All is Calm

My boys are both still snoozing. I suppose we don't have too many more years before Spencer is waking us up on Christmas morning, but for this year at least he is still fuzzy on the concept and I am the only creature stirring. Well, Baby Sister is keeping me company. She is going to be a real mover n shaker, to judge from her in-utero activity.

But anyway, I took some time to clean off the pics from my phone and although most of these are not terribly recent there were several cute enough to share.

Getting a haircut at the kids' salon...

Charming the waitress at Pepito's...

The friendly but inconvenient dog who crashed a playdate at our house in October...

All worn out from his Thanksgiving celebration at MDO...

Playing guitar with Daddy (apparently after playing with stickers)...

Best wishes to everyone for a blessed and merry day with your family!

Snow Bunny

We had a rare snowfall Saturday morning which Spencer enjoyed very much.

Enough Already with the Insufferable Cuteness

Since Spencer moved out of the crib a couple months back we have of course had to change some details of our bedtime routine. But the basic bath-books-bed formula remains intact. Once we moved our bedtime book-reading to the end of Spencer's bed rather than the rocking chair, I had to figure out how to get comfy and accomodate the GAT (giant abdominal tumor, otherwise known as Baby Girl, otherwise known as Critter). So I got into the habit of putting a throw pillow behind my back and leaning against the wall for the reading portion of the evening. At first I was taking the pillow back to the couch with me once I left his room each night, but inevitably I forgot it, and soon just leaving it there became a habit.

So here is the part I want to make sure I lock in the memory storage for when Spencer is 14 and giving me attitude. Shane and I gradually began to notice that the pillow was migrating from its position at the edge of the bed. It kept moving up to the top of the bed, or sometimes the middle. Basically it was following Spencer around in his nightly adventures. Since pillows generally do not move themselves we can only assume Spencer is responsible. And since his other pillows do not move, that means he feels attached to this pillow. And since there is nothing especially comfy about this pillow, I choose to believe that what is special is that mommy uses it. And it may seem a very small thing, but somehow the idea that he wants to keep that pillow near, well...let's just say it's kind of a nice feeling.

Elmo's World

I have probably mentioned before that although we try to limit TV, Spencer does watch Sesame Street an awful lot. Elmo is just about the only TV/movie 'character' he ever gets excited about, and lately I have been getting Elmo DVDs from Netflix to give him a little variety.
One of his favorites of these DVDs was about body parts (hands, feet, ears) and there is a little segment where they show kids washing their hands. If you are not familiar with Elmo's World (and if you don't have a toddler why on earth would you be?), Elmo has a pet goldfish named Dorothy; he and the other characters often talk to Dorothy, although since she is played by an actual goldfish she tends not to answer.

So anyways, in the hand washing portion of the program, there is a little boy, maybe 6 or so, who demonstrates a very elaborate and impressive technique. His parents clearly spent some time schooling this kid on the proper method. The first thing he does is check the water temperature, and when he's satisfied, he tells the fish "it's not too hot, Dorothy."

I gave all that tedious explanation so that I could tell you this: a few nights ago Shane apparently got the bathwater a teeny bit too warm, because when Spencer got in the tub he informed his dad, "it's too hot Dorothy!" And since then, every time we wash his hands he tells me and Dorothy that it's not too hot. It cracks me up every time. It has the feeling of one of those family phrases that persist for decades long after everyone has forgotten where it came from.

Nasty Cough

Apparently while he was battling pneumonia Spencer learned that coughing gets Mommy and Daddy's attention. Today at breakfast when told he could only have more waffles if he ate his pears, he produced a very pitiful (and very fake) cough. Then he gave me the puppy eyes and said 'nasty cough!'.
I'm not sure who won, but he did eat some pears.

Too Hard

A friend of mine has a supercute, supersweet 2yr old son who happens to have cerebral palsy. Not that it would would really make any difference if he were not such an irresistible kid. But I digress.
Back in August my friend began looking for a mom's morning out/preschool program for her son. To her surprise, each place she visited (mostly church-run and not subject to ADA) turned them down flat. These programs claimed they just did not have the resources or personnel to care for a child with special needs. I like to think of myself as fair-minded, and to an extent I can understand this logic...but the flaw here is that we are talking about an age group where the children are all young enough to still have 'special needs.' A 2 year old who wears a diaper, occasionally needs a little help feeding himself, doesn't walk so great? That is not really 'special' in my book. But she just took deep slow breaths and kept looking.
So finally she found a place, another church-run program. They agreed to take her son on a 'trial basis.' More deep breaths. So off to he went and at first all seemed to be well. The trial period passed with no fanfare and she thought things were working out great.

Then Thursday, out of the blue as far as she could tell, she was told her son could no longer attend. Caring for him was just too hard. She was told this was a decision that had been made by the church board 10 days prior. No one had had given her any hint there was a problem or made any attempt to work out a solution.

I don't know the whole story, not even really from a one-sided basis. I can't presume to know the thought process this church went through, nor the factors that led up to such a decision. Maybe they did it prayerfully and with every desire to do God's will. I can't say that their actions make them 'bad' Christians because I am not in any position to make that judgement.

But I keep thinking about the implications of their decision and their stated reasoning. If a group of Christian teachers think this child is 'too hard' to take care of for 4 measly hours twice a week, what does that really say to my friend, to all parents of children who aren't 'normal?' To whom can my friend turn when she is exhausted, physically and emotionally? She can't quit, she can't hand her son back and say 'no thanks, this is too hard.' This is her life. And people who presumably love God and believe He does not make mistakes, have in a sense told this mother that her child is flawed.

I wonder how many parents of so-called normal kids have not had moments when they felt overwhelmed by the task of caring for their children? I have certainly had plenty, even though I am pretty sure my son is really a very easy kid.

I'm not sure where I am going with all this. I am actually not too worried about my friend or her son...she is a tough cookie and by God's grace has the wisdom to know she has been blessed with her son, not stuck with him. She is not indulging in anger or despair but is already busy figuring out how to use this setback as a stepping stone toward something better. I think God knew exactly what He was doing when He made her family, and this ugly incident is also somehow part of the bigger plan.

Excuses

1. The dog ate my blog post.


2. My back hurts.


3. I have heartburn. From drinking WATER.


4. I had to go potty.


5. I'm tired.


6. The computer bluescreened.


7. I had to study for Sunday School.


8. I got distracted by Hulu.


9. DH just got a new Xbox game and posting might cause lag.


10. Spencer has pneumonia.

All true. Well except the first one.

Taken For Granted

Today we had a missionary visiting our church. He has been in Africa for about the last 15 years, learning a native language and then translating the Bible into it. The work this guy has done is amazing. He showed us a video of the big blowout party that was held in one town when the Bibles were finally delivered. Dancing, singing, feasting. It was a big deal.
I look at the shelf behind me lined with book after book, many of them Bibles and commentaries. I rarely pick them up, much less study them. They are largely part of the furniture.

Sunny Day

When reading title please imagine beginning of Sesame Street song.

Today was perfect fall weather and I was itching to enjoy it somehow. DH was sick so we left him at home and went to the park downtown.
Spencer loves to feed the ducks and geese so I took a big bag of old bread from the freezer. But it's a little frustrating because I cannot get the kid to throw the bread. He wants to, like, hand the bread directly to the birds. And he gets excited, so he winds up running at them, clutching his offering. You will not be surprised to hear that the birds scatter. Now by this time he has been holding a piece of bread in his sweaty fist for several minutes, and he tries to eat it himself. It's not moldy or anything, but still it's bread I decided was not fit for humans and stuck in the deep freeze months ago for future bird-feeding. So I really don't want him to eat it.
This scenario plays out over and over until I give up. No matter how many times I tell him not to eat the bread, not to run at the geese. No matter how I try to show him how to throw it. I think his little brain just sort of freezes up. Maybe he is just too excited and overwhelmed.
After we ran out of bread we went to the library, another of his favorite places. We have been visiting more often since I got pregnant again. They have a great kids' area with comfy grown-up chairs, so it is a convenient place for me to sit while he plays. The shelves are arranged so that it's kinda closed off and bascially he can't easily escape without me noticing. He loves all the books, and there is a lego table with plenty of blocks. Sometimes he actually asks to go to the library, so I think we must be doing something right.

Cheating

I kinda went off-track on my plan to post every day this month. Oh well, only human blah blah blah.
See, blogger has this cool feature where you can set the date when you post something. So I am totally going to cheat and back date some entries to catch up. Send snide comments and hate mail to getalife@yahoo.com.

(It just occured to me that is probably some poor innocent person's email address so please do not send them hate mail either.)

The Happy Dance

I have probably posted something about this topic before so maybe I will just be covering old ground again today. Just live with it Dear Readers. All two of you.
One of the recurrent themes of my life as a mom is the passionate desire not to 'ruin' Spencer. I don't have enough experience with little kids to know how much of his joy and exuberance is due to his personality and how much is just, well, youthful exuberance. But I know that 99% of the time he is a happy kid. When it's bathtime he hops in the tub with glee. When I say it's time to eat, he runs to the kitchen making joyful hooting noises. And after meals when I am washing his hands and face, I have to basically crabwalk around him in a circle because he is twirling around and dancing with delight. I suppose I have been labelling this the happy dance, because yesterday he was performing this maneuver while saying "happy dance! happy dance!" Don't get me wrong, there are definitely things Spencer doesn't like. But most of the time he is peachy keen with whatever is happening in his universe, and often seems delighted by it. Rocks are cool. Dogs are cool. Sticks are cool. And guitars? Those are uber-cool.
Me being the moody introspective cynic I often am, seeing the way he embraces almost every experience is generally bittersweet. My heart soars to see him grin, and yet breaks as well to think of how time and circumstance will serve to beat him down into the grumpy gravity befitting an adult.
Was I ever such a cheerful kid? Was DH? When do we stop doing the happy dance? Is it inevitable? I just pray that I can help him hold onto that joy for as long as possible, that I will somehow be able to transcend my own inner demons enough to not pass them on to him.

Pickin n Grinnin

Naturally Spencer likes to play guitar when Daddy does. I think it's pretty cool that he actually tries to use the pick. We are trying to find a 'real' guitar sized for him, but it's been kinda frustrating. There are plenty of guitars for children of course, but the trick is finding one that is not too expensive and also not complete junk, one that will make decent sounds but yet is cheap enough that we won't be always hassling him to take better care of it.

5 Things

I am thankful for today (in random order):

1. Friends
2. Rice pudding
3. The internet
4. The little vibrating pillow I have that fits right into the small of my back and eases the ache for 30 entire blessed seconds.
5. The hyper baby girl who is distorting my body and causing the need for pillow in #4 above.

NaBloPoMo

November is National Blog Posting Month in which a bunch of self-absorbed people who think the internet is interested in their pathetic lives vow to post a blog entry every day. I missed out on NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in October cuz I was way too busy being pregnant and tired, so I figure I will aim lower and do the blog thing, with all the aforementioned pathetic folks. For my first entry I will set the bar very low by copying something I posted on Facebook this morning. Sorry Brandi.

Last night I was sitting at the PC when DH came up and said (in annoyed tones) "Hey, don't you hear Spencer calling you!?" Apparently Spencer had been trying to get my attention for a while. But I was busy reading the Bad Mommy Moments blog(http://badmommymoments.wordpress.com/)
Was that ironic...or just inconvenient? I never can keep that straight. I blame Alannis.

My Boys

Enjoying the perfect weather last Sunday at the park.

The Big Boy Bed

Last Saturday we finally moved the crib into the 'nursery' and got Spencer's bed set up. Based on our informal polling of more experienced parents, we decided to just stick a mattress right on the floor to start out. We did go ahead and get safety rails, for 2 reasons: we wanted to put the bed right against the wall, and felt that the rails would minimize the chance of him getting trapped. Also we figured that since he is used to being sort of closed in, going from crib to bed-with-rails might feel a little more familiar and comfortable to him, as opposed to the completely open bed. Plus, he does move around a good bit in the night and even though a tumble to the floor would not be enough to injure him, it probably would be quite upsetting for everybody. Hence the rails.

So Saturday night DH and I were all hunkered down for the storm...we expected to hear the pitter patter of little feet waking us at all hours of the night. We made sure the fridge was stocked with Mt Dew to get us through church the next day. We told ourselves we would be patient and not get frustrated at having to repeatedly take him back to bed.

Well...as DH said, we always underestimate that kid. So far the transition has been glassy smooth. He goes right to sleep. He does not wander during the night. He sleeps all night long. He doesn't even get up on his own in the morning, just talks to his animals as usual until we go in to get him. I'm not quite ready to declare the mission accomplished, because I had at least one mom tell me her kids did not try to wander at night until after they had time to get used to the new freedom. So I'm trying to stay mentally prepared for that. But so far it has been easy-peasy and for that we are grateful.

Thanks to our friends Marilyn and Jordan for the cool dinosaur bedding...Spencer digs it!

The Little Dipper

"I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence, I can reach for; perfection is God's business."

Michael J. Fox (supposedly...internet quotes are so unreliable).

One of the many odd sterotypes I have confirmed as a mom is that little kids have strange eating habits. It's one thing to read or hear someone complain about how their kid won't eat, but it's quite another to try day after day, meal after meal, to feed a child in a manner that will get him decent nutrition and not drive you both crazy. Nothing prepares you for the reality of a little person who loves something one day and won't touch it the next.

There are certain things you can usually depend on a kid to eat, and though they vary for individuals, they tend to fall into the bread-and-chicken nugget food group. I guess it makes sense. But some things just puzzle me utterly. Mac n cheese, that staple of kid's diets worldwide? Spencer used to eat it just fine. But right now he won't.

Let me interject here that I do not cater to his whims. My basic strategy is to offer him what 'the family' is going to eat, and let him choose what to do from there. I do try to make sure there is at least one item on the menu that I think he'll eat, and I tend to offer snacks that he likes. My theory is if we keep offering choice and variety, without making a big deal about any food being 'good' or 'bad', then he will eventually get comfortable with more foods and have a healthy attitude about eating in general. But it seems like lately the list of foods he will reliably eat just keeps dwindling. So maybe I need to reevaluate that whole philosophy.

I haven't yet been able to identify any rhyme or reason to why he rejects things. He doesn't mind his food touching, and in fact usually scrambles everything on his plate into an unholy mess. He will eat anything and everything served to him at Pepitos, but at home will rarely eat a single bite of quesadilla or refried bean.

He used to eat fruit, most any kind. No longer. Bananas used to be a sure hit. Not anymore. And it's not because I let him get tired of them, because I rarely give him more than one a week. I read or heard somewhere that they can contriubte to constipation...another food-related struggle. But anyway...sometimes he will swallow the random bit of pineapple, but more often if fruit does wind up in his mouth then I eventually have to fish it out of his cheek myself.

Which brings me to one trick I have discovered that seems to help. Sort of. He loves to dip things. If not for various parenting magazines, I would think this was something he got from his father's family, who never met a condiment they did not like (except mayo, which is a topic for another day). But apparently this is common toddler behavior. Spencer is now familiar with and asks for by name: ketchup, honey mustard, BBQ sauce, fruit dip, and probably some I have forgotten. He even asked for and got to try some hot sauce DH was using, and did not make the slightest complaint. But we weren't sure how much of it actually got into his mouth.

This dipping business is all fine and dandy, especially if he enjoys his meals more as a result. The problem is just that it can be hard to watch, because he will dip anything into anything. The other day he gleefully ate honey-mustard covered banana while I tried to avert my eyes. It grosses me out a but, plus it offends my sense of...propriety I suppose.

The pictures have nothing to do with today's post, I just have not been taking many lately and these are the most recent. The top shows Spencer helping me shop for mattresses, and the other was taken to celebrate his successful ascent of a giant backyard climbing toy.

Boys and Toys

In the continuing saga of Spencer playing with things that either aren't toys at all or at least are completely free, last week my mom sent him some stickers in the mail. It was some kind of kids' magazine offer that included a sheet of stickers, and thinking he would like them, she just forwarded the whole package to Spencer. He did in fact play with those silly little stickers for a solid hour, sticking them to the furniture, himself...and his daddy.

In other sticker-related news, we have been experimenting with a sticker chart to encourage Spencer to stop the gross and annoying practice of keeping the last bite of every meal stuffed in his cheek. I don't know why he does this; it does not seem to be related to a particular kind of food, time of day, etc. He's a little young still for charts but I figured it couldn't hurt to try, so I went to this website http://www.freebehaviorcharts.com/ and printed out one with trucks. Every time he ends a meal or snack with no food left in his mouth, then he gets to put a sticker in the truck. When he fills up a truck with stickers, he gets to pick out a new toy truck or car from my special stash. We have had mixed success so far. He loves the stickers and the toy trucks, and I do think the cheek-stuffing has decreased somewhat but...we have not cut out the behavior entirely. His last big success was on Friday, and I took a picture of him playing with the new tow truck he earned.

Joker

This morning I said to Spencer, "Ready for your breakfast little monkey?" To which he replied "oooh oooh oooh." It took me a second to process that he had kinda made a joke. He is growing up at warp speed!

Still Life with Sticks and Dog Bowl

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up. - Pablo Picasso

Whenever we go in the backyard lately Spencer entertains himself by gathering sticks and arranging them just so in the dogs' water bowls. This is usually a lengthy process. There appear to be very specific (though dreadfully obscure) criteria for stick selection; I imagine length, thickness, and texture all play a role. Then they must be properly positioned in the water. Much rearrangment is necessary. Somehow it always turns out looking like sculpture with profound underlying meaning.

I'm not sure how he decides he is finished...and now that I think on it I'm not sure he ever does. I guess I always wind up ushering him back inside before he is quite satisfied with the project. But true to his cheerful little self, he never complains. And it never seems to bother him that he has to start from scratch each time. I mean, I can't leave it that way. The dogs do have to drink occasionally.

Suuuper Geeeenius

We have recently discovered that Spencer can count. Sort of. He may not (probably doesn't) understand the symbolic meaning of numbers and of actually counting objects, but he knows the words and some of the sequence. We have not drilled on it or anything, but I will admit he has been watching a tad more Sesame Street since mommy got knocked up...

One of the cute things he does with this skill is to count things on his plate. For instance, pieces of pineapple or green bean which he sees no point in eating, but being a thrifty kid likes to put to some constructive use. So during meals he can often be heard saying 'one, two, tree, foe...' while moving said pineapple around from one section of the plate to another. Often the counting and moving operation results in an arrangement of food which looks almost like abstract art. But I will talk more about his creative side another time. This post is about the counting.

Tonight at supper he was doing the usual rearrangment by numbers, but very quietly. I made some kind of comment to him about it, one of those meaningless mommy things I say all day long, 'oh, are you counting your beans sweetie? how many are there?' And he looked up and grinned at us and then COUNTED TO 10. Shane and I almost fell off our chairs. Ok, sure, we knew he could count to 3, maybe even 5...but he COUNTED TO 10!? With perfect clarity and no hesitation whatsoever.

I actually have no idea whether this is a typical 2 year old behavior, but to me it seems hardly short of miraculous so I have decided we need to accelerate the contributions to his 529 fund cuz he will be in college much sooner than we expected...

Too Bad the Kid Has Nothing to Play With

It's almost a cliche to joke about how kids open presents and then discard the toy in favor of the packaging. Although technically this was daddy's toy. UPS delivered some kind of guitar-related gadget the other day and as soon as Shane opened it, Spencer literally pounced on the box.

And get a load of the large luminous puppy-eyes on that kid. I swear anywhere we go these days little old ladies emerge from every direction to tell him what gorgeous eyes he has, what lovely long lashes. I am starting to worry that he will get a fat head with all the compliments.

I know he's my kid but I can't help it, I just want to eat him up. And he's not just a pretty face, either. He is the sweetest coolest funniest kid ever. I call him mushroom...cuz he's such a fun guy, get it?

Speck II: The Sequel

Upside-down view of the reason I have been too preoccupied and worn out to post anything lately.

No Mad Dogs or Englishmen

I went out to my garage for a refreshing Diet Mt Dew, only to find this lovely German Shepherd who apparently dropped in to get some shade. I suppose from now on I will not be so casual about leaving the garage door open...

One of these days...

...maybe I will figure out that failing does not mean I am a failure. Doing something stupid does not make me a stupid person. It is just a reminder that I am merely human and need to stop trying to meet an impossible standard. That I need God's help in all things, not just the Really Big Stuff. I go through life trying to keep everything under control and wind up having a meltdown when inevitably I cannot. I know the saying is that devil is in the details, but today I must remind myself that God is in the details too. No job too small! No prayer too short! No person irredeemable, no heart beyond His reach. Not even mine.


Hebrews 11:6 Now without faith it is impossible to please him, for the one who approaches God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Play It Again, Speck

One of my MOMS Club friends who happens to be quite the artist and all-around creative genius made some construction paper violins for the kids to use during a recent musical playdate. Spencer has gotten no end of fun out of his pretend instrument.

Silence is Golden

I have a theory that one of the big mistakes people make in marriage (and other relationships) is talking too much. When you have a problem or a disagreement, the conventional wisdom is you must discuss it. You must Talk It Out. By and large I believe this is grade-A hooey. Sure, sure, there are times you need to have serious conversations about hairy topics. But I think for most couples these are relatively rare. What most people seem to be doing when they attempt to Talk It Out is trying to get themselves understood. In which case your real focus is on YOU and what YOU need, not on your relationship, and certainly not on your spouse. If you are worried about making your very important point to the thickheaded goon next to you, one thing you are probably not doing is cultivating a loving attitude for that person.

Rather I believe that silence is often your marriage's best friend. And no, I am not talking about the huffy door-slamming silence, or the cold shoulder silence, or the long silent pause while you put the finishing touches on your cutting remark. I mean the silence that happens when you choose not to retaliate. Or when you don't say things that start with 'you never...' or 'you always...' or 'you are such a...' The truth is that all of us have quite a few rough edges. And while tumbling around together certainly has a way of smoothing those away, it takes time and love and patience. And the rocks themselves are not in charge of the process.

I guess this is just my way of rehashing the old proverb about making sure your words are sweet because you may have to eat them. I'm not much good at sweet words but usually can manage to keep my mouth shut altogether. Now that I've been married 13 years I've had plenty of practice.

I have no clue why I got this particular burr under my bonnet (hee hee) but it seemed determined to be written so here it is.

Today's Quote

"...there is no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one."
-Jill Churchill

Here is Spencer *helping* me empty the trash.

Speck 2.0

Our Boysie (as DH calls him) is now 2. Due to a combination of crazy schedules, a bout of food poisoning, and (I admit) some measure of laziness on my part, we did not have a party. I asked myself who the party would really be for, and my answer was that Spencer does not know nor care one whit about it, so it would really be for me and the other adults in his life. Right now he tolerates other kids but does not seem all that keen on actually playing with them. Ergo, no party this year. I'm guessing the conversation will go a bit differently next year.

Not wanting to be a complete mommy failure, we did make a trip to Toys R Us and pick up some new playthings for him. His favorite is this racetrack. The kid loves all things wheeled and noisy. I guess it's a boy thing, he just came that way. I mean, I have not exactly been shoving dolls or girly toys at him, but whenever he is given a choice of activity he zooms right to whatever truck is handy. He does love books as well, which is probably due to parental influence and inheritance.

Thanks to all who have helped us get this far on the parenting journey without major incident. I'm not sure it takes a village, but it certainly helps to have a little help from friends and family!

Paradigm Shift(s)

Children are annoying.

Smelly,

Oozy,

Sticky

Creatures.

Children are professional style-crampers,

Wanton destroyers of peace and quiet.

Children are puzzling.

Contrary,

Noisy,

Active

Creatures.

Children are walking disasters,

Wheedlers of the first order.

Babies are interesting.

Fat,

Soft,

Curious

Creatures.

Babies are sponge-like observers,

Seeing it all for the first time.

Newborns are exhausting.

Discontented,

Unpredictable,

Relentless

Creatures.

Newborns are vortexes of need

That always sleep (unless you are).

Spencer is awesome.

Perfect,

Quirky,

Funny

Creature.

Spencer is just what I wanted,

Even though no one asked me.

Children are precious.

Vexing,

Hilarious,

Vulnerable

Creatures.

They are the future made flesh,

And somehow they are all my children now.

Old MacDonald Had Some Trucks: the Sequel

We took another trip to the petting zoo today with Spencer's MDO class. He thought the animals were cool, but as before the main attraction was the many wheeled and dirty toys. But hey, he had fun, so who cares if he liked it for the *right* reasons? He would not drop the truck even when his teacher picked him up for the class picture, which is why you see him clutching it.

My apologies to his classmate (who shall remain nameless) for posting his pic on the blog. I couldn't crop him out and did not have the heart to try and smudge his face into unrecognizability.

The Food Fight

"It is better for you to be curious about how your child will turn out than committed to a certain outcome."

Ellyn Satter-How to Get Your Kid to Eat...But Not Too Much

I took this picture Friday of Spencer cleaning up EVERY LAST SCRAP of his breakfast. He was in fact licking the tray clean. In the days since, he has eaten very little; some meals literally nothing. My reading and research tells me this is normal; his calorie needs are dropping and his automony needs are growing. Add to that the idea that 2-3 year olds supposedly have a natural and automatic distrust of the new and different, and this makes for a perfect storm of food struggles.

I hope I can stay out of his way and let him learn to enjoy food but not use it to fill emotional hunger. I want him to be able to make good choices even when I'm not looking over his shoulder. I want him to be able to trust his own impulses regarding what and how much to eat. I want him to be willing to try new things and not shout "Yuk!" when he doesn't like something. In short, as with so many parenting dilemmas, I guess I hope to be able to teach him to be better than I am myself. Pray for us.

Enough

I want to offer a heartfelt thank you and apology to anyone who has listened to me whine about being sick or tired, or has otherwise been abused by me over the past couple months. I am feeling much, much better, almost like a new person. Thank you for your patience and your prayers.

So now that I have some energy again, I find myself trying to hop right back on the treadmill of spending too much time trying to do too many things, none of which are really important. I worry and fret and make lists and lose the lists and then ruin the supper and lose my patience with Spencer and then realize I forgot to get dog food and also I STILL need to file our tax return and OMG there is an economic crisis going on and a new administration that half the people I know think is a minor deity and the other half think is sending the country straight to H-E-Double hockey sticks and…
Well, you get the picture. So tonight I went for a little run (I am feeling so much better that I’m actually exercising again, albeit very awkwardly) and I started thinking about some of this stuff and I realized again a truth that I know, but which often gets buried under all the daily grind: God is ENOUGH. He will provide. Whatever I need, be it physical or mental, He will provide it. In my imperfection I may not truly understand what I need, nor recognize it when I receive it. But God knows and meets my true needs even when I fail to see.

I came home and decided to find some scriptures that apply. There are lots more of course, and you might come up with some better ones. Feel free to post them in the comments if you like.

Mat 6:33 But above all pursue his kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Mat 7:7 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you.
Mat 7:8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Rom 8:32 Indeed, he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all — how will he not also, along with him, freely give us all things?

2Co 12:9 But he said to me, "My grace is enough for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

Php 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything. Instead, in every situation, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, tell your requests to God.
Php 4:7 And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Php 4:13 I am able to do all things through the one who strengthens me.

Php 4:19 And my God will supply your every need according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

Heb 4:16 Therefore let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace whenever we need help.

Lam 3:22 The LORD's loyal kindness never ceases;
his compassions never end.
Lam 3:23 They are fresh every morning;
your faithfulness is abundant!
Lam 3:24 "My portion is the LORD," I have said to myself,
so I will put my hope in him.

Just the Pics Ma'am

A Boy and His Dog

Of Apples and the Trees From Whence They Fall

'Nuff said.

Blink and you'll miss it!

snapped just after he was signing "please" (rub flat hand on chest) to get me to turn on the ceiling fan.

showing me his ear. what he lacks in precision he makes up for with enthusiasm.

My boy is just growing up at warp speed. He got a long-overdue haircut this week and as usual that makes him look all grown up to me.