Ages and Stages

I am totally loving the stage Erin is in now. She's is very much into discovery and it's fun to see the new things she is discovering each day. She's starting to become more aware of herself and her body, pointing to various body parts (like nose and tummy). I put her in front of the mirror the other day and she was enthralled! She was entertained for about 15 minutes, trying to figure out who her new friend was.

I think this is about the third week since she's been walking and she totally loves it. She cruises as fast as she can everywhere she goes and although she frequently gets pushed down by older sis, she just gets right back up.

Erin is communicating a lot more now too. She's finally started to sign back to us and so far is signing milk, more, dog, and we're working on all done and apple. I almost gave up teaching her, I'm glad I didn't. Her favorite words are mama and daddy (of course, well daddy more because he's gone so much she LOVES when he is home), nana (banana), ball, night-night, sissy, hi, and several animal sounds. Speaking of animal sounds, she picked up on the dinosaur ROAR this week since Shelby and I have been doing dinosaurs for preschool. It's hilarious. She's been walking around the house for days roaring.


Erin is getting a little more patient now when it comes to reading books and will actually sit a little longer when I read to her. Her current favorite book is Goodnight Moon. She likes to moo when she sees the cow jumping over the moon and meow when she sees the kittens. Erin also loves to sing. When she hears us singing at home or when we're at church she'll start singing along. Tonight when I put her to bed she even started singing with me. My heart melted! Wow, that's a lot about Erin!

Now on to Shelby, who has TOTALLY hit a new stage. She is way into autonomy. It kind of came on all-of-a-sudden so I'm still trying to adjust to it a little bit. She has to do everything herself these days, except when she doesn't want to, even though she can (like go to the bathroom). So, this is good, because she's finding new limits for herself but it can also be frustrating, and actually sometimes comical, but not always in the moment.

For example, we're reading 3 bedtime stories that she picked out and are on her bed. I ask her which one she wants to read first and second but I just picked up the last one because it was the only one left. She took it out of my hand, put it back on the bed and said she had to pick it, then picked it right back up and handed it to me to read.

She does the same thing with the songs we sing for bed too. We always sing the same 5 in the same order, but if I start singing now without her picking, she interrupts me so she can pick it, then I can sing. I've had to simmer down about this stuff because I was letting myself get pretty annoyed, but then I realized that it really didn't matter that much.

Shelby is so bright I just can't believe it. I know I've encouraged her in things but I really believe even without that she would still be so smart. It amazes me every day the things she remembers and learns. She has an amazing memory.

We've been having a lot of fun doing different things for preschool. It's just she and I but it gives us things to do together. It makes me feel happy when she gets so excited over an activity I put together for her. I also get excited writing out our plans for the week and gathering the things we're going to need. So far we've done oceans (so fun!), apples (that too!), circus, doctors and dentists and we're currently finishing dinosaurs. Next week we're doing a good morning/good night theme.

You know, I always though I'd be a different kind of mother, but it has been a major learning curve for me. I think the Lord makes us parents not so we can teach our kids (because they're going to learn anyway) but so we can be taught, so we can learn the lessons He wants us to learn. I've gone through some rough patches in parenting but realizing and understanding this principle more lately has really helped me put things into perspective. This stage of mothering is my stage in life right now and to get through it I need to remember to rely on the Lord and figure out what I need to learn through it all.