Christmas 2001

The Lillywhite household is still intact after another year of hard labor in the salt mines. We love having our little Laney. She is such a joy and 90% of the time very happy. However, we did forget what it is like having a toddler around the house. It would not be inappropriate to call her "Laney, the unmaker." It's hard to keep up with the messes that all three girls concoct.

We've decided that Laney's first forays into the world of spoken language were in some alien tongue ("baby Spanish" as my nephew Brandon used to say.) Lately she has zeroed in on the human words "mommy" and "daddy" although she hasn't clearly demonstrated that she knows their correct meanings. She says daddy when referring to any people in a picture or painting. She says mommy when wanting to be fed or picked up. She quickly figured out that inflection in the voice was important. However she's only recently realizing that you have to put words in with the inflection. She would just say "unnhhh", with her pitch going up at the end.

Early on she did not take a binky (what we call "ciuccio" in our house, that's Italian). However, one day she just switched and it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. If she's being noisy or fussy you just have to "plug her in" and she's fine. One quirky little trait she has is that of giving her ciuccio a twist every now and then, as if the tongue side loses its freshness and needs a change. Sometimes for fun we will come up and twist it for her and that gets her going in twist mode again. The other day she came across a package of ciuccios that Lenore has set aside for a rainy day. She carried it in to me saying "unnhhh?" with a look of wonder on her face. I think she saw a whole future of ciuccio twisting in that package.

A couple of weeks ago we took Laney with us out shopping on a Saturday evening. Lenore noticed that Laney was damp and figured that she had spilled something on herself. When we got home after a couple of hours we found that she was completely diaperless! One of the kids (whose name will be withheld so as not to embarrass her, but she is the middle child whom I will mention more specifically in the sixth paragraph) has some trouble with securing the diapers well and it had come unfastened and fallen out of her pants. A similar episode happened to my sister once with her granddaughter and she took her out in public bare-bottomed wearing a dress.

Laney loves the house pets and they love her. But, she also loves to pester them. One of her favorite things to do is to find one of the cats resting on my desk chair. Laney goes to the chair and starts moving the back of it up and down so that it "clunks" and give the cats a little start. This annoys the cats and she knows it, takes great delight in it and giggles herself silly.

Jensen still is the live-life-with-all-the-gusto-you-can-muster kind of kid. If she had her way she would be outside playing with one of her friends all the time. This is one kid who really needs a social secretary. It's not uncommon for her to be asked for a sleep-over by three different friends in the same evening. She has been fascinated this year with the study of Egypt and Greece. Some good New Year's resolutions for her would be to work on her cleanliness and organization skills (besides her trouble with fastening diapers) to prepare her for Junior High School. She is at the stage in her life where legos are very important. (I remember having a stage like this. I also remember having legos strewn about the house and conflicts with my parents over cleaning them up.)

Ailsa has been attending an LDS private school, Kimber Academy, since September. Her performance and attitude about school last year were lackluster at best. She heard about Kimber Academy and became quite excited about it. (We were at the point where we would have sent her to Tehran Tech if she showed an interest in it.) She seems to be doing better. At least she is much more personable around the house. Our thinking is that after two years of this she will probably be able to pass the GED and then go to regular High School and take college correspondent courses. After two years of Kimber Academy we may also have to sell her to the circus to pay for her school. She has spent lots of time writing "fan fiction" stories and posting them on the internet. These are stories that fans of Outlaw Star, Tenchi Muyo, Sailor Moon (that's the cartoon with the "boom" in the Bare Naked Ladies song), or whatever, write using their favorite characters and shows and sometimes integrating various shows, characters and even motifs from popular movies. She has a lot of fun doing it and she is lurning two speel beturr.

Lenore took some encouragement from her sister and decided to try Bill Phillips' "body for life" program. Although she hasn't won any contests outside of our family she has dropped back down to a very svelte combat weight. As a result she is enjoying much better health and we expect to have her around for a long time. She's still leading the choir at church and enjoys it and does a very good job, especially for someone whose mother is extremely surprised that she was even considered for the job. In this role she continues to endure the "suggestions" and "comments" of her husband who is the know-it-all star tenor. This year also she progressed from just buying jewelry to attempting to make some. She took a jewelry making class with her brother and enjoyed it immensely. I still can't get her to make me a Mike-Tyson gold tooth though.

I still ride my bicycle as much as possible despite problems with plantar fasciitis. Minor surgery a couple of months ago gave me some relief. But, I face a long future of self-administered therapy (stretching and kneading, etc...) It's best if I stay away from anything that involves running or jumping. I did another century bicycle ride and managed to equal my best time, thanks to the "assistance" of some younger and stronger riders. I also did a hill climb ride up to the Brighton ski resort. This is a 14 mile ride with an elevation increase of about 4000 feet. In honor of Lance Armstrong's third Tour win this year I did my best to imitate the grimace on Jan Ullrich's face when Lance passed him so effortlessly on those hills. It took 2 hours to go up and 30 minutes to come down. I don't plan on repeating these feats for at least a couple of years. It will probably take that long for me to forget how much it hurt. I'm still in the bishopric and hanging in there, trying not to appear too competent.

As a family we have enjoyed Saturday bike rides when the weather is nice. I use inline skates and push Laney in her trailer (she almost always falls asleep). Mom and the girls ride bikes. It's good wholesome family fun. The kids complain a lot. But, I would have complained at that age too. We think it is important for them to learn to be physically active and it's our way to get back at them for all the messes they make us clean up. I have also continued reading to the kids in the evening a couple of hours a week. We are still working our way through Orson Scott Card's fiction works. After 10 years in this home we are planning on doing some remodeling this year. This may include painting, adding a loft, fireplace, and new floors on the main level, a new back door and a deck in the back yard.

Events of the year have helped to steel our resolve to stand for truth and right. We are humbled when we contemplate the goodness and protection we enjoy from God every day. May we all continue to request and warrant His greatest blessings.

The Lillywhites
toddlillywhite@yahoo.com