Friday Face

She Speaketh

Anna has been having Early Intervention sessions for her speech for three months now, so I thought I'd give an update.

Judy comes every other week and plays for about 45 minutes. Obviously Anna loves her! She brings puzzles, books, blocks, crayons, and other toys that are very interactive so she can encourage Anna to use words to indicate what she wants and so on. Mostly I think she's training me to interact this way.

Anna has made a lot of progress. When she was first tested I made a list of words she said consistently without prompting and it was maybe 50. About a month ago I listed a bunch more. This time before Judy came I made another list, and I was amazed how long it was. I didn't count, but it might have been 50 more, and she's putting together more phrases.

In the last couple weeks she has really gotten into using people's names. She can identify and say several colors, a bunch of letters, and of course her favorite condiments. She can count to ten.

It's amazing what you can learn when you start talking, eh?

Next visit Judy is going to do a mini re-evaluation of Anna's language development to see how her scores now compare to her first test. Normally they wouldn't do this until a couple months before she turns three, at which point she enters a different phase of the EI program, but since we're moving, this will give us some sense of her progress.

I plan to contact the Michigan program, and I'm sure they'll want to do their own evaluation. Their system appears to be similar, so if she still needs help when she turns three, she might be able to go into a group learning situation, like a focused preschool program, which I think would be good for her since she's not getting that social aspect much now. We'll see.

Midnight Wanderings, Bathtime Pottyings

Anna has surprised me with a couple of tricks this week.

Friday morning I stumbled downstairs to exercise (yes, miraculously this is happening pretty regularly) and looked at the couch on my way through the living room. What is that? said my sleepy brain. It was Anna--sleeping there! Just lying there with her baby doll, face on a pillow. I was so surprised I said something and woke her up. I'm not sure she knew what she was doing there either. We have no idea when or why she migrated; she never cried or called for us and presumably didn't try to come upstairs to us either. But apparently she figured out that she can indeed get out of her bed at night. She hasn't done it again, though. Even now as she's having a hour-long conversation with herself and her animals instead of falling asleep for her nap, she's staying in bed.

And file this one under Great News on the Horizon (Maybe): this morning she peed in her little potty! It's upstairs so we really only attempt this when we do baths, although occasionally she wants to sit on the big toilet (and get right off without trying anything). I'm not sure if she just got lucky or really did learn from last time when she scared herself by suddenly peeing as she stood naked next to the potty and I tried to throw her on there. Hopefully she is putting together how to make that happen and that we will get all excited and tell the all world. Or at least all the Internet.

I would love for Anna to be potty trained before we move this summer, but I'm not worried about it either. I think I would be a lot more anxious to get it done if we were buying diapers, watching all that money get thrown away. Cloth diapers = way less pressure.

Anna Saying Naooooooooow

Anna finally started saying no a few weeks ago. She says it most adorably, like a cat pronouncing the word now. Aaron likes to ask her dumb questions just to get her to say it. Here for your amusement is some video of her thinking we're morons for not knowing this is Pooh, plus other adorable overdose material.




(Aren't you glad I finally figured out that adding video is easy? Duh.)

Toddler Bed Time

Aaron converted Anna's crib to a toddler bed last week, sort of on a whim when he realized it wouldn't be too hard. She cried/whined more than usual at bedtime, but shockingly, she did not get out of bed. She stayed in it the next day at nap time too, even as she protested her nap at great length and volume because she was overtired from a busy morning. It's like she hasn't figured out yet--thankfully--that she could just get out and play with toys or try to escape the room. We're keeping our ears close to the monitor for when she does, though!

I always check on her before I go up to bed to make sure the room's not too cold and put a blanket over her. That first night in her "big girl bed," she looked so small when I went in, instead of like a giant sprawled across her crib. My tiny baby, a big girl!


No babies Only one baby fell out during this transition


"Wakin' Up Is Hard to Do"

Wordless Wednesday

P.S.: My mother made me those pants circa 1978. They are corduroy and yes, a little flared. And very, very groovy.

Wordless Wetzel: Our Tiny Mime

As I alluded to in my she's-two update post, Anna seems to have something funny going on with her speech. Namely, she seems to think it's more fun to not talk. She's big on charades, not so much into speechifying. The question is whether this is something truly wrong with her ability to speak or she is one of those kids just holding back until she can bust out in full-on Shakespearean monologues.

She does communicate. Like crazy. She told me at dinner, using only the word "woof," that she wanted to clean off her tray and get down the big pad of paper with the dog on it and draw. She constantly gestures for things she wants (dance music, basketball) or wants you to do (sit here, draw, put ketchup all over my carrots). She's much more into motions than words--for instance, an O-mouthed silent "blub blub blub" impression means fish or Goldfish crackers. She knows the word well but won't even try to say it. Why should she when she can act it out? It's like living with a tiny mime. Or being trapped inside a game of Guesstures.

I mean, she just started saying no, instead of just shaking her head, about two weeks ago. A toddler who doesn't say no! Well, maybe I should enjoy that while it lasts . . .

It was suspect #3--'that one'!

Her comprehension is even better than her charades ability. You can have a whole conversation with her and she'll nod and make expressions and point to what you're talking about to let you know she's following you. She can point out almost anything you ask her to in her books. She knows a ton of body parts but only says "teeth." She loves animals but prefers to call them by their noises rather than names. And her memory is ridiculous: she'll go find things where she left them ages ago, and yesterday at church she pulled a friend of ours over to a certain spot to do a little pretending game she'd thought was funny--a month ago.

So like most parents, we think our kid is dang smart, but that's also because other people keep saying to us, "She is so smart!" I mean, I think she is too, but I also know she's not saying as much as other people's even younger kids are saying--so it's been a bit of a nagging worry. I know, but . . . why won't you talk, child?!

Still, at Thanksgiving we made a list of all the words she'd said (with meaning and some regularity) it was almost 50, which is about where an 18-24 month old should be, so I decided we could wait until she turned two and see if she would start putting two words together by then. But she hasn't, other than sort of getting lucky a couple times. Of course, she can put two gestures together like nobody's business.

So our pediatrician told us to call Early Intervention for an evaluation and whatever magical powers they possess. Apparently this is all free (well, prepaid through your taxes, thank you) no matter your income and they even come to your house. I should get a call back from them tomorrow to find out more.

As stupid as I know it is, I can't help feeling like maybe I/we should have been or should be doing something more or different. Are we letting her off the hook with her gestures too much? Not enough reading? (Doesn't seem possible.) Too much TV? (Uh, are you counting football?) White noise machine scrambling her brain? (Oops, now my mom's worried about that.)

Or is it in part because she had 9 months in the womb and 7 months in Ethiopia hearing only Amharic, not English?

Or maybe it just is what it is, and worrying about why will not add one hour to my life or one word to her vocabulary. I'm trying to remember that as I wait for the Early Intervention cavalry to arrive. And I'm remembering to be grateful to have access to such a resource here in the U.S.

And I'm enjoying the sweet sounds from downstairs which will all too soon be gone--the beautiful, mysterious poetry of "Dab be! Abb beee! Dabyee abbayae abbyeeeeeeeeee!"

Et Two, Bebe?

Anna is now officially--not just behaviorally--a two-year-old. After she got her eyes uncrossed, she wished for a pony, a helicopter, a sixteen-year moratorium on naps, and a lifetime supply of bananas and Goldfish crackers.

Last week she checked out at the doctor's office at a little over 27 pounds, 34 inches ("36 with the afro," for you Fletch lovers). People often think she seems tall and is older than she is, but she's right in the middle of the growth curve at around the 50th percentile for height and weight. Big change from her 10th percentile days! She still has a big head, though. Developmentally she is on track with the exception of speech--more on that in another post.

Some of her favorite things right now are anything that makes noise, like the little piano she got for Christmas; she mostly likes to push the button that makes it play "ABC" by the Jackson Five. So often that I had a dream about the dumb song! She also likes her little laptop with learning games, but they are really for older kids, so she mostly likes to hold down the volume button that makes a little monkey say EEH-EEH! EEH-EEH! EEH-EEH! a hundred times consecutively. So often that I threatened to smash the thing into a pulp with her precious bananas. Or maybe with the similarly charming birthday card with the dying singing cats.

For Christmas she also got play food from us and from my parents, plus plastic pots and a shopping cart (the cart is still en route from Michigan), all of which she loves. Some of the food velcroes together so you can slice it and stack it into sandwiches and burgers.

She will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today!

Anna also loves her baby doll, balloons from the grocery store produce guy, telephones, Sesame Street, Mr. Potato Head, and the music between Wii Sports games. She's learned to take off her diaper and open certain doors, including, I'm pretty sure, the baby gate cutting her off from the Spiral Staircase of Doom. We are so screwed.

Sharing is . . . not something she has mastered.

Her favorite word is currently "bye." If you appear to be leaving the house (or simply the room), she will shout "Bye! Byeeeeeee!" She sometimes puts one of her little bags over her shoulder like a purse and heads for the door, announcing "Bye! Bye!" And when former President Bush's helicopter took off, she waved frantically at the TV and yelled "BYEEEEEEEEE! BYEEEEE! BYE!" But he shouldn't take it personally because she kept doing it to Wolf Blitzer too. That guy can not take a hint.

Food-wise she's doing just what the doctor said two-year-olds do: being picky and eating nothing sometimes, then at other times eating to rival her father. I'm glad to have her past the two mark so she can eat everything and anything and doesn't need whole milk anymore. Please, please let her quickly develop a love for the economical protein wonder that is peanut butter...

After we cut out milk before naps and bed, I realized I should move her nap up earlier in the afternoon since she's mellow after lunch. I started putting her down before 1:00 instead of at 2:00 and she slept three full hours five days in a row! Why didn't someone tell me this before?

She also napped for a sitter yesterday, which frankly I didn't think she'd do. She was cranky as heck all evening and wailing at bedtime, though--perhaps letting me know she did not appreciate that disruption to our daytime routine? She usually only has a sitter during evening play hours, and she is always fine with it. Still, I'm glad to know we could leave her with someone over naptime or bedtime and she would probably go to sleep fine. Maybe someday we will do something crazy like go to the movies . . . ah, who am I kidding? Crazy for us is staying up late enough to watch CSI and American Idol!

And that's life with Little Miss Two!

Our Irish Rumbler

Here she is in the full court debut of her favorite cheer . . . our little Irish rumbler!




She can actually shake her hips a lot more than that...although I'm not sure I want her to. She was a bit baffled to be standing down there, I think.

Sorry the quality is so bad--perhaps we'll try again soon.

Cheery Hair and the Secret Weapon of Sports Parenting

Early last week I did Anna's hair up in more box braids than usual with green and white star snaps for one of her favorite things: high school basketball game! (She just calls it ball but makes a dribbling motion--to distinguish it from touchdown signal ball, of course.) I thought it turned out really cute because it was so crazy fun. Stayed well for days, too, which is always nice!



In the previous post she was doing her cheerleading moves (not just being sassy). Her favorite is the "Irish Rumble." Hands on your hips now, everybody, and lean back and forth as you say:

Everybody do that Irish Rumble
Everybody do that Irish Rumble
Iriiiiiiiish! (roll hands above head)
Rumblllllllle! (bend over and roll hands down low)

Or as Anna says, Ah-ah ah-ah ah-ah-aahh. Ah-ah ah-ah ah-ah-aahh. Aaaaaaaaaah! Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Okay, I'll have to post video. Trust me, she's got it down well enough to make her whole section of the bleachers crack up laughing. She wants you to do it with her at random times, like anytime you put your hands on your hips or while you're changing a diaper. Whenever the school spirit moves.

At this game she was given actual cheerleader pom poms by a real live cheerleader to play with throughout the game. This was good because at the previous game, someone gave her one but then we had to give it back, and the meltdown was epic. And every time she saw one, she wanted it. Theirs are so sparkly! And may I just say? Best. Toy. Ever. for a basketball game. She was an angel because she takes her job of cheering very, very seriously, as you can see.


The funniest thing was that she was not just cheering along but copying virtually everything the cheerleaders did. You know how they stand when they're not cheering, facing the game with their hands and pom poms behind their backs? Anna stood like that almost anytime they did! A two year old standing quietly with her hands behind her back for long stretches of a public event? God bless the cheerleaders, every one!

Twenty-One

Anna is 21 now. Months, that is, though it seems it will be years before we know it. One day a week or so ago we couldn't stop staring at her--has she grown inches and months in one day? Maybe it was what she was wearing or her hair ("six-five, with the afro six-nine..."), but she seemed oh so grown up all of a sudden.




Favorites at 21 months:

• Words: water (pronounced "dowww"), hi, hot, football
• Food: cheese, fruit, pizza
• Clothes: shoes, because they mean going somewhere; half-removed pajamas
  
• Activities: running, dancing/spinning, sitting on dog, looking at pictures of herself
• Sport: "Foobaaaaaall!" (raises arms in touchdown signal)
• Places: Beach, playground, Aaron's office or nursery at church
• Toys: balls, books, Magnadoodle, baby doll, coasters, slammable drawer, food
  
• People: Dadadadadada! (as he's called when he comes home), MAMA! (as I'm summoned downstairs to say goodnight), cheerleaders, teenagers, church ladies, and our friend the big rough redneck Dreamy Lumberjack (go figure)
• Mode of protest: Full body sprawl

She is working on words but seems to be more into motions/actions. For example, she'll strum on her stomach like playing the guitar when she sees one or a picture of one (or a violin) or to indicate where one is, like the front of church where Aaron plays. She can point to lots of body parts but not say them. She does a lot of very insistent pointing and patting and dragging you by the finger to indicate what she wants or where she wants you. I don't know if this means anything about her speech or learning style or not--is she a physical learner, perhaps? But she is slowly increasing her vocabulary too and certainly chatters frequently and sometimes incredibly loudly.

If she's upset she will do the toddler full body sprawl, spinning around if she's holding your hand and throwing herself onto the ground. This was charming when she tried it in the post office, but unfortunately for her didn't embarrass me.

Generally she's very good in public though. She will test us at home and if necessary gets a time-out in a chair in the corner. Recently she got about five in a row because when Aaron told her to put her books on the bookshelf (yes, she knows how) or she'd get another time out, she kept choosing the chair. Literally. She went back to it. Of course when he put her in it she realized that she wouldn't rather be there. She still tried ignoring him, though, so he kept at it. Quite an entertaining show they put on for me, really. SuperNanny would be proud of my man!

She is really into Winnie the Pooh and football. If she sees anything football related--game or commercial on TV, picture of football or helmet, football players on the back of the box of crackers--she says "Foobbaaaaaallll!" and raises her hands like the touchdown signal. She also knows how to push a small football behind her through her legs when I say "hut hut!" (I am training her for the oft-overlooked position of long snapper, since it is an important specialization with relatively low risk of injury, less glory but still plenty of cash to take care of her momma in her old age.)

She loves to go to the school playground and go on the slides, go for walks out behind our house, and help me pick eat the blackberries around our house.

Best of all, she loves hugs, cuddles, tickles, and us.

Is that a teenager scarfing down all our pizza?



Must be. She has the pouty face down.

On the Fifth Day There Was Silence

We girls had a good weekend without Aaron home; it went fast. I took Anna to the high school football game Friday night. We left in the third quarter when we were losing 40-0. Sadly, this was not the worst football we saw this weekend. Why do we torture ourselves with the Lions again? FIRE MILLEN. Twice on Sundays.

The biggest parenting development around here is that we seem to have found a nap time routine that is annoying but works. Eventually. And that's good enough for me.

Anna has always needed to be held to fall asleep for naps, although for quite some time she has put herself to sleep at night just fine. When she went down to one nap in the afternoon, usually by the time she got her milk snack, she'd fall asleep drinking it. But when she didn't, she'd need to be held/rocked until really asleep or she'd make sure she stayed awake all afternoon by standing up in her crib screaming.

Needless to say, this sound was not conducive to reading for comprehension. So because my work time is precious, I would always make sure she was asleep before putting her down. Sometimes Aaron wouldn't, and she'd scream bloody murder, and I'd want to drive my red pencil into my eardrums.

Lately she has not been falling asleep as easily, and I need her to learn to sleep on her own in the daytime too. She is just way too big and heavy for the holding and bouncing her while I'm standing up thing, plus we should get her off bottles of milk (she will tolerate a Nuby cup instead of bottle, but prefers this babyish routine with the bottle, and that's supposed to be gone by age 2). So I was looking for a time when I could afford to be thoroughly annoyed by prolonged crying sounds rather than needing every minute possible to work.

Thankfully, my husband is more stubborn than me—he let her cry a few times and it has started working. Sure, it takes 45 minutes to an hour of alternating between babbling and screeching . . . but eventually she falls asleep! In fact, here's a little live-blogging of today's nap timeline:

2:05 Left her in her room, sleepy. No noise on my way out.
2:11 Sounds of clunking against crib. "Mama!"
2:14 "Maaaaaamaaaaaa! Waaaaaaaa! Maaaamaaaaaa. Aaaaaaaaaaagh!"
2:23 Silence. Victory in record time?
2:24 Nope. "Waaaaaaaaaaa!" She realized she was almost asleep, God forbid.
2:32 Silence again. And this time it holds!

Thirty minutes is definitely a new record, so I hope it means that after five straight days she's getting the idea that it's not necessary or effective to holler for an hour a day.

Is it wrong that I feel no sympathy for this crying, just mild amusement? Hey, I respond with plenty of heart when it's real crying—this is really just manipulative noise. In fact she even started the manipulation in July, at my parents' house, when she realized that telling us when she had a wet diaper might get her out of her crib to be changed. But then right after Aaron changed her she pointed down there and said, "Stinky! Stinky!" again. Liar, liar, stinkypants on fire!

We're onto you, Stinkypants. And we're willing to trade an hour of annoying noise for two hours of nap. We're the parents. We will win. Our motto: Always Be Victorious!

Our Holy Ham

When we eat dinner together we pray first, holding hands--or Anna's wrists if she has already started her messy finger food. When we're done we bounce her hands up and down as we say, "A-men! Aaaaa-men!" She thinks it's funny and has come to expect it.

Last night at the end of our small group Bible study, which meets at our house, we were praying for a few minutes. Three of us were sitting on the floor and Anna was wandering around (distracting us, as usual). Just as someone started praying for N., who has been having struggles with her daughter, Anna walked up and took hold of her fingers. That was sweet enough, but then she held N.'s hand with one hand and reached out the other to hold R.'s hand--then bent over and bowed her head! It was so cute, I started giggling. Then she came over between me and R. and did the same thing again, holding our hands and bowing her head/body. I really got the giggles then, so bad I was crying by time someone said amen. Others hadn't seen it so we said "Let's pray!" and held hands again and she did it again. What a little (holy) ham she is!

What We Did on Our Christmas Vacation Trip

EDIT: Now with photos!

Long overdue tales of holidays past . . . (for more photos see previous post).

I have already detailed the travel endurance trials portion of our journey and the physical and emotional recovery period. I should note that once we got back into our routine, Anna got back into her easygoing nature, although we did have one heckuva long night last week with a very unhappy, nonsleeping, teething babe. Not that more teeth have made it through yet.

As far as what all our trip included, well, it could be summed up in the word PEOPLE. People people people everywhere wanted to meet Anna. And meet her they did. With our Christmas Eve travel delays, we had no day to decompress before we hit the ground running. Christmas Day is always a full one for us since we stay at my parents’ house, go to Aaron’s parents’ for Christmas with the immediate family, and then go to his grandparents’ for the big extended family dinner and gift exchange (and wrapping paper whipping contest).

We went to his parents’ as usual and had time with them plus Aaron’s brothers and their lovely ladies and daughters. Anna and her two-year-old cousin Autumn shared a sweet minute of holding onto each other and staring and then a big kiss from Autumn. This year things were a bit different in that we had dinner there instead of with everyone at his grandparents’—the big dinner was called off because of his grandmother’s health. Grandma S. was diagnosed with cancer not long ago and sadly it is a type for which they can do basically nothing at this point. She is at home receiving care from family and hospice. We did all gather at their house for time together and gifts, though, and I suspect that Grandma summoned great energy for and from having everyone together, as you probably would not have guessed she was sick had you not known. She is a wonderfully kind, sweet, yet strong woman. She tells us each time she sees us and in notes that she prays for us every single day and always wants to know specifically how to pray. I know she prays for Anna too so we were grateful that she and Grandpa both were able to meet her that day.

For once I was grateful the drive from there back to my parents’ is long since Anna needed the nap—more family waiting to meet her! My aunt, uncle, and Grandma H. had driven over from the Detroit area for the day (my brother and his wife had arrived the day before). Grandma wanted to hold that baby on her lap right away, finally! (Anna is the first great-grandchild on my side.) We had dessert and there were plenty of packages for Anna to rip open, now that she was an old pro at that game. My parents got her a walker/ride-on lion which makes music and emits a comical giggle/roar. She bends her knees and bops her booty as soon as she hears it, and she figured out fast that it’s pretty fun to shove around. Busy day!

The next day we didn’t have to drive anywhere, but more family descended: grandparents, aunt, and cousins from my mom’s side also arrived from the east (though being warned in a dream, some returned home in other directions). Papa wore his natty holly bow tie, my cousins as usual brought great comic relief, and my aunt provided lemon tarts and made a fantastic Ethiopia-to-U.S. map wall hanging for Anna. My mother tricked us all into decorating cookies in the traditional retro-psychedelic style and ridiculous quantities for which we are known.

The next few days were a little more relaxed, attempting to leave Anna time for at least one good nap a day (normally she is still a two-napper). We had meals out (or in) with friends and spent time with our families. Friday we got some beautiful fresh snow. Saturday night we were at FunnyWriterMommy and Beau’s house and their two-year-old was showing Anna how to run around like a crazy girl. For about a week Anna had been taking a few steps between us or objects when coaxed, but suddenly she saw that big girl walking around with a toy and thought I’m going after her! She took off on her own and then got brave to walk farther and farther distances across rooms. She loved practicing and soon really got the hang of it. Now she’s walking all over the house all the time like an old pro (okay, like a clutzy old pro who falls down a lot, but falls like an old pro too). Wow! (And yikes!)

By Saturday night Anna was getting my cold and didn’t sleep well because she was congested. She kept waking up needing to be patted or picked up to go back to sleep, but then it would only last a half hour (hmm, come to think of it, she gave us a reenactment of this last night). Finally we found our infant motrin and brought her into bed with us, and we she slept the rest of the night (guess whose pillow she always drifts onto?). We decided we needed to skip church and get some rest, though, since we had a big evening ahead. That day was the worst I felt throughout my cold. Anna perked up fine though.

Sunday night was the big “come meet Anna” open house there at my parents’ house. This really turned out to be a good idea since a lot of people were able to come and we could not possibly have seen them all otherwise. There were tons of kids running all over the house too—good thing Grandma seems to have a toy factory in her basement!

New Year’s Eve we had one last hurrah with old friends. The sweetness makes it that much harder to say good-bye. It was good we didn’t stay any later, though, because it was snowing like heck all the way home. Watched the ball drop at my parents’ but should have focused more on packing, because the next morning got frantic (sorry again Mom and Dad). It was kind of like how we left Ethiopia (yes, that tale will come in time). All to get to the airport and stand in a line for an hour . . . which brings us back to our return home (brings us back to 'Doh!') and the end of this scintillating saga. What travel or celebration tales will the next installment hold?

Danger! Move (Your Things) to Higher Ground!

Thursday after Anna's breakfast I was making my own. I had put her down on her back in the living room. I heard her make a look-at-me! noise and looked up--she was standing up against the front of the couch. Ta-da!

She spend the rest of the day practicing pulling up, and now she has it thoroughly mastered and is starting to work on creeping sideways. She loves standing and "walking" with her hands held. Couch, chairs, tables, shelves, legs, you name it, she will stand against it.

Aha! There's that phone book I wanted to eat!

Her swing has found a new use as a pull-up device, although she also somehow got herself seated.



We've spent the last few days moving everything up, up, up higher. Including the animals. Poor kitty. Or as Anna calls her, "Kheeee!"

Favorites at 9 Months

Here's an update on what Anna is up to and into now that she's over the 9 month mark.

Size: She has grown so much! She's almost 18 pounds and 27 inches. She's out of some of her cute small clothes and into her cute bigger clothes (no fashion shortage here) and #3 diapers.

Words: Ear-piercing happy screams, vowels, and dadadadadadadada (may or may not be directed at Dad, dog, chair, wall, etc.)

Transportation: Rolling, rotating, scooting on her stomach - now getting up on her knees and rocking - look out!

Foods: Formula, cereal with veggies or fruit, paper

Favorite toys: Paper, books, stuffed cow, Daddy, the dog's bone, whatever she's not supposed to have

Favorite hobbies/games: Dancing, shrieking, giggling, eating, bouncing on the big bed, clapping, chasing doggie, human lint brush

Favorite books: The Very Hungry Caterpilar, Time for Bed (to read); the phone book (to eat)

Favorite music: Hey Ya (acoustic mommy version); You and Me by Lifehouse; Eternal Flame by The Bangles. Likes oldies, '80s, church music, and anything with a good beat you can dance to. Undecided on NPR and The Killers (she's got soul, but she's not a soldier).

Ahh, kids today - growin' up so fast!