G* News

The big girl bed!

We're hoping to have the crib vacated for Lil' Bronco's arrival. So we've begun the great transition. The bars came off about a week ago. Grace has done so well. We've only had one bad night. She insists on having that pillow, although you can see how much she uses it!

In preparation for a pool play group earlier this week, Cori and I made this purchase. We were hoping to find something along the lines of a deluxe floaty ring, but this was our next best option. She was able to do some solo floating (completely on her back due to the vest's life saving design) and I felt comfy letting the older kids at the pool play with her. Cute little marshmallow, isn't she?

Wordless Wednesday: The Cliffs at Portuguese Bend

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

How is it that I had never read this book? Wow. I loved every one of its 493 pages. Set in pre-WWI Brooklyn, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is the complete life and times of the young Francie Nolan. We get to know her through and through. Smith associates us with her heroine by giving us unlimited access to all the people who were part of Francie's life, directly and indirectly.


"And the child, Francie Nolan, was of all the Rommelys and all the Nolans. She had the violent weaknesses and passion for beauty of the shanty Nolans. She was a mosaic of her grandmother Rommely's mysticism, her tale-telling, her great belief in everything and her compassion for the weak ones. She had a lot of her grandfather Rommely's cruel will. She had some of her Aunt Evy's talent for mimicking, some of Ruthie Nolan's possessiveness. She had Aunt Sissy's love for life and her love for children. She had Johnny's sentimentality without his good looks. She had all of Katie's soft ways and only half of the invisible steel of Katie. She was made up of all of these good and these bad things. She was made up of more, too. She was the books she read in the library. She was the flower in the brown bowl. Part of her life was made from the tree growing rankly in the yard. "

I love the metaphor of the tree as it is used in this novel. It is a very familiar kind of idea--how we are part of a bigger story, a link in a chain of ancestors and posterity, a branch of a family tree. But this book made me think a little deeper. The branch is so independent, yet it is nothing if not connected to the tree. When the wind blows, the branch keeps a rhythm of movement in cadence with its fellow branches. When the snow falls, the branch leans on other branches to support the weight. And I could go all kinds of metaphor-crazy with ideas of grafting branches, and pruning... I think I'll leave that to Zenos (see Jacob 5). The point is, Smith romances her readers to fall in love with the tree so as to better understand the individual branch.

Contemplating this novel has caused me to reflect on my own surrounding branches, as well as the history of my tree as a whole. It is interesting to reflect on how separate my life has become from those of my loved ones while still being so inescapably connected. It is the miracle that allows us to stand on the shoulders of our mentors' experiences to obtain our own personal achievements.

Wordless Wednesday: La Mere

Happy Father's Day Dad!

If I could, I'd show off my Dad by creating a collage of pictures of him. The collage would show him talking on the phone at his office, on a plane flying across the country for work, happily laboring in the garden, happily mowing the lawns, happily working in the orchard, riding his horse, wearing his uniform over the decades he's been involved in scouting, wrestling with all four of his kids at the same time (when we were smaller), wrestling the boys who came over to visit us (when I got older) and pinning everyone, getting out of bed before his alarm at 5:30 AM on a regular basis, on his knees praying, reading a fatty book about economics or history, executing his 'daddy suspender school' on the ski slopes, playing the piano, strumming his guitar, heading out the door to Church 3-4 times a week, opening his wallet, hiking or camping--usually with a pack of crazy teenagers, "watching" TV while fast asleep, flying in his airplane over the Carson Valley, making his crazy list of tasks to be completed on the few Saturdays he's at home, and being pretty much the best dad a girl could ever hope for.

As it is, I have only a few pictures that would do my collage justice. I love you Dad. Happy Father's Day! (And welcome home from China!)

Dad at the top of Frog Lake, with 3 of his crazy teenagers on the way to Lake Margarette, at the park with Grace, strumming his guitar with Grace, and the last is a picture I took from Dad's plane as we flew over the Carson Valley.

Graciedotes

Bubble Bath time. Lovingly called "bubba" by the bathing beauty. It is a most enjoyed part of bed time.

Singing Time
Everyone must participate. With both hands. If there is anyone who tries to get away with just listening or half hearted participation, she will seriously point out the offender and we all have to stop and start over again. Her favorite songs are Itsy Bitsy Spider, Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree, and Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam. She has also started singing with Cori at night. After family prayers, Cori takes Grace into her room and sings a couple of songs to her before laying her down. She sings right along, breathing in the same places as Cori and even singing some of the last words in each phrase. The first time she did this with me, I had a really hard time singing. I had a big lump in my throat that was half giggles because her singing is so cute, and half crying because it is so sweet.

She did this herself. She was pretty darn proud.

Favorites

Jumping. She loves to jump everywhere; on and off the elevator, up and down steps, and all through our apartment--much to our downstairs neighbors' chagrin.

Little Einstens, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. It has only been in the last few weeks that the TV has held any allure for her. I have to admit, I love the hour of distraction in the morning. Grace lets me feed her anything for breakfast, get her dressed in anything I choose, and comb her hair with out a single fuss. I can take a shower, blog, get myself ready, and enjoy an early morning free of the tear stained variety we were having.

We've got ears, its time for Cheers!

Finding Nemo. Another recent find. She loves this movie. I don't let her watch it until the evenings, she tends to get really fussy around 5:00ish. And even then, we use the scene selection feature to watch just bits of it. But again, the distraction is so great for me. I can make dinner in half the time because I have both hands free.

Talking. We've known it was coming. We've known that she would be a talker. Oh my. She says a new word nearly everyday. And we have long jabber sessions quite frequently. My favorite is when we go out to eat. Like the little big kid she is, she'll take her cue from me and Cori and place her order with the server. She nods her head and points at the menu and the table as she speaks.

Foods. It seems like her appetite has two switches, feast and famine. When the feast switch is on, she loves everything. Though her face doesn't portray her enthusiasm, that is a bowl of chopped red onions she is munching from. We waited for the sour face and instead got an "mmmMMMMmmm". She loves broccoli trees (especially if she has some ranch to dip them in), peaches, bananas, cherries, any kind of meat, yogurt, toast, and cheese, cheese, cheese.

Sacrament Mtg. Reverence
A couple of Sundays ago, Grace made for the most irreverent Sacrament meeting ever. You must realize that there are not many young children in our ward, so this part of the meeting is very, very quiet. Just as the prayer was being said on the bread, Grace decided that she really needed some Cheerios. Okay, here you go. "Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch." So loud. Then we needed a drink of milk from the sippy. Y'all know how quiet those things are. Then she recognized Cori up on the stand. He was helping bless that day. "D-A-D-D-Y!!!" Then, looking at me and pointing to him, "D-Aaaaaaa-D-D-Y!!" Yes, Grace. I see him. Please use a quiet voice! By this point the family sharing the bench with us is laughing so hard that the whole pew is shaking. But her antics were not yet over. The piece de la resistance was yet to come. A few more crunchy cheerios and one lengthy slurp later, Grace let it rip. Yep. A nice resonant man belch. Oh my. So sorry Crestridge Ward. We are really trying to work on this.

In her happiest element; exploring, taking the world at her own pace, touching everything she can reach.

Wordless Wednesday: Meet Senior Rojo (AKA the 4 Runner)