little things

Today I sat on Rilla's imaginary kitten, much to her dismay and consternation. It was also a bit unsettling to me. I like kittens, and I like Rilla's imagination, but I didn't realize that we'd already reached that phase in which I must be careful where I sit, lest Rilla has left an imaginary kitten in a spot where I wouldn't expect it.

I had a small yard sale today, as our neighbors were also having yard sales today. But my sign blew away, unbenownst to me, and everything had to be under plastic most of the day due to the intermittent rain showers, so it wasn't a tremendously well-attended yard sale. But I did meet a stay-at-home mom down the road with two little children, and I had visits from friends who I enjoy very much, and I scored some good deals at the yard sales of our neighbors. So despite only making $3 at my own sale... and thus netting -$4 for the day... it all turned out well.

Also today, but obviously unrelated, I could not for the life of me open the new jar of sundried tomatoes. This kind of thing happens often but it is so sad when Keith is not home to help me with such difficult matters. It leaves me feeling like an incompetent babysitter, seriously.

The other night Keith and I were talking about different things that needed to get done and for the first time ever in our marriage (that I remember in my sleep-deprived state), we were like, wow. There needs to be a parent around here. For us. When is somebody going to step in and do all those little things that we can't quite seem to get to, like scheduling dentist appointments and restoring order to the kitchen counter? We've been carrying on pretty well for a while now, but I feel like Keith and I could use a parent.

Then last night at a ladies' Bible study and mentoring group I sort of realized that oh yeah, I do have a Parent. His name is GOD, and He has given me everything I need for life and godliness. And the area where I have been really failing to obey Him is in obedience to my husband. So I've begun trying that again, resorting back to that whole obeying-the-Word-of-God thing instead of that whole but-God-I-think-I've-got-this-on-my-own thing, and what do you know, life is better when I submit to the King of Kings and obey my husband.

Okay, that's super jumbled, but I have way too much to do tonight so I'm just going to have to leave it and keep going. I know I just did this in my last post, but if you guys have never done this with your toddlers, you really should. Just write down what they say for like two minutes! I've just got to share this one. Here's two minutes of Rilla-speak from tonight:

"Mommy, I'm going lots of fun places. We guys are going to the grocery store. So the carseat in the car are in the cart so we're going to um, be patient Hooey, you're going to be patient in the car for your - um, Mommy, I'm the Mommy! Rilla, I'm the Mommy! You're Rilla. And this is Mommy. I'm going lots of fun places. We are going lots of fun places. There are lots of fun places in this house but we're going, um, yeah, we're going, um yeah. Going over the rainbow. Go over the rainbow. There's a rainbow highway to be found!"

And then a little while later: "I'm going lots of fun places. We guys are going lots of fun places. So I'm just going to, um, going to the grocery store. And I'm just going to run in. I'm just going to run in for just a minute and get, um, alligators. We're going to get alligators and sit on them. Would you like to come to the grocery store, Rilla?" [Don't you just love that the grocery store tops her list of fun places to go?]

She carried on about alligators and oranges for a while, and I visited with her. Then as I sat down again to write her hilarious words, and as she continued calling me Rilla and calling herself Mommy: "Won't you get up, Rilla? That 'puter is only for Mommy to do. Yeah, so get up. That 'puter is not for you to use. You remember this Rilla touch the 'puter? She touch the 'puter 'cause Rilla obeyed her. Mommy obeyed her. This Mommy obeyed this Rilla. So the alligator in the box don't touch that any more. Mommy, do you want to come lots of fun places?"

And some people wonder why this can be simultaneously the most fun and the most exhausting job in the world! I can't read that again without laughing so hard I cry, and yet that is the type of ongoing conversation that we have all day long. I love it.

I also loved it today when Rilla laughed with immense delight upon discovering (fake) pink flamingos at a neighbor's yard sale. And when she She also decided to adopt Abraham's bear, named him Book, and fed him salad at dinner. I did not love it when we had to revisit the sharing issue over and over and over today, but I guess that goes with the territory of having a toddler.

Not to be outdone, Abraham also has news to report today. After falling off the bed last Friday and having his first ER visit when we realized he was crying because his leg hurt (and it was after hours, so we didn't want to wait until Monday to visit the clinic), and then getting x-rays and going to the chiropractor on Monday and going to the doctor yesterday, it turns out... drum roll please... he is absolutely fine. Right at the top for height for his age... apparently I birthed a giant... but despite still not crawling or cruising, and despite still being just a bit protective of his left leg, he is just fine. Just like we always thought.

Just as it happened with Rilla, Abraham has really hit a change point since reaching the one-year-old mark. He is totally picking up on baby sign... although I may be introducing way too much at once, because he is signing "book" and "block" and "light" at opportune times, but throwing in "eat" and "nurse" and "dog" quite randomly. And he is speaking words like [avo]cado, Mama, Dada, chicken, ball, cow, moo, bawk bawk, night-night, and bye. 

He has also decided that feeding himself is a worthwhile endeavor, much to my great relief. I'm still getting over the shock of actually having to stop him from putting things on the floor into his mouth... after all those months of playing with beans!... but at least I am not feeding him every.single.bite of food anymore. That is a nice change.

One thing I really love is that Keith taught Rilla many months ago to raise her arms when we say "Amen!" at mealtimes. Now Abraham raises his arms exuberantly when we finish praying. I love that he is able to express "Amen!" with us even before he can actually say the word!

Abers (what I usually call him) is also quite in tune with the words "no" and "don't" and "not for playing with." It rocks because when I tell him no, he will stop what he is doing, vehemently shake his head, and do something else. Sometimes he even cries, but he stops what he is doing. I love it! The downside is that the same thing also happens when I use the words "no" or "don't" in daily conversation with Rilla or Keith, and so that makes me sad and makes him confused. Even worse, though, is that his sister is exploiting this newfound discovery by saying "not for playing with, Baby" when he reaches for his toys that she is playing with. So he cries and backs away obediently, poor baby! So we're trying to work on teaching Rilla that only Mommy and Daddy can say "no" to Abraham, but still... this area's going to take a little work.

Oh dear. This is huge. Um... sorry!