They grow

Wow. Time flies when you're having fun, right? I must be having a blast!

Janet and I have begun trading good nights of sleep. Today I feel great because it was my turn last night. This is, so far, working out much better than us both getting poor sleep for days on end. Woohoo!

Elizabeth is doing well. At her checkup on Tuesday, she was back up to her birth weight, and you can really tell that she has filled out since we brought her home. Janet reminds me that we need to get some good pictures taken before she grows any more. We plan to do that a bit this weekend, in between listening to conference, fixing cars, entertaining AJ, pumping, feeding, changing, eating, etc. A full and satisfying weekend ensues.

Besides continuing to grow, Elizabeth is becoming more interactive, and looks around quite a bit. She makes some noises that I might classify as sounds more typical of a puppy - grunts, growls, panting. It's cute, really. Janet and I were discussing this morning how she is darker-complected than we would have predicted. With hair and skin that is noticeably darker than the rest of our family, she may just escape the need for SPF 50 every time the sun comes up. We're not sure how this happened, but such is not unprecedented (my brother Jay stands out that way in my own family). I fear she will be uncommonly beautiful. (Dad Halter, maybe I could borrow that pestilential-boy-wrecker chainsaw (or girl-wrecker - can't rule out that possibility) in a few years?)

AJ thinks everything Elizabeth does is utterly hilarious. He'll stand by her bassinet and just laugh and laugh at every blink, every grunt, every finger movement. It's cute, and I hope it doesn't bother her too much when she's sleeping (which, of course, is 90% of the time). He's been fairly gentle and is learning better to hold her head up and such when he holds her.

AJ has also been growing and learning so fast. He started preschool a few weeks ago with a co-op in our (former) ward. He usually does quite well hanging out with those other kids. He is very independent though, and we often hear "No, I do it." We were a little surprised and charmed when we were saying prayers with him a couple of nights ago and from the very start he gently reached up to make sure I was looking at him and told me "No, daddy, I do it." His prayer was something like this:

"Heavenly Father ... Jesus ... kite (?) ... Liz-bet ... Jesus ... ("thankful for mommy?") ... I do it! ... sleep ... story ... name of Jesus Christ, ay-men."

He prayed on his own again the next night and filled in a few more words. What a kid!

He's also WAY into superheros lately. He has Batman, Superman, Spiderman, and Viking pajamas in which he fights, flies, swings, or swordplays every night. Bedtime stories lately comprise old superhero comics, and he talks about them all day. We got a dresser for him a couple of days ago (his old one, the changing table, moved to E's room), and he was quite upset, until Janet proposed that it superheros have a dresser just like his new one. My brother Joe (comic collector extraordinaire) would be impressed by AJ's knowledge of X-Men characters and abilities, Batman and Spiderman villains, etc. Maybe I'm a bad parent for allowing access /subjecting a 3yr old to such things, but he loves it and has noted that his favorite superheros don't kill people, don't use guns, help those in distress, fight evil/crime, etc. There are certainly worse things he could be in love with. Plus it's awful cute to see him running around, cape flowing in his wake.

In other areas, my folks are doing great in their mission in Denmark. We feel the blessing of their service and wish them well. I am grateful for their example and testimony. Mom and Dad Halter are busy with family happenings (marriage of niece Shay-Ann, Elizabeth's birth, imminent birth of another grandchild, facilitating investigation of possible moves of kids to Idaho, a plethora of recent and forthcoming birthdays, etc.), new job, and, as ever, blessing the lives of many. My brother Jay is enjoying time with his family (while seeking different employment in the SLC area if anyone has a lead). My brother Josh is excited about entering a Social Work degree program soon, thanks to a satellite program via UofU. Joe will likely take delivery of his awesomely revamped Bronco soon, if he hasn't already. I don't know what Jeffery or Jake are up to lately, as we haven't been able to talk, but I trust they are making great things happen, as usual. I have a great family!

I have new pictures to post, but I don't have access to them at work, where I am writing this entry during a break. So, I'll just have to make a point of doing that at home!