Hebs vs. the Baby Food

The Food



The Baby



An epic battle of incredible odds.



Who will come out on top? Will our champion be the totally inanimate pureed food, or the baby entranced by his own finger?

Tune in tomorrow for the exciting conclusion...

Superpowers

My favorite superhero is Elastigirl, a.k.a. Helen Parr, a.k.a. Mrs. Incredible. (She is an amazing stay-at-home mom! We need more heroes like her!) I would love to have her superpowers--how wonderful to be able to reach anything, to grab two separate kids running to two different directions, to be able to s-t-r-e-c-h up to see over hedges and houses...the list could go on and on. But as I keep telling Zee, superheros don't really exist...

I do, however, have a few "superpowers" up my sleeve...

• By just pressing my lips to a child's forehead, I can tell if they have no fever, a low-grade fever, or a oh-dear-me-time-to-break-out-the-medicine fever. In fact, my kids' doctor said he doesn't care if I ever use a thermometer--he says mom's lips are sensitive enough to know if the doctor should be called. Cool, huh?

• I have the "Mommy Gene". This is the ability to know where just about anything is located in our house at just about anytime. (It's usually because I'm the one who put it there in the first place.) This ability does NOT extend to children's shoes, unfortunately.

• I know my children's screams, as opposed to other children's screams. I also know if the scream is angry, sad, hurt, or help-I'm-bleeding-to-death-save-me.

• I also know whether a countertop is natural stone or man-made. Useful, I know.

• I have developed the skill of telling if it is snowing outside at night, just from the reflection of the light that I can see from my basement bedroom windows.

• I generally know which way is north, south, east, or west. (Although Hawaii totally messed me up.) I generally do NOT know which way is left or right, which amuses my husband to no end.

Do you have superpowers?

Truman Madsen Memories

Truman Madsen passed away this morning, and as I have read some of the remembrances others are writing of him, I thought of my own experiences with this amazing man.

I first encountered him as a freshman at BYU. Second semester, I took "Writings of Isaiah", a religion course taught by Ann Madsen, his wife. What an amazing class that was! It was a rare class when I did not feel touched by the Spirit, and I learned so much. For the final exam, we met at the Madsens' home north of the football stadium and read short essays we had written about Isaiah's teaching. Their home was welcoming; as host and hostess the Madsens were gracious. My father had told me he was a big fan of Truman Madsen's lectures on Joseph Smith, so I was so excited to shake Brother Madsen's hand and tell him that. (I bet he got that a lot.)

My next experience with the Madsens was two years later, when I moved into the student stake where Brother Madsen was stake president. What an amazing year that was! In June of that year, our stake held an amazing fireside in the Provo Tabernacle celebrating the life of Joseph Smith. I was picked to be one of the ushers, and the stake actually rented pioneer-style costumes for us to wear. We sang "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief" to the older tune that Joseph would have known, and listened to President Madsen talk about the prophet's life. Wow!

On Easter Sunday, instead of normal church we had a morningside at the Provo Tabernacle. A stake choir had been formed, and the music and talks about the Savior truly made the day a celebration of Christ. Watching the stained glass windows brighten with the dawn while listening to the choir singing praises will always be a treasured memory.

These are but a few of the things that come to mind when I think about Truman Madsen. Thank you for touching my life, Brother Madsen. Go with God.

My new Zoombini addiction

(side note to begin: My very very favorite child's meals' toys come from either Sonic (have you seen their adorable animal "tots" stuffed toys? So dang cute, and my daughter in particular loves them) or Chick-Fil-A, which is the subject of this post.)

While in Colorado Springs for spring break (during which we were gifted with one snowed-in pass and one genuine Little-House-on-the-Prairie-type blizzard), we went to Chick-Fil-A to eat. (Mmmm, yummy chicken...) We bought the children kids' meals, and the prize was two computer games in each meal. We got Carmen Sandiego, Reading Rabbit (or some such), and...the Zoombinis: Island Odyssey!

Zee really loves computer games, so recently we "discovered" the Zoombini disc, and started to play. Oh, my...it is SUCH a fun game! Not so much for Zee, because (as I later noticed) it is rated for grades 4-8. But I am having a ball! From Wikipedia:

This is the first game to incorporate science in the puzzles, which include intersection of rates, decoding, astronomical time, Venn diagrams, and Punnett squares...

You remember Venn diagrams from math in elementary school and junior high, and Punnett squares are when you play with dominant and recessive gene mixing. There are three levels to every puzzle (Not So Hard, Oh So Hard, and So Very Hard), and, let me tell you, this scientist's mommy brain is finding the Oh So Hard level to be aptly named. (There's no math, though, hooray!)

So, anyway, yes, this is a tale of how a thirty-something housewife loves a computer game directed at 8-12 year-olds. Gotta problem with that? Too bad if you do, because I'm off playing Zoombinis.

Update on my disability dilemma

In reference to this post, I wrote this to the city:

"While visiting the Parks and Recreation building earlier this month, I noticed that there is no handicapped-accessible entrance into the building. Although there is a ramp in the back, there is no way to get in through the back door without the keycode, and the back door is clearly marked "Employees Only". There also doesn't seem to be any handicap parking spaces.

An easy solution to this problem would be to put an intercom or bell at the back door with a sign that says something like "Handicapped entrance only. Please use intercom to have staff open door". Then the office could keep the back door locked, but it could still be handicapped-accessible."

I just received this reply in my email box:

Keryn,

Thank you for bringing this ADA deficiency to our attention. We just moved into this building last October and obviously still have some things to take care of. Thank you for your suggestions as well. We will be looking at how to remedy the situation. In the mean time, if you need assistance getting into our facility please call xxx-xxxx and we will help you.

Thanks again!

Dale Robinson

Parks & Recreation Director

Yay! Problem (will be) solved.

Have I mentioned that I love my city?

A love/hate kinda day

I really hate being sick.
But I really love my husband who could take the day off so I could sleep all day.

I really hate it when my kids are sick.
But I really love the way they cuddle up to me--even my big five year old.

I really hate the way my kids climb all over me.
But I really love that they need me.

I really hate the way my house looks after I've taken the weekend "off."
But I really love not cleaning for a day or two.

I really hate it when my kids sass me.
But I really love that they have no trouble speaking.

What a shocker...

I suppose, that if you have a sick two-year-old boy who is only happy when he is cuddled next to his mommy, and that every time he needs to cough he looks directly into her face while doing so, and wants to give her lots and lots of kisses...

...then you should not be surprised when that mother catches whatever bug her boyo has.

But hopefully not the version with the Totally Free Added Ear Infection!

(Completely unrelated: Hebs is getting so big. He is eating yummy mooshed green beans, and talking up a storm: Mamamamamamamama, aw-YAUGH, aw-YAUGH...it is very very cute and very very loud.)