I've been working on collecting Piper's artwork to make a photobook. Here is a sample of what I am including. (Just for you Amy)
Friday, November 14, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
In Loving Memory of Katie
Sadly, one of my students lost her little sister to a drowning last Friday. Death is always hard for me to deal with no matter the circumstances. But this one is especially hard knowing she was just four years old. So in honor of Katie and her parents, here are some poems that touched me. And, they are in pink because that was Katie's favorite color.
The saddest word, goodbye
When God calls our children
to dwell with Him above,
We mortals sometimes question
the wisdon of His love.
For no heartache compares with,
the death of one small child.
Who does so much to make our world,
seem so wonderful and mild.
Perhaps God tires of calling
the aged to His fold.
So He picks a rosebud
before it can grow old.
God knows how much we need them,
and so He takes but few.
To make the land of heaven
more beautiful to view.
Believing this is difficult
still somehow we must try.
The saddest word mankind knows
will always be Good-bye.
So when a little child departs,
we who are left behind,
Must realize God loves children.
Angels Are Hard To Find!!
-Author unknown
Just For Today - For Bereaved Parents
Just for today I will try to live through the next 24 hoursand not expect to get over my child's death,but instead learn to live with it, just one day at a time.
Just for today I will remember my child's life, not just her death,and bask in the comfort of all those treasured daysand moments we shared.
Just for today I will forgive all the family and friendswho didn't help or comfort me the way I needed them to.They truly did not know how.
Just for today I will smile no matter how much I hurt on the inside,for maybe if I smile a little,my heart will soften and I will begin to heal.
Just for today I will reach out to comfort a relative or friend of my child,for they are hurting too,and perhaps we can help each other.
Just for today I will free myself from my self-inflicted burden of guilt,for deep in my heart I know if there was anything in this world I could of done to save my child from death, I would of done it.
Just for today I will honor my child's memoryby doing something with another child because I know that would make my own child proud.
Just for today I will offer my hand in friendshipto another bereaved parentfor I do know how they feel.
Just for today when my heart feels like breaking,I will stop and remember that grief is the price we pay for loving and the only reason I hurt is becauseI had the privilege of loving so much.
Just for today I will not compare myself with others.I am fortunate to be who I am and have had my child for as long as I did.
Just for today I will allow myself to be happy,for I know that I am not deserting her by living on.
Just for today I will accept that I did not die when my child did,my life did go on,and I am the only one who can make that life worthwhile once more.
-Vicki Tushingham
The saddest word, goodbye
When God calls our children
to dwell with Him above,
We mortals sometimes question
the wisdon of His love.
For no heartache compares with,
the death of one small child.
Who does so much to make our world,
seem so wonderful and mild.
Perhaps God tires of calling
the aged to His fold.
So He picks a rosebud
before it can grow old.
God knows how much we need them,
and so He takes but few.
To make the land of heaven
more beautiful to view.
Believing this is difficult
still somehow we must try.
The saddest word mankind knows
will always be Good-bye.
So when a little child departs,
we who are left behind,
Must realize God loves children.
Angels Are Hard To Find!!
-Author unknown
Grief Is Like A Jigsaw Puzzle
by Victoria Guthrie, Tampa, FL, Brief Encounters, 6-98
Grief is a smorgasbord where you do down the line picking a little of this and a little of that.
Grief is like a jigsaw puzzle, some people get all the edge pieces together first and work from the outside in. Others dump everything out on the table at once and dive right into the middle. Some never open the box at all, they just look at the picture on the lid and wonder why what's inside doesn't match or make sense.
You meet a lot of people when you start a jigsaw puzzle. Some are full of advice, or they may try to make the puzzle look the way it ought to be instead of the way it is.
But, once in a while, you meet someone who shares their own finished puzzle and helps you make sense of yours. Then you find it is not as hard as before. Some of the pieces fit together more easily, and you sigh with relief....and remember.
by Victoria Guthrie, Tampa, FL, Brief Encounters, 6-98
Grief is a smorgasbord where you do down the line picking a little of this and a little of that.
Grief is like a jigsaw puzzle, some people get all the edge pieces together first and work from the outside in. Others dump everything out on the table at once and dive right into the middle. Some never open the box at all, they just look at the picture on the lid and wonder why what's inside doesn't match or make sense.
You meet a lot of people when you start a jigsaw puzzle. Some are full of advice, or they may try to make the puzzle look the way it ought to be instead of the way it is.
But, once in a while, you meet someone who shares their own finished puzzle and helps you make sense of yours. Then you find it is not as hard as before. Some of the pieces fit together more easily, and you sigh with relief....and remember.
Just For Today - For Bereaved Parents
Just for today I will try to live through the next 24 hoursand not expect to get over my child's death,but instead learn to live with it, just one day at a time.
Just for today I will remember my child's life, not just her death,and bask in the comfort of all those treasured daysand moments we shared.
Just for today I will forgive all the family and friendswho didn't help or comfort me the way I needed them to.They truly did not know how.
Just for today I will smile no matter how much I hurt on the inside,for maybe if I smile a little,my heart will soften and I will begin to heal.
Just for today I will reach out to comfort a relative or friend of my child,for they are hurting too,and perhaps we can help each other.
Just for today I will free myself from my self-inflicted burden of guilt,for deep in my heart I know if there was anything in this world I could of done to save my child from death, I would of done it.
Just for today I will honor my child's memoryby doing something with another child because I know that would make my own child proud.
Just for today I will offer my hand in friendshipto another bereaved parentfor I do know how they feel.
Just for today when my heart feels like breaking,I will stop and remember that grief is the price we pay for loving and the only reason I hurt is becauseI had the privilege of loving so much.
Just for today I will not compare myself with others.I am fortunate to be who I am and have had my child for as long as I did.
Just for today I will allow myself to be happy,for I know that I am not deserting her by living on.
Just for today I will accept that I did not die when my child did,my life did go on,and I am the only one who can make that life worthwhile once more.
-Vicki Tushingham
Monday, November 10, 2008
Sunday, November 9, 2008
First Play Doh Experience
As you can see, she is still interested in putting things in her mouth, and I had to tell her that she could not eat it.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
My First Trip to the Library
Someone fell asleep in the car and wouldn't even wake up when we went inside the library. I picked out a couple of books for me, and she finally woke up. She was in awe of the kids section and the stuffed animals that were all over the place. I gave her a Bambi animal and she carried it for the rest of the trip until we checked out. There weren't too many other kids there, but as usual Piper was very interested in them. We picked out a couple books and read two more books while we were there. She was a semi-interested in a dinosaur puzzle, but was being a little loud so I put it back. The library was having a read aloud program featuring Eric Carle for the month of November, and we got a free tote bag, sidewalk chalk, stickers, and poster to chart our reading progress. We also checked out a baby bunny bag while we were there that has about a dozen books just for babies and toddlers.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Did You Vote Today?
Well after dragging myself out of bed this morning at 4:30, (thankfully DSL started this week!) we made it to the polls right at 6:00 am. I stood in line for about 20 minutes before getting inside. Piper did not want to be set down and I was forced to hold her for almost the whole time. She was being good as usual, and didn't complain about the wait as long as she didn't have to stand by herself. She probably weighs about 23 pounds now, and my back is definitely feeling the impact of this morning.
Fortunately, my precinct number was fast inside, and we got in and out fairly quickly. I was at school by 7:45 and faced a parking lot full of cars since we are a polling site as well. This has been such a long day already, and I still have Spanish lessons after school and I have to go get Piper at Grandma's house. I might get to see Erick tonight for a couple minutes before he goes to work.
Fortunately, my precinct number was fast inside, and we got in and out fairly quickly. I was at school by 7:45 and faced a parking lot full of cars since we are a polling site as well. This has been such a long day already, and I still have Spanish lessons after school and I have to go get Piper at Grandma's house. I might get to see Erick tonight for a couple minutes before he goes to work.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Daylight Savings Time
Daylight Savings Time means nothing when you are 13 months old apparently. Right on cue she was awake this morning at her regular time, which of course meant with the time change it was 7:00 in the morning. So much for me gaining an extra hour of sleep. Then tonight she was ready to go to bed at 9pm, which to her was 10 at night. Yay! This is great since I could never get her to go to sleep early before. I am thrilled with the 9:oo bedtime.
Here is a picture of her with a cup of goldfish. She is very particular and precise about filling and emptying her cups and moving the goldfish in and out of containrs.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
General Update-November
Child's name: Piper
Age (in months, or years and months): 13 months & 3 weeks
Physical abilities: climbing on and off everything, goes up and down stairs easily (crawling, not walking), brushes own hair and teeth, uses spoon well and working on fork, running, loves dancing with multiple “moves”, tries to stand on her head/somersault, walking backwards, spinning in circles, throws and kicks balls, throws balls into basket, helps clean up toys, put laundry in dryer and take out of dryer. She has been able to give hi-5’s forever, but now will come up to me and pull my hand up in the air so that she can hi-5 me
Speech/language: vocabulary, sentence length, etc: very few words still-about 10 including animal sounds, 5 signs, will ask to watch the Cookie Monster video clip on the computer
Reading/pre-reading: loves to read her books and can turn pages by herself, intense concentration and focus, recognizes pictures. Ex: I was talking to my sister on the phone and was telling her how Piper tries to moo like a cow. She went over and found her cow book in her book basket and brought it to me.
Number stuff: understands bigger and smaller, very precise about putting objects into her nesting cups one by one and then taking them out.
Other cognitive stuff: puzzles, reasoning, etc: stacking blocks up to 8 before they fall down or she knocks them over, has made patterns using blocks and nesting cups. I’ve only seen this 3 times though. I’m going to get her the mega blocks for X-mas to see what else she can do. Anything she gets her hands on she tries to stack- food, books, boxes, etc. Everything has a specific place, and she is very particular about where she places items. She has an amazing memory-remembers where toys are when you ask her to go get them. We were watching a video about colors the other day online and there was a yellow elephant. She noticed right away that it was an elephant and seemed puzzled that it wasn’t gray like the ones she normally sees. She threw a ball under the bed the other day and bent down to retrieve it. It was closer to the other side of the bed and she realized she should go around and get it rather than crawling under the whole bed. She can point to three body parts hair, ears, and nose. Loves to take things apart and put them back together. Some interest in peg puzzles, can match pieces but can’t fit pieces back in yet. I think I need to get a basic shape puzzle instead of the ones we have now of animals.
Creativity: loves to color, paint, scribble.
Imagination: plays with her doll, feeds her, brushes her hair, hugs and kisses, pushes her on her car, pretends to sleep, talking on phones and giving them to me to talk on and hand back to her, is fascinated with brushing her teeth and pretends to put toothpaste on markers, crayons, my eyebrow brush and “brush” her teeth.
Social: loves older kids, especially preschoolers, tends to scare kids her age because she is not shy and just runs up to them and hugs them, adores our new dog and showers her with affection. She is going through a shy stage with adults that she does not know, but warms up eventually.
Character/personality: happy, extremely independent, can be very intense and sober when studying something new, frustrated and mad when she can’t have her own way, curious and exploring everything pulling open drawers and cabinets, turning lights on and off. When she walks, she is on a mission and looks very determined to get where she is going like she has a plan. Never cries unless she is really hurt, but will whine when she doesn’t get her way or when she’s sleepy. She is one tough kid and also a daredevil!
Anything else/other: Her attention span is remarkable. She will look at her books for 30 minutes at a time. We found some ladybugs outside the other day and I had to make her come in after she sat studying them for 45 minutes. She is happy entertaining herself and does not need someone to find things for her to do.
Age (in months, or years and months): 13 months & 3 weeks
Physical abilities: climbing on and off everything, goes up and down stairs easily (crawling, not walking), brushes own hair and teeth, uses spoon well and working on fork, running, loves dancing with multiple “moves”, tries to stand on her head/somersault, walking backwards, spinning in circles, throws and kicks balls, throws balls into basket, helps clean up toys, put laundry in dryer and take out of dryer. She has been able to give hi-5’s forever, but now will come up to me and pull my hand up in the air so that she can hi-5 me
Speech/language: vocabulary, sentence length, etc: very few words still-about 10 including animal sounds, 5 signs, will ask to watch the Cookie Monster video clip on the computer
Reading/pre-reading: loves to read her books and can turn pages by herself, intense concentration and focus, recognizes pictures. Ex: I was talking to my sister on the phone and was telling her how Piper tries to moo like a cow. She went over and found her cow book in her book basket and brought it to me.
Number stuff: understands bigger and smaller, very precise about putting objects into her nesting cups one by one and then taking them out.
Other cognitive stuff: puzzles, reasoning, etc: stacking blocks up to 8 before they fall down or she knocks them over, has made patterns using blocks and nesting cups. I’ve only seen this 3 times though. I’m going to get her the mega blocks for X-mas to see what else she can do. Anything she gets her hands on she tries to stack- food, books, boxes, etc. Everything has a specific place, and she is very particular about where she places items. She has an amazing memory-remembers where toys are when you ask her to go get them. We were watching a video about colors the other day online and there was a yellow elephant. She noticed right away that it was an elephant and seemed puzzled that it wasn’t gray like the ones she normally sees. She threw a ball under the bed the other day and bent down to retrieve it. It was closer to the other side of the bed and she realized she should go around and get it rather than crawling under the whole bed. She can point to three body parts hair, ears, and nose. Loves to take things apart and put them back together. Some interest in peg puzzles, can match pieces but can’t fit pieces back in yet. I think I need to get a basic shape puzzle instead of the ones we have now of animals.
Creativity: loves to color, paint, scribble.
Imagination: plays with her doll, feeds her, brushes her hair, hugs and kisses, pushes her on her car, pretends to sleep, talking on phones and giving them to me to talk on and hand back to her, is fascinated with brushing her teeth and pretends to put toothpaste on markers, crayons, my eyebrow brush and “brush” her teeth.
Social: loves older kids, especially preschoolers, tends to scare kids her age because she is not shy and just runs up to them and hugs them, adores our new dog and showers her with affection. She is going through a shy stage with adults that she does not know, but warms up eventually.
Character/personality: happy, extremely independent, can be very intense and sober when studying something new, frustrated and mad when she can’t have her own way, curious and exploring everything pulling open drawers and cabinets, turning lights on and off. When she walks, she is on a mission and looks very determined to get where she is going like she has a plan. Never cries unless she is really hurt, but will whine when she doesn’t get her way or when she’s sleepy. She is one tough kid and also a daredevil!
Anything else/other: Her attention span is remarkable. She will look at her books for 30 minutes at a time. We found some ladybugs outside the other day and I had to make her come in after she sat studying them for 45 minutes. She is happy entertaining herself and does not need someone to find things for her to do.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Ladybug, Ladybug Fly Away Home
Today was a pretty warm day, and we could see many insects outside flying around. There were dozens of ladybugs right outside our door, and Piper was intrigued by them. I tried putting them in her hand for her to hold, and she would pick them up with her other hand. I was afraid she was unintentionally hurting them, but they were "playing dead" and would push their legs back out and fly away when left alone. It's ironic how they appeared on Halloween since she is dressing up like a ladybug this year.Thursday, October 30, 2008
Falling Asleep
I wish it were only this easy to get her to fall asleep at my house. Grandma has the magic touch.
Monday, October 27, 2008
The Blue Dress
This was a case of really bad lighting, but I wanted some pics of her wearing her blue dress before I took it off of her yesterday. She wore this to her cousins' baptisms, and it is already getting too small.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Pretending
Here's my girl feeding her baby doll. I can't tell if she really thinks she's feeding the doll or what. She gives her kisses and hugs too. I think it's funny that as much as she obviously loves her dolly, she carries her around by the hair.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
Obama Rally
Yesterday we went to the latest Obama rally downtown. We've seen him speak a couple of times before. Nothing new, same old talking points. It's still pretty fascinating though seeing all the people wound up and excited. They played some good music too before he started his speech. Evan Bayh was there too.
Erick went around and sold his political t-shirts. Grrr! I HATE those shirts. I can't even stand to look at them anymore. If we ever get them paid for and have any left over, I swear I'm going to burn them in a bonfire.
Anyway, here's a picture of my funky munky on the lawn in front of the flag after the rally was over.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Yum, Cherrios!
This is what happens when I'm on the computer and stop paying attention to her for a minute. I didn't actually let her sit there and eat them. Even though the floor had been swept that day, I still threw all the cereal in the trash. She was not happy!
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Zoo Boo
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| Make a Smilebox slideshow |
We went to the zoo for Zoo Boo and dressed Piper up in her ladybug costume. She really did have fun, although you can't really tell from the pictures. She wouldn't smile in any of them!
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
My First Meme
I give you money and send you into the grocery store to pick up 5 items. You can only pick one thing from the following departments.. what is it?
1. Produce: raspberries
2. Dairy: organic milk
3.Meat: marinated salmon
4. Frozen: bbq chicken pizza
5. Dry goods: Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal
Let’s say we’re heading out for a weekend getaway this weekend. You’re only allowed to bring 3 articles of clothing with you. So, what’s in your bag?
black stretchy capri pants
t-shirt
comfy jeans
If I was to listen in on one of your conversations throughout the day, what 3 phrases or words would I be most likely to hear?
Yay!
No, that's yucky!
I love you!
So, what 3 things do you find yourself doing every single day, and if you didn’t get to do, you probably wouldn’t be in the best mood?
shower
eat
sleep!
Sweet, you just scored a whole afternoon to yourself. We’re talking a 3 hour block with nobody around. What 3 activities might we find you doing?
sleep!
read
catch up on DVR'd shows
We’re going to the zoo. But, it looks like it could start storming, so it’ll have to be a quick visit. What 3 exhibits do we have to get to?
Oceans
Petting Zoo
Monkeys
You just scored tickets to the taping of any show that comes on T.V. of your choice. You can pick between 3, so what are you deciding between? (I know some of these don’t have live tapings!)
Oprah
Bill Mahr
David Letterman
You’re hungry for ice cream. I’ll give you a triple dipper ice cream cone. What 3 flavors can I pile on for ya?
Cookie Dough
Strawberry
Coffee Mocha
Somebody stole your purse/wallet…in order to get it back, you have to name 5 things you know are inside to claim it. So, what’s in there?
cell phone
camera
copy of Piper's birth certificate
Driver's license
tampons
You are at a job fair, and asked what areas you are interested in pursuing a career in. Let’s pretend you have every talent and ability to be whatever you wanted, so what 3 careers would be fun for you?
photographer
children's author
teacher (sorry I really like my current job!)
1. Produce: raspberries
2. Dairy: organic milk
3.Meat: marinated salmon
4. Frozen: bbq chicken pizza
5. Dry goods: Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal
Let’s say we’re heading out for a weekend getaway this weekend. You’re only allowed to bring 3 articles of clothing with you. So, what’s in your bag?
black stretchy capri pants
t-shirt
comfy jeans
If I was to listen in on one of your conversations throughout the day, what 3 phrases or words would I be most likely to hear?
Yay!
No, that's yucky!
I love you!
So, what 3 things do you find yourself doing every single day, and if you didn’t get to do, you probably wouldn’t be in the best mood?
shower
eat
sleep!
Sweet, you just scored a whole afternoon to yourself. We’re talking a 3 hour block with nobody around. What 3 activities might we find you doing?
sleep!
read
catch up on DVR'd shows
We’re going to the zoo. But, it looks like it could start storming, so it’ll have to be a quick visit. What 3 exhibits do we have to get to?
Oceans
Petting Zoo
Monkeys
You just scored tickets to the taping of any show that comes on T.V. of your choice. You can pick between 3, so what are you deciding between? (I know some of these don’t have live tapings!)
Oprah
Bill Mahr
David Letterman
You’re hungry for ice cream. I’ll give you a triple dipper ice cream cone. What 3 flavors can I pile on for ya?
Cookie Dough
Strawberry
Coffee Mocha
Somebody stole your purse/wallet…in order to get it back, you have to name 5 things you know are inside to claim it. So, what’s in there?
cell phone
camera
copy of Piper's birth certificate
Driver's license
tampons
You are at a job fair, and asked what areas you are interested in pursuing a career in. Let’s pretend you have every talent and ability to be whatever you wanted, so what 3 careers would be fun for you?
photographer
children's author
teacher (sorry I really like my current job!)
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