Slice of Life

Any given night, we are playing, singing, brushing teeth, etc. Here are a few moments of some time last week. Just hanging out and chatting.

Sing...sing a song...sing out loud...

Little man has really taken off with verbal skills. Lots of full sentences, loads of new words every day...and he doesn't forget a thing. In addition to all the yabberin', he's also started singing intelligible songs! We caught him singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" earlier this morning. Of course, I couldn't find the video camera!! While he was eating lunch, I started singing it to see if he'd join me...and he did. And by this point, the video camera was ready and waiting. Enjoy your first full Shepard song. Yay, Shepard!

August flew by--but we have a few videos to prove it existed

Excuse me. Has anyone seen August? I'm not sure where it went. Our house is on the market...so we get to go behind the wee tornado of toys and clean up the aftermath. Sometimes, if we're lucky, he'll help. He definitely likes to vacuum. It's been eventful, but not in great ways. We had a few trips to the hospital last week with Daddy and Grandma. I think everyone's on the up and up now. Daddy started a new school year, and Shepard moved up to the two-year-old class at day care. He learns so much every day that there's no way to document it all. He walked out of his room this morning saying "Follow the Leader. Follow the Leader!" Huh? It's awesome watching his language explode.

Here are some non-sense videos of the last two weeks or so. In the first one, he was reprising his fun trick of moving his bowl and alternately saying "Diamond. Square. Diamond." Did that all on his own. And of course, once I get the camera rolling, he sometimes doesn't "perform" the tricks. That's ok. It would be great if we could catch all the funny moments in our house, but for now you'll just have to believe me.





Here he is after a sweet little nonsense song he was singing. One day I'll catch his little songs on video. They don't happen too often, but they're nice when they do. This is a balalaika (Jerod's). We're just calling it "guitar" for now.




 All the grandparents came to town to help with life as we shuttled to and from the hospital earlier this week. Here is Grandma with her "fuzzy feet" and "scary toes..." And my little monkey-climber with unending energy.



We finished up summer with a dip in the backyard "pool" on Saturday. As hot as it was, it was good to get splashed and watch Shepard have some summer fun. Though this mama can't wait for some cooler weather. Happy Labor Day, y'all!

Why does my child look five?

August has flown by. Our house is on the market, so that means extra excitement every morning, trying to make sure there isn't wet oatmeal on the wall or a fire truck in the hall. I have a few little videos of nothing much to get on here soon. Meanwhile, enjoy these photos of Shepard I took on Tuesday. He looks sooooo grown up (and handsome, if I do say so myself). Every year we "help" Daddy with his school bulletin board, so these were for some posters that will go up in Daddy's room.

Sweet smile. Sweet boy.

He's got the whole world in his hands...and a few bruises and knee scrapes.

Who's that cute guy on the screen?

Here's a flashback from bulletin board 2010...sigh.

And one more from 2010...

Wee baby bunnies!

Our backyard has some visitors! Jerod and Tux (the dog) discovered some wee little bunnies yesterday. There are four. We've seen what are probably their Mama and Daddy this week as well. Talk about CUTE. Daddy and Shepard left some carrots for Mama tonight. Shepard sampled a carrot as well. According to Jerod's research, they are about two weeks old.

Just like a rock star

It was nearly bath time. I had gotten as far as getting clothes off and was tending the bath. I came in Shepard's room to find him performing, so naturally I flew to get the video camera. Thank God I caught some of it for you. Rock on, little man.


I have more videos to upload from July, but it's been a little nuts here lately. More to come!

Can I get a witness!?

Sometimes you just have to testify. When I was growing up, sometimes our Sunday night church services were "testimony services." That was just people in the church getting up and saying what the Lord had done for them lately. I think sometimes we easily attribute big things, blessings, etc. to the Lord; but I also want to be watching for him in the "little" things.
This testimony is about Shepard.
For nearly the entire month of June and the first week of July, Shepard decided that Mommy was no longer awesome. I basically attributed this behavior to some sort of "terrible twos" phase. On vacation, it got even worse, as the grandparents became the center of his universe and both Mommy and Daddy were getting the cold shoulder. He would even scream "NOOOOOO!" when I'd try to pick him up after nap. By the time we got home, Daddy was awesome again, but I was absolute chopped liver. He would often scream if I just entered the room where he was. He would push me away with both hands. He would try to flip food out of my hands as I put it on his tray. About the only thing he would let me do without a huge struggle was give his bath and put him to bed. Jerod even had to talk to him several times about being mean to Mommy. I kept trying to stay upbeat and push through the phase, but it is really difficult to have ANYONE full-on reject you. Especially this little person that you would lie down and die for if needed. Sometimes I just cried.
Then magically, about a week and a half ago, on a Friday, I came home from work, and instead of running away from me, Shepard hugged my legs. I sat on the hearth to watch him play and he came up and crawled in my lap. Then he sat down next to me like a little buddy. I just stared at Jerod as if to ask if he had picked up the correct child from day care. ??? The affection continued. No more screaming NO! DADDY! when I came to get him first thing in the morning. He was holding my hand, climbing in my lap and giving my spontaneous hugs. Hugs had NEVER happened unless I was picking him up at school. The turnaround was actually shocking.
Last week, I took Shepard with me to small group for a little while since Jerod was out of town. My friend Emily asked how Shepard was doing. She mentioned they had prayed for him and our relationship. Jerod had asked for prayer regarding how Shepard was interacting with me. I was able to give her such a good report about how wonderful our last week had been. Now, when I go into his room in the morning, he says, "It's MOMMY!" and starts telling me all about all kinds of things.
His shift literally happened the day after my group prayed for us. We went from a month of heart-breaking rejection to "Mommy is awesome!!" again. And thankfully, not to the exclusion of Daddy. His little heart seems rightly turned toward both of us again.
I have no idea what happened spiritually, and can't begin to explain that.

I just know that I fully believe that they prayers of my community worked in bringing healing to our slightly fractured family. All along the bumpy parts too, the Lord was teaching me about relentless love, patience and gentleness; as I was practicing those things with Shepard no matter what he gave to me. And of course, I could see God's heart in it all too. How, even when we push against Him, run to others instead of Him...He still meets us with relentless love and grace.