Innovative shoes?

Like most little ones, Vanessa really loves trying on others' shoes. In recent months she's decided she likes to try on all kinds of other things too, and try and walk around in them. She often asks "Shoes?" These are great opportunities to talk about too big, too small and the fact that some things just don't work well for walking. For instance, she's tried putting boxes on her feet that were way too small. She's also tried purses. :) Here are a few other examples . . .

Oven mitts?

Mailing tube? (And yes, she tried standing up with it on.)

Daddy's tubesocks?

And -- If I put my good shoes on can we go?

"Bathing Soup"

It's now a surprise to us when we can get Vanessa to wear anything other than her bathing suits. She sports them proudly! And she's blessed to have a selection!

Andrew!

Hope your birthday was great!!! Andrew just celebrated his ninth birthday.

During a recent visit Andrew and his brother Zach were brainstorming all kinds of creative things. (They amaze me with their creative thinking and natural curiosity.) One of those things had to do with creating pottery out of sand. Would just adding water to sand and then molding it to the shape of a container work? We decided we needed to test this idea to find out. Andrew and Zach molded the sand to the shape of measuring cups and then set the cups in the sun to speed up the evaporation process, hoping once the water evaporated the sand would hold together in some way. Andrew made several requests for me to follow up with him regarding the results since their visit was coming to an end that afternoon. A couple weeks later I spoke with Andrew on the phone. He was quick to ask me how the experiment worked. I gently shared with him that unfortunately it didn't. We discussed how adding an adhesive might work for helping the items hold shape.

Andrew, as I've been thinking of you, I couldn't help but check out some stuff to share. Hope you enjoy this information on sandstone, ways for making sand hold shape, and products that might be of interest to you!

1. Sandstone - Nature's Process: "Sandstone is a coarse-grained sedimentary rock formed by the consolidation and compaction of sand and held together by natural cement, such as silica. An extremely hard and tough material, it consists of consolidated masses of sand deposited by moving water or by wind. Largely the cementing material often determines the color of the rock, iron oxides causing reddish-brown or red sandstone, and the other materials producing white, yellowish, or grayish sandstone."
More . . .


2. Interesting Products: Moon Sand and DeltaSand


3. US Patent 5711795 -- Compressible and Moldable Toy Sand Composition

Special Gifts

The greatest gift I ever had came from God -- I call him Dad!

It is pure joy to watch Adam and Vanessa together. He was quite apprehensive about the idea of a little girl. Finding that out early allowed us to adjust to the thought -- what do we do with a little girl?! We had names for little boys just because we thought for sure . . . I had names for little girls too, but Adam didn't settle for any of them. Our pregnancy was consumed with questions for names. And we'd to and fro over the short list we'd consider when she arrived. Vanessa was in this world for a day and half before receiving her name. Adam named her, giving her a first and middle name. Vanessa wasn't even a contender on the extremely short running list. What a gift to her . . . and didn't he do an awesome job -- is there anything more fitting than Vanessa Marie? Being daddy comes naturally for Adam. He spoils her in all the right ways and loves her immensely. He insists on lots of hugs, kisses, and rough-housing. He's truly a gift to her (and her mommy too.)

Doesn't it show?

On-Off

One of Vanessa's new things in recent weeks is turning the stair light on and off. Unlike the light operating by a flip of the switch, we often find it hard to turn off Vanessa. :)

We're not too crazy about her climbing and standing on the back of the chair to reach the switch, so she's been asked several times to put her bottom down.

Here she is pretending she's just up there to go to sleep, but she can't help but hear the switch calling her name . . .

I'm not up to anything!

Quick . . . Daddy's not watching and I just have to turn it off one more time!

Naturally Betz

You know it's in her blood when 89 days (when this was taped) before the Buckeyes begin their 2009 football season, Vanessa out of the blue chanted her "O-H-I-O!" And better than that -- she did it again so I could tape her. (Definite turning point with the camera.)

Make Believe and Other Random Notes

Vanessa really loves to play make-believe in many ways. There's a slight theme with this post -- Vanessa playing make-believe with food and drink.

Since we recently downloaded footage from our camera, I have more to share! And for those always asking for us to post video -- this influx is for you! But don't get used to it. ;-) I think this video might be one of Vanessa's turning points for her dislike of one using the camera to take pictures or shoot video of her. Up till recently anytime we would get one of the cameras out, Vanessa would stop what she was doing and come running over and then end up mad that we wouldn't share the camera with her, making our efforts worthless. In this video she only gets a little bashful when beginning to sing her rendition of I'm a Little Teapot. (She can typically do the arm and spout pretty well, and she also incorporates the squat pretty well, but you won't see that so much in this video since she caught me taping her. She does her best performance when you're "not" watching her, like many little ones, although I know some who love the camera!!)

And on Wednesday Vanessa and her mommy shared some make-believe soup. Here's how it played out . . . (Right after soup I ran into the kitchen to type this, just so I wouldn't forget!)

Vanessa: "Mommy, come sit down? Soup?"

Mommy: "Sure, let's have some soup."

Vanessa: "Okay!"

[Vanessa pours soup in small metal bowls using a small measuring cup as a ladle.]

Vanessa: "Amen. Ready?"

Mommy: "Mmmmm . . ."

Vanessa: "Is it good?"

Mommy: "Yes, very good."

Vanessa: "Yummy . . . all done?"

Mommy: "Yes, thank you. Should we clean up?"

Vanessa: "No, it's okay."

I like her thinking sometimes! She doesn't worry about all the messes all the time, only certain times. I need to be more like that!

Then this morning we had all kinds of things for breakfast, real and pretend. This picture makes me think how recently we've had to start developing rules for the family table. Our compromise for Vanessa sometimes wanting to come to the table naked is that she must at least have a diaper on. We'll work our way back to being fully dressed at the table and then add that rule later.

Now that you're curious, here are a few rules we've come up with so far:

Rule #1: Everyone must have underwear or a diaper on at the table. Rule #2: We don't rest our feet on the table while we're eating. Rule #3: We don't use the table cloth as a blanket.

Also, something I think has helped with Vanessa's "performing" for the camera has been turning the display so she can see herself as you tape her. We've been doing this for a while now, but now she watches rather than gets consumed with her desire for the camera. This video can be a little hard to watch since I can't really see what we're taping and Vanessa's moving all over the place, but it's still fun and cute enough to share.

"Is it fun?"

Vanessa kept asking me if it was fun to be in the water. She asked almost the entire time she was playing in the pool. Sometimes she would slip in there "Is it funny?"

It was too hot yesterday to not play in water! And after the day Vanessa had, she needed some relaxing water play.

Adam: "Aww . . . look at her little footprints . . ."

And this was hilarious. Adam has a habit of picking up small objects and juggling them. (I admire his ability to juggle.) A few seconds after he did just that, Vanessa picked up two of her squirtable sport balls to try it herself. (I broke it up into two videos for uploading purposes.)

Intimidating

Okay, so those older boy cousins can be intimidating . . .

And Vanessa, why did your mommy bring out such a small pitcher of water for three kids to share? Can you say torture?! Lucky for you, your daddy came to the rescue and got those boys to back off. :)

Seriously, Vanessa isn't usually so timid around other kids, no matter the size, but being so tired and irritable made her want some protection from daddy.

Support Batten Disease Research and Awareness

Most of you heard in some form that the Batten Disease Awareness Days were this last weekend. Out of our love for Celia, we want to take this opportunity to thank most of you for sharing her story, information regarding Batten Disease, and ways to support ongoing research and care for her. I also want to take this opportunity to share with Andy and Jenni that so many of our friends and family continue to share their concerns and many thoughts and prayers for them -- too numerous to be certain we’ve shared each one . . .

And let us share again about how you might be able to support awareness and research for Batten Disease. (Just in case some of your emails end up lost in the thousands you receive each day. I know I can’t keep up! Or perhaps it’s been on your to-do list but you never get that far down the list . . . I can relate! These are really easy things to do, though. And of course it’s well worth the few minutes! And maybe posting the info here will make it easier for you and for sharing with others.)

1. As of May 1, 2009 you can use your KrogerPlus card in Ohio and parts of WV to support research and awareness. With your KrogerPlus card in hand, sign in or create an account at http://www.krogercommunityrewards.com/. Click on Edit Kroger Community Rewards information and input your Kroger Plus Number located on the back of your card. Enter the new NPO (non-profit organization) code for BDSRA which is 83592 and click on Confirm. To verify you are enrolled correctly, you will see the organization's name on the right side of your information page.

2. You can also switch Google for GoodSearch or GoodShop and designate BDSRA as your charity of choice. Visit www.goodsearch.com to learn how a few mouse clicks can earn extra money for BDSRA.

Art 101

A few weeks ago Vanessa drew her first really sensible-like drawing. She concentrated really hard to control the pen. It would be hard for me to believe she set out to create something in particular, but when I asked her what the drawing was, she said mommy. I told her that I was convinced it was a dinosaur. :)

And Grandpa created a four-sided figure for Vanessa to color in. Not that any of us expect her to stay within the lines, but she likes to use her remarkable fine motor skills to try, and Grandpa knew that.

Also a few weeks ago, Vanessa found a post-it note on the floor. I had my back to her, ducked down in a cabinet fetching some drawing paper when I turned around to see Vanessa trying to color on this post-it note. It was very interesting to watch . . .

Washing your mouth out . . .

Vanessa has lots of words but so far she hasn't used any to warrant a washing out of her mouth (not that we're considering this route of discipline, especially at such a young age, and since I didn't learn a thing from it when I was younger . . .) However, when asked to wash off after meals, Vanessa prefers to wash her tongue first. She's pretty good about washing her hands, chin and neck, and she likes to describe the process as she goes, but for some reason she loves the feel of a clean washcloth on her tongue. This isn't some weird family ritual we're teaching her. And when we talk about it with her, we end up encouraging her. I'm sure our uncontrollable laughing doesn't help either -- but one can't help but laugh since she always looks so serious when doing it!

Nectar Overdose

I wasn't surprised to lift this bloom and see a dead bee clinging to it. The Evelyn rose is known for its beautiful blooms and for the fragrance of those blooms. I wonder if the bee had a little too much nectar. I nudged it to see if it was just nectar drunk, but it didn't appear to be.

I've also heard that people can be stingy with sharing Evelyn blooms. So I hope you'll consider us generous for sharing a picture. :)

We purchased this rose a few years back in honor of Vanessa's maternal great grandmother, Evelyn.

Jade

Vanessa's cousin Jade recently turned 10. She's now a tween! Do you remember how cool that was?! (I remember making quite a deal out of my tenth birthday -- like I had entered a rite of passage . . .) We don't get to see Jade as often as we'd like but we think of her often.

Jade is blessed with an incredible artistic ability and has participated in a gifted program. She loves horses. And she loves her kittens (now cats, I'm sure.) She's never been a girly girl but she doesn't refuse nice clothes and nail paintings every so often.

We love Jade and hope she had a great birthday!

By Jade ~ May, 2009