High Spirits

The household is high in spirits as Faith's joy of life lightens everyone's mood. After a long day, we came home yesterday from school and Faith just busted out laughing. She ran to the bedroom, got my old blanket, and brought it back into the front room. "Where is Faith?" I ask as she walks in with her head covered. She thought I really couldn't see her. "Where is she?" I ask again. The cover is then thrown from her head as she squeals with excitement. Bud came home and it started all over. "Where did she go? Did we lose her?" Faith runs across the hall and down the hallway. Stops and turns around. Runs back to the front room and pulls the blanket down from her face again. "Peek A boo" She heads to the our bedroom, gets up on the bed and Bud covers her with the big comforter. I hear her squealing and giggling all the way down the hall. I think that this joy lasted a good thirty minutes until it was time to calm down for bed. It is nice to see smiles finally around here. Life is hard when things are tight and a little one's laugh and smile makes it all worth it.

Remember the quiet days?

Since Faith is becoming so good at talking nowadays, her favorite words are #1 dadda, #2 ball, and #3 night night. I remember when she just kinda slept all the time. Where did those days go? When I look back on her, she has always been pretty quiet. Not now. She talks and talks and talks. Tonight Bud opened the door while we were rocking to sleep. Holy cow! She stopped sucking her thumb, threw Lamby to the side and said, "Da Da? Da Da?" No Faith, go to sleep. "Da Da? Da Da?" She loves her daddy. I knew the day would come when she would be excited to see him in the morning and in the evening after work and whenever else she could find him. I'm glad the separation anxiety phase is over with. She still would rather have her mamma if she had to choose.

Everything that is round is a ball to Faith. Even a circle on a paper is a ball. It is so cute. She says it with such enthusiasm. BALL!! She forgets to say mamma with that much excitement though. I think that if I took the time to find all the balls in the house she would have as many balls as Abby has mice.

Night night is by far the cutest thing imaginable to hear from her little voice. Her words are "Ni Ni" as she lays down on her big pillow with her Lamby. As she blows a kiss to Bud before bed she puts her little hand to her ear, "Ni Ni." She has the "I love you" sign down too so we will do that also.

I know the days will soon be arriving when she will be carrying on a conversation with the two of us at the dinner table. Until then I am going to enjoy hearing new words everyday.

Abby's storytime

Abby is Faith's cat. She used to despise Faith alot when she was just starting to move around however nowadays, Abby is getting used to her. Faith will spend some mornings trying to sit with her and pat her. Abby doesn't stick around for too long though. If Faith is drinking from her cup she will often offer Abby a drink also. She isn't mean to her like you would think. I think that comes from learning to pat her when she was 6 months old. The other morning I had opened Faith's window in her room. It is usually always closed because blankets are hung to keep the room dark for sleeping. So Faith was excited and so was Abby. I came back in after a little bit to find this adorable picture of Faith reading to Abby. She even tried to give her the book at one point in time. Faith loves to share and will share with anyone and anything including her stuffed animals. I caught Faith sharing her cracker with her bear, dog, monkey, and little bear the other morning. She would take a bite and then offer them a bite. Times are fun around our house these days as her creative side emerges.

First Sleepover

I just remembered something funny from the other day that I thought was cute and thought I'd share. Faith was on her cot at school napping yesterday when Kimmie, her teacher, left the room. Upon returning she found a little boy on her cot sleeping with her. Turns out that the little boy decided to roam around when she was gone and decided that Faith's bed looked pretty comfortable. Kimmie told Faith that she was too young for sleepovers and she was telling her mom. If I was a toddler and had to choose a bed to sleep on it would definitely be Faith's bed. She has a sheet, soft blanket, big pillow and Lamby. So her first sleepover went well, however it was with a boy.

A book worth a thousand hugs

Faith has always been into her books. She has had books read to her since the day she was brought home from the hospital. Recently she has taken a liking to "reading" them on her own. From the moment she wakes up in the morning till we leave for daycare, she is carrying around a book for me to read to her. She knows that she is supposed to sit on my lap when I read to her so she will try to give me the book and wait for me to sit with her. Here she comes and cuddles on my lap. She gives herself a little wiggle to get comfortable and listens to the story. After that one is done she will go find another one and then it is back to my lap. I really don't know how we ever get ready in the morning but somehow we manage and still read all morning. It starts all over when we get back home in the afternoon. Off to the bedroom to find her favorite story and then onto my lap or her daddy's lap. I love it that she enjoys them so much. I remember Grace , her cousin, reading and reading when she was little. I think they are very similar in a lot of ways. Today at school she was running down the hall to hug me. When I asked what she did she signed that she had read a book about a dog. She was so excited. Her teacher verifed that she did indeed read that story. A hug and cuddle for each story read; a total of one thousand for the day.

Bye Bye city

We have all been missing home terribly so we decided to leave the city and travel to a small town about 10 miles away. With the sight of trees and bean fields, we felt like we were home again. The sight of small houses, no stop lights and neighborly people made us realize just how unfriendly the big city really is. We found a small park in this town and decided to stop. With nothing but trees in sight and the river we realized that this is just what we needed. Faith found some rocks, played, ran across the bridge, watched for fish, rode in her stroller and climbed up and down a big hill. I didn't think that she would make it up the hill but the little engine that could chugged and chugged until she came up to both of us. When going down the hill I thought that she would fall on her face because her little legs were going so fast that I thought she couldn't keep up. She surprised me though and only fell a few times. I wish that we didn't have to come back to this city and we could stay in the country forever. However, now whenever we both need a break we know where to go. Anywhere, but here.

Our American Future

Looking at this little face yesterday made me realize she is our future. When she grows up the world will be different. What can I do as a parent to help her be all she can? I guess I can only teach her the right and love her with all my heart. The way she waved her flag yesterday with such enthuziasm reminded me of the day that her daddy came home from overseas. Faith flew that flag just as hard if not harder than I did. Her first flag..... I will always remember the smile on her face as she watched all the parade go by. God Bless this wonderful nation!

The quest for independence

How does a child learn so much and so fast. It seems like yesterday my little daughter was just beginning to roll over. My daughter, 15 month old Faith, is trying to become her own person now. Running through the house and saying, "Na Na Na Na." I think that means "NO" in toddler talk. Let's not tell her that I know what she is trying to say. She thinks to herself, "Now what can I do today that is going to want my mom to pull her hair out. Will climbing the shelf do it? Will standing in the chairs at church do it? Will avoiding bed time do it? Will pulling the pictures off of the shelf do it? Will emptying all the pots from the cabinet when they were just put in there accomplish the reaction I would like? Can I chase the cat and get her tail? My bed looks like a good jungle gym to climb on. I know that she doesn't really think this way and she is just trying to figure out what she can get away with and what she can't. It is hard though when I have told her "No" for the umpteenth time. I wouldn't change it for the world though. My little trouble maker will learn eventually. I may not have any hair left but it will be worth it when she learns what "no" means.