It Makes Me Smile

A few things from the last few weeks that still make me smile when I think of them...

I was a bit leery of setting up the baby swing—mostly worried for the safety of Nathan. From previous experience I know that two-year olds are enamored by what seems to be a swing-set in their house and can very easily get overzealous in the force of their pushing. The next thing you know your poor baby is being catapulted in the air across the room! Gratefully, Ellie innately understood the need to be gentle while pushing baby Nate. I watched perplexed as she pushed Nathan and then crawled on the floor under the swing over and over. When I asked her what she was doing she replied, “I give Nathan an underdog!”

Binkies are like socks…they seem to mysteriously disappear never to be found again. After what seemed like hours searching for just one of Nathan’s four pacifiers I was losing my mind—apparently Kaitlyn, who was helping me, had enough herself. Exasperated she screamed, “Those binkies need homing devices!” I totally agree. We need more than just the binky clip to their outfit. We need a pacifier that beeps when you clap for it!

Ellie kept kicking me while I was putting her diaper on for bedtime (Ellie has gratefully been potty-trained since this summer, but she is still not consistently dry at night). When I asked her why she was kicking me she said, “I Nate!” Yes, Nathan does kick his little legs during a diaper change. I started playing along, “Hello Nathan!” I said. Right on cue Ellie gave me a wide open-mouthed smile just like Nathan does. Isn’t it amazing how observant little kids are…makes you realize how careful you need to be about the things you do and say!

Jared is such a sweet boy. At night when he says his prayers he makes a point to remind us to be very quiet during his prayer. For some time he worried that if someone talked while he was in the middle of his prayer then it would not be answered. Of course Jared’s adamant warning of silence to us only eggs on Ellie. The minute he mentions silence she starts loudly jabbering anything she can think of for the sole purpose of causing trouble and annoying Jared. Isn’t it amazing that this trait can manifest itself so young? Jared has now taken up to “saying his prayers in his head” a few nights a week so Ellie can’t bug him.

Brynn prepared Family Home Evening one night all by herself. Since Valentine’s Day was coming up she chose to talk about love. She had us choose a picture in the Gospel Picture Book that had something to do with love and asked us to tell why we chose that picture. Then she had us all draw a family members name out of a bowl and gave us little cards to decorate. We were supposed to do something the following week to show the person whose name we drew love and leave them the card we colored. It was a fabulous lesson! Kaitlyn and Brynn want to prepare FHE every week and are bummed when I tell them Scott and I have to give the lesson sometimes too.