Hats off to Clara!

Clara loves to put on Jeremy's hat. She is always immensely proud when she puts it on successfully, as you can see. Well, she's also pretty pleased about the wooden spoon. Who wouldn't be?

Happy Birthday, Sam

Today is Sam's fourth birthday, and we continue to be grateful for the imprint of his short life in ours. I can scarcely believe that four years have passed since that poignant and painful day that we brought Sam into this world, only to have to say good-bye to him a few hours later. But we are overwhelmingly grateful for our first sweet baby, and we appreciate now having the opportunity to tell his sister about him. Clara loves to look at his picture (she calls him "Mam"), and I know that as she grows older she will recognize the blessing of having such a special brother. We would never have chosen for Sam to exit this world so quickly, but we are eternally grateful for our understanding of the perfect plan of a loving Heavenly Father, and we hold close the hope of seeing our son again.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to visit his grave today. We may never know everyone who was there, but our gratitude to you for remembering Sam is deeply felt. Thank you to my family for posting these sweet pictures of his grave. It's a hard time of year for us to be so far away; thank you for doing what we cannot.

Fiberlicious!

Clara has taken quite a fancy to these egg-and-milk-free bran muffins. This morning I gave her half of one for a snack, and she literally stuffed the whole thing in her mouth and proceeded to methodically chew it until it was gone. I stood close by, ready to save her from death by choking, but she managed pretty well. That's my good eater!

V-Day Massacre

Well, the geography-showdown rematch was certainly a nail-biter. Jeremy and I each took a half an hour or so to study the world map, took an hour break to let the information "settle," and then the contest began. By the time we'd each done Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and South America, I was up by seven points. But Africa is my Achille's heel. I needed to correctly label 23 of the countries to tie Jeremy, and I needed 24 for an outright victory.

All I can say is, thank goodness for Swaziland.

Rachel wins!

Here's the final breakdown:

Africa: 24/53 (R) 30/53 (J)
Asia: 27/32 (R) 28/32 (J)
Europe: 36/46 (R) 32/46 (J)
M. East: 15/17 (R) 16/17 (J)
S. Amer.: 19/20 (R) 14/20 (J)

Overall, we improved our collective knowledge of the world (even if the "-stans" are still tricky and even though we more or less rejected Oceania as a region worth memorizing--sorry). Instead of knowing, on average, 45% of the world, we now lay claim to about 72%--at least for today.

I don't know of a better way to celebrate Valentine's Day than to engage in cutthroat geographical competition. Love is in the air...

UPDATE: We decided to do Oceania as a potential upset region, but Jeremy is now rueing the rest of his day, since I got 7/22 versus his 6/22. Valentine's Day is the best.

Geo

Jeremy and I decided this week that we should have a competition to see which of us knew more about world geography. Many people would think that Jeremy would be an expert at such a challenge, but if you know him then you know he's not really the kind of geographer who knows stuff like where places are. Boring! :) Believe it or not, we are pretty evenly matched, although that doesn't mean that either of us are very good.

We found a fun website that has a series of interactive geography games, and after going through all of the world regions (other than North America--give me a break) Jeremy officially won by correctly labeling 46 percent of the world. I, alas, could only label 44 percent. Try it out! We played the "Level 5" games, which are actually quite tough since you don't get to see contextual outlines of the rest of the countries on the map. One country shows up at a time somewhere within the outline of the whole region, and your task is to type the first three letters of the country. Asia was our best region. I did pretty well in Europe. Oceania is totally impossible (a box appears around countless tiny island nations, and you have to know which one is which?? I kept typing "Fij" for Fiji over and over until I finally got it. :)

We are planning a rematch for Febrary 14. Jeremy is getting quite cocky and is already referring to it as the Valentine's Day Massacre. Ahhh...

Try it out! See if you can beat us!

Workers of the World, Unite!

It's hard for Clara not to absorb some of the general Marxist zeal that floats around our house. All right; I kid. Jeremy has read his fair share of Marx and/or Marxist theorists for various seminars, but I'd hardly call him zealous. Just because he only wears workers blues to school doesn't mean anything, right?

Clara was actually sporting her blanket around her neck to give her a boost of baby superpower to help her combat her cold. She has been quite congested and for a few days had a cough that interrupted her usually blissful sleep. She's doing much better now, so maybe in a few days we can stop using the humidifier, which is making her room smell a bit damp and dank.

Other than her labor organizing and superhero efforts this week, Clara has also learned to walk. And at 15 months, I must say Jeremy and I were quite ready for her to hit this milestone. After a few days of accidental stepping, she now recognizes that she can walk and seems to take great pleasure in it. I'll have to figure out a way to post some video...