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...

Musical Genius in Bloom

Clara used to be content to sit on my lap while I played the piano. Then, for a time, she wanted to sit on my lap at the piano, and was happy as long as she was playing and I was not. And now, she prefers to go at it alone. It's part of her creative process, I suppose.

100th Post

When I logged on today, I noticed that this would be an historic post. Number 100. Ideally I would write something very reflective and/or profound, but instead I will write about WHEAT. Yes, friends, we are back to being a wheat-inclusive family after many moons. I took Clara to the allergist on Wednesday, and after four long hours we discovered that Clara's alleged wheat allergy was indeed a thing of the past.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the process of a food allergy "oral challenge" (as I was until just a few days ago), the appointment basically consists of a standard scratch test (allergens poked under the skin of the back) followed by eating ever-increasing amounts of the food in question until either a reaction occurs...or not. So first she ate a quarter teaspoon of Cream of Wheat. Then we waited for 15 minutes. Then she ate a half teaspoon. Then we waited for 15 minutes. Then a full teaspoon, then two teaspoons, then a tablespoon! Two tablespoons! You get the idea. We ended up with her eating a full cup (although there was mercifully a bigger jump between the cup and whatever came before than the tiny increments we started with). And everything was fine!

I actually had no idea how long the appointment would take and was therefore very underprepared to keep Clara hostage in an exam room for four hours. (Eventually I just resorted to letting her crawl around on the floor, which seemed so gross to me that I had to pretend I wasn't there and read a magazine instead; she, of course, loved it.) But all's well that ends well, as they say, and we have been gorging ourselves on all things wheat ever since. Animal crackers! Saltines! Graham crackers! Wheat bread! Biscuits! Nothing is off limits!

Of course, since CB still has her other allergies, we are still forced to be creative. Yesterday we had dairy free chicken and dumplings, and I will say that biscuits cooked with soy milk are actually quite good. When the wheat is back, everything is good.

We go back at the end of July for a re-test of eggs, milk, and peanuts, plus additional tests for fish/shellfish and tree nuts. I'm not keeping my fingers crossed, but I am hopeful...

Aural Learning

Clara's favorite CD is Ladysmith Black Mambazo's "Gift of the Tortoise," which shows she has great taste in tunes, because it's a fantastic album. Jeremy has worked at home for part of the week, and he can often be found wearing these headphones while he reads. Clara thinks they're the tops, so here she is listening to her favorite CD wearing Dada's headphones. Classic CB.

The Last Straw

One of Jeremy's pet peeves is Clara's love of playing with the stuff in our kitchen cupboards (which typically involves emptying the cupboards as quickly as she possibly can). He's tolerated my permissive attitude in this area, but Clara's recent habit of playing in the cupboards was just too much for him. We now have cabinet locks on all of our cupboard doors.

Noodler

Let the official countdown begin! In less than one week, Clara will return to the allergist for her wheat "oral challenge," which is when she will eat Cream of Wheat at the allergist's and people will watch her to see what happens (I'm bringing popcorn for the show). The hope, of course, is that nothing will happen and that we can cross wheat off of our foods-to-avoid list.

We are feeling quite confident that the oral challenge will go well, since before her initial allergy testing she ate wheat with abandon and seemed to suffer no ill effects. But for the past three months, Clara has not had any bread, crackers, or any of the millions of other food products that contain any wheat. She does enjoy her daily wheat-egg-milk-free waffle, which I buy at great cost and great convenience from the special-diet-friendly Wegman's. But I am truly excited to be able to make her a great number of wheat-a-licious delights, even if I still have to avoid eggs and milk (and peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish, and fish, which are her "just-in-case" no-nos).

So wish us luck! And don't feel to bad for Clara: as you can see from the picture, she manages to eat quite well on her special diet. Here she is eating some (actually quite delicious) brown rice pasta with a tasty red sauce mixed with smooth Tofutti cream cheese. Good times.

100 Best?

I've been doing a little research for a project I have in the works (details to follow at some point) and came across (again) the Modern Library's list of the 100 best books. I've seen the list before, but I don't recall having seen the readers' poll list, and I am truly stunned! In the readers' list of the 100 best novels, the top ten selections include four by Ayn Rand and three by L. Ron Hubbard. In the readers' nonfiction list, the top ten includes one by Rand, two about Rand, and one by L. Ron Hubbard. Weird!! Obviously polls like this are completely self-selected, but I wonder how the word got out to so many Rand and/or Hubbard enthusiasts!?

I should say here that I've never read anything by L. Ron Hubbard, and the only Rand I've read is The Fountainhead, which I did not much like. But regardless, I just can't imagine that either of these lists is actually reflective of the general reading public. I'd be interested to hear other thoughts, including thoughts on the "official" list. I have yet to read Ulysses, but I'm really starting to wonder what all the fuss is about. And I also have a hard time believing that no women have written anything worthy of the top ten (the Radcliffe's Rival list does better here).

Read on!

Happy Second New Year!

After a hectic start to 2008, Jeremy and I decided to start the new year over today. We took an unexpected trip to Utah on January 1 to attend my grandpa Welton's funeral. He was truly the best of men, and his funeral was beautiful. I loved being able to spend time with family and to reminisce and reflect on my life. Going to his funeral literally inspired Jeremy and me to be better people, and I'm grateful to my grandpa for a life well lived.

(I should just say here that I am sorry that we didn't tell any of our wonderful Utah friends we were in town. With everything going on with family events and the funeral, our short trip was just packed. I am sorry, though, and we promise to have more time on our next Utah trip.)

We returned home yesterday on a 6:00 a.m. flight from Salt Lake. Clara, mercifully, slept almost the entire leg of the first flight, although that made her quite squirmy in between Atlanta and Syracuse. The best (and weirdest) news about being home is that it was 70 degrees in Syracuse! We had five feet of snow in December, and now it's sunny and 70. How weird is that? (I'm sure we're in for it now and will soon be punished for being able to enjoy such pleasant weather.) The bad news about returning home was that through a series of unfortunate events our car battery was dead. Luckily, Jeremy and a friend got it jump started this morning, and now Jeremy is enjoying what is no doubt a spectacularly beautiful drive through the hills south of Syracuse.

So yes, our year got off to an unexpected start, but we're now excited to re-start our "normal" new year and dig our heels in for a great aught-eight! So far my only resolution is to have my teeth cleaned sometime this year. I am really shooting for the stars.

Happy New Year!

A couple of pictures: Here's our family near my grandpa's burial site. The next picture is of us at Sam's grave. My grandparents' plot is just a short walk from where Sam is buried at the Provo City Cemetery. I appreciated having our whole family together for the first time since Clara was born.