Friday, May 18, 2012

A, You're Adorable by Buddy Kaye and Fred Wise

A, You're Adorable
A, you're adorable
B, you're so beautiful
C, you're a cutie full of charms
D, you're a darling And
E, you're exciting And
F, you're a feather in my arms
G, you look good to me
H, you're so heavenly
I, you're the one I idolize
J, we're like Jack and Jill
K, you're so kissable
L is the love light in your eyes
M, N, O, P, I could go on all day
Q, R, S, T, alphabetically speaking, you're okay
U made my life complete
V means you're very sweet
W, X, Y, Z
It's fun to wander through the alphabet with you
To tell you what you mean to me
--Buddy Kaye and Fred Wise
One of my favorite board books is Baby's Alphabet by Jean Marzollo. It has photos of babies doing baby things for each letter of the alphabet. After reading it to Lizbeth, I thought that the only thing that would make it better would be if they were photos of her. For Mother's Day, a few years ago, I made Elizabeth's Alphabet book, and I repeated it this year with photos of Bridget. I ended up with four extra pages in one of the photo albums, so I decided to write a few sentences about each photo. In an ideal world, I would interweave the photos with the text, but it's past my bedtime already, so I'll just post the text here, with a link to the album.

Bridget’s Alphabet -- Mother’s Day 2012

Apple: We went to Roy, Utah for your Cousin Hazel’s birthday party. After the party, you, Lizbeth and Hazel went out in the backyard to play. You found some apples, and were excited to cut them open and see if there were any worms inside.

Blue : This was taken on a scorching hot day at the Salem Days fair in August. You were just a few months old. To keep you cool, I fed you tiny chunks of blue sno-cone. You really enjoyed it, but got upset when the ice melted and I didn’t put another piece in quickly enough.

Chick: We got chicks in the spring of 2012 and kept them till they were big enough to go live in Aunt Judi Moore’s chicken coop. You and Lizbeth really loved chasing and holding the chicks, especially the little black one. You also loved dressing up and pretending to be chicks.

Cousins: Here is a photo of all the cousins at the family reunion we had in Salem, Ut just a month after you were born (or all the cousins at Grandma Kathey's house in Fairborn, Oh). It’s hard to get that many little ones happy and looking at the camera.

Dresses: These matching dresses were a gift from Grandma Becky. You love to be able to dress and act just like your sister, and I love to see how you and Lizbeth like to do things together.

Dog: This is Aunt Betsey’s puppy Maddie. You have your tongue out in the panting baby sign for Dog. Both you and Maddie were too young and excitable to be allowed to play together, but you liked to make faces at each other during dinners at Grandma Kathey’s house.

Easter: This was our Easter Egg hunt 2012. You and Lizbeth got new Easter bonnets, but you wanted to wear both hats at the same time. We compromised by letting you wear Lizbeth’s old hat along with your new one.

Eat: I love taking pictures of you while eating. With the light from the window making your hair and skin shine. I was disappointed that the print came out darker than it looked on the computer.

Friends: These are our friends Joel and Dallin Sanderson. We go to play with them once or twice a week. Daddy works at the Sandersons’ house.

Frog: Another eating picture that printed dark. You really enjoyed looking at your bibs and cups and finding the animals on them.

Goat: This is one of several photos in this book from our trips to Young’s Jersey Dairy. It’s a farm near Grandma Kathey’s house in Ohio. We go there to eat ice cream, feed the goats, look at the animals, and play.

Happy: This photo was taken by Aunt Lesli when she came out for Grandpa Roly’s funeral. Aunt Lesli takes beautiful photos, always managing to find good light and get candid expressions.

Insects: We all dressed up as insects for Halloween. Daddy is a green beetle, Mama is a purple butterfly, Lizbeth is the Very Hungry Caterpillar (that can go through complete metamorphosis), and Bridget is a bee.

July 4: We were out visiting Ohio, and went to the fireworks at Wright Patterson Air Force Base (where Grandpa Jim works) in the week before July 4th. This American Flag dress was on of my favorite outfits for you.

Karen: This photo was taken on the day Daddy gave you a name and a blessing at church.

Ladybug boots: You’ve always liked to wear shoes, no matter what size they are. In this photo, you were just barely learning to walk, and decided to put on Lizbeth’s ladybug boots. They were heavy, and up past your knees, and you either fell over, or slipped out of the boots at almost every step. You were thrilled to wear them anyway.

Monkey: For your first Christmas, I bought you monkey pajamas from Gymboree. That same week, Joel got a hooded monkey blanket, and I got a brown jacket. Lizbeth started calling it my ‘monkey jacket’ and convinced me to sew a face on the hood, I also made one for her, and another for you when you outgrew the pajamas.

Naked: After a trip to the zoo with some cousins, we made an unexpected trip to Salt Lake’s Liberty Park to play in the Seven Canyons fountain that represents the mountain streams that flow into the Great Salt Lake. I didn’t have a swim diaper so we just decided to let you play naked.

Oh! I was taking my annual Mother’s Day photos of you and Lizbeth in Grandma Becky’s yard, when you gave me this adorable surprised look.

Pooh: One of my favorite baby outfits is this little Winnie the Pooh sleeper and hat.

Princess: I got this crown from the Goodwill outlet in Ohio, and you immediately claimed it for your own. You are also far more interested in princesses and dressing up than Lizbeth ever was, and this photo is a celebration of that.

Princess piggy: You really like to wear hats. It’s often not enough for you to wear just one hat, so we stack them on top of each other.

Quiet: I sometimes miss the times when you slept so deeply as a little baby, all swaddled in your blanket...

Rabbit: Here you are in a cute bunny costume.

Sunshine on my Shoulder: I love the way you’re backlit here on the yellow playground equipment.

Swimsuit: This photo was taken at the Splashpad in Spanish Fork, Ut. You didn’t really like the spraying water, but you did like being there with Lizbeth and your cousins.

Slide: I think this is the slide at the Salem Pond playground. You really like going down the slide (though climbing up is sometimes traumatic).

Tractor: Another Young’s Jersey Dairy photo. Daddy likes to point out that T is also for his Theoryland t-shirt (from the Wheel of Time website).

Train: And another photo from Young’s. I tend to take more photos when we’re on vacation, I guess. You were a little scared, but you really enjoyed ringing the cowbell as the tractor pulled the train around.

Up: This is the airplane ride at Trafalga Lehi. We had passes that let us go as often as we liked for a few years.

Vroom: Both of these photos were taken on the same day as the Apple photo when we went to Cousin Hazel Mills’s birthday party.

Web: This spider web is at the same Ohio playground as the Sunshine and Dog photos. I also I sprained my ankle walking down the stairs at this playground.

White animals: At your first birthday party, I think these were the presents that you loved most. They certainly were some of your favorite toys for sleeping with.

Xmas: This is the Santa at the Provo Riverwoods shopping destination. He gave you the Snowman bath duck.

Xmas: We went all out dressing up for our Ward’s Christmas in Nauvoo program. Nobody else dressed up at all,

Young’s: The last of the Young’s Jersey Dairy shots. You and Lizbeth thought this giant pumpkin was really neat.

Zzzz: Here you are asleep again. It really is a wonderful thing for a mother to watch a baby sleep. You’re so relaxed here, and looking cute in an outfit from Aunt Miriam Stay. You’ve always been more willing than most children to go to bed when you’re tired. It’s a good habit, and I hope you’ll be able to keep it up.