My Daughter, Grace, Sept 2012

Grace has now started attending middle school!  It has been an amazing transition for all of us this summer.  She no longer has to wear uniforms to school, and we have had fun shopping for things that are just her style.  There was a camp for incoming sixth graders a couple weeks before school started where she got to see her classrooms and see where her locker was going to be, and she learned how to open a combination.  All of her girlfriends are traveling on with her from elementary school.  They are the "nerdy girl" lunch table as of last year's experience of fifth grade.  Grace has at least one of these girlfriends in every single class she's got this year (seven classes total).  What a comfort!  And she has been excited that her home economics teacher will be a familiar face from Salem First B.!

Grace, age 11

Her favorite subject is reading, and her favorite books are fantasy and mysteries.  For a long time she has wanted to be an agent for the FBI when she grows up, just like her grandfather (my dad).  Last year according to test scores she told me she's "the fifth smartest girl at school."  I don't know for sure what that means, but I am happy that she has great grades and does her homework most often without being told.

Last year at the end of school there was a final concert for band and orchestra students.  Grace won the "most improved" award for 5th grade band, an honor which only 4 other students received!  Here's her story about the trumpet: she had started the year with it and from September till November she kept trying to make all the notes correctly, could not do it, and was beginning to fall behind even though she never gave up.  Her teacher said, "would you like to try another instrument?"  The flute was suggested and she got very excited.  She borrowed a flute and her teacher said, "She learned in three days what the other kids took a month to learn."  She is very proud of her accomplishments - and the band teacher said that the entire class is very talented when it comes to having a sense for musicality - Grace was included in that acknowledgement.  Amazing, Grace!

Grace has also been on leadership for the last two years of elementary school.  Teachers select students for the privilege of leadership.  At the beginning of last year the staff met with the ten students who are in leadership and asked them this question: "What can we do to serve our community?"  Grace came home and we began to discuss potential ideas.  We considered how our church (Salem First B.) in the previous year had gone to Marion & Polk County Food Share to help organize food distribution to the poor.  She loved that idea especially since the facility is right across the Parkway from the school.  The teachers selected Grace's suggestion!  They were in the Keizer Times, with a photograph as they served the M&PCFS.  Amazing, Grace!

Grace is blossoming in her relationship with the LORD.  A couple years ago we discovered that Grace was suffering with some substantial doubt that God is really real.  Rather than seeing information as the missing piece to her knowing God, because she already knew the Bible so well, we took another route. We began with Jeremiah 29:13 which says,

And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

I began reading to all the children at bedtime a chapter or two from the bible.  We started in Genesis 12 with the story of Abraham, and now we are half way through Exodus (we get into seasons where we don't read at night because the kids use it for advancing naughtiness).  Through it all we have seen the power of God and how He promised to do things hundreds of years before they happened.  We have seen how God is the one who holds all the burden of seeing a covenant come to pass.  We have seen how transformative it can be to put our faith in Him.

I have waited to see where her heartbeat really lies in her life, and she has shared both good and burdensome things.  Recently she took a spiritual gifts test and discovered her gifts are evangelism and compassion.  Her number one sense of crisis that causes her to want to trust God to help her is with anxiety.  I regret that I might have passed on a bad example to her because she somehow feels responsible for a lot....  But when she does notice things that make her uncomfortable, she prays about it.  Then afterward she says "it went away!" and we praise God.  Amazing, Grace!

Every once in a great while I ask Grace "Do you know that you are saved?  What if you just know the scriptures and you have not really trusted in Him to save you?  How do you know?"  Her answer after a moment of reflection is to totally dismiss my inquiry and she says, "I know that I am saved... because when I prayed to him, I told Him that I didn't want to be at the far end of the table away from Him, at the fellowship dinner.  I want to be able to see Him and be near Him.  And, Mom, He gave me so much joy!  I can't tell you how awesome it feels!  I just felt so good.  I just felt so happy thinking about Him."  She laughs out loud when she tells me this because it so overwhelms her voice and face, that she can't even put words on it.  Amazing, Grace!  Romans 15:13,

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Grace has been longing to share the truth with a couple of girls her age, all summer long.  Most especially her cousin.  She has deployed herself to share how awesome it is to believe in Jesus and know Him with her cousin, and then she comes back to me and we debrief how it went.  Her cousin was possibly deflecting the conversation of Christ, and Grace came back confused.  I suggested she ask her cousin straightforwardly if she wanted to talk about Christ only because Grace wanted to talk about it or was she sincerely interested herself?  Grace came back and reported another discouraging moment: the cousin was in fact not interested in much beyond going to heaven.  I kind of left Grace with no response for a couple weeks on that, because I mean, I feel the same way, lost, when I come to a dead end, too.  But I prayed about it and talked to Grace again.  I explained how we are meant to share the gospel with those who listen to us, not just the people we love the most.  And I suggested Psalm 1 as a way for her to bring closure to her cousin and her choice.  She felt a lot better after that.

But there was a day, in the car, where Grace really experienced an epiphany of the Spirit.  She wouldn't stop talking about God, to me, and ask me questions about what God is like and how He engages Himself.  I stopped answering her questions very quickly.  Instead, I asked her to answer her own questions.  What does she perceive is going on?  Then for what she said that was true, I quoted scripture after scripture to her to verify by His Word that she was right on track.  It kind of amplified her as she continued.  For a couple of hours on and off in the evening hours, she began sobbing.  She wanted so much for her cousin to know the love and joy of God.  She didn't understand how to manage the thought that her cousin didn't have God as she had known Him.  Again, for awhile I didn't know how to answer her.  All I could think about is how I felt like that so much, before.  I prayed again, and explained from the wisdom He gave me in that moment, that trusting Him would help.  "As you entrust your cousin to God, the burden in your heart will fall on Him.  And He will not disappoint you.  He will give you encouragement, every once in awhile, that He is going to take care of your cousin.  He is going to do it.  Pray!  Tell Him what you are telling me."  She did.  She still wept a bit.  But, she felt better; she acted relieved.

Lizzy had been in the backseat during this most emotional moment, and was quiet the whole time.  In the silence afterward Lizzy slipped a drawing forward and gave it to Grace.  There was a picture of two girls together and a sentence:

When I grow up I want to be just like Grace.

Lybrand's Parenting Course

Dr. Lybrand's Parenting Course is titled, The Absolute Quickest Way to Help Your Child's Behavior Change. It is available as an audio download and as paperback.

This is the parenting course I would want my friends to own. I would particularly give it to those friends who are worried that they cannot be a success. I know I struggle with it also from time to time. I get surprised when I feel frustration. My children come up with new ways to break principles I want them to possess! Recently my most obedient, oldest child (a nine-year-old) began a habit of whining when I tell her to go do something. I was shocked since she stopped whining when she was two (why is this behavior coming back from the grave?).

I really feel great after listening to the audio version of Lybrand's book. Perhaps I knew inwardly some of these ideas, and then after hearing them and meditating on them over these months I feel more free than ever to be a success as a parent! The 4 questions Fred taught have been there to help me move fluidly through the difficult moments without getting bogged down with the frustration phase. This material restores moms and dads with the capacity to parent and the ability to influence their children. I am convinced it is the right message, one that delivers solutions.

My biggest failing as a parent is that I am not as close to our three kids as I want to be. I have loved the training aspect of being a mom. They are very good children and so it's easy to just let them do their own thing. It is a rut I fall back into. Once upon a time it was a hard heart on my part. I struggled to want to be around them. Now I do, but I find that life creeps in and steals my intention to get them to open up and share more of themselves. If I can get what I want from them (obedience) then everything else is extra credit, I guess I operate as if. Does that sound awful? I think it does! I use Lybrand's course to motivate myself as parent to follow-through with my children. I have started taking my older girls out for "Mommy-Daughter Dates." We have great and memorable times that reinforce our relationship in the rest of our normal routine. It is relieving some of the pressure of what I know I am missing.

If you are interested in this course for you or a friend, visit Lybrand's website (Joy 2 Parent) linked above. Right now he is running a promotional price of $47.00 if the enrollee will commit to tell 5 friends about the course... "ONLY AFTER you are convinced the material has helped your parenting talent," it says. This is a great deal (if you have five parent-friends!) and is available until January 31, 2011.

"Beep Beep" Baby

Tonight was our eighth anniversary, and for the first time in a long time we got out away from our kids. Unfortunately, because of two weekdays of icy roads and my husband having to tele-commute with our home laptop, the laptop suddenly crashed and we knew we needed to get it fixed tonight during our special little outing.

The Mac Store has a geek-corner in the back where they fix their products. But the way this guy interacted with my husband and the laptop was uncanny to me. I couldn't put my finger on it at first.

The geek took our laptop back and expertly began to assess the situation. He bent down, put his ear against it, and listened. He reported while still listening, "It seems the hard drive is still in place, so that's a good sign." My husband breathed relief. The geek continued, "And when did this all begin? How many days ago?" My husband gave him the recounted story with deep concern.

"Mm, hmm," the geek hummed back to my husband. Next he put his fingers on a magical array of what seemed random keys, and held them there. "And, at what part in this series did the crash actually take place?" he asked.

My husband answered in that fine way all computer people can. The geek continued, "Mm. Yes, well. We've had one beep, and we're waiting for that last beep. And..." (pausing) "there it is. I'm sorry, we're going to have to send it to a specialist. What would you like to do at this point?"

Turns out we took our little laptop home with us 'cause the specialist guy was booked with bad traveling conditions, too.

I have been to the doctor's office for my kids, too many times to count. Concerned mom discusses the situation with the doc expertly examining the child. I realized why it felt so familiar; this was the man-version of doctor visits I had never known till tonight.

The costs of one of the male kind

Discovering crayon on the back window and the front door = ten minutes of scrubbing

Finding your keys at the bottom of the toybox = fifteen minutes of searching

Locating the new loaf of bread next to the couch in a corner on the floor = 30 minute trip to the store

Having a son who loves to walk = PRICELESS

Mother's Day Videos

Up in the mountains the snow was still hanging around and the girls had fun:



Lijah explains to everyone what Mother's Day means to him:

What do kids do who don't go to school?

Mommy, can I go outside and play in the frontyard?


How about I go play in the backyard?


Here; Logan, you're a boy, you can understand what I'm trying to tell these people....


I need one of those walking-talking kids to help me get this door open!


But, Mommy, look, Lizzy just opened the door and walked outside!


Okay, I'm pretty enough to go outside and play, mom.


What? What do you mean, all the kids can't play cause they're in school?


Haow!


Now that I'm up here, how have I gotten down before? Oh well. Let's go for it.

Lijah's First Birthday

Ben put a video together last night commemorating the enjoyment of the Joyce's gift. He's getting so close to walking, but wearing a toolbelt makes him grow up just a little faster ;)

Yes, the house is a mess because his mommy just found out she has strep throat.... :(



Thanks to Becky, Ben and Maddy for a great evening of fun!

Tuning in

Watch out! If you're driving through town with three children and find yourself accidentally tuning out your eldest child, you may start laughing when you tune back in. I did.

"Pablo said 'regurgitation' but he doesn't even know what that means; heh, that was funny."

Of Mice and a Little Man

Okay, so yeah, I felt like a bad mommy for choosing the word "evil" to describe Elijah, but guess what he's done today? The house is clean, and he's ignoring his toys. The first place he went was toward the bathroom. I came around and found him standing against the toilet, reaching his arm down in it to make fun splashes. Yuck! Then I went about my business, came into the kitchen where he had two chemical bottles from underneath the sink--but the cabinets weren't even open (how did he figure out how to open those ones; it's a mystery). Ahh! Gave him some shampoo bottles in exchange, crisis averted. An hour later I did some laundry upstairs, came down and discovered the mouse and keyboard off the desk and lying on the floor. No! Lizzy came over to me and shared a drawing and when she talked about Lijah she said he was pinching her back. Bad boy.
Then I went back into the laundry room and he followed me, stopped at the garbage can (a stand-alone aluminum canister with a lid), stood up against it, opened the lid and started tugging at a dirty diaper hanging out at the surface. Eeew!

The day's not even half-over!

He's not walking yet, just crawling. I can only imagine what things could be like once he does, or when he starts running, or... climbing?!?

As I write this he's stretched his height to grab up onto the camcorder cord, and it started sliding slowly toward the edge of the desk. Hands off, baby!

My son turned evil

Up till eight months old, Lijah did nothing, literally. He laid on his back, didn't roll over, didn't scoot, nothing. He only laughed and smiled. Everybody said he was a good natured baby, and... he was.

At eleven months, that baby all knew and loved, is gone. In its place is a little adventurer who won't sit still. In his repertoire:

The skull smack: Don't lay down near him, because he'll put a big grin on and crawl over like he's in love, then, lift his head high up and smack it down into yours. ?!?
The wall smack: Newly discovered by accident, smacking skull into the wall has resulted in a circular motion at the neck to reproduce said discovery of wall.
The flying squirrel: Prerequisite: happy but unsatisfied (I'm a good mommy, so, this happens to be 95% of day). On his knees, he lifts his hands toward the ceiling and then brings them down to mightily smack whatever is in his radius.
The dog bowl dingies: Bored with toys on the carpet? Can't see mom in your peripheral vision? Head to the bathroom with screams of anger and stop short at the dog's water bowl; lift, pour over chest, repeat.
Baking glassware wear: Feeling no fear for the pain he has felt in the past, he continually visits his favorite cupboard and pulls on top of him the pyrex, then finds a stray spoon and drags them into the middle of the living room to make music, where mommy finds the otherwise see-through items by stubbing her toe when the doorbell rings trying to stop the dog from charging the front door.
Skin amusement park: Wants to roll up against any exposed skin, then, after having a sensual fill, pinches over and over and over wherever it is exposed.
"That scream": When grocery shopping, he no longer receives praises; he constantly screams at eardrum-breaking decibels whenever he gets bored, which is pretty much constantly. I get down in his face and scream back at him (when we're at home). Then he pauses deep in thought, squints his eyes in a glare, gives a toothy grin and whines at me for the travesty I have committed.

Dalmnation

On Friday the children and I were driving home from ballet and Grace interrupts, "Mommy, mommy mommy!"

"What Grace?" I ask.

"What's 'dalmnation'?"

"What?"

"What's... 'dalmnation' mean?"

[pause] "I'm sorry Grace, what word is that?"

"Dalm-na-tion!" she says with a loud voice.

"Grace, are you trying to say, 'dalmation,' or 'damnation'?" I say utterly confused.

"I want to know what dalmnation means, mom!"

"Grace! 'Dalmation' is a kind of dog that's white and has black spots or circles all over it. If you're saying 'damnation,' that means, when someone is going to the place where everyone does wrong and they can't get out."

[silence]

"Aww!" she whines with deep concern, "I have to go collect damnations so that I can win a jump rope and a water bottle!!"

Ohh!! :)

Pictures are a thousand titles

Over Christmas Ben's whole family got together at Portrait Innovations in Gresham.

I don't know what took me so long to get these up, but they are absolute killers! My favorites are the outtakes, which I included with the serious ones...

Little Maddie flanked by cousins...

Poor Uncle Joe...




Little Miss No-Teeth (four on the top and four on the bottom, gone)

Aww...





Squeal!

How can Lizzy be happy when her hair is being pulled--Honestly!--

Christmas Magic

The girls woke up Christmas morn, happy for their presents but Grace exclaimed "Aww, I wish it snowed!"

Two hours later, it was snowing, the first snow of the year. It was beautiful, even though it didn't stick.

This is one of the best times of year for me, at least when it's time to visit family. One and a half years ago there were three of us who dreamed of this Christmas; Becky, my sister-in-law, Terri, Ben's cousin-in-law, and I. I do believe I wrote a blog about us last Christmas, hmm.... We were all pregnant together within two month's span.

On Christmas day two of these babies were united, and it was something else:



And tomorrow our joy will be complete watching little Noah play with Maddy and Lijah. All of them crawling, all of them chubby and adorable and exploring the world with no fear so long as mommies are within eyeshot.

I think I am going to be allowing Ben to have all the pictures now on his picasa link, since it is easier to load and he's already been "stealing" some of my most favorite ones I've taken over the months. Be checking soon, for there will be more with the whole bunch coming shortly!

Carry me

It's the middle of the day and the rain outside is just as busily streaming down as is my life. I'm standing in the kitchen and I'm hugging my eldest daughter Grace. She lingers for more hug, more smiles. And so do I. Until she was in my arms I was in such a hurry to get to work on the kitchen, which sorely needs a cleaning. I had been secretly hoping that any moment she would decide to join her little sister upstairs for a movie; with the baby in a nap I was going to get something done. But when she was there I thought of how heavy she is. She wants me to hold her like I do the other two. Love me, carry me like I'm little again, her heart communicates. She deserves it, she's only six. And it's only going to be more difficult the longer I wait. So I tried. It wasn't a pretty lift into my strength, but I held her for a few moments.

When I let her go, she smiles again, sings a song and skips away upstairs.

there is a part of me that's only visiting
torn from eternity, a stranger here
so when the last notes of my soul's summer symphony
goes stealing through this old world's cool garden gaze
I will hold no fear as you close my book of flowers
and the hands of heaven carry me, carry me home to stay
"The Last Notes" by Shaun Groves

Come back, Grace, come back and stay a little longer with me my baby.

Reason for Thanks

I prepped Grace for the last couple weeks, asking her "Grace, tell me again; why are you getting baptized?"

"Uh, I forgot," she stammers. Then I imagine Grace getting up there and being asked in front of the whole congregation some similar question and she botches it. Of course, everyone would understand and that'd ultimately be okay. But since she is young I have the desire to help her as much as possible to explore exactly why she is doing what she is doing.

Then we rehash: "Remember what we read together? The red words Jesus said to everyone were, after they believed 'go and make disciples and baptize them.' Those three things are what He taught us to do: believe, follow, and get baptized. You believe, right? And you follow Him. So all that's left is to be baptized."

As I write this, I'm asking her a final time to see if it's sunk in: "Grace, can you tell me what three things Jesus told us to do?"

Her eyebrow raises and she says confidently, "Get baptized, follow Him, and... believe in Him!"

She was ready. She was the fourth of five girls to get baptized, though all the others were near about ten years old. She did just fine. He said, "This little one is Grace, Grace Painter. That's a great name; Grace. Did you know it means God's most precious gift? You're here today because you put your faith in Jesus who is God's gift to us, isn't that right?"

She said yes, and he continued, "Well then my little sister, it is my privilege to baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." And then he dunked her backward and helped her back up and out. Grace rejoined us at our seats later on in the service and said, "I can't believe I was baptized! Except I got some water in my nose."

We were so proud of her. Ben and I told her in the car on the way there that we were so pleased with her that she was taking this step. That she didn't have to do it, because God loves her anyway because of the cross, but she is obeying Him and that is a wonderful thing.

The whole congregation celebrated the Thanksgiving holiday through combining our usual two services into just one. There was special music with a small orchestra and a full choir. Ben's mom and dad drove down very early in the morning which was such a neat gift to all of us to have them present. My dad, mom and sister also came, which was also neat because we have not been to church all at one time that I can recall. Monica had six assignments to work on and my mom was still recovering from a night shift but Ben's parents could join us for lunch at the Olive Garden. It was a slow and happy meal.

The day's events reminded me of the way I felt when I conceived and first got to know our firstborn. She had always been a gift to me from God that had proven His lovingkindness. I stand back, not claiming any credit, amazed.

His Grace is the occasion of our gratitude; with the family all gathered together right before the holiday, I couldn't have been more thankful.

Grace's Baptism

We're all pretty proud of her, though she doesn't really know or understand that.

This Sunday she will be baptized sometime during the special Thanksgiving service. A lot of family are coming to witness it. Ben's parents and brother, and my parents and sister and her family are all planning to be there.

We were watching some home movies this summer and in them was a clip of me getting baptized when Liz was just a newborn. Grace thought about it and asked, "Mom, when can I get baptized?"

Yes, she's six. It's kinda young. But we talked about it. What does she lack when we think about what it means to be a Christian? She desires to be with God, to not go to "the bad place," she confesses that God helps her to not sin so much, that she can feel God's love for her, and she has seen God answer her prayers over and over. She loves to pray and has no qualms doing so nor asking her cousins and friends to pray with her. She tells others at school and at play about Jesus all the time. She loves her bible.

Last night however she had a not-so-good moment. I had Colette, Emma, Liz, Grace and Elijah and we were eating dinner at church right before it was time for AWANA, and as we were herding through the life center on the way out Grace said, "Mom, I was wondering where you were," and then she belted out with all feeling, "What the hell?"

I stopped dead in my tracks and spun around. Everybody around us had stopped talking and they were all looking at me. Me, wearing a "Cubbies" leader club shirt no less. I told her that she couldn't say that word, that I know she probably hears it a lot on tv, but she'll just have to be careful not to say things in that way. My face was red with embarassment so I just left it at that, and she said she didn't realize, and we kept on walking. Then I couldn't help but just laugh. What a moment that was!

Even with this little episode of exploration, I think she's doing really well. I'm very pleased with her as she moves forward to do this.

Respect a baby

Is there anyone else you know who will gladly stretch their stomach full, with spoonful after spoonful of chilled, liquified garden carrots?

The spiritual formation of these two girls

Grace was around the age of four when I used the illustration of a T-chart, which took the good things and the bad things she has done and tallied them up. We tried to think of all the good things she does, and with each one I would make a mark under the "good" column. Then we made a tally of bad items. I asked, "How do you get rid of the bad ones?"

"Um, maybe if I put more good ones on the paper," she thought, and I said try again. She didn't know what to think. "God... is perfect; He only does the good things, never does any bad things, and one day we can be with Him again when we go to heaven but, none of us can go up there if we have bad things we've done. Because God is good and He cannot have bad parts with him in heaven."

She began to squirm, and asked if we could use the eraser on the pencil to take them off.

"Yeah, we use an eraser to take them off this list, but when God is writing these things down do you know how He takes the bad things away? He did make a way. It's Jesus. Because He died on the cross, he was punished for all your bad marks and mine too, so now... [erasing a couple to show] we can have them taken away and we'll be ready to meet God."

She breathed a sigh of relief and said that she was glad Jesus did that for us. Then she began to wander onto a new topic and I said, "Whoa, wait a minute! Before you go I just want to tell you that I don't take these things off; Jesus does, and if you want Jesus to make you clean then this is something you need to talk to God about."

"Okay," she said, and paused. "Uh, I don't know what to say."

"If you ask Him to come into your heart, He says He will wash away all your bad parts so that you're ready to be with Him forever. And, He also comes inside you to stay, so He can help you to stop doing so many bad things, and to let you feel His love. Do you want Him to come into your heart?" Yes, she replied, and then we prayed.

A month or so later, one time after we were through praying she exclaimed, "God is helping me to not do what's wrong!" Many months we spent praying together and then for many months after that, Ben prayed with both children. Whenever Grace prayed because she was sick or scared, God always seemed to answer her prayer, and we would talk about that.

With Elizabeth, in the last year or so when Grace and I would pray I would ask her if she wanted to pray too, and she would get a squirmed up face and decline. I let her choose to do that. Meanwhile Ben was leading her in "repeat after me" prayers at bedtime. On a couple of occasions Grace had discussed about Jesus coming into her heart and I asked Liz, "Liz, do you want to ask Jesus to come into your heart?" No, she had said.

A few days before her fourth birthday I pulled out a pencil and notepad and made a T-chart, because she had been asking me questions about God and who He is. Once again we tallied her good and bad deeds, and then I let her sit in a quandry over how to get rid of the bads. Then I told her about Jesus dying on the cross as "spankings," and asked her if she wanted Him to come in. She said yes, and we prayed. She was happy afterward, like a lot of people are after they make that decision.

So far, it hasn't really come up for her to testify herself that she knows Jesus is dwelling in her, and has forgiven her; in good time however we will find out how much she understands.

Profile: ELIZABETH

(On the beach last September)

Nicknames: Lizzy-Mae, Little-Lizzy, Squishy
Age: 4, on Saturday
Stats: 30 lbs., 40 in. tall
Toys: pen & paper, dinosaurs, magic wand
Food: all that resembles her (long and pale); bananas, mozzarella sticks

("Put your clothes back on right now, Lizzy")

Sports: absolutely lives for soccer and ballet
Aspirations: to be an artist-abstracts and profiles; to play sports

(Lizzy-art, at three and a half)

Famous last words: "No way, dude; heh, I just called you dude" "Can I have a cheese stick" "Look at me!" "Nooo, I can't sleep in my bed it's too squeaky" "I caaaan't!" "I wanna wear a dress!" "Gracie goes to her class and I go to my class" "You can go to the bread store and buy donuts" "Let's go to mcdonalds, yeah!" "Can I have a banana?"

(What does she do when dresses are confiscated? Make her own)

Oddities: I can connect my thumbs with my index fingers to make a ring around her waist (it is that small), she weighs as much as the average 1-and-a-half year old, she eats about 8 cheese sticks a day and little else
TV show: Curious George, of course (a fellow esteemer of bananas, feats of flexibility, and cute naughtiness)

(Camping and playing on the playground last August)

Obsessions: to finally get to the age where she can enroll in classes and sports, & to spend all her days at Chuck E. Cheese's

Quick clip in time

Here's a short clip of a portion of our visit to the pumpkin patch two saturdays ago:



I cannot believe how much Elijah is growing up....