Birthday Present Fun

Here is our boy, playing with a few of his birthday presents...

Grammy P noticed that James had enjoyed playing with cousin Anna's baby dolls so she gave him one for his birthday. She brought it in a basket along with a pillow and blanket she had made. I have loved watching James take care of this little doll with great care. He holds it very gently, feeds it bottles, then places it tenderly back in its bed and covers it with the blanket.

Each time he plays with the doll, I ask him if he'd like a baby... he says, "da-da." And so I pray for God to bring him a sibling some day soon.

Bless The Lord, O My Soul

I promised Ben that whatever the outcome of the election, I would say today, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy Name..." For your refreshment, here is Psalm 103 in its entirety. Here is truth. Here is reality.

Psalm 103 (English Standard Version)

Bless the LORD, O My Soul
Of David.

1 Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!
2 Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits,
3 who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
5 who satisfies you with good
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
6 The LORD works righteousness
and justice for all who are oppressed.
7 He made known his ways to Moses,
his acts to the people of Israel.
8 The LORD is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 He will not always chide,
nor will he keep his anger forever.
10 He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
13 As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.
14 For he knows our frame;
he remembers that we are dust.

15 As for man, his days are like grass;
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
16 for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
and its place knows it no more.
17 But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting
on those who fear him,
and his righteousness to children’s children,
18 to those who keep his covenant
and remember to do his commandments.
19 The LORD has established his throne in the heavens,
and his kingdom rules over all.

20 Bless the LORD, O you his angels,
you mighty ones who do his word,
obeying the voice of his word!
21 Bless the LORD, all his hosts,
his ministers, who do his will!
22 Bless the LORD, all his works,
in all places of his dominion.
Bless the LORD, O my soul!

Typical(?) Boy

Well, in case anyone wondered, I have a boy... 

all boy... 

very boy.

We still occasionally find James in his crib fully clothed but with poopy on his hands or on the floor. We pin him into his sleeper pajamas. We tape his diaper. For the life of me I couldn't figure out what he was doing. And then one day I walked into his room just in the nick of time. James stood there with that "caught" look on his face as I turned on the light. He had managed to pull his arm inside his jammies and wedge his hand into his dirty diaper. Ugh!

Then today, while he finished his lunch, I left the table to clean up the kitchen. Next thing I know, this boy-of-few-words is trying to communicate something important. As I looked over and saw him pointing to his nose, I noticed that one side was a little bigger? than usual and a slight bit red. 

"Goodness gracious! Your raisins!"

Mmhh-hhmm.

(May I just ask, how do you NOT laugh when you realize that your 2-year-old has stuffed a raisin up his nose?)

So I ran upstairs, pulled out the tweezers and the alcohol, poured the alcohol over the tweezers and tumbled back downstairs. As long as I was just using my hands, James let me hold his head and push on his nose... but as soon as I tried to use the tweezers, he'd pull away.

Then I got a bright idea. James is always asking to talk to Bea. Perfect. I picked up the phone, dialed her number and said, "Your nephew has lodged a raisin up his nose. Can you distract him while I pull it out?"

In fewer than 8 seconds, that piece of dried fruit was out and in its final resting place.

Praise God for sisters who have been through this with their own daring sons! (Thanks, Bea!)

Repeating

Thursday, as our friend Britt was leaving the house for work, she said, "Bye" to me. Suddenly, a little hand waved and a little voice piped up, clear as a bell, "Bye." Brittany and I exchanged surprised glances. Multiple times during the day when he had the opportunity, our little man of few words would offer, "Bye" in the perfect moment.

On Friday, James started repeating complete words after me. He said whole sentences at four different times during that day. The most memorable was when he wanted to go outside while I was making dinner. He was hanging on me, fussing, and pointing out to the tot lot by our house. I told him to go ask Daddy.  He ran into the other room, so I followed him and said, "James, say, 'Daddy' (Diddy), may (may) I (I) please (peas) go (goh) to (to) the (duh) park (pahk)."

Ben looked at me with surprise and delight in his eyes. "Can you write that down?!"

I can't remember how much James repeated over the weekend, but on Monday, he was very congested, so we were hanging out at home, and a bit bored. I decided to put a couple videos on my mom, sister's and our Facebook sites with James repeating multiple sentences - one word at a time. You can tell he was getting tired by the time we recorded my mom's.

Today, he has asked by name for his friend Dorothy (Dohti) without prompting. And I told him that I was going to make eggs for my breakfast. When I brought my plate to the table about 10 minutes later (after doing some other things in the meantime), he pointed at it and said, "Ahggs." We've never discussed eggs before now! And then he surprised me with one more. While we were eating my eggs (yes, he helped me with them), he became aware of a scratch on his ring finger. He pointed to it, and said, "boo-boo."

Such is the excitement at our house these days.

2 Year Stats

We saw our pediatrician for James' 2-yr well child visit this morning... except we learned that he has infections in both ears - so I guess not exactly a well child! Since James is not complaining, the doc said not to treat at this point. But he did write a script in case James gets miserable.

Meanwhile, here are the boy's stats:
Weight - 28 lbs (50th %)
Height - 35 3/4 inches (75-90th %)
Head - 50 cm (75-90th %)

Doc also thinks James may have environmental allergies and possibly exercise-induced asthma. Bummer! It runs in both families, so not surprising. But not fun if that's the case.

All around, though, a healthy, strong, happy little guy!

Quirky Things About Me

I just discovered that I've been tagged to list six quirky things about myself... So here goes.

#1 - I am a morning person - for most of my life (even in elementary school), I've gotten up between 5 and 5:30 a.m. Since having James, though, I admit that some days I go back to bed for a bit after getting Ben's day started.

#2 - Our microwave became the victim of a power surge this summer, and it took me days to even miss the clock on it. So we decided just not to replace it. Interestingly, I still don't miss it at all.

#3 - I have a crock of rye sourdough starter on my counter at all times. James helps me grind the rye, pour the flour into the crock and add water then stir it all up. While he holds the spoon, I turn the bowl and sing, "And round and round and round and round and round and round we go... and James is helping Mommy make... a big pot of sour dough."

#4 - Every day, I count James' toys as I put them away to make sure all the pieces are there. If not, I hunt them down so we don't end up with incomplete puzzles, etc. (would that be considered quirky or neurotic?!)

#5 - I always take my rings off at night (my fingers swell), but I rarely remove my necklace or earrings.

#6 - My internal temperature seems much cooler than most... in general, when I'm finally comfortable, most other people are hot. 

Re-reading this, I notice (not for the first time mind you) that I'm kinda lame! But it was fun. Thanks, Jen!

So now I tag Britt Mc, Jess A, Alycia I, Kelly P, Charisa F, and Kelly Mc to list 6 things that are quirky about yourself and then tag five more people. Have fun!

Random Notes

At the end of September, my parents graciously came down just so my mom could give James a much-needed haircut. James didn't mind the haircut. He got Papa's undivided attention!

Our sweet boy has a very particular way he wants to be put to bed at night: one bear in each arm, a fire truck in one hand, a horse in the other (along with a cloth diaper).

Sweet dreams, little man...