8/22/12

August Munchkins

So what's been going on this month, you ask? Ali started 1st grade last week--I can not believe how much she has grown. And she turns 7 next month. What!? We met her teacher the day before school started and I couldn't help myself, I cried when I saw her little desk. It was so overwhelming to see her classroom! I was so upset that I wouldn't be the one waking her up on her first day, picking out her clothes, or fixing her hair (because those things are important when it comes to education, right!?). When we picked her up on Friday she said that she loves 1st grade so far! She gets to play on the "big" playground and they even got to visit the library. She'll be able to check out books this year! I know she's excited about that--she absolutely loves to read.

Baby Jordan, who isn't really much of a baby anymore, has developed one heck of a personality. He has the biggest most beautiful smile I've ever seen! And he knows how to get you to laugh--even when he's in trouble! I have to turn away so he can't see me smiling when that happens. His vocabulary has blossomed this past month. I can't keep up with all the words he says now. He loves saying, "shoe" and "cracker," and he always says it like it's a question. It's hilarious.

We got to go see Gigi a couple of weeks ago. We always let Ali drive the last mile to their house because it's all dirt road out in the middle of nowhere. She's actually not a bad driver, but it's still kinda scary when you put a six year old behind the wheel!

We had such a good time down there. We spent a LOT of time outside! The weather was amazing. Ali and I went down to "Turtle Creek" and went on a little adventure. When I was a kid my cousins and sisters and I would all go under that bridge and play. We would get mud, smear it all over our hands, and then put our hand prints on the walls. You can still see them! I hadn't been down there in ages and decided to take Ali along. She thought it was the coolest thing and wanted to put her hand prints down there too! It took as a while to find mud--the creek was pretty dried up from the drought--but we did it and now there's little 6-year-old-Ali hand prints on the same walls as little 6-year-old-Destiny hand prints. Isn't that cool!?

We also went and played in Red River later that afternoon. I have pictures, I promise, but figuring out how to get them from my camera to a computer has been problematic!

Gigi got to play with Jordan quite a bit while we ran off and played. That little man is such a hoot! Here lately he's decided he doesn't want to sleep by himself anymore (After 18 months of sleeping in his own crib? Really?). But when he's in bed with us he just flops around (like a chicken, as DC from our church says!) and keeps us up all night. His favorite thing to do is put his feet in my face. Like this:


I had to scoot away to get this picture. Generally his little toes are right up against my cheek, no lie. It's such a pain to sleep with him but it's so stinkin' adorable to wake up with his head on my shoulder that it's almost worth a sleepless night. Almost. You would think that being so small would mean he doesn't take up much space, right? 

He had his 18 month wellness check-up this month. Our little munchkin is in the 25 percentile for his weight and 30 for his height. Know what that means? He is smaller than about 70-75% of all other babies his age! A lady at the daycare the other day called him "petite" and I thought about punching her because that sounded like an insult. But instead I laughed because he's so cute that his size doesn't matter. I'm pretty sure God made him small because his personality is SO BIG. He's cute and sweet and funny and lovable and perfect! 

So that's what's been going on in Mommy World =) Basically my little babies are growing up and I'm getting old!

8/2/12

An Olympic Gold Medalist in Training

The Olympics are finally in session!! I always hear stories about these athletes who "started swimming when he was just a baby!" or "did her first full back hand spring at 12 months old!" and I think to myself (or shout out loud to the TV) "LIARS!"

I mean really... who starts training their kids that young? Don't they have better things to do like have tea parties or go to the zoo?

Well folks, here it is, proof that athleticism really does happen at an early age: My son. This isn't something we could have even taught him; he learned by watching his big sister do it all summer. Meet our future Olympic Gold Medalist of the 2032 (or maybe 2028?) games.Oh, and please ignore the fact that his diaper is hanging down to his ankles. When you're in training this strenuous... you have to make sacrifices.


8/1/12

18 Months Old

I can't believe that my little boy is 18 months old! It's funny how the fears you have as a mother evolve but they never go away. When he was just a few weeks old, I was afraid I would drop him. I was afraid of forgetting what he looked like and that I'd try to take the wrong baby home from daycare (I'm not even kidding). Now that he's no longer my little tiny baby I have much more selfish fears, like the fear of him preferring someone other than myself to rock him to sleep or kiss his boo boos!

I read this article today: Parenting Boys; What Boys Need from Moms. It lists 17 things every mom should do for their sons. Reading it made me feel like Jordan was 18 years old and about to graduate High School. What do you mean I have to learn to let go? Apparently he'll eventually not want mommy to hold and kiss him 24/7 (what!!??) and I'll have to be mom enough to let it happen.

What's ironic is that I've been looking forward to a little bit of separation for a long time now. I mean come on, he's been wanting me to hold him for 18 months straight and I have some pretty awesome biceps to prove it! But I can't imagine a day when he won't want to snuggle up to mommy, and it breaks my heart to think that it could actually happen sooner rather than later.

Ali will be 7 in September (for real!?) and she still loves to cuddle and snuggle me. But another point in the article I read said that you can't compare girls and boys in any way, shape, or form because they are so incredibly different.

I know men who never really stop being "mama's baby" and as adult I find it very irritating. I know that I'll have to let him go--and I want to because I know it needs to happen, but that doesn't make it any easier! I want him to be a good man, a good husband, and a good Christian. But if I shelter him and don't teach him to embrace his independence then I am only doing him a disservice.

So, when that day comes and he begins to mature and search for other sources of comfort instead of Mommy's arms, I won't cry. Okay, fine, I'll probably cry, but I'll be sure to do it in a bathroom.