Ten years ago this month...

... my workplace was abuzz with talk of a new student manager, Dominic. We had all been working since the start of the semester in January, so a new person was exciting. Some people knew him when he worked there before his mission (this was his first semester back), and others just always referred to him as "the new guy." Although I heard about him a lot, we never met. We worked non-overlapping schedules at the Canon Center, the cafeteria for the Helaman Halls dorms at BYU.

not a morning person

I'm a great sleeper. Sometimes it's difficult to wake up, and it takes me awhile. For instance people say I mumble first thing in the morning and can't understand a word I say. In my defense, my mouth hasn't fully woken up yet and thus cannot speak more clearly. Another instance was the semester in college when I had to be at work at 6:00 am. I usually woke up to my roommate kicking me, yelling at me, or even throwing pillows at me after my alarm had been beeping for some time. The next semester I requested the evening shift. Lastly, my husband is often the one who brings me the baby in the middle of the night, because I sleep through the crying.

Napping with baby Lisy, 2007

Well, it turns out that my children have inherited my ability to sleep soundly. It is especially nice when they are babies and can sleep through the noise of older siblings. It's not so nice when I have to wake them up for school.







After he grew out of naps, I still found him sleeping in odd places.





Benjamin has always been my best sleeper. He is also my "mother's curse," like the expression "I hope you have a child just like you some day." He takes forever to wake up, he is always grouchy, and every morning he says that he hates school. However, I know that last statement is not actually true - he just hates waking up for school. I look forward to his days off so that he can wake up at his own pace.

This Little Piggy

Sammy, 2 years old

I have my own version of the classic nursery rhyme "This Little Piggy" when I play with baby toes. I'm not exactly sure when I came up with it; probably before starting my own family. I didn't realize that I always say it until one day I said the normal rhyme, and Dominic asked, "Hey, what happened to the rest of it?"

And here it is:
This little piggy went to market.
This little piggy staid home, because he's going tomorrow.

This little piggy had roast beef.
This little piggy had none, because he's a vegetarian and had a tofu burger instead.

And this little piggy? This little piggy? Cried wee, wee, wee all the way home!
-I like asking the question twice, because the children start giggling in anticipation of getting tickled.