Friday, August 22, 2008

On the Move


It's been a busy week. Thankfully, it's been less stressful than last week, but still filled with somewhat notable happenings.
Weve enjoyed the weather, continued to watch the Olympics and spent time with friends, but mostly we've watched our kids grow up. They both seem to grow and change every day and it is hard to believe it, or keep up some of the time.

Joshua has taken up singing in the past week or so. We were shocked about a week ago when he sang, nearly perfectly no less, the "ABC" song. I knew he recognized a few letters, but didn't have any idea he knew the song and he's never really been in to singing even songs he knows well. (He loves to hear us sing and it's a big part of his routine, he just never joins in.) He's followed it up with renditions of "Jesus Loves Me" and "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" as well as "I'm a Little Teapot" as well as many made-up songs and snippets of TV-show themes, etc. All of our car rides recently have included hearty serenading, sometimes to the dismay of the stressed driver. All-in-all there's just nothing like your child singing almost anything in his sweet little voice. My favorite, however, came while we were walking the other night. Joshua was singing away to himself and started skipping along. Here's the conversations that ensued:

Joshua: "I'm skipping mommy"
Me: "I see that, why are you doing that?"
Joshua: "I'm skipping like 'myLou'!"

Lydia has decided that days of sitting and observing the world around her are over. And, she seems to think that one form of mobility at a time is not enough--she wants it all, and she wants it now! On Saturday she started full-blown crawling (defined by me as up on all fours, moving all limbs to locomote). On Sunday it was cruising--around the room and from item-to-item by Tuesday. Today we found out that she can climb up stairs...Yikes!


I've been instantly transformed into crazy child-proofing parent--except I've been lulled into complacency by 18 mos. of relative calm. I've gotten used to a child that knows what will support his weight or that you don't climb up if you can't get down. Now I'm trying to see things through a newly-mobile little one's eyes. Whew! It's just crazy to turn around and find Lydia someplace entirely different than where I placed her. The only time she's still is when she's sleeping...



Joshua is doing as well as can be expected with her ability to move to get the things she wants. Most of the time he's really proud of her--but when she takes something of his he's left lying around he tends to get really upset. We're trying to work on the "if you don't want her to get it put it away or up high" but he's not really gotten that concept yet. He's become quite the little boss recently and advises all of us (especially Lydia) about what we should or should not do.

It was mildly annoying at the time (but humorous in retrospect) when he decided to tell me when to pull out into an intersection the other day. Let's just say there's a reason that you have to be 16 to decide that on your own--his judgement was just a bit off, but he was very emphatic. As soon as the car in front of me pulled out, he started yelling "Go mommy--go now!" He is quite the champion on what the different light colors mean though. :)


Anyway, we're looking forward to enjoying a relaxing weekend and hopefully catching up on things around here, since we're leaving at the end of next week for an extended weekend with our extended families in Michigan. We're really looking forward to it, since we haven't seen any of them since June!

6 comments:

KRunyon said...

I love the "mylou" comment! How wonderful to hear and see your child putting the world around him into his own perspective!

David's in Michigan this weekend for a wedding. I had to stay back since school starts Monday. Have a wonderful trip next weekend!

Rebecca said...

wow, you did have a full week! so fun that joshua is singing. liberty loves to sing, too. it's so amazing how much they pick on, isn't it? they are like little sponges. and it sounds like you have quite the little busybody with lydia! liberty doesn't like it when leila plays with her toys, either. she's quite bossy. :)

sue said...

So glad it's been a better week! can't wait to see you guys this week!I do work until 3:30 both Thursday and Friday ... although Jeff said he might take off Friday afternoon if you guys are here then ... guess I better do some babyproofing too :)

Julie said...

Wow Liz! Just reading all that sounds exhausting.....you are certainly not a bad mom.....you're a hero! That is a lot of work, and it sounds like you are doing beautifully! You're little ones are SO precious....but it's funny how fast they go from terrific to terrible, isn't it? I hope you guys have fun visiting with your family this weekend! I wish we could be there, but Jeremy and I will both be at school by then....maybe one of these days we'll make a trip up to Madison (wouldn't that be fun?) Anyway, have safe travels! Much love!

Rebecca said...

thanks, liz! yes, feeling the baby move inside of you is the BEST feeling ever! so so neat. i love it! and miss it after the babies are born :). thanks for sharing that you didn't have yoru first appt with joshua until half-way through. i'm glad i'm not alone there!! makes me feel better :) hope your week is going well!

Anonymous said...

Would you like your e-mail listed on GSM with the rest of ours?