Introducing My 16-Month Old

Here we have a classic illustration of the toddler, Becca. She can frequently be found climbing on top of things like kitchen tables, enjoys dumping out the contents of her "cup-cup"s and splashing in the puddles, and LOVES chocolate, especially in the form of cookies. Also, she loves to say "Cheese!" for the camera. Anyone want a kiss?

And this was about half an hour after she got out of the bath. Of course.

A Moment of Truth

I have realized something about myself.

I've always known I'm a performer at heart. Give me a stage and an audience and I'm happy as a clam. But I'm terrified of live-feed cameras.

I'm singing in the choir at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple dedication in the morning--which is being broadcast to stake centers all over Utah--and I'm terrified. I'm having panic attacks that I'll pick my nose in the middle of the opening prayer or sing off-key or fall over in a dead faint and cause a major disruption to the whole session. Since I'm standing on the far edge of the choir, maybe I'll just fall behind the organ and no one will notice.

So, if you're planning on attending the dedication broadcast tomorrow, please go to the 3:00 session. Or at least, don't tell anyone who that poor soprano was who accidently tripped and knocked over President Monson's chair. You can pretend you don't know her.

Maggie-isms

Maggie: "Mom, can you do me a favor?"

Me: "Sure. What do you need?"

Maggie: "Um...what's a favor?"

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Maggie, after sneezing several times in a row: "I have the bless-you's!"

Birthday Girl

Maggie woke up singing, "Happy Birthday" to herself yesterday morning--yes, the long-awaited day finally came and Maggie turned FOUR years old. She immediately asked for some scissors and went to work cutting off the tips of her binkies, something we've been talking about for weeks but I'm still surprised she had the gumption to go through with it. She had a rough bedtime last night and a little bit tonight, but seems to be determined to grow up.

We had a little birthday party for Maggie at the neighborhood kiddie pool yesterday morning. We set up a birthday table with balloons in the nearby pavillion and left the cake for an hour while we took the kids swimming. When we came back for snacks, I took the foil off the cake and discovered the whole thing was COVERED in bees. Us moms all freaked out. And so did the kids.

We moved the kids to the farthest table away from the bee cake and got them started on some crackers and cheese. Then one mom bravely lifted a corner of the cake pan and dropped it to shake off all the bees. I dove in and grabbed my cake and ran off with it. I worked too hard on that cake to just hand it over to a swarm of insects, gosh dang it.

I pretty much spent the rest of the party carrying the cake around, running away from bees. We cut off a decoy piece of cake and set it on the ground under the table that the cake had originally sat on to keep the bees occupied--but there were still a few who kept finding that darn cake. You should've seen me trying to cut cake while walking around and around with the pan. Classic party games, I think.

But Maggie had a great time, she loves feeling so special--who doesn't? And I think her friends had a good time, too. Luckily, the bees were so intent on their frosting that no one was stung.