Baby sign language story...

I have a story to tell that only a mom or a friend of Willa will appreciate. So if you are neither of those things, it might bore you. But first is this darling picture of Brad and Willa taken on Father's Day in the Haymarket. We went to Buzzard Billy's for dinner when Brad got off work. We sat on the patio there and watched the hail come down!

Now for my story...Ever since Willa was about 4 months old and started having small amounts of rice cereal, I tried to teach her the 2 little baby sign language phrases I knew. I learned them from a coworker. They were "all done" and "more". I would show her both as we were eating the cereal and she would look at me like I was loony. Then as she got a little older, she would just laugh when I would do them. Never once did she imitate my actions or indicate that she was remembering or trying them. So probably about a month ago or so I just stopped showing them to her. I figured she would just learn to talk and we could skip the signing. When she is "all done" she just presses her lips together and grunts at me. Good enough, right??? Well, a few nights ago I had a little bowl of mashed avocado that I was feeding her with a spoon, and then a little bowl of black beans that I gave her a few of and she was feeding them to herself. She had eaten all the beans on her tray, so I tried another bite of the avocado and she did the lip thing and turned her head. I said "are you finished eating?" and she looked at the avocado bowl and did the sign for "all done!" Completely out of the blue! I thought it must be a coincidence. How on earth would she remember that from months ago??? So then I asked her if she wanted more beans and first she clapped a few times and then it turned into the sign for "more." I was just amazed! It was like we were having our first conversation! And she seemed SO proud of herself! All of the sudden, she seemed so grown up that it was almost eerie. On that same evening, she also gave me a big hug when I asked for a hug, and she pointed at the flowers in the book we were reading when I asked her to point at the flowers. It was the most fun to watch the learning process take place!
I know, that story probably seems lame to everyone but me, but its my new favorite:)

Putting babies in wagons too small and eliminating dairy

If you happen to be a friend of me elsewhere, besides the blog, then I am sure you already saw this picture more than once. But it seriously cracks me up. It makes Willa look huge! If there were nothing in the background to reference her size to, you would think she was about ready to take over the world!

And good news! I just now re-remembered how to send pictures from my phone to the blog! Now, I can post from work, instead of doing actual work. Night shifts are for the birds. To make this particular post a little more zesty, I thought I might just ramble about my recent delve into the world of veganism.

On the advice of a good friend, I purchased Alicia Silverstone's book, The Kind Diet, a few months ago. I still haven't actually read it, cover to cover, but I have tried a few of the recipes and glaced at a few sections. And I have been reading her blog weekly. She has come a long way from playing Cher in Clueless! She is living a completely vegan lifestyle and has a very non-intimidating way of writing about it. Since becoming a vegetarian a few years ago, I have always toyed with the idea of giving up the dairy products, so after reading Eating Animals and Alicia's blog, I gave it a little trial run. I did a pretty good job of it for about 2 weeks and it felt GREAT! I am not even kidding, my energy level quadrupled, at least. I loved what I was eating, I had fun cooking it, I lost several pounds. In 2 weeks. It was amazing. So you might be wondering why, with all these benefits, I didn't just keep it up??? I am wondering that too, now that I am writing about it and talking myself through it. Here are the troubles I had with it (and that I need to find ways to overcome).

1) Living in Lincoln, it is inconvenient to eat healthfully AND vegan anywhere but your own home. There are not very many restaraunts in a decent price range that offer healthy vegan options. Pasta is an option, but unless I can substitute whole wheat noodles, I don't want to eat too much of it. Sandwich places are a good option, just hold the cheese and mayo. And of course, Yia Yia's has a vegan pizza with soy cheese and veggies and it is super yummy. I think a good plan of attack for this setback (since no one seems to think I should move to New York City or Los Angeles just for the food) is to explore a few places that I don't normally eat, instead of eating at the normal fast food type places. Maybe Maggie's Wraps, The Cup, that Greatful Bread place...And also work on just not eating out so much.

2) It is a little bit more expensive to eat healthfully and veganly. Especially since my other half won't touch most of my new recipes. We have to pretty much buy 2 sets of groceries. And, since its just me eating the veggies and tofu, some of it tends to spoil before I get around to using it. The answer? Go to the grocery store more frequenly, but buy smaller amounts. And, really utilize the farmer's market this spring/summer.

3) My lack of will power. Sometimes in my personal life, I can be pretty darn lazy. Not usually at work, just at home. So sometimes even though I have the tasty, healthy supplies at home, I just decide we should get a pizza. Or, we go to a get-together and I don't prepare a vegan dish to take along. And the big one, that gets me every time, is baked goods. I have such a sweet tooth and when I am offered a cookie, a muffin, ice cream...I don't turn them down. Ever. This is where I really need to do some work and overcome my own personal shortcomings. And also, buy a vegan dessert cookbook:)

I think I am ready to dive back in, even if veganism is only something I do in big spurts. I just loved the way it made me feel! I realize that in our Nebraska farming culture, it is going to be impossible to eat this way 100% of the time, and I would never expect that others would cater to my new eating desires (it is nice enough that people provide me with vegetarian foods!) but you may see me eating a lot of vegetables in the future. Or toting around tupperwares of funky soups. But I don't plan to give up my quarterly sushi meals. A few times a year, some fish may have to die. Gosh, that sounds horrible. We'll see.

Maybe during my next bout of night shifts, you can learn something about Brad?!?

Look a little blurry?

It's probably because Willa stole your glasses!

Loving the porch swing

After we played with the bubble gun, and everyone in the Van Boening family (dogs included) had naps, we went to Grandma and Grandpa Luth's for Easter dinner. It was so tasty, my mom always does a great job of feeding this vegetarian:) Willa got a few more gifts, and then we sat on the porch and enjoyed the beautiful Nebraska weather. Thanks, mom and dad!

The bubble gun

Scoring big with the Easter bunny

While we were away at church, watching Papa Brad make beautiful Easter music on his drums, the Easter bunny hid a few eggs at our house, and stuffed Willa's basket full of fun summer clothes, some books, a bubble gun, and a giraffe that plays a lullaby. For some reason, Willa always looks like she is about to take someones face off with her two little teeth, when I think she has the best intentions to give kisses.

A true ladies' man

I thought this picture of Willa with Great Grandpa Christensen deserved its very own post. Willa has a touch of "stranger fear" sometimes and since she doesn't get to see her great grandparents as much as we would like, I thought she might be a little fearful of him. I was wrong! She sat quietly on his lap for a long time. When I mentioned this, Grandpa said something about always having this effect on the ladies.