Category Archives: Toddler Age

My New Play Place

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I get to follow Mommy around all day with this cool new toy: it has a long handle and a flat bottom. Mommy usually uses it, so I know I’m being a really big boy to play with it.

Not only that, but there is tons of open space! I can just walk around for ever. I can even walk into a separate room from Mommy! There are stairs that go up and down. But I stay away from them when I see that they are going down; I fell down a few stairs a few days ago and it was very scary!

But there are also these great doors with handles that I can reach. I love to open the doors! It’s even more fun to go in the little tiny rooms and close the doors. These rooms are just my size — Mommy can’t come in — and I I like how dark it gets in there!

But then I get tired of walking around and Mommy gives me lots of graham crackers. Graham crackers make me smile!

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Made in China

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My cousin spotlighted some of the Christmas presents that were “hits” around her house (a million years ago). I thought I’d share too. I shared Paul’s new/old Pooh chair is on his page here. That was probably his favorite thing. But this is my favorite present: a keyboard.

We could spend $35 on a kiddy piano (four keys, bright colors). Or we could get a “Made in China” 54-key piano. We went for the larger variety. It plays 60+ instrument sounds, ten rhythms, and seven “demo” songs. Paul loves the rhythms and the microphone. He “sings” in it. (Which usually sounds a lot like deep breathing.)

We realize it is cheaply made, but we’re hoping it lasts two years or so.

The must amusing evidence that it is cheaply made is the listing of songs on the keyboard. I mean, I expect the manual to lack basic proofreading, but this is hilarious!

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interpretation (for number 1 and number 7): It’s a Small World and We Wish You a Merry Christmas

A Second Belated Update

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Paul can sign. It’s fun to watch the comprehension as I teach him a new sign. He’s always known More and Milk, but he’s added banana, bread, and water. Now he babbles in sign — he thinks he’s telling me something. He babbles in “giggle-giggle” too. “Giggle-giggle” is Paul’s normal language because he thinks he can talk and yet everything he says sounds like “giggle” or “gaggle” or something similar. In this video, he’s eating and signing banana.

Paul feeds himself. I love this stage, and yet I hate it. It’s nice to be able to eat my own lunch, but sometimes it get a bit messy by the time Paul is done eating. Plus, he takes forever.

Paul’s also getting better at going down and up stairs and he’s a pretty competent walker by now. He’s still happy just about all the time (except when he has the 24-hour flu or when he’s congested, as he was a Christmas). What a delight he is in our lives!

Compare these videos with the pictures I found yesterday. What a difference!

A Much Belated Paul Update

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I’ve somehow completely neglected to tell about Paul’s second Christmas. On my webpage, I’ve already posted the extend family pictures and about the great times we spent together. I should add that Paul loved the wrapping paper. For the first few presents, he was so excited to get to throw out the wrappings that he didn’t notice the toy underneath it! It was fun to be so close to family and to be able to visit with them.

He was, unfortunately, quite sick Christmas Eve. He was up from 1 til 2 and finally settled back to sleep. But his cold was not his friend!

Since I’ve given an update, he’s learned a lot and grown into quite a little boy.

First, thanks to Sandra Boynton’s Horns to Toes and In Between, he knows the location of his head, ears, toes, belly button, and eyes (which he likes to cover because that’s what I do when I read him the book). His favorite is his head. In this video, I am not pointing…

Also, Paul likes to dance. Always.

Paul loves ring-a-round-the-rosies. But forget about the ring. Let’s just fall down!

More in the next post!

Extended Family Photos

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We got some great extended family photos this holiday. Here are the best of them. I’ve tried to sharpen them and crop them.

Extended Family

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1 plus 1 is 2. I merged the first two pictures to get the third. I know it’s not a perfect merge, but I think it works for a family photo! I personally really like the first one, where everyone is looking at each other. It shows our personalities!

The Parents

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The Siblings
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The Cousins

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Frank and Elizabeth’s family

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Jenny and Chris’s family

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We took some pictures of our family over Thanksgiving; they are here.

How to Have A Very Merry Christmas (All Year)

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In the past two weeks, I’ve written a dozen blog post for this site in my head. And yet, none of them made it to the page. I’ve been too busy enjoying my favorite season. Of course there were some things I’d rather not repeat (who really wants a foot of snow when they say “white Christmas”?!) but overall it was a wonderful month!

As I thought about these happy moments this season, I realized there is no reason we can’t be doing these all year long. May the Spirit of the season stay with you and your family!

  • Listen to Christmas music all the time. I love Christmas music! I was going to highlight some favorite songs/versions of traditional songs, much as I highlighted my nativities, but it didn’t happen. I’m glad I don’t have any silly self-imposed rules about “not listening until after Thanksgiving,” because I can keep listening as long as I want and I can take it out again in July if I feel like it. I love it.
  • Make fudge. And eat it. Need I say more?
  • Decorate cookies. The idea was it was for my nieces and nephews (ages 9 months to 7 years) to decorate cookies, but I also had a great time decorating cookies. Somehow, I forgot to take pictures this year. Oops!
  • Read every child’s Christmas picture book you find at the library. I got a bit carried away, but I sure had fun finding favorites, new and old. My result is at Rebecca Reads here. (If you do this out of the month of December, you may be able to find specific ones you’re looking for!)
  • Celebrate with someone who’s worked hard at something (i.e., your newly Doctorate-d mother). My mother went back to school when I was in 5th grade, just because she wanted to. She got her Master’s degree after about three years and she’s been working on her Ph.D. (because she wanted to) one class and one dissertation page at a time since then. I am so proud of her dedication. And now, 350+ dissertation pages later, I’m so proud I now officially have a Dr. Mom in the family! (I got a copy of her dissertation for Christmas, and I’m very eager to read about “Mother Eve” in medieval literature. Wouldn’t you be?)

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Mom is “robed” by Dr. Nicole Clifton. (This is a zoomed in photo of the monitor in the arena; my camera wouldn’t zoom enough on my mom!)

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with oldest grandson

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Mother and Daughter

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The Benac Women

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The Doctors Sorenson

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Mom and her right hand man, Dad

  • Spend time with family. We visited with family on average 3 days a week this entire month! It was sure nice to talk and visit together so much. While I know we can’t visit so regularly once “Real Life” gets back in to gear, it was sure a nice way to spend the holidays.
  • Listen to Grandma reading The Grinch on Christmas Eve. This was a special trip down memory lane that I don’t want to forget.

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The Fosdick family reads along as Great-Grandma reads The Grinch.

  • Sing with your family. Our family likes to sing and we had so much fun Christmas Eve singing together. Here’s a very out-of-focus-Paul trying to sing along (he moves!) and rocking in a little rocking chair just his size.

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  • Ask Santa for his yummy peppermint bark. It sure made for a tasty Christmas morning! Even if it’s not Christmas, you and your family deserves a treat like this every once in a while, don’t you think?

And last, but not least, the absolutely best way to celebrate the Spirit of Christmas:

  • Host a missionary discussion in your home. Last Friday night, we hosted a discussion with a sister (whom we didn’t know previously). It was about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and it was the sweetest way to bring the Christmas spirit into our home. As the missionaries left, I decided I’d like to do that again and again in the coming months. Christ, and His Atonement, is the true meaning of the season. Because we have the gospel in our lives, we truly can have the Christmas spirit all year long. I am so grateful for that. She’s coming again tonight. What a true delight!

Note to family: I also have the extended family pictures, some of which turned out pretty well. Paul’s waking from his nap right now, so I don’t have time to put them up, but I promise I will get them soon!