For the past several days, I have been thinking how
different life was exactly one year ago.
One year ago, Sumner was still very much a “baby” to me. He was only a little over a year and a half
old and was much more “needy” of me than he is today. Anna Ruth was only two months old; with that comes
the typical “newborn” characteristics which equal little sleep for mommy and
daddy. To say the least, Matthew and I
had our hands full! However, what made
this time even more difficult was that Anna Ruth started having
feeding/digestive issues which ended up putting her in the hospital for a few
days, and almost resulted in a feeding tube.
In fact, she spent her 2 month birthday in the hospital. It was a very scary, sad, difficult, and
worrisome time for all of us. When I
look back on this time, I feel those same emotions all over again. Thankfully, I know that those emotions belong
in the past, and God saw us through it.
When I look at how far both my children have grown over the past year, I
cannot help but to get on my knees and praise God and thank him for all he has
blessed me with.
I LOVE the “season” of my life right now. I love being home with my children. I love watching Anna Ruth and Sumner learn
each and every day. I love watching them
enjoy each other’s company. I even “love”
breaking up little disagreements between the two of them (if that even makes sense.)
Every day is really a new adventure because they truly do change, pick up a new
habit, or learn a new skill each and every day! Here are just a few things that
have gone on the past month:
Anna Ruth
· She loves to play with her toy phones (and real
ones.) She has several, and you can just about count on her holding one of them
at any given time.
· She has become very independent when it comes to
mealtime. She doesn’t want any
help. In fact, if you try to feed her she
pushes your hand away and refuses to eat.
She has learned to feed herself with a spoon. This is fun for her and a mess for me!
· Her new thing is raising her arms up (as to
answer a question) and talking in what sounds like a foreign language when
asked “Where is ___?”
· She knows where all of her body parts are when
asked.
· She loves to play in her kitchen and have tea
parties.
· She loves to her hug, cuddle, and kiss her dolls
and stuffed animals.
· She is still 100% a mama’s girl.
· She is so funny… At home, I am not allowed to
get out of her sight. However, in
public, when I don’t want her wandering off, she does! It is crazy!
· She always takes her socks, shoes, and bow out
as soon as I strap her in the car seat.
I always tell her “no, no!” Lately I have heard her in the back pointing
her little finger at her foot and saying “no, no, no, no!”
· Whenever she gets something she knows she isn’t
supposed to have, she turns away and TAKES OFF in a flash! I wish I could get it on camera, but it just
happens so fast. Her little waddle is so cute when she is trying to move fast!
· She likes to help out in any way that she
can. When I am cleaning, she thinks she
needs to be cleaning, too! She has also
started throwing her own diaper away. I
am not sure what made her decide to “ask” aka “point and grunt”, but now she
gets upset when we don’t let her.
· She loves to take a bath. If she even hears someone mention the word “bath”,
she drops whatever she is doing and takes off into the bathroom.
· -She has become quite the “tattletale!” She lets
everyone know when Sumner does something he isn’t supposed it, and even her
DADDY! J
One night Matthew was eating almonds.
She walked up to him and started pointing. He told her she couldn’t have any because
they were too hard. Well, she didn’t
like that answer. Matthew said the
second he told her no, she turned around crying and headed straight down the
hall to find me. The door was shut
because I was taking a shower, and when she realized she could not get in, she
fell to the ground and cried the biggest tears you have ever seen! I thought something really bad had happened
so I came running out.
· I am ready for spring time to get here because
Anna Ruth has just about outgrown all of her winter clothes. I do not want to go buy new ones because she
won’t wear them long.
· She loves pointing to pictures on our
refrigerator and telling us who everyone is.
· She likes to play with books. Unfortunately she doesn’t necessarily like us
to actually read them. I try to read to
her every night, but it never goes the way I would like because she wants to
turn pages, open, shut, and do everything else besides sit still.
- No changes in schedule. She still takes to naps a day and sleeps from 7:30 pm-7:30 am.
- No changes in schedule. She still takes to naps a day and sleeps from 7:30 pm-7:30 am.
Sumner
·
Sumner has got such a good imagination. I cannot even begin to recall all of the ways
he plays or all of the things he pretends to be. A few examples are:
* He pretends to be a
backhoe. He made this up completely on
his own. He puts one arm in front,
another in the back, and makes an engine noise.
*He goes around the house all day
cutting you off by opening up his arm and saying “gate shut!” You have to ask
permission for him to open the gate and let you by. As you can imagine this irritates Anna Ruth to
no end!
* He crawls around in a circle on
the floor making the “choo-choo” sound, pretending to be a train. Sometimes, he even makes people join along
(and when this happens, he tells you where to go, what part of the train you
are, and the most important part is who is the caboose!)
* He pretends to be other people
or animals! What I mean by this is he
may decide one day he is Champ.
Therefore, he goes around like a dog (barking, panting!) Other days he
may tell you he is “Daddy” or anyone for that matter! So, we have to call him and pretend like he
is whoever he says he is. It is so
funny!
·
Sumner’s new thing is “Why?” Oh yes, every parent’s
worst nightmare! When he gets on a “why?”
kick, it could last forever!!!! I honestly don’t know how it ever ends. I guess he just gets bored or distracted? A
conversation could go like this:
* Me: “Come on, Sumner. We need to
put your jacket on.”
* Sumner: “Why?”
*Me: “Because we are about to go outside.”
Sumner: “Why?”
*Me: “Because it is cold and your jacket will keep you warm.”
Sumner: “Why?”
Me: “Because that’s just what jackets do” (hoping to end this conversation.)
Sumner: “Why?”
And you see this could just keep going on and on and on!
·
He is really starting the grasp (as much as a 2 ½
year old can) what birthday parties are all about. He told me wanted to have a train party.
·
He picks up new phrases all the time, and I am
not sure where he learns them. The
latest one I have heard him say is “I sure did” when I ask him questions like “did
you like___” or “did you go to ___.” And he says it so “matter of fact-ly.”
·
Despite Matthew’s disapproval, Sumner loves to
play in his sister’s kitchen! Haha! Not only does he like to play in her kitchen,
but real kitchens too!
·
He loves to learn. I only pray his love for learning will
continue… He asks me all the time to
read his shapes book with him, or read “1-2-3 book” aka numbers book, or read “blue/green
book” aka colors book. He is learning to
write letters and he is also learning his sight words. His memory is incredible. He learned 5 of the sight words after
watching a Preschool Prep dvd once. I
can read a book to him just a few times, and he pretty much has it
memorized. And what is even more
impressive is that he doesn’t forget.
Last night I read a book to him that we have not read in several
weeks. He was able to fill in several
lines on each page just from his memory.
First Trip to the Dentist
Sumner and Anna Ruth had their very first
trip to the dentist on February 18, 2015.
They saw Dr. Webster. We loved him and his staff. Everyone was so nice, bubbly, and
helpful. The entire facility was kid
friendly. The visit was a short one. Dr. Webster basically just looked in each of
their mouths to make sure everything was developing correctly. He gave me tips on brushing and taking care
of their teeth. The dental hygienist brushed their teeth, too. Both children loved it. In fact, Anna Ruth cried when I took her out
of the chair! After the visit, both Sumner and Anna Ruth got to dig for
treasure in his big treasure chest. They
both picked out toy cars (or should I say Sumner picked them both out two
cars!)
Dear
Sumner and Anna Ruth,
I
hope you always know how loved and special you are to so many people. Most importantly, I hope you always know how
loved and special you are to the one who gave you to me, Jesus. I pray each and every day that your daddy and
I will make the right decisions as we raise you. I also pray that both of you will accept
Jesus into your heart at a young age and follow him all of the days of your
life. There is not greater decision you
will ever make.
I
love you both as high as the sky and the ocean is deep and more and more and
more.
Love,
Mama
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