Poky Parks

I've decided to take the boys to as many parks in Pocatello as we can this summer. We have a few parks that we frequent quite readily. They are close to our house so we can load up the stroller and walk there in just a few minutes. This is Ammon Park.

It's pretty fun. There's just one portion of the playground that Robert felt comfortable climbing and playing on. Everything else was too big--monkey bars, a zip line thing.

We didn't need anything else though. He had fun, I had fun, Hank slept and Ricki Bobbi childded under the bench (on a leash of course).

Smiley Baby

One of the best parts of motherhood is seeing those first smiles.

Knowing that despite the tears (his and mine) we can gaze into each other's eyes and giggle together.

When all is said and done, those smiles shed beams of sunshine into my day.

Robert loves his hat. No one else get to wear his hat. It is his hat. The bond of brothers was established when Robert on his own accord decided to let Hank wear his hat.

I'm sure Hank is smiling under the hat too.

When the cupboard gives you spaghetti...

Today we went grocery shopping early, but came back without the baby shower gift I meant to include in the trip. So we fed Hank and loaded up again--the baby shower is tomorrow so it's today or never. Our cousins came over for lunch and playing outside which was way fun. Robert loves playing with his cousins. After they left I decided to make more granola bars. I opened the cupboard to grab the nuts and the spaghetti noodles were laying on their side tipped slightly toward the floor and out they came! There were noodles on the counter, the floor, the stove. I must of picked up 3 or 4 servings. I thought to myself as I was picking them up, I could really let this get to me. OR I could laugh and put them away in an upright jar so it doesn't happen again. I put them in the jar.

Grab 'n Go Bars

I cam across this recipe for granola bars. I made it "by the book" but next time I think I'll make a few changes. Here it is:
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup reduced fat peanut butter
3 cups Post Shredded Wheat Cereal, crushed
3/4 cup raisins

Mix sugar, honey, and peanut butter in a saucepan over medium heat until smooth and bubbly, stirring occasionally. Add cereal and raisins. Mix well. Press into 8x8inch grased pan. Cool and cut into bars. Store in airtight containter.

So I think I'll add 1/2 the brown sugar (1/4 cup instead of 1/2 cup) and find a substitute for the peanut butter. I like peanut butter but maybe not in every granola bar. Variety is the spice of life, ya know? Maybe I'll cut out the peanut butter and put in a little more honey--maybe molasses, but that taste is so strong it would just have to be a little bit. Instead of the cereal I'm thinking I could use oatmeal. My only hang-up with that is they aren't cooked and even quick-rolled-oats need to be cooked for a short amount of time, right? Then you could add whatever else you want: nuts, different dried fruits, sunflower seeds, etc.

So, anyway, Robert and I really like these.

Lessons learned

I find it interesting that I am still trying to master the lessons I'm trying to teach Robert: obedience, kindness, patience, saying nice things, and last but certainly not least, don't pee-pee on Mama's couch.

Memories

I am amazed by Robert's memory. Right after he turned 1 year old and I went to work for the school year, his babysitter's name was Liz Misner. I sent him with a green booster chair that originally had a tray that attached to it, but was broken at Liz's house.

Then the year he turned 2 years old and I went to work for the school year, his babysitter was Grandma Janet and she had her own set-up for eating so I put the booster chair away for a while. We haven't seen Liz this past year except for casual passings in the church a couple times.

Well, the other day I got out the green booster chair for Robert to sit on. I got it out and he said, "Hey, that's Liz's chair. Remember Mom, that table thing on it broke off." How in the world does he remember that?? I wonder if he'll retain that memory 3 years from now? I know my first memory is from between 3 and 4 years old. Definately not 18 months.


Here's another one...I like to put a little squeeze of lemon juice with water in my hospital water mug. Today Robert wanted to try some of the lemon juice. He didn't want it in his tractor cup--that's for milk. I dug out a cup I bought at the beginning of last summer when I babysat a little boy in our ward named Jimmy. It was the designated "Jimmy cup." I got it out and filled it with water and put a little squeeze of lemon in it and handed it to Robert. As we sat eating our lunch, he took bites of his food and drank from the cup for a few minutes. Then he looked at me and said, "Remember Jimmy, Momma?"

"Yes, I remember Jimmy, Robert."

"Is this Jimmy's cup, Momma? Remember Jimmy's Mom branged the food to our house?"

"Yes Jimmy used that cup. His momma, Lisa, brought us food when Hank came home from the hospital didn't she?"

What a memory! Maybe it's because he's my first and so I don't realize that all kids have this kind of memory at this age, but I think it's pretty incredible.

Blessing Day

Henry William Smart was blessed May 1st in our ward. Grandpa Bob took a peak during the blessing and said it looked like Henry was taking a glimpse at where he'd come from just 1 month ago.

If only little babies could share what they are thinking.

Easter from a 2 year old

Robert is approaching 3 years old this year--August. Anyway, Easter was this month and he helped me put out our Easter decorations. He loved looking in our enchanted Easter eggs and putting out all of our eggs and flowers, etc. We dyed eggs and had an Easter Egg Hunt which he loved.

Then comes the real meaning behind Easter. It's never too early to start teaching about Jesus. I've been telling him about Easter and the eggs and "we celebrate Jesus." Well, Easter was getting closer and closer. I started thinking that in nursery they might elaborate a little more than "we celebrate Jesus." So I started suggesting to Robert that Easter is about "Jesus was resurected." (2 "s"s?, 2 "r"s?)I have picture cards of Jesus that Robert looks at during Sacrament meeting and a couple of them have Resurection pictures. I got those out and showed Robert, "See Jesus was resurected. He has a body. He's living. He's not dead."

Well, as new things and ideas go with Robert, he put up a fight. "No Jesus was not resurected. He's not have a body. He is dead." I tried to explain that Easter is because Jesus got a new body. Jesus was resurected "No, Mom it's not time for resurected." Well, that part he has right I guess. We'll have to work on it through out the year so next year we can have Easter for real. Maybe by then I can at least get, "Yes Jesus has a new body."

Parenting really is a joy. Sometimes there are those rough spots, but overall the joys make it all worth it. Some parents might not agree I suppose. I haven't had to watch my kids suffer (thinking of my friend Mauri and her new baby Tanzi and my brother Jason and his son Connor).

Everyone asks if Hank is a good baby. I ask the same question to other new mothers. He has his good days and bad days just like the rest of us. I've been thinking, what baby isn't a "good baby." Some babies cry more than others or have a hard time sleeping, but does that make them bad? I think not.

Babies are such angels, so close to heaven, they are all good I like to think.

Robert is so funny. He's starting to answer questions with real answers instead of imagined answers--He's 2 and a half. We are really trying to teach him to be obedient and mind and he's catching on quickly. Just like the rest of us, he also has some days better than others. When he's not minding I call his attention to it and ask him to tell me what I asked him to do. Then I ask if he's minding me. Sometimes he says, "Yes, I am, " even if he's not so I point out what he IS doing and say, "you're not minding me. I asked you to . . ."

So yesterday I was in the front yard trimming our roses and he was outside playing. He climbed into the bed of our pickup truck (by himself--he's getting so big). He played there for a bit and then swung his leg over the tail-gate to climb down. His foot dangled about 2 inches above the bumper. I told him if he reached his foot a little bit more he could stand on the bumper and climb down. It was a little scary so he climbed back into the bed of the truck. I walked over to give him some moral support and told him again how close he was and encouraged him to try again. He asked if I would put "this" (the tale-gate) down. I encouraged him again to swing his leg back over and reach for the bumper.

Then with a stern look on his face he looked at me squarely and said, "Mama, you're not minding me. Please put this down." While he still has a lesson to learn that Mamas and Papas don't do the minding of their children, but children are to mind their parents, I saw that this was a situation that I needed to "mind." So, I put the tale-gate down and told him we could try reaching for the bumper next time. He promptly climbed down and moved on to the next thing.