Thankful Thursday

SNOW DAYS!!!! With my husband home!!!!! Need I say more?!?!?

Wordless Wednesday - happy 5 months old baby Levi!

This boy who is 2

I wonder if he will always be this way, this boy who is 2. The parts of his personality that so evidently come through, and have since he was a baby; what will this look like as he grows? To me his characteristics and tendencies seem so well defined for one his age, and I wonder where this all came from? How did he get to be this way? I think it has less to do with me than I could have ever imagined, and more to do with the inherent nature God gave him. Watching him grow and experience life, seeing how he'll respond, what will catch his interest, is a joy for me.

Asher, at 2 years old, you are...

... bright and observant. You notice so much for your age, sometimes things I wish you didn't notice, but you do anyways. These past 2 weeks you've learned your phone number and you can now tell that to me when I ask. You learned the alphabet by playing a puzzle game with Papa over the period of a week or so. You remember people's cars and know who has already arrived at an event before us by pointing out their vehicles. You know where we're going by the landmarks we pass. Every week as we go to church you say "There's the fire station" as we get close. You memorize the lines in books, and could probably do a pretty good job "reading" to me some of your favorites. Today you read one of your Lightening McQueen books to yourself and I swear you got almost every line, "How many race cars go around the track? One, two, three!"

... passionate. You want to know everything there is to know about cars and tractors and trains. You spot these vehicles a mile away, even before I see them. Your eyes light up and sparkle when you see an excavator digging or a dump truck dumping. You recreate these scenes with a million unimaginable objects at home. Spoons, pieces of paper, toys, cups, anything you can find is some sort of construction vehicle. You know the names of almost all your dinky cars, and not a day passes when we don't have some elaborate conversation about this.

... reserved. You study new situations and people and need time to get comfortable. You're cautious and slow to warm up. You like to know about these things in advance, and then will stand back and observe and watch before you participate in something new. Undoubtedly your thumb will find it's way in your mouth and you'll finger my sleeve. Our new swimming lesson, at a new time, and with a new instructor, really threw you off. When you are unsure of a situation, you'll say "I want to go to my house now" and you stick close by. Once you're comfortable and familiar, you're able to let go, relax, and learn. You like the familiar. You like the known.

... into the details and routine. You line up your books in a straight row against the wall or on window sills. You match up your Cars character dinky cars to the corresponding picture in a book. You have to have your green cup to drink water, your juice cup for your juice, and your milk cup for your milk. We have to read stories and cuddle at bedtime, with you on the side of the lamp, and me on the side of the heater, of course. You remember order, and you like repetition. I can't tell you how many times we've read the same books, over and over. I can't count how many times you've watched the Cars movie, and still it is your first choice when you watch TV.

... sensitive. You feel things strongly and you show it. You're empathetic and point out to me when someone else is sad. You get sad when characters in books are sad. Your face always lights up in the Llama books when he's happy that his Mama comes back. You're able to say "I'm frustrated!" and "I'm sad" and "I'm happy!". You need to talk about your feelings as you feel them, and you express them in other ways when you don't have the words.

... loving towards your friends and family. You talk often about the important people in your life and ask to go to their house. You giggle and run and laugh about things that don't make sense to anyone else with the toddlers you tote around with. You have little friendships that matter to you, and you want to spend time with these people. You are always excited to go to Nana and Grandpa's house, and never fail to remind me that Matthew and Dexter will be there too. You remember the names of people in our church who you've spoken to in passing. You wave excitedly at special adults who have taken a liking to you. You have just started to say out of the blue "I love you, Mama". You talk to Levi in a little baby voice, and hug and kiss him, and smile when he smiles at you. You pray at night for those you love; "Thank you God for ..."

This is how I see you now, my sweet boy who is 2 (you remind me often that Levi is a baby and you're a little boy). I love your personality and the characteristics that make you who you are today. How you will grow and change and develop, that I do not know. But what I do know is that, just as I love all these quirks about you now, as challenging as they sometimes can be, I will love who you are growing up to be too. I already do. Asher, you have my heart.

Thankful Thursday - post-baby body edition

I've been struggling a bit lately with my post-baby body. I find it's harder to lose the weight this time around, and it's certainly not coming off as fast as I would like. In a culture imploding with messages about having a slim figure, it's hard to not thing about it too much.

This week I happened across a website that someone had linked on their facebook page about this topic. I was really touched by this poem in particular:


Antithesis

I am large in my skin
I make no apology
This belly grew three babies
Why should it be flat?
It curves with the memory of the womb.
These breasts fed three babies
Why should they be pert?
They swell with the memory of milk.
These hips carried three children
Why should they be slim?
They are full with the memory of life.
My bones are secret under flesh
My skin plump and white and fine
Mine is the face of Botticelli
Mine is the water of the Nile
Mine is the shape of things forbidden
Daughter of Gaia, grown beautiful and wild.

~Lorri Barrier

Although I don't fully related to every aspect the writer describes, I am thankful that there are other women out there who struggle with loving their post-baby bodies. This poem is a good reminder for me to celebrate and love what my body did by growing, birthing, and feeding 2 beautiful boys, and for that I am thankful.

Wordless Wednesday

Asher's first day at preschool

UPDATE:

The report is in: Asher did GREAT at his first day of preschool! His teachers said he was really social, remembered people's names, followed the routine, and didn't cry or show any aggression. He didn't want to wash his hands and said "I'll do that at home" but Roxy was able to get him to by saying "Let's go make bubbles with our hands!". He sat through circle time and was interested in the songs, but he did not eat any snack, saying "My apples and my oranges will stay right there". When the class did a new activity, writing with colored water through squirt bottles on snow, Asher was slow to warm up and just watched, but he did eventually join in and then had fun. There was also one boy in particular he enjoyed playing with. When I went to pick him up, he was working on a jigsaw puzzle with one of the teachers, and didn't want to come home.

Once we got home, Asher was having some trouble listening and being gentle. Shortly after coming home, he climbed up on my lap, sucked his thumb, and asked me to rock him. And a few minutes after that he said "I miss Papa". I wondered if this was just his way of saying, through his behaviors, that today was a bit of an adjustment for him and he still needs his Mama, atleast a tiny bit. (Or maybe I just need to believe that!)

************************************************************************************

We've been talking to Asher for a few weeks now about going to "Roxy's school" as we call it, and we've been reading "Llama Llama Misses Mama" every night (a book about Llama going to school). Last night, like every night, we prayed with Asher and my prayer was that Asher would have fun at Roxy's school today. Asher's prayer was "Thank you God for Roxy".

Well this morning came and I couldn't have imagined a happier boy to be left at Roxy's school. He walked in the door and immediately went for a bulldozer and wanted to play. He saw his friend Marek and got even more excited. When it was time for me to leave I said "Asher, Mama's leaving, come say good-bye" and he responded with, "No, I don't want to come say bye, Mama". I don't even think he looked up from his play when I did walk out the door. He did atleast casually say "Bye, Mama", I think more for my benefit than for his.

Is it supposed to be easier or harder when your kid isn't sad about you leaving him for the first time with strangers? I didn't expect this reaction from Asher, but I'm glad that he is glad.

Here's some photos of our morning...

Have fun today, my sweet boy! I hope you laugh, learn, explore, grow, meet new friends, and have fun. I am so proud of you and I still can't even believe you are big enough to go to preschool. I miss you already and I can't wait to hear all about your big day! I know you'll do great.

Levi's new love

I pulled this bad boy out of hiding today...


And after a good cleaning and some instructional video on how to assemble it...


... Levi got to go for a whirl.


I must say, he was pretty into it...


... and he especially liked checking out the handsome dude in the mirror!


He's such a big boy now at 4-months old...


... and already having to share with his brother!


Pretty happy dudes right there, and a pretty happy Mama too!