Mar
23
2012
You can reach and hold things! I can’t express how happy and accomplished you seem when you grab something you wanted. You love to sit and explore your Dragon in your carseat. You grab my shirt while nursing.
You rolled right over back to tummy for an audience at my MOPS table. It seems you need an audience to complete any new skill. Which is okay since two little girls are often caught fawning over your every move. And, also, because you can woo just about any woman with your little smiles.
I still am in awe of how sensitive you can be. Your sisters have begun to yell “God!” every time we read it in The Jesus Storybook Bible
You’re also obsessed with your feet! You can’t get them into your mouth yet, but you can grab your thigh. But mostly, you’ll just lay on your back and rub your ankles together for hours. It’s adorable!
You’re growing each day and learning so much. I see you longing to play hard with the big kids and as strong as you are, I wouldn’t be surprised if you were sitting or creeping this time next month!
Mar
22
2012
Cloud dough?
What on earth is cloud dough?!
That’s what I said too.
It was easy enough to make: 4 cups flour to 1/2 cup oil.
So I tossed it together and put it in a plastic bin on the back porch.
I could hardly keep my hands out of the stuff while mixing it together. If you squeeze it, it keeps that form until pressed on again. It feels like soft sand. It was so soothing.
Apparently the girls thought the same thing.
They played with the stuff on the back porch while it drizzled rain
for THREE WHOLE HOURS!
I couldn’t believe it.
We had a playdate the next day. Just a picnic in someone’s backyard.
I bought two bags of flour worth. I filled a swimming pool.
All these kids couldn’t keep their hands out of it either.
And they played quietly and kindly. Rare for this age group.
Do yourself a favor: go make some cloud dough for your toddlers right now. Just make sure you keep this outside… or on a huge tablecloth. 🙂
Mar
19
2012
Conditioner, papers, toys, a camera, and dishes littler the counter. Baby boy plays in his Pack N Play- his own little kitchen island. The floors are growing leftovers from the meals of hungry toddlers. The microwave defrosts something for dinner with it’s loud drone.
It’s like my life threw up all over the place.
I whip cream cream cheese and I remember my old dreams. Dreams to write, to mentor, to create, to photograph.
I woke last night from a dream about bananas costing $0.37 and I nearly jumped right into my car. My dreams, too, seem to have shrunk.
I make lunches. I change diapers. I make dinners. I read stories. I fumble along at serving the husband. I trip in anger over a small defiant body. I rage like a volcano. I repent. And, then, start all over again.
I rarely hear thank you. I rarely hear honest encouragement. I rarely have someone challenge me to grow.
Then it sears me, hotter than the jalapenos I’m stuffing. Searing truth in a voice.
When did it all become about me?
Isn’t the mission bigger?
And I turn.
I let the PJ clad toddlers lick the cream cheese of the beaters.
I smile at the boy in the Pack n Play
I pack up outgrown dresses and verses and drive across town to encourage a friend.
A new season begins. One of experimenting with how to live out the gospel.
How to say thank you with movement.
Moving toward the heart of God.
Moving toward those quiet dreams of heaven.
Counting more Gifts He gives to help me move closer to Him. (3081-3086)
- Singing “O I love my chubby baby.” to the tune of “Come Thou Font of Every Blessing”
- Laughing at the MASSIVE baby blowout all over my skirt, couch, and baby
- Cloud dough play for hours
- Petal snow on the deck
- Derek giving me a much needed day off on Saturday afternoon
- Projects coming together
Mar
19
2012The humble person receives praise the way a clean window takes the light of the sun. The truer and more intense the light is, the less you see of the glass.
Thomas Merton
Mar
19
2012
You two have grown so much in the last 6 months. We have conversations. You can tell me what hurts when you’re sick. You can dance for the shear joy of it. You hold hands and help each other out.
And, oh, how you make mommy and daddy laugh!
Aeralind Grace
You are still as detail oriented as ever. You’ll sit and play with lacing beads or puzzles for hours at a time. You find the the tiniest things in pictures and then exclaim “Wight dere!” with joy.
One of your favorite things of late (thanks to daddy I’m sure), has been sitting outside very still and waiting until you see it. “Wobin!” you exclaim as a bird lands and starts digging up succulent morsels from our yard. “Nother one!” When you spot his buddy. You could watch birds at the feeder all day long. You’ll take my face gently in your hands and point it toward the feeder to show me the Carolina Wren who dips into your handmade orange peel feeder.
So as not to make you both sound like perfect angels, I’ll toss in a paragraph about where your rough spots are. Aerie you’re a whiner and a squealer. If something doesn’t go your way… I know my ears need to be plugged. You sister will antagonize you just to hear you make noise. And when I rebuke you… You fall down flat on your stomach in a silent tantrum which makes me alternatively want to laugh or shake you. But you’re growing. You’ve learned that tantrums are disrespectful. You’re learning about self-control.
You take a long time to walk from place to place. It’s like you’re lost in your own world (kinda like a girl I once knew who would follow her mom around in a store reading a book). The other day I turned around to beckon you to stay closer to me in the YMCA parking lot and I caught you doing the silliest thing. Your were rolling your arms and swaying your hips and walking, just as focused as can be. It cracked me up!
Bronwyn Hope
You were being a total cheese ball for these photos. I couldn’t stop laughing at your mouth full of dinosaur sandwich and your goofy antics every time I told you to look at the camera. But these photos are so uniquely you!
You’re a goofy little kid with no fear in new situations and a ridiculous sense of humor. The other day I drew a snake on your doodle pad and then drew a kitty on top. You thought it was the funniest joke ever. “‘Nake! Kitty!” You’d demand for me to draw it any time you saw the doodle pad and then laugh hysterically. I just can’t express how often we bust a gut watching you try to do somersaults or when you’re up in a tree climbing with daddy and just take off.
Bronwyn, your little heart is often a mess. You want things your way and you want them “Wight now!” You’ll do whatever you want until you’re met with a consequence that you don’t like and even then the consequence might have to be repeated a dozen or more times before you get the message. You struggle to come when asked. And you can be antagonistic and rude to your sister. Even Sedryn has been in the way of a well timed hit! Your little heart softens a little in the moments after discipline and, overall, is learning to enjoy the structure and consistency of discipline. I’ve even caught little smiles of relief when you’ve left the discipline area.
One of the advantages of your strong little will is that you always know what you want and you chase after it with gusto! Potty training yourself is one of those areas. Grabbing just the storybook you want is another. Tugging daddy’s hand and asking for him to come is common. I see you softening with each new vocabulary word; although you don’t take no easily, you satisfied to know that we know exactly what you want.
