A Week of Firsts

I wanted to post before now, but I caught a nasty bug that wiped me out for three days... I was really out of it... I even forgot it was Father's Day when I woke up on Sunday. Not good. Sincere apologies to my husband, my father, and my-in-law :0(
By the grace of God, I recovered, our kids lived, our house survived, and I was forgiven. Praise God for all of those things! Oh- and praise God no one else in the house has gotten sick!!!!!

Sickness aside, the past week has been wonderful! I just love the way a 2 year-old lives life full tilt! There is nothing like having a front row seat to that joy! C has experienced so many firsts in the past week, it would be impossible to list them all. Some of his absolute favorites are catching lightning bugs with his brother and sisters, playing the piano, swinging, kissing his sisters, watching Mickey Mouse (Misha Maow) Clubhouse (this is fitting, since we are Disney freaks), going for walks in the stroller, scanning the sky for airplanes (air-pains), meeting the neighbors, patting the dog (yes, he finally decided yesterday that he and the dog are friends now), making pancakes (he says pan-kins) with mommy (and then eating them, of course!), and going to Wal Mart (hmmm... is something wrong with him?).

So much to do, so little time! Of course, we have to be careful not to allow too much fun in a given day, or overstimulation will cause bedtime to be difficult. C is still learning to let Mommy or Daddy soothe him, so if he is too overwrought, he will still fight cuddling a bit. We are in awe, though, that he has allowed most of his wall to come down so quickly. He is already a far cry from the little boy who did not not allow any human touch at bedtime just a few weeks ago. At that point, we had to force him to be held and loved (the experts advise this). This is heartbreaking to do, and would cause him to scream his poor little heart out... the deep-down-in-the-throat kind of scream that would rattle his entire body, just as a newborn who cannot be soothed would scream. He can fight much harder than a newborn (and he has a better set of lungs), though, so we would both end up drenched with sweat by the time sleep would come to rescue him.
This kind of screaming has not been heard in our house for a few days now, which is a huge relief not only to us, but to our girls, whose little hearts would just break every time they would hear it. We have noticed C's crying has become more 2 year-old like at bedtime now. We know it is normal for crying to occur at bedtime, so we don't expect this to subside. After all, we are putting a stop to all of the day's fun. We know any 2 year-old would be a little put-out by this fact :0)

Thanks to all of you who have prayed for our son and for his little heart- it is opening now to the love we have to give, and we are looking forward to filling it to overflowing! God is faithful!!!!!!!!

Lucky guy!!!!!

Say cheese!