Scientist in the Making

It's a heartwarming and familiar scene: a father and son snuggled up a rocking chair, reading a bedtime story together. But Jared and Adam aren't read Goodnight Moon or the Three Little Bears or even Where the Wild Things Are. No, every night before bed Jared makes his familiar request and the two pour over their favorite bedtime story: The Elements.


Complete with high-gloss pages and detailed photography, The Elements presents a visual exploration of every known element--from hydrogen to neptunium. I bought the book as a gift for Adam (chemistry PhD candidate) last Christmas. But ever since Jared saw the cover and noticed that iodine bears a striking resemblance to strawberry yogurt, he's been hooked. And Daddy couldn't be more pleased. So, for the time being, my little two-year-old is content to slip into dreamworld each night with images of nickle, zync, and barium dancing through his head. A scientist in the making? Only time will tell.



Not to be outdone, Allison has been working on some tricks of her own--in the language department (winks from Mommy). She seems to have a natural knack for repeating sounds and picking up on words we say. Over the past three days she's learned to say "ball," "please," and "bubble." Add that to Mommy, Daddy, more, uh-oh, thank you, touch, and cracker, and she can say ten words! She's also learned her first color: purple. I taught her to say the word, and the same night at bedtime she crawled over to a pile of colored blocks, grabbed a purple one, held it out to us, and said, "pur-ple!" A linguist in the making? Mommy hopes so!

Allison is One!

Allison turned a year old on March 10th. Happy birthday to our special little girl!

Lori and Matt are Engaged!!

Congratulations to my twin sister, Lori, who got engaged to Matthew Yancey on February 8th! They are getting married at the end of April, in the Salt Lake Temple. Lori and Matt are a perfect couple--I'm so excited for you guys!

Carrot... extracted!

For those of you interested in the end of the carrot episode...

On Sunday night we took Jared to Urgent Care. The doctor there tried an age-old trick for ejecting foreign objects in the nose. He said it had worked for him every time except once, and that kid ended up in surgery. So we tried it--three times. It didn't work! So we saw the ear, nose, throat specialist the next morning.

Three young nurses and Adam held Jared down while the physician's assistant went in with tweezers. After five minutes of Jared screaming bloody murder, the carrot still would not come out. We took a break, I consoled Jared, and the doctor came in. His recommendation? Surgery.

I was pretty alarmed to hear the term "surgery," but when he explained that they would simply put Jared under and then pull the carrot out with tweezers, I was more amenable to the idea. I did timidly ask how bad it would be to leave the carrot in his nose. After all, he didn't seem bothered by it. But the doctor assured me that was not an option--infection could result. So we signed consent forms, took Jared to the pre-op hospital lobby, waited an hour while Jared ran around the hospital entrance like a mad man, signed more consent forms, spoke with an insurance representative, and answered dozens of health questions (I was nice to be able to say no to all of them except the "has Jared has a cold in the last two weeks?"). We then had to half-restrain half-bribe Jared with candy while a nurse preformed a pre-operation physical on him (by this time he was throwing a fit at everything any nurse did to him--taking his temperature, listening to his heart, taking his pulse. I hope this doesn't develop into a lifetime phobia of doctors). Finally we had our instructions for the procedure the next morning, and we were free to go.

Tuesday morning at 6:30 saw us back at the hospital. We were admitted into a little room with a child's bed/crib. As we entered I thought how glad I was that we were here for nothing more serious than a carrot. Another battle ensued as the nurse tried to take his temperature and check his heartrate again. Eventually the anesthesiologist came in, and then the doctor. Finally we said goodbye to Jared as a flock of nurses escorted him to the operating room. It was hard to see him go off by himself, knowing how Jared would fear and struggle as they tried to get the gas mask on him. But within ten minutes, the carrot was out and within twenty-five minutes we were able to see him again. He didn't seem groggy, just grumpy about the pulse monitor that was taped to his toe.

So the carrot is out, and all is well. Thanks to everyone for the sympathetic (if somewhat snickering) inquiries about Jared's nose incident. We're happy that everything is resolved. Now we know what to do right away if this ever happens again:
http://www.emedicinehealth.com/foreign_body_nose/page6_em.htm
(see blowing technique listed in the third bullet under "Self Care at Home". This is what the first doctor tried and which probably would have worked on Jared if we had done it as soon as we first noticed the carrot.)


*Special thanks to helpful neighbors, including the Hills and the Nyes, who provided last-minute childcare, blessings, and dinner.

The Adventures of Curious Jared

Once there was a little monkey named Jared. He was a good little monkey, but always very curious.

One Saturday morning (November 14th, to be exact), Jared woke up. It was a beautiful, sunny morning, and everyone was finally healthy and happy. Mommy and Daddy were looking forward to a calm, normal day together. Then before breakfast, something happened. Jared had a dirty diaper! Jared was curious. What would happen if he stuck his hand in his diaper? He decided to try it. Oh, what happened! First this, and then this--(Narrator: we won't divulge the details, but you can imagine the mess we got to clean up. The hand, the clothes, and the kitchen floor.)

After breakfast, the man in the yellow hat had to go to work, so Jared said smiled and waved goodbye. "Be a good little boy until I get home," the man called. Jared promised. But it is easy for little monkeys to forget.

After Allison's morning nap, Mommy took everyone shopping. "Just one store," she said. Because more than one store can mean disaster. So they climbed into the car and away they went to... the fabric store! Mommy got out and put Jared and Allison in the double stroller. Jared ate pretzels as they bumped through the double doors. What a neat place! There were aisles and aisles of fabric of all different colors. On a shelf were balls and balls of yarn. Near the checkout counter were rows of sewing machines and bottles of oil. Jared munched his pretzels while mommy steered their boat between the aisles, glancing at her watch and hoping for twenty minutes.

Fifteen minutes. Jared heard a cry. It was poor baby Allison. Jared was all better, but she was still a little sniffly and sad. Mommy started to push the stroller faster. Soon there were three big bolts of fuzzy fabric tottering on top of the stroller handle. A nice lady cut them out, and mommy went to look for some more. The nice lady was busy by the time Mommy came back, and Allison was getting louder and louder. Jared saw some other people look at her. Mommy picked her up out of the stroller and rocked her. Then Jared looked down. "I want more pretzels!" He said. Mommy looked worried and said there weren't any more.

Time to check out! Mommy held Allison, steered the double stroller with one hand, and tried not to let the piles of fuzzy fabric fall off. Finally they got to the checkout counter. There were lots of people buying all kinds of fabric and ribbons. "Oh no!" Said Mommy. "I forgot the interfacing!" So they went back to the counter with the nice lady. What a noise! Allison was crying and crying, and the nice lady didn't seem quite as nice anymore. Mommy found the interfacing fast and waited for the lady to cut it for her. She bounced Allison and hugged Allison and tried to give toys to Allison. Nothing was working! But the lady was coming. Mommy was relieved. She looked down at Curious Jared. What was that bottle he was holding? What was that shiny liquid that was squirting all over his shirt and the stroller and the floor? Oil! Jared has found a bottle of sewing machine oil, and it was squirting out of the tube nicely, like a fountain! "Oh Jared!" Mommy gasped. Jared licked the oil. It tasted funny, but he didn't mind that. Mommy snatched the bottle from Jared and scoured its label. "Non-toxic" Mommy read and sighed. The oil was greasy and slippery. The lady at the checkout had to bag it up so it wouldn't make a mess in their car. Jared thought he heard Mommy breath something like "Never taking either of them... shopping... for the rest of their lives," but he couldn't be sure.

That afternoon Daddy came home early. What fun it was when Daddy got home! It was the last warm day of the year, so Daddy thought they could all go out to the garden to rake leaves. Jared ran through the grass ahead of everyone. They crossed the bridge, and started walking across the field. A neighbor was walking by, and he said hello to them. But Jared didn't say hello back--he had another idea. Quick as lightening, Jared darted back over the bridge, around the corner, and smack into... berries! There was a tall berry bush just Jared's size! Jared loved berries. He ate them every morning on his cereal. These berries were darker with red stems, but they looked juicy. Jared plucked one off and started to put it in his mouth. "Jared! Don't eat that!" Daddy pulled Jared away from the bush. But there was purple berry juice on Jared's mouth. "How many did you eat?" Daddy asked.

Jared spent the rest of the afternoon back inside playing with his cars while Daddy looked up berry plants on the computer and Mommy called Poison Control. Yes, Pokeberry is poisonous, but only if you eat more than ten berries. Wash his hands and face, give him a drink, and call us back in an hour, the lady on the phone said. Curious Jared was lucky that time, said Daddy. Better stick with frozen blueberries, said Mommy.

The exciting Saturday was soon over, and Jared slept soundly that night. The next day was Sunday. Everyone had to stay home from Church except for Daddy because Allison was still sick and Jared was still coughing. For lunch Jared got to eat bologna, eggs, cheese, and baby carrots. How Jared loved baby carrots! Mommy was mixing up Allison's baby food while Jared used his sharp teeth to bite off pieces of carrot, just like a rabbit. Suddenly his nose started to tickle, and he sneezed a big sneeze! Pieces of carrot flew everywhere! But Mommy didn't notice. Jared rubbed his nose and looked down at the pieces. Suddenly he was curious. Would one of them fit into his nose? He picked one up and tried. It did! But it felt funny, so Jared tried to get it out. He pushed his finger up and up, but still the piece didn't come out. Suddenly the door opened--Daddy was home! Daddy sat down at the table and looked at Jared. "Is there something in your nose?" he asked.

Mommy and Daddy got out a little light and shined it into Jared's nose. Sure enough, it was a carrot. How would they get it out? They tried helping Jared sneeze. They tried tweezers. They even tried the baby nose sucker, but the carrot was stuck tight. So they called Urgent Care. The lady said maybe doctor could get it out. And if he couldn't, the ER could. Mommy and Daddy looked at each other. What did they do? Did they laugh? Did they cry? If you want to find out, you'll have to ask Curious Jared.


Epilogue: The doctor couldn't get the carrot out, so we have an appointment with the ear, nose, and throat specialists this morning. Jared will probably be all right, despite his overactive curiosity. We're just glad this wasn't the outcome of this weekend: http://www.victorlams.com/etc/images/george-3.jpg

That's our little monkey.

Adam Passed!

This Monday Adam endured two grueling hours of presenting his research--born from years of sweat and tears--to a board of skeptical, curmudgeonly professors. (Well, that's an exaggeration. His committee was actually quite good and I don't think he's shed too many tears over his research. But nevertheless...) The verdict? He passed! This means that the department will not grant him an apologetic master's and ask him to leave the program. Two years down, three to go!

To celebrate, the kids and I met him on campus and we took him out to lunch at Dos Reales. He took the next day off and we traveled to St. Louis with Jacob, Alysa, and little Benjamin Stewart. We toured the zoo (very beautiful; I especially loved the bird house) and then we went to the temple. It was quite a day trip. We had a good time!

Dental Diversions

What's the furthest you've ever traveled to visit the dentist? Five miles? Twenty miles? Well, not to brag but... I recently traveled a whopping two thousand miles to get my dental work done!

At the end of September, I left the boys with Grandma in Chicago and Allison and I flew out to Seattle. There I met Adam's sister, Jenny, and her darling 11-month-old, Lizzie. We hung out at their town home until the evening and then drove to her husband, Dave's, dental office. And there he (assisted by Jenny, who is a dental hygienist) filled my plethora of cavities... gratis!


Aside from completing my fillings meticulously, Jenny and Dave showed me around the impressive Puyallup Fair. We saw everything from artists carving tree stumps with chain saws to huge litters of piglets (no Wilburs, though) to a one thousand-pound pumpkin! We also enjoyed some scrumptious fair food and browsed the hundreds of vendors selling all sorts of bizarre contraptions.
It was great to see the Stevens family, and Allison had fun playing with her cousin Lizzie. I also enjoyed the mommy-daughter time we got together on the plane (she was actually really good on the plane--phew!). Thanks, Jenny and Dave, for a great weekend in Washington!

(Epilogue: Jared came with Adam to pick us up from the airport; he was excited to see me and even more excited to see Allison again. They laughed together the whole ride back! I gave him a souvenir: a "Curious George" stuffed monkey from the fair)