Handprints by T. Lambert, Jr.

Handprints

Sometimes you get discouraged
Because I am so small
And always leave my handprint
On furniture and wall

But everyday I'm growing
(I'll be all grown someday)
And all those tiny hand prints
Will surely fade away.

So here's a final handprint
Just so you can recall
Exactly how my fingers looked
When they were very small.
--T. Lambert, Jr.

I remember the first time I heard this poem. My brother David (or maybe it was Steve) made a little handprint art in nursery school to give to Mom for Mother's Day. I thought it was really cute then, and I still like it a lot. I intend to do something like that with each of my kids.

Elizabeth has been making such great strides with talking lately, I thought I'd do one more "First Words" list before there are too many for me to remember. I did another one back in March as an email to my sister-in-law Marcelle, and I was surprised today to find out that I hadn't posted it to my blog. When typing it up, I've put the actual word first, and then if necessary, I've included her pronunciation of it. Finally, I give a short explanation of how the word is used. Since I didn't put her pronunciations is a consistent place, I've bolded the word as she says it the first time it appears in the entry.

When writing out the baby talk, I ran into some typographical issues. How, for instance, should I represent the way she says the word dog? She pretty much leaves off the g sound at the end, so "dog" sounds more like "do'" (though with the correct short o sound from "dog" rather than the oo/u sound in "do"). I decided to put in apostrophes for missing letters so that you can tell that I'm not just writing a shorter word that already exists with a different pronunciation.

With animals, sometimes she knows the name of the animal, and sometimes the sound it makes. She uses either one interchangeably at this point to label what she sees.

Toys and other nouns

• Ball - "BaaAAllll" (at least three syllables). She LOVES balls right now, and so whenever she sees anything even vaguely round (logos on TV, pictures in books, blueberries, peas, some beads, etc), she says this word. When we went bowling in Ohio, she said it about every three seconds the whole time we were there. She also uses it generically for anything that catches her interest.
  
• Balloon - "B'loon" Elizabeth often asks for balloons when we're at the grocery or dollar stores that sell them. She also likes to look for the red balloon in the Goodnight Moon book.
  
• Bath - "Baaaa'" This generally means that she wants to take a bath, though last week, she said it while looking longingly at the spot where the wading pool had been in the front yard at Grandma Kathey's house.
  
• Bead - This refers to the large scale beads for stringing, smaller ones on bead maze toys, and tiny ones on necklaces.
  
• Beep beep - I put this one in toys because she says it with her toy car (When you push the horn, it has a human voice saying "beep beep" rather than just a beeping noise.)
  
• Book - "Boo'" Again, she leaves off the last sound, but gets the vowel right. She never did quite figure out how to do the sign for book without my hands pushing hers together, so it didn't surprise me when she learned the word instead.
  
• Bubbles - "Buh Buh" This word is used to refer to pictures of bubbles in bathtubs in books. She'll sometimes say it if I blow bubbles for her when she's in the tub, but never when she's outside. More often, she just makes a blowing noise to indicate that she wants me to blow some more.
  
• Car - "Caaaarrr" She likes going for a ride in the car, and if I suggest it, she'll go wait impatiently by the door until I get my shoes and bag ready. She also has a Fisher Price ride-on car that talks and sings to her, and several car/bus shaped toys.
  
• Cart - "Car'" I can only tell the difference between this and "car" by context. This word generally refers to shopping carts that she wants to ride in, including the one that lives at our apartment complex. It can also refer to laundry carts, and her little toy shopping cart (which she has found is just the right size for giving her little people toys a ride in).
  
• Shoes - "Sshhooz" Like the "ch" sound in "Cheese", the "sh" sound in "Shoes" gets said very carefully.
  
• Slide - "Sliii'" She generally just says "wheee", but lately, the actual word "slide" has been creeping in to her vocabulary.
  
• Train - "Too too" is her version of Choo-choo. She uses it to talk about her Thomas the Tank Engine books, which she loves, and insists on reading even though I think they're boring or dumb. Peter thinks it's Thomas's round face that interests her.
  
• Vroom - Grandpa Randy taught her the word Vroom when giving her rides on Great Grandpa Jesse's red walker/seat. Now, it refers to anything with wheels that goes including: bikes, motorcycles, scooters, cars, ride-on toys, tricycles, etc.
  
• Wheee - This could be the noise you make as you go on a swing or slide, or it could mean, "I see a swing or slide and I want to go play on it."

Social

• ABC's - "bee dee tee bee" She can't really say her ABC's, but she does recognize the song when her car sings it, and she'll sing along with syllables ending in the long ee sound
  
• Baby - "Bay-bee" or "Bee-bee" This can refer to her dolls, a real baby (like her cousins Andy and Hazel last week), pictures of babies in books or on packaging (like cereal or diaper boxes), or to herself when she's feeling like she needs extra loving attention.
  
• Bye - Repeats it when somebody says bye bye. Also when Daddy leaves for work, whether he actually says bye or not.
  
• Daddy - "Da-da" is Peter.
  
• Fix it - She doesn't say anything like these words, but she has a very distinctive squeal that means, "I'm very distresses or frustrated with this thing, come fix it for me!" She will stop squealing when I offer to fix it, and will often even bring whatever it is over to me. Common things that need to be fixed are her toy stroller, which collapses far too easily; her stool, which is too top heavy for her to right it after she pushes it over (it doesn't fall when she's standing on it, only when she deliberately tips it while standing on the floor); and when things are stuck going into or out of other things (one of her favorite games at the moment is putting-things-into-other-things)
  
• Hi - generally used when pretending to talk on a cell phone (or anything vaguely cellphone shaped).
  
• I Love You - "Ayeee la" After we say family prayers, Peter says, "Give Daddy hugs!" and holds his arms out wide. Elizabeth approaches warily, and is enveloped in a big bear hug, while Peter says, "Oh! I love you! I love you! I love you!" Once she's released, Elizabeth tries to say "I love you!" back, but she's only got the first part down so far.
  
• It's a - "'tsa" this syllable often precedes her labeling of something else--especially when I ask, "What is it?" or "What do you see?" for example: "'tsa Baaaalllll"
  
• La la la - Sometimes when we're singing to her, or a group of people is singing in church, she'll join in with "la la la." (She also likes to wave her arm like the music director)
  
• Mama - That's me.
  
• Round and Round - "Roun' roun'" Elizabeth uses this phrase when her car sings its "wheels on the bus" song, and also when doing the "round and round the garden" finger play. She also likes me to say it when talking about her dizzy dance, and what fans do.
  
• No - "Noonoononono" The first couple of sounds in this word are more like "new" than "no." I almost hesitate to put this word on the list since she uses it so infrequently. I try very hard not to forbid things unless they're dangerous, and even then, I say things like, "Not right now" or "That's not for you" or "That's not a good game" or "That will hurt you" rather than simply "No." I don't want that to be one of the most important words in her life. I also try to notice what she's doing, and frequently say, "Oh! That's a good game!" or "That looks like fun" or "What a good job you did stacking those up" so that she hears at least as many positives as negatives.
  
• Tickle - "Deedle deedle". almost any word with "le" at the end becomes a variation of deedle or doodle. See also: turtle, noodle, and cock-a-doodle-doo.
  
• Uh-oh - This is what we say when something falls on the floor - generally at mealtimes or when she's throwing things from the shopping cart or stroller.
  
• Yes - She doesn't really say "yes" but when we're trying to figure out what she wants and we list several things, she has a particular nervous/relieved laugh that says, "Heh heh heh you guessed it! That's right! Now give it to me quick!"

Food

• Aaaah - As in, "Say Aaaah!" to get her to open her mouth to put food in. She often will say it to me to indicate that I should open my mouth and let her put food in (which I may or may not consent to do depending on how gross the bit of food or her fingers have gotten in the course of the meal).
  
• Bean - An early favorite food and easy word to say.
  
• Beef - When I prompt her with a list of options, she'll repeat this word to tell us what she's wanting at dinner.
  
• Bottle - "Baa'll" (often hard to differentiate from Ball, we get this one mostly by context, and the fact that it's generally shorter in duration with a bit of a glottal stop)
  
• Cheese - "Cchheeez" It takes a lot of effort for her to say the "Ch" sound, so she puts a lot of emphasis on that part of the word. This generally refers to string cheese, which is one of the things she looks for when I open the fridge, but can also refer to her other favorites: cheddar, American, or parmesan.
  
• Cup - "Cu'" This can refer to her sippy cup at the table, but she uses her sign for drink more often. She uses "cup" to refer to stacking cups, and the cups she sees in the bathroom for storing toothbrushes, pouring water in the bath, and the paper ones I use to get water to help me swallow my pills.
  
• Orange - "Rrrrr" It doesn't sound much like "orange" to me either, but it's the sound she makes while pointing impatiently at oranges, either fresh or mandarin in a can.
  
• Pea - "Peez" Because they're shaped like little balls, frozen peas are the perfect snack for Elizabeth.
  
• Noodle - "Noodle doodle" this is for any kind of pasta, which she really enjoys eating (especially rotini, spaghetti, and ramen).

Animals

• Baa - This is what sheep say. She also uses this word when she puts on her lamb-ears headband.
  
• Bee - she started noticing these in several of her books about other animals. She likes to play a game where she points to one of the bees on the page, then I go "Bzzzzz" and poke/tickle her with one finger.
  
• Dog - "Do'" She still uses signs a lot for this one, but the word is starting to creep into her spoken vocabulary. Of course, she's also just as likely to make an excited kind of yelping sound, which may be her attempt at a bark, or may just mean, "Look Mama! I see a real live dog (or cat)! Isn't that exciting?! I wanna touch it!"
  
• Cock-a-doodle-doo - "Doodle Doo" is what roosters say.
  
• Duck - She sees lots of ducks: at the pond, in her books, and especially in the bath. She generally says the word in groups of three "Duk duk duk"
  
• Kitty - This was one of her earliest words. It's generally said with a VERY high pitch, and more of a glottal stop than actual "tt" sounds. She's pretty excited, so it's about all she can do to squeak out "Key!" She also uses the excited yelp from "dog" to tell me about kitties.
  
• Ook ook - "Oo oo ee ee" is what monkeys say
  
• Moo - This is what cows say.
  
• Roar - "Raar" is what lions say.
  
• Turtle - "Deedle" See the explanation on tickle.

Elizabeth still uses a lot of signs as well.

Things

• Ball (make hand into ball shape and twist back and forth) - This is only used for emphasis these days since she can say the actual word now.
  
• Fan or pinwheel (fwoosh noise like blowing on something) - She also sometimes traces a circle in the air with her finger to be sure we understand.
  
• Flower (breathe heavily or sniff) - it's supposed to be sniffing, but she was chronically congested for a while, and is only now trying to say flower with her nose. She notices these when we're out for walks, and often when they're in the background of pictures in books.
  
• Hat (pat head) - Elizabeth has a box of hats and a mirror in her room. She likes to put them on and look at herself in the mirror.
  
• Light (Flick fingers like popcorn song) - This used to be one of her favorite words, but she hardly ever says it anymore.
  
• Rain (hands downward like rain falling) - I've been impressed at how well she has transferred this from the Itsy Bitsy Spider song to real life rain, especially since we had so little of it in California.
  
• Toothbrush (finger across teeth) - Elizabeth loves brushing her teeth, and often when I'm having trouble getting her to stop playing and get ready for bed, I'll suggest brushing her teeth, and she'll drop whatever she's doing for this special treat. She likes to run the toothbrush under the water to rinse it, then tap tap tap it on the sink before putting it away in the cup. She hasn't quite figured out how to spit, but she's trying.

Social

• Amen (two hands together like praying, then move them up and down) - She has also learned how to fold her hands at the beginning of a prayer. Sometimes she even interlocks her fingers. She doesn't always keep them folded through the whole prayer, but we're making progress.
  
• Bounce with me (bounces body) - We were at Young's Jersey Dairy, and they had a moon bounce set up. Elizabeth saw it, and told me quite excitedly several times that she thought that bouncing in it would be fun. I didn't let her go in because I couldn't go in with her to pick her up when she fell over which I'm certain would happen every time somebody else jumped (which is what happens on a trampoline).
  
• Bye Bye (wave) - She waves when prompted, but usually says the word "Bye." It takes her a while though, and the person is often already gone before she gets it out.
  
• Clap your hands (Clap very carefully) - She took a long time to learn how to clap, and I think that she thinks it mostly means "Happy" since we finally got her to do it by singing the "Happy and You Know It" song. She can also stomp her feet and shout hooray.
  
• Dance (turn around in a circle) - I'm not sure why she started dancing this way, but she does it often, and likes to move to music.
  
• Hooray or Reaching high (two arms up high) - This action came from the "All About Me" book from Heather, and got transferred to the "Happy and You Know It" song. Elizabeth does indeed do this spontaneously when she's happy, and when I understand what she's saying, she claps her hands.
  
• Peekaboo (hide behind hat or blanket and then peek out) - There's not much cuter than a game of peekaboo initiated by your toddler.
  
• Please (rub chest) - She mostly says this only when prompted. Last week, her four year old cousin Kate kept asking her to do things and saying "please please please!" to convince her. Elizabeth usually didn't understand the requests, but obligingly said "Please" whenever Kate asked.
  
• Thank You (Hand to mouth, then down) - This is another one the often takes prompting, but sometimes she'll surprise me by doing it spontaneously. Her version looks more like a salute since she often misses her mouth, and just moves her hand away from whatever part of her face it happened to hit.
  
• Sleepy (Rub eyes) - This isn't something she chooses to say specifically, but I treat it like a sign in my interaction with her so that she might start using it as a sign, and so she'll associate that feeling with wanting to go to bed.

Food

• All done (Wave hand from elbow in a dismissive gesture) - This was meant to have two hands, almost like an umpire saying "safe!" but Elizabeth chooses to use just one.
  
• Applesauce (twist knuckle on cheek) - She just started using this one in the last week or two, though I've been signing it to her for months now. She also surprised me by using it to label the Apple inside on of her Fisher Price blocks.
  
• Drink (finger in mouth with hand upside down like it's lifting a cup or bottle) -I use my thumb at my lips with a fist, but Elizabeth uses her pointer finger, and turns her whole hand upside down so we don't get confused and think she means "eat" She asks for drinks throughout the day as well as at meals, so I got her a water bottle that she can drink from whenever she's thirsty.
  
• Eat (fingers to mouth) - When she starts eating dirt or books or toys, I know she's probably hungry as well. She doesn't often ask for food unless she sees something specific that she wants. Trying to climb into her high chair is another good sign that it's mealtime.
  
• Goldfish (Make fish lips with a bit of a "pop pop" sound) - This is the same as the sign for fish in an aquarium or a tilapia fillet.
  
• More (pointing to open palm) - I've finally got her using this one. At most meals, when she starts getting antsy, spitting out food, or throwing it on the floor, I ask, "Are you all done? or do you want more?" I used to have to assume the second, if she didn't sign "all done," but now I'm more confident that I'm giving her what she wants.
  
• My cup or bottle is empty (Shake offending cup or bottle so that Mama can see that there's nothing left) - This one implies that she also wants a refill.
  
• No, I don't want to eat that (shake head like no while avoiding the spoon) - This is where she says "No" most often. Since I generally keep giving her food until she makes it clear that she's done, this is an important thing to be able to indicate.

Animals

• Bear (scratch chest) - We've been working on this one for a while, and she'll do it if I ask her, but she's not really interested in the bears in her animal books.
  
• Bird (two fingers open and close like bird beak) - She doesn't do this one often anymore.
  
• Bunny (make hand bounce up and down) - it's supposed to have two fingers up as ears like little bunny foo-foo. She has lots of stuffed bunnies, and makes them jump up and down too.
  
• Doggie (pat leg, or anything else handy while panting) - This one looks like it won't last much longer because she's starting to say the actual word.
  
• Fish (smack lips together like fish kisses) - This works for fish in an aquarium at the doctor's office, goldfish crackers, and also tuna or tilapia at dinner.
  
• Frog (stick out tongue) - This is one of my favorites.
  
• Giraffe (Trace your finger down your neck) - I've been signing this one to her for a while, but it wasn't until she got a Fisher Price Roll Arounds ball with a giraffe inside that she started using it herself.
  
• Horse (bounce body like Mama is bouncing you on her knee) - This one isn't very frequent. It's another one where she thinks that I have to be involved.
  
• Pig (push up on nose to make a piggy snout) - she aims for her nose with an index finger, but usually hits her mouth or cheek.
  
• Spider (grab finger of one hand with other hand and twist like itsy bitsy spider) - I'm not sure she actually knows quite what a spider is other than the thing in the song.

Other communicative gestures

• Get up! (yank on various body parts impatiently until Mama gets out of bed or off the couch) - This one generally happens on days when I haven't gotten much sleep the night before.
  
• I want that (point with a whine or grunt)
  
• I want to climb up (lifts foot) - Often onto chairs or beds
  
• I want to nurse (Yank on Mama's shirt) - I deliberately misunderstood this when I was trying to wean her, and we sort of accidentally developed a game where she puts balls or other toys down my shirt and gets excited when they reappear at the bottom.
  
• I want to sit in your lap and be cuddled (insinuate self into lap, often walking backwards) - This one is something she often does when she's uncomfortable, so it might also mean I need you to change my diaper.
  
• Keep me safe/I'm scared (Cling to/hide behind Mama's leg) - She's pretty adventurous in general, but for a while she was afraid of the vacuum cleaner, and lately she's been frightened of strange men.
  
• Pick me up (arms up or out with a whine or grunt)
  
• Put some of that on my hand (Hold out hand expectantly with palm flat) - She usually says this when she sees the bottle of foaming soap in the bathtub or the spray on sunscreen. Sometimes she asks to wash and/or dry her hands when she sees me doing it.
  
• Put this on (put piece of clothing near the appropriate body part) - especially shoes, hair clippies and hats.
  
• Take this off (yank on clothing and whine) - I've been trying to introduce a new larger set of pajamas, but there's something about the feet that she doesn't like, and every time I put them on, she asks me to take them back off.
  
• Take me there (point while being held)

Body Parts - Elizabeth can point to the following body parts on herself, someone else, a doll or a picture when asked. She doesn't have very good proprioception (knowing where a body part is when she can't see it) so she often misses when trying to point to things on her own face.

• Head
  
• Eyes
  
• Nose
  
• Mouth
  
• Ears
  
• Cheeks
  
• Belly Button
  
• Arms
  
• Hands
  
• Fingers
  
• Legs
  
• Feet
  
• Toes

Round and Round the Garden by Unknown Author

Round and Round the Garden

Round and round the garden goes the teddy bear (trace a circle on baby's palm with your pointer finger)
One step two steps (walk your fingers up baby's arm)
Tickly under there (tickle baby under chin)

(use same actions on other hand for verse two)

Round and round the garden goes the little mouse
One step two steps
In his little house.
--Anonymous

I found this little rhyme in a book of finger plays that I often read to Elizabeth. There are several minor variations out there, and you can find some good videos of it on youtube if you've never seen it done (Actually, as I was preparing this post, I found some great resources for finger plays and other interactive youtube videos that will be fun to do when Elizabeth decides she wants some computer time)

Anyway, we had Elizabeth's cousin Hazel visiting with us today since Barb had a conference at BYU, and needed a babysitter. At one point this afternoon, I did some fingerplays to entertain Hazel, and Elizabeth decided she wanted to join in. At bedtime tonight, she finished nursing before she fell asleep, so I thought I'd give her a little extra loving attention because she was so generous in sharing her Mama and her toys with Hazel today.

Using gestures, she asked me to spread out her Blue Blanket to cover her legs, then she pulled it up so her toes peeked out. I interpreted this as a request for "This Little Piggy," which we did on each foot. Then we did "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and one or two others that we'd also done this afternoon with Hazel. The last one I did was "Round and Round the Garden."

Elizabeth was in her sleepy, snuggly ticklish mood, so she enjoyed it a lot. Then she reached out and grabbed my arm, turned my hand over and started drawing a circle in my palm. She even said "Roun' roun'" which is what she says when her car sings "The wheels on the car go round and round." She was so sweet and cute as she did it! I said the rhyme for her, and showed her how to walk her fingers up my arm, but she didn't need any coaching to do the tickly bits under my chin. She did the whole thing several times, grinning and giggling. It was about the sweetest thing I've seen in my life.

We've been saying family prayers before bedtime. Elizabeth has learned how to fold her hands at the start (though they seldom stay folded for the whole prayer), and sign "amen" at the end. After prayers, we give hugs and kisses all around and say "I love you! I love you! I love you!" Elizabeth has begun to say "Ayeeeee" during hugs, which I think is the start of her own "I love you!"

It's so fun to get a peek into her mind. I taught her "If You're Happy and you Know It" a few weeks ago, and she will now clap her hands, stomp her feet, and shout hooray when I sing. Her face surely shows that she's happy when she does it too. What I really love though is that lately, at unexpected times, she'll put her hands up in the air and make her hooray noise. When I ask if she's happy, she'll grin and very carefully clap her hands.

What more can a mom ask for than a little girl who wants to play fun games, show me the same affection I show her, and spontaneously tell me how happy she is?

A Narrow Fellow in the Grass by Emily Dickenson

A Narrow Fellow in the Grass

A narrow fellow in the grass
Occasionally rides;
You may have met him,—did you not?
His notice sudden is.

The grass divides as with a comb,
A spotted shaft is seen;
And then it closes at your feet
And opens further on.

He likes a boggy acre,
A floor too cool for corn.
Yet when a child, and barefoot,
I more than once, at morn,

Have passed, I thought, a whip-lash
Unbraiding in the sun,—
When, stooping to secure it,
It wrinkled, and was gone.

Several of nature’s people
I know, and they know me;
I feel for them a transport
Of cordiality;

But never met this fellow,
Attended or alone,
Without a tighter breathing,
And zero at the bone.
--Emily Dickenson

I think this was the first Emily Dickenson poem I ever read. I'm posting it today because I feel like I've been spending a lot more time in nature since we moved. I've been working on the landscaping at our new apartment, which needs serious help (though I'm told that they only recently cut down all the giant thorn bushes that were infesting the property, and haven't put anything new in). I've pretty much convinced my landlord to give me a budget for plants and gardening supplies, and he says that now that I've pulled all the rocks out of the dirt they dug up to fix the water main, he can probably get sod in during the next week or two. I haven't seen any snakes, but I have seen a bunch of centipedes, earthworms (which I now realize were missing in California), potato bugs, ants, robins, and quail in our yard.

I finally got a new computer yesterday. My last one was from 2002, and even with upgraded RAM, it simply couldn't keep up with the demands of the Internet and updated software. I've barely been able to check my email for the last couple of months. Our new apartment (along with the rest of Provo) has amazingly fast Internet service (it's a public utility here), so I was able to upload a whole bunch of videos that I've been waiting to share. I'll space them out in this blog post which will catch up on the last 6 months of very erratic posting and general life craziness. Hopefully, I can get back into a regular schedule of posting now that I have a computer worth using.

Let's see, the last time I posted something that wasn't a eulogy for a grandmother, or an email that I dropped into my blog for posterity, was before Christmas. We had a good Christmas, with plenty of presents for everybody.



Elizabeth was not interested in unwrapping packages, but she did enjoy the gifts them selves. She got a bunch of Fisher Price Little People and a sweater set that matches her baby doll's, but her very favorite things were the Busy Bug (a pull toy snail with a drum full of sorting shapes as his shell, and orange drumstick antennas) and her Christmas Orange:



I had never given her oranges before, but she so obviously loved it, that I've given her a lot more since, and they've become her favorite food.

In January, we went to Utah for Grandma Helen's funeral. The defining part of that trip was the enormous blizzard that blew in that weekend. We will miss Grandma Helen, though it was time for her to go home.

After the funeral, Mom and Dad came out to California to do their share of cleaning and emptying Grandma's house. That was a fun job, from an organizational perspective, but also very sad because we had to say goodbye to the house and Huntington Beach as well. I don't know if we'll ever go back there -- though I hope we will. Here's a video of Elizabeth enjoying the wonderful sand they have there on Huntington Beach. She really enjoyed knocking down sand castles, and interacting with the wildlife (sea gulls mostly, but also a hermit crab that Daddy caught).



While my parents were at our house, we celebrated Elizabeth's birthday, and she learned how to blow out candles (though we didn't get that part on video).



Happy Birthday Elizabeth! One whole year! It's pretty amazing to think about. I love you lots, and you're such a good clever little girl, you're a joy to be around :)

I had been looking forward to a couple weeks with my parents at the end of their trip west, but because Grandma died before they came, the whole trip got turned backwards and they only had a few days with me before they had to drive off to Mike's house to watch the boys, then visit David and his family.

While they were gone, I tried to stay cheerful by meeting my friends at the park each week. They were a HUGE support to me, and I hope I was to them as well. I will certainly miss Lisa, Susanna, Jen, Julie, Rachel, Christy, Lynne, and all their kids. Elizabeth will miss playing with them too. In this video, she and her friend Ari are having a yelling contest, and enjoying themselves thoroughly.



In this one, she's having a great time on the slide.



I think this is a good spot to put in the partial blog post that I began writing in February, but never finished.

Well, you can guess from my lack of posts that I've had a terrible month.

The last time I posted was around Christmas. I've been in therapy since the economic and family crisis craziness started last June, but even that wasn't enough to keep my spirits up under six months of constant stress and uncertainty. Seeing myself get more and more depressed and anxious, my doctors and I decided it was time to go back on medication. We picked a drug I haven't been on before because it's supposedly the best for breastfeeding. One real problem with it though is that not only does it take several weeks to kick in, but you actually feel worse before you feel better. It's one of the ones that increases suicides in some patients, and I got the full brunt of it. I had no energy, I felt like crying all the time, and some days it was impossible to make myself do even the simplest of tasks. I felt like I was swimming through molasses -- it was so frustrating!

One of the worst parts was that I knew there was no rational reason to be upset most of the time. I honestly couldn't trust, or often even interpret, what I was feeling or why...

...So yeah, I was feeling pretty lousy, and I was very sad that Mom and Dad left so soon. When I get depressed, I stop wanting to eat. I did make myself eat three meals a day, but with breastfeeding Elizabeth, I still wasn't getting enough calories in, and I began to lose a LOT of weight. Then, when my body's defenses were down, I caught some kind of viral tonsilitis, and couldn't swallow even if I wanted to. There's nothing they can do to treat the virus, so I just had to suffer for a week and a half, and boy did I suffer! I was really sure that without some kind of help, I was literally going to die.

With all my complaining, Mom and Dad drove back down the coast from Oregon, and nursed me back to health. Then, a week or two later, I flew out to Ohio for a three week visit. The stated purpose of the visit was to come up with a long term plan for deciding on and cooking meals, and to gain 15 pounds. Mom did her best to stuff me, but I only put on a couple of pounds while I was there. We did get a card file system worked out for choosing dinners, so that part of the trip was a success.

Elizabeth had a hard time learning to sleep in a new place, but when she was awake, she had no shortage of people to dote on her. Grandpa Randy was especially fun. Here, he's pushing her around on a tricycle (her feet can't reach the pedals), which he was willing to do over and over and over again.



It was bitterly cold and/or raining outside for a lot of our trip, so Daddy made a swing for her by tying a laundry basket to a rope hung from the balcony above. I love the noises Grandpa Roly made as he pushed her. She doesn't always look like she's really enjoying the swing, but she certainly objected when we'd try to take her out!



Heather was also feeling the need for some family support, and since I made her cancel her trip to my house that month (I didn't want her or Anna to catch the horrible virus I had), she decided to visit Mom's house while we were there instead. This video shows what the interaction between the two little ones was like most of the time they were together (except, interestingly enough, in the bathtub). Anna has a toy. Elizabeth takes it. Somebody gives Anna another toy before she gets upset. Elizabeth drops the toy she just stole, and takes the new toy. This sort of juggling could go on for 20 minutes at times.



Mom made the dresses, and knitted the sweaters (and even made a matching dress for 'Lizbeth's doll), and we just happened to be at her house together when they were just the right size for the girls. Mom had gotten out the bassinet for Steve and Rachel's baby shower, and we found that when just one of the girls was in it, they both felt a lot more secure.

Elizabeth decided that she liked climbing into things and sitting in confined spaces because it defined her territory, and Anna couldn't get there. Here's one of her favorite places to sit:



That trip was really good for me, and a momentous three weeks for Elizabeth. Soon after her birthday, she figured out how to go from taking a couple of large shaky steps before falling down, to taking several small steps in a row. Pretty soon she could really walk. When we arrived in Ohio, she was still a baby, but while we were there, I watched her turn into a toddler before my eyes. She could suddenly do so many more things, and even her posture changed when her main form of locomotion changed from crawling to walking.

Also on that trip, she got sick with an ear infection that took several courses of antibiotics to clear up. About that time, she also began throwing up on a regular basis, and did it for about five or six weeks. There was at least one night in Ohio that I spent sitting up in bed, holding her so she could sleep upright. I was very happy when dawn came and Daddy offered to do his patented soft talk and bounce walk around the house. He was able to get her to sleep, but he couldn't lay her down either.

One other major reason for the visit to Ohio was to see Grandma Fawnie. She had deteriorated a lot since I saw her in September, and each trip to the nursing home got harder than the last because her condition was frightening to the little girls. I knew, when I left, that I was saying goodbye to her forever, and the day after I got home, she died. I did manage to post a eulogy for her that week, so I'll leave it at that.

Of course, that meant we had to unpack from one trip, and pack and leave on another within less than a week. Elizabeth wasn't recovered from her ear infection yet, and this second trip was quite hard on her. The antibiotics she was taking gave her a horrible yeast infection that was red and sore all the time, and sometimes got so bad it was bleeding. She had to adjust to yet another place to sleep, in a house overcrowded with family, kids, and repressed emotions.

Here's a video of a quiet time we spent one night reading one of her favorite books before giving it to her cousin Anna to enjoy:



It was fun to have the whole family (minus Steve) together, but it was also a very rough time for everybody emotionally. We spent a lot of time remembering Grandma, but I don't think that anybody had the energy to really grieve for her while we were there. There were simply too many things that had to be done, too many schedules that had to be accomodated, just plain too many people for the house, and too many expectations that had to be met to stop and really feel any of it. I know it was especially hard on Mom, who had to organize and coordinate everything.

Back to the fun bits, here are Elizabeth and Jonas jumping on the trampoline at Uncle Steve's house after the funeral.



It was really good for Elizabeth to be in the house with Jonas, because he's big enough that he doesn't have to let her steal his toys. It took just one day to convince him to come tell an adult instead of pushing her down when she took something, but we all spent a lot of time trying to teach little ones to share the toy tools that Ryan's boys had left in the house.

Speaking of Jonas, he was a fun kid to be around because though he's old enough to talk, he still has his pronouns mixed up (a totally normal stage of language development). He thinks that "You" means "Jonas" since that's what people say to him, and "I" means "Other Person" because that's what other people say about themselves. It was a little hard to figure out what he was saying, until I realized that if you imagine he's prompting you with what he wants you to say, then it all makes sense. Nearly every time he'd see me, he'd say, "Hi Jonas!" and I'd reply, "Hi Jonas!" Then he'd say, "I have a flower in my hair!" and I'd reply, "I do, I have a flower in my hair!" and then I'd turn around and show him. There were also variations like, "Where's my flower?" until I realized that he wanted me to wear it all the time since to him, it was my defining feature.



Peter had a specific mission on that trip: find a job -- any job with benefits. He'd wanted to move to Utah so he could have friends to hang out with in person rather than just online, and with finances getting dire after he was laid off from his temp job, we were ready to try anything. He worked really hard, interviewing, and networking with everybody he could think of, and then his friend Brandon offered him a job as his personal assistant! It was the answer to our prayers, and we hurried back home to start packing --but not before visiting his sister Barbie and her daughter Hazel:



Back in California, we celebrated Easter by coloring eggs. I didn't want to chance the mess Elizabeth would make with a cup of dye, so I put her in a bib-shirt, and gave her a marker to draw on the egg with. It's one of the first times she's really figured out what a marker, pen, or even crayon is for, so that was exciting.



Then we started to pack. Generally, I would fill boxes while Peter entertained Elizabeth. When the PODS container arrived (like a U-Haul that they haul for you), we packed and packed amd packed stuff in. Elizabeth was kind of weirded out as everything she had ever known disappeared one box at a time , and she was left with a few things in the middle of empty rooms and white walls.



It was hard to leave the house that we had put so much time and energy and money into. We had to forclose because since the bottom dropped out of the housing market, the house was worth less than half what we owed. With the space rent so high in the mobile home park where we lived, 1/4 to 1/3 of the people couldn't afford to live there anymore, and every week brought more "For Sale" signs, more "Price Reduced!" fliers, and eventually, more abandoned mobile homes. We'd had it on the market for 10 months, and in the last few, nobody even came to look at it. We weren't allowed to move it, we weren't allowed to sublet, so when Peter found a job elsewhere, we decided we just had to walk away and start over. I felt, for a while, like the universe was telling me that everything I had done there was worthless. Still, before I left, I pulled all the weeds, got plastic put down under the last of the gravel and paving stones, and cleaned the house till it shined. It was silly, but I needed to do it for my own self respect, just like the pioneer women leaving their homes in Nauvoo had to sweep the floor one last time.

We sent the container off on a Thursday, my friends threw me a farewell party, and then we left on Sunday evening. I gave Elizabeth some Benedryl to help her sleep, and we drove all night. We arrived in Provo exhausted, but safe. We unpacked our cars into the new apartment while waiting for the POD to arrive, but after just one or two days, the maintenance problems, and the smell drove us to request a different unit. They let us move next door where we're much happier. Here is Elizabeth doing a Happy Dance she made up. She often just twirls around and around like this till she's dizzy.



When the POD finally arrived on Friday of that week, we went up to Grandpa Roly's house to unpack it. We had asked all sorts of relatives to help, but it wasn't a convenient day or time, so only Lesli's brother Mark was able to be there. We planned to get just the essentials out, then wait until Saturday morning when others might come, but Peter, Mark, and later Ryan, just kept right on hauling stuff to the basement till the POD was empty. Mark really went above and beyond the call of duty. Not only was he not really related to us, but he had also had a medical procedure done under general anesthetic that morning. He was still woozy and queasy from the drugs when he arrived. He was also nearly faint from hunger since he'd had to fast the day before the procedure, and hadn't been able to keep any food down since he'd woken up. We kept asking if he was all right, and telling him he could stop anytime, but he just kept right on going. It was amazing, and terribly kind of him.

We filled our cars with stuff to take to Provo, then on Saturday, I borrowed my cousin Jesse's truck to haul some of the larger pieces like the rocking chair. A week later, I went back to put the basement in order (the guys had just dumped stuff), and get a few necessary odds and ends I'd missed.

So now we're settled in Provo (for a few months anyway), and Elizabeth is enjoying the parks and the apartment building's yard. Once all her favorite things started appearing again, she took to the new house like she'd never lived anywhere else. Here's a video of our FHE activity the other night that shows how cheerful she is.



Well, this post has gone on much too long, but then again, I was trying to catch up on about six months of eventfulness. This summer I plan to: work in the yard, gain some weight, wean Elizabeth, go to Library Story Time a couple of blocks away, hang out at the water park a couple of blocks the other direction, and invite all my cousins over for dinner at least once.

The Germ by Ogden Nash

The Germ

A mighty creature is the germ,
Though smaller than the pachyderm.
His customary dwelling place
Is deep within the human race.
His childish pride he often pleases
By giving people strange diseases.
Do you, my poppet, feel infirm?
You probably contain a germ.
--Ogden Nash

I picked this poem today because I wanted something short and easy to find a picture for. We've been hearing rumblings about the swine flu, and I'm surprised at how close to home it's getting. My mom says that they have confirmed cases at a school in Elyria, Ohio which is in her Ward, and my sister in law says that Park City Utah schools are closed because of suspected cases. Pretty scary.

I wanted to post an update for my friends in California, and anyone else who follows my blog but isn't on my family email lists. Here is an email that Peter and I sent out last night that covers most of the bases:

Our new address is the same as the one we've been handing out, but now it's #3 instead of #4.

Our first apartment had so much broken furniture and such a bad smell that we got them to switch us to the apartment next to it. Its furniture is not broken and the apartment doesn't smell. Hooray! There is the sound of water running constantly somewhere overhead, but presumably this is a problem with an upstairs apartment and can get fixed sooner or later.

Tomorrow the POD is going to be delivered to Grandpa Holt's house in West Jordan between 2:00 and 5:00 p.m. If anyone is around the area near 5:00 Friday or 10:00 Saturday morning and wants to help, call Karen's cell phone for directions! Unpacking it should go a lot more quickly than packing it did, but a couple extra hands will definitely help. We'll probably be moving the heaviest stuff (big
pieces of furniture) Saturday morning.

Elizabeth seems to be adjusting well to our new home(s) but she's waking up a couple more times during the night than usual. Hopefully with a better-smelling room and some of her own furniture she may be able to turn over and go back to sleep. She really enjoys having a large fenced-in grassy yard to walk around in. She likes to pick the dandelion stems once all the seeds have fallen off. We're right by the
big Provo library in the old Academy building, and there's a park a couple blocks away with a large installation of playground equipment. There's also a pool there with a water playground and two ginormous waterslides (like they should be in a commercial water park) that looks like it's getting ready to open up soon, so that should be something fun to do while we're here this summer.

Karen and I are tired from moving and from sleeping on bad mattresses. The air mattress we slept on the last week in our old place took a toll on us as well—Karen says she could not have taken another night of it. We are pleased to have arrived in Utah and that the trip went so well—Elizabeth slept all but about one hour of the drive.

I went to my new job at Brandon's house today and put in a good day's work, which was very satisfying. I started setting up the computer and then inventoried the boxes of books stacked in the basement.

Karen is looking forward to having real dishes, clean clothes, and Elmer's glue to fix the books that Lizbeth has been destroying. It will also be nice to go to our new ward on Sunday and see if we can make friends and find playmates for Elizabeth. lds.org says we are in the Provo 4th Ward, and the church building is two half-blocks away.

Peter

Peter mentioned the smell, but the words "bad smell" doesn't really do it justice. It smelled like somebody had wet the bed in Elizabeth's room, and probably the carpet underneath. It wasn't so bad when we had the windows open, but when I shut them at night (it gets pretty cold here), the stench was overwhelming. We tried just removing the mattresses, but that just spread the foul odor. The other maintenance problems were kind of overwhelming too. I wrote requests for the most urgent ones, and ended up with 19 workorders. There were holes and peeling paint (reportedly lead based) in the walls and ceilings and the light fixtures were literally falling out of them. The kitchen faucet dripped (and had mold underneath), one toilet wouldn't flush, one tub wouldn't drain, and the other wouldn't hold water in. The shower rod and most of the towel racks were broken or missing. Half of the drawers in the closets had lost their fronts which were sitting around with the sharp screws sticking out of them. Several pieces of furniture were broken in other dangerous ways. The couches had that sticky slightly feel of furniture where college guys have sat, sweated, eaten pizza, and wiped their hands on the cushions. The fluorescent lights in the vanity area buzzed, and the cabinets and drawers there couldn't be counted on to close let alone keep Elizabeth out. Somebody had stuffed a couple of rolls of old carpet and linoleum into the furnace closet making a horrible fire hazard, and on top of all that, there were ants!

The new apartment has obviously had a kitchen remodel recently, and the walls and ceilings have been repaired and painted as well. The furniture is obviously newer, and while the place still reeks of BYU student housing, at least it doesn't literally reek.

The drive went as well as could be hoped. We had to jump my car to get it started before we left Torrance (at about 7:30 pm), but it started up again every time we stopped on the way. I had to push myself to make it to Vegas, but once we were through the city, I had hit my second wind. We did end up stopping for about an hour in Mesquite to nurse Elizabeth and nap, but the cars had so much stuff in them that we couldn't lay the seats down so we didn't stay long. I thought we were going to make it all the way to Provo, but when we were still about an hour south of there, I got VERY drowsy and thought it would be best to stop and wake up. We went to a Burger King, ate some breakfast, and drank some caffeinated energy drink, and walked around a bunch before heading north for the last leg. I did give Elizabeth one dose of Benedryl as we set out from Torrance, but that lasted her the whole night, and though she woke up several times, she generally just fell back to sleep immediately.

Well, it's time to feed Elizabeth some lunch, so I'd better sign off. I want to write sometime about my feelings as we left our home, but I don't have time right now.

326 I cannot dance upon my Toes by Emily Dickinson

I cannot dance upon my Toes

I cannot dance upon my Toes -
No Man instructed me -
But oftentimes, among my mind,
A Glee possesseth me,

That had I Ballet knowledge—
Would put itself abroad
In Pirouette to blanch a Troupe—
Or lay a Prima, mad,

And though I had no Gown of Gauze—
No Ringlet, to my Hair,
Nor hopped to Audiences—like Birds,
One Claw upon the Air,

Nor tossed my shape in Eider Balls,
Nor rolled on the wheels of snow
Till I was out of sight, in sound,
The House encore me so—

Nor any know I know the Art
I mention—easy—Here -
Nor any Placard boast me—
It's full as Opera—
--Emily Dickinson

You'd think that there would be lots of great poetry about ballet -- it's essentially poetry in motion after all. But perhaps it's a problem of synesthesia. Finding words to describe a dance is like trying to find the note on the piano that precisely describes the shade of lipstick on my Teela action figure.
I had high hopes when I began reading this poem posted to yahoo answers by a user called Christopher U

Ballet

As a symphony of legs float,
but round a single piroette,
on pointe she goes,
raised in majesty
and swept in pink silk,
covering her delicate slender tones,
in wonderous shades,
as she rises another falls,
slips are barely noticed,
but frowned on all the same,
monotonous drapes appear
so sleek and slender now it is
bathed in the warm glow of her face,
and she goes for that jump,
landing near perfect,
she is,
The Ballet Dancer

Source(s):
me ;) this is my 78th poem i think now whoop lol

It starts off well, reminding me of the scene in Sleeping Beauty where each of the courters walks Aurora around in a circle while she stands on one toe. (it's at the end of the Rose Adagio -- about 5 minutes into this video)

But about halfway through, it falters and falls flatter than a dancer missing her leap. And then the author's comments at the end make me lose all respect for him and just seal the poem's fate.

Anyway, all this is merely prelude to say that I've finally got photos and prices for all my tutus online. You can go to my old Picasa tutu album http://picasaweb.google.com/KarenAhlstrom/Tutu# and see the prices in the comments. Or just look below. Remember, the prices are what I'd charge a stranger at a boutique or craft fair. Friends and family can get serious discounts off these prices -- drop me a line or call me and we'll work something out.

Pink:

Top Left: #30 Dusty Rose $24
Top Right: #4 Pink Sparkley $16
Mid Left: #5 Cotton Candy $13.50
Mid Right: #46 Dark Pink Sparkley $18.50
Bottom: #8 Magenta Short $12.50

Headbands:

Top - White Headband Pink roses $5
Middle - #18 Pink Headband Yellow and Pink Roses $6.50
Bottom - #19 Pink Headband White flowers $5
Bottom Right - #17 Rainbow Ribbon skirt $5

Red:

Top Left: #53 Red $14
Top Right:#23 Red and Gold $16.50
Bottom Left: #20 Peppermint $12.50
Bottom Right: #49 Candy Cane $20.50

Orange:

Top Left: #40 Tiger Lily $11
Top Right: #12 Peaches and Cream $11.50
Bottom Left: #31 Pale Peach $12
Bottom Right: #52 Sunflower $16

White:

Top Left: #29 White $12
Top Right: #27 Snow $13.50
Bottom Left: #14 Cream with White Ribbons $12
Bottom Right: #13 Cream Vintage $11.50

Green:

Top Left: #15 Green Poofiness $13.50
Top Right: #16 Green $10.50
Bottom Left: $42 Aquamarine $18
Bottom Right: #37 Aquamarine Short $12

Blue:

Top left: #51 Cloud $24
Top right: #2 Bluebird Thin $7.50
Bottom Left: #3 Bluebird Poofy $12.50
Middle right: #1 Bluebird Ribbon Wrapped $7.50
Bottom right: #38 Cloudy $12

Purple:

Top Left: #39 Lavender Roses $18.50

Top Right: #47 Purple Stripes $10.50

Bottom Left: #25 Purple Sparkley $22.50

Bottom Middle: #26 Deep Purple Short $12

Bottom Right: #24 Deep Purple $17

PS: There's more easter photos and a video

Roads Go Ever Ever On by JRR Tolkien

Roads Go Ever Ever On

Roads go ever ever on,
Over rock and under tree,
By caves where never sun has shone,
By streams that never find the sea;
Over snow by winter sown,
And through the merry flowers of June,
Over grass and over stone,
And under mountains in the moon.

Roads go ever ever on,
Under cloud and under star.
Yet feet that wandering have gone
Turn at last to home afar.
Eyes that fire and sword have seen,
And horror in the halls of stone
Look at last on meadows green,
And trees and hills they long have known.

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with weary feet,
Until it joins some larger way,
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

The Road goes ever on and on
Out from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone.
Let others follow, if they can!
Let them a journey new begin.
But I at last with weary feet
Will turn towards the lighted inn,
My evening-rest and sleep to meet.

Still 'round the corner there may wait
A new road or secret gate;
And though I oft have passed them by,
A day will come at last when I
Shall take the hidden paths that run
West of the Moon, East of the Sun.
--JRR Tolkien

Okay, I know that I haven't written any decent blog posts in months. I'm not really ready to start now. Too much has happened for me to summarize, and I simply haven't got time to write it all right now. One big piece of news is that Peter has gotten a job and we're moving to Utah, so I have to pack and do all sorts of other stuff to get ready.

Which brings me to Why I Picked This Poem today. There are a few reasons which are all equally valid.

1. This poem always seems appropriate to me when moving. You're starting out on a new road, and may never come back to the place you're leaving, and that's a little exciting, and a little sad.
   
2. The blog post today is about books, and so I wanted a poem from a novel. Bits of this poem are spread out across the Lord of The Rings books.
   
3. The person who inspired me to write this post said specifically that she didn't enjoy LOTR, and I said I especially enjoyed the poetry and symbolism (Which she skimmed over and missed entirely respectively).

Essentially, a friend called me up today and asked if I wanted to meet her at the park and talk while our little ones played together. We ended up talking about books, and she expressed some frustration with the fact that she had gone through several genres of books and had to quit reading them for various reasons. Modern Literary novels have too much sexual content; she didn't really like the Sci-fi and Fantasy her husband gave her; Romance novels, even when you can find clean ones, are so formulaic that they all start to sound the same; Mysteries have so much dark content with the murders and the lying etc, that you get a bad feeling if you read too many; etc. She said she was reduced to reading Self Help books and the Classics. I talked about some of the books that I've enjoyed, and through our conversation got an idea of the sort of thing she might like. I told her I'd send her an email with those book suggestions, and remembered that I had sent a similar list to Miriam a few years ago when she was looking for books for Aidan to read other than the Chronicles of Narnia.

The result is a long list of books with comments that I think would be nice to have as a blog post. It is not all inclusive, but it is, I think, an interesting look at the sort of books I have enjoyed in my life. It starts with the Newbery books, and expands from there, with my suggestions for this particular friend at the very end.

Here's the list of books I promised you. It's just a list that I put together for my sister in law, so it might not all be interesting to you. The Newbery books are theoretically the best in Children's Literature for the year, though sometimes the committee picks weird stuff. Many libraries will have them all together rather than shelved by author with the rest of the fiction, so ask a librarian if you can't find them. There's another list of Non- Newbery fiction as well. I'll admit that this is a pretty long list, but you don't have to be intimidated. Just skim through it till you find a couple that sound interesting, make a note, and take it to the library with you. Read the books -- or at least a couple of chapters to see if you like it -- and then pick another couple books. You can reserve books at most libraries online so that they'll be waiting for you when you go in, and you won't have to look for them while the kids are waiting. Have fun!

-Karen

Year-Author-Book

• 2007-Susan Patron-The Higher Power of Lucky I haven't read this one
  
• 2006-Lynne Rae Perkins-Criss Cross I haven't read this one
  
• 2005-Cynthia Kadohata-Kira-Kira I haven't read this one
  
• 2004-Kate DiCamillo-The Tale of Despereaux This was an excellent little book about a mouse -- the style is unusual but charming.
  
• 2003-Avi-Crispin: The Cross of Lead I read this and liked it, but I can't remember much about it
  
• 2002-Linda Sue Park-A Single Shard I haven't read this one
  
• 2001-Richard Peck-A Year Down Yonder I haven't read this one
  
• 2000-Christopher Paul Curtis-Bud, Not Buddy I haven't read this one
  
• 1999-Louis Sachar-Holes I loved this -- the move was really good, but the book was great with interweaving story lines -- really worth reading, though a little intense at times -- if you've seen the movie, you know what I mean. I'd suggest other books by this author -- though the Wayside school stories are much sillier
  
• 1998-Karen Hesse-Out of the Dust I disliked this book. it was oddly written, with a depressing storyline.
  
• 1997-E. L. Konigsburg-The View from Saturday I liked this one -- it's told from four different viewpoints, with one very nice and satisfying story. I'd suggest other stories by this author
  
• 1996-Karen Cushman-The Midwife's Apprentice This was a nice medieval period piece.
  
• 1995-Sharon Creech-Walk Two Moons I haven't read this one
  
• 1994-Lois Lowry-The Giver This one was odd -- if you're into dystopian soft sci-fi, it's OK, but it's kind of disturbing.
  
• 1993-Cynthia Rylant-Missing May I haven't read this one
  
• 1992-Phyllis Reynolds Naylor-Shiloh I haven't read this one
  
• 1991-Jerry Spinelli-Maniac Magee I haven't read this one
  
• 1990-Lois Lowry-Number the Stars This is a very good Holocaust book for young readers, as is The Devil's Arithmatic.
  
• 1989-Paul Fleischman-Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices This is a little odd, and ought to be read aloud with a friend
  
• 1988-Russell Freedman-Lincoln: A Photobiography I loved this one
  
• 1987-Sid Fleischman-The Whipping Boy It's a light little story about a spoiled prince
  
• 1986-Patricia MacLachlan-Sarah, Plain and Tall This is a book about loneliness on the prairie and finding love. it's a little wistful, but has a satisfying ending, and at least one sequel
  
• 1985-Robin McKinley-The Hero and the Crown One of my all time favorites with its companion book The Blue Sword -- Escapist magic sword fighting dragons fantasy. It's a little more mature than many of these other books since the heroine in each is grown up, and is falling in love.
  
• 1984-Beverly Cleary-Dear Mr. Henshaw A book about a kid who writes letters to a truck driver. He's lonely, and or misunderstood. I remember liking it as a kid when Mom read it to us, but it's not exactly a happy book.
  
• 1983-Cynthia Voigt-Dicey's Song I haven't read this one
  
• 1982-Nancy Willard-A Visit to William Blake's Inn This is a collection of poems in honor of William Blake -- you'll find it on the picture book shelves, and it can be read in one sitting.
  
• 1981-Katherine Paterson-Jacob Have I Loved I haven't read this one
  
• 1980-Joan Blos-A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal This is a lot like those Dear America Diary books. It's OK
  
• 1979-Ellen Raskin-The Westing Game I really liked this mystery book which has a lot of different point of view characters.
  
• 1978-Katherine Paterson-Bridge to Terabithia This is a great book about how reality and fantasy interact. It has a tragic, but ultimately satisfying ending. You'll cry, but like it.
  
• 1977-Mildred Taylor-Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry I haven't read this one
  
• 1976-Susan Cooper-The Grey King Part of the Dark is Rising Series. One of my favorite fantasy series
  
• 1975-Virginia Hamilton-M. C. Higgins, the Great This was a weird one about a boy in a coal mining town who likes to sit on a pole. I wouldn't recommend it.
  
• 1974-Paula Fox-The Slave Dancer A book about a kid who has to play his flute to get the slaves on a slave ship to dance so they won't just lay there and die. It's one of those with a heavy political message, but it was OK
  
• 1973-Jean Craighead George-Julie of the Wolves Alaskan Eskimo girl doesn't want to be married, so she goes out onto the tundra and lives with the wolves. A great survival story, but I didn't like the inevitable ending. I would recommend other books by this author especially My Side of the Mountain. They're a lot like Gary Paulsen's books (Hatchet, etc)
  
• 1972-Robert C. O'Brien-Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH I liked this book, which is a fuller version of the story in the movie
  
• 1971-Betsy Byars-Summer of the Swans This is about a girl and her disabled brother. It was OK
  
• 1970-William H. Armstrong-Sounder I haven't read this one
  
• 1969-Lloyd Alexander-The High King One of the Black Cauldron books. I'd also recommend others by this author (I'll add those on another list)
  
• 1968-E. L. Konigsburg-From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler A girl runs away with her brother to live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A fun book with a bit of a mystery
  
• 1967-Irene Hunt-Up a Road Slowly I haven't read this one
  
• 1966-Elizabeth Borton- de Treviño I, Juan de Pareja I haven't read this one
  
• 1965-Maia Wojciechowska-Shadow of a Bull I haven't read this one
  
• 1964-Emily Cheney Neville-It's Like This, Cat I haven't read this one
  
• 1963-Madeleine L'Engle-A Wrinkle in Time An odd Science fiction story - it was always a little bit over my head.
  
• 1962-Elizabeth George Speare-The Bronze Bow I haven't read this one
  
• 1961-Scott O'Dell-Island of the Blue Dolphins A really good survival story about an indian girl left behind on an island off the coast of California.
  
• 1960-Joseph Krumgold-Onion John I haven't read this one
  
• 1959-Elizabeth George Speare-The Witch of Blackbird Pond A girl in New England in the 16 or 1700's I remember liking this book, but it was a long time ago.
  
• 1958-Harold Keith-Rifles for Watie I haven't read this one
  
• 1957-Virginia Sorenson-Miracles on Maple Hill I haven't read this one
  
• 1956-Jean Lee Latham-Carry On, Mr. Bowditch I really liked this book about a sailor who comes up with better ways of doing the math involved in navigation. It's a true story, but unless you care about math, ships, or navigation, it might not be your thing.
  
• 1955-Meindert DeJong-The Wheel on the School I haven't read this one
  
• 1954-Joseph Krumgold-...And Now Miguel I haven't read this one
  
• 1953-Ann Nolan Clark-Secret of the Andes I haven't read this one
  
• 1952-Eleanor Estes-Ginger Pye I haven't read this one
  
• 1951-Elizabeth Yates-Amos Fortune, Free Man I haven't read this one
  
• 1950-Marguerite de Angeli-The Door in the Wall A really good book about a boy with a crippled leg in Medieval England.
  
• 1949-Marguerite Henry-King of the Wind A fascinating story about the first Arabian horse in Europe.
  
• 1948-William Pène du Bois-The Twenty-One Balloons A fantasy adventure story about going around the world by balloon, and landing on Krakatoa before it blew up. It was fun
  
• 1947-Carolyn Sherwin Bailey-Miss Hickory A story about a doll that lives in the woods - it was OK, but nothing great
  
• 1946-Lois Lenski-Strawberry Girl I haven't read this one
  
• 1945-Robert Lawson-Rabbit Hill I haven't read this one
  
• 1944-Esther Forbes-Johnny Tremain Fictionalized account of the American Revolution. Fun story
  
• 1943-Elizabeth Gray Vining-Adam of the Road Another Medieval story that I'm pretty sure you own. I really liked this one.
  
• 1942-Walter D. Edmonds-The Matchlock Gun This is about a family that was settling America during the Indian Wars. Totally not politically correct, but probably historically accurate from their point of view.
  
• 1941-Armstrong Sperry-Call It Courage Adventure story about a Polynesian boy. I liked this book
  
• 1940-James Daugherty-Daniel Boone I haven't read this one, but heartily recommend the Autobiography of Davy Crockett -- which is very readable.
  
• 1939-Elizabeth Enright-Thimble Summer I haven't read this one
  
• 1938-Kate Seredy-The White Stag I haven't read this one
  
• 1937-Ruth Sawyer-Roller Skates I haven't read this one
  
• 1936-Carol Ryrie Brink-Caddie Woodlawn A story about a pioneer era girl and her family. A lot like the Little House books. I liked it.
  
• 1935-Monica Shannon-Dobry I haven't read this one
  
• 1934-Cornelia Meigs-Invincible Louisa I haven't read this one
  
• 1933-Elizabeth Foreman Lewis-Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze I haven't read this one
  
• 1932-Laura Adams Armer-Waterless Mountain I haven't read this one
  
• 1931-Elizabeth Coatsworth-The Cat Who Went to Heaven An excellent overview of Buddhist stories I REALLY liked this book a lot.
  
• 1930-Rachel Field-Hitty, Her First Hundred Years A book about a doll that is passed from one owner to another. It's nothing special.
  
• 1929-Eric P. Kelly-The Trumpeter of Krakow A really interesting historical story about Poland
  
• 1928-Dhan Gopal Mukerji-Gay Neck, the Story of a Pigeon I haven't read this one
  
• 1927-Will James-Smoky the Cow Horse I haven't read this one
  
• 1926-Arthur Bowie Chrisman-Shen of the Sea Folk tale collection -- It was OK
  
• 1925-Charles Finger-Tales from Silver Lands another Folk tale collection
  
• 1924-Charles Hawes-The Dark Frigate I haven't read this one
  
• 1923-Hugh Lofting-The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle This is a really fun book, but you may want to get one of the recent editions where they edit out some of the more politically incorrect racial slurs (that were just a product of the time, but are jolting to the modern reader)
  
• 1922-Hendrik Willem van Loon-The Story of Mankind This is a history of the world written for children. Not one to read straight through, but a good reference book.
  

Newbery Honor Books

• Princess Academy by Shannon Hale -- One of the girls in town is going to be a princess, so they all go to school to learn etiquette. There are jealousies and such, but the heroine is a real hero in the end. I'm pretty sure this has a Mormon author -- though there's no overt religion in it.
  
• Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko -- This is about a boy who lives on Alcatraz island in the 40's with his guard dad, neurotic mom, and autistic sister. It's an interesting book
  
• Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine -- This is the first and best (in my opinion) of her retellings of fairy tales. I liked them all, but I liked this one best.
  
• Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman -- I liked this one better than her Midwife's Apprentice. It's a story of a girl in Medieval times in journal format
  
• The Ear, the Eye and the Arm by Nancy Farmer -- this is odd science fiction set in futuristic Africa. I really liked it, especially the Recorded Books edition with one of my favorite readers. It's long, and not like much you would have read before.
  
• The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi -- A girl on a ship. I liked it for that reason.
  
• Shabanu, Daughter of the Wind by Suzanne Fisher Staples -- A fascinating book about the life and decisions of an Arab girl.
  
• Hatchet by Gary Paulsen -- Survival adventure at its best.
  
• The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare -- Survival adventure of a boy settling in Indian country whose dad leaves him to guard the homestead. He makes friends with the Indians and starts to go native.
  
• Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary -- I liked to read all of Beverly Cleary's books about Ramona and friends. They're children's classics as well.
  
• The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson -- A book about a moody girl in the Foster care system.
  
• The Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin -- A really cool fantasy in a well defined world that's not Tolkien's. She's a great writer, and while it's no fluffy quick read, it's well worth it to read the entire series.
  
• The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder -- A story about inner city kids and their imagination. I really liked it.
  
• Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt -- A book about the Civil War. It's powerful.
  
• Rascal by Sterling North -- I think this one's about a raccoon
  
• The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden -- This is fun animal fantasy. The title tells you what it's about.
  
• Old Yeller by Fred Gipson -- The king of all dead dog stories. After you read this and Where the Red Fern Grows, read Gordon Korman's No More Dead Dogs
  
• Banner In The Sky by James Ullman -- Story about climbing the Matterhorn
  
• Charlotte's Web by E. B. White -- You've got to know what this one's about. If you haven't read it you really ought to.
  
• The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes -- It's sweet and sad at the end. It's short, and worth reading.
  

Other books I really like -- these are often different style than the Newberys, and some may work for you, some may not. If you don't like it, feel free to put it down and pick another book

• Anne McCaffery - Dragonsong I really like this series of fantasy novels about dragons. I think that this would be the best one for you to start with, and if you like it, then move on to ome of the others. If you don't like it, then the genre just isn't for you.
  
• Terry Pratchett - Maurice and his Amazing Educated Rodents -- Really any of his Discworld novels are funny, and you don't really have to read them in order (though some of the jokes will be funnier if you read certain ones before others). They're absurdist fantasy mixed with social commentary. If you like this, then read others (the Wikipedia article has a nice suggested reading order for some of the subplots that run through the books)
  
• Douglas Adams - Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy -- This is top of the line absurdist Science Fiction that has me rolling on the floor laughing. You'll know by a couple of chapters in if it's your thing or not.
  
• Richard Adams - Watership Down -- This has to be my #1 favorite novel. It's long, but rich, and works on so many levels. give me a call if you want me to elaborate. If I start writing here, I'll never stop. If you like it, there's a sequel of sorts called Tales from Watership Down which is more a collection of short stories.
  
• Gordon Korman - This Can't be Happening at Mcdonald Hall -- Gordon Korman is one of my favorite authors. His books are just so darn silly. This one is the first in his series about a couple of boys at a boarding school. If you want something a little older but still as crazy, try A Semester in the Life of a Garbage Bag, or Losing Joe's Place.
  
• Roald Dahl - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory -- Another very silly author, I haven't read anything by him I didn't like, though some of his stuff is more fun than others. If you like Charlie, read Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. Or, you might try The Witches or The BFG
  
• Lloyd Alexander - My Five Tigers, The Fortune-Tellers, Gypsy Rizka, The Arkadians, The Westmark trilogy. I haven't read anything by Lloyd Alexander that I didn't like. He's a great storyteller, and dabbles in lots of different genres.
  
• Natalie Babbitt - Tuck Everlasting -- A great story about people who live forever, and a little girl who stumbles on their secret.
  
• Robin McKinley - Beauty --A beautiful retelling of Beauty and the Beast . Very rich story and characters, one of my all time favorites. If you like it, try some of her other fairy tale retellings like Rose Daughter and Spindle's End
  
• L Frank Baum - The Wizard of Oz -- If you haven't read a couple of the original Oz books, you really ought to. There's no need to read them ALL, but they're a lot of fun, and a quick read. There's a reason they're classics.
  
• Richard and Florence Atwater - Mr. Popper's Penguins -- Admiral Bird sends a fan a bunch of penguins from his South Pole expedition. It's a fun little story about the silliness that ensues
  
• Alexander McCall Smith - The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency -- This is a great series about a woman detective in Botswana. The characters and their lives are more important than the mysteries really. I especially like the mechanic who reminds me of my dad.
  
• Paul Zindel - The Pigman -- This is more of a teenager book rather than for children. Two high school kids meet a very strange old man, and get to know him and stuff. I really was struck by it when I first read it.
  
• Agatha Christie - Murder on the Orient Express or Ten Little Indians -- OK these are murder mysteries, so they're gonna have a bit darker feel than the others on the list, but they are the BEST of the genre, and well worth reading even if mystery isn't generally your thing.
  
• Meg Cabot - The Princess Diaries -- It's fun fluff to read. Not life changing, but worth the time.
  
• Peter S Beagle - The Last Unicorn -- this is a really nice fantasy story -- they made it into a cartoon movie.
  
• TS Elliot - The Sword in the Stone -- Probably the greatest children's adaptation of the King Arthur myths. It's really funny, and yet it's based directly on Malory's definitive Le Morte D'Arthur. If you like it, find The Once and Future King which tells what happens after he becomes king, which is cool, but kind of sad.
  
• Cornelia Funke - The Thief Lord -- This is an interesting book in that it is set in a European city that the author treats like we know it as well as we know New York. It has good characters and a different approach.
  
• If you're looking for something like Jane Austen, I've heard that the books by Elizabeth Gaskell are very good reads. Cranford and Wives and Daughters have been made into PBS miniseries lately.
  
• Also in the Jane Austen vein are the series of books beginning with Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brien. I like these in the Audio book format read by Patrick Tull, but they're worth the read in any format. Each book stands on its own pretty well, but the subtle jokes are funnier if you've read them in order. It has Jane Austen's Comedy of Manners style, with some adventure on the high seas thrown in. One that you might particularly like to start with is The Hundred Days.
  
• If you like that series, then you might also want to try Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell which is set in the same time period, but in a fantasy version of England, and it's about some guys who try to bring magic back to the world.
  

Other books I suggested that you might want to check out and some more in the same vein:

• Autobiography of Parley P Pratt
  
• History of Joseph Smith by His Mother Lucy Mack Smith: The Unabridged Original Version
  
• Orson Scott Card's Women of Genesis series (Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah) is a good read, and it gives the characters in the Old Testament believable motivations for some of the strange decisions they make. I don't think that all of his interpretations are correct, but I like being reminded that somehow, it made sense at the time to the people involved. It helps me to imagine scenarios where other Biblical people might also have good reasons for what they did.
  
• Sham: How the Self-Help Movement Made America Helpless by Steve Salerno
  
• The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat: And Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks - Science book for the popular audience by a neurologist
  
• Mutants: On Genetic Variety and the Human Body by Armand Marie Leroi - this one is similar to the above, but on a different topic. It's morbidly fascinating, kind of like visiting a freak show.
  
• All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriott - Memoirs of a Yorkshire Veterinarian. Nice book, funny touching stories, bite sized chunks.
  
• Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character) by Richard P. Feynman - This guy won the Nobel prize for Physics and worked on the Manhattan Project, but is an all around fun guy too.

I've got more suggestions when you're done with these. Enjoy! (and if you want to add some suggestion in the comments too, feel free)