The Things Kids Learn

I've been thinking a lot lately about how I am going to teach Elliott. I'm not talking about homeschooling. (We haven't ruled this out 100%, but I definitely am not leaning towards it. Luckily we have a few years before we have to make this decision.) I'm talking about teaching him life. How to love God, how to respect people, how to use his imagination, etc. I've been thinking about what discipline will look like in our home. I've thought about how to instill a love of books in Elliott. I've just been doing a lot of thinking.

My friend, Jen, stopped by our home today. She told me a funny story about her 15 month old son, Henry. Earlier this week, Jen handed Henry her eyelash curler to play with. She said she rarely does her makeup in front of Henry, and didn't think he had a clue what the small metal contraption actually was. She looked down to see him put the curler up to his eye and mimic curling his eyelashes.

What will I teach Elliott when I don't think he is paying attention? I'm sure there will be things that Elliott picks up from Matt and me that we don't necessarily teach him. And with the good will come the bad. He will see how selfish we are and how much pride we have. He will hear how we talk about others behind closed doors and how we treat the people we love. If having a child doesn't make me realize how much sin I have in my life, what will?? I pray that Matt and I will be good examples for Elliott of sinful people trying to live a life that honors Christ. I know I can say this: My son makes me want to be a better more holy person.

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." Deuteronomy 6:5-9

Ready... Set...

Any second now Elliott is going to take off crawling... Watch out world!

How long before...

When your baby is born you often ask the question "How long before..." The end of the question changes - before he sleeps through the night, rolls over, says 'mama', goes to kindergarten, graduates high school, etc. Well, when you have a little boy, there is an extra and very important "How long before..." thrown into the mix. It crossed my mind the first time I ever changed his diaper, and frequently with diapers since then... "How long before he sprays me??"

Tonight Elliott's bath/bedtime routine was in full swing. I started the bath water, handed Elliott a rubber ducky, went into the nursery, and set out a new diaper & clean onesie next to his crib. I laid Elliott down on his back and took off his onesie then his diaper. I swooped him up into my arms, grabbing the dirty onesie and turning toward the hamper where I was going to drop it before heading into the bathroom. Then it happened. The surprise of cool liquid. Mom jumps and screams. Baby's eyes widen in shock. Mom tries to calm baby while stepping into the view of a full-body mirror to assess the damage done. It seemed to all happen within a matter of milliseconds. While searching the mirror I thought, "How long did I last? Quick--what's the date? July 16th. I lasted 7 months 15 days before I got sprayed!" Almost immediately after calculating the amount of time I had remained "Pee Free", I began to realize that I wasn't that wet. In fact, I only had a tiny amount of liquid near my right shoulder, where Elliott's head was, and then on my left arm near my elbow, where Elliott's hand was. The hand that was holding the rubber ducky. He gave the ducky another shake. A trickle of water ran out of the whole in the bottom. I grabbed the ducky and waved it through the air. It sprayed me with water! I had been sprayed, but not at all by Elliott!! The green, blue, and white striped ducky was the culprit!! I quickly remembered that Elliott was diaper-less and whisked him away to the bathtub as to avoid a real spraying.

"How long before he sprays me?" So far - 7 months 15 days and counting!

Why don't friends with kids have time?

Here is a link to the web version of the article. I've only been a SAHM (stay at home mom) for 7 months, but I agree with this article 100%!!

This is what the article says:

Carolyn:

Best friend has child. Her: exhausted, busy, no time for self, no time for me, etc. Me (no kids): Wow. Sorry. What'd you do today? Her: Park, play group . . .

Okay. I've done Internet searches, I've talked to parents. I don't get it. What do stay-at-home moms do all day? Please no lists of library, grocery store, dry cleaners . . . I do all those things, too, and I don't do them EVERY DAY. I guess what I'm asking is: What is a typical day and why don't moms have time for a call or e-mail? I work and am away from home nine hours a day (plus a few late work events) and I manage to get it all done. I'm feeling like the kid is an excuse to relax and enjoy -- not a bad thing at all -- but if so, why won't my friend tell me the truth? Is this a peeing contest ("My life is so much harder than yours")? What's the deal? I've got friends with and without kids and all us child-free folks get the same story and have the same questions.

Tacoma, Wash.

Relax and enjoy. You're funny.

Or you're lying about having friends with kids.

Or you're taking them at their word that they actually have kids, because you haven't personally been in the same room with them.

Internet searches?

I keep wavering between giving you a straight answer and giving my forehead some keyboard. To claim you want to understand, while in the same breath implying that the only logical conclusions are that your mom-friends are either lying or competing with you, is disingenuous indeed.

So, since it's validation you seem to want, the real answer is what you get. In list form. When you have young kids, your typical day is: constant attention, from getting them out of bed, fed, clean, dressed; to keeping them out of harm's way; to answering their coos, cries, questions; to having two arms and carrying one kid, one set of car keys, and supplies for even the quickest trips, including the latest-to-be-declared-essential piece of molded plastic gear; to keeping them from unshelving books at the library; to enforcing rest times; to staying one step ahead of them lest they get too hungry, tired or bored, any one of which produces the kind of checkout-line screaming that gets the checkout line shaking its head.

It's needing 45 minutes to do what takes others 15.

It's constant vigilance, constant touch, constant use of your voice, constant relegation of your needs to the second tier.

It's constant scrutiny and second-guessing from family and friends, well-meaning and otherwise. It's resisting constant temptation to seek short-term relief at everyone's long-term expense.

It's doing all this while concurrently teaching virtually everything -- language, manners, safety, resourcefulness, discipline, curiosity, creativity. Empathy. Everything.

It's also a choice, yes. And a joy. But if you spent all day, every day, with this brand of joy, and then, when you got your first 10 minutes to yourself, wanted to be alone with your thoughts instead of calling a good friend, a good friend wouldn't judge you, complain about you to mutual friends, or marvel how much more productively she uses her time. Either make a sincere effort to understand or keep your snit to yourself.

tooth #4

Tooth #4 (the top right tooth) has joined our family with very little commotion. Thank goodness. We can only pray that the rest of his teeth come in without drawing much attention to themselves just like #4.

Thank you, #4, for setting such a good example for all future teeth!

Yummy Squash

Elliott's fourth solid food was squash from his greatgrandfather's garden! He gobbled it up! He had already eaten a bunch of it before we started filming and finished the whole bowl! Matt was feeding him, and he has a different (and funnier) technique than me... he waited until Elliott had his mouth open wide and shoved the spoon in from the side. Elliott didn't know what to think of it!

Sorry the video is really dark. I should have shut the blinds before him before started to record.

the beginner crawl

Elliott has figured out how to move forward! He still stays on his tummy, but he is going places (especially on smooth surfaces where he can just sliiiiiide). You'd never know this by looking at the video, but he is getting faster!