Joseph has rediscovered what used to be one of his favorite books, “Mr. Brown Can Moo.” I have had to read it to him probably about 20 times this week. His favorite page, by far, is the one that says, “Boom, boom, boom! Mr. Brown is a wonder! Boom, boom, boom! Mr. Brown makes thunder!” Several times this week (and at least one of those times being via the baby monitor), we’ve heard Joseph say, “Boom, boom, boom, Mistah Brown!” It’s usually on a loop as well…so he’ll repeat that phrase two or three times. It’s ridiculously cute and funny!
Other notable things that happened this week:
I got assigned to work with our stake for their annual production of Handel’s Messiah. They need a lot of different pianists so that we can be split up to help different groups of people. I know for sure that I will be helping the sopranos learn their parts during sectionals (just the sopranos working by themselves), but I may be asked to accompany one of the prelude pieces as well. I feel a bit overwhelmed, but I know I’ll feel better once I’ve been to a rehearsal and know a bit more about how everything is going to be run.
I’ve started walking with a couple of friends of mine that I know from church. We live in the same housing development, so we meet up at one person’s house and then we walk (like, power-walk) around the neighborhood, 3 times a week. It feels really good to be exercising again, and it doesn’t even feel like exercising because I’m getting to talk (and laugh) with people I am starting to get really close with. I am so grateful that I am making friends here. It’s making Texas feel more like home. 🙂
One of the women in my ward started a music playtime playgroup. We meet once a week, and different people are in charge of doing activities and stories that are centered around music. We do singing (of course), marching, finger plays, dancing, and stories. Then at the end, the kids get a bit of free-play while the moms get to talk and hang out. It’s been a new experience for Joseph. I’m still not 100% sure he’s sold on it yet. He’s not too used to structured playtime other than during nursery at church. We’ve done two sessions of this new playgroup and he’s made it about halfway through each time before losing interest. I think I’ll try it for a bit longer to see how it goes.
The time came to get Joseph new shoes. I ended up getting him some black canvas shoes to wear for dress shoes, some kind-of sandals (they have closed toes, but a lot of open parts, so I think they still classify as sandals), and, best of all (in Joseph’s mind), light-up Spider-man tennis shoes. I underestimated just how much he would like those things. He’s really into shoes right now to begin with, but when he discovered that they lit up…it was over right there. I made sure the price was right (less than $20, so I was okay with that) before I offered to let him hold them, because I had a feeling he wouldn’t let go without a fight. At first he was happy because they were Spider-man shoes. Then he discovered that the heels light up. He was so attached, I asked the cashier to not even bother with giving us a bag since he wasn’t going to let them out of his sight. He wanted to wear them as soon as we got out of the store, but I convinced him to wait until we got home. As soon as we got home, I put them on him. I had to leave for a baby shower right after that, so it was just the boys at home. It was supposed to be lunch and then nap-time for Joseph. When I got home from the shower, I asked Paul how everything went. He said it was all good until it came time for Joseph to take of his shoes to get into his crib for nap-time. There was whining and tears shed, but the shoes came off. As soon as he woke up, he asked for his shoes, which he wore for the rest of the day. He didn’t make as much of a fuss at the end of the day (I think he figured out they weren’t going to disappear), and I actually got him to wear his church shoes today (I was seriously thinking he was going to be sporting Spider-man to church). The things he gets interested in!
Here are the pictures for this week. You’ll notice that Joseph is wearing the same clothes in all of them, but that’s because all of them were taken on the same day. There’s also a video this week. 🙂
Here’s a video of Joseph on the swings. We got a video of him on the swings in this same park (it’s the park that’s in our subdivision) about a year ago, so Paul wanted to get another video so that we could compare them and really see how much Joseph has grown. 🙂 I’m just posting the most recent video, though.
