Category Archives: Happenings

Growing up with Pooh

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Paul has gone outgrown two different sizes of Newborn diapers and the Infant diapers. Now he is a Crawler. Each diaper has Winnie-the-Pooh and a friend on it.

When I change his diaper, sometimes I tell him the story on it: “Pooh was walking along in the Hundred Acre Wood when he met Eeyore…” We’ve been reading The Complete Tales and Poems of Winnie-the-Pooh together (thank you Grandma Peggy!), which includes the story books, Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner, and two books of poetry, When We Were Very Young and Now We Are Six. I don’t particularly like the poems—I feel like A.A. Milne’s poetry is a bit forced. I much prefer the poetry of Robert Louis Stevenson, which Grandma Sorenson sent Paul for Christmas. However, I love the stories of Winnie-the-Pooh.

Each chapter of the novels is self-contained story, and while we sometimes don’t get through the entire chapter, it really is a good length for reading out loud. I read it aloud while Paul kicks and plays on his blanket. Someday, he’ll look at the illustrations as I read.

We finished Winnie-the-Pooh and now we are almost finished with The House at Pooh Corner. We have just one more chapter, “Chapter Ten: In Which Christopher Robin and Pooh Come to an Enchanted Place, and We Leave Them There.” I am horribly sad because I know what comes: Christopher Robin says good-bye as he leaves for school. How sad it is that childhood must end, that doing nothing must end!

When it was raining the other day, I sang Paul “The rain rain rain came down down down.” As I did so, I realized that he’s never seen the movie! I started in that scene. Paul was fascinated to watch the computer screen. We got through about ten minutes before he was ready for something else.

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I enjoy the movie. I think it is great fun, and I look forward to introducing my son to that Pooh Bear too. However, I’m very disappointed now that I’ve read the books because I think the Winnie-the-Pooh created by A.A. Milne is a great character. Disney made Pooh into a bear that is always a Bear of Very Little Brain. In the stories, Pooh is a poetry-reciting, trying-hard-to-think Bear of Very Little Brain. In the stories, he has some adventures where he actually thinks. It’s amazing when he comes up with the ideas, but he does on occasion. I like both Winnie-the-Poohs, but I especially like the one I’m reading about. It’s too bad Disney felt the need to change the character, even slightly.

(Also, the Christopher Robin in the books would never say “What’s up?” as he does in the movie. He’s 100% British and he’s classic—I don’t think boys in 1920 said “What’s up?”! The Christopher Robin in the book is timeless. “What’s up?”does not sound timeless to me. And it just doesn’t sound like Christopher Robin. Why did they change him?)

Is anyone aware of another classic novel for children, in which each chapter is a self-contained adventure and the characters are creative, timeless, and delightful? I realize I can keep reading Winnie-the-Pooh to Paul (he won’t remember anyway), but I wish there were other similar adventures to read next. I miss Pooh already!

I Love General Conference

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I haven’t been reading many books or posting on my blog much this week. I’ve been distracted.

It began Sunday morning at 4:30 a.m.

As all of you were sitting down for 10 a.m. General Conference Saturday morning, I was asleep. It was 2 a.m. Sunday morning. My son awoke at 4:30 a.m., and after attending to his needs and putting him back in bed, I decided I couldn’t wait until next Saturday: I wanted to know who the newest Apostle was. I went online and found out.

D. Todd Christopherson, I read. How exciting! I thought.

I decided I wanted to hear how it was announced. Then I remembered that it was not even 5 a.m. I had to leave for church at 7:45 a.m., and I needed to stay awake during Sacrament meeting. So I went back to bed.

We went to church and came home. When we got home, I started to watch the first session. I am so grateful for the Internet! I could watch the solemn assembly Sunday afternoon in my living room. It was so special. I loved watching it, but I didn’t watch the whole session: there were other things to do.

Monday afternoon, what should appear in my feed reader but all of the mp3 files for the audio of four sessions of General Conference. I subscribed to the feed in December and promptly forgot about it, since, of course, it is only updated twice a year.

I couldn’t wait until Saturday. I listened to President Monson’s talks, then President Eyring’s and President Uchdorf’s talks. They were so excellent, and I was so inspired, so I listened to the rest of it, reverse alphabetically as it appeared in my feed reader. (I listened in reverse because President Thomas S. Monson was the last alphabetically and I wanted to start with him.) I did a lot as I listened’care for my son, work on photographs, etc. So I wasn’t just sitting around.

It has been great. I feel so uplifted and ready to be better. But I guess that’s the key: listening isn’t making me any better. I need to do what I’m learning! Listening doesn’t do any good for the world.

My favorites the first time around:

  • President Uchdorf’s talk (the faith of our Father, our Heavenly Father)
  • Elder Child’s talk on tithing
  • Elder Ballard’s talk to the young mothers
  • Elder Bednar’s talk on prayer
  • Elder Oaks’s talk on testimony
  • Elder Zwick’s talk on fortifying yourself

Which were your favorites?

I get to listen and watch all of them again Saturday and Sunday. (We need to be there this weekend.) What do I do for eight hours Saturday and Sunday as I watch them? I’m going to be sitting on an uncomfortable bench in the chapel.

Ah well; I’ll be inspired all over again. I love general conference!

Paul’s New Tricks

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Grandma Peggy asked what new tricks Paul’s been learning. I had to think about that. Because I’m around him every day, it’s hard to pin down what’s new that I haven’t shared with you.

Paul sleeps. Paul has been sleeping for seven or eight hours at a time at night! That’s a great new trick. The problem remains that it begins at 7 p.m. (which, now that Daylight Savings Time ended, is now 6 p.m.). I wake him and feed him at 10 or 11 before I go to sleep; he still wakes up at 2 and cries for a while, but the crying is getting less; he tends to go back to sleep until 6 (or 5). I look forward to the day when he sleeps from 7 til 10 and then from 10 until 6 without waking.

Paul reaches. While he has always expressed an interest in things around him, lately he reaches for anything he sees and thinks he can reach—the piece of paper on the desk, the scriptures in my lap at church, the speck of ? on the floor, the silverware in my hand as I eat. When he’s on the floor and sees a toy across the blanket, he stretches and tries to get it. Most of the time, he is successful. Occasionally, he gets frustrated and decides he can’t reach it. No crawling yet (thank goodness) but definite development in the reaching department.

Paul sits. If I help him, he’ll stay in a sitting position for nearly 20 seconds before he falls over—and he falls over every direction. He’s getting better every day. I suspect that if I keep helping him now, he’ll figure out how to sit up all by himself in a few weeks.

Paul reads. Paul likes to pick up his book and try to turn the pages, although even the board book pages are a bit too hard to turn. He also likes to eat the books, just like in the picture I showed you last week.

Paul is such a happy and delightful little boy. We are so grateful that he is a part of our lives!

Six Months Old

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Paul is six months old today. I can’t believe it’s already been six months! I can’t believe it’s only been six months! I can’t remember life without him and yet it’s all flying by. The last two months, since our USA visit, have passed quicker than any other two months in my life, I think. I just want to cuddle my baby before he gets too big!

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Six Months Checkup

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Although Paul isn’t six months old for a few more days, today was Paul’s six-month checkup. Here are his stats:

  • Weight: 7530 grams (35th percentile)
  • Length: 66 cm (35th percentile)
  • Head circumference: 43 cm (25th percentile)

Paul has had a cold and cough for almost four weeks. We went to the doctor (again) on Monday when it had been about three weeks and she prescribed an antibiotic for the cough. The antibiotic has adverse side effects, which makes me not want to give it to him. He also had developed a rash on his neck, so we got ointment for that. The rash is gone and his cough is mostly gone as well.

I look forward to Paul being 100% better next week, just in time for his next immunization!

What is Paul doing between coughs and baths? First, Paul likes to have me read him books. He also likes to eat them.

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He also loves to smile and laugh, especially first thing in the morning, before he gets cranky.

Here are some more pictures, where he appears a little less babyish than he did in the Easter pictures and a little more little-boyish.

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Winds-day and Lesson 11: Faith in Jesus Christ

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Yesterday, I watched a wind storm.

Paul was napping. I sat at my desk, at my computer.

When I heard a strong wind whip through the trees, I looked out. Our house is on a hill so I see trees for miles.

The sky was cloudy and gray. And there was quite a wind. Autumn leaves fell out of the sky–yellow and orange–but so did bunches of green leaves. A branch whipped across the roof. The neighbors’ garbage cans across the highway toppled over, the “for sale” sign was uprooted, and trees seemed to bend. Our lights flickered. One tree bent close to our home, and I heard something banging against our roof.

I worried: I rushed to Paul’s room.

Paul slept soundly. His eyes remained closed, and he sighed in his sleep. He brought his hand nearer his mouth and bumped his pacifier, which rested on the mattress now. He sighed again and turned his head to look at the wall. I heard the wind, but it was distant. All was calm.

I watched him sleep for a few minutes. Then I left his room, closed the door, and sat at my desk again. I don’t know why I panicked and raced to him during the wind. We were safe inside our home. The wind wasn’t going to knock down our walls: they are strong. We were safe.

But as I watched him sleep, I felt this sudden out-of-control feeling: He’s going to grow up. He’s going to go outside, into the world, away from me. Will he be strong enough against the winds, or will they topple him?

And now, my [son], remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

— Helaman 5:12

After a little while, the winds calmed, with only an occasional burst. The clouds didn’t retreat, but the sky lightened a bit.

And then there was a burst of wind, and a full-grown tree toppled over, right through our neighbor’s yard and our neighbor’s fence and our fence and into our backyard.

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As I’ve thought about the tree (and watch it sitting rudely on our lawn), I realized it was only after the worst of the storm was over that the tree succumbed. It had been weakened. In a very real way, the tree it wasn’t strong enough against the winds.

I had thought that the lesson for Sunday school this week was about faith; most of the manual discusses what faith is and examples of faith from the scriptures. But then I looked at the title: Faith in Jesus Christ. It’s not just faith; the first principle of the gospel is “faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.” Believing, a general faith, is not enough to sustain us through the “mighty winds” that the adversary will send our way.

We can have faith that the sun will rise tomorrow; we can have faith that a seed will grow. But we must have faith that Jesus Christ truly did atone for our sins. That is how we return to our Heavenly Father. It is only in and through Christ that we can return to Him.

Joseph Smith called faith “a moving cause of action” and “a principle of power.” It is not a passive concept. The power of faith is incredible: the walls of Jericho came down, Enoch moved mountains, Jared beheld the finger of the Lord. I think of what those people had to do to exercise such faith. Then I think of the power I can receive by exercising faith in Jesus Christ: the ability to return to my Heavenly Father, despite my shortcomings. Wow! That’s more than moving a mountain in my mind.

I must actively build my foundation in Christ, and I must teach my son to build such a foundation. I can only do that if I rely on my own foundation: I am imperfect, but through Christ, I can be perfect.

I must teach my son that he belongs to God, for he is a child of God first. God has entrusted his spirit to me. What a responsibility!

I suspect I’ll always want to check on him when the winds come, even when the day comes that I must let him go outside, into the world. How will his foundation fare against the “mighty winds?”

Lesson 11 of 45

Aussie-American Translation Guide

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I’ve been in the country for more than nine months now. I’ve been picking up some of the language they use. For your convenience, here is a handy guide for your study.

Disclaimer: While I hear these terms on a daily basis, I do not use them. I will not be held responsible for how ridiculous you, as an American, will sound when you try to speak Australian slang. We Americans just can’t pull it off.

Australian English American English Sample Sentence
Aussie citizen of Australia (pronounce Ozzy)
bench counter Put the refreshments on the bench.
bubs a nickname for a baby Bubs is getting so big!
car park parking garage There is a car park around the corner from the library.
Cheerio! So long!
cot crib Paul only sleeps well in his cot.
dummy pacifier Paul thinks his dummy is yummy.
hamper basket The week before Christmas, bring some fruit for hampers for the poor.
heaps a lot Last week, it rained heaps.
How you going?/How are you going? What’s up? or How are you doing?
mozzies mosquitoes There are so many mozzies tonight!
nappy (-ies) diaper(s) Paul has a wet nappy!
supper a light refreshment in the evening After the baptism, we’ll have supper in the foyer.
tcha OK/the end of a conversation
tea (1) The evening meal; (2) mid-afternoon snack; (3) a hot beverage (1) Would you like to come to tea Sunday after church? (2) She said she’d bring some rolls for tea for new mum’s group Tuesday. (3) do you really need an example?
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