Mariah and Her Children

Mariah is in the lining-up, setting-up, stacking, organizing stage. I think it's great! She got herself cornered here and had to call for help.

Almost Crawling!

Do-re-mi, Growling, and Fun at the Park

My Mariah

I figure the best way to cure myself of wanting to give away my 2-year-old is to post some cute things about her.  (Today was stake conference.  Enough said.)

Mariah is wickedly smart, as in very very very smart.  She has a memory like no child I have ever met before.  She talks about things that happened long long ago, remembering names and words I have not mentioned since the original incidents.  Just a few examples:

• A girl named Nicole used to live downstairs.  When she and her husband moved out in August (7 months ago), she gave Mariah a pink stuffed dog.  I have not mentioned Nicole since maybe a week after they moved.  The other day, Mariah picked up the dog, which she rarely plays with, and said, "Co-co gave this to me."  Yes, she did.
• When Mariah was very young, probably shortly after she turned 1, her Uncle David gave her a little blue bobble-head guy thing.  Mariah had it in her toys for a couple months.  It has been in a box for a year or so.  Two days ago, Mariah found it, brought it to me, and said, "This is Davie's."
• A few Sundays ago, as we drove to Mike's parents' house, I was vocalizing some of my frustrations about other drivers on the road.  At one point, I said, not loudly, "Come on, people."  (I know, I'm trying to be better.)  Mariah said nothing at the time.  The following Sunday, as we were again driving to the Georges', when we came to the exact spot where I had said it, Mariah said, in the same tone, "Come on, people."

It's like she takes a picture or video of things that happen and can replay it again at any time.  She has always been observant, and she's one of those kids whose wheels are always turning.  She often gets this look of concentration on her face where she stares straight ahead and ignores all around her.  We call it the "Mariah download."  We think she's cataloging and filing away everything she hears and sees.

She pulls words and lines from books and movies and integrates them into her life and conversation.  A few examples:

• "I tripped and slipped and did a double flip!"  - Fancy Nancy
• "Too big, too brown, too plain."  - Fancy Nancy, Posh Puppy
• "I saw a cat on Strawberry Hill!"  - Sylvester (Strawberry Hill is from the book.  She just throws it into conversations when she wants to assign a location to something).
• Whenever she sees flowers, she says, "It's springtime!"  This is also from Sylvester, and she does it with wintertime and the snow as well.
• "Mmm!  Delicious!" - Mary Poppins
• "Super-calla" - Mary Poppins (That's as far as she gets on that one.)
• I told her she was spectacular.  She replied, "Spectacular is a fancy word for great!" - Fancy Nancy
• I said, "You're exquisite!"  She said, "Exquisite is even fancier than beautiful!" - Fancy Nancy, Bonjour Butterly
• "It got on on on nearly everywhere!"  - Cat Jumped In
• I said, "Yes, indeed."  She said, "They say 'Yes, indeed' in Places You'll Go."
• "No, no, NO!" - Eric Herman, Elephant Song

For some reason Mariah loves the word "Texas."  I've talked to her about her cousins who live in Texas.  She now uses the word as plural for a "tex" (whatever that is).  She'll say, pointing to toys, or little people, or whatever, "Look at all these tex's!"

Greener Eating

Long ago, my sister started a blog about healthy eating.  She ended up not doing much with it, but we (my 5 sisters, mom, and I) are resurrecting the blog.  We hope to post lots of useful health information, as well as good-for-you recipes.  I'm not sure how quickly it will grow, but all 7 of us will be contributing when we have a healthy tip or recipe to share.  I've added a link to the site on the right of this blog.  Feel free to take a look and check back for updates!

Laney's New Sound

OOOOOk-lahoma . . . .

Mike is sending in his letter to decline the offer at Pittsburgh.  So, it's still Oklahoma for now.  Thanks for your input, thoughts, and prayers.

more laney

Elaine is being so cute and funny the past few days.  Here are more pictures of her funny faces.  She was cracking us up at dinner tonight.  (Yes, we do have 2 children, and Mariah is still cute.  She'll get some blog time soon, I'm sure.)

more frog pictures

These were too cute.  I had to share:

Oklahoma or Pittsburgh?

Mike received another acceptance!  To Pittsburgh!  If he wants to go there, they have to receive his deposit by the 18th.  So, it's major decision-making time.  We'd love to hear your input.  There's a poll on the right of the blog, but we'd also love to hear your reasons, anything you know about one place or the other, etc.

frog legs, anyone?

Laney loves to play with (chew on) this little orange rubber frog. Here are some cute pics of her with the frog and making her new face. A few days ago, she started making this really funny face: she wrinkles her nose, squints her eyes, and grins. We kind of caught it:

happy birthday, elder johnson

This is a little smilebox I made for my brother who's on a mission in Thailand.  I figured I could post it here too.  (His birthday was a month ago.  I'm working on being a better correspondent).