Beautiful

Abigail says to Keith during sacrament meeting: I’m going to go potty then I’m going to see Mom because she’s beautiful

Grateful

I love to listen to Abigail pray. She likes to tell Heavenly Father the things she is grateful for. Tonight, it sounded like this:

Dear Heavenly Father
I'm thankful for my mom,
and my dad,
and Lillian,
and Abigail,
and my friends,
and my hands,
and my feet,
and my blanket,
and for Jesus,
in the name of Jesus Christ
Amen

I was so pleased. Later, I said to her, "I'm grateful for my hands and feet, too. They're so handy

Without hesitating, she replied:

And so feety!

Sunscreen On

Yesterday we had car trouble on our way to a family reunion in Idaho. We stopped at a random reservoir to survey the damage. Upon approaching the body of water, Keith took it upon himself to explain to Abigail what makes a reservoir.

Keith: This is a special kind of lake. This would just be a river, but those rocks over there make a dam and stop the water to make this lake. It's called a reservoir. This kind a dam is not the bad word dam that we talked about. This dam just means that it's blocking the water. So we can play here in the lake. Isn't that cool!

Abigail: Oh. I have sunscreen on!

Keith: It's at these moments that I feel my teaching is especially effective.

Vader in the Family

In their best Darth Vader voices:

Keith: Abigail, I am your daddy!

Abigail: I am your princess!

Moving to the Park

We had a picnic lunch at the park last week with some friends. When it was time to go Abigail wanted to stay and play longer with her friends.

Abigail: I want to stay at the park forever!

Mom: Stay forever? What would happen when it got dark? Don't you think you'd get cold?

Abigail (pauses to think): I have my blanket, that would keep me warm.

Mom: There are no beds at the park, where would we sleep?

Abigail (pauses to think): We could sleep on the grass!

Mom: What about food? There isn't a kitchen. We would get hungry.

Abigail (gestures to the left over lunch food): We have food, we'll be okay.

Mom: What about if it gets windy, we'd get pretty cold.

Abigail (thinks): We have blankets, that will keep us warm.

She refuted all of my arguments. Looks like we're moving to the park!

Ode to Losing 10 Pounds

I'm not as big
As I used to be,

...

But I am as big
As I used to be.

Surprisingly Strong

Abigail, Lillian and I are shopping at Shopko on Saturday. I put both the girls on the floor so we can look at some clothing items. After a few minutes I look up and the shopping cart is moving away from me. It continues to go away until it hits a clothing rack about five feet away. The culprit? Lillian is pushing the cart while pushing on the bar that runs about six inches off the floor and parallel to it.

After I steered her away from said clothing rack she pushed the cart all the way to the checkout stand (I only steered). She also turned the cart a full 180 degrees -on her own- when needed.

Another surprisingly strong moment occurred yesterday when Lillian carried a grocery bag full of wet diapers up the stairs (with one hand) from the living room to the kitchen all by herself - one step at a time. She smiled with every step.