My Tiny Dancer

Tonight was Sylvia's dance recital, and as always, we had a blast watching Sylvia dance.  She had so much sass, and tons of energy!  She is really fun to watch, and you can tell that she just loves being on stage and performing for everyone.  Her class danced to two numbers, and they did a great job.  Sylvia loved her flowers from Mom and Dad, and after the recital, we went and got shakes at Sonic as a family night treat.  Lots of fun!

Nursing No More

Mommy and Henry

Today was the end of an era.  At the beginning of April, I began to eliminate daytime nursing sessions with Henry.  At first, it was awful -- he would pull at my shirt, and lay himself in my lap -- but it eventually got easier.  We snuggled A LOT during the day, and continued nursing in the evenings before bed.  But tonight, instead of nursing, I snuggled Henry close and sang him a lullaby.  I laid him down in his crib, and he went to sleep on his own without incident.  This baby is a baby no longer.  And that fact is kind of bittersweet.   

Henry is Very Cute

Henry decided to get out this pot and play while Mom was cooking dinner.

Epic cuteness.

Lord, I Believe

Lord, I Believe

This talk, by Jeffrey R. Holland, was given especially for me.  Well, at least it felt that way.  If you haven't already, take a listen.  Good stuff.

The Zoo

               

Spring Break was a nice break from school for my kiddos.  Besides practicing piano and reading, the kids took it easy last week.  We made a library trip, went to the park, played with friends, and went to a movie, but the highlight of Spring Break was going to Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake.  We went on the loveliest day (70 degrees and sunny) with our good friends the Taniguchis.  Favorite animal sightings were the Elephants and Rhinos, and Ben really loved seeing a monkey poop in real life.  Seriously, it made his day :) .  Anyway, it was a busy day, since everyone else in Utah also decided to go to the zoo and take advantage of the nice weather, but after going to Disneyland in July last year, this was a piece of cake.  I was sad, because I love the giraffes, and their exhibit was closed.  All in all, the zoo is always a fun place to go.

Library Fun

                 

One of the great things about living in Springville is the new city library.  My kids love spending time at the library, because the children's area is spacious, with lots of fun activity areas.  Basically, there is something for every kid!  The pictures above illustrate a typical library excursion for my kids:  Sylvia goes straight to the wall of new picture books, grabs a few, and sits down to read at a table.  Ben goes straight to the computers and gets immersed in a new fun game.  And Henry loves the game tables, where he will play with these magnetic building sticks, or with the wooden trains.  Since last week was Spring Break, we made sure to make a visit to the library.

Easter

Easter was fun. We ate a lot of candy, went to two Easter egg hunts (one at Uncle Bob's house), and enjoyed a nice church service.  I was so lucky--I got to speak in Sacrament meeting!  No pressure at all. 

Henry is 16 Months

This boy is dreamy.

Henry is a hoot.  He is a very needy little guy, and so I spend a good portion of my day snuggling him.  Mom and Henry hang: we read books, sing songs and have one sided chats about our day.  Henry is a sweetheart, but he only has eyes for Mom and Dad.

At 16 Months:

• He's still nursing...and I don't have the heart to cut that cord yet.
• He eats well, and will taste most foods. Favorites are oatmeal, bananas and eggs. He won't touch milk, period.
• Moving to the new house has totally wrecked sleep training. Henry rarely sleeps through the night now. Heaven help us.
• He is incredibly inquisitive. He loves reading books (and pulling them all off of the shelf), opening cabinet doors (subsequently dumping out the contents of said cabinet onto the floor), and swishing in the toilet.
• No words besides Mama and Dada, yet.  He basically calls everything Dada.
• Loves to play outside with this siblings, and dig in the dirt.