Our old cat has become my daughter’s best friend. She has to have her in bed for naps or at bed time, so I couldn’t help but snap this pic when I walked in one morning to Avery petting her. One of the first times this happened, the cat was laying across the bed right below her pillow. I offered to move her and Avery said, “It’s okay. There’s room.” And she squeezed between the cat and the wall. It was quite precious. Now, it has become a bit of a problem though as she begins to rely on the cat being there. The past two nights, Avery has come into our bed because, she says, it’s scary and the kitty’s not with her.

PS Yes, that is her sleeping bag on top of her. She has slept with it for the past month or so!

For more Wordless Wednesday entries: WordlessWednesday.com and 5 Minutes for Mom.

A few days ago, I was pulling weeds from the side of the yard where the grass meets the trail line, putting them in a pile so I could dispose of them later. Avery was “helping” by pulling leaves from the weeds and nearby trees and throwing them into the air.

Avery: Don’t make a pile! You have to throw them to heaven.
Mom: Well, that’s a good idea. But I don’t think there are weeds in heaven.
Avery: Just pretend!
Mom: Ok. [Pause] Where is heaven?
Avery: [Points to the sky]
Mom: And, who IS in heaven?
Avery: Jesus!
Mom: That’s right. Who else?
Avery: Joseph.
Mom: [Suprised] Yes! Jesus’ daddy is in heaven. Anyone else?
Avery: [Pensive] Just Jesus. Just Jesus is in heaven!
Mom: Nobody else? But we can go to heaven, right?
Avery: [Very enthusiastically] Yes!
Mom: How do we get to heaven?
Avery: [Twirling around with arms stretched up as high as she can] We have to fly there!

Charlie’s first words:
1. Mama, now mom-meeeee. Which he uses for every-thing!
2. No. His second most used word. Sigh. Also means yes.
3. Hi! Added with a wave and big smile for extra cuteness. Bye and Nigh’ also have waves and unfortunately both sound like “Hi.” As does “ni-ie” for nice, which he uses while petting whatever he’s supposed to be gentle with.
4. P’eas! Usually with a lot of empahsis: pah-eeeeeeeeas. Unfortunately, this word has digressed into “deeeeeeas.” Includes a sign with one or two hands, depending on how desperate he is.
5. Kitty. Always excited to see the cat.
6. Puppy. Very excited to talk about and see dogs, until they are too close!
7. Owie and Owp, for help. They sound very similar so context is helpful here! Also, owp usually is followed by p’eeeas.
8. Hado. This one is only understandable in context: hot dog.
9. Pobo. Same with pretzel.
10. Popo. If I ask whether he’s got a poopy diaper, he’ll pat it and very softely say “popo.”
11. Daddy. He knows it but he rarely uses it. We’re both mommy.
12. Nani. Yesterday for the first time he called Avery Avee, otherwise it’s usually Nani, which is what he calls anyone except his mama(s). Not to be confused with nandy, a recent addition to his vocabulary for candy.
13. Car. His newest word is a very clear “car.” He can’t get enough! He points to every one we pass in the parking lot and proclaims: Car!

I was at the library today and happened upon a section of books called “Bible stories.” This makes sense and I was glad to find it. BUT, I thought it was odd that Christmas, Easter and other Biblically based holiday story books were there and not with the books on the other side of the room that were grouped by holidays, including Christmas and Easter (as well as Valentine’s Day, Thanksgiving and Halloween).

I remember both at Easter and Christmas rummaging through the books looking for stories that weren’t about bunnies and candy, Santa Claus and gifts (and not finding them!). So, now that I know somebody has done the work for me, I don’t mind. But it does make it difficult for people in general to stumble upon a variety of perspectives on the holidays. I guess that’s probably the goal. We wouldn’t want to offend anyone who doesn’t want God or the Bible to have anything to do with our special occasions!

I awoke last night to Charlie crying in his room. I was physically exhausted from working in the yard all weekend so it took me a while to realize what the “noise” was and to wake up enough to realize I better go check on him. I had shifted him a few times before I went to bed because his legs were dangling off the side, so I knew there was a possibility he had fallen out of his toddler bed. Finally, half asleep, I staggered down the hall. When I got to their dimly lit room, I couldn’t find him anywhere! I was squinting and searching. He definitely wasn’t in his bed. There was one of his blankets on the floor and I touched it like three times thinking it must be him … but it wasn’t. But I could hear him. He was sobbing, and I was thoroughly confused.

I finally looked under his bed, and there he was. The poor little guy was stuck underneath! I seriously don’t know how he got there, but he must have fallen between the wall and the bed. Although it’s possible he fell, then rolled underneath and just kept rolling. I had to wake Matt up to move the bed while I pulled him out (the bed’s only a few inches high). After some comforting, he was fine and ready to go back to sleep. He had a large stuffed animal taking up quite a bit of space at the top where the rails were so I removed them. I spent the rest of the night with bad dreams induced by anxiety. But he’s fine and I think we took care of the problem.

My son is almost 20-months-old now, and he seemed to be too big for the crib. Not only does he attempt to climb out of it once in a while, but my duaghter would get in there with him becuase she thought it was cozy, and keep them both from napping. We were planning to get him a twin-size mattress and put it on the floor, like we did for Avery, but a friend offered her toddler bed instead. It was a perfect solution, because he is still a bit young and space is tight since the kids are sharing a room (and it delays the cost of a new mattress until after we do the home improvement projects this year).

Anyway, Charlie did great. The first night I had to put him back in his bed a few times as he crawled out. But, I have a big sister helping make sure he knows where he’s supposed to be. :)

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am swapping services with interior designer Tricia Nicole Parker, so we met again this week for a kitchen design consultation. I wasn’t excited about the colors we chose (once I hung the larger swatches on the wall) so we went through some other options. I’m looking now at a softer yellow called Blonde (how fitting!), even though what I thought I didn’t like about the previous “gold” choice was that it was too yellow. Go figure. I also decided definitely on the less yellow counter (Light Brown instead of Gold Brown). They both have some yellow in it but the Gold Brown looked dated, like it had yellowed over time (especially next to any of the yellow wall colors), exactly the look I DON’T want; the Light Brown had more white and looked more refreshing and “new.”

Golden oak floors, classic cherry cabinets, Blonde walls and Light Brown Mojave Corinthian counters (Menards)

From Continued Good News on Teen Pregnancy and Abortion by Janice Shaw Crouse:

“The in the darkness shone, and the darkness did not understand it.” John 1:5

“The light in the darkness shone, and the darkness did not understand it.” John 1:5

Evidence suggests that TIZA is an Islamic school, funded by Minnesota taxpayers: Star Tribune: Wall of silence broken at state’s Muslim public school

There has been little progress on our kitchen project. We do have the permit drawings, however. We are waiting to meet with our contractor (who has a copy of the drawings), the building commissioner and the architect to work out the details. But, we did make our very first purchase! We quickly found the faucet we wanted for the new kitchen perusing the faucets at Menards. We installed Delta oil-rubbed bronze models in both our bathrooms so we wanted to match. We both instantly liked the Saxony, and I especially liked its pull-out spray. Unfortunately, this faucet was more than $300! It was on sale at Menards for $260, but I figured since we had the time I would check out online stores (same as sale price, plus shipping) and eBay. I bid on several and lost but finally was able to get my very own for $202 ($175 before shipping). Still pricey, but it is beautiful! Even Avery was excited when it came in the mail, begging to “build it now!” It will sit for a while, but just to have something physical that’s new and ready for our remodeled kitchen is VERY exciting!

On a side note, I am glad to have gotten a good deal from eBay. I had avoided online auction purchases for a while because it just never seemed to work out in my favor. Selling, on the other hand, is great! We just reached the blue star milestone last week with 50 and have made just over $1,000 since I started selling some of our extra things last fall (including some of Matt’s original G1 Transformers and other 80s toys, which is where the bulk of our profit came from). It’s actually a lot of fun to sell, watching and waiting to see what people will give you for your stuff. It can be nerve-wrecking but not nearly as much so as when winning a bid (at least for me)!

I was talking with my sister about her daughter, now a sophomore in high school, and her soon-to-be college venture. What a scary time for parents! Which is why, when I read about Cross Examined in a related column, it caught my eye. Did you know:

- 75% of Christian youth leave the church after high school.
- Intellectual skepticism is one of the major reasons they walk away.
- Most Christian students are unequipped to resist rabidly anti-Christian college professors who are intent on converting their students to atheism.
- College professors are five times more likely to identify themselves as atheists than the general public.
- More than half of all college professors view evangelical Christian students unfavorably.

According to this group, which presents a dynamic interactive seminar on campuses across the country, it can be proven that Christianity is true and why it takes a lot more faith to be an atheist. Read more at http://www.crossexamined.org/.

Three of the past four days, my daughter has thrown the biggest fits I have ever imagined. I’ve always known she was emotional and passionate, but she has just begun to show her true “color.” I’ll give just one example.We were leaving the mall yesterday just before lunch time and she was whining about one thing after another. She didn’t want to leave. She wanted to be held. She wanted to ride in the stroller. She wanted me to push but nobody else. Push with two hands, not one. Finally, we made it to the door. Now she wants her mittens, but they are in the car. She doesn’t believe me, so she whines and pouts her way through the parking lot. I find her mittens but now I don’t give them to her because she hasn’t asked nicely for them. That really set her off. So, now she’s screaming and thrashing her body so it takes a while for me to buckle her in her car seat. She screamed and kicked the entire way home, not so much about the mittens now but just trying to get my attention. “Mom-mmy! Can you hear me? Mom-mmy! Look at meeeeee when I say to you!” As she’s kicking the seat, she loses a flip flop. Now that’s her number-one demand: “Get my shoe for me! Now! Mom, get it!” Ha. Like that’s happening. I tried to reach it so I could put it in the front seat to show my lack of cooperation, but couldn’t. So, eventually, I took the shoe off her other foot.

After some time passed, she seemed to calm down and she asked politely for the shoe. I handed her the one I had removed. Clearly, not the way to go. She threw it at me! I was so shocked, I couldn’t believe it. In retrospect, I should have pulled over right then and there to spank her, but I wasn’t in a place that made that easy. So, I yelled something motherly like “How dare you throw a shoe at your mom?” Adding a loud, emphatic “grrrrr” to emphasize my displeasure. We drove the rest of the way home with me fuming and her screaming. At some point, I threw the remains of my Ice Mountain water at her. Good or bad, I am not sure, but it’s about the only thing she remembers from the car ride (other than the fact that she wanted her mittens and “I threw a fit”). When we got home, I put her straight to her room. She came downstairs 20 minutes or so later for lunch after she calmed down. She had screamed so hard that she broke capillaries in her face.

She didn’t nap that afternoon, which is happening more and more all the time. So, when she wanted to come down early, I put her down in my bed and laid beside her so we could talk about what happened. I cannot stress enough the importance of talking with your kids about their (or your!) breakdowns. I’m always amazed how smart she is when it comes to talking about what happened and what she could have done differently. And I know I didn’t handle the situation perfectly, but it’s always a victory if I don’t beat her senseless. Honestly, there was so much more that I wanted to say (um, scream, actually) that I can know that God had laid the foundation for that very moment. All of the testing and counseling and reading and praying was in preparation for such a time as this.

Unfortunately, who knows how long she will keep it up, so I’ll be praying that He’ll give me the strength to persevere (as much as I want to give up sometimes!).

“You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.” Hebrews 10:36