To start with we'd like to wish everyone a happy Valentine's Day. All of you are very special to us and we value the relationships we have with you.
TORMENTING BUGS. The other night Vicki was trying to round Ben up for bed. She found him in the living room playing with a ladybug. When she called him to come he batted the bug one last time before coming to her. In doing so the bug was flipped over on its back adding to the general excitement of Ben's mood. He came over to Vicki talking faster than she could understand, obviously telling about the ladybug, and flopped down on the floor and waved his arms and legs as a demonstration. Vicki laughed so hard he is now too embarrassed to repeat the performance.
LIFE IS NOT ALWAYS A BED OF ROSES. I think of this newsletter like I think of taking pictures. One doesn't normally get the camera out unless its something they want to remember later. However, Vicki and I really felt sorry for Jenna yesterday. Her class played a game during the Valentine's Day party they had at school. She was never picked to do anything during the game and spent the whole time sitting in her seat hoping to be picked. She was close to tears when she told Vicki about it on the way home. (Vicki was at the party.) It's really hard to watch your five year old have to learn that life isn't always fair through personal experience.
ANOTHER VICTORY. Jenna's team squeaked by with another win today. The score was 16-14. She got plenty of game time but never got the ball much and missed both attempts at the basket. Their last game is next weekend.
A BIG DAY. It is about 10:15 pm as I write these words and about one year ago from this very moment the nurses were informing Vicki that she would not be getting her epidural. Nate was born just a few minutes later. It's hard to believe that we celebrated his first birthday this evening. Nate had a small party at Pauline's house. We enjoyed a chili dinner and Nate did justice to his serving of cake.
Nate is in the early stages of standing and walking now. To walk he needs a toy that rolls or slides well. With this in hand he can walk until he pushes his toy into something. Then he'll proceed to repeatedly bang into the offending object until someone guides him in a new direction or he gets tired.
Joe
