My Evening with Peter Murphy

Getting tickets to the show was an adventure. Not wanting to pay $5 in fees I decided not to pay them online, but hit Greywhale on my way home, although I never made specific plans and of course forgot, so the weekend before the show I decided I would get my ticket at that point, but that day I was so sick and all thoughts and plans left my head and. Monday I started to panic as the show is tomorrow, but I figured I could still get them online. Until I read the bold SOLD OUT, that is. I started calling Greywhale locations and of course, the one by my house was sold out too, but the one in West Jordan still had a few. I called Husband but he was too sick and I figured I could go after work. They close at the unreasonable hour of 6 PM, but I figured if I really drove fast from the trax station, I could make it. Of course I don’t normally take trax on Mondays, but because of being sick I didn't want to risk going to the gym, so I took trax because it's so convenient, or something. Of course the ride home and my train gets stopped behind another train. I keep watching the time slip away, but it's only an extra few minute hold-up, I can make up for that. After practically running to my car at the station I speed to get onto the freeway. Only to come to a dead stop. Traffic is terrible and slow moving, finally when i make it up to the onramp, I find out why. The lights to get onto the freeway are out. My glimmer of hope is fading; I think that it's possible that I could still get there just before they close the doors. Then I see the freeway. Gridlocked. There is no way that trying to wade thro

ugh that mess would get me there in time.

My new plan is to call the venue tomorrow and see if any tickets open up. In the morning I check the online classifieds to see if anyone is selling tickets. Only 2 different people. One wants $75 for his pair, and the other wants $75 a piece. I send a text to the first guy; the tickets are spoken for, but if that falls through he'll let me know. I'm not desperate enough to pay $75 for a $25 ticket and if that's what it would cost me I'll just stay home. As the day starts to draw to a close i start calling the venue. No answer, I also work just around the corner from the venue, so I decide that I'll check it out if I can't get them to answer the phone. After work I walk around the corner, I see people milling about, the front door is slightly ajar, but I decide to head around back, as I could swear I heard music on my way over and if I can't get tickets, maybe I could hear Mr. Murphy sound checking and that would have to be enough. Unfortunately all I could hear was an occasional drum beat even with the venue's back door open to the parking lot, I wanted to get closer, but noticed some other people and didn't want to be asked to leave yet. I went back to the doors and walked in, the entry way was empty and right as I opened the door to inside a girl came in to man the desk. She told me there weren't any tickets but I could come back at 9 and see if there were any scalpers. Gee thanks. I walked out and went back to the back of the building and noticed that the chain link fence to their lot was shared with my work's I sat down and fiddled with my phone, trying to look busy and listen, but I couldn't hear anything, so disappointed I walked over and found that there was a gate in the fence and I could get back to my car that way.

I drove home disappointed. At home I jumped on the internet to see if I could find any other tickets for sale. No dice, but I saw the person trying to get $75 a ticket had lowered his price to $60 in the last hour. I sent a text asking for one at $40. No response. After about 40 minutes I decided I was staying home that night and tried to accept that. Then I got a text. It was from the first guy who had thought his tickets were sold. Since I'm so clever and I only needed one I told him that since I wasn't sure I could find anyone to take the other ticket if he would take $70 for them. He agreed. Now I had to find someone who would be willing to go on about 30 minutes notice. The wonderful Niki had commented when I had posted about wanting to go, so I called her and she was in! I spent a few minutes getting ready and saying bye to the kids and I picked up Niki, we headed to the venue and parked in my employee lot.

We met the nice Darren who sold us the tickets and waited in line. Doors opened around 8:30. The venue was pretty crappy. I saw some old friends who I haven't seen in years, even the boy who had always looked like Peter Murphy, actually when he walked by, for a moment, that's who I thought it was until I realized that this chap had hair and also wasn't as old. Honestly I had expected to see lots of folks that I knew from the old days of Baushas-listening and clubbing, but it was just these two. The opening people weren't much to write about, I liked the first guy okay, but the ultra-goth seeming Ours was too screamy and over the top, also the sound up front was awful and far too loud. Niki and I took ourselves to the back for Mr Murphy.

The wonderful Peter Murphy came out. He is looking pretty old, and his commitment to his thinning longer hair isn't doing him any favors. He began with new stuff, which is actually quite good, but I didn't know it as well (of course) but he treated us quickly to 2 Bauhaus songs Silent Hedges and In a Flat Field. He seemed very personal-able and comfortable, but almost everything he said was unintelligible which I think was mostly the fault of the poor sound system, but you could still hear the lovely British accent and a few words would slip through. His voice was still amazing, he has such a unique way of singing (just now my pandora radio is playing me a Peter Murphy song) and it was amazing to hear again. He played a song called Rose Hunter and said it had his absolute favorite guitar riff in it. Peter Murphy has not been idle, releasing EPs and albums and appearing in Twilight movies as a vampire (which knocked my socks off that I totally recognized him at the theater even in a wig for the brief time he was on-screen).

The section of older songs including Cuts You Up and I’ll Fall with your Knife was brilliant, all the club favorites. I was hoping for a cover of Hurt, but it was not to be and while I was expecting one additional song from the new album, the song The Prince and Old Lady Shade is one of my new favorites. The first encore started with my heart skipping a beat as he began to play Marlene Dietrich's Favourite Poem, which when the universe kept trying to remind me to buy tickets the week before had come onto my iPod and I thought "Oh wouldn't it be awesome if he played this song?" thinking that since it wasn't in any recent setlists and unlikely to make an appearance, but there it was and he sang it beautifully. Then Ziggy Stardust, he owns that song, sorry Bowie, when he sang that, the crowd went nuts and there was so much energy in it. I was surprised that we got another encore, a cover of some obscure singer and a final Bauhaus song Stigmata Martyr, which while awesome, didn't have quite the same "this is the last song" amazingness that Ziggy did.

It was a great show, and parking just through the gate was super fast which was good since it was soooo much later than I meant to be out on a Tuesday night. There was even a raccoon in my parking lot, staring at us with its wee banded eyes.

I'm so glad that Niki came with me, she rocks the house party and I was glad to have one of my dearest friends to share in the awesomeness of an unexpected concert!

2 Years of Being in Love With You

Today is your birthday! Happy birthday baby boy! This year has seen you turn from a baby into a fully fledged terror toddler. I’m still impressed by the huge personality you were born with. You have always been your own person. You love so much, your heart is so big. Everything you love you put such passion into. You adore the neighbor girl who is also Hayley’s friend that if we even whisper her name you will start calling out for her and wanting to go and visit her through the fence. Planes, trains, fire trucks, school buses: they are all things you love with your whole being and you’re always excited to see them. You love story time before bed, you love to read books and see the pictures. It’s one of the funniest times of the day for me. Watching you learn and enjoy it. You and Hayley are little peas in a book-loving pod.


You are also so smart. You’re talking so much now and can repeat just about everything. I love when you say “I lub it!” and “Thank you much” it makes me giggle. Sometimes you are still rambling in toddler-ese and you get frustrated when we can’t understand you but usually you can get your point across.

Eating I think will always cause me to get more gray hair, but you are opening up sometimes. You ate rice with “stuff” in it last night and you do love pasta, and you would think your love of carbs would help fatten you up, but you are so skinny. You can wear the shorts that you were wearing last summer, of course now they aren’t long on you, but the fact that you are so skinny does worry me still. But I try adding cream and oil and butter to everything that I can get you to eat, but it’s still the amount of not eating. You are perfectly fine not eating any dinner and just drinking your bottle before bed. I know you’re probably suppose to be off the bottle by now, but it’s one of the only foods I know you’ll consume and the bottle is the best way to get it all in you. So until I don’t worry about your lack of nutrition, then you get the bottle, but we are cutting back in the morning and at nap time so we can get you to eat actual food.

You are decidedly too mobile. You are just steady enough to run around and only skin your knees up every few days, but face plants are not yet a thing of the past and you sport bruises all too often and I worry people will think I’m a bad mother, but I blame your father, it’s always on his watch that you get your owies.

You get to start “school” tomorrow. This is the last summer before Hayley starts kindergarten and while she’s still at the Eccles lab at SLCC I figure it would be fun to have you guys in there together and now that you are officially 2, you can start, so no more having to drop Hayley off and be sad you can’t stay and play with the kids, you will finally have your own class to go to and have fun. This really is the end of my little baby, we’re going to trust you to strangers 3 times a week. Luckily you have almost no separation anxiety. When we get to church on Sundays you are so excited to get to go to nursery that it’s a struggle to keep you entertained until it’s time to drop you off and if you do escape you want to go straight to nursery for and ask for “toys.”

It’s been a whirlwind year, it seems like only a few weeks ago you were a tiny baby and I was trying to get enough sleep to make it through the next day where I hoped to find time to shower, but now I’m still trying to find time to shower and if I can duct tape you down to keep you from running amuck. It’s been fun and I’m so excited to watch you grow, but I wish I could keep you little forever too. But I’ll take whatever I can get.

Love you,

Mama

I'm with the Band

So the day started out normal enough. I went to work and through the day I become sadder and sadder that I wouldn’t be seeing Matt Nathanson open for Kelly Clarkson that evening. I had decided that to see him play for 20-30 minutes it wasn’t worth the minimum $50 that the cheap seats would cost and then Husband and I were meant to attend an important meeting together at 7 that night, so really I felt that I should just wait until next time. As Tuesday grew closer to the close, I decided that I wanted to drop by the venue, just to see if anyone would be walking around and I could say hi and maybe I could stand at will-call and listen to a sound check and that could be my mini-concert. The Maverick center has a huge outside area that is fenced from the public that the tour buses and trucks can move around in, which makes it very difficult to see those people milling around that are rock stars or band members, so I didn’t have a lot of hope, but I did have a little. I went to that area and of course my entry was blocked by a nice man named Larry. I chatted with him for a minute, but I saw no movement around the tour buses, so I decided to head into the will-call area that would be open. As walked I noticed a pair heading into one of the backstage side doors, probably venue staff. Since I was walking that way, I have a few seconds to decide if I would try to follow them in, and if I hadn’t decided to, this story would be much, much shorter.


I ran to grab the door before it shut and stood for few seconds to let the pair head in whatever direction they were going before I walked in with the mantra “try to look like you belong here and this is no big deal” running through my head. I have been backstage here one other time, when I purchased VIP Tori Amos tickets that included meeting her after the show, so I headed left and found the dressing rooms, although the only ones I saw, said Kelly’s name on them. I was stopped quickly by a woman with security and asked for my pass, when I told her I didn’t have one, she told me that I couldn’t come back there and I tried to be as reassuring that I understood and that wasn’t a problem. But it was a problem in that I didn’t know where else to go. As walked away I realized I was directly behind the stage and coming from the stage was the sound of Matt’s voice! He was doing the sound check right that minute, but the sound behind the stage wasn’t very good. I did stop and listen for minute but I worried about the security woman leaving her post and seeing me would ask me to leave again. I didn’t know how to get to the front of the stage from where I was, there was another security guard between me and the stage here and I since the area was completely empty, I didn’t think I could stroll by unnoticed. So I walked back the way I had come and went the opposite way of where I had come from. I went down a hallway with a bunch of door and the open room showed a low-light buffet style dinner, there were people milling about and I wanted to see if I could get to the stage so I kept going. Out another set of doors and I found myself by the will-call and a set of bathrooms. I went into the bathroom and washed my hands and listened to the music, although it was still low quality. I stayed here for a few minutes trying to decide what to do. I could hear that a door would open and I would get the clear sound of Matt playing. I wanted to find that door, so I left the bathroom and headed through another set of doors but ended up in a storage area under the bleacher seats. I walked out quickly knowing if it looked like I didn’t know where I was going, I was likely to be kicked out. There was another set of doors, but I could see security milling about through them so I didn’t venture that way, only to find out later, that would have taken me right to the stage and that must have been the door I heard being opened. I would have seen Matt, but at the same time, I would likely be removed as soon as I showed myself a fan and not someone with the band. The music went silent and I started back down the hallway with the doors, as I did, I ran into Aaron, the guitarist. I said hi and he was very taken back. He said he recognized me but couldn’t’ remember my name. I teased him about that and he said he was headed to get some dinner from catering. He held a Tupperware plastic plate with little sections. I asked if it would be okay if I went with him, and he said yes. He grabbed some salad and some of the vegetarian dish, there was a lot of food in steaming silver trays and I watched with interest, taking everything in. We made some small talk about the tour and how he and matt had just flown in from San Francisco earlier in the day because they had another solo show they did without the band. He said they were drawing close to the end of the tour, but they were having a great time. He asked what I did, I told him about having a new job after being a full-time student. He asked where my seats were and I admitted that I didn’t have seats. I explained that being out of work I didn’t have much money and the tickets were pretty expensive. He said he could probably get me a pair of tickets. He was going to go have some down time before the show started but to check at will call after about an hour. He left and I tried to look busy by calling people, I didn’t think I would be able to see Matt’s set because of the appointment, but maybe I would be able to catch Kelly and see Matt after his set hopefully. I spoke with husband and found out that by a miracle, our appointment had been canceled. I was so happy! Now I could watch the show! But I was determined to hang out backstage for as long as possible and maybe get to talk with Matt, pre-show.

So I hung out by the back door, but the nice security guard, Larry, was still out there and I didn’t want him to recognize me and wonder how I’d gotten backstage. So I walked back down the hall and looked into the catered area, but most people had their backs to the door and I didn’t want to be too obvious so I kept moving, back to the bathrooms, and then after trying a door, hung out in an empty room listening to the sounds of people moving around and hoping to hear Matt’s voice. After gathering my courage I decided to just head into the dinner room. I made a point of looking at the food and then after surveying the room and seeing some of Matt’s band and crew decided to say hi. The bassist, Sioban, welcomed me and asked if I wanted to sit at the table. I of course agreed. The drummer, Konrad, was there they were eating dinner with 2 crew members. We chatted and I took some photos of me and the band and they asked if I wanted something to eat. I declined, probably mostly because I didn’t want to take advantage of being where I shouldn’t be, but also because I didn’t think I would be able to hide my shaking hands if I tried to eat. I did grab a bottle of water. James, the keyboardist showed up and I introduced myself and that we had met last time he was in Salt Lake. We played a game where you take a famous person and make their name food related. Konrad scored with Johnny Dipp for an ice cream shop, there was Felicia Del Taco, and several others. My contribution was Carmel Elektra, which considering how slow my brain was going, was a miracle. One of the crew members got a call, and wrote down my name on a piece of paper. I said “Oh, that’s me!” and he explained they were already over the quota of tickets, but that he would try to get me two tickets, I told him I only needed one and I appreciated anything he could do, than he left. The rest of us kept playing the game and chatting, they had some inside jokes, but the conversation wasn’t easy, It was more like coworkers who like eack other and have worked together for a while, but they aren’t best friends, but also, they are guys and conversing might not be the easiest thing for them. The crew member came back and handed me a ticket and I thanked him a few times. Then he asked how I had gotten back stage. I told him I couldn’t say, he didn’t like that, but the band thought it was pretty funny. He asked me to make sure that I leave and go in by the main entrance and not stay backstage and use anyone’s name to sound official. I said that that was my plan. The band were working on the s’mores bar that had been set up and I wanted to eat that, but knew that marshmallows are very messy and I didn’t want to ruin what little make-up I had on. I did make fun on Konrad while he made a mess and soon they were done eating. I asked to walk with them and Konrad said they really check badges by the dressing rooms and said that he would walk me out. He took me from behind the stage to the floor area and I thanked him and gave him a “pre-show” hug, I asked him that since I didn’t know if I would see Matt, if he would tell him I said hi, he said he would. I looked at my ticket and while it was on the side, it was pretty close to the stage, but right now I was on the floor! I could potentially find an open seat and enjoy Matt’s show from there! I would have done this but I had parked in a hotel parking lot when I arrived, since I didn’t believe I would be there too long and I didn’t want to pay the $10 parking fee just to leave before the show started. But now that I would be here awhile, I kept trying to decide if I should move my car or risk getting towed, since tonight would be a concert, I’m sure the staff makes sure people aren’t parking there to avoid the parking fee. Finally I decided that I needed to move it, $10 for a parking fee was less than the $50 that other people would have spent on their ticket.

So I moved my car and went in looking for my seat because the show was getting ready to start, looking critically at my seats, I was about as far from the stage as if I was in the second half of the floor, so I’m glad I didn’t risk being towed just for a similar seat.

Matt began the show with To the Beat of Our Noisy Hearts, which is one of my favorites off Some Mad Hope, then came the title track to Modern Love and is also a favorite. I knew from looking at other set lists that he would only play very up-tempo songs in preparation for Kelly Clarkson’s set. I love the maracas on this song, it’s nice to see Matt not behind the guitar. Next came Run, which he sung with the wife of one of Kelly’s band members. She was very good and sounded just like the Sugarland person to me. I spent a lot of that song trying to get my camera to record a video since that’s Magen’s favorite song, but my camera hates me and won’t and then by the time I realized I could record video on my phone, the song was over. Now the sing-a-longs were to start. The standard cover of James’ Laid was lovely and he really got the crowd involved. His banter was hilarious. Picking certain people in the audience he made sure to have a few personal connections so that the crowd would really connect to him. It worked, I could hear a ton of people singing the chorus for this song. Next came Wedding Dress, which I still love the original Winter Dress version, but this song really touched a chord with me tonight and Matt was definitely singing his heart out. Of course, the crowd pleaser, Faster, I kind of wanted to call Hayley and have her listen, since she loves it, but it was probably bedtime anyway and she wouldn’t have appreciated it really. With Faster he mixed in the Monkees Daydream Believer and Whitney Houston’s I Wanna Dance With Somebody, which were great tributes and really excited the crowd, although I really thought he was going to break into George Michael’s Faith, and apparently in other shows that has happened, it was not to be here. He ended with Come On, Get Higher and everyone was singing along. It was beautiful. He said he would sign things by the merchandise booth and I got all happy and excited. So after the show was over, I headed to the merch booth, I decided to use my graduation money and buy myself the Matt tote bag. I hung out for awhile but then security confirmed that Matt would not be out until after Kelly performed. Boo. But I figured free concert, beggars can’t be choosers. The concert was good, I thought about how it was my first true pop concert. She seemed very down to earth and while she shied away from the familiar high notes from the radio versions, she sure sounded good to me and while I didn’t know a lot of the songs, there was a sprinkling of the hits I knew from the radio. But during the show my camera died. Apparently even though on the meter it looked like it had some battery, if it shows the meter, that means it’s low. My heart sank thinking I might not get my picture with Matt, but then I resolved to make friends with someone around me and ask them to email me my photo. During the first song of Kelly’s encore I headed back to the merch booth. There was already a long line, behind metal barriers. A few years ago I asked matt that when he became more famous, if we would be penned like sheep the way that Tori does her Meet’n’Greets and he said there was no way. But yet here we are, but luckily he was not across the barrier from us, but inside with us and it was more to keep us in a line, but still, it’s the principle of the thing. Lucky for me they were only letting you in line if you had Matt merchandise to sign, so I was glad that I had something to present. I made friends with the girls behind and they agreed to email me my picture. When I got up to Matt, he got the look of recognition and said “Hey you” and he hugged me. I don’t know if he was hugging everyone, but probably. The same crew guy that had gotten me my ticket was taking pictures and ushering things along. Of course my mind went blank of all the things I meant to say, but I did ask if maybe he played Wedding Dress for the Bachelor performance he had a few months ago, but of course he hadn’t, and didn’t seem to recognize that I was being ironic. I told him that I was glad that he hadn’t needed to fall asleep immediately after the show since that what he did the last time he was here and he talked about how exhausting the shows had been, I meant to tease him, but I’m sure it came out more like a berating, which is apparently how I react when I’m nervous. He signed my bag and told me that he had forgotten my name and when I reminded him he used a very colorful expletive as if he should have remembered. The crew guy said my time was up and I thanked Matt and said goodbye and watched as my new friends, Mallory and Ashlee got their pictures with him, then it was over. My night of craziness had come to an end, now I got to fight to get out of the parking lot and drive home to get 6 hours of sleep in which time I dreamed of Matt and had all the songs running through my head all night. I woke up still exhausted, but it was well worth it.

22 Months of Throwing yourself to the ground

I can't believe how big you are. It's finally to the point that you're not a baby anymore. You are a fully-fledged toddler and you know how to communicate more and you're taller and smarter, just like a real person!
You are the sweetest when I come home and you give me hugs and kisses, I'm glad that you missed your mommy. But now when you wake up, you don't always call for me, sometimes you're calling for "daddy" instead. Although last night when you were put to bed by Summer, you kept calling for her, which just broke her heart and made her try and "rescue" you from bedtime, but that didn't work out so well, since that just kept you from falling asleep.
This month you had not-quite pneumonia and it was so sad. You slept constantly and ate almost nothing, losing weight because your throat probably hurt, so now that you've been feeling better, we've been feeding you milk mixed with cream and more food with more oil, so that we can fatten you back up now that you're eating normally. Well, normal for you anyway. You are being a little more adventurous with food. Tasting more even if you're not eating it. We moved your high chair to the table so that we can all eat together, so maybe that will help you want to eat what we're eating, but we'll see. Your sister still doesn't want to eat what daddy and I eat.
This last week our family has acquired a puppy. You love to play with the puppy and this also means that you want to go out every time that she goes outside, so this will probably help you get outside more and watching TV less, but you do like you're shows. You love Dora the Explorer and Bubble Guppies. I dont' even know what a bubble guppy is, but it's your favorite and when we turn the TV on, you will ask to watch that, and that's pretty hilarious, but you watch way more TV then you should, but I'm trying not to feel guilt about the things that happen at home when I'm not even there, we'll see how that works out, so far not great.
You've figured out the whole gun concept, I'm not sure where, except maybe TV, but everything you pick up is a gun and you "shoot" us (thanks, BTW) and you laugh when we pretend to get shot. Hilarious all around. Talking to other moms, it seems like this is something that comes pretty naturally to boys, everything is a gun and there was almost no way to avoid that. But love to play guns and want us to play with you. I guess it's good that you want interactive play, that probably means you're smart, or at least, that's how I'm going to talk about it to other people.
You're growing up so fast, I already tell everyone that you're "almost 2" instead of 22 months, because it seems just when I figure out how many months old you are, another month has past and you're that much closer to being a terrible two-year old. Hopefully with those terrible twos come some adorableness so that we decide to keep you instead of selling you to the circus. So far, no circus for you, but I'm keeping my eyes open.
Love you lots,
Mama

21 Months with Real Words

This month has been a big one. You went to the doctors and we found out you're still growing! Hurray! You are in the 70% percentile for height, but your weight is still low, but not as low as it has been in the past. You are up to 15% percentile from the 5% that you were last time, so me putting olive oil into most of your food has been helping! It's also helpful that you know where to find food when you're hungry. I love that you will bring me a container of baby food when you are ready to eat. It's helpful because I know I'm not trying to feed you when you're more interested in jumping off of things. That has been a major past-time lately. You love to get up on the couch, a step, or anything off of the ground and leap off. I'm just glad you haven't hurt yourself too much. The couch is still a bit high for you, but that doesn't deter you. After a minor injury, you shake it off and get back up on the couch for another round.
Food is still an issue, chicken nuggets are off your list of "okay to eat" foods but eggs has made it back on, so I think we might be able to get some protein into you. But baby food is still on this list of foods you will always eat. But if we try to get the ones with meat, you are still unhappy with that. I hope I haven't passed on my aversion to red meat, that's a decision you get to make on your own when you can cook your own food.
Since I started working last week, when I come home to you, you fling your arms open and run to meet me at the door with a huge hug. I love it, it never fails to bring a smile to my face and make the crazy day and traffic all worth it.
This month has seen your vocabulary increase by a crazy amount. You are starting to say 2 word phrases, which impressed the doctor, but even the past 2 weeks, you're saying more than just "No no daddy," you're saying "peek a boo" and "bu-bye hay-he" and "please" has finally been forced into you, which is good, maybe we can keep you from be coming as demanding as your sister has become.
This month has been so much fun, with all the talking and the dancing. I'm sad to leave you every day now that I have a job, but Daddy has stepped up and will be home with you. I feel better about that, but I still wish it was me.
But I love ya, and I think I'll keep you around for awhile.
Love You,
Mama

20 Months of Drooling

You would think that being home more means I would get to write lots of blog posts, but really it just means more TV on the internet, so sorry about that. This month has been a really big one for you and us. This week has seen you transition from 2 naps to 1. While I like that this frees up more of my day, your one nap isn't much longer then when you were taking 2, which doesn't seem right to me, but you think you know what's best for you.
You have gotten a few teeth recently and your clothes have been covered in drool constantly, but the flow is starting to slow, so I'm thinking you and I might be in for a break before you get more teeth.
Food is still an issue, as with your sister, but you are stuck in your little rut. We still have to buy baby food and between that and oatmeal, that's your diet. If I sit and feed you chicken nuggets, you may eat 2, but I also have to distract you with a book or something to keep you from realizing that you are actually eating. You do love rice and shredded cheese but those are very hard to grip with toddler fingers and harder still is getting them into your mouth. After the first serving is gone, we just collect what fell into your lap and it's dinner time again! Please start eating more food. It's really stressing me out that you haven't gained weight in 4 months.
Christmas was a lot of fun, but it took you a while to get the hang of tearing paper without being in trouble. You got a singing Elmo doll and a little lawn mower to push, both has seen lots of play time already. Unfortunately Christmas was when our camera decided it wasn't going to work for a few weeks, so those classic family pictures around the tree and Christmas eve were taken with blurry cellphones and now we're trying to figure out how to get them onto the computer. Oh well, you looked adorable and I took a mental picture.
You love books, if I would read you a book and tell you what all the pictures were that you pointed at all day long, you really would. You love finding all the animals in books and pointing to them and have me tell you what they are, even if you know what they are and can even say so yourself. Most of your fits come from when we don't have time to sit down and read you a story, that causes many tears but all is forgiven when the time comes that we can pull up a seat and a story and read, but you always want to turn pages at your own pace, whether I've finished reading it or not.
The biggest development has been in talking. You say tons of words now, but it could also be that you've been saying words for awhile now and I just couldn't understand you, since it almost seems like it happened overnight, one day you were saying "ho ho ho" for Santa and the next you could say "hippo" and knew what a hippo was. Also doggy, puppy, plane, truck, heart, here go, and too many more to count! I'm so proud of you, and just now you said "snowing" because it is snowing and you love it. The crazy winter we've been having, yesterday it was so warm you were playing the the dry grass in the backyard at 50 degrees, your sister was running around without her coat!
You are the sweetest little munchkin, just yesterday you came up and gave me a kiss unasked and you find delight in the smallest things. I'm so glad to be able to watch you grow.
Love you,
Mama