I Want You to Hold Me!

Daisy is our girl that loves to be held; even now at three years old. All throughout the day Daisy will come up to me and say, "Mommy, I want you to hold me!" or "Mommy can you hold me?" The other day as I stopped to pick her up I asked her why she always wants me to hold her. She replied, "Because I want you to hold me Mommy. [Pause] Because I lub(love) you."

Head, Knees, Toes, Shoulders???

Disclaimer:

I am an alto, not a soprano!

Just make sure your volume is low. ;)

Fine Motor Skills

During the morning session of General Conference Fred was cutting out some finger puppets of the First Presidency. Considering they were of a small size he did a pretty good job until he had to round the head. At that point he turned to me and said, "Can I just cut it off and then tape it back on?"

The Good and The Bad

This evening we were reading scriptures together as a family when Fred pointed to my well worn and marked up scriptures and asked "Daddy, how come you markered on your scriptures?"
Trying to explain without going into too much detail I told him "I was just marking the best parts."
"Oh," He replied after a pause and pointing to a patch of unmarked verses "Are these the bad parts?"

Fred's First Day of Preschool

Fred is getting so BIG!!! Today was his first official day of Preschool and he loved it! He was so excited to take his big backpack to school and bring home papers. He also said he met a new friend, a classmate named Olivia.
Here is how the conversation continued:

Mom: "Oh, Olivia! So you made friends with a girl."
Fred: "No, he is a boy. His name is Olivia."
Mom: "Really? OK!"
A few seconds later....
Fred: "Or maybe his name is Connor."

I am sure we will eventually learn the correct names of all of his classmates. :)

Fred is able to attend preschool just down the street at Westhaven Elementary. Apparently Pre-K is very favored here in Illinois and the state funds his preschool program. He will attend 5 days a week for 2 1/2 hours....it's almost like he is starting Kindergarten one year early. Sometimes it makes me sad that he has to leave home for so long at such an early age. Next year he will have to attend full day Kindergarten so I guess this will be a good transition year for him. His teacher (Mrs. Fournie) seems very nice and we are very happy he attends school so close to home. As long as he is happy and enjoys going to school it makes me happy too!

Screaming the Whole Way Home

From the very beginning Lucy has been such a pleasant, peaceful, and content little girl, that is until she developed her super-power ability to screech at such a high pitch that it threatens to pop your ear drums. I'm not kidding, just ask the lady sitting in front of us on our last plane ride! Here's the story: We were concluding our trip home to Utah with a three hour plane ride and Lucy was determined to get her way and skip her second nap for the day. Needless to say, every time we were delayed in granting her wishes she would let out her ear piercing scream. The lady sitting in front of us made it very obvious that the intermittent screaming was bothering her. Adam and I tried as best as we could to keep her quiet and happy but with no avail. Finally about 2 hours into the plane ride and after another screech from Lucy the lady in front of us was downright rude. The "natural man" got the better of me and I leaned forward and said, "Do you want a turn?" The lady was kind of startled and said Lucy's scream was so high pitched that it felt like her ear drums were going to burst. I said, "I am sorry but our daughter's response is to scream when she is frustrated. We are trying the best we can to keep her quiet." Her husband then apologized and said it was fine, but the lady never said another word for the remainder of the flight. She was the first one off of the plan before I could apologize so I apologized to her husband. I know I should have held my tongue. After the fact, Adam and I now laugh. He says he was shocked I made that comment to her. I just hope that I will act differently than that lady if I am faced with a similar situation.

Go, Diego, Go!

While visiting our family in Utah we decided to go to Arctic Circle for dinner and to let the kids play on their indoor playground. While driving in the car Fred asked if the playground would have ice. A little confused I said "No! Why?" He said, "Polar Bears play on the ice and they live in the Arctic Circle." I was baffled and I glanced at Adam with a "how did he know that" look. I said to Fred, "You are right! Where did you learn that?" Fred said, matter-of-factly, "Diego told me!" I guess Fred's time watching Diego, the animal rescuer, is more productive then I thought.

Our Walking Lucy Lou

Our little Lucy Lou can officially walk!! She has been for several weeks now. She is all over the place and seems to enjoy the freedom that walking gives her. Just this evening as I was working in the garage Fred, Daisy, and a neighbor boy were making laps around the van in our driveway while riding their bikes. Lucy decided she wanted to join in the fun and started walking around the car while laughing the whole way. She was a moving obstacle for the others to dodge but they didn't seem to mind. It was quite the sight! :)

The Difference Between Girl and Boy Babies

Today Daisy had the following conversation with Adam:
Daisy: "When I was a little baby I was in Mommy's tummy."
Adam: "You are right."
Daisy: "When Fred was a little baby he was in your tummy."
Adam: "No he wasn't. He was in Mommy's tummy too."
Daisy: "Nuh Uh, Daddy. Fred was a boy baby not a girl baby."

Singing Her To Sleep

Tonight as we finished doing family scriptures and prayers I left Fred and Daisy's room to put Lucy in her bed. I gave her a big kiss, laid her down, and walked out the door while closing it behind me. Suddenly Daisy came pushing past me into Lucy's room while mumbling something. I was about to stop her when I realized all she wanted to do was to sing Lucy a song. From a partially closed door I listened as Daisy (almost 3 years old) sang "I Am A Child of God" to Lucy (15 months old) before letting her fall asleep. It made my heart smile.

It's Over!!!

Last Thursday was my last day of my Medical School career!!! I really can't believe it's over. I think I am still in shock a bit. It seems so foreign to be done with school. According to my calculations, I have been in school now for 22 years. That is over 3/4 of my life. I have been going to school for so long that I don't know what to do with myself now that I am done. I know residency is right around the corner, so I don't really have much of a breather, but it is kind of exciting nontheless. Yippee!!!

Snoopy Doopy

Today was Fred's Birthday. We had a great day together. This evening as he was opening his gifts, he opened a bag of several children's books. We don't watch much television, but I hadn't realized just how sheltered our children were until Fred pulled out a Scooby Doo book and said "Cool! Snoopy Doopy!"

Saving Some For Later

Lucy is growing so big and is almost 11 months now. She loves to eat anything she can get her hands on.....literally. She has become an expert at picking up cereal and chunks of banana off of her tray and inserting them into her mouth. She even manages to find things to eat off of a recently vacummed floor. The only time she won't eat the food in front of her is if she has been forced to eat too many pieces of cereal while waiting in her high chair for Mommy to get her real meal. At that point she picks them up and flings them all across the floor. Today at lunch was no exception and there was a mess of cereal on the floor. After getting Fred and Daisy down for their nap I went in to tackle the kitchen mess with Lucy at my heels. She crawled around pulling out pots and pans, slamming the door to my tupperware, AND picking up pieces of cereal off of the floor and inserting them into her mouth. She even chased the broom around swiping at the cereal to grab a few before they made it into the garbage can. She sure is a smart girl and even manages at eleven months to save a few snacks for later.

Daddy's Cake

Yesterday we spent a good portion of the morning making birthday cake to share with Fred's friends at the park to celebrate his 4th birthday. We had a good time and managed to eat most of the cake. This morning, however, Fred told me, "I want to make Daddy a cake so his birthday can be the same time as mine." Well I was already in a mess up to my elbows while making Daisy's bread so I suggested we decorate a "pan-CAKE". He seemed quite pleased with this suggestion so I pulled out a frozen pancake for both Fred and Daisy. We pulled out the leftover frosting and colored Fred's blue and Daisy's pink. I then let them scoop out their frosting onto the pancake and spread it around. After a moment or two I discovered that their pancakes were sliding around on their plates and making it difficult for them to spread their frosting. I told them I knew a little trick that would hold their pancake still. I proceeded to put a little blob of frosting on each plate and then set their pancake on top of it. It worked, and the frosting of the cakes resumed. A few moments later I looked back at Fred who, with a confused look, was holding up his plate while peering underneath at its underside. There was a smear of frosting on the counter top and also one on the bottom of his plate. Apparently he had tried, unsuccessfully, to use the frosting trick to keep his plate from sliding around on the counter top.
The kids and I enjoyed our time in the kitchen. Fred finished his cake for Daddy and Daisy received her sugar-high for the day since she ate most of the frosting off of her pancake and licked the bowl too.

Amazing

The other day, Fred came up to me out of the blue and said: "Daddy, can I have a box? I need to make something amazing! He sure is a pretty cute little guy. A while back, I picked him up from his preschool class and asked him what he had learned at school that day. He thought for a minute then said: "About surface tension" I was pretty stunned. To be honest, I was impressed that he could pronounce the words let alone that he had learned about it. Since when are they teaching 3 year old kids about surface tension in preschool. I don't think that I learned about that concept until middle school. So I asked him what he had learned about surface tension. They had talked about things that float and had done some experiments. I kept asking him questions about it and he finally said: "Dad, I just don't know everything about surface tension. But my teacher does. She's really smart!"

The other morning we were getting ready for the day when Laurie saw Lucy munching on something. Being the good mother that she is decided she had to investigate. With some effort she stuck her finger in and pulled out half of a cockroach. I walked into the room to see Laurie dry heaving over the sink and Lucy crying for the rest of her cockroach. Did I mention that Laurie still has a problem with our cockroach problem.

The Fruits of our Labors

It's been another great week in Henderson, NV. We have had very nice weather. Yesterday we were babysitting some of our friends kids and they wanted to see our garden. I hadn't been out there for a couple of weeks myself so we took them out there. My goodness! We have celery growing out of our ears. I cut two stalks for them and two more stalks for the nextdoor neighbors and didn't even make a dent in it. The celery stalks are hugeamongous! I have never seen celery so big. Onions are doing well, Chard is doing great and we have a nice little tomato plant coming up that Daisy stepped on yesterday while we were out there. Oh well!

Friday night Laurie and I went out to see a shakesperean play - The Taming of the Shrew. It was out at Lake Las Vegas which is a ritzy area of town. We felt silly eating our picnic Subway sandwiches in front of everyone there so we scarffed them down on the way back from the show.

I am officially done with Orthopedic Surgery. The doctor I am working with gave me Monday-Wednesday off because he is going out of town for Spring Break. No complaints here! I am planning on repainting the red car over the next three days. Wish me luck! I had a good month and learned lots, but am very glad that I am done. I am just not a surgeon. Something about standing in one place working through a tiny hole or through a camera that just doesn't float my boat. Next month is ER. Should be a little more exciting I hope.

Daisy is working on potty training today. There is a big wet spot on our bed to prove it. She has been talking about wanting to go potty a lot over the last few days, so now is the time to start I guess.

On Friday, when I got home from work I walked in the door and Laurie was asleep on the couch. Fred said "Shhhhh Daddy, Mommy is sleeping and I am making a treat for her." Then he asked me to hold a glass of milk that he had poured all by himself while he carried a "snack" plate with an apple, some string cheese and about a dozen chocolate chips (all of which he had climbed on counters and gone through the fridge to find by himself) together with a "Valentine" which was a paper that he had cut out. Then he went over to Laurie and woke her up and told her that he had a valentine and a snack for her. It was pretty cute.

Laurie and I read a really fantastic talk by Elder Bruce R. McConkie this last week that you might enjoy about the creation and the fall. It is kind of deep, and very long, but I thought it was very good. Here is the link: http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=5ed347f765adb010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&vgnextoid=f318118dd536c010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

We are doing great here in Henderson. We loved having Mom here last weekend. It was really nice to have her here and the kids loved it. Our escapade to St. Louis was fruitful. We put in an offer on a home that we both like a lot. It is spacious, sits on a hill, has a huge yard (compared to Henderson anyway) and reminds me a lot of Grandma and Grandpa Crocketts home (mostly the era, not so much the layout). We have yet to hear back on our offer, but are crossing our fingers that everything works out and in a timely manner.

Fred gave his very first talk today in Primary. It was about Prophets. He did a great job with some help from Mommy. He talked about why it is important to listen to the Prophet's voice and wanted to tell everyone about the story of Enos. He was really excited to speak in the microphone in front of everyone. Lets hope that enthusiasm continues for a few years still. Yesterday he helped me fix the car and managed to shift the car into neutral as I was hanging halfway out of the car working under the dashboard. I managed to lunge over to the driver's side and push the brakes with one hand before we got across the street and hit the neighbor's car (which incidentally is the same red color and has just about as good a paint job as the buick does). Fred is quite the artist these days and likes to draw pictures of just about anything he can think of.

Daisy is doing well too. She has more energy than I have in a whole week. Today I layed her down for a nap before church (because we have 1:00 church) at 10:00. I was working on my lesson for about an hour and a half and thought I should just peek in at the girls to see if they were still asleep. Nope. Daisy hadn't fallen asleep at all. She had pulled clothes out of her drawers, was half naked herself, had pulled most of the toys out of the toybox and was busy trying to figure out how to put a belt together.

Lucy is crawling all over the place and is getting into everything. We have to rebaby-proof our house again. The girls are pretty cute though. they are all sure growing up fast.

Last night Laurie and I went to a stake dance that was fun. We learned that I am a lousy dancer. I don't know what happened. Anyway, we are thinking about taking a dancing class together so we don't feel so self concious out on the dance floor.

This month I am doing a pediatric orthopedic surgery rotation with an emphasis on adolescent sports medicine. It is pretty cool. I have gotten pretty good at putting casts on little kids. I see a lot of high school athletes with knee and shoulder issues. I like working with the patients, but I have really learned that I am not cut out to be a surgeon. I enjoy doing the procedures (ACL replacements, lateral patellar releases, plica removals, OCD repairs etc), but I am not really into standing on my feet in one spot for 2-3 hours at a time. I would much rather be seeing patients in the clinic, shooting the breeze and seeing lots of patients in a shorter time period.

Yesterday Laurie found some nice fabric at a garage sale for pretty cheap, so her new project is going to be recovering our Futon.

Tonight we are having Maisy and Blair over for dinner again. Their birthdays are coming up so we are doing prime rib for them tonight. I love a good excuse to eat prime rib, plus they were buying. We have a new agreement with them. They buy and we cook. Blair is all for it and I am all for it.

I had a great idea for Maren and other missionaries. They could borrow a cute little baby from someone in the ward then just sit somewhere like the grocery store or in a park. Then all sorts of people will just come up to them and want to see the baby and tell them how cute she is. Bingo, you make a contact. It's brilliant!!! People are always coming up to us and telling us we have cute kids. That would sure beat knocking on doors. Maybe they could go on splits with a young mother that has a cute kid or something. I'm telling you, I think they could easily quadruple your contacts in an evening. Anyone with little kids can tell you it would work.

Merry Christmas Adam!

Adam, I hope you like the updates of our blog! I am finally contributing! I love you!
Love, Laurie Jean

Jumping Beam!

Daisy is so full of energy that often times I hear her say, "Jumpy! Jumpy!" while she hops up and down. Tonight while preparing dinner I noticed that Daisy was saying something while squatting down real low and then bursting up with a great big jump. A few moments later I realized she was saying, "Sun - Beam! for Jesus!"

Daddy's Girl

Lately Daisy has turned into a huge "Daddy's Girl." She loves to play with Daddy and to ride on his shoulders any chance she gets. She runs and gives him a big hug when he arrives home and hates to see him leave in the morning. Today as Adam was getting ready to leave, she climbs into my arms and says in a sad tone, "I want my Daddy stay here!"

To Your Room

This morning while nursing Lucy on the couch Daisy came to lay next to me. After several unkind leg thrusts I told her she needed to get off the couch and abruptly lifted her down. Daisy then started to cry on the floor. Fred, who had witnessed the whole thing, said, "Mommy, you need to be nice to Daisy or you'll have to go to your room."

Our Little Puppy Dog

Lucy is a couple weeks shy of being 6 months old and she is as happy, cheerful, and giggly as ever. She likes to roll around on the ground from her back to her front & from her front to her back while pivoting and maneuvering her way around. This morning while I was getting ready for the day I put Lucy, surrounded by pillows, on her back on my unmade bed. A few moments later I glanced in her direction just in time to see her on her stomach lowering her head down to the bed and coming up with a mouthful of sheet. She looked just like a little puppy dog!

Scary Moments

After nap time I was putting in The Fox and the Hound for the kids to watch. Fred, knowing how sensitive Daisy gets while watching intense and scary moments (intense and scary for Disney that is!), says, "Daisy, it has a bear! It will be scary, OK?" Daisy replies, "Ok, I close my eyes."

Sharing

Daisy was getting upset with Fred for stealing licks from her Halloween Ring Lollipop. With every lick she told him, "No!" Finally with an an irritated look on his face Fred said, "But Kaarina from my class (his nursery teacher) said you need to share!"

Sleepin without Jamas

After an action packed, fun filled weekend at Disney World we were making the long car ride home. The kids were watching a DVD in the dark backseat of the car when Fred said, "Dais?"
Daisy: "Yeah!"
Fred: "What ya doin?"
Daisy: "Sleepin."
Fred: "You can't go to sleep yet! You don't have your 'jamas on."
Daisy: "Oh!"