My Grandma is a Trooper

Here are a couple pictures of my Grandma Leah from just this week. In spite of having terminal brain cancer she is actually eating better and getting some strength back. And she decided it was high time to get into the kitchen and make some of her famous dumplings! Betsy and I got to visit with her yesterday for a bit. She's definitely having some trouble with her left side and her speech, but she's still pretty sharp and loves to visit and gives the sweetest hugs and kisses.

My niece, the author

My incredibly beautiful and talented niece,Maria, now has a real life published book!

She's so cool!

Wow

I say this about a million times a day...wow. This daughter of mine amazes me. Every day she says some new word, does some new trick, shows me in some new amazing way that she's growing up. It just blows your mind to remember that little floppy lima bean that we brought home from the hospital a year and a half ago and to see her now... Here are a few of her latest mind-blowing antics: (OK...so they're probably only mind-blowing to ME...but that's okay)

Just a few minutes ago she was bouncing on the couch beside me saying "Up and down, up and down!" First time I ever heard her put those together!

Yesterday she would open the cupboard doors where we keep the pots and pans and declare "Open." Then she would carefully close them and declare "Closed." We've done this concept with other things (boxes, my hand) but never with the cupboards, so she is understanding the concept and applying it herself!

We used the Thomas ploy to see if that would help her in the church nursery last week and it did! After church the lady who is in charge of the nursery came up and said that she had to tell me something. She said another little girl in the nursery was crying and one of the workers was carrying her. Betsy followed them around offering Thomas to the little girl, trying to make her feel better. Talk about warming a mother's heart!

Every time Elmo comes on she screams with joy. This isn't all that mind-blowing, but it sure is cute!

Earlier this week she came into the room declaring "Shoe! Good job!" She had put on her shoe all by herself...the correct foot and everything!

Most mornings I bring her to bed with me so we can get another hour of sleep. This morning she woke up face to face with me, looked at me, smiled, and then gave me a big kiss on the lips.

She wants to help with whatever we're doing. She'll unload the dishwasher and hand us the dishes one by one so we can put them away. She also likes to put the clothes in the washer or dryer. One day I found her at the cat's food dish with the plastic pitcher of food trying to feed the cat!

She's becoming quite the singer. We listen to a CD of Sunday School kids songs when we're in the car so the minute we head for the car she starts singing "Always, always" (The Lord is my Shepherd, I'll walk with him always; Always, always, I'll walk with Him always.) She can sing, pitch perfect, the first three notes of the Sesame Street theme.
She loves the "Hot Dog" song from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. The last verse of it says "We're splittin' the scene, we're full of beans." So she sings, "Hot dog, hot dog...scene...beans." Then she sings the instrumental part and says, "See soon!" since Mickey always ends it with "See ya real soon!"



There are so many sweet, neat little things she does every day that I can't remember them all. What fun it is to watch this little gal discover the world!

Bizzare Records

My mom actually had this record when I was a kid. Check out more of the finest in vinyl at Bizarre Records.

Animal House

She oughta be a pro...

My friend Lori is an incredible photographer. She took a couple of the most beautiful pictures of Betsy this summer. Check them out and all her other great shots here. (If you search for Betsy and playdate you'll find the Betsy shots.)

Pasta!

Betsy loves pasta...to eat...to use as a invigorating facial mask...whatever.

Did anyone ever tell you that you look just like...

Check this out...I guess we all DO have a double somewhere out there!

Thank you, Rev. W. Awdry

We owe this man a huge debt of gratitude. Who is this white-haired Englishman, you ask? He is Rev. W. Awdry, the creator of this "cheeky little engine":

He is lovingly referred to by Betsy as "Ma-mas"---Thomas the Tank Engine. And for some reason he is better than ice cream and Santa and the first warm day of spring combined to our little gal. From a box of band-aids at Target to a tiny card with his picture on it she will find him and yell with joy, "I see Ma-mas!"

And so, as we were anticipating an upcoming night out and a babysitter for Betsy (which means much wailing and gnashing of teeth for us all--separation anxiety has hit hard) we devised a plan. And that plan was bribery.

While on a trip to Walgreens I found a Thomas beginners train set. A track, tunnel, and a little wind up Thomas...on sale! I initially picked it up just because I'm a sucker for my cute little girl and I knew she would love it. But as I drove home I thought that I might have found a way to remedy the weeping we always have to endure when leaving her with a babysitter.

So I brought it home and hid it and then told Myron the plan. After 10 years of marriage we are completely on the same wavelength. He had just been thinking that we should get something "Ma-mas" related that only comes out when a babysitter comes!

So, Friday night comes. Our friend Heidi shows up to watch Betsy. Thankfully we had seen Heidi earlier in the week for a lunch date and so Betsy didn't immediately begin to freak out when she saw Heidi as she has done in the past.

Just as we are preparing to walk out the door out comes the Thomas box. I wish I had been filming. It was priceless. Betsy took the box (which was nearly as tall as her) from Myron with eyes full of awe and gasped, "It's Ma-mas!" Heidi told her to bring it on over and they would open it together. She ran over, handed it to Heidi and sat right down. She didn't even look back at us as we went out the door and she played happily with it for the rest of the evening without a whimper!

Thank you, God for the inspiration and Rev. W. Awdry for Ma-Mas!!