Please....Itsy Bitsy....MMM, MMM....Shh, Shh, Shh

I know, I know, the titles of my posts are always so weird. But it pretty much sums up what has been going on in our house. For the last 10 months Beth has signed the word "please." It's super cute, and funny when she repeatedly signs please while we figure out what she wants. I have mixed feelings about teaching kids sign language. I was taught sign language at age 5, after my spoken language was well developed. Recently teaching babies sign language has been popular. And although it's great for early communication, if you aren't careful it can inhibit their desire to actually voice their words. So, we have been asking Beth to "say please" for a few weeks now. And she finally gets it. Now when she wants something she usually says "Pweeze" while still signing.

When we are getting ready to leave the house I usually ask Beth to get her socks and shoes. Sometimes she comes out of her room with just one or the other, and I didn't realize she was having difficulty figuring out how to carry socks AND shoes. A few days ago she finally figured it out and I found her sitting on the couch just waiting for me.

I recently realized that Beth LOVES to sing and be sung to. I hadn't sung a lot of traditional children's songs to her, and so I was surprised when she picked up quickly on most of them. She sings a few of them in nursery, which I think helps her retain the songs and motions. She LOVES to do Itsy, Bitsy Spider. She does all of the actions and asks me to sing it over and over. Her next favorite is 5 Little Speckled Frogs. And when we get to the part where I sing "Eating the most delicious bugs" she chimes in "MMM, MMM" (Yum, Yum). This one she picked up fast, but usually gets bored after Frog 5 & 4 leaves the speckled log. We also like to sing the wheels on the bus. She does the actions to the beginning, but only wants to hear about the "Mother's on the Bus say Shh, shh, shh"....If you try to sing another part first, she will say "shh, shh, shh" until you sing the right part. It's cute, and usually entertains her if she's trying to get into trouble, or being cranky.

"Wheels" on the bus

Shh, shh, shh

Thanks for singing with me Daddy!

Speaking of trying to entertain her while she's cranky....she has 3 new teeth that came in this week. And they've been giving her grief! A few nights ago she woke up hysterical about 4-5 times, and it wasn't until the morning that I saw the little teeth poking through. I felt SO bad for her. Word to the wise, don't try to put Orajel in a toddler's mouth without their consent. They. Will. Bite. Hard. Along with this she has a cough and runny nose, so we've been using the humidifier in her room every night to help her sleep. What is surprising to me is the first few teeth she got were not nearly so dramatic for her. She would be upset for a few hours, and then have no issues. But as she has gotten older, it has gotten MUCH worse. Really, how many teeth do they need? The ones she has work just fine, go ahead and ask my red sore finger.

Because of her getting up multiple times a night sometimes she ends up watching tv or cuddling with us late at night until she calms down enough to go back to sleep. On Saturday night Andrew had some friends over to play games, and Beth was very excited to see my brother Eric (Uncle Rico). She ran straight to him and wanted to sit by him, play the game with him, and feed him popcorn. She was sad when he left to go home, but it was late and everyone needed sleep.

In other news, I have finally bought a new vacuum cleaner. When we first got married we lived in an apartment with wood floors. So we had a small wood floor vacuum and broom. Worked just fine. When we moved into another apartment about a year later, we purchased a cheap dirt devil vacuum. It was purple. And it was horrid. In trying to save it from the dumpster, I tried to buy new filters. Not a single store in Boise or Meridian carried them. I had to order them on Amazon. And even with the new filters, it was still very bad. Last week I accidentally sucked up a sock, which is impressive because that vacuum had NO suction. I guess Vacuums don't like socks, and I ended up burning out the belt. I was so tired of that vacuum, so Andrew and I discussed a new vacuum.

First I thought I wanted a Dyson. I know. Everyone's dream, including the credit card company. Because they cost $400-$600!!!! I just couldn't spend that much on a vacuum. So, we thought we had our minds made up, on a good old Bissell. And then my sister Bo said I should look at a Shark. I was reluctant, as was Andrew. But we looked it up. I already have Shark Steam Mop and I love it. But I just didn't know a lot about their vacuums. Anyway, after reading very good reviews we went with a Shark Navigator (it's purple too :-)). It's GUARANTEED to NOT lose suction. Sweet. Regularly priced $180. Bed Bath and Beyond (our FAV place) had it online for $150, and the local store manager said they would match the online price. PLUS we had a 20% off coupon. So we got it for a little over $120. And I LOVE it. I vacuum almost daily. Our carpet looks and feels cleaner and I couldn't be happier. Take that Dyson.

 We had quite an adventure this morning watching all the fire trucks on our street. An apartment behind us caught on fire and was spreading to the attic quickly. So, what seemed like every fire truck in Boise was called to the scene. We heard a few sirens and decided to go outside and take a look. Beth was intrigued by the big trucks and lights, and we stayed out there for about 20 minutes.

Right outside our front door

Our road was blocked off, and the fire hydrant next to our apartment was hooked up and used to supply water to the hoses. Luckily, no one was injured in the fire, but it will take a lot of clean up to make the apartment(s) livable again.

It's been a crazy week. I enjoyed going to the Relief Society Birthday Dinner. It had delicious food, and a wonderful spirit. We also had fun at the Ward Stew cook out, minus Beth spilling stew down my now very apparent baby belly. We enjoy the time we get to spend as a family since Andrew has such a crazy work and school schedule. We are counting down the days till we get to leave for Lincoln City, Oregon! We are very excited and we will have lots to post next week when we return! I hope every one has a great week!

Happy Blogging!