Some thngs I've learned recently . . .

The past couple of weeks have been full of "learning experiences" for me, so I thought I'd share some of the more interesting ones!

• Part of President Obama's stimulus package includes money to remove all of the kilometer signs along the highway by us. Yes, we do live along the only Interstate in the country that has kilometer markers - it was part of some experiment a while ago to see if it would work better than using miles like the rest of the country. For some reason it didn't take off - go figure! Not too long ago they went through and added mile marker signs that were turned at a funny angle, so that they would be there but not too distracting and interfere with the kilometer signs. So now Arizona has received federal money to take out the kilometer signs and rotate the mile marker signs. I'm so pleased to see our tax dollars being put to good use! (The other sad part of the story is that this article made the front page of our local paper 2 weeks ago! It must have been a slow news day!)
  
  
• I must be a bad mom because I think I've been starving my poor child! Tanner had his 9 month check up two weeks ago, and in the 3 months since his last check-up he's only grown 1 inch and he lost a pound. Nate and I are so worried about over feeding him (he'd eat himself sick at every meal if we'd let him), which tends to aggravate his spitting, that we cut him off before he acts full. Apparently we've been underfeeding him. So now I've got 3 weeks (we're down to one week!) to put weight on him or the doctor is going to start him on acid-reflux medication. But now I'm worried I'm over feeding him - in just 2 days he's starting to put on quite a belly! I just don't think I'm ever going to win this one!
  
  
• On a somewhat related note, I've discovered that blueberry yogurt comes back up a kind of a turquoise color, as my carpet, tile and clothes can attest to. Everything else seems to come back up the same color it went down.
  
  
• A whole bottle of mouthwash will not stain your carpet, even if you let it soak in for 5 hours while you take your kids to the zoo. Nate knew the day was off to a good start for us when I I called him at work at 8:30 am to ask him what he thought about me not cleaning the carpet right away since we were already late leaving to meet some friends at the zoo. He just laughed. All I know is, thank heavens for steam cleaners! Oh, and by the way, in case you are wondering - that was Tanner, not Kiersten, who got in the mouthwash and spilled a brand new bottle!
  
  
• I think my least favorite word in the English language (as other Mom's of 3-year-olds have said!) is the word, "why." "Why mom?" "Why is that a dog?" "Why is her name Michelle?" "Why do I have to have to have quiet time every day?" I especially want to scream when I'm on my 10th "why" question in a row, and we're going no where but in circles!
  

I think there was more, but I can't remember what else I was going to share. It must be real important, right? :)

A Big Day for Tanner

Today was quite a big day for Tanner - he cut his first tooth and he got his first haircut, and he's probably sick too! Here's a we-just-discovered-his-first-tooth-before-his-haircut picture. I'll have to publish an after haircut picture once I remember to take them. (Thanks Mom for your help! I'm sure I couldn't have done it on my own!) And, as soon as we can get a picture of the tooth (right now he's too busy rubbing his tongue on it to let us even see it!) we'll post that too!

Classic Kiersten

We have loved having Grandpa and Grandma Berrett out to visit this past weekend! They took Kiersten and Tanner to the park Saturday morning. After they had played on the swings (a favorite for both Kiersten and Tanner), played with Kiersten's new game (Sticky Ball, I think it's called) and had a snack Kiersten asked Grandpa if he wanted to play football. When he said he would like to, she answered, "Ok, let me put on my makeup first." She then sat down, and pulled out her "make-up" (some new lip gloss and chapstick from Grandma and some of Mom's empty eye shadow containers) and put it on, while holding the football in her lap so that no one could get to it until she was ready. Yep, that's my girl!

Play Date at the Zoo

Last week our ward playgroup had a play date at the zoo. It was a little (ok, VERY) crazy and crowded (apparently Wednesdays, the day we went, are field trip day at the zoo, and several schools were out for Spring Break), but we managed to have fun anyway. I don't have that much to tell about the trip - just some cute pictures of the kids to share.
In case you're wondering, Kiersten dressed herself that day and even though the high was close to 90 insisted on wearing her long sleeve shirt. When I tried to warn her that she'd be too hot she said, "That's ok, I can just take my jacket." Sometimes she gets a little confused!



We ended the trip with a short train ride around the lake in the park next to the zoo. I had to keep a tight hold on Tanner because he kept trying to climb out the window to play at the park!

Botanical Gardens

Way back in December (or maybe November - I can't remember that far back!) a friend gave us some free passes to go to the Tucson Botanical Gardens. They expired on February 28, so guess when we finally got around to using them? Yep! That's right, February 28th!

I'd talked about going to the Botanical Gardens with Kiersten several days before, and then not too long after that, she asked me if she could take her doll to Kindergarten with her. I was a little confused because I wasn't sure where Kindergarten came from, but explained to her that when she goes to Kindergarten she'll need to leave all of her dolls at home so that she will be able to listen to her teacher without getting distracted. Not too long after that she made some other reference to going to Kindergarten soon and I reminded her she still had over a year to go before she got to go to Kindergarten. She got really upset and yelled at me that I'd told her we could go to Kindergarten on Saturday (she's a child who doesn't do well with plan changes!). All of a sudden I realized that she was confusing "Botanical Garden" with "Kindergarten!" Once we got that little misunderstanding straightened out, we were able to make plans for going to the Botanical Gardens!

This was the first time we'd been to the Botanical Gardens, and I was really impressed. They had a butterfly exhibit with the most beautiful butterflies from Central and South America. We couldn't get Kiersten in to see the butterflies, though, because it was in a greenhouse, and the butterflies were flying around free and she didn't like the idea of them landing on her! So she settled for just looking through the window!

Kiersten said that her favorite part was a model train that was set up. I really liked the iris garden - unfortunately it wasn't in bloom! I'll bet it is gorgeous later this spring. I'm not sure what Nate enjoyed the most. And I think Tanner liked it all - riding in the backpack, feeling like he's king of the world!

Who'd have known that in February it would be 85 degrees, and I'd be worried about my children getting sunburned? That's winter in Tucson for you, I guess.

Speed Demon!

Tanner is getting to be quite the speed crawler. He seems to go the fastest whenever he sees something open that he's not supposed to be in, namely the fridge! Here's a sample of how fast he's getting. (Poor kid had no idea he was being set up!)

Earlier Today I looked up from doing the dishes and saw him walking and pushing a chair across the living room. It took a minute to register that it was the first time he'd actually taken steps like that by himself.

My Jury Duty Experience

So a couple of weeks ago, I reported to the Arizona Federal District Court for Jury Selection (apparently, I had not answered the questions on the questionairre in quite the right fashion to be disqualified from the case). This was my first Jury Duty stint, so I was curious how things worked. They started with about 60 of us, and I was on the first panel of 18 called up for questioning. I made a point of mentioning that I was an Engineer, thinking they would drop me for sure for that. Well, apparently that didn't work. I was chosen as one of the final 10 Jurors (which dropped to 8 by the end of the trial).

The case was a Civil Lawsuit (which you might have heard about in the news by now) in which illegal immigrants were suing a Douglass, AZ Rancher named Roger Barnett. The final claims by the plaintiffs dealt with violation of civil rights, false imprisonment, assault, battery, and infliction of emotional distress. It was rather interesting to me that the case was even in court, given the plaintiffs' legal status. However, the judge made clear from the beginning that we were not ruling on that. We were to focus souly on the "rules of law" that were to be given us at the end of the closing arguments. Here is a link to an article about the case: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/18/rancher-cleared-in-rights-case/

It has been interesting to me to read about what is in the news about the case and compare it with what was actually presented in court. It kind of makes me think twice about judging a court case based on a reporter's article. This case was difficult in that there were very few "hard facts." Everything was based on testimony, which was always conflicting, right down to the location of the incident. Most articles I've read just assume the incident occured on the Rancher's land. There was no conclusive evidence even of that (though there were questions we the Jury were just itching to ask certain witnesses that would have shed more light on the subject).

Here are a few of my "lessons learned:"
- The 6th floor of the Evo A de Concini Courthouse has free wireless internet, but the Jury Deliberation room on the 5th floor does NOT.
- How good your lawyer is makes a big difference
- Lawyers do have a pretty tough job sometimes (but the jokes about them are still all true)
- The current method of border control is completely inadequate (all of the illegal aliens testified that they basically had no fear of getting caught by Border Patrol - just inconvenient that they would have to try again. It almost made it sound like a game)
- It alerted me of new terminology to use in arguments: "Objection, foundation", "Objection, assumes facts not in evidence", "Objection, argumentative", and "Objection, asked and answered."
- Court recorders are amazing. I don't know how they keep up.
- Now I know where to go for topographical maps - across the street from the courthouse.
- Downtown Tucson traffic is a pain at 5 p.m. I'm glad I don't have to deal with it.