Smiles

If you chance to meet a frown,
Do not let it stay.
Quickly turn it upside down
And smile that frown away.

No one likes a frowning face.
Change it for a smile.
Make the world a better place
By smiling all the while.

-Daniel Taylor

I have been serving as Nursery Music Leader in our ward for some time now. We have a REALLY successful music time, and several people have asked me to give them details. I've finally gotten it all typed up, and thought I'd post it here. I learned this method while serving as Primary Music leader in the Wilshire Ward in LA. They had a small basket, and I have expanded to offer lots more songs.

There are two keys to this program. The first is that there is something to hold, touch, do, or look at for every song. The second is that the children MUST be seated IN THEIR CHAIRS to get to hold or touch the thing. They learn very quickly to follow this rule, and it is really good practice for them to learn to sit in a chair before they get into sunbeams.

Music time works best with no more than 6-8 kids. Any more than that, and it's hard to give everyone a turn to choose a song. If there are more than that in your nursery, consider splitting the group so that half is singing while the other half is having the lesson.

I generally like to offer only some of the songs in a given week in order to speed up the choosing, and to offer songs that relate to the lesson. The lesson will have at least one song suggestion, but it's easy to find several songs on the topics of "Family" "Thankful" "My Body" "Scriptures" and "Jesus" for instance. I do leave some just-for-fun songs in each week too.

During Music Time, the kids sit in a semicircle, close enough to me that I can lean over and touch them if I want. Other leaders sit in the circle or behind it to help the children (There's usually somebody who wants to be held). We start at one end and give each child a chance to reach into the box and choose a song. The box has all the manipulatives, in envelopes or ziplock bags, so they pick the thing they want to touch or hold. I open the bag and hand one of the things to each child, or let them each touch the item (See below for more details on that). Then we sing the song, doing whatever actions there are, or just waving our thing in the air. At the end, the children bring back the things, I put them away, and the next child gets to choose.

Even though there are pretty strict rules, the kids get so excited when I come into the room for singing time. It is so fun to hear kids that are barely able to make themselves understood humming along happily and occasionally getting out a rhyming sound at the end of a line. I love it when they are happy and they know it and they REALLY want to show it. I am humbled when they carefully choose their favorite picture of Jesus to hold while we sing songs about Him.

I hope this will be useful to you, and if you have other song ideas, post them in the comments.

""

Title	Page in Children's Songbook	Action	Thing	Comment
3 Green and Speckled Frogs		Hold	Little plastic frogs	It's easy to find little plastic frogs -- hard plastic, squishy plastic, or the ones that jump when you push on the tails. I like to give each child one, and have three in my lap. I toss one onto the floor when it "Jumps into the pool" at the end of each verse.
3 Little Ducks		Hold	Paper ducks	Any paper cutouts of ducks will do
3 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed		Hold and actions	Plastic Monkeys	These are posable plastic monkeys with wires in their arms and legs. We do the traditional actions while holding the monkey
3 Little Monkeys Swinging in the Tree		Hold and actions	Plastic Monkeys	These are posable plastic monkeys with wires in their arms and legs. We do the traditional actions while holding the monkey
A Happy Family	198	Hold	Family member pictures on a stick	These can be heads or whole bodies of Mom, Dad, Brother, Sister, Grandma, Grandpa, Baby, etc. The Nursery manual has some good line drawings of family members.
Book of Mormon Stories or The Golden Plates	118/86	See and actions	Gold plates	I took a few squares of gold colored vinyl fabric and hooked it together with some large jump-rings. After showing the kids the plates, do actions to the song. Make a book with your hands, Clap to the beat, Make ocean waves, Put hands out and then fold arms.
Follow the Prophet	110	Hold and march	Prophet puppets on stick	Line drawing pictures of each prophet in the song, laminated and taped to a popsicle stick. I suggest printing the lyrics to the verse on the back of each prophet so you can remember the words. When singing march around the room Follow the Leader style. The Church has these "Follow the Prophet Puppets" on their website: https://www.lds.org/bc/content/shared/content/images/gospel-library/magazine/li2006lp.nfo:o:a1.jpg
Fun to Do / Do as I'm Doing	253/276	Actions	Idea card for each verse	Kids this little can't think of their own actions, so I have cards that say "Singing a Song" with a picture of a kid singing. Look in the extra verses section of this song in the Children's Songbook for more ideas to put on cards. Sing two or three.
Give, Said the Little Stream	236	Hold	Ribbons	I have blue ribbons, about an inch wide and 8-12 inches long. The kids wave them back and forth to represent the flowing water of the stream.
Hinges	277	Touch	Jumping Jack / Do actions	This is an old style wooden toy that has hinged arms and legs that flip up when you pull the string on the bottom. Each kid gets to pull the string and make it jump. Do an image search for "Jumping Jack Toy" if you don't know what I'm talking about.
I am a Child of God	2	Hold	Paper child face	I got pictures multicultural children's faces from the Super Little Singers book.
I am Like a Star / Shine On / Twinkle Twinkle Little Star	163/144	Hold	Paper star	Paper stars are the pictures that get the most damage, because the two bottom legs get pulled on and tear. I'd suggest making a star on a circular piece of paper instead. We usually sing Twinkle Twinkle plus one of the other two songs
I Have Two Little Hands	272	Actions	Hand	I have a foam shape of a hand in the box for the kids to choose the song, but we do actions while we sing.
If You're Happy and You Know It	266	Touch and actions	Clapping hands dog	This is a small stuffed animal with magnets in its paws that make it clap when you put the paws together. You can buy such a thing, or make one by cutting the paws open and putting strong magnets in. Each kid gets to clap the hands a few times. While we sing we do the traditional actions. During the stomp your feet verse I sing kick your feet because many of them are too little reach the ground.
In the Leafy Treetops	240	Hold	Paper bird and silk flower	The kids each get a picture of a bird and a little flower. Cheap small ones from the dollar store are the best.
Itsy Bitsy Spider		Hold and actions	Plastic spider	I use little hard plastic spiders in many different shapes and colors because I had a lot of bug toys at my house when I was putting the box together. The kids like to choose. If you can't find those, Halloween spider rings work fine. We do the traditional actions while holding the spider. The kids usually can't do the finger spider part so they just move the plastic spider
Jesus Loves the Little Children/Jesus Loves Me	Hymns 307	Hold	Picture of Jesus	A pass-along card on taped to a popsicle stick is great. We use the following words to the tune of ""In Our Lovely Deseret"" Jesus loves the little children All the little children of the world Red and yellow black and white They are precious in His sight Jesus loves the little children of the world Or the old Christian song Jesus loves me this I know For the Bible tells me so Little ones to Him belong We are weak but He is strong Yes, Jesus loves me Yes, Jesus loves me Yes, Jesus loves me The Bible tells me so
Jesus said Love Everyone / Love One Another	61/136	Hold	Paper heart	A simple paper heart
Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam	60	Hold	Paper sun	A simple paper sun. We lift the sun into the air every time we sing "beam"
My Heavenly Father Loves Me	228	Touch and see	Bird with feathers	I got this little bird at the craft store or dollar store. They often go in flower arrangements. Each kid gets to gently pet the bird. They are very careful and in awe of it. I also have pictures for each line of the song (From the book "Super Little Singers" by Ross and Guymon-King -- that book also has a lot of the other paper cutouts I use, though most of them are easy enough to make up)
Old Macdonald		Hold	Paper farm animals	My current box has paper cutouts of different farm animals. I have also used finger puppets or little toys. We usually sing three verses
Once There Was a Snowman	249	See	Snowman eraser	I have a snowman eraser for the kids to choose the song. After that, we do the traditional actions. We also do the opposite song, especially appropriate for Nursery "Once I was a baby, baby, baby. Once I was a baby, small, small, small. Now I'm getting bigger, bigger, bigger. Now I'm getting bigger, tall, tall, tall."
Smiles	267	Hold	Smile/ Frown faces	Look in the manual for what these should look like. Encourage the kids to turn them upside down during the song. Do an image search for "If You Chance to Meet a Frown" to see what I mean. The simpler the better.
The Wise man and Foolish man	281	See and Actions	Block house, rock, sandpaper	While doing the traditional actions, I build a little house out of a square and a triangle wooden block, on top of a flat rock balanced on my knee. For the foolish man, I build the house on sandpaper and when we do the chorus, I bounce my leg enough that the house falls down off my knee. Interestingly enough, the children are incapable of leaving the house on the floor while we sing the rest of the chorus. Someone always helpfully comes to pick it up.
We Bow our Heads	25	See and Actions	Sheep folds arms and bows head	This is a small beanie baby sheep. The front legs are long enough and floppy enough to fold across each other. You can also push the head downward to look like it's bowing. We change the word graciously to reverently

Sowbug by mngamojemo

Sowbug

Sowbug!
I have crunched your body raw and found it foul.
Noble mulcher, wood-louse.
I have caught you in glass bottles
and seen you crawl free, your orange-pulp feet
on glass which has no friction.
Sowbug! You have filled my trailer with grey life,
and sought escape.
Non-invasive force, you do not even deign
to touch my scraps!
Funneler
of water through your tail,
crustacean needing all that you have left.
Pillbug! You who rolls but cannot funnel. You who snaps
into a pellet, whose shell is gunship grey.
You who are mistaken for the sowbug,
who must live in damper places.
You who I have seen alone and flicked
and made a marble of.
Sowbug! Who swims the air when logs are lifted.
Born of shrimp and crab, land-creature.
Science does not care to know you.
Sowbug, Pillbug, grey and humble,
I have felt your soft feet creep
across my childish hands.
I know that you have rythm,
native swimmer, living in the dark
but out of water.
I have jarred you with a scorpion for days and seen it starve.
--mngamojemo

I took this hippo

And turned it

into this Giant Isopod

It's a relative of the roly-poly sow bugs, so of course, it has to roll up too.

It is a Christmas present for Lizbeth who has been begging me to make one for months since she saw these pictures and these

Here's a few more pictures for good measure

Awwwww, isn't he cute?

One of the things I like best about doing projects like this is that I start cutting and sewing with hardly any plan at all, and at the end, it looks better than I imagined it. The shape of the final project is heavily influenced by the shapes of the pieces I have when I cut the original apart at the seams. About halfway through this bug, for instance, I was still thinking of the part that became his head as his bottom, and I was considering making his legs out of fringe or cording. I started out with just ten legs, but decided that he really did need all fourteen after I saw how sparse ten looked. It was about 3/4 of the way through that I made the final decision to give him a marine isopod tail because the hippo's nose was just about the right shape.

Note: This is another post that never went live. It's some facebook posts from 2011.

#
Karen Stay Ahlstrom
When I woke up this morning, I thought it was a shame that I couldn't leave part of my consciousness in bed and pick it up later after at least some of me was rested.

I hate it when I can't get back to sleep.

I told Lizbeth last night that Princess Elizabeth had a problem. She didn't like using the toilet, and Queen Karen didn't like changing diapers. "What could help Princess Elizabeth use the bathroom?" I asked. Her answer, "Elephants." plain and simple.

Karen Stay Ahlstrom Is drinking chocolate syrup straight from the bottle. It's been that kind of day.


The beans we planted in preschool are really trying hard to grow. I feel bad that I have no intention of potting them properly.

I just skimmed a bunch of beekeeping magazines looking for pictures for my preschool lesson next month. It's amazing how much I don't know about beekeeping. The amount of information, biology, history, mythology, etc is amazing -- not that there's stuff I don't know. :)

in the spirit of Mike's recent doodle video, this is what we're doing to instill a love of math in our child.
Elizabeth makes a dodecahedron
*************************************************

Here's the butterfly we saw pump up its wings yesterday. Sorry the video is so terrible. Click through to my account to see more videos from the last few months.
Newly Emerged Butterfly

This butterfly came out of its chrysalis moments earlier. Its wings are still crumpled. The video is terrible because of the plastic and mesh, but I thought Grandma Kathey might like to see.

Last night after clipping her toenails, I played This Little Piggy with Lizbeth for the first time in a while. At the end, after giggling at my tickles, she said, "That was funny!" Then, to clarify, just in case I wasn't sure, she said, "The wee wee wee one was funny."

Lizbeth has found that if she stands over the heater vent, the air flow is just strong enough to lift her balloon to about chest height.

The other butterfly also chose that moment for its virgin flight. It sat there with trembling wings and got itself ready, then launched and flapped and fell to the bottom of the habitat and fluttered pretty uselessly for a while. Now it's sitting still again, probably getting its strength back for the next attempt.

As I carried Bridget into the front room this morning, I glanced at the butterfly habitat and saw a brand new butterfly with crumpled wings climbing up the wall. It must have emerged moments earlier. We all watched as it pumped its wings full of blood and tested its tongue and legs.

The first butterfly emerged!

Lizbeth was being a bit too quiet playing by herself in the basement, so I went to check on her. It turns out, appropriately, that she was looking at her quiet books.


Bridget laughing as she plays with Lizbeth's birthday balloon.
**************************************************************

Bridget now rolls from back to front when trying to get something out of reach. Crawling is not far away.

I really don't like it when Peter works Saturdays. It means I don't get a day off either.

Lizbeth opened all her presents and left them strewn around the living room. With the balloon on the ceiling, that meant that everywhere Bridget looked, there were fun and enticing things that she wasn't allowed to grab and eat. Under the circumstances, I think that her frustrated tantrum was pretty justified.

Oh yes! It's a Totodo movie! Oh oh yes! Yes! A Totodo movie! Hooray! With Satsuke and a cat bus! Oh yes oh yes! (that was pretty much Lizbeth's reaction when she saw the DVD we got for her birthday.)

I also tidied up the front room, kitchen, bedroom and office. Then I wrapped Lizbeth's appalling stash of birthday presents. I think I'm just about ready for her party tomorrow. I need to decorate after she goes to bed tonight. We'll bake the cake together in the morning.

Just started the sixth (and last) load of laundry for the day. And since I started out with three loads to fold and put away, I feel like I've accomplished a lot.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar card game Lizbeth got for Christmas doesn't have a cocoon card. This was a problem till we realized that we have envelopes just the right size to slip a caterpillar card into. And if you hide a beautiful butterfly card behind it as you do, you can make it magically appear!

Had just gotten Bridget to sleep when the phone rang. Now she's wide awake.

The serpentine belt fell off Peter's car again. This changes our plan for the evening. Sigh.

We had a great playgroup today at the McDonalds playplace. Thanks for suggesting it Laura.

Magnetic toys unite!

Lizbeth made these octahedra all by herself. She was so pleased, she brought them to show me with a big Ta-da!!
****************************************************************************************************

Our house is tooooooooo cold!!!!!

(the furnace man came and jury-rigged a fix. He'll be back tomorrow with the right part. We're warming up now.)

I took page 72 from the January Ensign and posted it on the refrigerator next to the kitchen table. Now at every meal, we sing the Latter Day Prophets song and point to the pictures as we go. My 3 year old daughter Elizabeth loves this game and after 3 days can name several without help and repeat the others with prompting.
http://lds.org/bc/content/shared/content/english/pdf/magazines/ensign/2011/01/EN_2011_01_22___09601_

The furnace fan seems to be broken on a very cold night -- 9 degrees and falling

After a few days of experimental babbling Peter and I agreed that when Bridget said, "ma ma ma ma ma" when I got home tonight, she really meant it.

Trying to give Lizbeth more autonomy in the toilet training saga, I told her to go all by herself while I did mom's bills. She ended up diaperless playing with refrigerator magnets 10 minutes later when the poo arrived. To her credit she was *trying* to clean it up when I found her... Sigh.

Told Lizbeth the story of Abraham's servant finding a wife for Isaac. At the end she asked what the girl's name was. When I told her it was Rebecca, she was impressed that it's like Grandma Becky. I told her that Grandma tries to be kind and helpful like Rebecca. Lizbeth excitedly added, "and she gets me water!"

Lizbeth is sure that Joseph Smith got the brass plates from the wicked Laban

In discussing the trials of having a child in Lizbeth's particular phase, Grandma Kathey said, "It will get better." which I then revised to, "it will get different."

We got Lizbeth so excited about going to Sunbeams today that when we took her to the Primary room for Opening Exercises she threw a screaming fit that took a half hour to calm down from. And half the ward heard it since she screamed all the way down the hall to the Sunday School class I have to teach, and where Peter was waiting with Bridget. Then she screamed all the way back to Primary. Sigh. Then I had to give a lesson about how happy people in th New Testament were when they learned that they were going to be parents.

My anxiety level has been especially high the last few weeks. All my doctor has to offer are stronger meds that would require weaning Bridget -- and the fight that would result from that decision would give me more anxiety and guilt than the meds would fix. Any ideas? it's generalized anxiety that doesn't have a focus? it's just like a loud noise yelling in my brain -- very distracting. I'm not worried about anything in particular, just generally on edge. It makes it hard to be patient wi...th Lizbeth, attentive to Bridget, and productive around the house. With effort, any given moment, I can use breathing exercises and positive thinking to squash it back down, but it's work, and by the end of the day I'm mentally very tired. I'm even open to the idea of weaning Bridget, but she has never in her life been willing to drink from a bottle or cup, and I don't know how to make her give it enough of a try to start making the switch.

Lizbeth: Oh! You're getting a cup for me? And now you're getting a cup for you...rself
Me: Yes I am, and that was even grammatically correct.
Lizbeth: and now you're getting a cup for Daddy's self.

Due to the series of partial thaws followed by hard freezes in the week or so since the last snowstorm, most of the driveways in our neighborhood are sheets of ice. Peter worked hard to clear ours before driving over the snow, so it's been clean and dry for days. Our next door neighbors on the other hand have been chipping at it with a long chisel every waking hour for two days straight now.

Post office says they have no record that they were supposed to hold mom's mail even though I have a copy of the email receipt they sent mom when they placed the hold.

Karen Stay Ahlstrom Wishes there was a law requiring every piece of plastic packaging, including bags, to be marked with recycling information. If it's not recyclable, it should should be required to put that info on the package too.

Bridget has a stuffed toy piggie that is essentially a pink ball with a darker pink nose stocking out of one side. She loves this toy, especially chewing on the nose. I do not believe that she likes it because it looks like a *pig*

Sometimes when Bridget is tired, she's too agitated to nurse. She will whine and cry and arch her back and rub her eyes, but she won't settle down and nurse. I've found that if I Rub her cheek with one of her minkie blankets, she will immediately calm down, relax her body, turn her head and open her mouth. It's like magic.

just found out why I couldn't find any Discovery Toys sets at the toy stores I was shopping in. They're sold at parties like Mary Kay and Tupperware. Are any of my friends consultants? Does anybody want to invite me to one of these parties?

Peter got time lapse video of the caterpillars pupating last night
***********************************************************

Shut my bedroom door to have some privacy while I changed my clothes. Lizbeth then had a fit just outside, pounding and kicking and screaming for "mommy car" to come out. When that didn't work she started yelling that "Bridget car wants you!"

Caterpillars. Notice three chrysalises hanging, one fuzzy hanging, and one that fell down and is sitting upside down with his head in poo.
************************************************************************************************************

Somehow, one of the caterpillars got knocked loose, and fell down into the webbing and poo at the bottom of the cup. He's still in the J shape though, with his tail sticking up in the air--poor guy. I'm pretty sure he's the one that was annoying the third caterpillar last night so I guess he deserves it, but still...

The last two caterpillars hung themselves up last night. They spend about 24 hours hanging upside down with their head curled upwards in a kind of J shape before shedding their skin.

Something like three jars of strained peas just emerged from Bridget's digestive tract looking virtually unchanged from when I spooned them in--though it smelled much worse.

The third caterpillar is hanging upside down ready to pupate. One of the other caterpillars has been annoying him for more than an hour now, poking his spines to make him wiggle.

Lizbeth woke up this morning, came upstairs and said, "I think I need to sit on the toilet." Then she went and did it all by herself!

Lizbeth's Sunbeams teacher said she did well in class today (her first time in the 3 year old class at church rather than nursery) but that she had a lot of energy. Another source told Peter that every time they sang songs Lizbeth wanted to get up and dance.

Trying to get a sluggish Lizbeth to go downstairs, I told her to keep moving. As she slowly crawled along, she said, "I'm keep movinging"

One of the caterpillars pupated overnight. Since he hung himself up overnight 24 hours earlier, I have high hopes that we'll see the one that hung himself up yesterday morning shed his skin today. I just hope it doesn't all happen while we're at church. He did shed his skin this morning, but he did it quickly during one of Lizbeth's 20 minute potty trips.

New Year's Day party at Brandon's went well. Lizbeth and Joel had a water fight (thank you autocorrect bubble on top of the post button) in the unfinished part of the basement. And later decided that what she really wanted was to lock herself in Peter's office and watch the Cars movie ALL BY HERSELF.

Looking back on the last year, it was definitely a good one. Highlights included welcoming Bridget into our lovely new home, spending lots of time with family on both sides, and having Peter feel secure and happy in his job.

At game night, they were pleased with my gift of Set (thank you Peter for going back for it). We survived Castle Raveloft. I sat out of the round of Poo taking care of Bridget. But their Hollywood Blockbuster game hates me and I lost in an increasingly improbable string of bad luck.

Lizbeth must be allergic to their house since each time we've gone she gets mysterious hives--this time on both wrists.

Bridget, who gets scared and cries when Mama growls or Daddy has a barking cough was just plain terrified of the monster three times her size that could not get enough of her smell. Luckily, she fell asleep fairly early in the night.

We had a great new year party at Dan's house. Lizbeth was gleefully terrified of his English Bulldog, and kept exhibiting prey behaviors like running away screaming then falling on the floor and lying on her back with arms and legs curled up to protect her vitals.

The caterpillars are not tiny caterpillars any more. They're big fat caterpillars. And one of them is hanging from the roof ready to shed his skin and turn into a chrysalis. Hooray!

Lizbeth is watching Peter play gemcraft and asking about the monsters. "Are those squorpions?" she asks.

Thinking about new years plans. Wondering ig it'd be ok to take Lizbeth to a friend's party with the intention of plopping her down in front of a tv to watch movies till midnight or so instead of getting a babysitter so she can go to sleep. Then I remembered that we do that every Friday night.

Lizbeth says: I'm a very friendly Lightning McQueen caterpillar. Brandon doesn't think he's a bug. But Mater came and the bug jumped on top of him and the bug flew away and the cars were so happy! Yeeeesss! Lightning McQueen has jumper legs so I think he's a grasshopper bug! That's so funny! He he! That's really good choice.

When I said good morning to Lizbeth today she said, "It's a great morning!"

Lizbeth yelling from time out: Mama! I need to be good to you! Daddy! I need to be good to Mama.

I exchanged some luxury socks at Nordstrom's for a Hello Kitty necklace and lip balm. Driving to the next store Lizbeth started crying, "I don't want this in my hair!" I turned around to see that she had managed to smear all the lip balm all over her face, hands, hair, and the window. If I hadn't been driving while handing her wipes to clean it up, I would have gotten a funny picture.

Last night I got out my New Testament picture file to show Lizbeth pictures of the Holy Land to explain where Grandma was going on her trip. After those pictures were portraits of the Savior. Lizbeth looked at a few and said "That's Jesus! He's nice."

Lizbeth says race frogs

Christmas turned out well. Lizbeth LOVED all her presents, and said so many cute happy things about all of them that I can't remember what they were to write them down, but my heart is full to bursting.

Grandma Becky gave Lizbeth Gramdma Fawnie's milk glass cat candy dish for a keepsake. Lizbeth said "I never seen a cat so best!"

Merry Christmas!

Had a great Christmas Eve dinner with the Holts. Not all the presents went to the intended recipients, but they got to the right people anyway.

Done wrapping presents. Peter seems to have a way to go yet.

Ran out of tape. Using Christmas seals from Grandma Helen's copious stash to hold the wrapping paper on.

Stopped in at Savers to see what they had left on day-before-Christmas-Eve, and to my amazement and great, what they had were the kind of toys and games I'd been searching for at toystores for months, and at thrift store prices! Somebody loves me!

Lizbeth saw me reading the Ensign magazine and said, "Where's Jesus? Where's Jesus?" Each time I showed her a picture of Jesus, she giggled in delight.

Lizbeth picked up a random Christmas card and "read" it aloud to me in the sweetest little voice. "For Baby Jesus. Happy Birthday to Baby Jesus!"

asked what Lizbeth talked about in Primary today. She said, "I was sad." When I asked why, she said,"I wanted you." I reminded her that she knew I would always come back for her when church was over, and she said, "Thanks Mom."

The Fed Ex man brought us a box this morning that said, "Live insects Open immediately." Lizbeth is now the proud owner of five tiny and very hungry caterpillars. She has been reciting Eric Carle, requesting caterpillar stories, wrapping herself up in Chrysalis blankets, and dancing as a beautiful butterfly all day. I hope the little guys survive all the love she has for them. Thank you Grandma Kathey

Peter sang, "Mary had a little lamb, she also had a bear..." and Lizbeth responded, "Her little lamb said baa baa, her bear said GRRRR!"

While we were chatting with Santa, Peter arrived, coming to my rescue with an extra stroller. We went back to the craft station to get our purchases gift wrapped, feed Bridget and retrieve the kitty before finally getting home.

I finally got her to move by telling her she was being disobedient and that time out was just outside the door. Then, we spotted Santa holding court in the direction I was hoping to head, so Lizbeth ran over and sat on his lap.

Lizbeth followed me through a toystore pretty easily, but once we got to gymboree she planted herself in front of the TV and refused to move. Meanwhile, Bridget is hungry and tired but won't eat in gymboree, and my arms are so tired from hauling her around without a stroller that dragging Lizbeth out is not an option.

Then we went to do crafts, where Lizbeth burned her mouth on spiced cider, and left her stuffed cat behind.

A mall employee took us in his golf cart back to our car, but Lizbeth didn't realize that the zip up vinyl walls wouldn't support her weight and she fell out of the golf cart head first while I was trying to load the stroller.

The carseat hit upside down and flipped over before coming to rest with a very startled but unharmed Bridget still strapped securely inside.

Went to the Riverwoods mall to find another toy store and do Christmas crafts. Half way to the North Pole store, both front wheels fell off my stroller pitching Bridget and her carseat out onto the cement.

Currently kitty obsessed Lizbeth asked to sing some Christmas songs today and then asked me to sing like a kitty. Inspired, I pulled up YouTube and now have a daughter obsessed with jingle cats

got up to feed the baby and fell back int bed. Worried that today might be a vertigo day

The other day, I was helping Lizbeth sew a felt gingerbread man, but we got interrupted before adding beads and buttons for face and trim. Later that evening I found her making off with said beads and buttons and was about to get mad when I found that she had been stitching them on by herself and doing a pretty good job too.

Two days of comfort nursing, a day of sleeping 19 of 24 hours , and a day of nursing strike make for a very uncomfortable Mama. I finally gave in and pumped out more than 20 oz this evening.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cB3RZ-7iVLc&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Enjoyed Utah Lyric Opera at the Orem library Messiah singalong last night. The tenor was fabulous, but the surprise joy of the night was the trumpet player in this number. His tone was amazing.

Tonight in her story, Princess Elizabeth Kitty told Santa kitty that she wanted a kitty for Christmas, and that it should be big, and sparkly, and say MEOW. Mama kitty remembered that we had just such a kitty in the playroom bucket o' stuffed cats. Elizabeth kitty thinks Mama kitty is magic

Is blessed to have the kind of husband who says: I rearranged my home teaching so you could go to the Relief Society Christmas dinner without hauling both girls along. No... Leave the crying baby here... I'll take care of her. I love you Peter!

Lizbeth sat on Santa's lap at the mall today. She asked for a snake and a candy cane. Confused, Santa asked her if she wanted a babydoll and a tea set. "Yeah" Lizbeth said noncommittally.

Bridget seems to be sleeping it off -- whatever "it"was. slept from 1:30 to 5, ate, fell asleep at the babysitter at about 8, and I had to wake her to eat again at 3 am to rellieve the pressure. She's been nursing steadily for about 30 min, but still hasn't woken up per se.

thinks last night's grilled cheese sandwiches were the best she's ever made.

wishes she knew why Bridget has been crying and moaning in her sleep lately

Bridget has finally figured out rolling from front to back and does it by herself on purpose!

At almost three years old, our daughter has invented the game of jumping rope

I found that if I blow a puff of air in Bridget's face, she'll gasp in surprise, allowing me to slip the spoon into her momentarily open mouth

Bridget likes to eat so much that she giggles in anticipation before every bite, and in delight after every bite. Of course with all that giggling she forgets to open her mouth.

Lizbeth: Aaaaaaaachoo... OH! That was a good sneeze!

Note: This post never went live back in 2009. I'm posting it now to clean up my drafts folder

Well, you can guess from my lack of posts that I've had a terrible month.

The last time I posted was around Christmas. I've been in therapy since the economic and family crisis craziness started last June, but even that wasn't enough to keep my spirits up under six months of constant stress and uncertainty. Seeing myself get more and more depressed and anxious, my doctors and I decided it was time to go back on medication. We picked a drug I haven't been on before because it's supposedly the best for breastfeeding. One real problem with it though is that not only does it take several weeks to kick in, but you actually feel worse before you feel better. It's one of the ones that increases suicides in some patients, and I got the full brunt of it. I had no energy, I felt like crying all the time, and some days it was impossible to make myself do even the simplest of tasks. I felt like I was swimming through molasses -- it was so frustrating!

One of the worst parts was that I knew there was no rational reason to be upset most of the time. I honestly couldn't trust, or often even interpret, what I was feeling or why.

The Ball Poem by John Berryman

The Ball Poem

What is the boy now, who has lost his ball,
What, what is he to do? I saw it go
Merrily bouncing, down the street, and then
Merrily over--there it is in the water!
No use to say 'O there are other balls':
An ultimate shaking grief fixes the boy
As he stands rigid, trembling, staring down
All his young days into the harbour where
His ball went. I would not intrude on him,
A dime, another ball, is worthless. Now
He senses first responsibility
In a world of possessions. People will take balls,
Balls will be lost always, little boy,
And no one buys a ball back. Money is external.
He is learning, well behind his desperate eyes,
The epistemology of loss, how to stand up
Knowing what every man must one day know
And most know many days, how to stand up
And gradually light returns to the street
A whistle blows, the ball is out of sight,
Soon part of me will explore the deep and dark
Floor of the harbour . . I am everywhere,
I suffer and move, my mind and my heart move
With all that move me, under the water
Or whistling, I am not a little boy.
--John Berryman

Lizbeth's class is doing a unit on balls. Her teacher asked us all to send some balls to school for them to sort, experiment with, compare, etc. I thought that the teacher might want to see or use some of our other ball toys, but might not want me to send them ALL to school. So here is a sampling of our ball toys

1. Ball and stick magnet building sets with marble sized ball bearings
2. Mega Bloks Ball and stick magnet building set with tennis ball sized balls We also have a roller coaster for the big magnetic balls.
3. Discovery Toys Marbleworks Marble Race Game
4. Marble Mania Galaxy - Electric ball roller coaster for balls slightly bigger than marbles. This is glow in the dark and shoots the balls up a rocket to get to the top. Not my video, but it is the same set we have
5. Chaos Toy - Electric ball roller coaster for balls slightly smaller than ping pong balls. This is about 6 feet tall and is fully customizable with all kinds of different ways to put it together. It's good for experimenting with to find just the right angle for bouncing balls, etc. The video is not mine, but is the same set that we have.
6. Indoor golf holes and clubs
7. Marble race type games for golf ball sized balls. One is wooden and the balls go around on static ramps before ringing a bell at the bottom. The other can switch which order the plastic ramps go on.
8. Lots of Bakugan - Balls that transform into robots and Zoobles - Balls that transform into cute animals and a fun treehouse that the Zoobles can roll and play in
9. Fisher Price Stacking and Nesting ball toy. It has ten half spheres that connect in several different ways
10. Tumble Tower - This is another old Fisher Price toy with a bunch of marbles going through an obsticle course to get from the top to the bottom.
11. A large collection of Fisher Price Roll Arounds balls (each one has a different moving toy inside the clear ball) and accessories Gumball Machine Here's Bridget playing with the gumball machine when it had batteries Caterpillar pull toy Ball Monster Tree House
12. Ball and hammer toy
13. Ball Ski Jump Chair

While I was looking for some of the older videos, I found these that show why we have so many ball toys Lizbeth gets a strike while bowling her first time Lizbeth says, "Roll Ball" Lizbeth plays ball ski jump on Mama's legs Lizbeth plays with Afterdark Lizbeth makes noises with a ball Lizbeth plays a first game And Bridget likes balls too

A, You're Adorable by Buddy Kaye and Fred Wise

A, You're Adorable

A, you're adorable
B, you're so beautiful
C, you're a cutie full of charms
D, you're a darling And
E, you're exciting And
F, you're a feather in my arms
G, you look good to me
H, you're so heavenly
I, you're the one I idolize
J, we're like Jack and Jill
K, you're so kissable
L is the love light in your eyes
M, N, O, P, I could go on all day
Q, R, S, T, alphabetically speaking, you're okay
U made my life complete
V means you're very sweet
W, X, Y, Z
It's fun to wander through the alphabet with you
To tell you what you mean to me
--Buddy Kaye and Fred Wise

One of my favorite board books is Baby's Alphabet by Jean Marzollo. It has photos of babies doing baby things for each letter of the alphabet. After reading it to Lizbeth, I thought that the only thing that would make it better would be if they were photos of her. For Mother's Day, a few years ago, I made Elizabeth's Alphabet book, and I repeated it this year with photos of Bridget. I ended up with four extra pages in one of the photo albums, so I decided to write a few sentences about each photo. In an ideal world, I would interweave the photos with the text, but it's past my bedtime already, so I'll just post the text here, with a link to the album.

Bridget’s Alphabet -- Mother’s Day 2012

Apple: We went to Roy, Utah for your Cousin Hazel’s birthday party. After the party, you, Lizbeth and Hazel went out in the backyard to play. You found some apples, and were excited to cut them open and see if there were any worms inside.

Blue : This was taken on a scorching hot day at the Salem Days fair in August. You were just a few months old. To keep you cool, I fed you tiny chunks of blue sno-cone. You really enjoyed it, but got upset when the ice melted and I didn’t put another piece in quickly enough.

Chick: We got chicks in the spring of 2012 and kept them till they were big enough to go live in Aunt Judi Moore’s chicken coop. You and Lizbeth really loved chasing and holding the chicks, especially the little black one. You also loved dressing up and pretending to be chicks.

Cousins: Here is a photo of all the cousins at the family reunion we had in Salem, Ut just a month after you were born (or all the cousins at Grandma Kathey's house in Fairborn, Oh). It’s hard to get that many little ones happy and looking at the camera.

Dresses: These matching dresses were a gift from Grandma Becky. You love to be able to dress and act just like your sister, and I love to see how you and Lizbeth like to do things together.

Dog: This is Aunt Betsey’s puppy Maddie. You have your tongue out in the panting baby sign for Dog. Both you and Maddie were too young and excitable to be allowed to play together, but you liked to make faces at each other during dinners at Grandma Kathey’s house.

Easter: This was our Easter Egg hunt 2012. You and Lizbeth got new Easter bonnets, but you wanted to wear both hats at the same time. We compromised by letting you wear Lizbeth’s old hat along with your new one.

Eat: I love taking pictures of you while eating. With the light from the window making your hair and skin shine. I was disappointed that the print came out darker than it looked on the computer.

Friends: These are our friends Joel and Dallin Sanderson. We go to play with them once or twice a week. Daddy works at the Sandersons’ house.

Frog: Another eating picture that printed dark. You really enjoyed looking at your bibs and cups and finding the animals on them.

Goat: This is one of several photos in this book from our trips to Young’s Jersey Dairy. It’s a farm near Grandma Kathey’s house in Ohio. We go there to eat ice cream, feed the goats, look at the animals, and play.

Happy: This photo was taken by Aunt Lesli when she came out for Grandpa Roly’s funeral. Aunt Lesli takes beautiful photos, always managing to find good light and get candid expressions.

Insects: We all dressed up as insects for Halloween. Daddy is a green beetle, Mama is a purple butterfly, Lizbeth is the Very Hungry Caterpillar (that can go through complete metamorphosis), and Bridget is a bee.

July 4: We were out visiting Ohio, and went to the fireworks at Wright Patterson Air Force Base (where Grandpa Jim works) in the week before July 4th. This American Flag dress was on of my favorite outfits for you.

Karen: This photo was taken on the day Daddy gave you a name and a blessing at church.

Ladybug boots: You’ve always liked to wear shoes, no matter what size they are. In this photo, you were just barely learning to walk, and decided to put on Lizbeth’s ladybug boots. They were heavy, and up past your knees, and you either fell over, or slipped out of the boots at almost every step. You were thrilled to wear them anyway.

Monkey: For your first Christmas, I bought you monkey pajamas from Gymboree. That same week, Joel got a hooded monkey blanket, and I got a brown jacket. Lizbeth started calling it my ‘monkey jacket’ and convinced me to sew a face on the hood, I also made one for her, and another for you when you outgrew the pajamas.

Naked: After a trip to the zoo with some cousins, we made an unexpected trip to Salt Lake’s Liberty Park to play in the Seven Canyons fountain that represents the mountain streams that flow into the Great Salt Lake. I didn’t have a swim diaper so we just decided to let you play naked.

Oh! I was taking my annual Mother’s Day photos of you and Lizbeth in Grandma Becky’s yard, when you gave me this adorable surprised look.

Pooh: One of my favorite baby outfits is this little Winnie the Pooh sleeper and hat.

Princess: I got this crown from the Goodwill outlet in Ohio, and you immediately claimed it for your own. You are also far more interested in princesses and dressing up than Lizbeth ever was, and this photo is a celebration of that.

Princess piggy: You really like to wear hats. It’s often not enough for you to wear just one hat, so we stack them on top of each other.

Quiet: I sometimes miss the times when you slept so deeply as a little baby, all swaddled in your blanket...

Rabbit: Here you are in a cute bunny costume.

Sunshine on my Shoulder: I love the way you’re backlit here on the yellow playground equipment.

Swimsuit: This photo was taken at the Splashpad in Spanish Fork, Ut. You didn’t really like the spraying water, but you did like being there with Lizbeth and your cousins.

Slide: I think this is the slide at the Salem Pond playground. You really like going down the slide (though climbing up is sometimes traumatic).

Tractor: Another Young’s Jersey Dairy photo. Daddy likes to point out that T is also for his Theoryland t-shirt (from the Wheel of Time website).

Train: And another photo from Young’s. I tend to take more photos when we’re on vacation, I guess. You were a little scared, but you really enjoyed ringing the cowbell as the tractor pulled the train around.

Up: This is the airplane ride at Trafalga Lehi. We had passes that let us go as often as we liked for a few years.

Vroom: Both of these photos were taken on the same day as the Apple photo when we went to Cousin Hazel Mills’s birthday party.

Web: This spider web is at the same Ohio playground as the Sunshine and Dog photos. I also I sprained my ankle walking down the stairs at this playground.

White animals: At your first birthday party, I think these were the presents that you loved most. They certainly were some of your favorite toys for sleeping with.

Xmas: This is the Santa at the Provo Riverwoods shopping destination. He gave you the Snowman bath duck.

Xmas: We went all out dressing up for our Ward’s Christmas in Nauvoo program. Nobody else dressed up at all,

Young’s: The last of the Young’s Jersey Dairy shots. You and Lizbeth thought this giant pumpkin was really neat.

Zzzz: Here you are asleep again. It really is a wonderful thing for a mother to watch a baby sleep. You’re so relaxed here, and looking cute in an outfit from Aunt Miriam Stay. You’ve always been more willing than most children to go to bed when you’re tired. It’s a good habit, and I hope you’ll be able to keep it up.