these are a few of my favorite things...that i never would've known about unless i had a one-year-old and spent all day with him

1.) Watching Elmo's World: this might be the funniest show so far in the Kid DVD Collection. Case in point: one episode is about ears, so they show a cartoon about The Boy Who Loved His Dog's Ears. "I love my dog's ears", he says, "they're soft and furry." But before they show the cartoon, the reception is bad and fuzzy, so a rabbit comes in and says, "You need a pair of rabbit ears!" and then contorts his ears to get the signal. Okay, maybe it's just funnier to me since being generally cut off from normal grown-up interaction. Still, I insist that it's funny. **bonus: Having a snuggly M content to sit on your lap while watching.

2.) Learning the words to lullaby's: So far I know the one from Dumbo that starts "Baby mine, don't you cry...", and the one from Mary Poppins that starts "Stay awake don't rest your head..." I would like to learn the words to Hush-a-bye Mountain from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Does anyone remember that movie? I loved it as a kid!)

3.) (Now don't freak out) Watching The Wiggles: I may feel stupid letting M watch the Wiggles, and i may feel incredibly stupid while dancing along with them on the DVD, but it's worth it when M tries to dance and jump (especially since he falls a lot just while walking) and has the best time ever!

4.) Hearing new words forming: Just YESTERDAY something clicked inside of The Boy and he said a few words ON PURPOSE. He said "nana" when I asked him what a banana was, and just a few minutes ago while talking to my mom on the phone I asked him to say hi to Nonni and he said "non-nee". !!!!!!!!!!! That's how excited I am! Plus I'm shocked since M has shown hardly any interest in speaking until now. (more) !!!!!!!

5.) Having a schedule and being generally more responsible and "good": I actually go to bed at night a reasonable hour. I don't eat as much junk food or watch as much TV. I read more books. I feel better :)

So there you have it. I have enjoyed all of these things this week because of The Boy. So sorry to you if you didn't want to hear even MORE about a certain child called M, but I am a little preoccupied with him lately.

sicky

so i'm sick today. i woke up with a horrible sore throat. every time i get a sore throat this bad i flashback to BYU when i got mono. i wasn't kissing anyone at the time, so i must've gotten it in some unfunny way like from a shared cup. and then whenever i think of having mono, i remember something funny that paul told R once in reference to R's paranoia about having contracted mono from me (even though i had gotten over it before we met). he said, "R, think about what mono is made up of. it's MO, and NO." fortunately, i hadn't had mono when we embarked on the post-first-kissing part of our relationship. so there was no No on the MO. (fyi, the MO refers to The Making Out, just in case you aren't privy to byu slang from 4 years ago, dear reader.)

i also had a really vivid dream about being in a play that my understudy had been filling in for. this was because i hadn't felt like going for the last few weeks, apparently. so in my dream i was trying to learn my lines while onstage, and remember the lyrics to songs and steps to dance numbers. i still remember most of it now, having been awake for about 4 hours. does it mean something??!! will i suddenly find myself in such a condition one day soon?

i'm going to CA in about a week. we are flying to Fresno where my mom will pick me and M up and we'll stay for a week. i'm not sure how it'll go, but i'm still pretty excited to see people. my mom and 2 of my sisters will be there for sure, and then another sister with her husband will come and visit for 2 days. that's a lot of sisters. and since miles is walking now i expect that he'll get even more cuteness points than usual and garner love and snuggles and presents, etc.

i started a new book by Leslie Marmon Silko called Ceremony. i've only read about 50 pages, but it's already quite vivid in it's description of the deserty conditions the story takes place in. i have found myself a better water drinker the last few days. the language of the main character's inner voice is really amazing, making his pain as vivid as the desert's heat. the book, even only this far, has affected me. it also, just because the characters are Native Americans, brings up images i've imagined and thoughts i've pondered while reading Seventh Son and the following books after it in the series (by Orson Scott Card). i find that somewhat amusing :)

my cup o' soup is now ready.

S-A-TUR-DAY Night! (name that movie!!)

i'm attempting a foolish, yet exciting, and even possibly fantastic outing this weekend. we've decided to try camping with The Boy. the reason is because R has been craving nature this week. and since working every day, all summer, in AZ where there are no trees, he's developed quite the nature fixation. i'm willing to try this outing, at least once. but may i remind/inform all of you what M requires on a normal day in terms of sleep:

1.) he needs it as dark as possible: we shut the blinds, we have hung up fleece blankets in front of his window, we shut the door, and we put a sweatshirt by the crack of the door so he can't see lights on in the other room, and then instead of slumbering, yelp to us asking to be a part of all the fun.

2.) he needs to not be able to hear anything outside his room: we have a humidifier that has three settings the highest of which is LOUD and very white noisy, we have a cheap noise machine that we set to "wind" and turned up to max. between these two things he can't quite hear the ample amounts of ridiculous traffic right outside our door.

3.) he needs his blanket, or at least, it helps

4.) he needs snuggling/reading/singing for about 5-10 minutes to calm down and fall asleep by himself

(3 and 4 don't worry me, we can bring the blanket and provide the snuggling and reading and singing as usual. but 1 and 2 are a little more tricky, but i think a radio (with batteries) tuned to a fuzzy station should take care of 2. but #1 i simply can't do much about, and M needs to fall asleep around 7. will he cooperate???)

really i don't think it will be that bad. i mean it's only for one night, and he should at least enjoy the "trip" part of the adventure, right? and since he's walking now, i think he could try out some new walkin' shoes and get in touch with nature for the first time. plus, he might LOVE it! it's possible, right? (this is why i said "possibly fantastic".) and it might be worth it just to see my cute R getting so excited about bringing his little family out camping. R LOVES to camp, and subsequently would love for M to love to camp. i already love to camp, but i've never done it with a baby...a baby who eats bugs at our house, let alone in the middle of nature where they live. but i have to give my little boy the chance to experience these things. it may end up just being an experience in sleep deprivation, but we must try.

Party Pictures

Here are a couple of my favorite pictures from the party we had on Saturday (even though M's real birthday was on Friday). The pure delight with his new toy in the first picture is almost more than i can handle!! it's seriously my new favorite :) and the second one is of us opening presents. i knew that he would love his roll-a-rounds and bang them together happily. it makes me a proud mother to know my child well enough to pick out the correct toys for him. i don't know why that means so much, it just does :)

it's time to party

so there are only a few more hours until the big party. the cheesecake is made, the carrot cake is made and cut into the shape of a dinosaur (it has yet to be frosted), the gifts are piled. now all that's left is to clean a bathroom, decorate a little and frost the cake. i'm seriously excited!! i can't tell you how much fun i'm having!

plus, M has started WALKING! he falls over a lot and can only take a few steps at a time, but even this morning he seemed to make strides (punny!) with his walkin' technique. mostly he just gets so excited because we're excited that he tries to walk fast and then falls and immediately starts clapping. it's pretty much the sweetest thing in the whole world :)

i promise a full report on the party later, complete with my favorite pictures of the day. wish me luck!

not much to say...okay i lied.

so it's 10:15 here in AZ, and it feels like 3 in the morning. i have officially become extremely lame. but alas, i feel like getting out some random blurbs. i just went to the movies with my SIL and we saw The Devil Wears Prada. i came out of the movie feeling slightly frumpy from all the fun clothes in the movie, but at the same feeling more okay about my purchase a few days ago of some high-heeled shoes. i had difficulty walking in them on sunday, from the lack of practice (i haven't worn anything but flat shoes for about 3-4 years!), but alternately felt very tall and even a little bit glamorous (for me). so thank you meryl streep.

also, today i went to toys 'r' us for a shopping-idea-generating stroll with R and M. we saw LOTS of toys. too many. but the ideas were, in fact, generated. plus, M got to try some out and see what he thought. then we went to target to actually buy the toys for several dollars cheaper. original dump truck=$20. purchased dump truck (right size, plastic, no sharp corners)=$7. booyah!

i would also like to say that i'm really looking forward to miles birthday. growing up in my family, the birthday fairy visited the night before your birthday and you woke up to a birthday trail. usually it consisted of m&m's and several small items along the way, leading to the living room where your wrapped presents were in a pile. so miles will get his very first birthday trail of cheerios and such, and i can't wait! i realize that this is really more for me than for him, but it's okay. i'm still excited and unashamed of my enthusiasm.

so friday is the real birthday and then saturday the fam is coming over and also a friend named AJ who is 8 months old. we will be having strawberry cheesecake and a dinosaur-shaped carrot cake for miles (which may or may not be disgusting, since i'm varying it for a child, i.e. less sugar, only whole wheat flour, etc; hence, the cheesecake option). but lest you all become very impressed with my willingness to make these cakes, please know that i relish excuses to make these things. it's relaxing. i don't know why, and i'm not lying just to sound impressive. if i lied just to sound impressive i would say that i'm also really looking forward to cleaning the whole house before everyone comes over. so honestly, baking is like my alternative to getting a massage. don't ask.

i just finished reading In Cold Blood. i'm very disturbed by it. but i also recommend you to read it. i had never read anything by Truman Capote until this, but i enjoyed it so much that i'd also like to read Breakfast at Tiffany's sometime soon. also, i just finished Les Miserables. one of my favorite books ever. while simultaneously being one of the most annoying to read. but please, read it! the end.