One of Grandpa Steve Onines' favourite things to do with his grandchildren is play "teeter-totter." Oh the tales of children, upon hearing his return home, running to the front room, throwing themselves on the ground in front of him as they offer their hands and feet. All so Grandpa could teeter and totter them. How joyous the cries of, "Again!" that followed, until Grandpa's back could take no more for the day. And sadly, each child would soon become too big for even one turn.
Last month I was able to take a new grandchild to Grandpa's house to participate in this rite. Grandpa loved Cavell's open mouthed wonder and giggles at this entertaining game. I think he enjoyed the encouraging claps Cavell gave to "ask" for another go even more.
Teeter-totter, bread and waterWash your face in Cavell water.
That is a little different than the way I recite it. "Teeter-totter, bread and butter / Wash it down with a glass of water." We are not the only ones that remember it our own ways. I found this article that seems to support my dad's version. Of course, he does replace "dirty" with the grandchild's name. Does that mean something?
Alayna drew this picture for her friend Mara. It is even more beautiful in person. Especially when we compare it to the pages of "writing" she has been doing for the past while.
This is only a small example. Imagine a full sized sheet of paper like this. No margins, the whole page. Now imagine a full notebook of this, and every other surface she can find to write on. She is making a few more pseudo letters, especially O, M, and N, but the page is so overwhelmingly full that it's hard to look at and see any of these. I would provide a better example, but she put her "homework" away in her desk, in her room, before going to bed.
I am going to see if I can convince her to give this picture to me and let her draw another for her friend.
A year ago he slept. Now it's amazing to watch him run after his sister to play and climb all over her.
A year ago I was worried about correct positioning to nurse him. Now he likes to nurse upside-down or on his tummy just as much as the cradle hold.
A year ago he could only cry. Now he makes all sorts of noises that have their own meaning (especially when he tells his sister to stop) and even sings.
A year ago he would startle. Now he can clap and give five.
A year ago he would look around him. Now he is exploring.
A year ago I loved him with all my heart. Now, I love him more.
In getting things caught up, I found this post that had been started but never published. So here it is in all of it's unedited, unfinished glory:
The morning walks have begun again. Sadly so has the hot weather. But, I no longer have to push two kids in the stroller. Alayna is riding her bike around the neighborhood! She is very excited and does such a great job staying by the side of the road, stopping to look for cars, and saying hello to our neighbors.
Have we also shared that Alayna has begun to read?! Today we read "The Letter" from our "Frog and Toad" book that Grandma Onines gave Alayna.
We seem to share a lot about Alayna. I think it is because the older she gets the more she does. Today, we thought we would share a couple of things about Cavell.
For finger food at dinner we give Cavell a veggie mix of peas, carrots, corn and green beans. When he has finished what he wants to eat, he begins to very purposefully drop a green bean on the floor, watching it fall before he gets another and drops it. If he has placed a green bean in his mouth while trying to get the other vegetable in, he will spit just the green bean out and drop that on the floor. Cavell does not like Green Beans.
Paul was watching Cavell the other day while Stacy got some much needed alone time for shopping. Allowing the children to play together with autonomy, he notices that it is very quiet. All parents know this is not a good sign. Then he hears Cavell YELLING. He rushes to Alayna's room where she is quietly working at her desk. Cavell is still YELLING. He follows the yells to our bathroom where Cavell has climbed in the tub and is mad at the faucet because there is no water coming out. Cavell likes Baths.
Well, Alayna is a true Southern Girl. Yesterday at dinner she declared, "Biscuits and gravy are even better than taquitos!" And anyone that has asked her what she wants for dinner knows how much she enjoys taquitos.
We should probably share that Cavell has been walking for at least a week. Not much more than six steps at a time, but when he goes down he can stand himself back up without having to pull up on anything and starts walking again. He also enjoys climbing up onto the Thinking Chair to watch TV with Alayna.
Another tooth has come in. I guess the 6th just isn't as exciting as the first though it does give the bottom an even 4.
Monday Alayna asked me to read a book that Cavell had found on our shelf. "A" You're Adorable. I read it to her and mentioned that it was a song, but didn't know the tune. Instead, I went to YouTube and found a feed. Two BYU gals, Sandi Griffths and Sally Flynn, on the Lawrence Welk Show in 1971!!
Alayna listened to it over, and over, and over. Tuesday afternoon she asked to listen to the song again. This time I found her a Sesame Street version with a puppet named Jack from 1969! Cookie Monster even made an appearance for the second half.
She enjoyed the puppets, but asked for Sandi and Sally by name. This morning Alayna asked to listen AGAIN. She happily watched both feeds again, and again, and again.
As you can imagine, Alayna now knows the song and we present it here for your listening pleasure.
We have been teasing some of the Grandparents for a few weeks now about Alayna's first appearance at the ward talent show. Alayna has been excited about the talent show from the first time it was announced. She decided right away that she would sing Castle on A Cloud from Les Miserables. The talent show is also the night of the ward desert competition and pig roast.
Last year's entry to the desert competition was completely ignored by the judges (missionaries with no palate). I think the Bishop heard rumor that there may have been some hard feelings over the way the judging took place last year, because this year the desert competition was only open to the Primary children. Alayna decided that we would be submitting our recently found and modified to be gluten-free brownie recipe. Alayna did all of the measuring and pouring into the bowl and Stacy assisted by operating the heavy machinery.
So, we have the perfect set-up for the perfect evening. The ward talent show, made up of any person willing to stand on the stage in front of the crowd. The ward, more interested in talking to the people two or three tables away from them than pay attention to the talent. And desert provided by the Primary children. But the pig was smoked to perfection. There is nothing that a little bit (OK, a whole lot) of perfectly bbq'd pork can't solve.
Stacy started off the evening with her rendition of the song Popular from the award winning musical, Wicked. (Pardon the audio, I don't have a sound engineer willing to work for what I'm willing to pay)
As soon as Stacy finished receiving her well deserved applause, Alayna took the stage.
What I like is that there is a definite difference between the background noise when Stacy and Alayna sings. The free-range children that escaped the attention of their parents and stood in front of the stage making too much noise during the show paid more attention to Alayna than Stacy, but returned to their noisy diversions as soon as Alayna was done.
Immediately following the talent show and later at church on Sunday, Stacy received four requests wondering where she can be seen performing plays/shows/musicals in the area. Apparently Stacy is perceived to be good enough that normally cheap thrifty Mormons are willing to pay money to hear her sing. Alayna received her share of positive comments as well. She is the current darling of the ward and milks it for all it's worth. Everybody was very impressed at her ability to memorize the whole song and willingness to perform in front of the crowd.
And to quote my Deacon's reporting on the events of a campout, "We had a lot of fun."
Our ward has an Annual Pig Roast and Talent Show. Alayna has seen Stacy perform a song for the past couple of years. This year when they announced it in Primary, Alayna pronounced that SHE was going to sing a song on the stage. In order for her to take this seriously we have been having her practice. We don't want her to be the one to get up there and then do nothing no matter how much it seems everyone in the ward would still love her for that.
Following is picture and audio of our practice session, part of our activity for Family Home Evening.
Stacy sang a beautiful rendition of I Know That My Redeemer Liveth from Handel's Messiah at church this morning. This is not Stacy's favorite song from the Messiah. Stacy does not really like to sing about worms, but she did a great job. I apologize for the amateur recording. I was not able to balance the voice and the piano, but you can still hear Stacy pretty well. Turn up your volumes and click on the play button to hear:
Since Stacy is also the primary chorister and leaves sacrament to make a beeline to the primary room for the remaining two hours, she did not receive as many compliments on her performance as I did. Some of the excerpts:
"Stacy has a beautiful voice, where did she perform opera before she moved here?"
"If I was lying in a hammock with a cool breeze, I could have drifted off to sleep." (really, that was a compliment, I promise)
"Amazing, where does she take lessons?"
"I hope she sings at the ward talent show again this year."
"How much training did Stacy have?"
"I could listen to her all day. Alayna and Cavell are lucky that they get to hear Stacy all the time."
"Does she sing like that at home all the time?"
Needless to say, Stacy did a great job as usual and really made a positive spiritual impact on the meeting. Even if she was singing about worms.
Teeter-totter, bread and waterWash your face in Cavell water.
