Amari's Big Brother

Zander is a lot of trouble; yes he is. But here and there, he does little things that make me think that this boy will survive until adulthood after all. He is quite a spectacular big brother. Amari loves Zander as a playmate more than anyone in our family. And he takes care of her! He's a little rough with her, but as I am about to scold him, she usually breaks out into laughter. She thinks he is somethin' else. I find myself walking into rooms where they are playing and running back out again to grab my camera. Here is a typical day: I go upstairs to see if Amari is awake yet, and Zander is already in there, entertaining her (still in her crib). He either has thrown all of her considerable collection of stuffed animals in her crib, or made a hut for her by draping blankets over the top of her crib. I get her out, change her diaper, and leave them to play for a minute, and return to find them both sitting on her rocking chair, reading a book together. (Yes: they also have a large toy on top of them for a blanket.)

I then take them downstairs to eat breakfast. I put Amari in her highchair, give her some orange juice, then go answer the phone. I come back to find them both eating Jam sandwiches, made by Zander, of course. He has even cut the sandwiches into four squares with a butter knife, and placed them on plates. And jam is her VERY FAVORITE!

A little later in the morning, Zander and Amari are playing in the playroom. I go to check on them, and Zander has turned on a movie in the little TV and set up chairs for them both to watch. He is so resourceful. He is one of those kids that could raise himself if he had to, I think. He amazes me and cracks me up at the same time. I think Amari is very lucky.

Babese, an educational post

Cacky
(Cracker)

Punky
(Pumpkin)

Dasha
(Delicious)

Mo Pockie!
(More popsicle)

Fowah
(Flower)

Nuh fowah
(Another flower)

Buh
(Bug)

Nuh buh
(Another bug)

Suh-Shy
(Sunshine)

Cheese
(Bread)

Pee Muck
(Pink Milk)

Dake
(Drake)

Mobilty

Amari has taken six+ steps ALL BY HERSELF!!! Our family (and her amazing, tireless physical therapist, Julie), are so excited. It's funny how much I have missed out on, having a non-mobile two-year-old. Now that she's found this new independence, she thinks she can do all kids of mischief. The kitchen is no longer safe from THE TODDLER! Anything with sugar in it is somehow found, dumped out, and eaten in handfulls. I actually really love it. It's so nice for her to gain such confidence, but I also have to be much more 'Mari-aware. . .

Halloween Punkies

Ahh, yes. I still love Halloween. The Brown household has been having a glorious season of witches, orange and black sparkles, carving "punkies," and ghosties in the air. Here is a sampling:

Amari loves her punky, and all other punkies that she sees, which seem to be a lot this season. Whenever she spots one, she exclaims, "Punky!" She's very festive, just like her Mama, who has been wearing Halloween socks since October 1st, whether they match or not! Amari is dressing up as a cute, warm, little penguin, but don't tell her that; according to Amari, she is a duck, "Quack, quack, quack," thank you very much!

Jason and I had so very much fun at our annual friend Halloween party, which was at the Green's house this year. Jason was rather freaky as the Joker, winning "Scariest Costume." This picture doesn't do it justice, though - it kind of brightened up the colors weirdly. He loked even better (or worse, rather) than this!!!

Irelynd and I attended our favorite "Witches' Night Out" at Gardner Village. Irelynd was busy and couldn't attend until later, after our in-laws had gone, so she and I went back late and stayed until late, and I must say that we had a really good, giggly time together. This may sound cliche, but she really is my best little friend. I would rather spend a night out with her than ANYONE! She's very cool and fun and fresh and funny and sweet.

Here's Drake, mimicking his Jack-O-Lantern's scary, yet suave and handsome, face. Drake was the most enthusiastic with the pumpkins this year. Not so much because of the carving, but because he wants to plant some of the seeds in the garden so that we can grow our own pumpkins "for free" next year. He is incredibly into growing things lately, and has kept his little bean-seed-in-a-bag alive and well in his room for a couple months since he brought it home from school. Maybe he will be a bontanist when he grows up . . . along with the train driver, veterinarian, and dad.

And last, but certainly not least, we can't forget our Zander buddy. No Halloween would be complete without a lean little boy runnin' around the house in his spider underwear. He has loved everything about this Halloween, especially the festivities at preschool, Tae Kwon Do, Amari's physical therapy party, the Brown Family Halloween Party, etc. I think that out of the last seven days, he has been dressed up for six of them, (complete with several eyes painted on his face for his spider costume!)

I hope all of you, dear readers, are having an equally fantastic Halloween season. Be safe and have fun tonight! And so I leave now to go finish eating my jack-o-lantern pancakes with orange syrup.

I like my friends

Suffice it to say, it's fun having funny friends. (Plus a smile detector on your camera.)

Dogsick (no - it's not what you think)

I just finished reading Where the Red Fern Grows with Drake, and it made it even worse. I even felt guilty when I brought him to see my friend's puppies, because it makes his need even deeeeeeper. Moping around the house, begging me with a sincerity that brought us both close to tears, and promises up and down about the care he would give a dog. . .

In the end, Jason and I really had no other choice. With his eighth birthday only days away, we decided it was time. But getting a dog for your family is a big decision - and responsibility. I spent all day online, researching breeds. I was in the Tae Kwon Do parking lot, thinking about it and praying that I will find the right dog for our family, when I decided I would drive through Jordan Landing (a nearby shopping center) on my way home. With Zander and I in the car, we were rounding a bend, and there, on the grass strip between the road and parking lot, were the cutest puppies I have ever seen. You can guess the rest of the story.

It was thrilling as Drake closed his eyes in the middle of his birthday party and had the puppy placed in his lap. His eyes flew open and he hugged and beamed and almost wailed his happiness. . . But the best part was that evening, seeing them lounging together on the couch, boy and dog; I can't help thinking, "This is the way life is supposed to be."
Okay, maybe I'm bragging a little by posting pix of his doggy cupcakes, but they just turned out so dang cute!

Africa

South Africa - June 2008


Definitely the trip of a lifetime. We got back two weeks ago, and I still miss it. Jason and I went with two couples from our neighborhood. We stayed in little bungalows, ate in a main lodge with our own chef (who cooked what we shot every night, which was very good), and went out hunting during the day as couples.

Each couple had their own truck, Professional Hunter, and Tracker. So the four of us would go out every day, look for animals, take tons of pictures, and get out and track them through the bush.

It was incredibly cool. Our PH knew something about everything; I have half a notebook full of interesting facts about the trees, the birds, the animals, the country, etc. It really was fascinating. Our tracker was also pretty amazing. He could track an animal out of a water hole with hundreds of footprints in it, and tell us how many animals are in the group; as we traveled through the bush, he would tell us where a couple other animals joined them, and just when we thought he must be making it all up, we'd find them, and he was right about everything.
I loved going out with Jason, but my favorite part was when they'd leave me at the water hole for the afternoon. There were a few waterholes with "hides" built near them, all camoflauged - with bushes or fake termite mounds. I would sit there for hours, not making a peep (except for the clicking of my camera - which even spooked some of them). I saw amazing animals so close!

Each night, we'd come home, look at the animals and the pictures that people had gotten, our chef would cook whatever we got, we'd have a five-course meal, then hang out at the big fire with the PH's and our friends.
One day, as we were driving along the Limpopo River, we noticed an Impala that looked like it was drowning. Upon closer inspection, we saw that a crocodile had it in its jaws and was holding it under. That was pretty amazing. I felt like I was in National Geographic.

This blog is only a small sampling of my hundreds of pix. I got a new lens for my camera for this trip, and it came in handy.

We spent one day at a white lion breeding facility (our entrance fee was zebra meat). We also spent one day riding elephants (a gentler ride than you'd expect!). And of course we shopped a little. When we were ready to go, I was so sad to leave, because it was so much more than a vacation - it was a life experience.

Little Amari

I know it's been eons since my last blogging, but I've been busy, okay!? I just wanted to update a little on Amari, because it seems that the extended fam is interested to hear what's going on since my accidental crying episode at a recent family gathering. Really, she is doing great! Something just caught me at a bad time. The doctors were a bit worried about her growth (or lack thereof), height and weight, and her developmental delays. (She is now 21 months and still doesn't walk.) However, in the past couple months, we have, in earnest, seen every doctor and done every test that we could think of, and she doesn't seem to have any serious problems - just low muscle tone and a really content personality. All of the cognitive and problem-solving and even fine motor development was right on or above where she needs to be.

But she does qualify for early intervention, and so we get to have a wonderful physical therapist come to our house and work with Amari. Actually, she teaches me how to do it and what is needed so that I can work with her daily. She is actually showing a lot of improvement. It's interesting to see the little baby steps that I am now working on that didn't even occur to me before. But I am overjoyed to report that she has been crawling a bit!!! She doesn't prefer it, and only does it when she has to, but it's wonderful to see that she can (even if it is a little awkward).

This picture is another happy thing - she has really gotten good at pulling herself up to shorter pieces of furniture. Yeah!

So small victories are at hand, and we are looking forward to more, little by little. Thank you all for your concern and love. We love our little Amari - she is a special little baby. I am lucky to have her. As my last child, she's just takin' her sweet time to grow up, and that's perfectly fine with me.

Solo Festival

I am so proud of Irelynd and Drake. They both played in Solo Festival last Saturday. Each played two memorized songs. They did so well. Piano has been such an important part of my life, it thrills me to see them doing so well. They actually really like practicing, generally, so I am lucky. Right now, they are working on some marvelous duets for their duet festival in a month or two. This is really a piano mom's dream come true - to have your two children playing a duet together! I am a proud mama.

Mari's first day of nursery!

A couple weeks ago, Amari made her nursery debut. It seems like, from 12- 18 months, I am always counting down the weeks until that baby gets to go to nursery. It is without a doubt my kids' naughtiest time in church. So we finally made it with Amari! She loved it, and her teachers said she was quite well-behaved, and especially loves snack time (fishies!) She is so little, they had to continually remind the other kids, "Don't step on Amari!" She's so stinkin' cute.

Zander is one cool dude.

What can I say? Zander was born cool. This TMNT underoo combo is his very favorite. I walked around the corner, and there he was, just standing like this. He's beyond cute. And he's been so well-behaved lately! He says please and thank you all over the place, plays with Amari like the best big brother ever, and has become the peace-maker between Irelynd and Drake. Remember how I used to say "Zander," and you knew I was going to tell a horror story? Well, I have never had a child who has done such an about-face in behavior. He's definitely still a 4-year-old - - I'm not saying he's perfect, but he has gotten so sweet, polite, and conscientious lately. For example, yesterday, I was getting ready to make lunch, and Amari was hungry/tired, so I sat her up in her chair. She was fussing, and I got a phone call. While I was on the phone, Zander got the toaster out, made toast, buttered it, put cinnamon sugar on it, and gave it to Amari - all his own idea. I put some water on to boil, and he ran into the pantry and got three packages of ramen noodles without being asked. He then dragged a stool over to wash his hands, and accidentally knocked it down. He looked at me and said, "Oh, sorry for knocking down the stool, Mom!" and picked it up. (Who are you, and what have you done with my child?!) Later, he was sitting on my lap, and went to get up and elbowed me. I complained that he had sharp little elbows. He came back a couple minutes later with a really worried look on his face. When I asked him what was wrong, he said. "Mom, I really don't want my elbows to hurt you!" Sweet. I love it that little guy.

Kissies!

You know me and my kissy pix. My Valentine's Day decor consists of dozens of kissy pictures, framed, and displayed on my mantle. It's a love fest over here. Speaking of which, we had our first annual LoveFest for FHE last Monday. Camie, Paul, and Christine joined us from Provo. But the guests of honor were Valerie and Marian all the way from Pennsylvania! We were very lucky and overjoyed to have them visit for a short while. We made sugar cookies shaped like hearts and frosted pink (of course!), made valentines, ate valentine candy, and kissed the people that we like the best. Fun times. So your assignment is to do more kissing of those you love - at least for this week! Happy Valentine's Day!