A sick day for daddy

It's finally Derek's turn to be sick.  On Saturday after Luke had had his meltdown, and I'd had a meltdown of my own I told Derek that it was his turn to cry and be whiney...he didn't take me up on the offer.  The next day he did, however, come down with a cold (or the flu?  I don't actually know the difference anymore), and he's still down for the count.  I can't remember the last time Derek took a sick day!  But I'm glad he's resting.

This weekend was a busy one for Luke.  He got into LOTS of mischief.  And was, also, his most charming and intelligent self.  I will start with the mischief:

• Luke went upstairs and Derek and I didn't follow fast enough.  When we came up we were greeted by the site of an overflowing milk glass on the table top and Luke and Linus both on the floor licking up the puddle that was still growing from the drips off the table.
• Luke stuck his stockinged feet in the toilet after he peed...before he flushed.
• Luke poured an entire (new!) bottle of hand soap out over the bathroom counter and smeared it on the cupboards.
• Luke peed on the floor (one of very few accidents in the last week, I should add), and proceeded to tromp through it and then run down the hall.
• Luke found Derek's Vicks, opened it, and smeared it all over the alarm clock on our bedside table.

Now for the genius:

• Luke was playing with his race cars in the living room. I was in the kitchen when he looked up at me and asked, "Mama, do you know what visualize means?"  I asked, "Do you?"  "Nope. What does it mean?" he asked.  I told him it was to picture something in your head.  A few minutes later Luke asked me again, "Mama, do you know what visualize means?"  "Yes," I said, "Do you?"  "Yes," Luke said nodding vigorously, "It means to make a picture in your head.  Yeah, uh-huh".  Not long after this exchange I heard Luke narrating a conversation between his race cars that included a sentence something like, "It is fantastic if you visualize it."
• Derek asked Luke how his day was going and Luke responded with, "My day was a little long actually".  When Derek asked why it was so long Luke said, "I was crying for a little bit because of the time-out and I wanted a hug."

Expecting

With this guy, I am always expecting...something unusual!  Yesterday he told me that when the snow goes away we can have a baby girl to bring home from the hospital.  *sigh*  I sure hope the snow is gone in 6 or 7 weeks, but sadly, the thing we're expecting tonight is:  a blizzard.

Winkler

BLIZZARD WARNING IN EFFECT

Issued : 11:00 AM CST Friday 11 March 2011

Blizzard warning in effect.

Today

Cloudy. 60 percent chance of freezing rain near noon then 60 percent chance of rain showers early this afternoon. Snow and blowing snow beginning this afternoon. Snowfall amount 5 cm. Wind south 30 km/h becoming northwest 30 gusting to 50 this afternoon. High plus 1.

 

Tonight

Snow and blowing snow. Blizzard developing this evening. Snowfall amount 5 cm. Wind northwest 30 km/h gusting to 50 increasing to 50 gusting to 80 this evening. Low minus 18. Wind chill minus 33.

Peeps - #1, and #2

We've been potty-training off and on for some time with limited success (mostly due to constipation and Luke's refusal to poop on the toilet).  But a few days ago when we had friends over and Luke took off his poopy diaper and ended up smearing poop all over toys and books I had had enough.  If a diaper is no longer containing the poop, then why aren't we just wearing underwear?!

Into underwear he went.  That first day was sort of rough.  He peed on the floor twice!  And peeing was the one thing we thought we had control of.  The second day a package arrived in the mail from Luke's Auntie Lissa.  It was full of nothing but peeps.  Blue, green, yellow and pink peeps.  Luke was sitting on the toilet under Derek's supervision when I opened the package and I ran into the bathroom and declared, "Any boy who pees on the toilet gets a peep.  If he poops, he gets TWO peeps."  And Derek quickly revised my statement, "Poops on the toilet..."  Thank goodness for quick revisions.

The next day was delightful.  Luke took himself to the bathroom, pulled down his pants and underwear, climbed onto the toilet and only let us know he'd peed after we heard the flush!  We were thrilled.  But there was still the pooping to deal with.  Yesterday (tuesday), we had Mom's group and I was running the photo booth, but Luke insisted on wearing underwear.  He made it through the morning without wetting his pants, but wouldn't you know it...he pooped a little in his underwear.

Then he pooped a little in his underwear again later in the evening.  And then this morning he did it again.  And again.  And again.  And finally I was so SICK of wiping up stuck on, stinky, disgusting poop that I told Luke I'd had enough.  "I'm taking this another direction," I said.  "If you poop in your underwear, you will get a swat.  (here I was interrupted by muttering from the peanut gallery with, "Swats hurt".)  However, if you poop on the toilet you will get two peeps.  Now you decide how you want to handle pooping from now on."

About an hour later I saw Luke stand stock still.  He looked at me with an expression of surprise, and - perhaps a bit of fear?  Next moment he was running to the toilet, he pulled down his underwear, climbed up on the toilet, and delivered the biggest bm I've ever seen - bar none.  What a guy.

He immediately requested his TWO peeps, and I gladly handed them over.  My kid may be downing more sugary treats this week than in the rest of his life combined, but 7 weeks before baby number 2 is due to arrive, you won't be hearing a "peep" outta me.

(apologies! I just couldn't resist the pun)

Friday photo fun

This photo pretty much captures their relationship. Luke: "I'm bigger 'n you.  In your face"   Linus: "you'll get what's comin' to you little boy".

Luke says,

"Stand aside!  I have a big responsibility to play baseball."

Seeing God

32 weeks

People talk about "I felt God was telling me", and "It was a God thing", and they speak about ways that God has blessed them.  I am really uncomfortable with language like this...Christian-ese, it can be called.  It falls into this category of pop-culture Christianity that I have little or no respect for.  The problem for me arises when I hear someone use these phrases and I automatically turn my ears off.  I too quickly give up on the conversation, the sermon, the person sharing their testimony and think, "This is one of those things I won't relate to".

Derek and I were talking about this the other evening.  I feel skeptical of the authenticity of any story that uses what seems to me too-easy language to talk about God, our relationship with him.  I feel like in my own life that relationship is much harder than, "It was a God thing".  I struggle to hear and see God.  But what I want to learn is to try to understand what people feel when they talk this way.  I want to learn to relate to people who use a different vocabulary than I do, even if it makes me uncomfortable.  I still don't always want to be associated with people who call themselves Christians.  But I need to be a better listener.  And, more importantly I think, I need to try to see the Holy Spirit working in the world in ways that I might not automatically assume He would (ie: God blessed me with finding cheap gas today.  God blessed me with a really good night's sleep).  I tend to think of God as more hands-off.   But if I believe Satan is working in the world, it follows God would have a hand in things too, right?

I just get hung up on phrases like, "God answered our prayers".  Well, okay.  But if God answered your prayer and healed your sister/brother/mother, how come he didn't answer my prayer and heal my aunt or allow me to conceive?  Is that God withholding his blessing from me?  Or is it Satan winning a skirmish in this epic spiritual battle?  How can I hold in tension the idea of a God who wants only good things for me, and a God who allows death and broken relationships?  I suppose partly it's the idea of Christ's victory, "already but not yet".  We live in a strange middle place where we know God has power, and is working for His purposes, but His ultimate purpose hasn't yet been fulfilled and so brokenness still exists in the world.

I am really rambling here.

All this to say that although I struggle with how exactly to phrase it so as not to alienate people who feel as awkward as I do with Christianese, I see God at work in the world.

And I see his handiwork in my womb.

And I rejoice each time I feel this child stretch, or get the hiccups, or jump on my bladder.  Not just because I love the baby, but because I know this baby is an answer to prayer and not just a coincidence or an accident or even simply/scientifically because an egg and a sperm met.  This baby is with us because of the work of the Holy Spirit.   Thanks be to God.

Knock Three Times on the Ceiling

I asked my belly to thump once if it is a girl, twice if it is a boy.  I got one big thump.

We will have to wait and see if the baby and I are good communicators.

Three sentences that (I swear) came out of my 2 year old's mouth:

"I managed to kick it right over his head!"

"It would be lovely if you would share your muffin with me."

"Wow, train.  That's a terrific new paint job."