Penny walks!

It would be great if she would pose and do it for the camera, but instead, this is a picture of Penny's first s'more a couple weeks ago. Awwwwww!

Penny started pushing around a little toy this week. It looks like a cross between an easel and a shopping cart, and she loves the mobility it brings! She progressed in just a few days from chasing it wildly and out-of-control to using it as a prop to facilitate her walking. Then today after dinner my parents played with her out on the lawn, having her walk 3-4 steps from one to the other. Kevin hollered for me to come out, and when I did, Penny walked about 10 feet across the lawn to me. She was ecstatic, and so were the rest of us! She's officially walking!

And I know everyone is going to pepper my comments with things like, "You just watch out!" and, "You'll wish she never started!" And I don't care. I'm just thrilled that she's finally walking!

Plus, it's not like we haven't already mastered keeping her out of trouble. We're living with my parents, and their house isn't at all baby proof, especially now that they're remodeling their kitchen. We've gotten good at keeping her out of the power tools and insulation that have been within her reach the last couple months. We're so good at it, we're bored. We're ready for a new challenge! Bring on the walking!

I think this is an appropriate time to list all the other amazing things Penny does:

She says "meow," "bye," and "hi." She doesn't consistently say anything else, not even Mama or Dada. However, after I was cheering for Uncle Daniel at the football game last weekend, she yelled, "A-Da! A-Da!" I'm pretty sure she knows more than she lets on. I mean, why call for someone when they are already in front of you, ready to give you anything you want?

She has phone conversations on her cell phone-- or anything else she holds up to her face (TV control, cupboard shim, calculator, etc)

She pats her leg when she wants the dog or cats to come. They don't. ;)

She plays the harmonica, kazoo, and train whistle. And piano. In fact, if I ever hold her on my lap when I play, she rudely and insistently scoots my hands out of the way so SHE can play. Then she climbs up and plays with her feet. That may have to stop at some point....

She cries when I leave. This isn't usually a problem, since I leave before she wakes up.

Penny loves to eat xigua (watermelon), putao (grapes), binggan (graham crackers), and carrots. She likes anything we're eating, but she can't have milk because of allergies.

She can point to her bizi (nose), erduo (ears), yanjing (eyes, which she tries to open and touch with her finger), and we're working on shetou (tongue). She thinks it's really funny to poke at my eyes or stick her foot on my nose while she's nursing. Sometimes it's funny. Sometimes it's stinky. She's always cute.

She points at the sky (or ceiling) whenever she hears a feiji (airplane).

Kevin lets her pick her own clothes. Whenever it's presented as an option, she always picks her rayon shirt with the red flowers. I think it's the cutest one she has right now, and it's nice to know SHE thinks so too.

Sometimes Penny picks her own pants to go with her shirts, which is why today she was wearing some magenta shorts with her red and white flowered shirt. We'll work on that in the future...

Penny started boycotting her second nap, and now she has compromised with an extra-long midday nap. We'll take it!

Penny loves playing with her dad. She always has a special place for me (the giver of milk), but I love that Kevin has this chance to stay home with her for a couple months before he starts his diplomatic career and has to be away for longer. She squeals and throws herself into his arms. I love to see how happy they are together!

Pretty much amazing

When I was in middle and high school, I wrote in my journal every day. Sometimes I would devote a whole entry to a friend, telling my journal all about them: why they were cool, what we did together, what they liked and disliked. There wasn't really a point; I just wrote.

This post is about one of my friends, and today it has a point. For once. ;)

My friend, Rachel, and her husband, Ryan, are in the process of adopting. Actually, they're finished with the paperwork and are in the process of waiting. You can check out their official adoption profile here and Rachel's blog here.

Spread the word, folks!

And here are some of my favorite things about Rachel, in addition to what's on her profile:

- She is super motivated.

- She loves writing, so she started a creative writing club. (That's where we got to know each other.) She loves chocolate brownies and other delectable desserts, so she incorporated that into the creative writing club.

- During college, she placed in the Brimhall Essay Contest-- twice! And one of the essays she literally wrote the night before. Both times, she used a portion of her winnings to take our entire club out to ice cream. Talk about incredibly talented-- and generous!

- She visited an orphanage while she was in El Salvador, so she started up a program sending volunteers down to live there, plan stimulating activities, and generally brighten the lives of the disabled kids and adults who live there. She and Ryan spent a semester down there right when they were first married.

- She moved to New York and wanted to get to know the neighbor kids, so she started a cookie club, teaching all the kiddos to bake.

- She runs. And I'm talking 5k races and stuff like that, not just when something rolls into the street or someone holds a knife to her back, which would be the case for me. ;)

- She goes ALL OUT for holidays. Halloween, Valentine's, Christmas, you name it! This hearkens to both her enthusiasm and her generosity.

- She is the best English teacher I know. Every time I had to interview a teacher for some of my education classes, I'd always call her. She has incredible dedication and enthusiasm for reaching out to her students.

- She sings. Beautifully.

- She's amazing.

That basically sums up Rachel. She's amazing! I know that the child they end up adopting is one lucky kid. I'm keeping my ears open, and I ask you readers to spread the word as well.

If only I weren't too old to be adopted....

Crazy Hair

This week is Homecoming week, and the student council made an announcement on Friday about Spirit Days coming up. On the bus ride home, a whole gaggle of 7th grade girls were discussing how they would do their hair for Crazy Hair and Hat Day. I listened and schemed my own crazy hair plan, including Princess Leia buns and pipe cleaner swizzles.

Fast-forward to this morning. I leave at 7:00, and at 6:58 while I'm blow-drying my hair, I remember my hair plans. But while 2 minutes is plenty of time to put together an intricate hairdo, it doesn't leave me time for pipe cleaner swizzles. So I scrap that idea and grab a can of pink hairspray. (I love living at my parents' house-- so much random stuff I would never have in my own place!) I spray 4 or 5 highlight streaks through my hair and then quickly scrub off my arm, which has somehow turned pink.

I rode the bus with a bunch of school-spiritless kids. How lame!

I got to school, and there were even more spiritless kids. Can it be that there is even less school spirit than when I went to school there? Impossible!

Apparently, there is no problem with the level of school spirit at our school. There is only a problem with my listening to announcements.

I'll be ready with my Leia buns and swizzles on WEDNESDAY. Today I simply added flair to my usual business casual.

Cleaning up the bus

I love the Atomic City Transit! I ride the bus every day to and from work, and I love it for a lot of reasons: A) it's free, B) there's a stop three doors down from my house, and C) that bus goes directly to the middle school without having to transfer. Oh, and D) it's free. That's worth mentioning again.

The one sucky part is that since it goes right to the middle school, via the high school, it's basically like riding the school bus. I mean, there are plenty of adults, but the loudest and most obnoxious bulk of riders is comprised of middle and high school students.

And the adults all sit quietly reading their papers or listening to music, while the students try to outdo each other in how liberally they can sprinkle their conversations with the F-word, or one-up each other in conversational raunchiness.

And it gets old.

Yesterday on the way home, I came up with a plan for what I would do next time it got out of control. Which would be soon. Kevin gave me his old iPod, and I happen to know all the words to the Wicked soundtrack. I also rather enjoy belting along with those Broadway divas, despite my lack of vocal ability.

So the scenario would go like this: After apologizing in advance to any other adults riding the bus, I'd sit in the back with the teenagers. I'd sing my heart out along with a couple songs-- it wouldn't take more than two, I'm sure-- and then I'd get a tap on my shoulder. Or someone would yell something. Either way, someone would communicate the "stop singing" memo.

I'd innocently say, "Did you not like my singing? Was that not something you wanted to hear when you got on the bus this morning?" Then I'd get out my angry eyes. "Maybe that's something you should think about before you start sharing your raunchy, inappropriate conversations with the whole bus! Maybe that's not what we wanted to hear on the bus this morning."

That was my plan as I went out to the bus stop. I even sang a little on my way out there-- to warm up, you know.

Here's how it really went:

The bus was a little emptier than usual. The conversations were quiet and nice-- well below their usual roar. It definitely wasn't loud enough to require singing.

So I just read my book instead.

But about halfway up the hill, I got an earful of [a vulgar, detailed explanation of something I won't write here].

Out came the angry eyes. (They're not that angry-- more like grumpy eyes.)

"Do you realize there are other people on this bus?" I paused for dramatic effect.

Deer-in-the-headlight stares.

I waved my bookmark at them. "Yeah, keep that in mind." I went back to my book.

After a few surprised seconds, the conversation continued-- on a new topic. Occasionally the dialogue was laced with "Oh my gosh," or "freaking." It was awesome.

I'll save my singing for another day.

Clueless no more

I have no idea how I ever got away with not watching the movie, Clueless, until yesterday! Well, that's not true. I know exactly why. It's because when I was in middle school, I didn't go see it in the theatre. Then by the time it came out on video, all my friends had already seen it, and they didn't want to watch it again. Sometimes it would come up as a video choice, and I'd say, "Hey, what about Clueless? I've never seen it." They'd say, "Nah," and we'd watch something else.
So I somehow lived through the whole '90s and '00s without having watched this little beauty.
And you know what? I actually liked it! I can't say I'm a huge fan of Alicia Silverstone's acting talents (Does she have any? She wasn't even believably ditzy! Just boring and pouty), but the movie itself was pretty fun!
I liked the screenplay and the adaptation of Emma. I'd just watched the 2010 BBC version of Emma (which is wonderful-- in a completely different ballpark than Clueless, of course), and it was fun to see this version. I like the characters, and I love how so many of the guys in the movie went on to have very successful acting careers.
I loved the peek into 1994. It didn't try to be a timeless movie, and it now serves as a great little time capsule. I can't believe Beavis and Butthead were ever popular, and Ren and Stimpy are ridiculous. It's sad that 15 years later, boys still wear their pants halfway down their legs, even though now they're tight little skinny jeans.
There's probably a lot more that's now ridiculously out of style, but since that's when I grew up, it's normal to me. And almost homey and comforting. But not quite. ;)
What a fun movie! And if you haven't seen it since 1994, I recommend watching it again for a cute little funny movie.

Two Good People

Back in 2003, my friend Sarah told me about this amazing club I should join. I believe her exact words were, "My sister is starting this creative writing club, and it's just going to be her and a bunch of her friends, so you have to come with me." What wasn't to love?!

We met in a lovely old Provo apartment where we would write something, and then share our writings while eating decadent desserts. With this wholesome mix of creative writing and dessert, our club got its eloquent name: Two Good Things.

Now, before I ramble too much about this awesome club (which did turn out to be awesome, by the way. We kept meeting every week for about 5 years!), I want to mention a few wonderful things about Rachel, our club's founder.

Rachel loves writing. She entered contests in high school, and then in college she placed in the Brimhall essay contest-- twice-- and took our club out for ice cream both times. And since she loves creative writing, she got a bunch of her friends together and started a club for it.

Nourishment

Since I've started curbing my eating in an attempt to take a trip to India, I've noticed a few things about my eating habits.

First of all, I eat when I'm hungry. And I munch when I'm not. It's that second part I've been trying to change. I enjoy doing a lot of things; I have more hobbies than you can shake a stick at. (Pretty much, I love to do everything except scrapbooking, cake decorating, playing the guitar, and jogging.) And I don't have to let eating take over all my free time expenditure.

Second, I've notice the phrase I grew up using all the time in blessings on the food: praying that it will "nourish our bodies." How is it possible? Now, I love the idea of nourishment, and I'm happy to be blessed with plenty of it. But I'm not suffering from malnutrition. It's just the opposite, in fact. So why is it, after a day-- or even a lifetime!-- of nourishment to the point of saturation, that I pray for THIS food to nourish us? It's like saying, "Yes, I know I've been eating all day and have taken in more food than is good for my body, but please, set all that aside and let me get nourishment from this food." I'm going to put more thought into my prayers, rather than just using an old phrase that I don't feel has much applicability to my circumstances.

And finally, I'm happier when I only eat what I need. My clothes are fitting better, my jaw is redefining itself, and I make sure to enjoy the food I do eat. And I still eat everything I would have before; I just only eat enough to fill me up. Then I do something else. Ideally.

Seventh Graders

When I tell people I'm student teaching at the Middle School, I usually get the pity look. Then I hastily explain that it was my first choice, and for whatever reason, I love teaching seventh graders! People smile, nod, and say, "Well, I'm glad there are people like you."

I'm figuring out why it is I love it so much. Part of it must be that I loved middle school. I was really quiet in elementary school, spending most of my free time reading (and most of my class time, come to think of it...). Then I went to middle school and met an amazing group of new friends: Sheri, Leslie, Leslie, Julia, Megan, Aimee, Gloriane, Lydia-- these girls made my years. I put away my books and learned to socialize. Middle school was a blast! I can't say we were always perfectly kind to each other; we loaded every comment with heaps of sarcasm. But we made it through and giggled a lot.

I loved middle school, and I loved high school, but that's not why I love teaching there. In fact, life has just continued its gradual ascent, and I would never go back--even with all the friends, the crushes, the inside jokes, and the camaraderie that I doubt I'll ever have again.

I've finally pinpointed why it is I love this group. It's the same reason I love cheesy teen literature. I'm not just talking about Twilight, although that's definitely on the top of the heap. I'm talking about the cheesy, sappy, crappy teen chick-lit that I choose to read in my free time, like The Princess Diaries, Stargirl, The Princes books, along with countless other dribble I've read not even worth remembering the titles. The plots are hardly original, and no one could call them sophisticated. The characters are similar: girls, their friends, and the boy(s) they like. But I finally realized why I keep reading it: character development. In each book, and in each seventh grader, there is a poignant moment where a character starts to become who she will grow up to be. It's not always pretty. It's sometimes annoying, embarrassing, and even hurtful. But I love to see the adult beginning to emerge and test its legs for the first time. I love to see kids taking responsibility, helping out, learning new things, and occasionally showing their vulnerability when the situation becomes something they're not ready to handle. And then I get to watch it in real life, just like I love to read it in cheesy books, where the child learns to handle a new situation and takes that one step towards becoming a capable, actual, real-life adult.

I love working at the Middle School!

Parent Night

Yesterday I woke up with Penny to nurse her before I went to work. And then I got home after our school open house in time to nurse her and put her to bed. I usually get to see her for at least an hour or two.
I wouldn't do this for more than a couple months.