Brooke-let

It’s about time we balance things out on this blog. The middle child cannot be forgotten. She wouldn’t let us!

Don’t let those smiles fool you. Brooke demands attention, and she gets it :)

She wouldn’t have it any.other.way. 

Spunky! Energetic!  Just a few words that describe Brooke:

Big Sister:  Nothing gets her more excited than her sister, Baby Ry-Wee (as she calls her). 

She’s constantly loving and hugging on her…and I can only hope this is the beginning of a lifetime of friendship and love.

Dancer:  Who dance moves were once reminiscent of a sumo wrestler, but now involve many more twirls and spins.  Thankfully, a step in the right direction.  She still loves to captivate audiences with all her graceful, energetic spunkiness!

Reader:  Brooke loves to read stories.  Actually, I should re-phrase that.  She loves to pull all the books from the book shelf and bring them to me, and after that, there’s only one thing left to do with them – READ!   Her favorite stories are always those that have hand motions that move along, like her and Grammy doing “The Itsy Bitsy Spider!”  When she first started going to nursery at church, one of the leaders was so impressed how she already knew all the hand movements to all the songs.  If she only knew…how excited she gets when signing is involved!

If you’re happy and you know it – shout HOORAY!

If you’re happy and you know it, then you’re face with surely show it [pointing to her dimples as she smiles]

Eater: Some days Brooke doesn’t touch her food, and yet other days, I find herself eating all of her food, and then later helps herself to Tanner’s leftovers. 

It takes 100% of my energy to keep her out of the pantry and cupboards, thanks to her unquenchable appetite and her amazing climbing abilities.  With the assistance of the kitchen island bar stools, she can reach any height.

The other challenge is getting her to sit down while she eats.  She’d love nothing more than to carry [the entire package!] around the entire house, leaving traces like Hansel & Gretel wherever she goes. 

But there’s a limit…she can have food…but she has to sit and eat it.  One day I gave her some yogurt and reminded her he had to sit in her chair and eat it.  Meanwhile, I go into the family room to nurse Rylee, and no more than a minute later, Brooke is bringing a chair from her kid-size table, perches herself up to the couch, and proceeds to sit and eat her yogurt.  Her listening skills are commendable, so I’ve learned to be more specific.  She must now sit in the KITCHEN to eat!

Climber:  Of course, Brooke loves to climb. She knows how to maneuver the stools and chairs to reach all of her favorite destinations, including the kids craft supply in the kitchen desk cupboards, and the goody bin in the pantry.  The junk drawer in the kitchen is another favorite place, but for this, pulling out the drawer and reaching on her tippy toes seems to suffice. 

Brooke, may your ambitious always match the heights you love to climb!

Helper:  Brooke is also my little shadow and loves to follow  me around the house, helping along the way.  This includes:

• cooking in the kitchen (and yes, she loves to help herself to raw vegetables which may have included mushrooms and zucchini, just to name a few).  She gets mad when pasta noodles have to be cooked first, and is learning patience
• carrying Rylee in her carseat, or at least attempting

• doing dishes, dishes,  in which case we were both soaked, and when I turned away, she was the dirty scrubbers and sponges.
• pretty much the same story when we’re bathing Rylee.  everyone is soaked.
• And my personal favorite, throwing away trash and dirty diapers, putting her dirty dishes in the sink, and

Most days, she’s amazingly good at sharing.  When she does get a snack, always makes sure to get an extra plate or serving for Tanner, and delivers it to him before claiming her own.  She’s so thoughtful like that!

Runner: Brooke only knows fast and faster, and typically chooses the latter, even for small ordinary tasks, she’ll run at full speed.  Before she takes off, its as if she’s winding herself up first – she does this thing where she tilts her hands behind her back and leans her chest forward, then takes off running at full speed.  I LOVE watching her run!

Dresser-up-er:  I think Brooke’s least favorite part of everyday is getting dressed.  But when it comes to dressing up herself, she loves to do it.  She usually is finding some hat or accessory to wear.

But her shoe obsession is over.  she cried when she tried to wear her pretend high heels (don’t we ALL) and refuses to wear UGG boots.  Unfortunately, she definitely has a say in what shoes she wears. 

And when it’s time to go outside, she always has to have a jacket/hoodie, zipped up, and with a hat of sorts.  She insists upon it.

Counter:  She’s mastered counting to three, but we’re working our way up to ten.  As she goes down the stairs, she likes to count them, and it usually sounds something like this – one, two, thhrreeee – weee!!!, five, six, nine, Nine, NINE!!!!  

Whiner:  It seems like this age is accompanied by an obsessive amount of whining. 

Enough to drive me crazy!  Finally, we started putting her in time out until she could be happy.  And one day she started throwing a fit, and she went and put herself in time.   When she returned, she was happy.  Just like that.  On and off.  I was SO HAPPY I may have shed a silent tear!

Now we just threaten with time out, and she turns to us and says, “I Happy!!  I Happy!!!”

Stink face…  …Turned cheesy smile

Works like a charm [and hoping I didn’t just jinx myself by saying that outloud!]

Talker:  Brooke can say many words, but my new personal favorite, is all the animal sounds!  She has a few books and puzzles with animal sounds, and has quickly learned most of them.  Except no matter how many times we tell her a cow goes moo, she goes BOOO!!!!  Makes me laugh every time, which is probably still why she does it!

And sometimes, a little crazy!!!  She’ll refuse to wear ANY bow in her hair, but then will put these headbands on like a complete hooligan. 

And when she wakes up from her nap, I’ll find her playing with her socks…that are now on her hands! 

And she loves nothing more than to tickle you, which is how she usually greets people with her crinkled up face, fingers going nonstop, and little bursts of giggles escaping from her mouth.

I LOVE this girl, and all the adventure she brings to our lives. 

[This post is a collection of all of Brooke-isms from 18-21 months]

Rylee - 3 months

This little baby of mine…is now 3 months old.  Like quarter of a year! 

Let’s just say, I’m pretty sure there’s not a happier baby out there.  She smiles and smiles all day long.  Full-mouth,  wide-open kinda smiles mixed with giggles and coos.  I know all babies smile and coo, she’ll just keep doing it forever and we have conversations that last minutes.  She’s trying to talk to me…and I’d love to know what she has to say.

Generally, she’s as happy as can be, a HUGE blessing to all the craziness around here.  Sometimes I think I’d have a million babies if they could all be as sweet as her, but then I come back to reality of my life, and am thankful I have just one. 

It’s actually quite shocking she’s as happy as she is cause has the worst reflux.  And you can just feel it -- her stomach is usually in knots most of the time too.  But despite the epic amounts of spit up, she still manages to smile.  Every time…when you give her one in return, say her name, or cuddle her in your arms.

Except when she’s not happy, she’s really NOT HAPPY.  When she’s overly tired, the worst of her comes out, and you’d think the world was going to end.  She’ll arch her back to the point you think she was going to snap in half in defiance if you offer her a paci or try to swaddle her in your arms.  She usually gets like this right as Anthony gets home from work…and the only thing she wants….…the MOMMA!  This is why I get nothing done, and why this post is already a few weeks late :)

Don’t ask me how a baby at 3 months can already have stranger anxiety attacks when it comes to her own family members.  But she does!  I’ll pick her up, swaddle her in my arms, and give her the paci.  And then she’ll fall asleep…most of the time.

New Tricks – Rolling Over

Rylee can now rollover from her back to her stomach.  Tanner was playing with her on the floor, and he got so excited when he saw her roll over.  We weren’t sure if it was the real-deal or a mere fluke like before, but then she did it several times over the weekend, so we’re counting it.  Now anytime you see her, she’s got herself curled up, ready to roll! 

Now…it’s hard to get her to stay still.  She’s always wiggling and twisting on me.  When I go to change her diaper, she’s already learned how to kick her legs and arch her back to scoot herself along the floor.  Or she’s rolling from one side to the next.  

Kicking:  This past month she fell in and out of love with her swing. It was a lifesaver when it worked, but then, it gradually lost its charm. But thankfully, she still loves the the bouncy chair. She watches everyone – and kicks, kicks, and kicks all day long. In fact, I’ve had to start buckling her in as she’s nearly wiggled herself out. While she’s never had batteries in it, she doesn’t need them, she gets it moving just fine all by herself.

Her other hobbies include…

Staring into lights:  My other kids always loved stepping outside to calm them down.  For her, it’s going into my bedroom and starring at my ceiling fan light and watching as it spins around.  She goes into a peaceful oblivion right before she falls asleep.  It’s awesome!

Tracking:  She also follows and tracks faces, toys, lights, anything that catches her attention.  When I try to hold her and my phone, she’ll end up staring at it right alongside me.  Just what I need, one more kid obsessed with my phone.

Grabbing:  Rylee grabs anything she can get her little fingers around.  If I’m wearing a hoodie, she’ll go for the drawstrings.  Or even better, my hair.  She also just started liking certain toys, like the little toys that hang down from her car seat, or the notorious Sophie Giraffe.  She’s hanging on here…frowning just as I pull out the camera, of course!

She started reaching and kicking the toys on her play mat, but also stares at the lights and music it makes.  But the “big” kids (aka Brooke, Quincy, and Scarlett) seem much more amazed by it and try to play with it more than her.

Drooling:  She’s constantly drooling, spitting up, and goes through way more tops than bottoms.  But if I put a bib on her, she just tries to eat the thing all day long, so that doesn’t really help either.  We try to keep a burp cloth nearby, but inevitably, most her blankets double for burp clothes too.  Now, we have just gotten used to the epic amounts of projectile that she emits on a frequent basis and the remnants that adore my clothing. 

But hey, she loves her blankets.  She loves getting her fingers around then, grabbing a a fist-full of the thin, muslin ones and puts then in her mouth.  In fact, anything she gets those little hands around inevitably ends up in in her mouth.  One finger, two fingers, and sometimes, the whole fist.  And she’s not very picky about whose fingers they are.  When she gets really worked up, she’ll gladly take anyone’s fingers to help calm her back down.

Oh Miss Rylee, how I love and cherish these days and your sweet spirit that radiates the world.

Rylee’s Baby Blessing

On November 3rd, Rylee was given a baby blessing by her father, Anthony.  In other religions, this is comparable to “christening” or “baptizing” them.  Although different in nature, it’s still sacred and important in nature.  She is given a name to be known by God and on the records of the church as “Rylee Victoria Callison.”

I tried to remember a few things that stood out in my mind after her baby blessing:

• Peacemaker and strength to family
• Determination to stand for what she believes to be true
• Strength to grow to beautiful women she was intended to be
• Inquisitive mind to seek spiritual and temporal knowledge
• Patience of being youngest child with both siblings and parents
• Ability to bear weaknesses and triumphant in strengths
• Bestowed with a deep heritage and desire to continue in the Faith

Now a few months later, the number one thing that I remember and am grateful for every day.  Her patience!!!  She has such a sweet demeanor.  Even today, she’s as sick as can be with the worst stomach bug, and you wouldn’t know it if it weren’t for the fact that she’s been throwing up everywhere.  Nothing phases her. She’s still all smiles. As I was feeding her tonight, she was drifting off to sleep and started laughing/giggling as I rubbed her tummy.  She’s as sweet and happy as can be.   Not that she never cries, and not that she’s happy 100% of the time, but she’s generally happy.  And she’s not afraid to show it off by smiling and giggling.  Seriously, I live for these smiles!!!

The other thing that stands out in the deep heritage she has been bestowed with.  As we were surrounded at church from both sets of grandparents, siblings, cousins, everyone, I felt of the richest blessings I have because of our faithful parents and other ancestors who have paved the way.

From my dad’s side of the family:

This blessing gown was made by my Grandma Knick and is the same blessing gown I was blessing in years ago by my father.  It’s so simple yet elegant, fancy and ornate, yet the look is timeless.  And honestly, these pictures of Rylee remind me of my Grandma Knick’s porcelain dolls that she use to make.  If I didn’t know any better, I swear Rylee was one of her dolls posing in her pictures. 

Similar to the the porcelain doll and matching dresses she made for me years ago:

She passed away when I was a child so there’s only a handful of memories I have of her, and her hand-crafting this porcelain doll and stitching matching dresses -- especially for me -- definitely ranks high of the list.

One of the other favorite stories I loved hearing was about her conversion to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and joining The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. 

I’ve asked me Dad to re-tell the story about the dream she had in the hospital, where the Savior appeared to her, and asked her why she wouldn’t join His Church.  At first she tried to dismiss it, but then later her roommate asked who she had been talking with, and then there was no denying what she had seen and heard.  Please read  his full account here.

From Grandma Knick, I hope Rylee not only inherits her artistic and creative abilities, but also her her passion and tenacity to to challenge the status quo to reach higher ground.  She really was decades ahead of her time in all that she did and believed!

From my mom, Rylee got her middle name – Victoria.  My mom’s name is Vicki Lynn Knickerbocker, but she’s always loved the name Victoria…so it was an easy, close substitute :)

Four Generations of Matriarchs

My mom is one of the most Christ-like people I know.  She’s endured much in this life in terms of physical pain – but I feel like it’s always made her that much closer to her Savior.  She has sacrificed a lot to raise up 8 children who were and still are her entire world.  She’d do anything for her children, and still has the ability to only see the best in them.  She has a huge heart and can recall countless stories of her helping near strangers off the street who were in dire need, inviting them into our home and loving them the same.   Time and time again, despite being “used” or “taken advantage” of, she loved them and wanted to help.   From her, I hope Rylee inherits her Christ-like love of all people.

From Anthony’s family – She inherited her Grammy Callison’s good looks :)  On the day Rylee was born, she looked just like Anthony’s mom, Trish, to me.  And she still does—as well as his sisters – Melinda and Kristie – and their daughters, Cassidy and Madison.  But mostly still Trish.  From her Grammy Callison, I hope she inherits her unwavering faith and service.  Trish is always the most giving and willing to person I know.   She’d also sacrifice anything for her children, and more especially, her grandchildren.  She only has the kindest things to say about everyone and it shows in all that she does.  She’s spent more time caring and taking care of others over the past years than she has in her own home.   When I had Rylee, she was here for 3 weeks to help, and then again a few months later when I had surgery.  While her and my mother are both very different, they share a lot of the same character traits.   She’s very Christ-like, loving, and patient, all characteristics that I hope Rylee inherits.

So as you can see, Rylee has a rich heritage of faithful members of the church who love and serve God with all their heart, might, mind and strength.  As her mother, I hope I can teach her to do the same, just as our parents have taught us.

Grandma & Grandpa Knick’s Conversion Story

Sometime between Paul and Jenny being born (1957 to 1958), my parents joined the Church. I know this, because Jenny was the only one of our four siblings that was born into the church. We were living at 9 Nectar La, Levittown, Pa, Dad was commuting to Philadelphia, he worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad as a purchasing agent, Mom was a stay at home mom. Her college, teaching, and dormitory director experiences were years ahead of her.

One of my first childhood memories surrounding the church was going to Sunday School in the Trenton NJ YMCA with Dad. Mom didn’t come. But eventually she did, and they joined the church. I remember their baptism, and I remember getting a child’s blessing, even though I would have been between 4 and 5 years old at the time. Don’t ask me what was said, obviously one of the missionaries probably gave the blessing. Not many people can say they remember the child blessing they were given, it usually happens to newborns. But with convert families, they’re given to children in those families who haven’t turned 8 years of age. I remember the Trenton Chapel being built, but it would have had to be before I started school the fall of 1958.

It wasn’t until after my mission that Mom told me her conversion story at Christmas one year. We had the missionaries over, something they started doing when I went on my mission. And she read her conversion story to them. Ken read it again years later when we were visiting Buffalo to Elder Mortenson, one of a pair of elders who had stayed in our home at 3223 Brunswick Ave. between 1959 and 1963 (+/-), who was then the President of the Rochester, NY mission, I believe. I’ve looked to see if
anyone has a copy of it, and I haven’t any luck, so this is the second-hand version.

Dad was the first to want to join the church. He had heard the missionaries on a street corner in Philadelphia, and had the discussions. Mom I think sat in on the discussions, but didn’t want any part of joining the church. Dad did, and I think this is when he took me to church in Trenton when Mom didn’t want to go. And Dad would not join the Church without Mom.

Mom had told us what she knew about the church was what she learned from Mr. Spears, a history teacher at Collingdale HS who was also my Problems of Democracy teacher my senior year. He had summed up the church rather succinctly: “Old Joe Smith wanted more than one wife, so he started his own religion.” That’s her version, I never did hear that directly from Mr. Spears.

Mom’s stance was radically changed about joining the church after an experience she had while in the hospital as I said, sometime between when Paul (April, 1957) and Jenny was born (June 1958). She was having some sort of surgery, I can’t remember what the surgery was for, but while coming out of the
anesthesia, she said she had a dream where the Savior appeared to her, and asked her why she wouldn’t join His Church. She said she didn’t really believe it was the Savior, but he asked her several
times, and she said she thought it was just the anesthesia.

You know how you are when you’re coming out of surgery, you’re in and out of consciousness, so she came out after this “dream”, thinking she had been having delusions, seeing Jesus. Come on, who would really believe that, right?

It was then that her roommate in the hospital came in and asked Mom, “Who had been in the room?”

Mom was startled. “What do you mean, who had been in the room?”

The roommate replied, “Oh, I thought the doctor or someone was in here, and felt something important was going on, and I shouldn’t disturb whatever was happening, and you needed your privacy for a few minutes. So I didn’t come in the room, and waited until I was sure they were gone.”

She had Mom’s full and immediate attention. Something important had been going on, and Mom dwelled on what she had experienced, and got the feeling that she had actually been asked by the Savior why she hadn’t joined the Church. So, if that was the case, then she wasn’t going to have much of an excuse come Judgment Day if she didn’t go ahead and join. After all, what would you do if you knew the Savior asked you something, and you didn’t thereafter go out immediately and do it?

Needless to say, they joined the Church as I stated, they both served in various positions throughout their lives. Dad was either Financial Clerk or Ward Clerk for any number of years, and Mom either taught Primary (I remember her being my Blazer leader (forerunner to Webelos / Valiant, I think) when I turned 12, did stints as Relief Society teacher or President later.

I can’t let this story go without also telling of our trip to the Temple. Prior to the Washington, DC Temple being dedicated in 1975, the nearest Temple to Philadelphia was Salt Lake City. The DC temple had been announced probably in ’68 or ’69, so we knew it was coming, but didn’t know when it would be built, nor when it would be completed. I can probably count on one or two fingers the people I knew a half-generation older than I was who made that trip to Salt Lake, either for their own endowments or
to get married. Tony March and Richard Lindsey were the only names I remember.

We had a family home evening the fall of my Senior year, which would have put that in 1970, where we committed to going to the Temple. Mom said it was the one wish she had, and that it was going to take a lot of work on their part to be temple-worthy, but she was committed to doing it.

Up until that time, Dad had been driving a VW Beetle, if you can believe it, and that car was obviously too small for four teenagers to make such a trip (it was too small to go to Church in, too, but that’s another story). Sometime that winter, they bought a VW bus. The following summer, we made plans to drive to Salt Lake and onto Logan, Utah for my parents to receive their endowments and for us to be sealed as a family.

We were planning to leave on a Friday afternoon. Mom was going to drive to a convenient location, meet Dad after work, he was getting dropped off by a co-worker, it would save time and give an early jump on traffic. So the car was loaded up the night before, and off we went on the first really long vacation of my childhood. July 16, 1971.

Mom didn’t realize it but somewhere between home and picking up Dad, the VW threw a fan belt, and overheated and literally destroyed 3 of the 4 cylinders of the air-cooled engine. Because of the orientation of the dashboard and driving into the afternoon sun, she hadn’t seen the engine warning light come on, and had continued to drive. When we finally noticed something was wrong, we stopped about a couple miles short of where we were picking up Dad. Mom was beside herself. Ken and I hitchhiked
up to where Dad was waiting, told him what had happened, he hitch-hiked back, Ken and I started walking back. Dad called Grandpop Knick, he came and got us all, and took us back to the house in Collingdale.

Mom was beside herself. She had ruined the car, she had ruined whatever chance we had of going to the temple. She sobbed the whole way home and went upstairs to her bedroom, and spent the night there. It was ONLY time I had seen Mom where the world had appeared to beat her. Never before, never again since. Even through her bout with cancer, she wasn’t that type.

Dad did the only thing he could do. First, he got the car towed to a VW dealership, and got the repair work started. Meanwhile, he started to look into ways we could get to Salt Lake and Logan, everything from planes, trains, buses, etc. But in the end, he said, the car still needed to be fixed, and that any other expense would put the Temple trip out of reach. So, the plan was to wait for the repairs to be completed in 2-3 days, and then hoof it to SLC in it.

Four cylinders had to be replaced. Three of the pistons were toast. Dad patiently told the dealer’s mechanics to hurry, but do it right. And we set off for SLC sometime Tuesday or Wednesday, at the latest. I don’t know how we did it. In order to break the repaired engine in properly, we had to drive at 55 mph when the speed limit in those days was 80 mph. It took forever. 

Intermediate stops were deleted, remember driving past the Arch in St. Louis (instead of stopping and going in it), driving by
Kaufman Stadium during a night ball game, staying in a hotel west of town, and in Denver, before arriving in SLC on Friday. Saturday was July 24, Pioneer Day, the parade, and on Monday, July 26, 1971,we went to the Temple in Logan, Utah, and were sealed as a family.

Mom’s tenacity to get us headed to the Temple in the first place was never questioned. But what she didn’t realize the trial of her faith that would come in order to accomplish the goal. Thanks to my Dad, he was able to see a way around a pretty big hurtle. When you join the church as young adults, with young children, both the first from either side of their families, a lot of change is required.

Mom’s experience in the hospital in all likelihood had something to do in effecting that change. It takes that kind of fortitude and will power to follow through onto eternal goals. Something had to be behind the motivation, right?

But one thing I do know: I, too, have been born of goodly parents. And Mom’s conversion to the Gospel of Jesus Christ never, ever waivered, even under some intense challenges.

Written by Chuck Knickerbocker (my father)

Snowed In!!

This year, I got my Christmas wish.  A WHITE CHRISTMAS!! 

There’s just something about newly fallen snow that I love.

Maybe it brings me back to my childhood days where sledding and skiing were just a part of winter, and there was never a question of whether we’d have a white Christmas as all winter long there’d be tons and tons of snow.

Maybe its how something so simple and mundane, like the views outside my windows, can become absolutely breathtaking when covered by the freshly fallen snow. I think it’s also symbolic of our Savior, whose birth we celebrate at Christmas, and how each of us an become just as pure and beautiful with the touch of His love.

And I had just been complaining about how December was flying by way too fast, and how much I’d love to have more time at home with my family to do all our favorite Christmas-y things.  Like baking.  And snuggling up to some of our favorite Christmas movies.

And I got just what I was hoping for.   One weekend tons of snow poured down and everything was cancelled.  Even church.  So we stayed home, and loved it!

Eventually, we ventured outside and played, and played, and played.  And we went sledding!!! 

The sun was setting and the views of the sky were splendid.

But it was also FREEZING cold!!! Brooke was NOT a fan, not at all.  She’d be laughing hysterically on the way down…but that was it.  Everything else in between, she’d be crying and whining. 

But not Tanner.  He LOVED every second.

And yes, even the wipe outs.  Thanks Uncle Brendan!!!

Crash Course with Uncle Brendan

Thankfully, round two was smooth sailing!

Smooth sledding

And these pics bring a smile to my face.  Seriously, doesn’t it  make you wish you were a little kid again?!?

And everyone else was having a grand-ole time too.  And you can’t go sledding without attempting to make a train.  The first few attempts were complete wrecks, but after a few adjustments…

Train-wreck

Quincy was adorable and having a blast!  She’s such a fun, spunky little girl.  Here’s to hoping this will be Brooke next year!

And even myself, I went down one time.  That’s about as much as my bottom can handle :)