Undated Dates (The First Vision, Halfway to Christmas)

Alex / / Alex, Religion

(This is blatantly and particularly churchy. Anyone disinterested may skip it without offending me.)

Yesterday I was thinking a lot about Joseph Smith’s “First Vision”, as it has come to be called, when God the Father and God the Son appeared to him. Actually, I was thinking that there may be many earthlings who have seen visions of God the Father – Lehi in THE BOOK OF MORMON apparently saw a vision of God:

.. he was carried away in a vision, even that he saw the heavens open, and he thought he saw God sitting upon his throne, surrounded with numberless concourses of angels.. – THE BOOK OF MORMON, 1st Nephi 1:8

In the late evening Tia related a comment she heard in Relief Society – which of course I didn’t hear, not going to the women’s meetings in my church đŸ˜‰ and it’s a comment I hadn’t heard before anyway – it is that people have looked back through records of the weather in the year Joseph Smith had his vision, and correlated these reports with Joseph’s comment on the weather the day of his vision, to guess that his vision was probably on March 26th. Joseph’s weather comment is in this verse of his witness:

So, in accordance with this, my determination to ask of God, I retired to the woods to make the attempt. It was on the morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty.. – JOSEPH SMITH—HISTORY, verse 14

Apparently the only clear day in early spring of that year was March 26th.

Blatantly, I see it as more than coincidence that I was thinking heavily on the First Vision on the apparent anniversary date of it, unaware. If it’s not the anniversary, the synchronicity of thought is striking. None of this is proof to me; only signs (I see a distinction between the two), if this hearsay is verifiable. Whatever the case, my faith rests on more certain things.

.. Another significant coincidence: about mid-two-years ago I woke up thinking I should get in the Christmas Spirit (as it were, and I never really did, and I often am abysmally not in that spirit), and that it was probably halfway to Christmas. I didn’t know it literally was until I looked at my calendar and calculated. I forget the date now đŸ˜‰ as I don’t consciously track dates. I unconsciously track them. .. I could doubtless benefit from consciously tracking them, except that now I’m curious what other signs I’ll find unconscious, drunken and not with wine..

Special Trips

Alex / / Mago Elf Liam

The day before yesterday, he shuffled alongside the bed from the foot to the head where I was reading, took my forefinger, and gently and affectionately bit it. Yesterday it was my forearm. This is an escalating problem. Today? Only Mago knows..

(Make no mistake: my tone is jest. I’m very charmed and flattered by his affections.)

Many Steps, More Teeth

Alex / / Mago Elf Liam

The day after the 22nd (Wednesday, when he took five steps) he didn’t take any steps – he was more interested in crawling. He took 5 or 6 twice the next day (yesterday) with our coaching. We sat on the ground with him between us five baby steps away, stood him until he balanced, then let go and he took the steps by himself, beaming and laughing, then collapsing into either of us. Today he’s taken many, maybe 25 or so – mostly with our coaching. He’ll get eager and lean forward so that he loses his balance. Today at my mom’s I was turned away and didn’t notice until I turned back and he stopped walking, standing and looking up at me about six steps out from the chair he had been standing against before he ventured off.

His sixth tooth is in – we don’t see others yet.

2 Photographs

Alex / / Mago Elf Liam, Tia

Tia got two photograhs into the BYU Graduate Student Art Show yesterday.

My sister got three works in the show.

[Update; The three works Tia entered are entitled Faith, Hope, and Charity. Of the two that got in, my brother-in-law wisecracks: now she has no hope. Ha ha. Also I know there may be people out there who distantly sneer at such blatantly virtuous titles. Anyone may, of course, choose to be cynical about blatancy. I think her photographs (made to poloroids, lifted, and neatly wrinkled) combine a skillful and subtle crafsmanship, but I’m biased.]

5 Steps

Alex / / Mago Elf Liam

He took yesterday; mostly balanced in place. He took another half step this morning and has been taking several of those a day with our coaching.

We photographed him signing light, bed, and bird this morning.

He frequently says bye-bye in the appropriate setting now. Tia came to pick him up from babysitting at grandpa’s the other day and as soon as she came in and picked him up he waved around to the others and said this.

Happy 1st Birthday!

Alex / / Mago Elf Liam

At 12:03 AM one year ago, Mago was born on St. Patrick’s Day.

We had a little party with him and he got many toys, and enjoyed them all. We opened some from his cousins first. He enjoyed having plastic frogs, snakes, and lizards placed all over him, and he put a plastic lizard halfway in his mouth and kept it there (sometimes he does that with a rubber duck while crawling around), and he loves the green sunglasses we got him too. Picture pending (if it turned out). He’s also interested in the baby doll Tia got him – this challenges my projected minor sense of pseudo-manly un-dolliness, but who am I to deter his interests? He’s great. He watched, with great interest, mom putting the dolly in a little baby carrier.

It now occurs to me that “baby blue” maybe doesn’t quite work in a song including the Irish – but “baby green” would work less. Blue = boy in our culture’s color designations, so whatever.

First Step, Little Scout.. Me

Alex / / Mago Elf Liam, Religion

Tia called me at work to let me know he took a step from the bed toward.. the computer. Um.. I don’t know what kind of omen that might be. Anyway, he was standing alongside the bed and wandered off [holding both arms in front of him (update: I reported this a bit wrong at first writing)], stood balancing on both feet, took a step forward, [stayed balanced for a short while, and grabbed the back of the chair in front of the computer. Tia said he was laughing and just full of joy through the whole adventure].

Also he has five teeth and one more coming in. And he gave me a gentle affectionate vampire bite this morning.

Also I forgot to say that at church last Sunday we passed a glass case in the wall, and he reached for it after I passed and went “Hhuuuuuuuuh!” – I said “What?” and moved for the case. It was full of antique and modern Boy Scout pariphinalia, and he ogled at all of it. When I caught up to Tia again, she asked what we stopped for and I told her – and when I did, he grinned from ear to ear. So he might be really interested in scouts.. which he’ll probably be ready for in what feels like a blink.

Oy.

I loved scouts.. only for the campouts. Badges? We don’t need no stinkin’ badges! .. maybe he’ll want them. I have no doubt I’d have been very proud to be an Eagle Scout. I don’t even know how far I got.

Something I read reinforced an I suppose innate idea I have that kids need nature, the wilderness .. but I don’t think it’s any different for adults.

And a note from church.. the Elder’s Quorum president talked about how he was kind of creeped out when he was younger that they blessed (dedicated) his house – he said maybe it’s because you normally bless sick people, or something else I don’t remember, or, I sardonically inserted, a grave, which made people laugh.

Some I missed

Alex / / Mago Elf Liam

Update to the list of words he knows: bonk (for several months, and I think I haven’t noted this, he’s been responding to a prompt of “bonk” if you hold your head close to his and say it – he gives you a little affectionate head butt or bonk.), ear, nose (he’ll often put his hand on either if you say the word) bite (usually as in don’t bite me hard.. I think I haven’t noted this, but he often bites into the back of mom’s neck or shoulder like a little vampire when he hugs her, or he used to but doesn’t much now because he knows mom doesn’t like it).

Second sentence

Alex / / Mago Elf Liam

Mom was holding him when I left for work this morning. I waved goodbye to him and mom, turned and started walking down the hall, and he said in his little high-pitched, sweet voice: “Bye-bye.” I wondered if I’d heard what I thought and turned and looked at Tia; she looked back goggle-eyed.

Alive with Wonder

Alex / / Mago Elf Liam

Yesterday morning a bluejay squawked outside and he pointed to the window, made the sign for bird, said “Bi!”, and moved to look outside. I wouldn’t have even noted the bird. To us it’s just a bird outside, but to him it’s everything.

We walked with him this morning and some joggers passed. He beamed at them and waved his arm hastily in greeting. They giggled.

First and Near, Doings, Words, Sounds, Gallery 9

Alex / / Mago Elf Liam, Pictures

The first and last of these (the first being my absolute favorite picture of him – he’s signing “Light”) are of him at about 9 months, the rest are where he is now – 11 months and a week. His elven ears show clearly in the fifth and sixth photos. He was unhappy with the cold in several of these.

Yesterday he was standing alongside my desk as I was in bed reading, and still holding the desk, he stepped away from it, reaching toward the bed which was just out of reach. He began to move to make a free standing step to the bed, but then skillfully dropped down onto his bum. He then crawled to me and hoisted himself up beside the bed, and looking up at me with his friendly grin, said warmly:

“Hiiii daa-daaa.”

I said: “Hi! Good job, you just spoke a sentence.” – and he got down and crawled away.

So there was his first sentence and almost his first step. He’s doing to me what I taught him to do to mom – I’ve frequently taken him to Tia in the morning, waved his little arm at her as he smiles, and said “Hii ma-ma.”

Today while I was in the shower he pushed on the bathroom door to get in and again said “Hii da-da.”

Yesterday I carried him for a walk and we passed a woman sitting on a bench at the mouth of Rock Canyon. He called accross the street to her “Da-da! Da-da!” – so I guess that also means “Friendly grown up.”

The day before yesterday, outside, he looked at our car and went “vvvvrrrrmmmm” and waved, as in waving me goodbye in the morning off to work as he often does.

The day before that he crawled accross the wooden floor in the basement where I lay on a sofa thingie (the white one for Tia’s photography), hoisted himself up to me, took my face and wrapped his mouth around my cheek, and slowly bit down.. HARD. I said “Ouch!” and lifted his teeth off, and said “No, kiss gentle.”

His word, sound, and sign vocabulary has been expanding a lot, and here’s his complete (so far as we know or remember) vocabulary with a few ones we’d left out. I don’t know whether I’ll keep tracking these if he’s starting at sentences now.. isn’t he too young to leave babyhood?

Words: Bird (buh), book (booh), dip, duck (a sharply stopped “duu”), boo (like peek-a-boo), bye (ba), doll (da), snowman (mo-man), bear (beh), hi. He had me get a painting of Jesus off the wall and hold it in front of him. He smiled at the portrait and I said “That’s Jesus. Jesus.” He imitated: “Che-seh.” Noted previously: Book, ball, ma-ma da-da, grampa (ba-pa), poop (bpoo-bpoo), bop, outside (da), this (dis/deesz), that (dat), dog (da), banana (nana), cheerios (dcheess), SPIDER MAN (bai-man!), dam (?).

Sounds: Pig (throat cluck), lamb (a baaaa without vibrato), flower/star/flare shape (a sharp nasal exhale which is a mistaken sniff), horse or zebra (a tongue clack or a niegh – he’s been doing that for months and I think we didn’t mention it; he also does this for a deer), cow (booo). Noted previously: Lion (gutteral French RRRR), elephant (also ASL sign), cat, monkey (a chimpanzee haa-haa-haa), dog (wfff!) bear/gorrilla/aligator/monster (rhaspy Rrrah! – or also for bear just a chest grunt), car (BVVVVVBBVVV)

Signs: music, light, milk, dog, elephant, baby, bed, bye-bye, pointing.

Words he understands: dance (he’ll dance), kiss (he’ll kiss you, gently or sometimes as I’ve noted with a hard bite), upstairs, walk, brush your teeth, bath.

[Here’s an update of some I missed. Also the bird he signed since posting this was a new sign for him.]

Something I Didn’t Know about Me

Alex / / Alex, Religion

I learn from an uncle that when I was very little, maybe 3 or 4, at a baptism I was roaming around while a speaker preached about the Holy Ghost. At the mention of the term, I exclaimed in a high pitched, emphatically expressed astoundment: “The Holy GHOST!?” and continued wandering around. The speaker continued and soon repeated the same term, at which I exclaimed in the same manner but more intensely: “The Holy GHOST!? *AGAIN!?*”