dinner song

Tonight waiting for dinner, Bethany made up a new song. Sung to the tune of Frere Jacques, the words are:


I love pizza
I love pizza
I love you
I love you

I love pizza
I love pizza
I love you
I love you


Of course as soon as she decided that she would rather have a banana, she substituted this for pizza.

Her life is a musical and we're just living in it.

A month?!?!

SO SORRY!!! And I guess I didn't get a chance to blog anymore before going to SAI-Land!

Well, swimming lessons are over. Bethany had her last day (in clothes) on Tuesday. And NO, she wasn't thrown in. The way our instructor did it was to hold her up on the deck of the pool and help her "fall" in. The instructor is in the pool. So nothing really traumatic. And Bethany did great. On Monday, she was even just swimming and coming up for air! It was so funny! What they teach them is to swim a bit, turn over and float, then turn back over and swim again. She can do this, but on Monday she (twice!) was swimming, came up for a breath, and kept going! It was amazing!

As I said previously, Bethany's life is a musical. She makes up songs about EVERYTHING! The other day, Bethany was eating pretzel sticks and had one in each had and was drumming them on the table. Only she wasn't just plain drumming. She would do them to the right, then to the left. I looked at Nathan and said, "Maybe she'll play the timpani". A minute later Bethany looked up and said, "I'm playin' the timpani", and continued drumming. She gets so excited when she hears music. Many times if we're in a store that plays muzac, she will find the speaker on the ceiling and say, "there's the 'usic!" (she always leaves off the "M" so it sounds like "yousic"). Today I went into a music shop to buy some clarinet reeds and my mom helped Bethany play a little set of bongos. When I came over to them she said, "I'm playing yousic!" So amazing.

Bethany is very into (against my wishes) the color pink and princesses. I do not know where this came from. Nathan and I always said that if we had a girl we would not own many pink clothes or stress "girly" things. But, it never fails. If I hold up two outfits and one is pink, she ALWAYS picks the pink one. And now that she has a couple of dress-up outfits, she puts them on and says, "I'm princess Bethany". Oh, well. At least it's cute, right?

So I have lots of pictures and stuff that need to go up. Hopefully Nathan can find some time to get on here and blog about SeaWorld. And I'll blog some later about our Disney trip, too. Until then!

"Bethany - the Musical"

I haven't quite figured out B's personality completely yet (I mean, she just turned 2), but from what I can tell so far, she will be a performer. She's already very comfortable with a microphone and everything she does she turns into a song. For example, we were outside this afternoon and she got some mosquito bites. When we came in I asked her if I could put alcohol on them. She proceeded to walk around the house singing a made-up song about alcohol. She just kept singing the word different pitches, different lengths, different rhythms...she is so amazing. Of course, Nathan and I aren't sure if it's a good thing for her to be singing about alcohol right now! :)

She sings about everything - socks, shoes, food. And when she's not making up a song, she's singing another one. This morning we awoke to a serenade of "Jesus loves the little children". Other new songs in her repertoire are: God Bless America, God is so Good, Bingo, Rain Rain Go Away, and a variety of songs from Little Einsteins and JoJo. Once our chaotic life settles down, we'll do some more recordings.

The other day I put B's hair up in a single ponytail. It was so cute. I put this little bow clip by the hair tie so it looked like her hair was tied with a bow. And, of course, she had some wisps of hair around her face that didn't go back. At one point I looked at her and it was as if I was looking in a mirror. I got a flash of one of my dance portraits of when I was 6 or 7. It was an odd feeling. I've always thought she looked a bit like me, but that was weird!

I'll write some more tomorrow before I hit SAI-land on Wednesday!

Swimming Lessons

On Tuesday, Bethany started her swim lessons. Now, these are not your typical swim lessons. The organization is Infant Swimming Resource. It's more training for survival in the water. So, if she were to fall in a pool when no one is around, she should know how to either roll over and float or get to the wall or the steps. It's a little difficult for me to watch, but she really is learning. She's only had three lessons. The lesson only lasts 10 minutes but the whole time she's screaming, "MAMA! MAMA!" which totally breaks my heart. But she does what Miss Becky tells her and she's learning that when Miss Becky lets her go, she better grab that wall! So I sit there with tears of anguish and pride at the same time. It's a weird feeling!

We were in Grandma's pool yesterday and she asked me to swim to the steps. Now, I kept my hand on her a little bit so it wouldn't scare her the same way it does with Miss Becky. I want to make sure she doesn't end up being scared of swimming all together. This was Miss Becky's idea. Anyway, she swam to the steps several times. Her head would be slightly under every time. Then she would "jump" off the step to me. It was really more like stepping off to me. But each time I would inch backward so she was "swimming" a little more each time. She seemed to enjoy it!

The funny thing is, as much as she screams in the water, everyday when we've left she's said, "I have fun Miss Becky". So, she doesn't object to going back. She just starts screaming as soon as we hand her to Miss Becky. Oh, well. I'm sure she'll get over it eventually. This can't go on for a full 5 weeks, right?

pictures up

Okay, here are the pictures from the birthday bash. Enjoy!

Birthday and other stuff

Wow. I am still incredibly exhausted. What a big weekend.

Bethany turned 2 on Friday. When did that happen? Anyways, we opened some presents that morning and Daddy fixed pancakes, to which B replied, "I LOVE pancakes!" We gave B a new bathing suit, some sidewalk chalk, and a new Polly Pocket. We lost the other one somewhere. We think in Lowes.

Saturday was crazy. We had about 25 people over for B's birthday party. Thank goodness we had good weather. I don't know where we would have put all those people inside! Bethany got a lot of great stuff - books, a DVD, clothes, puzzles, a slide for the back yard, dress up clothes, a little plush JoJo, a JoJo car, and a play kitchen (along with a ton of stuff to go IN the kitchen). She was thrilled with everything she got. She carries that silly car EVERYWHERE! And she loves putting on her apron and chef's hat and cooking in the kitchen. She baked me some cookies today. She has spent a good 30 minutes on the slide at least 2 days since Saturday. She just had a great time. Nathan cooked on the grill, everyone ate, the kids played. I made B's cake and someone told her to go and say to me, "That was a good cake, Mama!", which of course she did.

That night, we were completely wiped.

Monday morning was B's 2-year check up. Now, I'd been telling her for a couple of days that we would be seeing Dr. Bell. She was getting very excited. Last time we saw Dr. Bell she was excited beforehand, but VERY unhappy while we were there. So she's playing very nicely in the waiting room when we get called back. We go in, get her undressed for the weigh-in (make your guess now, I'll tell you in a minute) and height measure. The nurse is great with her (we've had her before), takes her temp, measures her head. Bethany is fine through all of this. The nurse gives us a book while we wait and then Dr. Bell comes in.

B: "Hi, Dr. Bell!"
DB: "Well, hello Bethany, how are you?"
DB: (Checks her with the stethoscope)"You are very wiggly!"
DB: "Can I look in your ears?"
B: "Yes"
DB: (Takes the ear thing off, so just the light thing is being used)
B: (Proceeds to open her mouth without being asked)
DB: "Thank you! Can you go like this?" (sticks out tongue)
B: (does so)
DB: "Okay Bethany, I'm going to check your tummy now" (lays her down and does)
DB: "Okay can I see you walk now?" (PICKS HER UP and puts her on the floor)
B: (without protest, walks to the door and BACK TO DR. BELL!)

Then I ask my questions, we talk a bit and then B says, "Bye Dr. Bell!"

I am in shock. Not one fuss, tear, whine, NOTHING!

As I'm getting her dressed (the Dr. is gone) she looks up at me and says, "I have fun Dr. Bell!" Great! Let's do it again!

We go out to the desk, she gets her stickers and we go out the door to the waiting area. She proceeds to the little picnic table in the waiting room. I say, "Come on B, we have to go." She responds, "I have to see Dr. Bell!" This had everyone in the room busting out laughing. I had to walk over and grab her hand to get her to leave! I said, "You just saw Dr. Bell. We have to go now." Luckily, she didn't protest further but I couldn't believe it! She talked about Dr. Bell the rest of the day.

I'll have some pics up from her birthday in a bit. Check her website for them.

BTW - Bethany is 23.5 lbs, 33.5 inches tall. For those wondering, that's 10th percentile for weight, 40th percentile for height. We've got a petite one here.

Socks on hands

Bethany has been putting her socks on her hands lately. I don't know why. This morning she had them on and we had a BIG battle to get them off to eat breakfast. She was very unhappy that we took them off. She screamed a LOT. So we excused her from the table since she was screaming. She finally returned to the table but would only eat sitting in one of the dining room chairs, not in her high chair. That was fine. She was fine at lunch, no problems. She was pretty tired this morning. We had rehearsal at church last night and didn't get home (or to sleep) until after 9:30. So she was just generally cranky anyway. But she has played very well all day. When I got home from running errands Bethany was listening to one of her CD's and dancing in the living room. She is so darn cute.

This is for Matt

Meaning, my friend's hubby, Matt, just complained on his blog that no one has been doing their blogging lately. So here's one for you, Matt.

I can't believe that Bethany is about to turn 2. We spent over an hour at Sears today having pictures taken. Some of them came out beautifully. We'll get them back in a few weeks. I can't wait!

I've been meaning to write down some of my favorite things that she says. One of my all time faves is, "Mup here ina bed!" Translation: "Come up here in the bed", when she wants to get in our bed. And, of course, I can't think of anything else while I'm sitting here at the computer. I'll try to be better about that.

B is so excited about her birthday party. She can tell you how old she'll be and what kind of birthday party she'll have ("Jojo party!"). Then when you ask her what we'll have to eat she says, "Cake?". Then, when asked, she'll sing "Happy Birthday" but includes, "...dear Mommy...". I tell her, "No, it's your birthday so we'll sing 'dear Bethany'". "NO!! DEAR MOMMY!" Ok, no more arguing about that!

She is still a very picky eater. We've tried several games/tricks to get her to eat, but she's just too smart for that. We're running out of ideas because one trick lasts just over 24 hours. After that, it's no good anymore.

Well, Matt. I hope that satisfied you a little. I'll try to write some on my other blog, too.

Toronto 2006

Here it is! Our first major family vacation (Not counting the 10-month trip to Hawaii). Check back daily for more fun updates!

Day Zero
Today we packed up and went to stay at a hotel by the Orlando airport. Our flight leaves at 8 AM so we didn't want to have to drive all the way from DeLand. It was an okay hotel. Nothing fantastic, as we were only staying there to sleep. The first thing Bethany went to was the round end table which she immediately called a drum and started banging on it.

We went to Chipotle for dinner. We hadn't eaten there in a while. Ever since we found Moe's and they've been popping up everywhere, we've only been eating there (for mexican, anyway). So we found a Chipotle and it was great! The kid's quesadilla was only $.75! And, they have beef, so I could get beef tacos. And since I ordered them off the kid's menu, I was able to only get two, instead of four. Very spicy, but very good. Nathan's burrito was gigantic. Bigger than Moe's. When we left Bethany said, "Bye Moe's!" Now that we've gotten her to say "Moe's" and not "Lowes" or "Toes" or "Cloe's" we go to Chipotle (which she couldn't quite get) and she calls it "Moe's". Oh, well. When we came back from eating we pulled into the parking spot outside our room and Bethany said, "We're home!"

At one point Bethany found Nathan's socks and put them on. She called them her boots. Now if you know Noggin and Laurie Berkner you know the song, "Boots". So B starts walking (stomping) around saying, "B-O-O-T-S, Boots!" Then when the socks wouldn't stay up on her, she totally freaked out. I found a pair of her socks and called them boots. She let me put them on her and she proceeded to repeat the stomping and singing in her own socks.

Getting her to bed wasn't too terrible. We put her down about 8:30 and she laid quietly but didn't actually go to sleep until about 9:30. That's pretty good though, since she's used to being in her own room by herself. Up at 5 tomorrow!

Day One
Up at 5 was not easy! We pretty much got everything packed up and in the car before having to wake up Bethany. We just have so much stuff! When we did get her up the first thing she did was wiggle her feet and say, "My boots, Mama."

So we get to the airport and we go to check in. The lady checking us in asked us if we were checking Bethany's car seat.

Nathan: "No, she has her own seat so we need it for her".
Lady: "No, I don't think so."
N: "Don't we need to put her in a car seat on the plane?"
L: "I don't think you do."

So we stand there for a few minutes trying to decide if we want to run it back to the car.

L: "Well won't you need it once you get there?"
N: "No, we're only using public transportation. Well, I'll just run it back to the car then."
L: "You don't have time to run anything back to a car, you have to go through security. There are long lines."

So we decide not to change our plans on a whim like that and decide not only to bring it, but to use it on the plane. It will probably keep her seated better than just sitting in the plane seat anyway.

When we get to security, the lines are nothing. When we get to the actual walk-through there are no plastic bins at the table. I see a woman on the other side of the detectors and tell her this. She says, "He'll get whatever you need". "He" was dealing with an elderly woman, examining her medical bag because she's convinced that none of it is safe to go through the X-ray. Meanwhile, an increasingly louder chorus of huffs and grumbles is coming from behind us. Keep in mind that we have three carry-ons (one of which has Nate's computer in it), a 2-year old, a stroller and all the jewelry and shoes that we have on. We finally get the bins and are putting stuff in them when a man comes from behind us somewhere, throws his bag on the conveyor and walks through the detector! Unbelievable! After we get through, Nathan tells me that the lady behind him tried to cut in front and walk through CARRYING her bags! I couldn't believe it. I wanted to tell some people they could go in front of us, but there were no bins and half of our stuff had already gone through. Rudeness.

Bethany was great on the plane. She started off kicking the seat in front of her and I told her right away (and just loud enough for the man in the seat to hear) not to do that. And she did pretty well. As soon as she would start to kick, I would tell her again, and she would stop. THEN, once we were in the air the man COMPLETELY reclined his seat. Now B is in her car seat so she's a little higher up and further forward than a normal person. So the top of his seat was about 8 inches from her face. Nathan leaned over and said, "Well, if she starts kicking again, just let her." I had thought the same thing! She kept saying, "I'm in the hey-pane!" Then she recited the dialogue from Little Einsteins when they blast off. It was pretty cute. During the flight she read some books, played with her Pooh figures and then watched Winnie-the-Pooh on our portable DVD player (best invention EVER!).

When we arrived we tried to find the shuttle that goes to different hotels downtown. We knew there wasn't one that went to our hotel but it went a few blocks over so we thought we could just take that one and then walk. Well, the shuttle costs $30 EACH round-trip. A flat rate taxi only costs $46 one-way and it would take us right to our hotel. We're glad we made that decision. We don't know how long we would have waited for that shuttle, either.

We went to eat lunch as soon as we got here. Luckily there is a restaurant in the hotel that's kind of like a Bennigan's or Friday's. It was good. We went walking around the city after that, just to check things out. Nothing else really exciting happened. We were really tired. B went right down and I fell asleep waiting for her to fall asleep. Nathan and I were out by 10. More tomorrow!

Day Two
Bethany woke us up a little after seven. We all slept really well. Today was gross. It was overcast and sprinkling. We decided to try to go down to Harbourfront, a shopping and dining district on the harbour (duh). Well, since you take the subway then a street car (which also is mostly underground down in that area) all the way down there, we had no idea what the weather was doing. When we came out onto the street it was POURING! We found our way into one of the shopping centers. There were a couple of neat shops that we went into. We bought Bethany a little Canadian flag. When she saw it in the store she said, "My little flag!", so for two bucks we bought it. We then tried to go down to the international market but halfway there decided it was just raining too much so we booked it back to the first shopping center. There was a small natural foods store (similar to Whole Foods) and we picked up some food and stuff to bring back to the hotel.

Today was the day Nathan had to go up to the Royal Ontario Museum for the panel discussion he was participating in. So I put B down for a nap and hung out in here (and blogged a ton) while she slept. I thought after she woke up we could go to the pool before eating dinner. When I called down to ask about getting towels the lady at the desk told me it was closed because they were painting, but to try in a couple of hours. I called back at five and this time a man told me it would most likely be closed all weekend. What?!?!? So I decided to just take Bethany on a walk around the hotel since it was still pouring outside. We stopped on the second floor (where the pool is located) and lo and behold there is nothing happening in the pool. Granted, no one was in there swimming, either, but there was certainly no painting being done. I go back down to the front desk and I say to the woman,

"Is the pool closed or not closed?"

She replies, "It's closed."

Me: "Well I was just down there and no one is in there and there are no signs or anything saying it's closed."

Her: "I just found out it's closed because they're painting."

So we came back to the room and hung out. I heated up my leftovers from last night and we ate. Bethany started getting very frustrated so we go on another walk. I decide to just see one more time. If no one is in there, we're going swimming. it's now six. Would you believe when we go in there, there is a family of SIX swimming in the pool? I went over to the mother and said,

"Were you not told the pool was closed?"

Lady: "No, why?"

Me: "I asked three times about the pool and everyone told me it was closed for painting." (I'm realizing at this point that it doesn't look like there is ANYTHING paintable in this room)

Man: "Well, we just checked in and I asked if there was a pool. They said yes and gave us a bunch of pool towels".

Me: "I can't believe it. Well, we'll be back".

When we get back to the room, Nathan has just arrived so I explain all of this to him and we all go down to the pool. I didn't want to complain to the front desk as I didn't want to take the chance of someone getting in trouble. But I'll say something in the next couple of days. Four girls even came in after we went in. So obviously, they weren't told it was closed. Anyway, we had lots of fun and then came back and went right to sleep.

Day Three
Today was a big day. We went to the Toronto Zoo. It was a long subway/bus ride out there. Bethany was very excited about the train and the bus. The Toronto Zoo is very large. We didn't even have time to see it all. The most amazing part was the Canadian animal section. We had to basically hike (it was all paved, though) down a gigantic hill WAY on the outermost part of the zoo. It is a 1.5 km walk. We saw grizzly bears, moose, bison, and others there. We also saw the usual zoo fare - giraffes, zebras, lions, tigers, etc. Bethany had so much fun. She named everything she saw. The best part, I think, was the polar bear. We got to them just before the keeper was to come out and talk. I guess people knew that she would have food and the polar bear would get up. So there was a HUGE crowd around the exhibit. Well, we decided to go to the underwater viewing since we figured once he's up, he may go for a swim. Well, he did. Bethany had a front row seat for the polar bear. As he swam by she said, "That's a big polar bear!!" What was really great was hearing the stampede of people up top come running down! I looked back at Nathan and he mouthed, "Just stay there" to me. We hit the gift shop on the way out and what does Bethany want? The cute little stuffed lion or elephant or giraffe? No. She wants one of those silly monkeys with the velcro feet. Ugh. Oh, well. That's what she wanted. Once she saw him she wasn't interested in anything else. He's starting to grow on me.

We went straight from the zoo to the house of someone met at the conference he attended recently in Minneapolis. He and his wife and two kids live in this great neighborhood called Bedford Park. They recently renovated a house and it was really cool. They had us over for dinner and we sat outside for drinks and appetizers and then came back in for dinner. We then played out front for a bit before going back in for dessert. We had a lot of interesting conversations, comparing Canadian life to American life. It was nice to do that instead of just keeping to ourselves all week and doing only "touristy" stuff. Bethany fell asleep on the way back to the subway and didn't wake up until Nathan went to put her in the bed. I mean, not even as we carried the stroller up and down subway steps. She was pooped. So are mom and dad.

Tomorrow - Niagara Falls! Should have some great pics tomorrow night!

Day Four
Wow. What an absolutely amazing day. It didn't look like it was going to be very good for Bethany, though. She woke up terribly upset and we kept asking different things that might be wrong. "Are you sleepy?" "Does your tummy hurt?" "Do you want to lay down with Mommy and Daddy?" All of those questions she just cried through. When we finally asked, "Are you hungry?" "YES!", was the reply. Okay. We had some Cheerios. She just screamed at them and pushed them away. She finally said, "Want some...waffles?" Ah, that was it. She has enjoyed the waffles at the free breakfast in the mornings. So we hurriedly dressed her and went down and got some WAFFLES!

Now we had planned on taking the 10 AM train from Union Station into Niagara. But, since Bethany woke up at 6:30, we thought we'd try to make the 8:30 train. We made it with 15 minutes to spare. Getting through Union Station was no easy task, however. Since it was 8 AM all of the commuters were rushing through and it seemed as if we were the only ones going the other direction. Then, we could find no elevators to get to the proper levels. So I'm carrying Bethany and Nathan is carrying the stroller and we're pushing through crowds and going up and down stairs. We finally made it and Bethany was so excited to go on the train. She did pretty well. It is a two-hour trip down to Niagara and it was a great ride. I would highly recommend it. We discussed looking into other places we could take a train to for future vacations.

When we got to Niagara, we then had to catch the Falls Shuttle. It takes you right down to the river front. You would not believe the insanity down there. It's like a cross between Las Vegas and CityWalk at Universal. We decided to check out a pizza place for lunch which our Rough Guide Toronto recommended. It was supposed to be worth the trip through the insanity to get to it. Well, apparently we went to the wrong one. The guide book recommended "Big Anthony's Pizza" and another restaurant called, "Remington's at Montana". They are right next to each other. Well when we got to the street where we were supposed to turn I could see "Montana's" and a pizza place (couldn't see the name but I knew they were supposed to be next door). We realized the similarity after we ordered our pizza. I said, "We were supposed to go to Big Anthony's. What happened?" Didn't matter. It was still good pizza.

We walked back down to the river and boarded the "Maid of the Mist". It is a boat that takes you on the river right into the middle of "Horseshoe Falls". It was so amazing. I started to cry. It was so overwhelming to be under the power of the waterfall. And then Bethany starts singing, "God is so good". I couldn't help it, tears just came to my eyes and I said, "He sure is, Bethany". She was so cute. She kept saying, "I'm getting wet!" If you look at the pics (scroll down to see the link) you'll see these cool ponchos they gave us to wear. It was funny seeing the other boats go out with all this blue on them. After our boat ride we walked down to the Rock House where the main gift shop and big lookout platform is overlooking the Horseshoe Falls. We took bunches of pictures so take a look.

We then started to walk back toward the shuttle stop but took a break in the park for Bethany to run around. Nathan took some great pictures of that, too.

Then, we came back to the hotel. Bethany made some friends on the train.

Tomorrow we're heading out to the Toronto Islands. Mainly for some fun run-around time for B. She's been couped up in the stroller a bunch. She deserves some time to run around. We're in a bit earlier tonight, so hopefully we'll get a little more sleep tonight. Enjoy the pictures!!!

Day Five
We were so exhausted from yesterday. Bethany slept a little later, but was still cranky from being tired and hungry. So what did we do? Of course, we went and got her waffle.

Today we went to the Toronto Islands. It was so neat. It was nice to just spend the day walking around enjoying the outdoors. We were also able to let Bethany out and run around. There was even a maze to go through. Bethany loved it, though according to her (and I'm not kidding here) it was "a dark, spooky forest". I can't wait to figure out where she got that!

We came back pretty early so we spent some time in the pool. Nathan and I both took a turn in the hot tub as our muscles have about had it. I was so stiff when I woke up this morning.

Tomorrow we're going to the CN Tower. We should get some pretty good pictures from that. Nighty-night!

Day Six
Okay, day six, finally! Sorry to keep you waiting (if you were waiting). Today we went to the CN Tower. We actually really enjoyed the trip there. We took the subway to Union Station and from Union Station down to the Rogers Centre there is this huge Skywalk. It's basically a tunnel that runs above the street for pedestrians. But it's really big.

The "big tall building" (Bethany says) was cool. Bethany enjoyed the "elegator" ride up to the top. It was neat looking out at all the places we had been. We also found the glass floor. It was basically a section of the observation deck that was windows on the floor. I forget exactly how many, but they said it could hold like four hippos or something like that. Bethany was very cautious (as was everyone else) about stepping on it. It was a very weird feeling. But once she got the hang of it she kept walking back and forth. Each time she got to one end she would say, "I made it!". You can see what I'm talking about here.

We had lunch in the cafe and saw the coolest emergency exit signs. So hysterical.

After going back to the hotel we checked out and got all our luggage stored downstairs. We then went for one more walk through the city. We visited an old church in downtown that was just beautiful inside. There's a huge park around it and people were just hanging out all around the church.

Then we headed back to the hotel for dinner. And then decided to rent a car. This would make getting me and Bethany to the airport much easier and then Nathan could drive himself to his conference location. It is really difficult to travel alone with a toddler. I was fortunate enough that the man at the check in desk helped me back to customs (Nathan wasn't allowed). But, he just left me there in line. I had our HUGE suitcase, Bethany in her stroller, and Bethany's car seat. I got through customs and then took a nice leisurely walk to check my bag. Once I got rid of that it was a little easier to strap the seat to the stroller and push it all together. After getting through security, of course.

Then we waited. The lady at the gate counter was nice enough to change our row so we would have three seats together to spread out. B was great again on the plane. She didn't sleep, though. But, she fell asleep on Nahna's shoulder while waiting for Papa to bring the car around.

Well, it was a great trip. I hope you enjoyed reading about our adventures. I enjoyed recording them like this. It's a nice alternative to scrapbooking!

toronto pictures

You can access pictures here:
http://www.lowkeydigitalstudio.com/temp/torontopics/
We'll add more as we take them and find time to post.

new job!

Well, on Friday I interviewed for and was offered the position of Concert Hall Manager at Stetson. This is a perfect job for me for several reasons. I will only have to be out of the house during the evenings and weekends. It involves music. I can do the organizational part of the job from home. I will be responsible for organizing the work study students who are supposed to work as stage crew or sound crew and making sure they do their jobs. It is a part-time job and the pay is very good. It is actually pretty comparable to the hourly wage of a school teacher. The job is a 10-month position as I can only do my job if something is going on at school! It really has worked out nicely. I'm really excited about it.

sad news

Yesterday morning one of my favorite teachers died. Ken Rogier was the band director at Union Park Middle School. I joined band in 6th grade at Union Park. Mr. Rogier was a great teacher. I can honestly say that if any one person was the influence for me going into music education, it was Mr. Rogier. He had a very gentle way about him. He wasn't one of those crazy band directors. He was patient and helpful. Mr. Rogier was interested in his students. He always made himself available for help or to make progress in our exercise books. That is the kind of teacher I aspire to be.

We'll miss you, Mr. Rogier.

little guys converse

In the last week and a half, Bethany has started projecting conversations onto her toys. By this I mean, she will speak for them and create audible exchanges between two characters without herself being part of the dialogue. Prior to this she would have some role, but I guess she no longer finds this necessary. Subtle, but I took note of it.

For example, tonight in the bath dolphin and fish were talking...

Dolphin: "How are you?"

Fish:"I'm Good."

D: "Wanna swim?"

F: "OK."

Both dive below the water and re-emerge.

D: "You're a good swimmer."

F: "Thank you. Bye-Bye now."

D: "Bye-bye now."

It's a little tough to be sure who said what though; she doesn't modulate her voice between characters. Give her time.

Hello?

This morning I was on the computer and Bethany came in the office. She picked up the mouse, gave it a good look underneath, held it up to her ear and said, "Hi!" Then she put it down and said, "It's not working", and left the room! She is such a hoot!

Fun with animal crackers

Bethany just finished eating lunch so I gave her a couple of animal crackers. She took one that looks like a horse and trotted it around her tray saying, "Giddy up horsey". Then she bit its legs off and scooted it around the tray saying, "Snail! Snail!" I just busted out laughing!

recording session

So I went into my office to get a few things yesterday, including the recorder. We sat down after dinner last night and ran through all the songs that B knows. This includes her ABCs and various other songs she likes to sing. Some require a few prompts from us, which you'll here in the recordings. She's not totally on her own, but she does sing to herself quite a lot now.

As a bonus, we brought out two of her bed time books that she have practically memorized. These are Goodnight Moon and Sandra Boynton's Going to Bed Book. She and I read these every night before she goes to sleep. More and more she has been interjecting bits on her own.

You can check out the results here.

singing those ABCs

I am regretting not bringing my recorder home this weekend. B has started singing her ABCs. She still has a bit of trouble with A through P. E comes out like A number 2. LMNOP is a mess. But once she hits Q, she is on cruise control. Right down to her "next time won you sing with me."

I'll get it recorded soon and posted for everyone to hear. Pretty stinkin' amazing.

games and too much like daddy?

Bethany is hysterical. Last night after dinner she was sitting on the potty. She looked into the bath tub and said, "Where'd they go?" (She was referring to her bath toys. They were in the other bathroom as she had a change of bathing location the day before.) "I don't know", I replied. Since I was trying to get her to poo-poo I said, "Where's the poo-poo?" "I don't know!" I just cracked up laughing. She is so clever.

For dinner I fixed baked penne. But before she would eat it, she lined up the noodles side by side. Gee, I wonder where she gets OCD behavior like that? :)

breakfast favorites

Grabbing breakfast for the 2 of us, like I do every morning. Got our orange juice set up and she tried to feed some to her baby doll. But apparently baby doll was too tired, because B walked her back to the bedroom to lay down.

She arrived back just in time to see me slicing a banana for her. Without a word from me, she said, "That's my favorite."

"Oh, really. You mean the banana?" I replied.

"I like it. It's yummy."

It's fun that we are starting to see on occasion some semblance of a conversation with her. But just to prove see is still a child...

She decided not to eat all of her Cheerios. So I gave her a piece of my bagel with peanut butter on it (a sure-fire hit). The problem is she licks the PB off instead of eating the bagel, so I am currently looking at a little girl with peanut butter all over her face.

"Messy face" as she put it.

"I can't reach it!"

This is what she said to me this afternoon as she was trying to reach my glass on the dining room table. She is saying the cutest things lately. Last night she requested that Nathan play "lion". They crawled on the floor for like 20 minutes acting like lions. Today, she wanted to play "horsey". She started trotting around the house and saying, "Mama, horsey?" So we both were trotting around and I got her saying, "Neigh!" and she was saying, "Giddy-up horsey!" "Bethany horsey!"

Today there was no story time at the library so we went to the park. But instead of going to our local park, we went to Gemini Springs park down in DeBary to do something different. It was really nice. They have a covered playground area and I swung Bethany on the swing and took her down the slides. She had so much fun. I brought our lunch with us so we sat down to eat and then took a walk down by the water. She loved watchin the ducks. "Hi, ducks!" Then when we left she said, "Bye, duck! Bye, other duck!" Then as we walked along the sidewalk back to the car I noticed the pavilions had numbers on them. I asked her to look at one and asked her what number it was. "Five!" Then, "Where's number 4? Where's number 8?" The next pavilion was 2. "What number is that?" "Two! Where's number 4?" "I don't know we'll have to try to find it!" Unfortunately, we never found number 4. Maybe next time.

She fell asleep on the way home (about 1:00) and slept until about 3:30. And then when she woke up, she just played quietly in her crib, talking to her friends and singing. It was so nice. Lately, she's been waking up and immediately crying out for me. So today was a nice change.