Christmas 2012

We had a very nice Christmas this year, in spite of the snow.  At first we planned on going down to my parents' house in Springville on Christmas Eve, but snow caused us to drive down on Christmas instead.

I thought that Cosette would be more excited about opening gifts this year, but Jeff and I had to open most of them for her.  In the days that followed I could see how much she liked her gifts, though.  She loves her Elmo pajamas and wants to wear them every night (and sometimes during the day, too).  We gave her a grandma book that you can personalize with photographs (which caused me to go to Costco on Christmas Eve, which is totally lame).  She has pictures of five different grandmas: Grandma (my mom), Grandma Darla (Jeff's mom, who has passed away), Grandma Rita (Jeff's dad's new wife), GiGi (my dad's mom), and Great-Grandma (my mom's mom).  She can now name each grandma, and she often likes to sleep with the book.  Another gift we gave her was a My Little People Noah's Ark lift-the-flap book.  She carries it around the house, takes it in the car when we run errands, and sleeps with it too.

Cosette with two of her gifts from Mom and Dad:
Elmo pajamas and a grandma book with photos

We acted out the Christmas story at my parents' house.  We usually do it on Christmas Eve, but they waited to do it on Christmas so we could join in.  Cosette and I were shepherds this year.  Cosette was a little confused about what was going on, but she was happiest when playing with a ball and sitting on the video rocker chair.

Entertaining herself with a ball during the Christmas play

One of the things I asked my parents for was a tree skirt.  For the past few years we've been using a green bath towel that only covered half of the space under the tree.  Here are some before and after pictures.

Before: our sad, sad tree skirt made out of a towel

After: our lovely, proper tree skirt

Striving to eat more healthy

For those of you who may be unaware, Jeff has been having stomach pain (and other symptoms) for about a month now.  We're not sure what is wrong, but he's had blood tests, a HIDA scan, a visit to the ER, and has an appointment to see a GI in a few weeks.  We've gone through a lot of ups and downs emotionally and physically, but I'd like to think that there's something positive coming out of this trial.

About a week ago we caught a health show on TV being presented by Dr. Joel Fuhrman.  He talked about how unhealthy and unnatural the typical American diet of processed foods is for your body.  He also talked about the importance of micronutrients that we get from fruits, vegetables, beans and nuts.  Citing research and his experience with patients, he described how a diet based on these essential foods helps you to have more energy, gain and maintain a healthy weight, and avoid illness.

Well, Jeff and I were very interested in what he had to say.  Of course, I've heard a lot of this before, but I felt that we were more open to really listening and applying these principles.  While I was listening to his presentation, I was reminded a lot of the Word of Wisdom in the Doctrine and Covenants.  So I went back and reread it, and certain portions really stuck out to me.  For example, it says very clearly that meat should be used sparingly, only in times of cold and famine.  Again, I've heard this before, but I never really tried to apply it.  Our current diet has a lot of meat in it.  Now that I've been doing more research into how unhealthy that is, it makes my stomach churn to think about it.  We're certainly not setting out to become vegetarians, but we're going to be making real effort to cut back on how often we eat meat.

I've also been paying a lot closer attention to the labels on the foods we eat. Golly!  It's been an eye-opener.  Why are we eating all this junk?  I know why I've been doing it - convenience.  It takes work and planning to eat healthier.  But, little by little, we're taking steps to eat more fresh and less processed foods in our diet.

Take tonight's dinner, for example.  I heated up a frozen pizza - not the healthiest, I know.  But in the past, Jeff and I would eat the whole pizza with no side dishes. Tonight we only ate half the pizza, and we had a green salad and a fruit salad.  I counted afterwards and discovered that we had eaten 6 different kinds of vegetables (three kinds of leafy greens, broccoli, carrots, and tomato) and 5 different kinds of fruit (cantaloupe, mandarine oranges, apples, persimmon, and then pineapple on the pizza).

I wanted to take a picture to show you our beautiful variety of carrots as well as the delicious and interesting persimmon fruit.  We didn't know that carrots came in other colors, and we'd never heard of or tried a persimmon before.  These are courtesy of Bountiful Baskets (if you haven't heard of them, I encourage you to look them up - they are a wonderful way to add a variety of fruits and vegetables to your diet!).

Orange, yellow, and purple carrots - who knew?

Yummy persimmon in our fruit salad

In our quest to eat more healthy foods, I plan to:

1. Make a real effort to eat more salads - both as side dishes and as the main course.  Now that I know how good for you they are, they're a lot more appealing to me.  Neither Jeff nor I have been big fans of salad in the past, so this is a big step for us.
2. Buy fruits and vegetables from Bountiful Baskets more often so that we get a wide range of produce in our diet.
3. Invest in a high quality blender.  As I've been reading recipes in Dr. Fuhrman's book, I can see the benefit of being able to make healthy salad dressing, soups, etc. with the use of a good blender.  Our blender's motor gave out a few months ago, and we haven't replaced it yet, so now's a good time.
4. Look for ways to make things that I bake healthier, like replacing oil with applesauce and using only whole wheat flour rather than half white half wheat.  I've been experimenting with healthier substitutions like this for a while now, but I want to go a little further.
5. Strive to follow the Word of Wisdom more closely.  I now want to focus on the do's, not just the don'ts.  We're especially going to try cutting most of the meat out of our diet.
6. Try to replace processed breakfast and snack foods with healthier alternatives.
7. Cook less often with cheese.
8. Eat more beans, nuts and seeds.

I should have made a lot of these changes sooner.  But honestly, I think that it's taken Jeff being sick to make us take a hard look at our diet choices and how they affect our quality of life.  After the month we've been having, we're more willing and ready to make serious changes.  If any of you have any suggestions, tips, or favorite recipes - please share!  I will be trying a lot of new recipes and foods in the coming months, and I will make an effort to share my successes with you.

Fun with Napkins

I came into the kitchen the other day to find this:

 Cosette had discovered the napkins that I conveniently stored down low in the corner cabinet.

 She had lots of fun with them, so I decided to grab my camera and capture the moment.

Here is Cosette's attempt to "clean up."  The intent was good, even if the execution was a bit off.  And it was really cute to watch her do it, because she was counting as she stuffed them back in, "one, two, eight."

 I really didn't mind having the napkins ruined.  I had recently bought a large package of 600 napkins, only to discover that there was a reason they were so cheap - the quality is terrible!  Warning: stay away from Family Napkins - you get what you pay for.  So go ahead, Cosette.  Rip away!

Playdate with the Tanners

When I taught math part-time at Youth Village about a year ago, Tiffany Tanner came and watched Cosette for me.  She brought her cute little boy Nicholas with her, and he and Cosette got along really well.
I was sad when the Tanners moved away, but fortunately it wasn't far - about a 30 minute drive.  So I took Cosette for a playdate recently and wanted to share a photo and video so you could all see how cute they are together.

I love how they looked back at me at the end of the video.  Too cute!

New Calling

This is just a quick post to let those who might be wondering what my new calling is.  I have been called as the Family History Instructor.  It will be a new little adventure.  I downloaded the manual on my iPod and perused it last week.  I recently got into indexing as the Elder's Quorum President and found it enjoyable to work on the 1940 census.  I look forward to the class.  I don't know when I will start teaching the class.  Apparently people are chosen to attend my class and so I will have to wait until the bishopric says they have spoken to those people.  It looks like the class is pretty well laid out for the instructors.

Released

Well, after serving for two years (minus 3 days) I was released as elder's quorum president last week.  I was informed 3 weeks before that, and I definitely felt "trunky".  The stress was getting to me and I felt that I was getting sick every other week for the past few months.  Church is kinda different now.  People don't call me President; I tend to blend in; I don't have the huge overstuffed binder that I kept neglecting to clean out - and best of all - no more early meetings.
Mostly I am glad to be moving on to a new calling.  I know my new calling but I haven't been sustained yet.  They didn't want to give me too much down time.
It was quite a journey.

Halloween

Cosette was a little cow for Halloween this year.  Thanks again for lending us the costume, Suzanne!

She had a lot of fun at our Ward Halloween party. Her favorite part was the bubbles that she got from the spook walk (like a cake walk).  She went absolutely CRAZY over them.  I wish I had taken a video of that.

 These last two pictures were taken on Halloween night.  We took her to a few neighbors that lived in our stairwell, and everyone gave us tootsie rolls!  I thought that was kind of funny.

 Here's a video of Cosette enjoying her tootsie roll.  She hasn't had a lot of experience with candy, so it was a real treat!

Isn't it cute how she says please by rubbing her belly?  In sign language you rub your chest, so this is Cosette's version.  It's the only sign she does, and it's the only way she'll say please - she never tries to verbalize it.  I love my funny girl!

Trip to Oregon

We took a trip to visit Jeff's dad and his wife Rita in LaFayette, Oregon, the weekend after Labor Day.  We were terrible about taking pictures, though, and only have these few of Cosette playing at the beach.

Cosette and I having fun in the sand

Note the sweater and bare feet - perfect for Oregon at the beach
(I think she looks like a model in this photo)

I'm really glad we made it to the beach on Friday, because it was my first time on the West Coast.  I made a point of putting my feet in the Pacific Ocean, just to say I've done it.  Cosette didn't want to get that close to the water, though, because it was really loud.  She was happy playing in the sand that was closer to the parking lot.  Even though it was chilly enough to wear jackets and sweaters, the sand was soft and warm and perfect for bare feet.  It was a fun day, in spite of the long car ride home due to a traffic accident.
Our trip was pretty laid back and slow paced, but that's exactly what we wanted.  In the mornings we would go for a walk around the neighborhood, enjoying the beautiful weather and taking Cosette to a small park down the street.
On Saturday afternoon Rita and I had some girl time and went shopping and out to lunch.  I really enjoyed getting to know her better.  It was also fun getting a cute new top and some new shoes.  Thanks Rita!
On Sunday we got to meet several of Rita's kids and their families.  I especially bonded with two young boys who enjoyed being tickled and teased.
And then we headed home Monday morning.  Cosette did really well on the plane and didn't get scared at all.  She even managed to fall asleep at the end of the flight.  She was sprawled across our two laps - it didn't look comfortable to me, but she was exhausted enough to sleep through the landing, which surprised me.  She was a very good little traveler.
All in all, it was a very nice trip.

Wanted: Help with Headstrong Toddler

So much personality!

I've run into an issue with Cosette and would love advice/ideas.  So please, post a comment!

Cosette can be very independent and willful at times.  One way that she likes to assert herself is by refusing to hold our hands.  She has always been like this.  I thought it was a bit odd when she was a baby and didn't want to practice standing on my lap (she would go limp instead) or walking around while we held her hand.  Oh, no.  She has always wanted to do it her own way at her own pace.

That was fine with me, at least for a while.  As a result, it took her a little longer to learn how to do physical things like stand, crawl, and walk.  But again, that's fine with me.

But now the problem is that she'll be 18 months on Saturday, and I feel like I shouldn't have to carry her around everywhere.  It's hurting my back, and I don't think it's good for her, either.

I especially want her to be able to walk from the house to the car and vice versa (this would be especially great when I'm trying to carry a bunch of groceries and don't want to make multiple trips up and down several flights of stairs).  I'm even ok if we take a long time and stop to pet the neighbor's cat or play with rocks or sticks for a minute.  I would just appreciate if she would stay near me and move generally in the right direction.  Am I expecting too much?

I let Cosette play in our parking lot in the rain, and now I'm having a hard time
helping her understand that she has to stay with Mommy when we're in a parking lot.

Whenever I do try to hold her hand, she squirms and cries and refuses to move.  She won't grasp my fingers at all, so I end up holding her wrist or arm.  But I feel like a bad parent, because I have to hold on pretty tight for her not to get away from me.  I don't want to hurt her or physically drag her around, but I know this is something she needs to learn how to do.  I'm still carrying her or keeping her in a stroller or shopping cart when we're in a crowd, but eventually she'll need to learn to walk with me.  And no, I'm not expecting perfection.  I know there are times when I'll have to chase her down.  But she won't walk with me at all, and that has to change.

Here are some of the things I've tried:

• She seems to do a little better when I hold both hands and pick her up and swing her every few steps, but this gets tiring, I can't carry anything else while I'm doing it, and she still gets tired of it.
• I try to make it a game and get her to chase me or find me, but she's more interested in running away from me instead.
• I give her verbal guidance and encourage her to walk with me without holding my hand.  This will sometimes work for a few steps, but she often tries to wander off and I turn her back around and redirect her, which prompts a meltdown.
• I'll walk behind her with my hands on her back to guide her.  She seems to mind this less than me holding her hand or arm, but she still doesn't like it and will try to get away after a few steps.
• I have not tried one of those baby backpack leashes, but I don't think it would be much better.  I'm getting to the point where I'll probably have to at least try it, though (I never thought I'd have to - I always thought they were so silly and a little demeaning).
• Do any of you have any other ideas/methods?

Am I trying to teach her this skill too soon after she's learned how to walk?  Should I continue to carry her around everywhere (this includes inside, too, like carrying her to get a diaper changed or to brush her teeth)?  Or have I made the problem worse by catering to her too long already? (I'm guessing the answer to that question is yes)

What can I do at this point?  Has anyone else dealt with this problem?  Read any good books?  Please, post a comment - I need help!

Some of Cosette's First Words

Here is a cute video of Cosette saying some of her first words.  She is often really chatty in the evenings and this was one of the first times that she would repeat the words that we said. Well, except for one word, Mommy.  Sometimes Cosette will switch syllables when saying Mommy and Daddy, and say Meema, and Deeda.  So when I try to get her to say Mommy we tried several variations before she finally said Mommy when we weren't encouraging her.

Playing in the Rain

Here are some fun pictures I took when I let Cosette play in the rain.  At this point it wasn't raining very hard anymore, but there were still drips of water coming off of the carport roof.  She got soaking wet and was very happy.

Hiking

We had a long weekend for Pioneer Day, so we decided to go hiking as a family.  We went on a hike up in Little Cottonwood Canyon: Mill B South, for anyone who's interested.  Very short, but a good test run to see how Cosette would do.  It was the first time we took Cosette hiking, and she did great!  Thanks, Kelli, for the backpack.

Cosette spent a lot of time sucking her thumb and enjoying the view 

Our family, happy hikers

Cosette enjoyed getting out of the backpack and exploring her surroundings

She had a lot of fun watching the water

Video of Cosette walking

As promised, here is a short video of Cosette walking.  It's funny how my voice sounds different in video than in real life.   Enjoy.

Discovery Gateway Children's Museum

On Wednesday I took Cosette to the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum in Salt Lake City.  For those of you unfamiliar with it, it's one of those hands-on learning centers for kids.  We decided to go because my sister Suzanne was taking her kids and I thought it would be fun to meet up with them.  I'm really glad we went, because Cosette had a lot of fun.
We started at an exhibit with plastic balls.  There were all kinds of bins and tubes to put the balls in, but Cosette mostly just wanted to carry the balls around.

Playing with balls

We spent most of our time in a small section made just for children under 3.  It was less chaotic and less busy than the other areas of the museum, which was nice.  Cosette's favorite thing was climbing up and down the stairs and slides (wide metal slabs on a shallow incline).

Queen of the castle

Fun on the slide

Climbing up the slide

Here's a video of Cosette on the slide.  I think she's looking so grown-up all of a sudden.  When did that happen?

 

Cosette also played with a push toy, but she didn't know how to use it.  I thought it was so funny watching her try to figure out what is was for.  She never did get it right, but she still had fun playing with it.  At one point she was standing up, but she held on to the wrong end!  What a cutie.

What is this thing for?

Is it a back scratcher?

Does it go on my head?

We also spent a few minutes playing in a water area.  Cosette had a hard time reaching over the side to get to the water, but she still had a fun time.

Playing with water

Here's a video of Cosette playing with the water. As you'll see, she decided that she didn't need to wear the water proof smock. It was way too big for her, anyway.

With Aunt Suzanne

With Mommy

Thanks, Suzanne, for inviting us to join you.  I'm thinking we might buy a membership there when Cosette is a little older and can appreciate more of the exhibits.  We'll definitely go back sometime.

Playing in the sand

We have a playground in our complex with sand/gravel.  Cosette LOVES to play in the sand.  She's definitely not afraid of getting dirty!  Here are some pictures and a video I took about a month ago.

It's always "fun" changing her diaper after she plays in the sand...  But her happiness makes the mess worth it.  I'm glad she gets so much joy and pleasure out of playing outside.