Minnie Mouse

My cheesy Minnie Mouse. There's a red sweater and white gloves that go with it, but Conni had no interest in wearing those so we took what we could get. She is also wearing sparkling red shoes, somewhat reminiscent of the Wizard of Oz, which she absolutely loves. Surprisingly she sat very still for her face makeup.

Happy Halloween!

Noteworthy Conni Moments

So I haven't done as well lately updating Conni's sidebar of her accomplishments. There's just so much going on! But here are a few I wanted to share.

- Driving in the car the other day, Conni asked for her sunglasses. I handed her the yellow ones and she told me "No mom, green!" I was so excited I almost hit the person in front of us trying to give her the green sunglasses.

- Playing with her barrel of monkeys recently Conni would pull them out one at a time and tell me which color they were. And she was right!

- Conni has the Leap Frog Fridge Phonics Alphabet set. We were playing with them and practicing their sounds. I spelled out her name (luckily the Z works well as a sideways N). Then she asked for Mom and Dad so I showed her the M and the D. We went to play in her room for a while and then we came back to work on dinner. She pointed to M and said "Mom", D and said "Dad", and her name and said "Conni."

- Conni also has the Fisher Price Alphabet Zoo. When we play Mom or Dad will line the animals up on the appropriate letter. We got the zoo out the other day and Conni managed to match up over half the animals by herself using the faces on the mat or the letter on the animals.

- Conni has been fascinated with the snow this week. I told her what it was and she says "Shno!" She was very hesistant to touch it at first. We picked some up on my parents lawn and showed Grandma and Conni was so proud of herself! Then when we came home on Tuesday night, Conni had to get some snow off the car to take inside to Daddy. This morning she had me open the front door so she could look at it on the lawn. Then we went outside and she was brave enough to walk on it. She was so proud!

- Dave and I alternate nights as to who does Conni's bath and gets her ready for bed. Last night was my turn. I got her ready to get into the tub, but when we got into the bathroom, she pushed me away. Then she said "I want Dad, bath." So Dave did Conni's bath. I love to hear her sentences!

The Latest on Conni's Eczema

We're still working on getting the eczema cleared up on Conni's hands. She has this really bad habit that when her finger starts to heal she picks the scabs to the point that her finger is raw and bleeding. Here's a little of what it looks like (and unfortunately this is on a good day).

So we would wrap her finger in a bandage - especially when it was open - and just slather it with neosporin.

This worked for a few days. We managed to get the open sores to scab and start healing quite nicely. Then my smart little bug figured out how to get the wrappings off. We even tried taking the wrap down around her wrist. We tried using a finger splint. We got very creative.

(On a side note, as frustrated as I am that Conni doesn't leave the wrappings on, I am impressed that she would study what we were doing when we wrapped her up and figure out how to get them off again. Not all were as easy as just sliding the wrappings off her finger. )

We went back to the dermatologist yesterday and he really didn't have anything else to offer. The steroid cream he prescribed for us hasn't really touched it. Conni has scars on several of her fingers from all of this. (If that doesn't push the guilt meter right on up!)

The only thing that we have been using the last little while that seems to have any effect is this cream that my mom found:

Right now, we are applying it every hour to two hours while Conni is awake. Kudos to Grandma who has the brunt of this task during the day. We keep trying to help Conni understand not to scratch and we talk about her "pretty fingers". She is very patient while we work on her hands and never pulls away. She is starting to help put the lotion on too which is cute!

We are a little concerned what effect our harsh dry winter will have on her hands. We just keep committing ourselves to moisturizing and maybe we can get this cleaned up soon. We have found, in general, once we get a spot to heal completely, it doesn't tend to come back in the same spot. I hope this is true with her hands too!

So if any of you know little ones with eczema like Conni's, I highly recommend the Gentle Naturals cream!!

Sleeping Spots

Every night we put Conni to bed in her toddler bed. Every night, when we come upstairs to go to bed, we go into Conni's room to put her back in her bed. We never know where in her room we will find her asleep. We can't figure out how to get her to actually sleep in her bed.

But anyway. We went in on Sunday night and this is what we found. No - we didn't turn the lights on to take the picture - the flash on Dave's phone is just this good.

I guess she still wanted to be rocked to sleep and so she did it herself!

Two Cute Mini-Stories

Yesterday, Conni did two cute little things that just made me laugh with her thought processes:

1. I stubbed my toe on the kitchen table leg. I bent in half and kind of growled in frustration at the pain. Then I kept working around the kitchen. Conni got off her stool and went and stood by the table leg. She stomped her foot and then growled like I did and pulled a frustrated face. Then she went back to her stool and kept eating her snacks.

2. We have some swim diapers left over from the summer. Rather than throw them away or whatever and waste money, I figure I'll just use them up. I put one on Conni after her nap yesterday and she insisted that I put her swim suit on her. Then she was upset that we didn't go out and get in the water. I let her wear her suit for a little while and then I finally convinced her to put on normal clothes.

I love how her little mind works!

Esthers on the Windows

Renee - thanks for reminding me I didn't explain this :)

My grandmother had a beautiful picture window in her front room. She spent hours cleaning it - making sure there were no streaks or smudges. It was beautiful.

Then her friend Esther showed up and told her her front window needed to be cleaned. She started pointing out all the spots my grandmother missed or smudged.

So now, whenever someone in my family is cleaning the window, the smudges are call "Esthers".

Cute Videos

Here are some cute videos I've been meaning to post for a while.

Washing Windows



Paiting our Nails



Dancing on the Ceiling



And, for Aunt Michelle,
The Napping House
(Book by Don and Audrey Wood)

Successful Doctor's Visit

Unfortunately, our family is all suffering from colds right now. I took Conni to the doctor's office yesterday to check for ear infections. Sure enough, she is starting one in both ears and has an eye infection. So time for antibiotics and eye drops.

But the "big" news for me is how well she did while we were there. I told her when we loaded in the car that we were going to go see Dr. Lee and get some medicine for her. She called "Doctor Lee" a couple of times on the drive up.

When we got there, she stayed by my side to check in, then went to play with the toys. She played quietly even though it was a long wait to go back. Then when it was our turn, she walked right on back to the scale and climbed on with a little help from mom.

After waiting patiently while the nurse took her temperature, Conni headed back to the room we normally wait in. She explored a little while we waited for the doctor to come in, but for the most part she again waited patiently in the chair.

Then when Dr. Lee came in, Conni knew that she needed to be up on the table. So she asked me to put her up, then she laid down and waited for Dr. Lee to check her out. She stayed on the table just waiting the whole time Dr. Lee was in with us.

After getting our prescriptions, she waved and blew kisses and said thanks to Dr. Lee. Then we checked out. The best part - as we left the office there were lots of people still in the waiting room. Conni told each of them goodbye and waved as we walked thru. Most people told her goodbye as well and waved.

I am so happy that going to the doctor is not a traumatic experience for Conni! She knows what to expect and knows what is expected of her. We have a great doctor and nurse and they give her great care and attention. What a blessing!

Prayer #2

We had another neat but simple prayer experience one night last week while we were getting Conni ready for bed. She was playing on her bed while we read stories and scriptures. Dave was kneeling to the side of her bed and I was sitting in the recliner. We asked Conni if she wanted to help Dad say family prayer.

Conni got off her bed, then knelt next to Dad and folded her arms and closed her eyes. Then she very reverently helped Dad say family prayer.

So simple, but such a sweet moment. To me it was like a painting you see at Deseret Book or something - Dad and daughter kneeling together at her bed in prayer. I live for the little things like that!