Jessie Lyman's Journals, Part 14

I previously introduced you to my great-great grandmother, Jessie Lyman Eckert.  You can read the first post here, and subsequent post are filed under


Jessie Lyman was born January 2, 1878.  She graduated from Westport High School (Westport, MO, now part of Kansas City) in 1897 at the head of her class.  From what I have read of her diaries so far, it appears she went on to teach school for a couple years in Columbia, MO.  She married Herman Eckert in June of 1899.  On July 26, 1900, she died giving birth to twins Conrad and Cornelia at the age of 22.  Conrad is my mother's mother's father. 
 

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Sat, Jan 15, 1898

I mended my underskirt this morning which suffered from a game of "One, two, three little Injuns," with the children the other day.
After I had finished it, I got ready and Clarence and I went to town. I got ribbon and thread for my spool-holder and lace for my handkerchief. I strung up the spool-holder when I got home, and it looks very pretty.
This evening Francis, Aunt Florence and I went to Mrs. Ann Scott's to call but she wasn't at home so we went to Cattie's. She wasn't at home either, but we spent a very pleasant evening. Our experiences with briers, brush piles, rail fences, muddy branches, etc. were quite thrilling. Francis failed to "see the fun" when the briers made lasting impressions on him.

Sun, Jan. 16.

I went to church this morning and heard a good sermon.
Forest received a letter from Papa today and he gave it me to read.
Dr. Parker was very pleasant to me, and seemed glad to see me.
I wonder if Mr. Emmett will be here this evening.
I have been reading all afternoon.
I must write down a name which Aunt Florence told me today. She knew of a boy named William Elderidge Henrico Consalvo Salvado Clayton.

Mon, Jan. 17.

Mr. Emmett did come yesterday evening, and brought me a box of candy.
I finished that handkerchief for Ella at 12 P.M. tonight. It is very pretty.

Tues, Jan. 18.

Francis, Forest and I went to see "Killarney on the Rhine" this evening. It was fine.

Wed, Jan. 19.

I intended to stay all night at Uncle Wallie's tonight, but he got up a party to go to the show, so I came home. Just about the time we were ready to go it began to rain so we didn't go. I was glad we didn't. It was a very bad night. We played games at home.

Thurs, Jan. 20.

I got my box and letter off to Mamma yesterday.
I am going to spend the night at Uncle Wallie's.

[Begin second note book]

Diary
1898          Jessie Lyman
Jan. 21.

I had a fine time at Uncle Wallie's last night. Jehu, Uncle Wallie, Aunt Mary, and I played croconole [sic] until twelve o'clock. I haven't laughed so much before since I have been here. We finished breakfast at 8:10 this morning. It was a beautiful morning.
This is Mamma's 52nd birthday.
I got a letter from Herman yesterday which I must answer this evening.
I sang and recited for the children today.

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A quick Googling will show that play's name is actually "Killarney and the Rhine", although I'm still not sure what it's about.

That quite pedantic little [sic] is there because the game is spelled "crokinole", which is a board game which is a cross between marbles and shuffleboard.  And apparently there is a recent documentary about the World Crokinole Championship, so there ya go.

Only a few more posts to go!

Three Years of Awesome

This baby I made... She's so big!

 [Less than 12 hours old] [Birth story]

My high-needs, clingy, always-nursing, never-sleeping babby has turned into a friendly, social, talkative, insightful, and curious preschooler. 

 

[First Birthday]

We weaned about a month and a half ago.  I like snuggling with her a lot better now.

She's never met a stranger.  She only knows what "shy" means because they talked about it on Blue's Clues. 

 

[Second Birthday]

Her imagination has really taken off in the last month.  She sometimes spends an hour at a time playing by herself with her toys, making up stories, and she's just recently discovered the concept of the imaginary friend.  (Her first: Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.  She has pretended to be other people and to talk to other people -- characters, mostly -- who aren't there, but this was the first time she was herself, and she waited in silence in between her sentences for the imaginary person to finish talking.)

It seems that she's everything I could never be -- isn't that exactly what parents hope for their children?

[A couple weeks ago] 

[We asked her what she wanted to wear that day. "Cat costume!" was her second choice, after "Chicken costume!"]

Happy Birthday, Lucy!  Here's to the next 3 years and beyond!



Bonus!
Video of Lucy opening a present last year:

 

Video of Lucy in her playhouse this Easter weekend:

She has so many more words now!! The human brain is a marvel.

Jessie Lyman's Journals, Addendum

I've been typing up the journals of my great-great grandmother, Jessie Lyman Eckert, as a series of posts here on the blog.  You can read the first post here, and subsequent post are filed under

I have Jessie's engagement ring (minus the diamond, which is in another family ring at the moment).  It's just lovely.  Good job, Herman!

 [I think I'm supposed to get the diamond back at some point, but I don't really care. Maybe someday I'll have the money to have the ring sized and a different stone put in it. It's so beautiful.]

Jessie Lyman's Journals, Part 13

I previously introduced you to my great-great grandmother, Jessie Lyman Eckert.  You can read the first post here, and subsequent post are filed under

Jessie Lyman was born January 2, 1878.  She graduated from Westport High School (Westport, MO, now part of Kansas City) in 1897 at the head of her class.  From what I have read of her diaries so far, it appears she went on to teach school for a couple years in Columbia, MO.  She married Herman Eckert in June of 1899.  On July 26, 1900, she died giving birth to twins Conrad and Cornelia at the age of 22.  Conrad is my mother's mother's father.

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Sat, Jan. 8

I spent the morning patching and the afternoon at Aunt Mary's working on a silk handkerchief.
Walter, Francis and I started to skate this evening, but couldn't get any one to go with us, so we came home. I rode Old Annie.

Sun, Jan. 9.

I wanted to go to church to hear Dr. Quayle today, but it rained, so I couldn't. I wrote two letters -- one to Herman and one to Ella.
Mr. Emmett spent the evening with me. He left rather early.

Mon, Jan. 10.

"The rain descended and the floods came," and the children stayed at home today. I had only five pupils. I dismissed at 2:15. I worked on my handkerchief.

Tues, Jan. 11.

I selected some pieces for my spool holder and got the parts ready to work the button holes.

Wed, Jan. 12.

I worked on my handkerchief at noon today.
I have been reading the "Fools Errand" this evening.

Thurs, Jan. 13.

I finished my spool holder this evening. It will be very pretty, I think. The button-holes are nothing to brag of, but I guess they will do.

Fri, Jan. 14.

I have just finished a letter to Herman in answer to one I got last night. I must now get to work on that handkerchief and finish it up to send with the spool holder.

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Did I miss the part where she said who the handkerchief and spool holder are for?  I wish I knew what this spool holder looked like.  All I can think of is something like this, but that doesn't have button holes.

Looks like this is the Dr. Quayle she mentions.

It occurs to me just now for the first time that my great-grandfather probably read these journals over many times, as he never had the chance to know his mother.  I wonder when he first got hold of them?

The Bert Conspiracy

Since having a daughter and starting to watch Sesame Street and own Sesame Street toys again, I have made a bizarre discovery.  At first it was only a sneaking suspicion, but now I am sure.  I know the truth, and now I share it with you.

In short, the Bert toys of the world, being as boring, stuffy, and generally un-fun as the Muppet in whose likeness they are made, are all abandoning their jobs as children's playthings and going AWOL.

EXHIBIT A:

Lucy received this set of bath toys new, as a Christmas gift.  The set came with a Bert.  I've seen him, held him, made him talk.  But sometime between 2 summers ago and the day we moved out of our last house, he made his escape.  We're not sure when, where, or how -- we only know that he is gone.

UPDATE: While Norman and I both agree that there was definitely a life-jacketed Bert included in this set, and that he is now missing, all listings of this toy on the internet show only Ernie and Elmo.  This conspiracy deepens...


EXHIBIT B:

I purchased this RV travel set at a thrift store a few months before we moved.  I saved it to give to Lucy on the road ("See? Your Sesame Street friends are moving across the country, too!").  After I bought it, I did some research to see how old the set was.  My discovery -- it originally came with a Bert, nowhere to be found at the thrift store.  A tiny lantern and picnic basket survive, in addition to the RV door that's not even attached, but Bert goes missing? Curious.


EXHIBIT C:

I found this tiny stuffed Ernie at a rummage sale.  Just the right size to fit in a Christmas stocking with his friend Bert.  But all of my searching through piles of grungy old rummage sale toys was in vain.  No tiny stuffed Bert in sight.


EXHIBIT D:

I found these pieces in a large bucket of free toys at a garage sale this weekend.  I found Cookie Monster, Big Bird, and Elmo.  I thought, "Bert missing again?"  But no -- I couldn't be sure.  Perhaps neither Bert nor Ernie made it into the design for this toy.  And then I spotted Ernie.  I've not been able to find a photo of this complete set online, and other characters are clearly missing (they are numbered), but Bert was most definitely gone.  My kid-grime-covered hands told the story.

Where are these Berts?  Where do they go?  What do they do after freeing themselves from a life of tea parties and inane preschool small talk?  We can only guess.  But as a fellow introvert, I can do nothing but wish them well on their journeys.

Jessie Lyman's Journals, Part 12

I previously introduced you to my great-great grandmother, Jessie Lyman Eckert.  You can read the first post here, and subsequent post are filed under

Jessie Lyman was born January 2, 1878.  She graduated from Westport High School (Westport, MO, now part of Kansas City) in 1897 at the head of her class.  From what I have read of her diaries so far, it appears she went on to teach school for a couple years in Columbia, MO.  She married Herman Eckert in June of 1899.  On July 26, 1900, she died giving birth to twins Conrad and Cornelia at the age of 22.  Conrad is my mother's mother's father.

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Sat, Jan. 1, 1898.

The new year has begun well. This was a beautiful day. We went down to Hinkston Creek to skate. The whole neighborhood was there again. The ice was fine. We skated till we were ready to drop, and then started for our two mile walk home, through cucklebur patches, cornfields, pastures, etc. with once in a while a rail fence to climb by way of variety. We finally dragged our weary feet over the styles and succeeded in reaching the sitting room, where we dropped into the nearest chairs and refused to move except in pursuit of something to satisfy our ravenous appetites. Such a dinner as we did eat! After resting for some time, Forest took Mr. Marshal to town in the buggy. He seemed to have a good time. Francis and Clarence are skating this evening but I begged to be excused for this time.
I got the frame for Herman's picture today. He looks fine in it.

Jan. 2, 1898.

This is my birthday. I am twenty years old and don't feel more than eighteen. Teaching school makes one "age" though. If I spend much more time at it I'll soon be forty.
I didn't go to church today.

Jan. 3d.

This day seemed so long! I am getting a little bit homesick.

Jan. 4th.

I had to keep several boys after school today for skating so far away that they couldn't hear the bell.

Jan. 5th. Wed.

Today passed off more pleasantly. I kept in several children however. I wish I could get a letter from Mamma.
Clarence fell in the pond while putting up ice today.

Jan. 6. Thurs.

Francis fell in today and furnished amusement for the crowd. I went skating this evening.

Fri, Jan. 7.

I got a letter from Herman today.
Aunt Florence went to town today and I rode home from Uncle Wallie's with her. Only 7 more weeks of school!

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I corrected her birth year in the intro -- It had said 1877 (according to the family history written by my great-grandfather), but I'm going to trust her word over anything else. 

Egg Hunt (and What I Put in This Year's Easter Eggs)

This Facebook status pretty much sums up this year's Easter egg hunt at our house:

I guess I left out the part where she was thrilled and delighted to find treats that she gets to eat every day in the eggs, and set about finishing off each treat before she opened the next egg.  (Said treats: chocolate chips [admittedly a larger quantity than normal], apple chips, walnuts, and a dark chocolate/almond/cherry thing from Costco [y'all -- I can't find even a photo of these on the internet, but they are amazing. No creepy ingredients and tasty as heck. Get thee to a Costco.].)

 [Norman, stickerfied.]

This kid.  Seriously.  I know we're decent parents, but there's a giant amount of good luck/providence here.

So, a couple of treats...

 

a couple of stickers....

some balloons....

but the cool, awesome, epic thing I teased in my other Facebook status is....

I made finger puppets to put in some of the eggs!

Steve and Blue (from Blue's Clues), and Cookie Monster, Prairie Dawn, Grover, and Elmo (from Sesame Street, of course). 

A friend shared this link with me as a non-candy Easter egg filling idea.  And I was kinda sorta planning to make a couple.  But then I was hangin' out on the internet doing goodness knows what, and it just hit me that I should make finger puppets of some of her favorite characters instead.  I sketched out the ones I thought would be relatively straightforward to make and got to work:

I wish I could give you instructions, but I cannot.  It just involved a lot of felt, fabric paint, tiny scissors, and trial and error.  But, as it usually does, it worked out.  Close enough for government work, anyway.  (That's an idiom.  Do people say this, or just my mom?)

In any case, Happy belated Easter!