Wednesday, October 18, 2006

A little bit of this and that

I don't know about the rest of you, but here on our back road time seems to be flying by. I realized today that we have just over 2 months till Christmas--yikes!!! I am looking forward so much to the holiday season--I love both Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I can't wait for Jim's family to be able to meet Julia--but once again I am already behind on getting presents ready! I have a few things that I am hoping to make for people, and in order to get them done, I really need to spend a little time each day working on them. So, here I sit blogging, when I should be working on them . . . :) Oh well, it's been a few days since I got a chance to blog, and I have so many things floating around in my brain to write about, that I want to do so before I forget them all.

In Julia news, she has officially figured out how to roll over. I forgot to mention that before, but she first rolled over on our bed, on Oct. 7th--twice. Then yesterday I had her lying on a play mat on the floor and when I turned to look at her after a few minutes, she was on her back. All 3 times have been from tummy to back, although I have a fuzzy memory of her rolling from back to tummy on our bed sometime--but I don't know for sure when, or IF she did it, or if I just dreamed it. :) Anyway, she has been a lot slower with the mobility than Sam was, as he first rolled over at almost 4 months. I don't mind if she takes a little longer to figure out crawling and walking than he did, though--because I know she'll be getting into everything once she does learn. Here's a picture of our happy girl after her morning nap:

Sam has been presenting quite a challenge for us lately with obedience (or should I say, lack thereof). This has really been a burden on our hearts, and we are spending a lot of time working with him on retraining his little mind (and hopefully getting through to his heart, as well). It is humbling to realize that this is mostly our own fault, because we have not required immediate obedience from the start. We would work on it for a while, then get lax, and then have to start over. A word to those of you who don't have little ones yet: it gets harder, the older they get!!! It is much easier to start the training when they are young, so they don't have to un-learn the bad habits. We are finding that we are having to re-train ourselves, as well; to try not to give a command more than once, but to expect a result the first time. I have found this site, "Raising Godly Tomatoes," to be very helpful. I had found it ages ago and even printed off about half the information, but had forgotten about it. In the process of seeking some guidance in dealing with Sam, God brought this site back to my mind and I've been reading through the material again. It is really common sense, but it helps to re-read it, to reinforce it in my mind. :) As my high school speech teacher used to say, "Repetition is the mother of learning!" Anyway, I highly recommend this site for parents-to-be, new parents, and those of you like us who may need some wisdom in dealing with a strong-willed child! It seems like things are looking up, as we continue trying to be very consistent with him. He has had some much more sunshiney days this week. :) Here are some pictures from this morning; he is loving his new shirt with the bug in the frog's mouth! (Thank you Mindee for the hand-me-downs!! :))


I've kind of slacked off on the cleaning challenges for the past couple weeks. Right now I'm just trying to keep up with the regular housecleaning as much as possible. Today I spiffed up the master bathroom, which was a good feeling. If only I could get myself into the habit of a daily "swish & swipe," it would STAY clean! I'll keep trying . . .

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm still reading your blog and enjoying watching your little ones grow. I just have been to busy to say Hi! Isn't it funny how with the second one you don't mind so much if they stay a baby a little longer. At 6 months our little guy is EVERYWHERE! Sunday He figured out how to stand up using a chair and has been practicing everyday since. I think I am in for a little handful, but when he says "MA MA" my heart melts!
Thanks for the reminder about consistency - we were terrible with #5 and are reaping it. We are working on it now. I'll check out the site you mentioned.
Loved the pictures of your new nephew.He has th cutest little head!
I hope to spend a little time checking out the frugal tips, I used to be much better at that, but got lazy-the inspiration should help.
Sorry about such a long commet!

Carrie said...

Joey, I loved having a long comment from you!! I've been meaning to email you, but haven't yet gotten to it. Wow, sounds like you have a little mover on your hands at 6 months old!! I'm looking forward to when Julia starts saying "mama"--right now she just loves to squeal and chatter away in as loud a voice as possible. :)

I hope you find the site I mentioned helpful--the name of it sounds funny, but her ideas of "tomato staking" really are good and make sense.

Take care and thanks again for keeping in touch!! :)

Carrie said...

Zan, I totally agree on the discipline stuff. I also pulled out my copy of Shepherding a Child's Heart (before you even mentioned it! Great minds think alike, I guess! :)), and while it is good, I had the same problems with trying to apply some of the principles to a 2 1/2 year old. At this age, it is hard to explain to him that his heart is the root of the problem!