Yard Sale and Joanna Milestones

Date: Sat, Apr 3, 2010 at 11:09 PM

Today was a huge day. I am incredibly tired. I am going to bed at the
end of this note.

We had our first yard sale. It was pretty successful. We had a nice
time visiting with those who joined us in the sale. I got some new
clothes out of it too.
It was fun preparing, sort of. Our house is a little less full now,
though you can't tell it. Surprisingly, several items we thought would
sell did not.

Joanna had a milestone day. She let herself in and out of the back
fence by herself, more than once. She not only opened the gate, but
she closed it, too. AND, the dogs did not get out.
The gate is not latched with a regular latch. It is a bungee cord that
hooks on to a nail, okay. That is one reason this amazes me--it's
simply hard to do!

She also opened the door by herself. And unlocked it too. This is bad.

She washed her hands by herself in the bathroom sink. She dried them too.
She had paint on them and I reckon she washed her hands before I saw
that she had paint on them. She painted me a really nice picture with
a handprint on it. I'm so proud my heart just melts.

I ran into a friend from high school who has a 10-yr-old they don't
get to see much. I was truly saddened to hear this.

Jason took Joanna on the back porch after dark to water plants. He
said she saw the stars and raised her hands and sang the "Twinkle,
twinkle" song in it's entirety, twice. He wished he had it on tape,
but I hope that by writing it down, this lovely memory will be
preserved. So many of these wonderful, tresaured moments go
unrecorded, but I hope my children know how much I enjoy every single
magnificent day that I am with them.

I am most wonderfully blessed by our Lord and Savior! I have eternal
salvation, a spectacular husband, a beautiful family, and great
friends.

Invitation to view a photo from Amy's Picasa Web Album - Kidd 032710

Easter photos at UT Gardens. What a fun afternoon. Joanna didn't want to leave.

Yard Sale and Joanna Milestones

Today was a huge day. I am incredibly tired. I am going to bed at the
end of this note.

We had our first yard sale. It was pretty successful. We had a nice
time visiting with those who joined us in the sale. I got some new
clothes out of it too.
It was fun preparing, sort of. Our house is a little less full now,
though you can't tell it. Surprisingly, several items we thought would
sell did not.

Joanna had a milestone day. She let herself in and out of the back
fence by herself, more than once. She not only opened the gate, but
she closed it, too. AND, the dogs did not get out.
The gate is not latched with a regular latch. It is a bungee cord that
hooks on to a nail, okay. That is one reason this amazes me--it's
simply hard to do!

She also opened the door by herself. And unlocked it too. This is bad.

She washed her hands by herself in the bathroom sink. She dried them too.
She had paint on them and I reckon she washed her hands before I saw
that she had paint on them. She painted me a really nice picture with
a handprint on it. I'm so proud my heart just melts.

I ran into a friend from high school who has a 10-yr-old they don't
get to see much. I was truly saddened to hear this.

Jason took Joanna on the back porch after dark to water plants. He
said she saw the stars and raised her hands and sang the "Twinkle,
twinkle" song in it's entirety, twice. He wished he had it on tape,
but I hope that by writing it down, this lovely memory will be
preserved. So many of these wonderful, tresaured moments go
unrecorded, but I hope my children know how much I enjoy every single
magnificent day that I am with them.

I am most wonderfully blessed by our Lord and Savior! I have eternal
salvation, a spectacular husband, a beautiful family, and great
friends.

Cute Easter Photos

Last month, our neighbor passed away. Ed Letcher, you may have met
him, has been our friend since he moved here. He died suddenly of a
heart attack while hiking. Ed was a great guy and he took to Joanna
like she was his own grandchild. He left behind his wife and his
14-year-old adopted son (grandson). His son is doing o.k. but is
really heartbroken. It's my understanding that Ed didn't even know he
was dying, he thought he was out of breath and was going to sit down
and rest. He died as he was sitting down of a massive heart attack.

Ed was Joanna's "pappy." She saw him nearly every day and he loved
her. She has finally realized he is not coming back. It has been tough
explaining to her, but I decided to keep it really simple. I tell her
"When you go to Nana and Pappy's house, Pappy won't be there. He is in
heaven." Sometimes, she says, "No. Pappy is at work." (just
matter-of-factly). A week ago, Sheryl had Joanna in the car and Jacob
got in the car and mentioned Pappy's name. Joanna said, "Pappy is in
heaven." and they were stunned. Sheryl told me that Jacob asked her
"what did you say?" so that she'd repeat that because he couldn't
believe she said that. A few days ago, she asked for Pappy and Sheryl
overheard her. Sheryl asked if she could give Joanna a photo of Pappy
later. When she gave the picture to Joanna, Joanna threw it down and
said "No" (but not mean). She asked for him again today after I said
something about being "happy". I just said, "Yep. I want to see Pappy
too. He's in heaven. I know you miss him. I miss him too." She said, "Yep"
back and "Oh, I'm sorry." I know she doesn't fully understand, but I'm just approaching
the situation like I want her to learn about death. Death is a natural
part of our lives. It is unexpected, but it is not the end.

I'm still sad about him being gone and my heart breaks for
his wife and having lost her partner of 40 years. Wow! She's doing
o.k. though. Ed loved the Lord Jesus, though so it helps knowing we
will all see him again. It also helps knowing that he died doing
exactly what he loved, hiking. Ed's funeral was awesome. It was one
that I had never seen the likes of before. I will have to write about that!

My children are my joy

My children are my joy, and of course, my husband is too. I can think
of many blessings in my life, and my husband is at the top of this
list.

Joanna is now two and a half. She is so delightful to be with. She is
two, and with that comes the boundary testing and temper tantrums, but
those begin to subside as she learns our boundaries and her own. It
helps if we are consistent as well, I have realized.

Thomas is really showing his personality now. He can sit up for a
little while on his own and he grabs at toys and holds them in both
hands. He's sticking things in his mouth and is happy to bounce and
swing and jump and be tossed around in the air. He is truly a happy
baby. He will be six months old soon.

Joanna talks in whole sentences, paragraphs, chapters, even! She can
tell a story, relaying details and opinions, if you can catch it all.
Sometimes, it takes a trained ear to catch those context clue words to
figure out what she's saying, but she is genuinely clear in most of
her words. We have caught her counting into her teens! Today, I
noticed she bounced her monkey on the couch and sang the alphabet song
like Daddy does with her. She also put the monkey in her shirt so that
his head stuck out the neck of the shirt and she walked around with
him like that for a while. She is so sweet.

I found her in her cave (Uncle Andrew built this for her) laying down
and sucking on a toy today. I sure hope that was a one-time thing.

Thomas is really watching Joanna and you can tell he really likes her
and is interested in all she does. This morning I gave him a bath and
she walked around in conversation back and forth so that she was going
in and out of his line-of-sight, though she didn't take notice of him
paying attention to her. He watched her this whole time and I could
see his expression change on his face from delight--an open mouth
smile with his eyes twinkling. to disappointment or not-so-excited
face. That was neat to see. He also peed on me as I was bathing him.
What is it about that warm water!

Joanna got a bath too. She is really getting better about letting me
wash her hair. I run a bath about 3 inches or so and she lays belly
down for some soapy suds. I got her a pink pouf a while back with some
special kids bath soap. It was for Valentine's day. Anyway, she lets
me put this soap all over her and even on her head. Then, we get out
some bath toys. I put in some "slippy bath" or baby oil so that her
legs don't turn into "alligators." I've started pointing out the hands
on the clock too and telling her that bathtime will be over soon. That
doesn't help much, though. The princess towel seems to help!

Calling Thomas Michael

Jason suggested yesterday that we start calling "Thomas" "Michael"
instead to throw off telemarketers. Jason likes this about his name.
I'll occasionally call him his first and middle name, then. I don't
think it will be too easy to change what I call him.

Thomas is standing up from a seated position on my lap if I'm holding his hands.

Joanna is talking in paragraphs and relating stories, with some
embellishment. This morning, I was taking her across the street and we saw
a robin. It was a plump little bird. I stopped and pointed out the bird,
that it was called a Robin and to look at it's fat red belly. I inched us
closer to the bird explaining to be quite and we could see how close we'd
get. It pooped! I pointed that out and it flew into the yard and then on
the house. She pointed out the bird's activities and when we got to the
neighbors, she told Ed all about the bird and what it did. She would add
"and now" between each thing.

We had our photo made yesterday. She was really good!
Last night, I told her if she went back to sleep when she woke up during
the night, I'd give her a prize in the morning. She liked the idea. When
she woke up in the early AM, she remembered when I reminded her about the
prize and went back to sleep, a later wakening was a little less
successful, but she drifted off eventually, with my help. She woke happy
in the AM and I gave her the prize. I wanted her to know that I did not
forget, even if she had. It was a bath sponge and her own shower gel. She
asked to take a bath just before this and what wonderful timing. She liked
sudsing up the bath poof and getting all sudzy. She even hung the poof up
on the bath spout.

She's getting better somewhat about crying when we put lotion on.

-Amy