Catching Up: Monday in Atlanta

On Monday, I took Chris to Two Hearts Gifts and Books so he could see it for himself. The Catholic artwork there is fabulous and I think we'll be further decorating our home from their selection over the coming years!

Then we went to Chris' brother's house for one last visit amongst all the grandchildren. (I have no photos because my camera had been left elsewhere.) After a long day, we got on the road for our drive home at 5:00 p.m. of all times. Leaving Atlanta (from the far side of the city) at rush hour! For those who don't know, Atlanta traffic is very similar to Los Angeles traffic, making it a long drive home. John remained cheerful by singing, at times very loudly. Usually we'd try to get him to practice his inside voice, but a two-year-old singing his heart out is a much more pleasant sound than the alternatives of incessant whining or weeping so, trapped in the car till 11:00 p.m., we just let the sweet boy sing.

(These five QuickTime videos would have been good candidates to string together in MovieMaker, but apparently I was missing a "codec" and couldn't figure out which "codec" I was supposed to download. It was all very complicated to me and I'd like to ask my movie-making-expert friend Janeane for help, but she is six weeks from being due with a baby, so I think I will leave her alone.)

Note John's hand motions: Only a few times he has seen me sign the alphabet letters and he knows what sign language is, so he is attempting to imitate me.



Hear how John starts singing about a "space ship." Being allowed to watch "Chicken Little" one time with his older cousins has had John talking about space ships ever since.

Next I will have to try to videotape John's first hymn: "Immaculate Mary"! He has the first stanza memorized and will sing it with me, but remains too shy to sing it to Daddy or with a camera taping.