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!