Open Doors and Doggerel Ditties

Today's favorite moments included . . .

. . . Daniel calming down when I sing to him. I just sing little doggerel ditties about how much I love him and how cute his feet are, but I guess he finds their familiarity soothing.

. . . eating cashews. Sometimes they're just so good.

. . . Joy saying that some mint-chocolate cookies we made were "picey" (spicy). Years ago I visited Cathy's family, and when her young niece declared that a carbonated drink was "picey" I thought it was the cutest thing I'd ever heard. It made me smile to hear my own daughter use the same pronunciation all these years later.

. . . reading part of Luke 2 with Joy at scripture time. This afternoon she asked me to tell her a story about "people," so I told her about the shepherds who saw angels near Bethlehem when Christ was born. When I mentioned that the story was in the scriptures, Joy requested that we read it when we got home. We agreed to put our Book of Mormon reading on hold tonight and read from Luke 2 instead. It was sweet to read that marvelous story together.

Not-so-favorite moments:

. . . dozing off and having Joy awaken me with a poke to the nose.

. . . realizing that after I left the car door open for Joy to climb out in our parking spot, I never got around to closing it. Fortunately, a perceptive neighbor apprised me that my car door was still wide open . . . three hours later. Miraculously, my battery wasn't dead (yet).

And another thing . . .

. . . self-reliance was not a high priority among the Hendrickson kids today. Daniel's coming down with another little fever, so he wanted me to carry him everywhere, and when we came in from the car Joy was pretending she was blind and wanted me to lead her by the hand through the parking lot.

Also, it's hard to know how to classify the memory of rocking my toasty little boy this evening. I love cuddling and comforting him, but it's sad that he wasn't feeling well. Thank goodness for medicine to bring his fever down.

Cider and Song

Today's favorite moments included . . .

. . . drinking mulled cider with my sweetheart (tasty mulling spices courtesy of Trader Joe's).

. . . Daniel watching in bemused wonder as Joy and I sang a discordant duet of "We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet" during family home evening.

Not-so-favorite moment:

. . . Daniel opening the closet door and revealing Daddy's and my hiding place when we played hide-and-seek for home evening. Ironically, Joy saw me immediately, but she didn't find Daddy until Daniel opened the door a second time.

The Chard Cometh

Today's favorite moments included . . .

. . . making some really great rolls.

. . . having relatives to dinner.

. . . making garden plans. I think I'll plant some chard.

Toys and Tag

Today's favorite moments included . . .

. . . playing tag with Joy while we were out for a walk. She would chase me as I quickly pushed Daniel in the jogging stroller while he kicked his feet in excitement. Eventually Joy would call for me to slow down, whereupon I would start walking and she would catch up and tag me. Then I would tag her right back and start running again.

. . . hearing Joy chime as she walked around the house. She put her star stacker in her backpack, and every time she took a step something else in the backpack bumped the stacker's music button.

. . . taking my kids to a toy store and watching them play with lots of fun things.

Not-so-favorite moment:

. . . Joy asking me for nearly everything she saw in the toy store. Apparently she absolutely needs a watch, a glittery ball, a rocket launcher, and a plastic ear of corn, among other things.

Improv and Roadblock

Today's favorite moments included . . .

. . . hearing Joy's adaptation of a Thanksgiving song Pink Grandma taught her. Joy began with the usual chorus: "Pilgrims and Indians ate together, Pilgrims and Indians ate together . . ." then she added her own lyrics: "Pilgrims and Indians jumped on the bed, Pilgrims and Indians jumped on the bed . . ." As if that weren't enough, she then improvised a whole extra verse about Pilgrims and Indians jumping on the bed, sung to the tune of the hymn Come Thou Fount. I tried to laugh as quietly as possible so I wouldn't disrupt the creative process.

Not-so-favorite moment:

. . . happened while I was riding down the mall escalator with my kids. I was holding Daniel, and Joy was standing behind me. When we reached the end of the line I stepped off and looked back just in time to see that Joy had fallen on her toosh at the bottom and thirty people were about to pile down onto her. I grabbed her foot and yanked her out of the way just before an elderly couple fell on top of her. Yikes.

Game Day

Today's favorite moments included . . .

. . . playing Settlers of Catan with Pink Grandma.

. . . playing the Thanksgiving Alphabet game. This year's alphabetical list of things we're grateful for is:

Apple Slices

Bread & the Brain

Cookies

Daniel

Electronics

Family

Gerbera daisies

the Heart

Inspiration

Joy

Kimberly

Love

Medicine

Nuts

October

Phillip and Priesthood blessings

Quail

the Restoration

Spencer and Stained glass windows in the temple

Time

Uruguay

Vladimir Horowitz

Wheels

eXternal hard drives

Yellow Sunshine

Zyzzyx Road

Tastes of Zion

Today's favorite moments included . . .

. . . having my family all under one roof. I love hearing my brothers laugh together.

. . . dropping off some food at a local charity, and seeing the place abuzz with volunteers and other donors. It makes me feel like my town is a true community when I see so many people caring for others.

And another thing . . .

. . . my favorite Joy quote of the day: "Daniel's cranky, but I'm not. I'm just frustrated."