Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Fun with Nana and Papa

We had a lot of fun with Ty while he was with us. One thing I noticed right away is that he is verbalizing so much more. He'll say Papa for Grandpa. He says a version of Nana too. Anything round is called "Bah" for ball-this includes oranges, apples and balls. "Dah" is our dog. He still uses "uh oh" too. Plus all the other words I mentioned in previous postings.

Boy is he sharp! When Carynn and Ty stopped by the day after we got home Ty made a beeline for our bedroom. I thought he'd mess with some of the decorative items I have on display, but no...he went right for the remote for the fan though he hasn't been ito our place in 3 months. What a great memory. He LOVES all the ceiling fans we have in the house and he loves pushing buttons, so it makes sense that a remote control that works the fan would be high on his list of things he likes.

Ty maneuvers the steps really well. He slides down on his belly and crawls up. Whenever he would try to do otherwise I'd help him by puttin him in the right position. Otherwise he might get too big for his britches and try to walk up the steps...not a good idea.

We played the "who will he go to" game the other day and guess what? Ty went to me first. I'm excited. That was a first. He ususally goes to Michael first.

Ty really enjoys the old Fisher Price toys that we've had for a LONG time. Some of them since Carynn was young, really. Others are from Melinda's time=meaning they're going on 19 years old. I like the durability of Fisher Price.

Ty went with me to Saturday's Young Women General Broadcast and Service Project. Michael could have watched him, but a 4 hour time period is a bit long for Michael so I took Ty with me. He met lots of new friends-he is a charmer, and discovered a way to get some sweet treats.

We had two tables in the Cultural Hall that were for refreshments for the girls and their moms to enjoy ater they'd finished sorting the clothes that we were going to give to a local women's shelter. The table was very colorful and springlike. Jenna (the Stake YW President) added a festive touch by scattering M & M's down the center of the table. Ty discovered that he could just barely reach over the top of the table and found that if he stretched a little he might enjoy some M & M's. That's what he did until we started pushing the M & M's toward the center of the table. That may be one of the reasons he was SO active as I was trying to get him to be still during the Broadcast. We ended up listening to it from the Mother's Room, the kichen and for a very, bery brief time in the chapel. I was pretty pooped by the time everything finished up. Everything turned out well though and Ty settled back down later.

A tired but happy,

NS

Busy, Busy, Busy

We jumped right back into life on Tuesday, March 24. I had a young women presidency meeting and then I watched Ty while Carynn had an appointment. It'd been just short of a month since I've seen him, but he's matured even more. We had a good time. More meetings on Wednesday night, Thursday night and Saturday afternoon/evening. Whew!

We watched Ty while Carynn and Jamie went with our other children to Seattle for the weekend. We had a great time, but wow, he wore me out. I know I've said this before, but boy, does Ty have a lot of energy! With him being with us 3 nights-4 days we got reacquainted really fast. Here was our typical schedule:
6:00 - 6:30 AM Ty wakes up. Time for breakfast, diaper change
7:30 AM It's time for the tub! Ty loves bathtime. I used the big tub in our bedroom and put not a huge amount of water in it. Ty splashes, plays with the fish and blocks I put in the tub, the washcloth too.
8:00 AM Time for "our" favorite show on Noggin. It's about an octopus called Oswald. My strategy to get Ty to sit still was to put him in his high chair with just a few of his favorite snacks (yogurt covered raisins) in front of the TV. We worked up to him watching the whole show. This was a good way to get him to quiet down before his nap. I sat right next to him on the couch while he was in the high chair so he wouldn't be alone and we talked about the show.
Between 8:30 and 9:00 AM I settled him down with a drink of milk for a nap. Sometimes he takes a longer nap, sometimes not.
9:00 AM-? Naptime. Depends on how he's feeling
1:30-12:00 Lunchtime
After lunch play time
1:30 or so time for an afternoon nap
3:00 or so time to get up-juice/snacks
After naptime more play time
5:30 or 6:00 PM is dinner time
6:30 PM Ty gets some warm milk to settle him down
7:00 PM or so Bedtime

Now we didn't follow this schedule exactly but it did help to have a kind of order to the day. More on our activities in the next posting.

NS

The Snow Followed Us Home!

We left Ivins on Sunday, March 22 and went to Salt Lake to spend the night with Bret/Laura at Laura's parents and coincidentally celebrate Bret's 25th birthday. It was cold in Salt Lake and we woke up to snow Monday morning. We left with no problems but ended up on I 84 instead of I 15 -still not sure how we did that. So we took the road less traveled (by us anyway)and came home by way of Boise, Tri-Cities, WA (where we stopped by our old home in Kennewick (It was still recognizable but the trees have certainly grown in the 24 years since we've lived there.) and were home by 9:03 PM-just in time to watch my favorite show 24.

We settled to bed and woke up to snow. We've had snowy weather off and on since, including today. So you see what I mean when I say the snow followed us home.

NS

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Silver and Gold

When I was in Girl Scouts many, many years ago we learned a song that we sang as a round:
Make new friends, but keep the old.
One is silver and the other's gold.
Later I learned the other verse:
A circle is round. It has no end.
That's how long I want to be your friend.

That's been my experience in Southern Utah. I have missed the close association with our family and my friends in the Northwest, but have enjoyed my season and forming friendships here in "Dixie." I'll probably miss some names and hope they may forgive me if they come across this message, but there's Fred and Barb; Sue and Ron, Marie and Jim, Sharon and her husband Richard, (who is not to be confused with their dog, Jack, that's an inside joke); the wonderful and yes, classy ladies at water aerobics (you know who you are) where we solved the world's problems while toning our bodies to the disembodied voice of the super cheerful lady on the cassette tape; the marvelous individuals with incredible stories I met and grew to care for while working on Humanitarian projects; near neighbors Alan and Charlotte, Marilyn, Joyce, Cathy and Jerry; new friends from church including Nancy, Pearl and Salty, Loraine, Brent and Diane, the Garners, the Sorensens, Ann R. Then there's my "phone buddies" Jim, Brother Scott and Joel. I accepted the temporary assignment of calling them on a daily basis to make sure that they were alive and kicking-they live alone. Brother Scott would always answer when I asked him how he was doing, "I'm still movin'." Thanks Nancy for asking me to do that. Getting to speak to those gentlemen has enriched my life, helped me to count my blessings and given me a greater appreciation for my family.


Most everyone I've met, though not all, are of a certain age, one might call them senior citizens, but though some may have had more than a few years lining their faces their spirits are young at heart.

Silver and Gold

NS

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Stack them up bright boy!

It has been almost a month since I have seen Ty. I could tell right away that he's definitely changed, not so much physically as developmentally. One example that particularly strikes me was when we were playing with his blocks. Last month he would have just knocked down the blocks from the tower I made. This month he stacked blocks on top. He did this with both his wooden and plastic blocks on different occasions.

I love his laugh! It is infectious. I caught myself laughing just because he was. He was so pleased with himself when he slid on his slide. He climbed up with no problem and slid down. and popped up laughing and ready to do it again. He also attempted to crawl UP the slide. He reminded me of the little boy in the Christmas Story movie. He almost made it too.

He likes when I read books to him. His favorites seem to be the ones that are barnyard animal themed. One of them kind of reminds me of the old "Pat the Bunny" book-you "tickle" the dogs fur, feel the lamb's wooly coat, etc....He likes feeling the different textures and hearing me make the animal sounds. The board books are great because their heavyweight pages are easier for Ty to turn without tearing.

His vocabulary is changing too. I am almost 100% sure that he said, "Nana." Really and truly. His "Mama" is a definite Mama now too. When he was talking on the phone to his Grandpa it sounded like he tried to say, "Papa." He says his version of Melinda as well. It's not quite, "Ninda" or "Minda" because he does try to get the "L" from her name in there. It almost sounds garbled, but you can tell that he's saying it in relation to her.

It was great seeing Carynn, Jamie, Ty and Melinda; Landan too. I'm grateful to be back in St. George with Michael and to bee able to enjoy such NICE weather, but I''m also glad that we'll be home in 3 weeks.

Love,

NS

Sunday, March 1, 2009

March 1, 1973

36 years ago on this date I met the man who would be my husband. I was at a young adult dance for our church. I remember the dances were held on Thursday nights. I can't recall who I rode with (I didn't have my driver's license yet and was between boyfriends) but it was probably one of my girl friends.

This very cute, tall guy with brown hair and glasses asked me to dance. I was wearing a long yellow dress that I had made. I danced a fast dance and a slow dance with Michael. I kind of blew him off since he wasn't a member of the church (he didn't know what ward or stake he was in) and offered a "See you next week," at the end of the dance.

He came back the next week and the rest, as they say, is history. Thirty-six years of it.

And making a long story VERY short, that's how I became....


Nana Shanna

Two Fisted Drinker

Since I was in town I was more than happy to watch Ty so that Carynn and Jamie could have a night out. It was between 6:30 and 7:00 pm on Friday night and Ty was starting to show the signs that it was near bedtime. I thought this would be a good time to get him his bottle and that I'd sit with him while he drank it.

I heated up his milk and gave it to him in his bottle. Right as we were getting ready to sit down he grabbed his sippy cup which had diluted grape juice in it. He pushed his bottle with the milk into it in his mouth with one hand and cradled the sippy cup with the juice to his chest with the other.

Now he's ready for anything!

He's a little sweetheart!

NS