Wednesday, September 28, 2011

I do it!

So Hadley has turned two. She is big stuff now! I can't do ANYTHING for her without her throwing a fit because she wants to do it herself. I'm all for independence and I love when Ben puts his clothes on and wipes his own butt; however, Hadley hasn't mastered the coordination of dressing herself yet and it would take us until Christmas to get her shoes on.
For two days in a row, I've had to fight to get her shoes on at the end of the day which has led to us leaving the babysitters in tears. She won't let me help her with the right foot/left foot thing and she can't reach around her knees to get her foot all of the way in the shoe. Yesterday she was content with just velcroing ... not so much anymore.
This evening she decided she was going to change her clothes and put her jams on by herself. She took her shoes and socks off. This is a feat that Ben still struggles with (is that a boy/girl thing???). I helped her with her pants and shirt. Then she took of her diaper.
She sat down on the floor and said, "I put jams on." Sweet, but she doesn't have a diaper on. So, I suggested we remedy the situation. Her reply, "I put jams on first." Mind you, Hadley wears feety pajamas.
She had a hold of one leg and was getting her foot in, but some how got backwards and sent her foot toward the arm hole. The fact that she made any progress at all mad her ecstatic! She looked at me and said, "I do it, Mom!" This progress was enough for me to convince her that I could show her how to finish getting dressed and we did end up with pajamas and a diaper on (in the proper order)!

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

You're nuts!

My dad stopped over today. Ben wanted to show him the water (our creek that is running because it rained). This resulted in a race to the back yard. We have a ton of walnut trees in the back that dropped tons of walnuts last night. Dad started throwing them into the water. Ben and Hadley threw nuts for a while, giggling and squealing at the splashes.
Ben looked at Dad and said, "I'll be right back, Poppa." He ran around the side of our shed and we didn't hear from him for a while. I was telling my dad a story about Ben getting hit with a falling walnut a few weeks ago when a nut fell at his feet. We kept falling when another nut fell.
I turned around just in time to see a walnut come sailing across the top of the shed. After that, a barrage of walnuts flew towards us. Jeremy yelled, "Hey, what's that?" His question was met with a huge laugh and a few more walnuts! Not only does he have a good arm, but that little boy is sneaky!!!

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Bed time songs

I remember being a little girl and having my mom sing to me every night. We sang whatever songs she thought of - from Christmas Carols to show tunes. I've started the same thing with Hadley. She loves to snuggle down into my shoulder and drift off to sleep while I sing.
I started making up songs just so that we could keep singing. I sing her prayers to tunes of songs she likes. Every time I stop, she says "Do it again, Mom" in her little Hadley voice. It's the single most peaceful part of my day!
Tonight she started singing with me. I made up a "Jesus song" that we now sing. It's to the tune of "Good Night my Someone" from Music Man. (My originality is amazing! ;)) The words are
Thank you Jesus for today,
for time to play.
Thank you Lord for family.
Please give me good thoughts and good dreams.
I sang a line and then she'd repeat it. If you've ever heard her, she occasionally has a register that only dogs can hear. This is how she sang with me tonight - maybe that's how I sound to her!
It's in these moments that I realize how blessed I am to have my kids. They keep me grounded and in perspective. It's in these moments that I remember that I can only be effective as a parent if I'm rooted in Jesus and allowing him to guide me. I've learned to take the little things seriously because I don't want to miss this.