Opposite Day

Lately, Luke has been stuck in a seemingly permanent "opposite day." "We're not here!" he'll proclaim as we pull into the parking lot of the store. "It's not raining!" he exclaims as the raindrops start pounding against the windshield. If he declares that "Sissy's awake," that's a sure sign that Anna has just drifted off in her carseat.

It goes on. "It's not bath time," he claims, while pausing in his tub splashing. "It's not church time--it's home time!" he insists as I try to shuffle him out the door on Sunday morning. "It's not supper time," he says as he climbs into his chair to eat. Weird. Very weird. But amusing at the same time.

On a somewhat more challenging note, he has been testing his boundaries a lot recently. I'm reminded of the scene in Jurassic Park where the safari guy describes to the archaeologist guy how the velociraptors have been testing their electric fence for weaknesses (I'm not saying my son is a velociraptor; just go with the metaphor:)). "They never try the same place twice," he says. "They remember." He later goes on to be eaten by those very velociraptors, and we're hoping to avoid a similar fate by, um, keeping the boundaries secure. (Again, metaphor:)) Luke's job is to systematically test the boundaries for weaknesses. Our job is to make sure that those boundaries are stable. Luke asks, "Will a parent actually come out of the shower to follow through on a consequence?" And Luke finds out the answer: Yes. Luke asks, "Will a parent put down the baby they are rocking to sleep to follow through on a consquence?" And Luke finds out the answer: Yes. Sigh. We've really had to pray a lot that God guides us as parents and gives us the strength and wisdom to provide Luke the discipline that best teaches him.

And while Luke does test the same place two...or six...times, we're hoping that by being calm and consistent in our responses, the lessons will be learned eventually. And then I'm sure he'll find new places to test:). But one mantra we've been telling ourselves and that we've been hearing a lot elsewhere is that the scariest thing for a child is to push his boundaries and feel nothing pushing back. Sometimes I think he'll bang his spoon on the table despite our warnings not to, just to see if the spoon will still be taken away. He actually seems satified when it is. Again, very weird...but I guess he's trying to figure the world out at the same time that we're trying to figure out this parenting thing. Here's hoping that we all come through alright in the end!

Mission: Accomplished

So, Anna's great desire of late is to be able to pull herself up on her own.  She tries this every chance she gets, most notably in the bathtub.  She has just recently started bathing with Luke, which had been wonderful.  She loved getting to play with all Luke's toys, he enjoyed the company, and it just made bath time very fun and relaxing.  No more.  Now, right when she gets in the tub, she immediately starts trying to pull herself up using the sides.  First, she tries my side.  I sit her back down.  Then, she immediately turns to the other side, which is basically just a wall.  At this point, when I try to sit her back down, she stiffens her body to an incredible degree, and it's like trying to fold a board in half.  If I do succeed, she starts screaming with rage and frustration.  Maneuvering her from this point becomes almost impossible b/c she's mad and she's slippery.  So I basically wash her and get her out. 

Now, her tub behavior isn't the only manifestation of this desire; it is just the most frustrating to all involved.  She mainly tries to pull up on the little toy tables in Luke's room.  Yesterday, I sat her on her bottom by one of the tables.  She reached up, grabbed it, and tried to pull herself up, only to fall over an bonk her head on the carpet.  She was not happy, but her tears immediately subsided when I sat her in the same position, and she tried again.  Again, she fell, but this time I caught her.  Time for the third try.  About this time, Luke required my attention in some way.  I turned my head (in retrospect, not a good idea, I know), and when I turned back, this is what I saw:

 

Woo hoo!  Mission: accomplished:).

After all that exertion, Luke thought she needed a little milk to quench her thirst:

Also, last night, she slept through the night for the first time without eating.  She did wake up around 4:00 am (she usually wakes up at 2:00), but by the time Greg came back with a bottle, she was back asleep, and slept until 7:30.  That was probably a fluke, but it was still cool!

Happiness

Here is something I did yesterday:

I laid on my back on the freshly cut grass on a pleasant evening and watched bubbles float by on the breeze.  They were perfect, beautiful, little translucent spheres against the radiant background of a blue sky and bright white clouds.

What I felt:  Anna sitting on my stomach; the cool grass; the soft breeze.

What I heard:  Luke's laughter as he chased the bubbles that Greg was blowing.

Yep, I like my life.

It seems like peace, joy, and excitement are three words that encompass life right now.

Now, hold up.  It's not all sunshine and roses.  It's still reality, believe me.  This morning, Luke had a major meltdown on the way out the door to our fun day.  No idea why.  We finally had to ignore him and let him get a hold of himself in the backseat.  Today there were also bathrooms to clean and floors to mop, only to have dinner promptly spilled on them.  But today there was also so much laughter.  There were playgrounds (yes, plural) and picnics and family time.  And there was this:

And this:

Sooo close to crawling

And this:

 

May I have this dance?

And let's not forget this:

Yep, pretty sure that mirror was just cleaned today.  But it was totally worth my uproarious laughter at Anna as she tried to "pull up" on the mirror. 

THIS little jewel was from last night:

What a classic face.

And of course, there's my sweet boy, cheesin' it up for the camera:

So yeah, right now I'm pretty tired, and I still need to take a shower, peel potatoes for tomorrow's roast, wrap a few baby shower gifts, and do dishes when all I really want to do is chill on the couch and watch the Olympics...but really, with a life like this, how can I complain?:)