Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Nipples

One of Sophia's many toddler off-and-on interests (alternating with colors, numbers, Cars, Mickey Mouse, Frozen, clay, and animals) is body parts. She loves labeling them and pointing them out on other people. Luckily, she hasn't quite noticed diaper area boy vs. girl body parts yet. I'm bracing myself for that day, though, because it's coming. 

Lately, Sophia had started talking about other people's body parts in terms of relative size. She goes through this litany of comparative anatomy along the lines of "Daddy has big hands. Mommy has small hands. And Sophia had teeny tiny hands. And Ryan has teeny tiny hands." 

She was doing this in the grocery store the other day and the first few times I appropriately responded. But as she kept the repetition going with eyes, ears, head, and tummy, I started tuning her out with an occasional "uh huh, honey" that's enough to placate toddlers into thinking you're actually paying attention. (Except when she said that "Mommy has a small tummy" I may have gone overboard in praising her.)

After one or two minutes of Sophia's continued recitation, my attention was pulled back to her when I heard a couple of people snickering and noticed they were looking at my daughter--my beautiful and brilliant daughter who was proudly pounding her chest as she said, "Daddy has big nipples. Mommy has small nipples. And Sophia has teeny tiny nipples. And Ryan has teeny tiny nipples." 

To their credit, neither of them looked at my chest to see if what she was saying was true. 

The remainder of the shopping trip passed without incident except that I would randomly start giggling.

Sophia: Mommy, why are you laughing?

Mommy: Oh, I guess because I'm happy. 

Sophia: You're happy?

Mommy: Yes, you can tell by my smile and my happy eyes. 

Sophia: Daddy has big eyes...

If your tummy kinda hurts and you feel you've got the squirts...

So I feel I should clarify something from my last post. The reason Mike showed up after the cleaning was because he was fulfilling his calling by spending his Saturday morning supervising the Stake youth at an activity. 

In all fairness, he has to clean up waaaaay more messes than I do. Case in point, take a look at the picture (taken after Ryan woke up from his nap) Mike texted me while I was at work today along with the following caption: 

Guess how his shirt is doing that. 😷

If you guessed, as I did, that it was being stuck by poop, then you are correct. Mike further elaborated, "I noticed while wiping him that he had it up his back and, oh no....all over the carpet! I dangled him up to the bathtub, and then noticed it was all over my favorite pajamas - as I'd held him when I got him up from his nap. Sob sob. :,( "

Of course, all parties involved required extensive bathing. 

He hates having his hair washed. Ryan was also deeply offended that Mike had the audacity to clean out his mouth after he (Ryan) ate a bath crayon. Parents are such killjoys. 

He looked so handsome once he had cleaned up. 

It took Mike considerably longer to get the house back to pristine (ie poop-free) condition. 

Fun Activity of the Day

I've started this thing with Sophia we call "The Fun Activity of the Day." We've only been doing it a week or so, but it's something she really looks forward to. Poor Ryan always seems to be excluded because of his age. Also because the "fun activities" seem to be inherently messy and Ryan can amplify messy by a factor of about a trillion. ٩(๏̯͡๏)ゞ

While Ryan is napping, Sophia is helping me make mango cupcakes. 

She put all the liners in the cupcake tray, then ate dough and mango curd while I put the rest of the ingredients together.

After she licked all the dough off the whisk, she became quite bored. I ended up finishing the cupcake making myself and, in true "Little Red Hen" fashion, watched the rest of the family come by to help me eat the cupcakes after clean up was done. 

Worth it for the memories and to be able to get this picture:

Friends at Last

I love my siblings, each and every one of them.  Although we had our moments growing up, as all siblings do (and most of those moments probably stemmed from the fact that I was bossy and impatient), I can say without hesitation that there is not one of my siblings that I don't consider a dear friend. My life would be so sad without my siblings. The hardest thing about being in the military is being apart from family.

I don't remember life before Richard. All my earliest memories involve him in some aspect. He is passionate about family time and doing things together. He wants everyone to be included. We served missions at the same time. He was the only one I got to overlap with in school. He's smart and kind and patient. I just love that guy.

Whenever I think of Matthew, I think of him smiling. He is easy-going; I don't know of any person that Matt doesn't get along with. He is supportive of each member of the family. Matt is the embodiment of what a true friend is: loyal, trustworthy, and focused on the best in everyone. No matter what is going on, it's always better and more fun when Matt is there.

I love that Stephen and I can share what it's like to be doctors in the military and all the ups and downs that entails. He's got such a creative streak and I am in awe of how good his poetry and prose are (when he has time to write, that is). He did a phenomenal job on Mike's and my wedding announcement, books, and video. I appreciate how willing he is to share his many talents.

Megan is such a great friend and sister. I can do all the fun girl stuff with her, like look at shoes and talk about hairstyles and get advice on cute clothes. Before I got married, I would call her to commiserate over my dating ups and downs. She's a good listener. She has a great sense of humor and always makes me laugh. She is beautiful inside and out and I couldn't imagine a better sister.

Kevin will always be my bud. He and I used to make the family Halloween meals every year. Kevin embodies enthusiasm. He's enthusiastic about education, the Gospel, sight-seeing, and getting out with the family. He's always willing to serve and do things for other members of the family. Of all my siblings, I think he's the most like my mom--an embodiment of selfless service.

Because of the relationships I have with my siblings, I have been anxious for Sophia and Ryan to start bonding as brother and sister. I know they're young and relationships take time, but it broke my heart to see Sophia not enjoying being around Ryan. When we moved to Fayetteville, we decided to put them in the same room together. It was a gamble, because such a move that can either forge or demolish a sibling relationship.

Well, my heart has been overflowing with gratitude and happiness over the last few weeks, because these photos show what has been occurring more and more frequently in our home:

I have loved seeing these sweet little moments between them. It has become one of my favorite things about being a parent. I hope that friendship will continue to grow and deepen as they get older.

This Army Life, Part 1

We've been at Ft Bragg for about a month now. So far, so good. We've really enjoyed getting to know the people in our ward and moving into our new, clean, spider-free house without holes in the walls. And floors.

I would say that the more challenging thing for me is transitioning from "a doctor in the Army" to "an Army doctor." The doctor/clinic/hospital culture in the military is very different from those assigned to units in the "regular Army" (ie, not medical).

For example, every different Army post has its own "saying." Sometimes, when people salute, they'll shout the phrase at you and then there's an appropriate response you give. I was told it's a big thing in regular Army, but I've never heard a doctor say it. Also, I made it a point to wear civilian clothes to work, then change into my uniform when I got there, the whole phrase-and-salute thing hasn't come up much.  I never did figure it out when I was stationed at Ft Lewis. The two times people said whatever the phrase was (which I could never understand), I was always with someone who knew what to say in return ("courage").  Honestly, it really hasn't been that big of a deal.

Until Ft Bragg.

During my inprocessing week to Ft Bragg, I was hit with a barrage of crisp salutes and "ALL THE WAY, MA'AM!!" Which sent me into an apoplexy of anxiety. What do I say in response? Will they think I'm stupid or rude if I don't say the right thing back? After a few mumbled "good mornings" in response, I spent over an hour attempting to find what the correct return phrase was on Google and came up empty.

The next week, I started inprocessing with my unit. My first day with the 108th, I spoke with my NCOIC (Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge) and asked her what I say in response to "All the Way." I felt much better that she didn't know. We had to ask three people before someone knew the answer: "Airborne!"

On the way home, and armed with the correct return phrase, I felt much more confident.

Until I encountered a group of sergeants on my way to the car who saluted smartly and said, "NO FEAR, MA'AM!!" as one giant chorus.

But I had already primed my go-to response and my brain-to-mouth buffer didn't have time to engage, so even as I returned with "airborne," I inwardly cringed and they gave me a funny look.

I still don't know what to say to "no fear." It's a phrase that's specific to one particular battalion in this brigade. Before I remembered to ask someone how to respond, someone saluted with "DEEDS ABOVE WORDS, MA'AM!!" I didn't return with "airborne," but I felt bad giving a generic "good morning," when there's obviously a "right" way to answer that I just don't know.

This morning, I got "CRY HAVOC, MA'AM!!"

Okay, now, stop. Just stop.

Cry havoc??

What do I do with that?  You can't go changing phrase rules on me every week. Choose one. Apparently, each battery within each battalion within my brigade has their own saying to promote morale and unit cohesiveness. That's about 15 different sayings, and I've only encountered four so far.

So there you go. Lesson #1 in "The Physician's Guide to Transitioning to Real Army:" Unit cohesiveness and fighting strength depend upon the utilization of morale-boosting phrases given with each salute. Your Arminess can be measured by the volume with which you deliver the phrase, along with its frequency of utilization.

DEEDS CRY ALL THE WAY ABOVE HAVOC! TOTAL FEAR!!

6 Months Old

 Since I just did a blog update of Sophia, I thought I'd do a quick one on Ryan, who just turned 6 months old on July 7th. Over the last two weeks, he's learned how to sit up by himself. Look at those cheeks. It just makes me want to pinch them.

 He's so smiley! It doesn't take much to get him to laugh or smile. Unless you try to FaceTime with family--then, he's Mr. Stoic.

He loves to reach for everything within range, but especially food.  I think if we let him, he would eat non stop. We waited until Sophia was 6 months old to introduce solid food. Even then, I didn't feel that she was really interested or even understood the concept until she was almost 8 months old.

Not so with Ryan. He acted like he wanted solids around 4 months old. I held out until he was 5 months old and finally caved. He got it right away. He ate more that first week of solids than Sophia did in her first month of eating solids.

One thing I love about Ryan is how expressive he is. When he's excited about something (like food), his little arms go up and down like a little hummingbird. 

Ryan loves his big sister. Loves, loves, loves her. He watches her, gets excited when she's around (you can tell by the arms), and is always smiling at her. I wish I could say that the feeling was completely mutual. Where Ryan is concerned, Sophia's motto seems to be "We love with our hearts, not with our hands."

Sophia will get him blankets, toys, and his pacifier. She notices when he's crying and is concerned about that. But if you ask her to hug Ryan, she'll develop a sudden, all-encompassing interest in the wall or floor. If you ask her to kiss Ryan, she'll bonk  heads instead.  If you approach Sophia holding Ryan with the intent of having Ryan touch her, she'll cringe and run away. Sophia has been very slow to warm up to Ryan. But Ryan's a pretty friendly and good-natured guy, so I'm sure they'll end up being best friends.

One day.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Sophia

Happy 2nd Birthday,

 Sophia Jumping Bean

Silly Lily

Baby Girl!

 I love you how love Minnie Mouse

stuffed animals

singing songs

stories

stickers

and jumping.

 You're my helper girl

ray of sunshine

bundle of love.

I worry about your shyness

not being there for you during the day

your picky eating.

 The last two years with you have been full of wonder, excitement, and laughter.

Sometimes I wish I could pause time and keep you just as you are,

but I can't wait to see all the marvelous adventures the next year will hold for you.

I love you, my sweet little Sophia!