Painting and Working Together

Part spring cleaning, part home repair and improvement, part insanity. We've been wanting to paint the house and I proposed that rather than planning a major offensive, we should play economist and ask what the next part is we wanted to improve. Hyrum's room (before shot). Definitely. Scratches on the white walls from about 4 different kids and their furniture.

I sketched out a schedule for us to get it done this week. If all went well, we'd be done yesterday. If not, we'd have Monday to fall back on before I leave Tuesday for a work conference in Finland. We'd mentally plan on Monday, get paint on Tuesday, clean on Wed-Thur, put the first coat on Friday evening and let it dry while we played with the Petersons, then put on the second coat Saturday and Hy wouldn't know the difference.

Nothing went according to plan.

It all worked perfectly. (after shot of the same wall)

We did minimal planning on Monday. Tuesday was exhausting and Hyrum was miserable, so we didn't get the paint. We put him to sleep in our room and cleaned his room instead. Wednesday we got the paint and supplies and I taught Hyrum to say "Where's Mommy" when we couldn't see her anymore in the store. Thur we did a little cleaning but were definitely not ready, then we had to cancel playing as Hyrum got a fever. No painting on Friday, but Joy did prep work while I watched Hyrum.

Then in one great gasp of effort, we got the entire room painted twice on Saturday, spent a few hours out of the house, and put Hyrum to sleep in his newly painted room!

You'll notice in the shots that there's not much difference between the old white (left wall) and the creamy off-white "Homestead Resort Sunwash" we chose (right wall and ceiling). It's a little yellow and we're glad it's not more yellow, though a little darker wouldn't have hurt anyone's feelings. Eventually we'll paint some musical notes and a song or two on the walls, add a border, some nice stuff like that. The real difference is that the walls are clean and the scratch marks are concealed (well, mostly, but if you go looking for them, you get what you deserve).

We're also very proud of how we worked together on this project. We have such different ways of working on things that we still find it difficult to work on the same project. Usually we break things into smaller pieces and I do my part and she does hers and we put it together and it works.

Joy has been amazed all over the place that when she turned the planning and responsibility over to me (a leap of faith since she is the more detailed planner), she also managed to not feel overwhelmed by the project, which cut down on any communicated stress between us. I in turn let her decide many of the details without complaint which helped her feel in control too. I'd rearrange what we were doing that day and she would help us figure out how to get it done. It was a very good use of our complementary skills.

And it's done and it's happy.

Joy says about the happy weekend we had, "We had a lot of time on Friday night, in memory of playing with Steve and Emilee, for our date night we played two games at the same time. I think it was just as confusing, but it was fun. We rediscovered Carcasonne and Starfarers of Catan (2 player version). I'm looking forward to playing them again."

Hyrum Sings Mothers' Day

Hyrum and Derrill sang to Mommy during her breakfast-in-bed. I've been practicing some of the mother songs from the children's songbook with Hyrum in the mornings. Joy was delighted with the result, in part because Hyrum was excited to point out her breakfast on the bed:

D: I often go walking in meadows of ...
H: Clover! [really, more like cwovah, but that's close enough for Boston]
D: And I gather arms full of blossoms of ...
H: Milk! Milk!
D: blue. I gather the blossoms the whole meadow ...
H: Ovah.
D: Dear Mother, all flowers
H: Fork!
D: remind me of ....
H: Plate! You!

Cuter every day....

"It was really sweet. I teared up. I didn't cry, but I was a little teared up. My little boy, he sang to me."

Joseph's Last Testimony

The Church has done a wonderful job, putting movie to Elder Holland's recent testimony of the Book of Mormon.

I know it to be true as well. How thankful I am for that companion to the Bible and my own witness of both works of holy writ. What strength and comfort they have given me, what knowledge of God and His purposes. I love the Book of Mormon. I love the prophet Joseph and my Savior Jesus.


To find out more or for your own, free copy of The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ or The Holy Bible, see the appropriate link.

Ethics and Babies

Many parents and educators would endorse a view of infants and toddlers close to that of a recent Onion headline: “New Study Reveals Most Children Unrepentant Sociopaths.” ... A growing body of evidence, though, suggests that humans do have a rudimentary moral sense from the very start of life. With the help of well-designed experiments, you can see glimmers of moral thought, moral judgment and moral feeling even in the first year of life. Some sense of good and evil seems to be bred in the bone.

The link is here and the hat tip is all MR's.

Hyrum Sings Along With Mitch

... or with Tony Azito and the rest of the cast from Pirates of Penzance. The words Hyrum is singing are "Tarantara" and "We go." Sometimes, he even holds the note out.

Hyrum Meets Sousa

Hyrum really flipped out for Sousa this morning. We listened to a really long 12 days of Christmas that he has liked before. But every time it left the quick march part he would get upset. So, Derrill narrowed it down to the Sousa part of the piece and then put Sousa on the computer for much marching enjoyment. Another "True Love of the Day" is born.

Hyrum Strong

You know you're dealing with an academic when he posts a footnote to go with a comic strip. Or several. Y'know, for people unfamiliar with the connection between Wolverine and Republicans.

Hyrum vs. Count von Count

I got to take care of Hyrum yesterday, so I took a bunch of videos of him and me having fun. I noticed a pattern. See if you can hear it through his activities.

How is a Hyrum like an elephant?

A rural legend claims that you can train an elephant to never run away. You tie a baby elephant down with a really big metal collar and a really big metal chain and a really monster stake. The elephant will struggle and fight, but just can't get out.

After a while, you tie him down with a rope and a stake. He'll give a little tug just to confirm that he's really tied down but seeing that he is, he won't fight it.

After a while, you tie him to nothing with a bit of string. He knows he's tied up like he always was, so he won't even try to get away. As a kid, he learned he couldn't get away and now as an adult he doesn't try.

That's the legend. I wonder if MythBusters has ever done an episode on it?

So what's that got to do with my wonderful, spirited son? He's been in a barred crib for sleeping his whole life and, even though he's been big enough and strong enough to climb out for some time, hasn't even tried. When we got him a big boy bed, we figured we'd need to put up the childproofing gate in front of his door to keep him from getting out if he woke up at 4am.

But for some reason, Hyrum doesn't get out of his bed! Okay, it's only been a couple days, I know. I've checked on him occasionally while he napped and slept, though, and he hasn't once gotten out of the Buzz bed. We say lay down, and he does. He was awake most of the two hours he was down for his nap yesterday but he stayed in that little bed the entire time.

I'm amazed.

Oh, and just now, he asked for the first time if he could please take a nap. I could really get to like this piece of string we call a Buzz bed.



.... Nevermind. It was nice for two days.

Hyrum vs. Chuck E.

Hi there. Hy here.

Last week, Mommy and Daddy took me to CT to see Uncle Steve and Aunt Emie. The best part of being with them was their house is full of Mickey! They have Mickey Dance Dance Revolution and Mickey and Minnie figures and Mickey's autograph and probably even more! While Daddy and Uncle Steve worked, Mommy and Aunt Emilee took me to parks and let me do Mickey Dance while they played boardgames like they always do.

But then they took me to Chuck E Cheese. I was really excited. I couldn't stand to wait while they ate their pizza (blech - give me applesauce). I got to ride in all kinds of cars. I'm really excited right now about the green car up top. "Green" "Green" "Green" I keep telling Daddy while he types this.

I rode with Barney and Teletubbies. Who are they?

In this yellow car, they had a button I could push that didn't do anything! How cool is that? Most of the rides, I sat there and intently enjoyed them. It's sometimes hard for other people to tell because I look pretty serious when I'm concentrating on my fun, but Mommy and Daddy knew I was loving it. How? Because I cried every time they tried to move me to another toy, that's how! It was so much fun!!!!

I got to ride three rides with TV screens that bounce and shake with what is happening on the screen. It was like I actually got to ride the rollercoasters! [Daddy notes that the Millford Chuck E. is in a sad sorry state of repair - most of those rides gave a gentle back massage, but nothing like the turbulence we got at the Vestal Chuck E a couple years ago.] Mommy and Daddy liked playing a Pirates of the Caribbean pinball game. While they did that, I played with a ping pong paddle. Oh, they also had a whack-a-mole type thing and Daddy let me swing the mallet! That was cool.

My favoritestest ride, though, was probably the Merry Go Round. I liked looking at my cute, handsome self in the mirror. I just stared and stared all the way around.





Daddy followed me around and around filming, trying to get me to look at the camera. Nope, nothin' doin'! Finally, though, I was merciful and tossed him a bone. Daddy was pretty lucky to catch me smiling. He was reall happy and I'm enjoying seeing this video again now too. "Again. Again. 'gain again again again...."



Uncle Steve was really good at some of the games and he won enough to get me something. Betchya can't guess what it is!