Misc. journal things

I have a number of little things on a list I've been keeping of stuff to write here - since this is my journal. I'll start with the things most recently on my mind.

Jonah -

Yesterday (June 9), Jonah took his first steps! Well, he had taken a single step as he moved between things for a while, but yesterday, we held out our hands to him, and he walked back and forth a little bit. He's been capable of it for a while. It's fun.

I forgot to mention before that his most frequent word is "this." He gestures toward what he wants or where he wants to go, and says, "This!" His newest words/sounds are "uh-oh," "quack" (cack), and "Sssss" for a snake.

Jonah always wants to be outside. If he hears someone go out without him, he screams. He'll also stand by the door and cry. It is kind of a pain, since you always have to be doing something with him - pushing him in his car or in the swing, etc. (For his birthday, I belatedly bought a little push car.)

Here is a picture of Jonah when he climbed into the sandbox after it had been left uncovered in a rain storm:

Tori-

I went shopping the other evening for a shirt or two for me, and took Tori. I got a bunch of things to try on and went into the dressing room with her. She would excitedly hand things to me and say, "This one next." Then, when I had it on, she would fling out her arms and exclaim, "You look like a beautiful princess!" I hate trying things on in front of those big mirrors, but it was a little more bearable this time! :)

Tori is very sensitive to anything anyone says that she perceives as mean. When we reprimand her, her face will slowly get a sad little look and then she'll start to cry. She'll often come tell me that Eli said a mean thing to her, and when I get her out after a time-out, she'll say, "Mama, you were mean to me." (Which, of course, I never am.) So anyway, the other day we were eating while John was in another room for a minute, and Tori wanted to blow bubbles in her milk. She said some meandering sentence about it that ended, "....Daddy will be mad at me and will tell Heavenly Father sorry to be mean at me." (We've talked about repentance recently.)

I think I mentioned that John gave Tori a blessing to keep her from being scared in the night. It made quite an impression on her, and she has mentioned it multiple times. The other day, I was listening in as she played with her stuffed animals. Big Mickey was telling little Mickey that he didn't have to be scared now, because Goofy had given him a blessing.

We have some ducks from the pond across the street that have started sleeping in our yard at night. We love it, but the other morning, we found that they had slept on the patio, and pooped quite a bit there. Later, I wondered if the cat was inside, and Tor said very matter-of-factly, "No, she went out to poop with the ducks." (Ah, that bathroom humor.)

Tori and Eli-

Whenever the kids want us to listen to something funny they're going to say, they always begin with, "Hear this!" as in, "Hear this: Hello, Santa Paws!" or the recent favorite, "Hear this: Good night, underpants!"

I may have mentioned this, but whenever we get excited about something Jonah has done, the other two will immediately pretend to be a baby accomplishing the same thing. So, of course, yesterday when Jonah walked a few steps, we also had Baby Tori and Baby Eli walking to us. This strikes me as a pretty healthy way to get the attention most kids probably need when a baby monopolizes the spotlight, so I certainly don't mind praising all of my babies. :)

Eli-

My kids love hot chocolate and want it often. I make it a bit watery, so I don't have to feel too bad about it. One day, John said that he made it for Eli - with the fulll amount of chocolate - and Eli said something like, "Wow, what did you put in this? Marshmallows?"

I wrote about Tori wanting to be held when she's sad. I didn't want to detract from Tori's write-up, but I should mention that Eli does the same thing: when he's sad or upset with me, he'll put up his arms and say, "Hold me!" which is endearing.

Misc. -

I forgot to write about our Cinco de Mayo dinner. I made southwestern omelettes, because I was out of hamburger and chicken at the last minute. But I made flan, which John really liked on his mission in Mexico. It was a little tricky, but they turned out well. (Or at least John praised them, so assuming he was being sincere...)