18 Mar 2004 #0406.html

Conversationalist and Treasure Bugs

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Howdy,

Here's this weeks news:

Grant's been such the conversationalist lately. He asks me what things are, tells me what he wants, and why he doesn't want to do something. He actually has four standard excuses: "I run away", "I'm too tired", "I can't do it", and my personal favorite, "I go night-night" (which usually coincides with him flopping himself on the floor and pretend snoring).

Last night as he was in and out of falling asleep he counted from 1 to 14 - the number of steps leading up to our front door. I was very impressed and felt as if I was actually having an impact on him. I guess it's those types of moments that are like getting bonuses at a job.

We had a picnic at the park on Saturday. Grant loves being outside and I love seeing him so active. This park had slides, swings, a sandbox, a river, and lots of grass.

On Monday we had a Family Home Evening lesson on reading scriptures. He got his very own Book of Mormon and he loves it. I had no idea that he would be so excited to have a book without any pictures and words that are really over his head. We started reading before he goes to bed which translates into, we mostly read the kid's version with pictures but always one scripture out of his very own book.

We also had a treasure hunt to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Paul was in charge and made a very clever map of our house - with burn marks in it and everything. He also picked out 3 very tacky, but cute, shamrock necklaces and a package of glow-in-the-dark rubber bugs with suction cups on them from the dollar store. We paced all over the house and found our treasures. I'm not sure if Grant loved the treasure or the hunt more, but the next morning he wanted me to hide the treasure map and do it all over again. Of course the bugs are now his favorite toy. They sleep in his lunchbox and he says, "Good night bugs, I love you" before going to sleep. Strange it would seem to the average Joe that 6 ugly bugs could have such a big place in a 2 year old boy's heart. Strange, that is unless they new that Paul was the creative father. Paul brought those bugs to life.

During Grant's bath that night they decided to turn off the lights and play a 'get the bugs' game. This game consisted of Grant knocking all the bugs off the wall and trying to keep them from Paul's grasp. Paul would then grab all the bugs and put them back on the wall to start the game all over again. I could hear Grant laughing like crazy and Paul came out completely soaked. The next morning Grant wanted to take a bath first thing and kept asking for one all day long.

Well, that's all for now.

Love,

Kate, Paul and Grant

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Copyright © 2004 Kate Nelson

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