Sally

Not sure where to begin with my Sally. I feel like I haven't been very good at documenting milestones with her, so maybe I'll start there, and then use my zillions of pictures (sorry) to try to describe this little fireball.

• rolling front to back: 1 day old
• rolling back to front: 4 months?
• first tooth: 10-ish months?
• crawling: 7 months (ish?)
• cruising around furniture: 8 months
• standing: 11 months
• walking: 14 months
• first word: No idea. She still doesn't talk. Maybe "ball" ("ba") at 11-12 months? "Mama" somewhere around then. "Ni-ni" (ni-night) at about the same time.

At about 12 months, she started babbling, but not a ton. She'd choose a consonant and use it exclusively for a few days, and then move on to another one. She still does the same thing, actually. Right now everyone is "Mama," and everything else she wants to say is "ba ba." She will repeat sounds when we tell her to, but only 1 consonant with no vowels. She does say, "Uh-oh," but more like "UH-uh"with the uh-oh intonation. Just yesterday, she tried to say some rendition of "trot-trot." Her first time using "t." She says "Dada" sometimes, when she's not calling him "Mama." She has also tried something like "Nai" for "Elaine." Mariah and Elaine get a kick out of asking her to say things, but pretty much everything sounds the same. Mostly "ba ba." With the exception of "zizzer-zazzer-zuzz," which she has been saying ("zzz-zzz-zzz") for several months.

Even without words, Sal has been my best communicator. She has always been able to express, through signs (some actual sign language, and many made up by her), facial expressions, uh-uhs, etc., exactly what she wants. Sometimes I feel like I'm playing 20-questions. I ask her a question, and she either says, "Uh," and shakes her head, or grins and says, "Uhhhhhh!" in a half laugh.

Her signs:

• all done (For a long time this one was hillarious. She would wildly wave her arms around with her hands spinning from her wrists. Hard to describe, but very funny.)
• bird
• again
• more
• nurse
• countless made up signs to communicate whatever it is she wants to say at any given time.

She has always been very in tune and aware of her own body. From the time she was really young, she could communicate with me things that were wrong. She'll tell me she has a headache, or a toothache, or an earache. Makes it nice when she's grumpy. I can ask her what hurts, and she tells me.

Along with that body awareness, she's very coordinated and aware of herself in space. She has amazing balance. She also LOVES to climb and has no fear! I have found her a few times on the kitchen table, and today I caught her half-way up her highchair. All day long, she follows me around carrying a stool, so she can climb up next to wherever I am.

She's a a dare devil and a little acrobat. One of her favorite games is trot-trot; when "the horsey goes to bed," she does a backward sommersault off of my lap. I was shocked the first time she did it; she just threw her legs over her head, and over she went. She loves to be tossed and "dropped." Mike will hold her lying on her back above his head and "drop" her to the floor. She lies there, horizontal, way up in the air, completely relaxed, with her arms hanging down, making no attempt to hold on, knowing that any second, she's going to basically freefall to the floor. Complete trust and no fear.

Sal has always loved beautiful things, and has been, for several months now, my fashion advisor. If I'm in my pj's for too long, she tells me I need to go get dressed. She checks my ears every day for earrings. (She pulls my face to one side, checks, then pushes it back the other way to check the other ear.) If I'm not wearing any, she demands I get some. (She has finally given up asking for earrings in her ears.) If she's in my closet with me when I get dressed, she tells me what she wants me to wear. I'm serious.

She is very opinionated about what she wears as well. If she thinks she looks particularly cute, she'll run into the playroom, where I have a kid-size full-length mirror hanging.

These pictures were taken in early October. She dug this hat out of the dress-ups and wore it for a few days. I thought it was pretty cute, so I did a little photo shoot.

Sal holds her own with her sisters. She was not pleased when they tried to join her for the photos.

Here's her smug look of victory:

Sally is a picky eater. I think she has some sensory/texture issues. She gags randomly on things that shouldn't be gaggy and chokes (daily) on things that shouldn't be chokey. She does, however, like her green drinks. (This was a particlurly messy day. She's usually fairly neat about it--part of her fashion sense, I think. She doesn't like to be dirty.)

Some other favorites:

• bananas
• frozen strawberries
• frozen blueberries
• spaghetti
• beans and rice
• chips and salsa

Sal LOVES panties! She raids Mariah and Elaine's drawers and puts panties on over her pants. For a few days, she insisted I put panties on over her diapers (under her pants), but most of the time, she's satisfied with the on-top-of-the-pants look. If she can't get them pulled up all the way, she'll carefully and patiently walk around the house hobbled by a pair of ankle panties.

She's attached to her blanket. I didn't realize the strength of her attachment until I threw it in the washer. Colossal tantrum! (She's a tantrum pro.)

She's my little helper. She helps me unload the dishwasher every day. (She knows where everything goes from her days of riding piggy-back in the backpack. Apparently, she was paying attention. (Actually, she still rides in the backpack fairly often. She's definitely my most clingy baby.))

These pictures are from a Sunday morning when we stayed home sick while Mike took M and E to church. Making beans for pico de gallo.

Speaking of the backpack . . . one day back in October, I decided to walk to the grocery store (3 miles round trip). I pushed M and E in the stroller, and had Sal in the backpack. She fell asleep on the way home and slept like this for 45 minutes, with chaos and noise all around. A first in our family.

I made donuts and took some pictures. She's a poser.

She, of course, needs to have her hair done. She climbs up onto the toilet and then onto the counter so she can see in the mirror as I do her hair. This particular day, she insisted she needed all of these clips:

Sal loves books! She still nurses but insists I read a book to her at the same time. (None of my children have allowed me to read while nursing, but she's the first to insist I read to her while she nurses.) Some of her favorite books right now:

• Quick as a Cricket
• Lulu's Busy Day
• Jesse Bear Tum-Tum Tickle
• Jesse Bear Yum-Yum Crumble
• Princess Castle
• Family Lullaby
• Good Dog, Carl

I took these pictures of her reading Good Dog, Carl yesterday. She was so focused and was studying each page so carefully. She loves dogs (at least from a distance) and barks ("wu-wu-wu-wu-wu-wu-wu!") whenever she hears or sees one.

 Whe she realized I was taking pictures, she hopped up to pose on our picture wall.

Then she climbed onto the love sace and insisted I take another picture.

Of coures, when Mariah heard all the fun, she had to join.

And Elaine was close behind.

Sal definitely thinks she's one of the big girls. I'm having to train myself to change the way I say things, because she assumes I'm talking to all three of them when I say, "Girls . . . ." That was my call-out for M and E, and Sally didn't respond, but now she does. If I'm not addressing all three, I have to specify.

I walked in on this little pow-wow this morning. Not sure what was going on, but it looked serious. (Notice the pink stool. That's the one she carries around with her. When she stands on it, she can barely see over the counter, but she insists on being right by my side "helping.")

One of my favorite things about Sal is her love for cleaning up. She really is a great little cleaner. She loves putting things away in their proper place.

Sally runs everywhere. Always.

She's not a great sleeper. When she's teething (which is always), she wakes up at 3 or 4 and wants to nurse. And she only takes an hour and a half nap.

Sal loves to play games. Her current favorite is to wave and say "baah" ("bye" with a southern drawl), run to the pantry and close herself in, and then come running out and say, "Buh!" ("Boo!"). She also plays this game around corners or by flattening herself against a wall or any other vertical surface to "hide." She also loves to dance. Her 2 dance moves right now are running in place very fast and a slow-motion-spin-and-fall-down move.

Sally is very tender hearted and likes to help others. She does throw a tizzy sometimes when the other girls take things from her, but just as often, if she learns Mariah or Elaine wants a toy she has, she'll hand it over just to be nice. If someone's crying, she tries to fix the problem and will run get a toy for them.

She is my first cuddler. She won't snuggle for long, but she'll lay her head on my shoulder and give me a good hug. If I ask, "Can you say, "I love you," she'll run to me and give me a hug. If I ask for a kiss, she smashes her forehead into my nose and holds it there.

Well, it's late, and that's all I can think of now. Thanks for enduring. I will most likely add more as I think of things. (Sal's actually coughing/crying in her bed right now, so I'm off to help.)

More Elaine

I remembered a few more things about Elaine:

As part of our bedtime routine, I often rub the girls' feet (and/or hands) with lotion. They ask me nightly, "Can we rub tonight?" Sometimes I do; sometimes I don't. The first time I massaged Elaine's feet, I learned she doesn't want a massage so much as just a light rub. When I put massage pressure on her arch, she immediately held up her hand "stop" and said, "Don't push! Don't push--ever! If you push, I will be very frustrated!" She still reminds me often, "Don't push--ever!"

Another night-time request of Elaine's, after Mariah has gone to sleep, is, "I want you to rub my head and my hand at the same time with no lotion."

During night-time cuddle time, she loves me to tell her stories: "Tell me a story about a time when I was scared," is the latest. Some of the other favorites are about "when Mariah was a baby," "when I was 2," "when I was a baby." Each story must be "one you haven't told before." I'm running out.

She and Elaine are always taking little drawings and notes to our next-door neighbors. They're an older couple, and also happen to be our landlords. Wonderful, kind people. Anyway, last week one day, Mariah and Elaine ran over with a picture. When they got back, Mariah reported that Elaine had done all the talking and that Mr. G (name withheld for privacy) had answered the door. Elaine said, "Mr. G said he's too old to play." (It was later confirmed by Mr. G himself that Elaine had indeed invited him out to play.)

Elaine

As part of my October catch-up, I've decided to do a post on each girl. I always find myself thinking I should write down the cute and funny things they say, but I rarely do it, and then I forget.

I'm starting with Elaine, because so often she is the last to be noticed in this high-maintenance crowd. So, I'm going to try to remember, off hand, all the fun things about my Elaine. She is a kick!

Speaking of that last-to-be-noticed thing, about 6 months ago, she seemed to notice that around here, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. She decided to start squeaking! And squawking. And screaming! She's always had a voice when she's wanted to, but oh-my-goodness! She is one loud little squirt. Often several times a day. Nobody would know it elsewhere; she's as quiet as a mouse. But at home, she's our loudest, for sure.

Elaine loves to sing! And the loud voice goes right along with it. She belts out songs she's made up. The tunes are usually a mix of primary or church songs, Mozart (pronounced by her and Mariah with the emphasis on the z and second syllable, "moZZART"), Christmas songs, and melodies she makes up herself. The lyrics are also a mix of known songs and her own stories about what's going on. Kind of a stream-of-consciousness thing. I love it! Her songs are one of the things I'm always thinking I should write down. But of course, I don't, and I've forgotten the lyrics.  One I do remember was the day Mike got home from his grandpa's funeral. She was playing and singing, at the top of her lungs, "I love our family all together!" over and over again. Her favorite song right now is a reverence song from nursery: "Open and shut them, open and shut them. Fold them in your lap!" Complete with actions. She also loves "Praise to the Man" but doesn't know all the words. The other day in Walmart, she belted it for all to hear, humming mixed with the few words she does know. In a previous life (6 months ago) I would have shushed her, but in my current keep-calm-and-carry-on, stay-regulated-and-emotionally-present life, I grinned and let her sing on.

Lainey used to be my best sleeper; she's now my worst! She has a lot of anxieties about Mariah and life in general. She wants to share a room with Mariah, but it also makes her nervous. I think there are also other things going on in her little mind that I haven't gotten to the bottom of yet. She's usually awake until somewhere between 9 and 10pm (in bed at 7pm), and she's up just after 6am. Not enough sleep for a 3-year-old. She'll still take a pretty good nap--usually 2 hours, but nights are beastly. For the past 3 months, Mike or I have been lying down on their floor at night to help them calm down and go to sleep. Mariah, pretty consistently now, falls asleep within 5-10 minutes. Elaine has yet to fall asleep with us still in the room (45 minutes to an hour). In our discussions about the problem, she has told me she sleeps with her eyes open, which means she is not falling asleep until she can literally no longer keep her eyes open. Mike has given her a couple of priesthood blessings to help her not be scared of "monster dreams." "This too shall pass" is my motto.

She loves to make believe. With dolls, stuffed guys, little people, anything really. I love listening to her; when she pretends, it sounds like she's reading a book; whenever one of her guys says something, it sounds something like this: "'I'm going to the ball,' said Snow White. 'Oh,' said the prince, 'Can I come too?'"

She and Mariah are really into playing doctor right now. "You doctor me, and then I'll doctor you." I think it has something to do with Mariah's incident with stitches.

She loves everything princess, as every 3-year-old girl should.

Elaine loves riding her strider bike. Since Mariah's crash, she has said several times (usually just before a ride), "I will never fall off my strider bike!" The last time we went, she started doing this hillarious, slow-motion thing with her legs, where she quickly pushes off with alternating legs, but then the in-between-through-the-air leg movement is in slow motion. Not sure if that description allows you to picture it, but it's very funny. She does it with a funny little grin on her face.

She also loves going for walks with her stroller, and her favorite destination (on strider bikes or walks) is the "lake" (pond) to throw rocks in the water. One time when we were at the pond, I got a really weird feeling like we should leave. I told the girls, "Girls, I have a funny feeling; I need you to walk up the stairs as quickly as you can. We need to leave right now." They were (thankfully) very obedient. I explained when we were safely away that I thought it was the Holy Ghost telling me it wasn't safe to be there right then. Now, whenever we go there, Elaine asks, "Did Heavenly Father not tell you to leave?" or "Do you not have a funny feeling?"

Elaine loves saying prayers. She asks for help every time, but she finishes all the sentences, and elaborates where she needs to. She loves praying for other people and is always certain to include Grandma Orva "that she'll recover quickly and not have casts on her arm (or foot or neck--whichever she feels like saying at the time)," or ". . . and that she will not have sores anymore." And for Grandma Carol "that she will recover quickly and not be sad," or "that she will be comfitted and not be sad." And, once in a while still, for Grandpa Joe "that he'll be able to walk better and run better." She also always includes "Victor on his mission."

She asks, usually several times each day, if they can do Starfall. Sometimes I let them. (Mariah is the navigator, as Elaine chooses the activity.)

Elaine has been our queen of mispronunciations. There have been dozens. I might just have to add to this list as I think of them, but here's what I can remember now:

• winky wogs (lincoln logs)
• gween gwink (green drink)
• lellow (yellow)
• corn-and-buh-cob (corn on the cob)
• grill-tilla (tortilla)
• bean booger (bean burger)
• guhl (girl)
• hippomapotomas
• pipple (purple)
• preformance (performance)
• tormado (tornado--learned from Mariah)
• sour frosting (sour cream. She's only had it (the vegan variety) a few times. She really likes it--obviously.)

She calls our doctor "Dr. Seuss." (We just got a whole bunch of Dr. Seuss books at a garage sale, for $1 each!)

Her favorite foods are grilled cheez dipped in cheez sauce, and "beans-rice-and-corn-with-red-sauce-and-green-sauce-not-mixed" (that's how she says it every time). She also loves green drinks and is usually the first to "slurp" hers. (I always serve green drink in "slurping cups" (the little plastic cups from Walmart with an attached straw). I can't remember how it started, but I make a big deal of them finishing their green drinks--when I can hear the slurping sound.) She tolerates oatmeal for breakfast, with bananas in it, no raisins, and "honey and milk not mixed." When she finishes, she often asks for grapenuts, frozen blueberries, or "dry cereal in a cup."

Elaine is constantly thinking about, and, therefore, talking about Heavenly Father and Jesus. She asks often about when Jesus is coming again. In her pretending she tells her sick and/or hurt guys, "It's ok. Heavenly Father will heal your knee, just like He healed mine," etc.

She loves to dance and is getting quite good.

Elaine has really fun mannerisms. She loves her tongue and it sticks out often: when she's working hard; when she's embarrassed; when she's excited; etc. She also often swings her arms and shrugs her shoulders forward and up.

She calls everyone "Sweetie." To Mariah, "Sorry, Sweetie, I didn't mean to." Or, "Oh, Sweetie, I'm playing with that right now, so you can't play with it."

We're really working on talking about our feelings instead of screaming. She (sometimes) does pretty well for a 3-year-old. Here are a few of my favorites:

• "I'm feeling really angry and sad about that. Please don't do that!"
• "Mom, please don't get frustrated at me!"
• "Mom, are you not frustrated anymore?"
• "Mom, are you happy?"
• "Mom, are you not angry anymore?"

Elaine is definitely 3 and vacillates between needing to do everything herself to needing to be the baby and have me do everything for her. Back and forth, back and forth, several times each day.

Elaine loves reading. Anytime I need to leave the room to nurse Sally or take a shower, or something, I have M and E in separate rooms, either playing with one toy, or reading books. Elaine often chooses books in the crib. She chooses about 20 books (literally), stacks them up (Sally has started mimicking this), and needs me to carry them to the crib. (She still sleeps in the crib during naps, and at night if she won't stay in her bed. She feels safe there from Mariah, I think.) She also still uses a pacifier and her special blanket to sleep. On especially hard days, she asks to go read books in the crib with her pacifier and blanket, just for some soothing time. I actually took the pacifier away (threw it away) back in January when it got gnawed to death, and she did without for 2+ months. But when she was still asking for it on a daily basis, I figured her little life is stressful enough, the least I could do was allow her something to be able to soothe herself when she needs to. So, she's 3 1/2 and still uses a pacifier. Oh well.

She loves her blanket. Marian crocheted it for her when she was born. She has rubbed one of the corners so much it has a funny little kink in it. She calls it "my part." She comes to my room in the middle of the night sometimes, "I can't find my part." She rubs it on her nose as she goes to sleep. (She absolutely loves the story in this month's Friend about Emily and her special blanket called "Pinkie." Emily rubs her nose with Pinkie, and it helps her think of beautiful things. The first time (of many) I read it to her, Elaine grinned from ear to ear when we got to that part.)

Because Mike and I insisted for so long that the girls could not get out of bed until 7am, she thinks that's when everyone in the world is allowed to wake up. When we talk about anybody waking up, she'll say, "'Cause it was 7?"

Lainey is at that stage where she's trying to figure out the timing of things--past, present, and future. She gets all confused: "Before I lived in heaven, when I was a mom, before I was in your tummy?" and things like that.

Well, that's all I can think of right now. I love my little Lainey! I love her still-squishiness, her laugh, and her fireball personality. I think she's gorgeous (I'm allowed to say that as her mom, right?), and I'm afraid we're going to have quite the arsenal to keep the boys away.

Here are a few pictures from the past couple of months:

Showing me her blueberry hands (and arms and forehead).

"New" pants. (She has such short little legs. These are size 3, but most of her pants range from 18 months to 2T.)

Watching Mariah at horse riding. She has gotten to ride a few times and loves it! But she's a great sport when she doesn't get to ride and just has to watch. (I think the cookie at the end helps.)

Lainey loves doing puzzles. She's better at them than she will usually let on. She likes to get me involved, so she'll pretend to not know where pieces go. She and Mariah did these puzzles one day.

She loves to color, draw, and "write my name" (a squiggly line across the page). She colored these pictures for Grandma Carol when Grandpa Joe died.

Grandpa Joe

Mike's Grandpa died a couple weeks ago. He was an amazing man; I'm so thankful to have known him.

Our girls were able to spend some time with him this summer. One of their best memories of our trip to Idaho was Grandpa Joe reading Three Little Pigs to them. Grandpa had Parkinsons, and the girls were concerned that he couldn't walk very fast. They always included Grandpa Joe in their prayers: "Please bless Grandpa Joe that he'll be able to walk and run."

As much as we will miss Grandpa Joe, his death gave us the opportunity to teach the girls on a more personal level about The Plan of Salvation. We talked about where Grandpa Joe's spirit is now. Elaine immediately piped up, "So he can walk and run now?!" Yes. He can! (For about a week, though, she continued to pray for Grandpa Joe to be able to walk and run. Now she prays for Grandma Carol to be "comfitted" and "to not be sad.")

Mike flew out for the funeral. I was more than slightly worried about handling life on my own for 4 days, but I know many prayers were offered on my behalf, and we really did quite well. I'm so glad Mike was able to be there. (Mike got back Sunday night, and about mid-afternoon, I started feeling my patience wax thin. I thought to myself, "Hmm. People must assume Mike's home and have stopped praying for me. I'm on my own again." I really felt everyone's prayers while he was gone. I definitely had strength beyond my own.)

After the funeral, Grandma Carol started trying to clean out. She gave a few fun momentos to Mike to bring home to the girls: some dress-ups, hand-made (I believe) by Mike's aunts; and The Three Little Pigs. The girls were overjoyed!

Sal insisted on wearing some of the finery, so I rigged a little dress for her.

Examining a kelly doll dress.

She decided it might look good on top, I guess, and tried to put it on.

Here's Grandpa's obituary:

Joseph C. George

Joseph Carl George passed away at his home Saturday, Nov. 5, 2011, as a result of complications of Parkinson's disease. His family cared for him with the assistance of Solace Hospice of Rigby.

He was born in Rigby on April 18, 1927, and was 84 years of age. His parents were Hilmer M. George and Edith Kinghorn George. He attended school in Rigby, where he excelled in scholarship and athletics. Following his high school graduation in 1945, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy with a group of his friends. At the conclusion of the war, he received an honorable discharge and returned home, where he attended Ricks College for one year. He served as class president at Ricks and then left for an LDS mission to the Northern/ Great Lakes States mission. He served under President Creed Haymond, and chose to follow in his profession. Following his mission he completed his pre-dentistry classes at Brigham Young University in Provo.

Joe met Carol Cordner of Stillwater, Oklahoma, at the beginning of the school year and they were married in the Idaho Falls Temple on June 19, 1951.

In 1955, he graduated from Northwestern University Dental School in Chicago. He and Carol and their three children returned to Rigby to live and he began his practice of dentistry upstairs over the Royal Theatre. In a few years he built his dental office on Main Street. Dr. George enjoyed his work and the association with his assistants and office managers. He especially enjoyed the opportunity to know his patient families who came from throughout Jefferson County. Joe loved Rigby and appreciated being able to raise and educate his family of eight children in this growing community. In 2010, Joe and Carol received the Lifetime Service Award from the Chamber of Commerce.

His commitment to his church was a top priority in his life and Joe served as a Scout Master and Bishop of the Rigby 4th Ward. In the organization of the Rigby Stake, he served as Executive Secretary, High Counselor, Counselor in the Rigby Stake presidency, and served for almost ten years as the Rigby Stake Mission President. He enjoyed teaching, speaking and missionary service.

Joe loved Idaho and the opportunities it presented to hunt and fish. Ice fishing with his brother, Reynold, was an important activity after he retired. He was a fine gardener. His family was the center of his interest and affection.

Joe is survived by his wife of 60 years, Carol, and the following children: Cyndi (Lyle) Wakefield of Rexburg, Joseph D. (Barbara) of Salt Lake City, Richard (Sally) of Rigby, Kenneth (Rose) of Bountiful, Utah, James D. (Shaunna) of Provo, Utah, Mary Beth (Ward) Wright of Orem, Utah, Ralph K. (Cathy) of Rexburg, and Susan (Craig) Bell, of Rexburg. He was the proud and happy grandfather of 40 grandchildren and 29 great-grandchildren. He is survived by two brothers: H. Reynold George of Idaho Falls, and Dr. Dennis George of Boise, Idaho.

He was preceded in death by his parents, an infant daughter, an infant brother, and his brother, Donal, who was lost during a flight over the Sea of Japan at the conclusion of the Korean War.

Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 12, 2011, at the Rigby Stake Center, 258 W. First St. North, Rigby. The family will receive friends from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Friday at Eckersell Memorial Chapel, 101 W. Main St. Rigby, and for one hour prior to services at the church. Burial will be in Rigby Pioneer Cemetery under the care of Eckersell Memorial Chapel in Rigby.