2008 Family Accomplishments

All these items will be listed in no particular order. Oh, and these lists are not meant to be exhaustive. Just some highlights.

We'll start with the family member who progressed the most.
John (currently 18 months old)
1. Got 12 teeth.
2. Learned to crawl.
3. Learned to walk, run.
4. Learned to understand a great deal of spoken language and learned to say at least 75 words
5. Developed a love for books
6. Ate his first ice cream and chocolate, among other foods
7. Started the habit of playing with his own belly button while drinking his cup of milk
8. Got a head full of red hair
9. Learned to throw a ball (surprisingly good at it, actually)

Next, the family member whose achievements are hardest to enumerate.
Charlie (currently 3 1/2 years old)
1. Listened to hundreds of books being read to him
2. Learned to use the toilet! Even at night!
3. Built and destroyed about a hundred different train track configurations with his GeoTrax train set
4. Learned to pray
5. Went to the dentist for the first time and had a positive experience
6. Developed a love for soda (wait, these are supposed to be accomplishments
7. Learned to do jigsaw puzzles

And now, for the guy who (unintentionally, I'm sure) makes us all look bad:
Jeremy
1. Helped open Boise Public Library's first branch library in his capacity as part-time librarian
2. Planned, planted, and cared for our first garden. With small amounts of help from me.
The garden was so fabulously prolific and beautiful and, well, yummy.
3. Completed his first major mosaic project
4. Mastered the arts of sourdough and artisan bread-baking
5. Applied for, got accepted to, and successfully completed the first quarter of a Master of Library Information Science program
6. Made freezer apricot jam, canned plum jam and pear butter, and canned pears, all for the first time.
7. Got a second part-time job and excelled at that, too.
8. Built a sandbox for the boys

And finally,
Ann
1. Started and coordinated a playgroup in my ward
2. Resurrected my blog and got a few people to read it
3. Taught a journaling and personal writing class (twice) for women at church
4. Washed, folded, and put away approximately 700 loads of laundry. Ok, I have no idea if that number is accurate in the least, but it felt like 7000 loads of laundry, so I'll stick with the conservation guess of 700.
5. Stopped buying bread from stores. Started making all our family's bread at home.
6. Listened to the entire Harry Potter series on CD. I'm not sure how that's an accomplishment, but it was really fun.
7. Planned and executed (with some help) an awesome surprise anniversary date for Jeremy
8. Started flossing consistently. Remember?

I know I did a lot of other things that made a difference to my family and maybe even some other people. Those accomplishments are just really hard to list. Should I say "did ten gazillion dishes" and "changed 40 trillion diapers" and "brushed a little boy's teeth 364 times"? Maybe. But really, no one wants to read THAT list. I'm surprised you even read this far.