated with success in my mind for a first Santa visit!

Santa asked what she would like for Christmas, but she just looked at him. He asked if she liked dolls, so she said, "yes" and answered affirmatively that she would like a doll, maybe Barbie or Dora (I didn't mention to Santa that she doesn't know who either of those are....). After getting her ribbon, which apparently kids collect from year to year, we meandered off to the kitchen to decorate a cookie with Mrs. Claus. The Mouse wandered into the kitchen still thinking of dolls, apparently, saying "baby, baby".

Mrs. Claus was very nice, as well, and Miss Mouse did a nice job of decorating her cookie. She was allowed to have one bite on the way home (Daddy and I split the rest - it was a small cookie) and seemed pleased with her work (it was prettier than it was tasty). I talked to Mrs. Claus about the breakfast with Santa opportunity and found out it is actually really reasonably-priced, so we'll hopefully try to do that next year. Even if that doesn't work out, I think this Santa Village will be a yearly tradition. It was so neat, and calm, and full of things to do! We skipped the ornament-making, mainly because I knew my crockpot meal was heading into the "very done" category at home and that the Mouse would be getting hungry. On the way out of the farm, we had to stop one more time and look at the reindeer (both Daddy and Miss Mouse insisted). Daddy had a good time explaining that they can fly like airplanes but only on one night each year.....then he had a great time reading her the explanation of what a reindeer is that was posted in the reindeer barn (used in Northern Scandinavia for years as livestock for transportation, use of their antler-sheds, and meat). As we left, we closed with the explanation of them getting to fly like airplanes once a year. :)

Another sidenote: She's never seen a traditional Christmas program, and it is hard to say when she will ever see one put on by children. But, she's been playing with blankets and wrapping them around her like shawls......perhaps an inborn characteristic in little girls to want to "play Mary in the Christmas program"? I don't know where she got the idea, but it's been pretty funny.

Another sidenote: I found a newspaper the other day that I had apparently saved since last Christmas under a pile of scrapbooks. I could not figure out why I had saved it. It didn't appear to have any items of interest to me, so I thought maybe it just got shoved under the books and forgotten when I took recycling out last Christmas (it was from last year at this time). The other day, I decided to take one more look at it before I threw it out, and I realized why I had saved it. It was an insert from my hometown paper (the Divide County Journal), and it had an article written by an older woman from my home community (sort of - out there, within 45 miles constitutes "home community"). It was entitled "Believe in Santa? You bet I do!" I don't know how old she is now, but she was 6 years old in the Depression when her family moved from Alkabo to the West Coast, using all their savings to invest in a grocery store business out there. Things in Alkabo were bad, and her parents were hoping a new start would be the answer. The little girl was very homesick and was praying every night that they could move back "home" to Alkabo; no doubt her parents knew her thoughts, feelings, and prayers but couldn't do anything about them. They had moved a little before Christmas, so when she would ask her parents what they thought Santa would get her for Christmas, they answered that Santa probably would not know where to find her this year. She assured them that Santa knew everything and would find her for sure. Youch. Well, Christmas came closer and closer with her insisting that Santa would find them. Unbeknownst to her, her parents had no extra money to buy any presents and were dreading Christmas morning to have to explain that, indeed, Santa had lost track of her and her brother that year. Christmas morning came, and under the tree were: one present for her, one for her brother, and one for both of them. She remembered not being terribly surprised that the presents were there - after all, Santa knows when kids move! She and her brother were overjoyed to share a pair of skates; I don't remember what the other presents were, but that year, Santa had taken the form of a family back in Alkabo that sent two presents for the kids and a colleague of her father's at their new business who had given him the pair of skates in appreciation for some after-hours work he had done (cutting meat or something). I thought she said it just as well as the editor who wrote that 'yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus'. That is Santa Claus, the true, real Santa who will exist no matter a person's age. That is the Santa that is totally compatible with the celebration of the birth of Christ. And that is why Miss Mouse met him last night.

No, Baby Jesus does not go in the microwave!

How often do you use "Jesus" and "microwave" in the same sentence? Okay, perhaps don't answer that, but at our house, it is relatively infrequent....in fact, I'm not sure I've ever used them in the same sentence. But that's exactly what I found myself saying last night! Miss Mouse has her "very own" nativity set which consists of a Baby Jesus in the manger, Mary, and Joseph cut out of wood by a young man around where my parents live. She's been thrilled to have own of her "very own" and has been holding them while she runs around the house, trying hard to say "Jesus" (Eeessus) and "Mary" (eeeeee). Well, she's also thrilled with the beeping sound the microwave makes when it is done cooking food....naturally, she thought that combining her two current loves - the nativity scene and the microwave - was a good idea. So, she comes to me, holding the wooden figures, saying "peese, peese, peese" and pointing to the kitchen. I get up and follow her. She points to the microwave, shows me her nativity scene, and says "beep, beep!". After a little snickering, I explained that, no, Baby Jesus does not go in the microwave. She seemed a bit disappointed and shook her head, saying "nooooo". It became a game after that as she would hold the figures, say "beep, beep" and then giggle and say "noooooo".

Magical Musical Christmas Weekend

Playing with Daddy after church.

She was so proud of her dress with dogs on it.

She put the hat on herself.

What a wonderful weekend we've been having! We started it off with a visit to the mall Friday night to see a free concert by an area adult band. It wasn't spectacular, but it was fun. Miss Mouse thoroughly enjoyed it! The minute we arrived at the mall, while we were still unbuckling from the car, she started saying "blub, blub, blub, blub" which is her sound for "fish". Naturally, we had to stroll all the way to the other side of the mall to see the giant fish tank! She was so excited to hear the music and see the fish. I think it capped off her week beautifully!

Yesterday morning, I taught a Stephen Ministry class from 8-noon, so Daddy and the Mouse had some individual bonding time. It doesn't happen very often (okay, that's an understatement); they seemed to have had a marvelous time without me! He's been teaching her the "got your nose" gag, so the minute I walked in the door, Miss Mouse bounded over to me with her hand in a fist, pointed at my nose, yelling "nose! nose!". Pretty fun stuff.

Yesterday evening we took off to Enderlin for a community Christmas concert. We were really unsure of how it would go since Miss Mouse threw a 20-minute fit before we left. It started as a protest against changing out of her everyday clothes into her pretty (and soft and comfy) outfit for the Christmas concert. It then degenerated into an out-of-control-not-sure-what-I-want type of fit. Poor thing had refused all snacks after her 1.5 hour nap (that's 30-60 minutes shorter than she usually needs to feel refreshed), so I'm sure she was just completely out-of-sorts. Regardless, I didn't give in to her demands to wear her blue pants, green jacket, and purple socks to the concert, and she wasn't happy about it. Daddy found us sitting on the couch, Miss Mouse screaming, me just sitting waiting for it to pass. Eventually, we were able to calm her down with the promise of Christmas music and crackers in the car. However, we were pretty nervous about whether or not that fit was going to set the tone for the evening! I actually hoped she would nap on the way to the concert.

Instead of napping all the way, Miss Mouse ate crackers...and vastly improved in mood. Funny what a little blood-sugar boost will do, eh? We arrived at the concert and soup supper and were greeted by many friends. It is always sort of like a family reunion going back there; the leaving is the hard part. Anyway, Miss Mouse enjoyed her bowl of chili and more crackers like an absolute, perfect little lady! We sat and visited with friends for about an hour before the concert started. Once Miss Mouse heard the brass warming up, she started bouncing up and down on my lap (she had sat in her booster seat for supper but then was out free for the concert) asking for "more".

The concert was just amazing. In a town of 900 people, there were 49 performers part of the concert, only a couple of whom were not from the immediate area! Pretty cool that over 5% of the town is musical enough to actually get up and perform and that they are also willing to commit to the practices and to being up on stage to do that! There was a band, complete with a brass section, woodwinds, even an oboe. They played some selections themselves and then also accompanied many of the solo performers (which is a pretty cool thing, again, for a soloist to have the opportunity to sing with a full band rather than just a one-instrument accompaniment!). There was also a men's choir which included about three or four high school age boys and several young men from the area. A women's barbershop group (sweet adeline, I guess is the term for the women's version of this style) that I sang with 2.5 years ago also performed. It was exciting to see that it has actually grown in membership and, I think, declined in average age! That is so atypical of small-town community groups! They all sounded great! The entire performance was directed and coordinated by a friend of ours, so that made it even more fun.

Miss Mouse was absolutely perfect through the entire concert. I was sure that at some point, I would need to dig out our bag of toys with some books or crayons or something to amuse her. I was especially sure of this when I realized that the concert was long enough to need an intermission. But....I was wrong. So wrong! She sat on my lap or Daddy's lap, sometimes being a bit of a goofball by throwing herself backwards onto friends' laps (being that these friends "adopted" us into their families when we lived there, they didn't mind one bit!). She's never been much of a clapper, but after every selection, she enthusiastically clapped and asked for "more!". As she got more comfortable, she stood on the floor by our table and 'danced' to the music. By the end of the show, she was 'singing' with the songs. I started to try to shush her, but our friends stopped me, saying that she was just singing and that it was sweet. It's not like it was loud, but I suppose a few people heard it. It didn't appear that anyone minded. I just could not believe how much she enjoyed that concert and how comfortable she was there. She normally doesn't talk in public, but she responded to questions, sang, danced, clapped, laughed....It was terribly fun and very meaningful for me to see. The people down there were family for us...through a lot...and I've been so sad that they don't have as close a role in Miss Mouse's life as I had planned on or hoped for...last night reminded me that it doesn't necessarily matter that she doesn't see them all the time, that simply because her Mommy and Daddy are loved there, she must somehow sense how much she is loved. Even after nearly 2 years away. What a Mouse. What a family. We are blessed.

We stood around visiting for about an hour after the concert ended, so we didn't end up leaving until around 9:30. Surely, we thought, Miss Mouse will fall asleep in the car on the way home. I even got her ready for bed, into her bedtime diaper, etc. Nope, she was much too happy and excited to sleep. She pointed out every large vehicle we met with "bus! bus!", pointed out all the colors of lights we saw, pointed out the green road signs along side of the roads, got really excited about the country church we pass, and didn't really seem tired until we were just about home. Thankfully by that point she was able to stay awake until we reached our house! What a crazy evening it was. She was asleep the minute she closed her eyes....perhaps dreaming of band music?

Weekly Word Update

There are just so many new words appearing right now that I'm not sure I can catalogue all of them. I'll try, though, to list off as many as I can remember, mainly so that Miss Mouse has a record herself someday of how adorable her "learning to talk" moments were! We're having so much fun with this and are realizing how important our own language is; she now often will repeat whatever last word I say. Yesterday in the grocery store, they were out of something I wanted (can't remember what - some type of bagel, I think), and I said "darn". So, she promptly repeated "dan". How spongelike, eh?
*bus
*yellow, green, blue, purple, red, pink - she's been saying these awhile now, but they're become clearer
*orange = noranch (my personal favorite color to hear her say)
*plane = peen/pleen (I think Grandpa Dick will be especially pleased to know she is interested in aircraft!)
*car = ar
*door
*downstairs = steers/seers
*bath = baf
*goose - quite clearly "goose"
*mouse
*nose = noise/noose
*eye
*toe
*feet = eet (pointing at her feet is the clue)
*ear
*beeps = whenever we hear a car, the microwave, the oven timer, even if it is just one "beep", she announces "beeps! beeps!"
*tree = tee/ee
*light = ight (she's also developed the need for her light to be on all the time if she heads to her room; it used to be that she'd head in anywhere in the dark, but not anymore)
*truck = uck (this one's been around awhile)
*snow = no/noooo!!!!
*comb = omb
*brush = bush/bussss
*bush - as in the outdoor tree-type plant; very clear for a couple weeks now
*lunch = nunch
*noodles = noonoos
*cuddle = nuddoo
*butter = yuyyer
*church = nuch
*pepper

I'll add more on this list as I think of (or hear) them. A highlight of her week was going to the Bare Wood store to pick up my new entryway bench; the store is closing, and the lady who owns it gave her a stuffed Barney on the way out. Of course, we had to go right home and throw him in the washing machine (he was a toy that they'd had there for children to play with while their parents looked around) which she announced was Barney getting a "baff". She's never even seen the cartoon; I know it's on PBS, but we're just too busy for it, I guess. She loves her Barney, though, and especially loves the fact that he got a "baff"!

Another highlight was the "hanging of the greens" at church on Wednesday night. There were lots of people putting up decorations which then got all over the floor (pine needles) which necessitated the use of many, many vacuum cleaners. Decorations and vacuum cleaners - our girl was in her own personal dream! Daddy announced that maybe we'd get her a shop-vac of her own for Christmas to which she responded "yeeee!!!!!". Hopefully she'll forget that announcement by Christmas as we are not buying her a shop-vac. Neither is Santa!

A Belated Happy Thanksgiving and Weekly Update

We started the Thanksgiving week off by attending a holiday light parade downtown. Last year I went with Regan and Baby Alex (who can no longer be called by that nickname!) and Alex's Grandma. We stood outside for over an hour waiting for the parade to come by, and we nearly froze to death. The babies were great - Miss Mouse was in her fluffy snowsuit, in a front-carrier, tucked inside my jacket toasty warm. Alex was hanging out in his stroller in a snowsuit. Regan, Vanesa, and I, on the other hand, were nearly frozen solid by the time the silly parade went by! We still had a great time, but I learned a lot for this year. Unfortunately, Alex and his family weren't able to be there with us this year on account of a nasty cold from which he was just recovering.


Anyway, first, it was fun (as well as helpful!) that this year Daddy was actually able to attend the parade with us! On a Tuesday night, it is often more likely that he is at work than attending a parade; so we (the Mouse and I) ecstatic to have him with us! We headed downtown and had a bite to eat right after Daddy got off work. We were able to find a parking spot not even a block off the main parade route! After eating, we had just enough time to run back to the car, load the Mouse into her backpack, and find a front row spot (well, we were behind a few people in lawn chairs) before the parade started rolling by. Perfect timing for an absolutely perfect evening - hanging out in the chilly, but not frigid or even windy, weather, watching bright floats pass by - as a family! Daddy and I attended light parades for holidays past in Lisbon and the lighted train celebration in Enderlin, and Miss Mouse and I enjoyed last year here. But there is nothing like all being together to celebrate and to have the opportunity to watch our baby's face light up as bright as the floats (okay, so Daddy didn't have a good look at her face, but he heard her loud and clear as she demanded "more! more!").

Ooooooooooo.......

Enjoying the parade - the backpack has to be one of the best inventions ever!

This was one of Miss Mouse's favorites; it was horse-drawn. It was actually one of three horse-drawn floats plus a group of riders on horses that had lights draped on them. Our little horse-lover wanted many, many "more".

It's hard to read, but this one says "Santa's Water Treatment Plant". Odd, eh?
Another float

Our Mouse is growing up! Notice the "church shoes", floofy clothes, long hair (the bangs are curled, by the way), and barrett. She's developing into quite the little lady.

I'm not a totally terrible person when it comes to sugar. I let her have one beater from one of the batches of sugar cookies we made for Thanksgiving. It took her 45 minutes to lick most of it off, and half of it went on the floor, as she said, for the "birds". But she had a grand old time and got very dirty (which she can now say!).

Remarkably, they turned out fairly well and tasted good, too! Sugar cookies are definitely not my strength, and decorated ones have traditionally been my nemesis. This time, though, they turned out much more like my in-laws' (who make delicious sugar cookies) than mine! Oh, and just so I'm not known as getting too "soft" on the sugar issue - Miss Mouse was told that they were for older kids and grown ups at the Thanksgiving party (though she did have some pumpkin pie - and promptly had a sugar-rush-and-sleep-deprived-induced-tantrum).

We had a nice Thanksgiving begun by the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and a little bit of dog-show-watching afterwards. Miss Mouse and I stayed home while she napped; Daddy went to the Thanksgiving party we were invited to (he offered to stay home with her, but he knew most of the people at the party better than I- so it made more sense for him to go). After Miss Mouse woke from her nap (actually, I woke her up at 3 after a two-hour nap just so we could get going to the party...waking a sleeping baby usually seems to be a mistake, especially after she was up from 2 a.m. until 6 a.m. with a tummy-ache the night before....will Mommy ever learn???), we strolled down to the party, too. Daddy's boss and his wife had invited several families over, so there was much visiting, food, and merriment. We had a nice time. Miss Mouse enjoyed playing with their new Brittany puppy, Zoe....until Zoe bit her. Zoe is losing her baby teeth and chewing on everything and everyone in sight - not so much fun for a small child. We attempted to get Miss Mouse to pet her on the tail-end, but the closest the Mouse would get to forgiving her was to look at her sympathetically and say "niiiiice". We explained that Zoe was using her as a pacifier and that she is a baby and doesn't know better. I think the Mouse accepted that, but she still didn't want much to do with petting the puppy after that!

After about 3.5 hours there visiting and playing, I could tell it was time to go and could also tell it was not going to be an easy departure. Sure enough, the poor Mouse with her sleep deprivation and sugar-high threw an absolute fit. I had to retrieve Daddy from video-gaming in the basement to help get her in the stroller. He was sure he could get her coat and hat on with no problem....at first....until he got them both on, turned his back for a second, and then turned around to see both the hat and coat thrown onto the floor where they had started out in the first place :) Talented Mouse we have. At some point, I think when she had crawled and wedged herself behind a chair in the living room, I got the giggles because she was just totally out of control - nothing we were trying was working (trust me, two of our hosts were trying along with Daddy and me!) - and it seemed the best choice was for us to chuckle (not letting her see it, of course), relax, and wait for it to dissipate a little. Or, we could have started scolding her, giving her time-outs, teaching her absolutely nothing at that point. Trust me, she's had several time-outs, and they work very well for her (they broke a Mommy-hair-pulling-spree and seem to be working well to control fits at church). Given the state of the Mouse at that point, we chose to laugh off her fit, explain her sleeplessness, and scram. She screamed all the way home. Didn't even care a bit about Neighbor Ken's lights that he had just put up! On the bright side, about ten minutes after arriving home, Miss Mouse was settled back into her normal self, reading books with us, snacking on cheese and crackers. Closing out Thanksgiving Day 2008, we were thankful that "our Mouse" returned and sent the "other Mouse" packing!

Ready for church Thanksgiving Eve.

No one has taught her to pose like that!!!! What a little flirt! She is modeling her new training pants which she finally agreed to try out on Saturday night. She promptly peed in them, but she agreed to try on another pair and did quite well for about half an hour in them (at that point she had to get her bedtime diaper on, but the pants were still dry). Now she doesn't want anything to do with them, but it's a start, eh? She's been admiring them but refusing to try them for over a month, so at least trying them on for a period of time is some progress!

Last night when Daddy got home from pheasant hunting, we took a long drive around town to look at Christmas lights. We only saw the tip of the iceburg, I'm sure, as far as what is out there for displays, but we had a great time. Miss Mouse was quieter than I thought she would be (I had expected squeals of happiness), but whenever we passed several houses without lights, she would ask for "more! more!". She also responded in the affirmative when asked if we should keep looking for lights and if she was enjoying them. She was pretty disappointed to come home! I think we'll have to make Christmas-light-looking a regular event through December now. Thank goodness for gas prices being a bit lower!

This morning, Miss Mouse and I enjoyed the snow. She calls it "No!" and seems to love it. Neighbor Ken gave her a sled ride yesterday while I shoveled (don't worry, we had all of 1/2 an inch on the driveway; I just didn't want it to turn into ice before Daddy had a chance to do it); she apparently remembered how very much she loves sleds! We shopped this morning and used some of Mommy's birthday money to get a bench for the entryway; it still needs to be picked up from the store and then stained (more work for Daddy! Mommies aren't allowed to use stain when pregnant), but it was pretty exciting to find what I was looking for at a much lower price than I had anticipated! Miss Mouse enjoyed the snow all morning, from outside the house and then from inside, too, with her little face pressed up against any window she could reach.

All the Colors of the Rainbow

Well, some of them anyway, are being identified at our house now! I've known for awhile that she recognizes her colors because she will hand me the red this or that and the yellow this or that when asked. However, we had a big breakthrough today involving colors and socks. She was helping me put her clean clothes away today when she suddenly turned and started saying "neen! neen! neen!". I couldn't figure out what she meant at first, until I saw the two pairs of green socks in her hands! I gave her a hug and told her that they were, in fact, green and that she had done a great job finding them. Back in the drawer they went, to be replaced by "enk! enk! enk!" - pink socks. Another hug, more praise, socks back in the drawer. Quick as a wink I hear, "bobble! bobble! bobble!" - purple socks have appeared. More hugs, giggles, and praise. She wasn't sure what to say about the yellow socks until I said "yellow" first; at that point, she repeated "yellow" almost as clearly as I had said it! I couldn't find any blue socks (I think they're in a laundry pile waiting for washing later today), but we looked at a book with a blue picture - "boo", for now. I can honestly say that 21.5 months ago, I would not have thought she would be learning her colors based on her socks, but it seems to be working! As an aside, I should note that we've been "working" on colors all summer - outside with colored chalk, colors of flowers, green grass, colors of lawn decorations, toys, inside with colors in books, at the grocery store with food colors, etc. It just appears that the socks are the catalyst for the actual verbalization of the color words; I guess the child likes her socks!

Word Explosion!

We are just having a word explosion at our house this week! Here are the latest from our 21.5 month old:
*Night-Night=Night-Ight
*Nice - Used on anything from animals to stuffed animals to the picture on her diaper (yeah, she's loving to a fault, I'm afraid) and pronounced with an extended "iiiiiii"
*Laura=Yes, congrats Auntie Laura; we finally have your name! It sounds like "Yuda", but it means Laura for sure.
*Steph=Again, congrats Auntie! Yours sounds like "Jess", but it really does mean Steph.
*Amy=Mamie (a cousin of Daddy's who loves Miss Mouse)
*Leah=Yeeee-ah (Daddy's boss's daughter who also loves the Mouse)
*clean=keen
*dry=As in "dry diaper"; sort of sounds like "die", unfortunately.

Silver Bells

Yesterday marked the start of the Salvation Army bell-ringing campaign here in town. The church Daddy serves picked that day to supply the entire area with bell-ringers, so Miss Mouse and I signed up way back in September for a 1-hour shift at the grocery store by our house. I had been hoping for months now that the weather would be fairly nice and warm. I wasn't too terribly disappointed, but I did freeze. Thanks to a heavy duty snowsuit from Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Dick, snowboots from Grammy, and mittens made by a wonderful woman in Enderlin (who passed away last year - how lucky were we to be able to get these mittens to remind us of her??!!), Miss Mouse stayed warm and cozy. She sat in a grocery cart while I stood to block any wind while I rang the bell. She had no interest in ringing the bell herself but she agreed with a hearty "yes!" that perhaps next year we would leave the baby with the neighbors and she could ring the bell then for a shift. I probably looked a bit crazy as I explained to her that we were ringing the bell so that people would put money in the little kettle and that the money was used to by food for people who didn't have food. She listened intently, though, and said, "oohh" when I was done. We went through the explanation several times during the shift. She was quite the little beggar, too; once she had seen enough people put money in, she started getting upset with those who walked by without donating. She would sign furiously and quietly say "more, more!". I tried to explain that some people were going to donate later, but she didn't really think that was a good explanation! We were thankful to have our backs to the wind, and I was, again, so thankful for her warm winter clothes. She stayed much warmer than I did (the gloves I chose were rather thin - more for running in cool weather than for standing out in a strong wind ringing a bell!). One observation that struck me, and I remember noticing this in college, too, is that the majority of people who donated money looked like they could use some themselves. There was one quite well-dressed man who stopped and donated and chatted awhile, but other than that, it seemed to be young parents in older clothes (hmmm....I probably fit that description myself, and thankfully we don't need food baskets - so looks can be deceiving, but still) and older people who were dressed, hm, let's say, not in furs and leathers. I remember noticing that trend when I rang bells for the Salvation Army (at the same store, in fact) in college. One older woman stopped and said "I donate to this organization every year. Whatever I can. They can just make all the difference." I don't think it was the wind causing the tears in her eyes. Anyway, I think we are well on our way to having a hardy, prairie girl, since she made it fairly happily through an hour like that yesterday!

The Funniest Things

I wanted to get these phrases down before I forget. Samantha came up with some good ones this weekend!
1. Walking right into Miss Mouse's face, saying "You need a haircut!" (She does; I'm just trying to wait to where it will last through Christmas for her bang-trim).
2. Looking at her bangs hard, asking my mom, "Could you braid it?" (Apparently she gave up on the haircut and was hoping that braiding would help! We curled the Mouse's bangs everyday after that).
3. Answering what was her favorite part of the day on Saturday (after attending the Ludefest with music, crafts, etc.), "Holding hands with those people I don't really know to say the prayer at supper"!
4. On the way back from the Ludefest, Grandpa rode with Auntie Laura. He had ridden down with us. Sam urgently asks, "How will The Grandpa get home?"
5. Wanting someone to color with her, Sam says "Come here!"; Mandy says "Mom?"; Sam, "No. Someone else"; Mandy, "Who?"; Sam, "Someone's Grandma"! Pretty clear, really.

New Words

Miss Mouse has acquired some new words, giving new freedom of expression! Here they are:
*Milk=Nik/Nuk (she tried out this new one yesterday - 21 months)
*No=Neeeeyo
*Done=Deone or Nine
*Samantha=Nyanana
*Sam=Am
*Pear=Perrrrr
*Cheese=Chssssssssssssss (this one came a couple weeks ago)
*Bye-Bye=Bye-Bye or B-Bye (adorable; appeared about 20.75 months)
*Bowl=Bo
*Book=Buck (this one is new around 21 months)
*Yes=Yes (very clearly; this one has been around since about 20 months)
*Please=Pees, Pees (around 20 months)
*Grammy=Nyammy (this one came about 20.5 months and is used for both Grandmas right now)
*Grandpa=Baa-uh (this was appeared around 19.5 months)
*Mama=Mama (instead of Ma - this changed about 20 months)
*Dada=Dada (instead of Da - again, around 20 months)
*Paul=Pole (light on the "l" sound; this one appeared around 20 months)
*Baby=Baby (very clear, too; came around 20 months)
*Park=Bek (not very clear unless you pay close attention to context; I noticed it around 20 months)
I might be missing some, but these are the recent ones that I can think of. We have the old "standards" of bear, duck, dog, bath, meat, raw (waw), rude (wude), mean (meeeee), bird, ball, more, moon, some of which still don't have the ends pronounced, but we're working on and obviously expanding the vocabulary and clarity! It's so exciting!

Chugg-a, Chugg-a, Choo-Choo!!

There haven't been any posts since last week because Miss Mouse and I were on a train trip with some friends! We boarded last Thursday morning (early morning) and headed out to Williston with our friends Mandy and Samantha. I won't post Mandy's age (which is changing today - happy birthday to her!), but Samantha is 4.5 and was excited beyond words to be on a train. She and the Mouse both did fall asleep, though, even after being in the bright lights of the station for awhile. They had breakfast and played with stickers and color books for the last two hours of our ride which was really very pleasant other than the person in the back of our car who sounded like she should be on oxygen (she turned out to be a young woman in her twenties?). Miss Mouse was, of course, overjoyed to see Grammy and began saying "Nyammy! Nyammy!" as soon as we got off the train (we had looked at the calendar all week and pointed to the day we would see Grammy and Grandpa and Great Grammy; I know she has no concept of calendars, but she loves looking at them and pointing to special days). We had lunch and much-needed naps at Great Grammy's house and then headed for the farm. We spent Friday just lounging around at the farm, doing lots of coloring, playing with play-doh, and watching for our dolphins to grow (these weird little fish Grammy found that start out small and grow quite a lot bigger in the course of 72 hours; of course, if you're a 4.5 year old, the "rule" is that you have to check them every time you think of them and let everyone know that they are, indeed, growing for sure!). Saturday morning was spent in Crosby, chatting with lots of people we hadn't seen in a long time, listening to musical performances, pointing out all babies (that was Miss Mouse's job), and, yes, eating lutefisk. Not me, certainly. My plate contained only meatballs, potatoes, veggies, and lefse. It seems that the Mouse is a traitor to her father and me. She lapped up Auntie Laura's lutefisk (well-buttered, of course) as quickly as she could put it on her plate. She followed the lutefisk with a couple slices of lefse and then ate the majority of my Swedish rice pudding (I had only wanted about 3 bites, and 3 bites is about what I got!); needless to say, after all the sugar and cream in the rice pudding, getting her down for a nap took considerably longer than usual. A "once-every-few-years" treat (meaning the sugary pudding and the disgusting, er, different delicacy of lutefisk!). Saturday afternoon, Samantha was introduced to Auntie Laura's miniature horses. Feeding them treats and hay rated pretty high on her "best thing of the day review" at night according to her mom. They're a pretty great size for small ones to feed, pet, and love up. Miss Mouse joined us subsequent days to play with them. Sunday we spent visiting with family as Great Auntie Karen, Great Uncle Bill, and Great Grammy drove up for lunch and the afternoon. We all did lots of coloring, too, under Samantha's direction. She's quite the coloring fiend! It was time to pack up again on Monday, but we did manage to sneak in some outdoor time to give the girls a wagon ride (in my old red wagon), time to play with the cats, and a bit of time to swing and play with the horses. The most popular event that day was the wagon ride. Then it was back on the train on Monday evening. Miss Mouse didn't understand why Grammy and Grandpa didn't get on with us, so she patted her hand on the window, saying "Nyammy! Baa-uh!" Until Mandy started to cry, I was fine; after that I was crying, Grammy was standing outside crying, Samantha looked ready to cry (she really took a liking to "The Grandma, The Grandpa, The Aunt"), and Miss Mouse was confused. The rest of the train ride went better, though, we had some loud people in our car that night. The girls managed to sleep through them! What a wonderful trip with good friends. We made lots of great memories!

Yum, Num! Lutefisk! Uff da....

She only looks unhappy because she is out of lutefisk.

Miss Mouse's favorite baby, Baby Addison, stopped over to play on Sunday.

Too Sweet

Sometimes a person finds a dessert that is so delicious and gooey and sweet that it almost hurts; perhaps it is that one can feel their teeth rotting, but maybe it is just that extremely sweet and yummy that it sends the "enjoyment" feelings nearly over into pain feelings! Well, witnessing this moment was just about that sweet, definitely more than two mommies could handle without saying "ooooooohhhhhh". "No-longer-Baby-Alex" came over on Thursday (with his Mommy, of course - he isn't a baby any longer, but at least he's not driving yet!) to play. One of the first things he and Miss Mouse did was to take turns hugging the giant stuffed Winnie-the-Pooh. Then they proceeded to attack, er, play in her room, where most of her toys are now. At least for the moment, they play remarkably well together and seem to have a lot of fun picking up a toy, looking at it, and then pushing it at the other person. The other person's job then is to look at that toy and promptly push it back towards the first person. Regan and I think they're attempting to share. Again, it just can't help but elicit "ooohhhh's" from the mommies. And hugging the pooh-bear. That was just too sweet.

29 - For the First Time - Honest!

It's official. I'm in my last year of being a 20-something. Daddy left 20-something behind several years ago, so I've "held down the fort" as the 'young' person in the house. One more year. At least if I'm honest! My birthday started early - 6:15 a.m. Apparently Miss Mouse was excited and wanted to start the celebrating early. Actually, I think she had gas, but we'll put it in the best light possible, eh? Daddy took the first hour up with her (being that it was my birthday and all), so that was a treat. The morning really turned out to be fun with a trip down to the yarn store and lots of puzzle-playing (Miss Mouse is incredibly "into" wooden puzzles right now). As I was rocking her to sleep for her nap, I began thinking (not as rare an activity as might be imagined!) and pondering about where, ten years ago, I would have thought I would be at 29. Most definitely it was not at home rocking a toddler to sleep everyday, rejoicing over independent bathroom behavior. My vision was to be a professor by now, perhaps holed up in a library somewhere in Europe doing research requiring much sifting through musty books, hundreds of years old; aahhh, the smell of musty books is like none other. Then, I planned to be a counseling psychologist, certainly helping dozens of people a week by now. But try as I might, as I sat there looking at my sweet, sleeping girl, I couldn't imagine anywhere else I would actually want to be now, other than here at home with her and her Daddy. It was odd to realize, for this super-competitive, Type A, achievement-focused person, that somehow life has changed me to the point that the glory of competition and achievement for myself is in this moment far outshone by the day-to-day light of raising our daughter. And I think I like that change in myself. Funny. Anyway, she didn't take a very long nap in the afternoon, but it was long enough for me to work out and try my hand at mitten-making. I estimated much too small for the mitten, but I've whipped out a couple more now that did fit. Daddy was home early, avec fleurs - what a gentleman. Or, as Great Grammy said, I have a "thoughtful husband". Yes, indeed! We went out to eat so that I could get my free birthday meal. We also picked out my birthday present which is a fake Christmas tree. Glamorous, yes, I know. Quite the present, though! I just couldn't see creating more work for myself vacuuming up needles before they would get imbedded in small feet for the next several years. Daddy agreed, so even though we are sad to lose the "real tree" smell and look for a time, this is going to be a much more practical option for us. I also bought some "shatterproof" decorations for it. Truly, we have a very well-behaved child who doesn't really ever bother our decorations or anything; I have not totally "baby-proofed" the house (other than things that are dangerous); I expect her to respect what is "Mommy's and Daddy's" and not to touch it (she gets to wave at things that are identified as "Mommy's and Daddy's"). On the other hand, I'm not naive enough to think that, on a cold, windy day, when we've been cooped up inside for hours, when she hasn't napped well, when she perhaps isn't feeling up-to-snuff, that she is not capable of pulling over a Christmas tree. Certainly, the capability is there, and it just seems like tempting fate to put on Daddy's and my precious ornaments from 1976 or 1979, etc. No point in playing with fire until we get burned! Anyway, we finished off my birthday evening with pieces of French silk pie from Perkins after Miss Mouse retired for the night. It was a great day!

November Rain

Even though the day started out with a downpour and has continued with such, it is really a treat to see it raining in November. Miss Mouse, who started her day much too early at 7 a.m., and I took a walk earlier, in the downpour, with an umbrella. It was great fun for her. Not only did she constantly look up at the umbrella and say "dee, dee!" (i.e., "pretty, pretty!"), but we also had the good fortune to see upwards of ten worms crossing the sidewalks and driveways! Being that I have a snake phobia (that I have no intention of curing - I know what that process would be, thank you very much!), it probably seems quite odd that I absolutely love, love worms. Well, Miss Mouse does, too. We stood and watched the worms work their way across the pavement, discussing (okay, I did most of the talking) their sizes and directions and wondering if the small ones were babies (she did get in on that word numerous times). Jolly good fun! It was extremely unpopular to move inside again, but our umbrella was nearly soaked through. So was I, for that matter, since I had been focusing so hard on covering the Mouse that I forgot to cover myself most of the time. Anyway, after the fit about moving back inside, we worked on making playdough worms (and a cat, of course, too - we always have to make a playdough cat). Then we colored for 15 minutes and subsequently spent another 15 minutes practicing taking the crayons out of the box and putting them back into the box. More jolly good fun! I'm hoping the afternoon and evening go as well today. There is no sign of let-up in the rain, and this is a super-long day for Daddy (hence, also for the two of us hanging out at home). As a sidenote, Daddy has been greeted, for the past two weeks or so, by Miss Mouse running full speed at him with her shirt pulled up, making kissing sounds at him each lunch and evening. This is to indicate to him, in no uncertain terms, that she wants her belly kissed. I try to oblige, but she really prefers Daddy to do the belly-kissing. Not really sure where that came from, but it's pretty funny! And it has to be an adorable way to be welcomed home after a long day!

Election Day

First of all, can you believe my mums look like this on November 4? Have no fear, the 7th is coming, and there is always snow by the 7th!!! :)

Miss Mouse takes her civic duties very seriously. Check out the all-important sticker. It needed to be transferred to her t-shirt before her nap.

This was Miss Mouse's first "big" election day. She was a sweetheart. This is actually her second time to the polls, but the first was back in June for the local and state primaries and local initiatives. As we walked out of the polling area (a local church), an older lady caught me and said that she had always brought her children with her to vote and that now, as they are adults themselves, they can't imagine not voting - it was just something they always saw their mom do, and so they do it. I thought that was neat to hear. I hadn't given much thought to it other than that I take the Mouse with because, well, what else would she do while I voted? And, of course, because she gets a cool "I Voted" sticker that she insists on wearing around the rest of the day. It was neat, though, to have it pointed out that I'm, perhaps, actually teaching her some core values just in something as simple as taking her along to vote with me. Interesting, too, to remember back and realize that perhaps I vote because I always saw my parents doing so; it wouldn't really cross my mind to just skip it because I'm busy or something, even though I don't necessarily always vote in the same way as they do. I have a feeling Daddy had the same experience growing up. We were little sponges, after all, and so is our very own Mouse, I suppose.

Miss Mouse after the election in June. Apparently she did not feel quite as serious about that election.

The ever-popular "I Voted" sticker.

Picture-Update

Daddy's Masterpiece
She's kissing the pumpkin. She's so proud of Daddy's work; she points at the pumpkin, saying "Dada, Dada" to remind me that Daddy carved it!

The uncarved pumpkin was discovered to be rotten inside. She's making the face for "ick" and pointing at the "icky" pumpkin.

Happy Halloween!

Our little butterfly.

Halloween Fun

I'm not sure how many more cute photos of adorable children in costume I can stand! They are just so cuddly and cute-looking that I'd like to just cuddle them all up!!! What a fun time of year! We, too, had a great time on Halloween. Miss Mouse and I drove down to a family friend's house in (what used to be) the south part of town (now, mid-town). We had fun visiting him, and Miss Mouse dressed up in her costume and had her picture taken on his porch. We stopped at the church on the way back north to show off the costume again. Then, we dressed once again (the costume isn't too conducive to carseat-riding) to show off the costume to the neighbors. She was a beautiful butterfly, though, as you'll see when I get around to posting some photos, she will have repeat appearances as the butterfly for the next year or two (the costume turned out to be huge - who cares? it was $3 at a rummage sale!). Daddy and I trained her well, practicing the "rule" that when kids say "trick or treat", Miss Mouse gives them a piece of candy. I was able to get an entire supper cooked while she loaded and unloaded her pumpkin bucket with the candy we were to hand out. She loved the kids' costumes (most of them - a few of them made her lift her hands frantically to me to be picked up....however, she usually laughed as they walked away, so the freaky looking people must not have damaged her too much!) and had so much fun handing out candy. When we were fairly sure no one else was coming, we headed down to one of Daddy's co-workers houses to give them some of our leftover candy. The Mouse was just desperate to keep handing it out. I suppose she is one of the few children who started Halloween off with a full bucket and ended it with an empty one! Regardless, she had a blast, and so did we! I'll post pictures as soon as possible.

Recent Goings-On

Daddy and Miss Mouse picking out the perfect pumpkins - Oct. 19

Miss Mouse and Mommy ready for the hayride to the pumpkin patch

Miss Mouse - "Mommy has me in a dress on a hayride! I'm really not so sure about this....."

Happy "meat" harvesters!

Really, truly, she chose to lug those around!

She thinks it is so cool Daddy comes home with "meat"!

Grammy and the Mouse playing with friend Andrea's new puppy - super, super cute! Oct. 21

This was Auntie Laura's work with a bit of cajoling on Grammy's part for Miss Mouse to sit still on the bathroom counter long enough! It made an adorable look for our outing to the mall and then to an Indian restaurant later in the evening - Oct.22

Miss Mouse "dressed" as Rebekah for Halloween. Okay, perhaps not, but last night was a bit of a struggle (think 30 minute scream-fest) around snack-time (not sure why). Once Daddy got home (20 minutes into the scream-fest), we were together able to get the poor Mouse settled enough (she had just been sitting on my lap sobbing - we're so lucky - even her 'fits' are usually fairly sweet!) to listen to him tell her the story of Rebekah and Isaac meeting at the well and Isaac giving her the nose ring. Daddy explained the idea to Miss Mouse, so she thought she should play "dress up" apparently. It worked; she had a good time with Daddy's ring and agreed to take bites of her snack in between play-time with the ring! This is, perhaps, the very definition of the phrase "whatever works"! - Oct. 29

Happy Birthday to You

This past weekend was crazy! We spent Saturday and Sunday attending numerous functions to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the church Daddy serves. Last Wednesday, Auntie Laura and Grammy arrived (it was teachers' convention weekend for Auntie Laura). We got lots of work done around the house, projects that are difficult for a Mommy to do while chasing a toddler at the same time. Thursday afternoon we treated ourselves to some time shopping downtown. Very cool. Miss Mouse enjoyed it, as well, other than one of the stores where she sort of "freaked out" and wanted to leave right away. She just pulled back really hard and wouldn't move unless I carried her; a friend suggested the place must have been haunted. Hmmm...perhaps. It would be the appropriate time of year for such things anyway! She enjoyed the other stores much more. We finished the evening at Red Lobster. Yum! The next day (Friday) there were lots more projects to tackle, but, again, we treated ourselves to some shopping in the evening, hitting the mall and then meeting Daddy for dinner at an Indian restaurant. Yes, Indian. As in, from India. It was extremely cool. Miss Mouse thought so, too. It was quite a fancy place - cloth napkins and the works - but they seemed okay with the Mouse being there. We grabbed a takeout menu on the way out so that we can remember what we had - mine was cottage cheese chunks (think huge chunks of mozzerella-type cheese) in a spinach sauce; Laura's was chicken in a tomato sauce; Grammy had Indian vegetable fried rice; and Daddy had lamb in a dark gravy. Everyone's was excellent, though most of us chose Laura's as our favorite. As I said, Saturday was hectic. We started the day with Grandma and Grandpa Toomey at Barnes and Noble for their story hour. I'm not sure how much fun Grandpa and Daddy had, but Grandma and Miss Mouse had much fun looking at other babies (there were plenty for the Mouse to observe) and books. Then Daddy, Miss Mouse, and I went to a luncheon for current and former staff at the church. The food was great; the Mouse ate an entire pulled pork sandwich (not the bun, just the meat!). I returned home with Miss Mouse long before the luncheon was "officially" over so that she could stay on nap schedule. Saturday night, Grandma and Grandpa, Daddy, and I went to a banquet celebration. It was fun to visit with friends there and to listen to the speakers. It's always fun, though, too, to return home to our Mouse. Sunday we woke up to snow! Ugh! Snow and strong wind. We braved the weather and made it to church just in time to get a seat in the nosebleed section (the service was held at a local auditorium in order to accommodate everyone at one service, rather than the six that are usually held each Sunday). This seating arrangement was really hard on me and Grammy. I was able to adjust, but Grammy had a tough time the whole service. After Grandpa (from the other side of the family!) graciously helped her get down the stairs for Communion, she refused to return up and just met us after the service was over. I can't say I blame her too much. It is really dizzying to be that far up, just about eyeball-level with the ceiling lights! Lunch after church was great, though we returned outside to snow and wind greeting us for the drive home. Bummer. Auntie Laura and Grammy took off right away after lunch to make the long drive home; Grandma and Grandpa stuck around for a few hours to play after Miss Mouse's nap. So.....that was our weekend! Busy, busy, but fun and exciting at the same time.

Wild, Wild West and More Recent Activities....

It's obviously been awhile since my last post. I'll try to catch the blog up to speed. The first weekend in October was spent out West. Daddy Mouse went antelope hunting (successfully - one with a bow, one with a rifle), and Miss Mouse and I spent the weekend with Auntie Laura and then Grammy, Grandpa, Great Grammy, Great Auntie Linda, Great Auntie Karen, and Great Uncle Bill. We had a great time! We got to meet Auntie Laura's horse, Jewel, who is an absolute sweetheart. Unfortunately, it was too windy for Miss Mouse to spend much time with her. Still, it was great to meet the newest pet addition to the family in person, and to spend time at Laura's and Great Grammy's. I think, however, we're going to need to get ourselves a school bus to pack everything in the future. Ugh! With a kenneled dog in the back, several weapons, two adults, and a toddler that requires carrying a toilet chair, toys for the trip, a suitcase, blankets (in case the motel we stayed at the first night was disgusting, I put in blankets for Miss Mouse to sleep on), etc., we had little room for anything else - like another car seat and baby!! I think in the future, we will learn to pack more intelligently. When we got back, I went to work finishing another towel order. Now that that's done, there is a bit of breathing room for blogging! Other things going on include the inevitable "leaf sweep" which seemed to hold off this year until quite late. Last year, we jumped in leaf piles when Auntie Steph visited the last weekend in September. This year, it is mid-October with the leaf piles just now popping up. Miss Mouse had loads of fun last night playing in our neighbors' pile with their grandkids. I got it on video. She would sit down hard into the soft pile and then throw herself backwards. Pretty funny. They (Jada and Esmae - the neighbors' granddaughters) even got me to jump in the pile once. I think it earned me the title of "silly".

We also enjoyed a visit the other night from a, hm, how to describe her, long-term friend of mine (i.e., friends since age 3!) and her husband and baby daughter. Adorable baby daughter, that is! Miss Mouse was pretty unhappy when the baby left. She now can say the entire word, "baby", and makes sure to use it a lot! Daddy asked her if a baby should come to live at our house. She said, emphatically, "Yes!" (or "Yesh!" as it comes out). And just to clarify, Miss Mouse is patting Baby Addison; Miss Mouse enjoyed giving her toys to Baby Addison because when she would offer a toy, Addison would just dissolve in giggles! Such a sweet baby girl, she is (Addison)! At one point, when Addison began crying, Miss Mouse ran to give her a toy. It actually helped for a moment! It was a really fun visit from friends and their sweet baby!

On the talking front, we now hear the entire words "baby" and "boom". There is also a word for "leaf", though it comes out "weese". She will try to say "red", also. On the color front, I'm fairly positive that she knows, when able to concentrate, the colors red, green, blue, and possibly purple. She will point to the appropriate color in books with me and hand me the appropriate color toys when asked. It seems that she gets it correct way more often than simple chance would allow. Moving to the potty training front, we're making good progress (in my novice opinion, anyway) there, too. She now appears to relish the "big toilet" because it makes noise when she 'goes' in it. We've had several 'poops' and several 'potties' on it. She loves the idea of getting to use toilet paper, and just is really enthralled with the noise on the 'big toilet'. I'm hoping these are steps in a good direction! This is totally child-led so far, but she really does seem to enjoy it, even though she is starting much earlier than I had thought she would (or than anything I read says she even can). I think those are most of the updates on what has been going on in our lives lately. Miss Mouse is ever-helpful, insisting that her jacket be put away immediately when we come in; wanting to shake the rugs every time (every time) we vacuum the kitchen (which is several times a day); making sure toys are put back in places that she wants them, etc. I'm sort of hoping this trend, for one, lasts! I'll end with another picture I took a bit earlier this fall. I think this one was from September.

Tough week for Daddy, Part II!

Poor Daddy Mouse continued his tough week last Friday in an even tougher and more serious way. Miss Mouse and I were all packed up to go to the lake to visit Grandma and Grandpa and get some fall leaf pictures. Daddy Mouse was going on a bike ride, and then we would leave. I thought it was getting a bit late for his ride (i.e., that he should have been back about 10 minutes sooner), but as sometimes he stops to talk to people he knows, I wasn't too worried. He walked in and headed downstairs. Nothing unusual. I asked how the ride was and if he was just going to shower before we went. My heart skipped beats when I heard "I had an accident". Of course, Miss Mouse and I followed him downstairs and then were able to see how he was favoring one shoulder and was bleeding from his eyebrow. Thankfully (notice how often I'm using that word in these posts?) our neighbors (yeah, the same ones as with the sheetrock - boy are they going to wish we hadn't moved in!!!) were home and came and got Miss Mouse. She ran off with Ken as soon as he asked if she wanted to swing in the backyard. I didn't even get a backwards glance from her! After a quick phone call to the lake to change our plans (and hear that, again, thankfully, Grandma and Grandpa would head into our place for the evening), Dadddy Mouse and I headed to the ER. He was in a lot of pain, and his eyebrow looked really awful. He also had cement burns on the inside of his arm, his hip, his ankle, and his knee. We waited an hour, but at least we were able to get some ice packs for his shoulder. He also was able to cheer up two children in the ER. The one, who was apparently cheerfully waiting for stitches on the back of his head, exclaimed to his grandparents, "Look at his owie!!". We got a good chuckle. Though that probably hurt Daddy Mouse's shoulder. Another girl coming out of the ER with a bandaged hand was sniffling until she saw him and exclaimed, "Whoa! Look at his blood!!" Although in each case the parent/grandparent was embarrassed, I think Daddy Mouse was mainly amused, as I know I was. Thankfully we were reassured that nothing was broken and were sent home, after one heck of a stitching process for the eyebrow, with pain medication prescriptions. Miss Mouse has been kissing Daddy's "uh-oh"s all week; he's been terribly sore and still can't lift his arm above his head, but he is very much-improved from last Friday already. We are just really thankful the accident wasn't worse and are hopeful that he will continue to improve (he's getting a little nervous about the bow season ticking away).

Tough week for Daddy!

The past week was a tough one for Daddy Mouse. I'm not sure he'll appreciate me posting this, but, as I stated in the last post, part of my goal is to preserve our life events for Miss Mouse. And this definitely needs preserving! Daddy Mouse was up in the attic (access through our bedroom closet) attempting to install the antenna we will need come February when the brilliant (hear the sarcasm?) idea of going to purely digital signal will take effect. All was going well. Grammy was holding Miss Mouse while we all watched Daddy Mouse and handed him whatever he needed. At one point, we were trying to figure out which end of a coaxial cable to hand up when there was a terrible crash. Dust flew everywhere, and we were suddenly able to see Daddy Mouse....through the hole in the ceiling. Ugh. I was smart enough not to say anything. Grammy, however, couldn't keep her exclamation to herself! She looked up and said, "You came through the ceiling!!". Daddy Mouse responded with a very dry, "I know." What Grammy claims to have actually meant to say was "Oh look, he came through the ceiling" rather than having addressed it to Daddy Mouse. We had quite a lot of good chuckles about it the next days, but that was a rough night. Thankfully Daddy Mouse was not seriously injured, escaping with just two sore legs from where he caught himself on the supports. Now, if you are like Daddy Mouse and can't figure out how anyone could do something such as fall through a ceiling, I should point out that it has happened twice in my family's history that we know of. My grandpa, Papa, fell through when my Dad was younger, and a young man doing some attic work also fell through that same ceiling (different spot, I assume) a few years ago. So, to my family, this was not an unheard of disaster! Daddy Mouse was horrified, though, of course. Thankfully, again, we were able to get sheetrock from our wonderful neighbors (it was a Sunday night near 8:00 that this event took place) to patch the hole. Then Grammy and I went to work getting the clothes cleaned. All of my clothes had been laying on our bed so that there was access to the attic. Hence, all of my clothes were covered in insulation. As was the floor, and the chest of drawers, and everything on the chest of drawers. I'm still not quite done airing out clothing in the dryer. It's an ongoing project. Anyway, we will be figuring out a different way to pick up digital signal as Daddy Mouse has sworn off attic work!!! Understandably!

I resigned!

I've been meaning to post this for some time now, and as readers will see from the post following this one, life has just been too hectic to get it done. My main goal in posting this is to preserve my thought process and reactions for Miss Mouse, should she become a parent herself someday. The whole blog will be going into some sort of book at some point, sort of a "baby book extension".

Anyway, about a month ago, I noticed a dramatic change in my sweet, even-tempered, easy-going little gal. All of a sudden, she seemed to need holding constantly, demand complete and total attention at all times, and scream a lot. Meanwhile I was in the midst of my "fall work" which I had planned to consist of canning our own spaghetti sauce for the entire winter (at one jar per week, I figured I needed 36 jars to make it from Sept-May; each batch makes four jars, so I needed to make nine batches), freeze our own pizza sauce, again for the entire winter (again, each batch makes four servings, so I figured on nine batches), freeze veggies from the farmers' market to last us through the winter (corn, peppers, peas, beans, beets), and find apples to make our own applesauce (don't even ask how many batches I planned on for that). I planned to get this list done before the pumpkins were ready for me to roast the flesh and seeds. My goal was to have us sustain ourselves completely and totally on farmers' market produce (since my garden was an utter flop, yielding all of two meals of beans). I foresaw myself as the perfect homemaker for my family - certainly we would not be buying any canned or frozen vegetables this year. We would not pay out the nose for high fuel costs, nor would we have any worries about fresh veggies imported from who-knows-where and contaminated with who-knows-what. Afterall, I figured that having the privilege of staying home with my baby obligated me to be the best possible food-preparer, housekeeper, mommy, and wife possible (there's a fair amount of guilt that goes along with having a job that you like as much as I like mine right now!). And in my mind that translated to the best - period.

So, Miss Mouse continued her transition to toddlerhood, and I became more and more frazzled. How was I going to get all this work done with this needy, active little toddler under foot? I had towel orders from my business to fill in addition to all my "fall work". Things were getting crazy, and Mommy was getting crabby, crabby.

Finally one day things clicked. Perhaps just doing the best I can do while still enjoying my little toddler is enough. Perhaps the best thing for her is not to have a frazzled mommy and farmers'-market-fresh veggies. Perhaps she needs a happy, calm, stable mommy and decently-healthy food instead. Yeah, I know. Duh. The thing is, I know there are women who are able to do everything - keep the baby happy; cook salsa, spaghetti sauce, apples, canned veggies, frozen veggies, dried fruit, etc., etc.....But once I finally gave up the ship and realized I'm not one of them, things have gotten a lot happier around here. For everyone. The minute - literally, the day - that I gave up the demands I had put on myself (because thankfully they were not there from Miss Mouse's Daddy or Miss Mouse herself, of course!), Miss Mouse got extraordinarily less clingy and needy. Hmmm...coincidence???? She still loves to be held, a demand which I love to oblige. And we're struggling with "Mommy phone time". But overall, I am a hundred times less exhausted, feel like much less of a failure (could it be that I don't have empty jars staring at me constantly?), and am enjoying the rambunctious, adorable little toddler that is blooming at our house.

Of course I still do my best to keep up the house; we have laundry days, bathroom cleaning days, vacuuming days, and straightening days, and I am freezing some peppers; I'm hosting a Bible study one day a week this fall, and I work out everyday because I think it's important for Miss Mouse to see that. Miss Mouse does her best to help me keep things clean and busy and to mess the house back up again, as well!! At least now I'm free to enjoy this new stage! I should have resigned much sooner!

Toilet Time!

Perhaps I will 'jinx' our toilet training process by posting this so early, but I had to announce that Miss Mouse actually used her toilet chair today for the first time! She's been sitting on it quite often, looking very proud, but nothing ever comes out. We weren't worried, just happy that she seemed to like the chair very well. Well, today, while Grammy was with her, of course, (it wouldn't certainly be for me - same way as she never told me she knew what all the animals said, but she told my mom at 14 months...) while I chatted with Auntie Laura over the phone (she's left out of our family gathering for the weekend but will be visiting in October). Suddenly I heard great commotion from the bathroom. I heard the words "potty" and "on the chair", so I told Auntie Laura we had a bathroom emergency and basically hung up on the poor unsuspecting aunt. I ran to the bathroom, and what do I see but a tiny little girl with a nice yellow substance in her toilet! Thankfully I had planned to use some stickers as a reward, and they were laying right on the counter. So, she got to pick out a duck sticker to put on the cover of her chair, and she got to use hand lotion. She was so excited. I think that perhaps contributed to the fact she could hardly settle for a nap and when she did, only slept for 30 minutes. Regardless, I was nearly bursting with motherly pride of my little girl, using the toilet all of her own volition! Let's hope this continues.....

Update on "Next Baby"

We had our second doctor's appointment today. Miss Mouse came with for this one and actually did quite beautifully. She really wanted to be on the scale with me, but I didn't think my weight needed increasing by 21 pounds 9 ounces! Other than that, she was happy to sit either with me or stand with Mike the whole time. We got to hear the heartbeat today really clearly which was nice and quite a relief (since she hadn't been able to find it last time). Though it would have been fun, in a way, to get another 'sneak peak' ultrasound, we were all glad to hear the little one's heart pounding away. My blood pressure was back down to normal for me (at our ridiculous last appointment where we waited for 1.5 hours, it was considerably high for me). It'll be about another six weeks before we get our next view of 'Next Baby', but at that point (hopefully!), we'll be able to tell whether it is a boy or girl. We certainly don't care either way, but it will be so fun to see him/her bouncing around and know whether we are bonding with a him or her! As I said before, Miss Mouse thought the appointment was just fine, though she stayed serious the entire time and when asked by the doctor if she could say something/anything, she shook her head "no, no, no". Surprise, surprise, the doctor didn't believe the Mouse :) To cap off the appointment, Miss Mouse got a sticker on the way out. She's very proud of it and is wearing it on her onesie dress.

Transitions Galore

Playing with a sort of play-doh-type substance at the lake over Labor Day weekend.

She's actually "hiding" the plastic bugs so that she can "hunt" for them to put them in the bug house. All of the bugs were "hidden" under that specific cushion.

Our little 19-month-old.

Our 'little girl' ready for church - September 7, 2008 - 19 months officially.

The past few weeks have been crazy at our house. During the three weeks that we battled colds and pink eye, we also experienced several transitions. The biggest one is that The Mouse transitioned from cage to bed. No more cage for our Mouse! In all seriousness, she had a beautiful crib (gift from my in-laws) that we certainly thought was going to be her sleeping quarters for longer than this. However, being in the 99th percentile for height means she is right about the height of the average 2- or 2.5-year old, we suppose. In light of that, it makes sense that she learned how to crawl/jump/flop her way out of her crib at an early, early age. Transitioning to the bed seemed to be the only safe thing to do. I was sure that I would cry as we made that transition, but thankfully (thankfully?) the day Daddy Mouse set up the bed and took down the crib, I was too sick to even care a whole lot. So, the 18.5 month-old Mouse moved to her bed with very little problem on her part. She even (with Daddy Mouse's coaching) learned fairly immediately how to get in and out of bed without falling. We were so proud!


Another transition is a new look for Mommy Mouse! In the midst of hacking up my lungs, Miss Mouse and I made a quick trip to the beauty shop for me to get a new hair-do. We met a friend from Enderlin there. She was going to play with Miss Mouse during my hair cut, but the Mouse thought that perhaps the beautician was actually a doctor in disguise - she wouldn't leave my lap through the entire haircut (i.e., I had been to the walk-in clinic with her twice that week; once for our pink eye and once for my hacking). We had to blow-dry her off in hopes of getting some of my hair clippings removed from her clothing!


Obviously, we are not transitioning to actual toilet-training quite yet, but as you can see in the picture, we have invested in a toilet chair for Miss Mouse. For several months now she has been fascinated by toilet paper (she gets me mine and clumps it up in a ball now) and the whole 'toilet' process (paper, flushing, etc.). I figured I didn't want to miss any possible training windows by not being prepared, so she's been enjoying her chair lately. If she sits on her chair, which she does fairly often, then she gets to wash her hands in the sink (standing on the stool that came with the chair - very efficient) and use some lotion on her hands. It's a very popular reward right now. Usually she sits just with clothes on, but before and after her bath, she will often sit her little naked self right now and grin proudly. I'm just glad she's getting used to the chair and is not afraid or disinterested in the process at all so far.
*This was just the first day's picture. We've learned since then not to put our feet in the toilet!!

Miss Mouse is very clean. She washes her hands a lot.

Yet another transition around here has been to cooler weather. While I do lament the thought of oncoming snow and cold winds, we are very much enjoying the crisp fall temperatures. In the past week since it has cooled off, we have enjoyed many a stroller and bike ride as well as walks around the block and trips to the park. Miss Mouse will walk on her own holding my hand all the way around the block at a pace of one square block per half hour. We find lots of dandelions that are going to seed, leaves, and sticks. As a special treat, sometimes we see cats to meow and wave at, friendly dogs, kids riding their bikes, kids/teenagers playing basketball, or someone shingling a house (this being her special favorite treat to stop and watch). I believe I speak for our entire household when I say that we sincerely hope this weather will last well into November!!

*In a tunnel at the park.

This one is at home on our swingset. I thought it showed the full set of teeth really well!