I'm racking my brain for new going-ons to report. We started a new February tradition last week of eating dinner with all the lights off and a newly thrifted silver candelabra lit up. We're going to do this every night, letting the candles burn down, until Valentine's Day. It's still dark starting early in the evenings so this will be a fun tradition for the last month of darkness before we gain back some evening light with Daylight Savings in March. So fun how candlelight can completely shift the mood. Jack becomes very engaged in the dinner and conversation when we do this.
I got a new calling as first councilor in the stake primary presidency yesterday. I don't know much about what this will entail but I nervously look forward to finding out. Jared and I are sad we won't get to spend our second hour together teaching primary anymore, but he will probably get a new co-teacher and I'm sure I'll get to substitute in with him sometimes. He also continues to lead the activity days boys. It was fun to go to my first stake meeting yesterday morning and hear everyone sing praises of the Granite Falls activity days program. Hey! That's my Jared making that happen! He is the most dedicated, wonderful activity days leader. It's the perfect calling for him, honestly. The kids look up to him and he singlehandedly will plan out a year of activities at a time and singlehandedly execute almost all of them every week. What a guy. Here are some pictures from our week:
^^A Tuesday hike date with our little lady.
^^I like this duo. This last week Jack was having a meltdown after school, as sometimes happens on early release days when there's a loooong time to go until dinner. We were in a bit of a standoff, with him teetering right on the brink of a rager. Over the summer I learned that truly the ONLY way to diffuse a situation like this with Jack is to (quite counterintuitively) start with a begrudging hug and then have a few minutes snuggling. This is when the defenses come down and we can get back on the same team before tackling the problem and continuing on with our day. It's tricky to accomplish when Alice is around, because the key is a one-on-one snuggle with all attention on him. Alice doesn't approve of the attention being on someone else, and the situation can easily escalate from there.
ANYway, he was entering the scream stage of the rager so I took a deep breath, trying to keep myself and Alice (who was hiding behind me) calm, and said, "Jack I'm having a hard time. Could I have a hug?" He refused and let out another scream, and then dear, sweet baby Alice, toddled on over to him mid-scream and gave him a big hug and two pats on the back. This stopped Jack in his tracks and he stared at her, taken completely off-guard. She pulled away, and then after a second or two she went in for another hug and some more pats on the back. He cracked a smile. When Alice pulled away and went back in for a final hug, Jack melted into a healp of giggles and the situation was diffused. Three cheers for Alice saving the day. I think she must've heard me say "Jack" and "hug" in the same sentence and just went for it. Whatever was happening in that baby brain of hers, it was a really sweet moment. Thanks bb Al for saving the afternoon.
^^Alice has discovered shoes. She has also discovered the world outside our front door, and now that she's walking she's constantly wanting to go out and walk up and down the streets. This stage really has me missing the wide open prairie right outside our front door in Wyoming. It's not as fun to walk a baby down our street here--constantly on goalie duty to keep her out of the street and neighbors' yards and her screaming in protest--as it was to set Jack loose in the prairie at that age and just leisurely follow a few steps behind. I miss that so much.
