Sweet!!

So I often find myself watching Faith sleep. She is so peaceful and it allows me to take a break from our constant running around. I wonder what it is she is dreaming about? Maybe it is about her daddy or maybe about her sippy cup being empty. As she falls asleep on her pillow or in my arms I will just sit and give thanks for the beautiful child in my life. If I listen quietly enough I can hear her sucking away on her little thumb with her Lamby's bottom right up to her face. I came across this poem and it just said it all. This is probably what Faith would say when asked why she sucks her thumb.

Thumbs

Oh, the thumb-sucker's thumb

May look wrinkled and wet

And withered, and white as the snow.

But the taste of a thumb

Is the sweetest taste yet

(As only we thumb-suckers know)

A toddler's mind

I was looking through my pictures and found these. As Faith's imagination begins to unfold I am in hopes that she has one as big as her cousin Grace. She is often caught reading her books to her animals. This is one instance where she gave Lamby her own book and then read to Bear. It was story time that morning and instead of me reading she decided to get all her books out and read to them. Another picture showed two dogs on the ground and she was reading Mother Goose to them. I hope her animals grow up to love books as much as we all do.

A trip to the turkey farm was way exciting for Faith. Never had she seen turkeys and never before had she seen so many child size buildings to go into. After seeing Faith outide of the jail and then sneaking into the saloon, I hope and pray that is the only time I ever see it.

As Faith covered her cat yesterday with her blanket and gave her a pillow I couldn't help but stand back and watch. She tucked Abby in with her Lamby and baby lamb, covered her up, put the pillow by her head and said, "Abby, night night. Shhhh" Her little hand went to her head to sign goodnight and I played along. Abby doesn't give an inch with her. She won't move if she was there first. I know what must go through her head. "Would someone please move this child away. Can't you see I haven't finished my all day nap."

"Gifted" What is it?, Forte asks

So my sister in law got me thinking about the word " giftedness." What do we consider the word to mean? Do we mean it as just intellectually advanced or just doing something special? I have to say that I was totally against the issue of homeschooling of my niece, however, as I see her blossom and grow I realize just how much her "gifted" abilities can shine through. I was discussing homeschooling with the lead teacher in my preschool classroom and she said that children don't get the socialization from homeschooling. I begged to differ and she wouldn't budge. However I can tell you one thing, her 6 year old wouldn't be having as hard as time as she is in school if she had more one on one time. I can't wait for the day to come when I can keep Faith at home at teach her and expose her to all new and exciting activities that public school can't do. I do have to admit that since being in daycare it has benefited her somewhat. Her ability to play on her own has increased. I feel that this has just come with age however Bud tries to convince me otherwise. Some of the children in my preschool classroom don't know their colors let alone their shapes. Faith knows them all. Her teacher does a wonderful job teaching however I as her mom reinforce what she has learned at school. Does that make her more gifted than others or does it just make other parents lazy because they don't work with their children? It makes me think that some parents rely too much on the teacher to teach and not themselves as first teacher. Anyways, Faith will always be on the "gifted" track because children are anxious to learn if someone takes the time to teach them new and exciting things.

Up, up mama!

We decided to bring in Faith's slide to play on. We often do this when she doesn't want to go outside. She also doesn't play on it nearly as much outside. So anyways, in came the slide and down we all went. We included Lamby, kitty, plates, the pumpkin bucket, Faith, and of course, myself. She has never really shown an interest in me going down but today was different. After about 10 minutes of alone play she decided to come up to me and pick me up from under my arms. Up, mama, up. What do you want? I ask her. Up, up. Ok, okay, I'll get up. "Slide" she says. So I went down her little 3 step slide. When I landed on the floor, she giggled and ran over to me. "Again, up, up, mama. Slide" She tried to pick me up under the arms again. I thought that it was fun at first however after about 15 minutes of pretending to climb the stairs and sliding down, I was tired. My stomach was beginning to hurt from laughing so hard. I said, "one more time and then all done." So I climb again and slide. Yep, she asked me to do it again. I told her all done. She repeated it and that was the end of that. Her personality is really starting to emerge. Such a fun little girl to be around.

Where did she go?

Hide and seek is so much fun. Just find a Faith and you've won. She has always played in the blinds here at home however over the last few days she has decided to hide behind the couch and the blinds. I see her little eyes peek out to see if anyone is looking. Where is Faith? I ask. Faith? Faith? Where are you? She jumps out with a big smile on her face. Then, she slides back in behind the blinds. She stands so still after she wiggles into the small space. Sometimes she sees a bug and runs out yelling, bug bug. I am sure that after we move out of here that the blinds will be no more. I have seen the blinds at her school and half of them aren't hanging any more.

"Hi"

So as Bud has left for Georgia for five weeks we all find ourselves talking on the phone. I think that Faith understands her daddy is gone however she thinks that he is at work. Atleast that is what she says whenever I ask her where he is. As I carry the telephone into the room she knows who we are calling. "Daddy?" she asks. Yep, we are calling daddy. Then the inpatience kicks in as she tries to grab the phone out of my hands. "Wait" I say as she climbs up on me. "Daddy, daddy. Hi." She puts the phone to her ear and runs off from me. As she repeats some things I tell her to say it is like they are having a little conversation. "Night, night. bye." she says as we have to hang up. Tell daddy you love him. Her little hand signs it and then blows a big kiss to him. When did she gets so darn cute? The terror of a child two weeks ago has left and been replaced with the Faith that I remember. Welcome back!

A painter? Maybe

I think that Faith is going to grow up to be like her Uncles and Pa Pa because she loves to draw and paint and color. She will find an ink pen and start drawing. If I don't watch her, she will color all over herself. That is what she did in the car the other day. She colored her legs and arms. Then turned to her face and hands. It did keep her quiet in the car though. She doesn't like to paint with her hands as much as she used to. I gave her a brush and she did very well with it. Must be in her blood. She will cry if you take her crayons away even though half of them have made it into her mouth. She knows where to find them at school too. When no one is looking, she will go get one and take it to a corner of her classroom and start coloring. I caught her yesterday with one and a book in front of her. I don't think she asked because no one else had one. She is sneaky and quiet. Keeps below the radar. Anyways, these are some pictures she has worked on the last few days.

Apples, Pumpkins, and Goats

What do apples, pumpkins, and goats all have in common? A morning of fun. With the weather going to be hot today we decided to head to the apple orchard this morning. Apple Charlie's. Sounds like a nice place by the name of it. Well, the place looked like a dump. Fortunately there was a cider mill and donut shop where we saw them being made. Faith enjoyed watching the donuts and then even tried one. As we headed outside she spotted the pumpkins again. She went to the same one as when we first walked by and decided that was the one she wanted. We checked out the mums and of course found a rock that we just had to sit on. Wait till she goes to Pa Pa's house again. He has lots of big rocks in his yard. As we headed back to the truck she spotted a whole field of pumpkins. She loves them. The lady up the hallway from us has a picture of one taped to her door. She always has to stop and look at it. She took off running towards the field with mommy trailing behind and daddy in the car because he thought she was ready to leave. Out of all of them, she liked the one that was off by itself about 50 yards away from the others.

As we left the farm we stopped in a small town on the way home and she attended her first fall festival. The smell of of fried candy bars filled the air. I wanted one so bad. However with Bud on a protein diet I didn't think that it would be very nice to eat what he wanted and couldn't have right in front of him. Maybe as he leaves next week Faith and I will find another festival and eat some good stuff. After all, we wait all year long for festival food. Anyways... Happy pumpkin hunting and happy harvest.

Autumn in the air

With the sights and sounds of autumn fast approaching I find myself wanting to take Faith to all the festivals that I have always loved. It does look like we may find some her in Michigan. My friend at work told me of some apple orchards around here that also have pumpkin patches and cider. What a way to spend an evening. The Scarecrow Festival starts this weekend. I plan on seeing what all the hype is. Compared to Covered Bridge, I bet it will be a flop. How can any festival be compared. I was reading that it brings in 60-80,000 visitors over the few days. It sure doesn't compare to the millions that invade Parke County in it's two weeks. Faith loves the outdoors. A few weekends ago when we went to the Metro Park she loved the leaves that had fallen on the ground. Never had she seen them before. I caught her picking up all the leaves she seen along with acorns. She looked them over, tasted them and then went to get another one. We were lucky to get back to the car that day. I love the fall and I hope that she will too.