Every year I believe that this year will be different. Every year I try again. Every year there is that elusive Christmas picture.
And I’m left with amazing shots of my kids making faces. . . like this . . .
And I decide (again, just like last year) that getting my kids to pose is so overrated.
Isn’t this more true-to-life anyway?
(And then I take them to a photo studio.)
When Mara was born, dear friends in South Carolina gave us Twila Paris’ “Bedtime Prayers” CD. It’s become one of our favorites for bedtime music.
Tonight I sang along as I rocked my precious 15-month-old David to sleep. Halfway through the song I laid him in his crib. His eyes flickered open for an instant, then shut again as I lay his blanket on top of him. I went to sit on Micah’s bed and finished the song with my droopy-eyed four-year-old.
I pray the Lord will hold you close and keep you through the night,
That you will wake up smiling in the early morning light,
That He will always comfort you and make you brave and strong,
I pray that you will follow Him your whole life long.
I pray that you will grow up to be wise and good and true,
I pray that you will please the Lord in everything you do,
I pray that you will hear His voice and learn to sing His song,
I pray that you will follow Him your whole life long.
I pray that you will follow Him,
I pray that you will follow Him,
I pray that you will follow Him your whole life long.
I pray the Lord will bless you with His presence every day,
I pray he will protect you every step along the way,
Help you love what’s right and lead you far away from wrong,
I pray that you will follow Him your whole life long.
I pray that you will follow Him,
I pray that you will follow Him,
I pray that you will follow Him your whole life long.
“I pray that for you, Micah,” I told him. “I pray that you will follow Him your whole life long.”
Micah has such a soft heart. He said, “Keep praying it for me. Every day, every day, every day! Till I’m a hundred years old!”
Yesterday, while Mara was reviewing her 1 – 20 cards, she decided to keep counting. . . and counting . . . and counting. . .
By the time she counted to “58, 59. . . SIXTY!” I could see the little wheels in her head spinning and it was obvious that counting “ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy. . .” had finally “clicked” in her little mind!
She kept going until she reached “One hundred!” and she had counted perfectly!
What an exciting moment! Mara jumped off her stool and began shouting, “I can count to one hundred! Let’s call Daddy right now and tell him I can count to one hundred!”
Daniel has been very busy at work this week, so I knew that wouldn’t work out. But when he got home that night, she greeted him, “Daddy!!!! Guess what?! I can count to one hundred!”
And she did. Right then!
She counted for Daniel exactly as she had for me, right up until “Ninety-seven, ninety-eight. . .” and in her excitement, she completely skipped over “ninety-nine,” and shouted, “ONE HUNDRED!!!” Of course, leaping and jumping in the air. We were both laughing with delight.
The next day she told me she was going to write all the numbers from one to one hundred on the white erase board. She tried to quit a couple of times, but I encouraged her to stick it out. She is weaker on her number-writing than letter-writing, so I thought it would be good practice. She also reversed several of her numbers and transposed others. For example, on the “70’s” line, she had written “70 17 27 37 47 57 67 77 87 97,” so I had her re-write that line. I think all this will work itself out as she gets more practice.
After “100,” she decided to one-up herself and write the numbers by hundreds up to “900.” She was quite pleased with herself. “Look! I wrote from 1 to 900!”
One of the joys of homeschooling is getting to be there and see her delight as she learns each new concept and skill!
It was quiet in the boys’ room. So I went up to see what was going on.
They were playing potato heads.
I love these boys!
The kids rode their bikes back and forth “from the fire hydrant to the second tree” (those are their boundaries) after dinner. It looked like it was about to storm but they at least got to spend 20 or 30 minutes outside riding.
“The stars will come out soon,” Carissa said, her very tiny self surverying the sky from her seat on the Strider bike.
“Well, I think it’s going to storm, so the clouds will probably cover the stars tonight,” I told her.
“It will be loud thunder,” she predicted. “Like “BAHHHHHOOOMMM!” She clapped her hands together dramatically. Something like that, Riss.
Poor Mara skinned her knee on her first ride down to the fire hydrant. David skinned his knee too–just falling on the sidewalk–but it didn’t bother him and I didn’t even realize it till I took him inside and washed him up.
The storms did come. I had put the girls to bed and I was in the boys’ room with the lights out when we heard a loud clap of thunder. Rissy came running down the hall, and light streamed into the room as she flung the door open and hissed, “Did you hear the thunder?!”
And Micah shouted, “Did you see that?! It was like someone flashed a camera across the sky!”
For the next few minutes, silhouettes of two brothers–four and one–each holding back one side of the blinds peeked expectantly out the window from the bed and the crib. . . As lightning flashed, David squealed, “ooo-OOO-ooo!” just because Micah was excited. And now that he was hyper again, David ran from end-to-end of his crib screaming, “AHHHHHHH!” the same way he does when he’s playing “monster.”
Micah, riveted to the window, exclaimed, “This time it was FINGER lightning! All across the sky!”
The wonder of childhood! I love my little storm watchers.