Lucky

Once in while you just end up with a lucky day. Congrats on the new eyes and the extra padding in the wallet, Diane. You were almost as lucky as this guy:

Mya

Stefanie has started to play with Mya's hair a bit more, and the first time she had pigtails in her hair it made her look so much older. Figured it was time to jot down a few tidbits about Mya, a few months shy of 2 years old.

Words

• Mama
• Dada (used less regularly than mama)
• B - ABBA (now puts a B at the start of ABBA each time)
• Milk (without the K sound)
• Shoe (plural sounds like "shs")
• Hi
• Bye-bye
• Juice
• Wa-wa (water)
• Ball
• Ni-nigh
• Book (no k sound)
• Duck (again, no k sound)
• Dora
• Pack-pack (for backpack)
• Boots (the monkey and the footwear)
• Sun (said with a little dance, arms above head)
• Bubb0 (for bubble)
• Appo (for Apple)
• Nanna (bannana)
• Baby (high-pitch voice)
• She puts one finger up emphatically (more like a point) when you ask her how old she is.
• Also makes most animal sounds. Her dolphin imitation is classic.

Songs

She loves making the actions to songs as they are sung to her, but she rarely tries to sing along (with maybe one primary exception). We will find her from time to time off playing on her own, actually trying to sing the songs to herself in her gibberish talk, similar to when she sits down with a book and reads it to herself.

• Popcorn popping - her favorite, almost always willing to perform the actions on cue. And this is the one we spot her "singing" on her own the most often. She'll go through the actions of the entire song without making a single peep while she apparently goes through the song in her head.
• Row, row, row your boat - this is the song that she always tries to sing with us, with a very distinct "row, row, row", followed by some light mumbling and then a very high pitched "merrily, merrily, merrily" and then laughing for the rest of the song.
• Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam - instead of extending her fingers out for "sun-BEAM", she instead starts with her fingers extended and closes them into a fist quickly when we sing "BEAM!".
• Itsy-bitsy spider - One of the first songs she learned the actions to. Very emphatic when the rain comes down and washes the spider out.

Personality

• Still smiles a ton, and really laughs long and hard when in a playful mood...
• Which generally isn't when other people are around. She is getting quite an attitude when it comes to associating with adults other than Mom or Dad. I had her in priesthood meeting at church on Sunday and she would bury her head into my shoulder any time anyone would look at her.
• Continuing on the diva theme, she has started to stomp her feet and moan when not getting what she wants.
• Loves to climb up on the kitchen stools. If any of us walk into the kitchen or Afton gets up on a stool to eat or color or for anything else, Mya has to be on a stool.
• Extremely attached to her blankets. She knows immediately which blankets are hers and which are Afton's even though I often can't tell them apart. And she carries one around constantly and can't leave the house without it. We'll be standing by the door ready to get in the car, and once we say "Let's go bye-bye, Mya" she will run back to her bedroom to find a blankie if she doesn't have one already.
• Loves music. We still get big reactions when we start playing any music on the radio or TV, but she gets a huge grin and really starts grooving if "Summer Night City" by ABBA comes on. She'd prefer watching nearly any music DVD over cartoons.
• Is often a little shadow when we walk around the house. But she really loves to follow Afton around and to be involved in everything her big sister is doing.
• When not playing with Afton, she is getting better and better about having quiet play time on her own.
• Tries to be little miss independent, but is also very cautious. She goes up and down stairs on her feet, but is always holding on to something to steady her balance. She has to climb up into her car seat on her own; good luck trying to hurry her. She wants to walk next to us instead of being carried, but as soon as she hears the noise of a car or animal or another person she'll generally run right over and grab onto mom or dad.
• Loves being outside. Has to be the one holding the hose when helping mom water the trees and plants.
• In addition, she has to wear her "shs" all day long just in case anyone tries to escape out the door without her. Mom has been hiding them lately, so hopefully if they are out of sight, they're out of mind. We should start doing that with her blankie so the obsession will go away ;D.

"The Red Hots were for my mommy!"

No, that's not an argument between two small children fighting over candy. But rather from a professional pastry chef on Top Chef: Just Desserts.

If you want to watch an entertaining train wreck, check this show out. The hormone composition in the dessert kitchen is out of control. I've got no idea who is supposed to be masculine, feminine, sensitive...and it is clear that one of the specific criteria to make it as a pastry/dessert chef is to be as unstable emotionally as possible.

The episode this week had contestant Seth taking his complete meltdown turn, and I'm not talking about any chocolate volcano. The contestants were making desserts inspired by penny candies. His sorbet didn't freeze properly (I KNOW...talk about horrifying...melted sorbet) and so his dessert ended up a mess. He doubled over on the floor and started crying hysterically, mumbling, "I can't do this. I can't do this." And then here comes one of the most accomplished chefs in the entire country, the guest judge for the week, to console him, and he lurches over to her, throws his arms around her neck, and sobs, "The Red Hots were for my mommy!!!!"

It was an epic television moment. Bob Newhart waking up, Cheers closing its doors, the dead grandma stunt on Survivor, Diversity Day in The Office, and now Seth bearing his heart over a bowl of liquid sorbet..."The Red Hots were for my mommy!"

Compliments

Afton and I were driving in my car last night. I had just spent the day at home with Afton and Mya, so we were reviewing some of the fun things we'd done that day. And then we had this conversation:

Me: "Afton, I love you."

Afton: "Dad, I love you."

Me: "You are so cute."

Afton: "You are so handsome."

Me: "You make me laugh."

Afton: "And you are funny, too."

Me: "You sure run really fast."

Afton: "You are a good eye-checker."

Loyal, Strong, and True...and busy

Just finished a hectic week of travel, work, and alphabet soup. Within the span of 4 days I visited and hopefully gave a little back to my last three schools: SCO, BYU, and GHS.

Early Saturday morning I left SLC to fly to Memphis. My plane landed at 2:20, I picked up my rental car, and drove swiftly to the hotel only to find that the TV channel broadcasting the BYU game wasn't available. So back into the car and a few blocks west to a restaurant to make sure I didn't miss much of the game. Yeah, wish that one would have worked out a little differently.

Monday morning I filmed a video segment for the Hayes Center of Practice Excellence and the financial aid office at Southern College of Optometry. It was good to visit with old friends and to visit a few restaurants that Stefanie and I frequented often for the 4 years we lived in Memphis.

My flight got back about 12:30 am on Tuesday morning. After a short day at the office I headed down to Provo to meet up with Sunnie Ewing for her annual recruiting visit to the state, and specifically BYU. It is always a good opportunity to attend dinner and the presentation for BYU students considering enrolling at SCO for graduate school...and any time spent in the shadow of Y mount is time well spent.

Wednesday was the Taste of Grantsville business fair put on by the FBLA at Grantsville High School. It is a great fund raiser for the FBLA and a good opportunity for the local businesses to be seen by Grantsville's residents. Thanks to our partners at Hoopes Vision for the awesome Paul Frank monkeys that we were handed out. They were a big hit...we'll see what Spectrum Eye Care is able to come up with next after the fireworks glasses for the 4th and Julius the Monkey at the business fair.

Not the Mama

Is this really supposed to happen at 3 years old?

Mya loves her milk. LOVES it. And when she wants it, the way she lets Mom or Dad know is to walk over to the fridge door, grab it as if trying to open it, and crying, "Mil! Mil! Mil!"

Today I called Stefanie and while we were talking I could hear Mya's quiet whining in the back, but then could also hear Afton saying, "Mom, Mya wants you. Mom, Mya wants you! MOM! Mya wants you!" Stefanie kept trying to explain to Afton that she was on the phone and doing something else and would take care of Mya as soon as she could.

Stefanie said that after she explained that to Afton, our little 3-year old walked over to the fridge and said very matter of factly, "Alright, Mya, I will be the mom", opened the fridge, and started climbing up the shelves to get Mya's milk.