making a book for my blog!

http://blogger.sharedbook.com/pilot/framesetHome.do Blogger now has a way to compile a blog into a printed book. Don't worry, it won't show up on Amazon! But I've been wondering how to save 4 years worth of memories and whether I should finally create a baby book for E. Now I can click a few times and save the blog as her baby book! I'll probably do several, one per year or something like that. Only sad thing is the videos can't be captured. Oh well, still this is a major advance.

new year coming

I have a few minutes to start my New Year's resolution early: daily blog posts. They will often be short and may be random, but I'm going to aim for daily.

Last night E asked me to tell her a story. I asked her to give me some story elements to help me think of something. The characters she chose for one story were angels, for another, a princess. The place she chose for the longest story was "the dark, dark woods". She helped me craft the stories as we went along, too. Her eyes were wide, her posture alert, as we talked about a prince and a princess (brother and sister) who weren't afraid of the dark and went on an adventure in the dark, dark woods. She added the piece about them being super-fast runners, able to go 2100 miles per hour -- that's the highest number she can think of. I added monster noises heard in the woods and whistles their parents gave them to blow if they encountered any danger that they couldn't run away from. This is very good practice for me, and with instant feedback.

Another new insight... When I came in to check on her after bedtime and she was still awake, I touched her feet and said, "Oh, you're so toasty warm." She thought for a second or two and then her eyes lit up and she said, "When you touch me, you feel my warmness. When you touch me, I feel your coldness!"

Funny thing in the car... She was telling me about her day at school, some game they played, and I reacted as I frequently do, saying "Oh." She admonished me. "Don't say 'oh'. It's very exciting!" So I added some excitement to my voice and said "Ohhh!" That pleased her.

morning

songs

I just inadvertently canceled the uploading of a video that had been taking 30 minutes to upload. It's of E singing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town".

Favorite memory of the week: in the car singing (both of us) along with a cd my friend Marie made. E's current favorite song on there is "Peace Like a River". I love that one too! She looks so serious when she's singing, but she's sounding better. :) I can't really say anything about that. She had me stop the cd every time she had to clear her throat, so that the song wouldn't go on without her.

condensed lyrics:
"I've got peace like a river in my soul...
I've got love like an ocean in my soul...
I've got joy like a fountain in my soul..."

(many repetitions make this an easy song for kids!)

David has been recording on disk some of our old records from childhood. I haven't listened to these songs in several decades, but it's funny how the lyrics and melody pop right back in my head as soon as the song starts. Many I had forgotten about, like "The Left Sock Thiever" from Dr. Seuss: "When the left sock thiever... makes a left sock theft... you'll be feeling might foolish, with your right sock left!"

Little Miss 4 Year Old at the Salon

E at the hairdresser's, very confident and grownup, now that she's done this a few times. This was taken Nov. 19th, just after she turned 4.

pet chickens

My friends got some chickens this summer, which they've treated as pets as well as egg producers. They'll even sit in your lap, but be sure you've got a towel. They're surprisingly soft, and apparently very stupid! E got to pet one of them when we visited in September.

plumber's friend

E remembered the name of this device as "toilet plumper" and asked if she could watch Daddy plump the toilet next time.