ahhh!

Ethan's been grinding his teeth recently - apparently nothing to worry about but it drives me CRAZY!

climber

The little weiner can barely stand and he's already climbing!

...and home again

When I was in Nicaragua, I felt like I'd been there for weeks. And now that I'm home again, I feel like I never left! On the practical front, Ethan is still willing to nurse, so I'm happy. He's been a little clingy for the past couple days, but I decided to take a few days off work so that we can just hang out with no separations for a while.

The trip itself was marvelous! I was right about it being heavy on the meetings, but I sure learned a lot! We learned about the different aspects of poverty, about the history of Nicaragua, about what the Nehemiah Centre is doing in the country, and about what it means to do incarnational ministry. We also met with several local pastors and heard their amazing stories of ministry. We went to churches and participated in some pretty wild worship. We went to the crappiest areas and saw both hopelessness and victory. We spent a day with Compassion children, and were all amazed at their ministry...again.

And of course, we had a few hours to do some tourist stuff - we went to the beach for a couple hours, peered into a volcano, and ran into some bats in a lava cave. We even played hooky from a meeting and took some rickshaws to the gas station and had snacks!

I have to say, going with the church staff was a great decision. Not only did I already have a relationship with them, but I knew I had to continue the relationship so we really DID have to get along! It was a hoot. I haven't laughed so much in a long time.

I'll post some pictures when I get my camera back - Continental managed to leave a half-plane's worth of luggage in Houston!

Thanks to those who prayed, specifically about Ethan - it was tough but we kept busy, so I was mostly ok. Every couple days I had a pity party for a few minutes, but there was always so much going on to distract me.

on another plane...

In less than 36 hours I will be flying over the States on the way to Managua, Nicaragua! It feels kind of surreal. I'm going with the rest of the pastoral-type staff from church. We're going to be meeting with other church leaders to encourage each other and to find out if there are useful ways that we can have future teams do short trips. It should be interesting, if not a little heavy on the meetings. But there will be food and sun, so I shan't complain!

I'm definitely going to miss Ethan - 8 days is a long time to be away from your 10-month old that you haven't even weaned! But he will be with family, so I'm not worried. Ethan and Jon will be okay. Hopefully I will be too.

SUGAR!

Ethan had his first real dessert today. We were at a birthday party and they had white cupcakes. I thought he might like to try a bit. Did he ever! Leaning forward with eyes aglow...that's definitely part of what childhood is all about!

Sweetie pie

Jon had a sweet moment with Ethan today.

He went in to wake him up from his nap (since he was still sleeping and it was suppertime!). Ethan was still asleep, but when Jon said his name, he slowly opened his eyes and said very softly: "dada".

the little goof

Our little goofball strikes again! Today he was in the jolly jumper and suddenly he stopped bouncing, stuck his legs out in front of him, and grabbed his knees...he just hung there, going up and down for a minute, grinning at us. It was hilarious! He did it again later. We caught a bit of it on video. I really need to figure out how to upload stuff from our video camera!

finally!

Ethan started crawling today! Just a foot or so, but it was definitely crawling! I just about started crying - hadn't expected THAT reaction! I think it was maybe because I was afraid I was going to miss the start of his crawling career while I was in Nicaragua. What a relief! He wouldn't do it again after that, but he was trying to push/pull himself along on his stomach and actually succeeded in moving a bit that way as well.

Who knows if this will continue or not though. He turned over several times at about 4 months old, then didn't do it again for a month, so maybe he will just wait for a while to try again. But he's really trying to get to things now - when we put him on his bum, it's usually less than a minute before he's pulled himself onto his stomach, where as before he would contentedly play on his butt for 30 minutes or more.

Every mother I know says that having them start moving isn't really cause for celebration because it's so much more work, but I'm so ready for the next stage!

oddness

I'm not sure how he did it, but this morning when I went to get Ethan out of bed, he was on his stomach and completely flipped around! He must have rotated himself on his back and then flipped...or something. I guess it will only get more interesting from here!

possibly the cutest father-son picture ever!

yum!

Ok, a post about me for once. I've discovered that I can cook! Obviously making supper several days a week for 5 years will have increased my skills a bit, but tonight I made a supper that actually made Jon groan with delight. Wow. I got 3 new cookbooks for Christmas (The Art of Simple Cooking, From Earth to Table, and the Big Green Cookbook) and I'm excited to learn how to knock his socks off every night!

I've realized that I like to go on learning kicks - for a while I was all about gardening, which I still love, but I went nuts with learning about it for a while. Then I went nuts with music. Before that it was indoor plants. Then I was reading every book I could get my hands on regarding babies in general. Then I read 3 books about babies and sleep issues. And now it's cooking. Would you consider that binge learning?

cuteness

Ethan's been figuring out how to roll in order to get something. He won't roll lots, but he'll do a roll and a half at least, all in succession. Funny thing is, he'll only go one direction! So when he runs out of room, we flip him the other way :) It's very cute. But of course, everything he does is cute...

progress!

So our little lazybones is finally making a bit of progress on the movement front. Today he apparently pulled himself almost to standing in the bathtub (under extreme supervision by daddy :). Apparently, he was quite proud of himself! After his bath, we usually give him some naked tummy time, and he was trying quite often to get onto all fours.

He's so funny when he's on his tummy. Sometimes I leave a trail of cheerios in front of him and he can't figure out to reach them. But if I put them in a circle around him, he'll spin himself quite easily, pulling himself with his hand. Isn't that the same muscles? oh well, he'll figure it out. In the meantime, I'm going to count my blessings ... I can turn my back and he won't really move!

my little goofball

Recently, Ethan has picked up a silly new trick. While we're feeding him with a spoon, he clamps the spoon between his teeth, closes his mouth, and starts laughing. As his mouth is closed, it sounds more like snorting from his nose! Sometimes he does it without the spoon too - just purses his lips and starts breathing hard and chuckling. I really need to try to get a video of it! It's so cute because he looks right at me and his eyes just sparkle with laughter. What a goofy kid!

Baby envy

I always thought it was really stupid to compare your kid with someone else's kid. There will always be someone else better than your kid at anything, and someone else worse than your kid at anything, right? I would read articles about "child envy" or "child comparison" and think that could never be me. I mean, really, how shallow is that?

But it is gratifying to hear the doctor say he was so strong, to hear people say he's so friendly, or so cute. It's secretly soothing to hear that other babies can't eat as well as him, or pick up small objects like he can.

But a baby 2 days older than Ethan is practically crawling, and he is just finally rolling over consistently. (He's been able to roll over for months, he just hasn't bothered -- ah, see how I try to make it sound better?) And a baby 7 weeks older than Ethan has been saying words for a couple months now, and all Ethan does is say "aaaahhhh" and the occasional consonant. I KNOW there's nothing wrong with him and that he's just developing at his own pace, but it's still hard to let go of my pride and realize that my kid isn't going to be the first, or the best, or the strongest, or the smartest.

I guess it's a good lesson to learn now. I suppose it's better to learn to let him be himself NOW, rather than learning that lesson when he's a teenager, rebelling against my expectations.

Is it just me though, or is this something you never think could affect you...until you have kids? I was talking to a childless friend of mine the other day, who reminded me that yes, it is stupid to compare your child with other children. But I realized I wasn't doing it on purpose - it almost comes as naturally as comparing my hair or body to someone else's! It feels like a dirty little secret, comparing my baby against other babies, feeling oddly gratified or jealous, as the case may be.

Obviously I need to let it go. As we've been teaching the kids in Sunday School, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, PEACE, PATIENCE, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. Good thing God has plenty of peace and patience in his storehouse, because I'm going to need a truckload of it...both for Ethan and myself!