Recipes for Living Cody Mann

I am so very special
I have been from the start
Before they held me in their arms
My family held me in their heart.

And like a single drop of rain
That on still waters fall
My life and love will ripples make
And touch the lives of all.

So read this precious story
As step by step I grow
I am a blessing and a gift
As each page here will show.
By Cathryn Stanley

My name is Cody Jonathan Mann and I am two years old (born May 15, 1997). Fern came to our house so that Mommy Raquel and I could tell her about me. I know Fern because I have gone to her house with my daddy to fix her computer. That is what Daddy does. He works at Miller Products on their computers.

I haven't been up very long and am carrying my ni-night blanket that I take everywhere with me. Pretty soon Mommy and I are going to have lunch with my daddy and then she and I are going to Waterloo to see Grandma Brigitte and Grandpa Ron (Drury). That was where Mommy grew up and she met my daddy, Darren, there when she was a sophomore in high school. She was working at a tanning spa and Daddy went there to do some work. He was going to school at the University of Northern Iowa, at Cedar Falls. They went together for three years and became engaged, and three years they were married on May 13, 1995.

I am glad they did that and had me because they really like me. My mommy has filled two big scrap books with my pictures and things about me and I am only two-years-old. Some people would say that I am in my terrible two's but Fern thinks anybody who has a cherub face like mine couldn't possibly be terrible.

I know where I live-Osceola, Iowa. Daddy and Mommy moved here ahead of me, after Daddy got his degree and a job at Miller Products. They have been here seven years. Mommy went to SWCC (Southwestern Community College) for two years and got a Liberal Arts degree. Now she works for Dr. Meyer at Clarke County Dental Health Center 25 hours (three days) a week. Mary Kale baby sits me from 7:30 to 3:30 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Daddy picks me up when he gets off work at 3:30. While I am there I get to play with Reed and Carter and Aimee and Colten and McKenzie. I also have other good friends, Caleb and Kelsie; and grown-ups like our neighbors-Byron and Kay England. Byron plays his guitar for me.

My daddy and mommy take me lots of places. Daddy and I go fishing in our boat. My favorite thing to play with is my fishing rod and I know how to cast. One time I caught a fish and it was t-h-i-s big. (He is already adept at fish stories.) Our dogs Cocoa and Mandy go with us. They are German Short-hairs and they like to jump into the water when we are fishing.

One time when Daddy had the day off, we went to Omaha to the zoo. I saw fishies, monkeys, an elephant, and a giraffe eating leaves off the trees. And there were ladies feeding penguins. Mommy and Daddy bought me a stuffed monkey that I sleep with.

Besides my mommy and daddy, there are other people in my life. I have a great-great great-grandma, my daddy's great-grandma who is 97 years-old. And there is Grandma Linda who lives in Cherokee, where Daddy grew up. My Grandpa Ozzie was killed in an accident December 9, 1998, when I was 19 months old. One time Grandma Linda and I were outside at night and she told me that Grandpa Ozzie was up in the sky with Jesus. I saw all the stars and asked her if Grandpa had his flashlight on. I remember him really well and sometimes forget that I can't see him. I'll ask, "Where's Grandpa?" Or I'll see his truck and think about him. On his birthday, June 28, I sang "Happy Birthday'' to him.

I know some other songs, too. I can sing the ABC song and "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star''. I can count to 10 and one time Mommy tried to count the number of words I know but, when she got to 200, she quit. That was when I was younger than I am now. I know to say "Please and thank you" and sometimes I say ''Please" real loud. I usually get what I want when I do that. I know colors, like Mommy's favorite, red; and I know purple and yellow and blue and green.

Mommy said that I am going to have a little brother or sister some day but I like being the only child. She has already started a scrap book, however; and I suppose I will learn to share like we do at Mary's and like I will do at school. But I won't go until I am four-years-old and that is a long time from now! I will live this long again before I go! But it will be all right because every
day I have a lot of fun.