Misc Fun in January and February

We hiked the beautiful Blackwater Creek Trail in the middle of Lynchburg. Some of which went through the trees, and some was on the biking trail cut through the rocky mountain.

We went to Amazement Square, the local kids' hands-on museum. Jessica loved "milking" the plastic cow and playing in the river. Dave loved the golf ball roller coaster area, and I rode the zip line and wished I had their Velchro body parts board for Jessica to learn from at home.

It's been harder to keep Jessica in the cart. She could push the cart herself, but she couldn't steer it away from the shelving. "BONK! Hahahaha!"

Every morning she stands on her stepstool in front of her mirror and "brushes" her teeth, while I wash her face and put pigtails in. I'm not used to the drier climate here, and I had to start the habit of putting lotion on her to relieve her rough skin and the occasional red patch on her face. Our day still consists of cartoons, time outside, some craft, some housework, reading and naptime, errands, water playtime, and the daily contest of how many toys get spread through the house.

Jessica enjoyed her first s'more, and her favorite food of the month was soy beans - partly because they'd squirt out of the pods, which she thought was funny. 

About this time we had to reestablish naptime and bedtime, and I decided to capitalize on her love of clocks. I bought a CD alarm clock, and set it for 7:30 pm, when it would start playing music. After a little explanation, she would jump up excited for her bedtime routine.

I made a "toddler clock" with a new background on an old clock. The pictures on the rim are for night activities (brush teeth, jammies, stories with daddy, prayers, and sleeping) and the pictures inside are for day activities (get up, breakfast, get dressed, lunch, dinner, and the really helpful ones: reading time & naptime).

I put a big "drip drop" shape (her words) on the hour hand so she would ignore the confusing minute hand. I added colored triangles and shifted the numbers forward half a space so the hour hand doesn't touch the number until it's hour starts. All I had to do to persuade her to do something was point to the clock, and she totally got it. I also got her a calendar and drew pictures of our activities so she could look forward to events.

I hung our new pictures. For Christmas, I gave Dave a portrait he had admired of Jesus calming the sea. I got myself a copy of "Mercy Claimeth That Which Is Her Own". It brought tears to my eyes the first time I saw it in the Church Art Competition. It won a purchase award, and the huge original hangs in the Conference Center. When I walked into Deseret Book to find a painting for Dave, the artist, who actually lives in Virginia, was there painting in the lobby. It's a personification of Justice holding his sword, satisfied by the gift of Christ, and Mercy, calling to the penitent sinner. 

And Dave finished our second bookcase, and we love them. He figured out a way to cut dentils into the walnut crown molding, which I especially like. 

Dave also fixed our dishwasher. The appliances here are conspiring against us; the oven just had to be replaced, and later our dryer needed a new heating coil. I'm glad to have a handy man around the house.

Sesame Street is Brought to You Today by the Letter M

Jessica, almost 18 months old, can repeat most of her letters, point out a few, and sings a mostly recognizable first line of the alphabet song. We usually watch videos over breakfast after Dave leaves for work, mostly "Elmo!", but today "yo-yo" is her favorite new "Y" word.

I give credit to toys with letters, educational TV, Youtube vids of Sesame Street, and two new parents who show ridiculous levels of enthusiasm for every new word.

March Stuff We've Been Up To

(I know it's May. This post is my attempt to catch up.)

Jessica charms us everyday, but March 31 almost made me cry I was so pleased. We were sitting at the dinner table, all eating hot buttery carrots out of the same bowl. I told Jessica: "These are carrots. Bunny Foo Foo eats carrots" and in the next second I thought 'I'm wasting my breath--she won't remember that connection.' 

And all of the sudden she hummed 6 perfect notes in a high voice: "huh, hu-huh, hu-huuuh, huuuh" and Dave and I both looked at each other shocked and said "Did she just sing 'Little Bunny Foo Foo'?" It was the first time I heard her sing, without help, a recognizable song, and the happy glow of that memory is going to last me a long time.

She is also learning to climb into the tub and up the furniture,

learned to crawl out the cat door (which she only accomplished once, not being a skinny minnie):

opens the cabinet to her toys, takes the lids off markers just to put them back on, pinches her nose, puts anything on her wrists like bracelets, including my sandals, and puts things on her head. She made Dave laugh really hard one day when she put a kitchen towel over her head, and started crawling blind, smack into our wooden chest.

And about the time she turned one she started eating all her meals with a fork:

 I saw the last launch of the space shuttle Discovery from my front porch, being only a 3-hour drive south of Cape Canaveral. The picture only shows the smoke trail, but I could also see the bright fire of the rockets.

I have about a dozen piano students, and this spring is busy with concerts and progress tests. I'm bribing them with music CDs for extra practice, but made them buy CDs from me if they didn't practice enough. I teach Tuesday and Wednesday nights, thanks to Dave who is glad to have a mac and cheese night.

I also entered a local tennis tournament and enjoyed seeing this second place finish in the next newsletter:

Palm Tennis Singles Winter 2011 Winners

North Palm Beach County Ladies Night 3.5

Champion: Mary Donovan * Lake Park Tennis Center

Finalist: Elizabeth Robertson * Carlin Park

Dave has been woodworking on our porch making storage cubes for our DVDs. He likes his new clerking job, and spent hours with the other clerks cleaning out enough old records to make a good bonfire.

We watched some BYU basketball, impressed by Jimmer Fredette. Smokey has needed a lot of medical attention, but I think he's better now. Dave chose Arsenic and Old Lace to watch thinking I would like the love story, but I have to warn you: I think it's better for Halloween, FYI. I rearranged all the pictures in our front room, and hung our newly framed, first family picture on the wall. I just listened to a fabulous book on tape: The Help, and started another funny book about adoption and family: No Biking in the House Without a Helmet.


That's mostly all. April 20-30, we're flying to Utah for the BYU graduation of Dave's siblings, Easter, and I'm going to attend BYU Women's Conference.

Taking a Stand

Jessica is steady as a rock with her hand on something. But she sits down immediately if she lets go.  And if we're holding her hands, she wobbles all over.

Yesterday at church I stood her up, made her hold her own hands (like clapping), & she balanced for 2 seconds. We did it again at the adoption picnic yesterday, and she stood for 20 seconds! Dave had time to snap this cell phone pic. Everyone was clapping & cheering & I saw her eyes light up with "Oh, this is a cool trick. And I'm getting attention." She did it a few more times. One day short of her 13 month birthday. Walking here we come!

I also taught her how to lick the window when it was raining, & she "drank" her toast bits out of her breakfast bowl. Mighty progress indeed!

Visiting Utah

After our Robertson reunion in Yellowstone, we drove down to Utah. On the way we stopped in Rexburg, ID, where I had attended Ricks College. It had only been 12 years since I left, but since then it's changed from a 2-year college to the 4-year Brigham Young University-Idaho. They built a temple next to campus, my old dorms have been remodeled, and the Manwaring building (bookstore, eatery) where we ate lunch, had been completed rebuilt from the 60's structure familiar to me, and my father and sister, who both served on student council from that building.

Early June in Utah means the spring flowers were absolutely gorgeous, like this snowball bush in my parents' backyard in Bountiful.

While we were admiring her flowers, my mom was admiring her first granddaughter. We caught on video this milestone when Jessica learned how to hold and shake a rattle. It's the same rattle we had as babies, and the same bear rug from the baby's room in our house growing up. 

We showed Jessica off to everyone. Dave wanted to take this 4-generation picture with my Grandma Bosen. Dave let me take a photo of him with a wisteria wig, and Grandpa Bosen showed us his new mulching pattern.

We visited my single, available, amazing brothers Jeff and Chris at Chris' townhome in Layton. We played some doubles tennis. I beat them, but they hit well enough to keep me running. Jeff hit one hard enough to bruise my right arm. Chris isn't pictured, but later he taught us how to hit on his punching bag. It was his turn to show me up; I look like punching pansy.

One day we met my dad at the Church office building in Salt Lake City for an office tour and lunch in the cafeteria.

We admired the flowers on Temple Square and wandered over to see the new Deseret Book flagship store. My mom is so cute.

Another day Dave's old BYU college roommate Mike Compton and his wife Alena had us over for lunch. Their son is a little older than Jessica, and by chance their outfits coordinated for this photo. Mike showed us the artwork for the board game "Heavens of Olympus" that he was designing; later we would get an autographed copy.

We met Tommy & Jill in Provo at the BYU Wilkinson Center to learn about Tommy's work with student leadership. We went to Dave's Uncle Alan & Aunt Rochelle's house to see more relatives. She enjoyed being held by her great-grandparents Jay & Jane Robertson, but I love her started look when Aunt Rochelle picked her up.

 

I was terrified of Jessica screaming on the plane or being unable to pop her ears, but she was a perfect baby.