Scripture Power

The last few days my daughter has been asking me to tell her stories of Jesus (as opposed to stories about Little Bunny Fufu and Little Bunny Ginny that she usually likes to hear). I have been telling her stories, and she keeps asking for more. Yesterday I got out my Gospel Art Picture Kit that has pictures of scripture stories with the story written on the back. I pulled out several of them and just read them to her.

Today she was asking me again for stories about Jesus (she really likes stories of when He died and was resurrected). I started telling her about it, then got out my scriptures and read parts of 3 Nephi 10 and 3 Nephi 11 from the Book of Mormon. This tells about when Christ visited the Americas after he was resurrected. We read the part where it was dark for 3 days after Christ died in Jerusalem. Then we read the part where Christ appeared to the Nephites. She got so excited when we read that Christ invited "the multitude" (she asked what that meant) to come forward, and one by one, touch his hands, side and feet and witness that he is Jesus Christ.

My 3 year old sat entranced as I read out of the sciptures! Every time I would stop and think her attention was gone, she'd ask me to read more. I tried to read with expression like I do when I'm reading her stories. We were both riveted!

I'm thankful for this reminder of reading the scriptures. One of my New Year's resolutions is to read the scriptures every day. Thank you, Ginny, for helping me do that and reminding me of what is important.

Goodbye Thumbsucking

We're trying to get serious about stopping the thumb sucking around here. I've already talked to my husband, and he's working on it. : > Just kidding, sweetheart. : > Our soon to be 4 year old was reminded by her dentist last week about why it is important to mot suck her thumb. He told her that last time, too, but I haven't had the heart to reinforce it because her thumb sucking is so comforting for her.
Being the good educator and behaviorist that I am, I tried positive reinforcement the first day. I made a chart that says:
"Ginny can keep her thumb out of her mouth" at the top. I drew a line down the middle and put a smiley face on one side, and a frowny face on the other. When she wasn't sucking her thumb, I put smiley face on it. When she was, I drew a frowny face on the other column.
Things went well the first day and she got lots of smiley faces, and a few frowny faces. Teh second day, I decided to add treats as a reward. Not a good idea. She didn't need them and she got too fixated on the treats. We stopped that after she got treats down out of the cupboard (She has discovered the use of chairs and stools to get to all my high places where I put the treats so she can't get into them) and declared that she has not sucked her thumb in a while and should get a treat. She then grabbed 4 candies and shoved them in her mouth. I'm not sure what her dentist would say about that.
We started this last Friday. On Tuesday I told her I was proud of her because I hadn't seen her sucking her thumb all day. She immediately said "And so I get a treat". I told her her treat was feeling good about herself that she is so grown up and is doing something that is hard for her. She looked at me skeptically. I don't think she agreed with me.
Reminder to self- start out with the least intrusive postive reinforcement to change a behavior. In other words, just praise her and give her hugs and high fives and smiles. She doesn't need the treats. And neither do I. Strange thing, but when I get out a treat to give to her, somehow a few of the treats end up in my mouth, too. Wonder how that happens. : >

Where have all the dishtowels gone?

As I was reaching to wipe my hands on the dishtowel that is supposed to be hanging on my stove, I realized it was missing, again. In fact, I find myself putting a new dishtowel up a few times each day. Then my beautiful daughter walked in, wanting to know where the clip is. She had a dishtowel around her head. When she addresses me as "Joesph" or "Dear Husband", I know she is Mary. When she insists I call her "Super Ginny" , she has the dishtowel wrapped around her as a cape. Other times, I find a dishtowel carefully wrapped around her dolls as they are tucked into bed. Lately she has been wrapping them around her waist and using it as a ball gown skirt.
I guess I should be grateful that she gets so much use out of a simple dishtowel. I am always reminded that she doesn't need a lot of expensive toys. Her favorite things to play with are paper towel tubes, washcloths, dishtowels, pieces of paper, it could be anything. And of course if I accidentally throw away the precious treasure of the day, there is a big meltdown.
So parents of young children out there, don't bother buying toys for your children. A pot and pan and stacking bowls form your kitchen are just as entertaining.

Mothering Thoughts

I just finished my portfolio for my nomination for Utah Young Mother of the Year. I will go to a luncheon on Feb. 7 along with the other nominees. I will give a short talk to introduce myself, and I will find out who won. I really don't want to win. I just kept feeling that I needed to do this in order to promote becoming a mother through adoption. Or maybe through this we will be able to find our next baby. It has been an interesting process of reflection about being a mother. I had to answer 10 questions, write a biography and an essay, as well as get three letters of recommendation. I wanted to share some of my answers to my questions. I would love for you to read them and respond with your thoughts about the topic. So here's one of them:

On a daily basis, what do you feel is your most important function?
My most important function is showing love to my family. I try to do my daily tasks with this in mind.
I really don’t like to iron shirts. In fact, I don’t really like to do house work. I’d much rather read stories with my daughter, sing songs with her, go to the library or read a book myself. Before our daughter came, I didn’t do very much ironing, especially not my husband’s shirts, arguing that I was just as busy as him and he could iron them himself. My husband never complained, he just never ironed his shirts. When I became a full time mother and homemaker, I grudgingly decided to iron shirts occasionally. When Matt wore an ironed shirt the next time, I was surprised how nice he looked. It really did make a difference in his professional appearance. Since then, I have tried to be more diligent about ironing his shirts. I try to think about my husband and how much I love him as I iron. Then it doesn’t seem like such a drudgery.
I try to involve my daughter in housework and cooking as well. Although it is sometimes frustrating and much more time consuming to cook with a 3 year old, it is a chance for us to spend time together and for me to show her how much I love her. She is learning how to crack an egg or measure a cup of flour. She gets so excited when she learns a new skill. Nurturing my family and myself every day with love is my most important function.

Critical Analysis

Ginny and I have been talking about the different ways to tell a story using different media. As you know, she loves "Seussical the Musical". For Christmas she got the movie "Horton Hears a Who" and a book on tape version on Horton Hears a Who and Horton Hatches an Egg (read by Dustin Hoffman and Billy Crystal, respectively). At dinner last night, we asked her what was the same and different about each of them. So here is her critical analysis comparing these three forms of telling the story:

"Well, in the book, and the movie and the play, JoJo says "Yop". In the play, there is Gertrude and in the book and the movie there isn't. I like the movie the best".

So there you have it, her first scholarly paper. Feel free to post a comment in support or a rebuttal of her analysis.

Family Pictures

Here are some family pictures my cousin took of us. I haven't got our Christmas letter out,yet. I always seem to be sending out New Year greetings instead. We're all fine and happy. We have had a lot of snow lately, which has been a good excuse to just stay inside. Matt and Ginny made snow dragon last night instead of going to my family party in Salt Lake-too much snow. I'll post a picture of that someday.

Here are some pictures that my cousin Melese took. Thanks again, Melese.