Wise guide

Last week's Something Good topic was: How does your husband guide your children?

One of Seth's most significant contributions to the lives of our children is a legacy of laughter. This may not sound as lofty and spiritual as other parenting strengths I could highlight, but I believe that by finding the joy in guiding our children in the truth Seth is building the kind of strong relationship with our toddlers that will translate to voluntary submission and a deep respect in years to come. Our kids love being with Seth. They run & wiggle like puppies when he comes home from work each day. They can't wait to be with him. In building fun and lightheartedness into their relationship as a key component, Seth is wisely guiding their little hearts to love and trust him and so laying the foundation for guidance in the important stages to come.

Proud of you

This week's Something Good topic: What does your husband do that makes you proud of him?

Seth has this amazing ability to just do what he needs to do, whether or not he feels like it. I, by nature, am sort of a whiner. I can really drag my feet when it comes to an unpleasant or inconvenient task, but Seth just digs right in and gets it done. Whenever I see him going the extra mile (after he's already run about 10) I am so proud of my hardworking man.

Growing up fast

It seems like change, of late, is coming fast and furious with Talia. To summarize:

--In the past couple of weeks she has begun to become slightly more interested in walking, a stiff-legged, pigeon-toed effort. She delights in saying "walk, walk, walk" as she steps carefully along, clinging to your fingers for dear life.

--Last week she cut 4 new teeth (yes, within 7 days) and yesterday I discovered her first molar poking through. This means she has more than doubled her inventory of teeth in 2 weeks.

--She continues to learn words at an amazing pace. Yesterday I was holding her on my hip while drinking a cup of coffee and talking to my sister-in-law. Gradually I became aware that she was repeating, "ba-buk, ba-buk..." over and over again. I looked down at her just in time to see her poke out her little pointer finger and touch the Starbucks logo on my mug. Ahh. Continuing the family tradition.... :)

--Other fun new words include: "all gone," "huh-ho" (uh-oh), "Beh-meh" (Benjamin), "ah" and "ah" (off and on), and "up."















Talia brushes her hair















The only way to keep her on the chair is to strap her down!















Talking away with hand gestures (I wonder where she got that?)















Talia loves to play the piano!

Benj's first trip to the dentist

After much procrastination (mainly stemming from the certainty of disaster), I finally took Benjamin for his first dentist appointment. Benjamin has never been fond of "opening up" for foreign objects to be inserted into his mouth, excepting food of course. Even when he was a small baby, sprouting his first few teeth, he didn't like me to look in his mouth and certainly didn't want my finger feeling around in there! Fortunately he has allowed us to brush his teeth with minimal resistance, but protests when we brush the "top surface" (as opposed to the biting surface). This, coupled with his propensity to, um shall we say "exert his opinion," had convinced me that this first dentist appointment could be nothing else than a bonafide disaster. Fortunately, for all involved, I was wrong.

After a lengthy wait in the reception area we were ushered back to the row of dental chairs. It took a bit of convincing to get him to agree to sit on one. My nervousness mounted. "Here we go," I thought, "we are about one straw from a major meltdown." Next the hygenist began to adjust the chair. At this Benjamin's eyes widened, his body stiffened, and he sat bolt upright as the chair reclined behind him. I was finally able to convince him to lay back on it by telling him it was like a bed. Our next challenge was to get him to open his mouth. He lay there, perfectly still and straight with those little lips pinched together as tightly as he possibly could. I delicately reasoned with him, choosing my next tactic carefully, looking for signs of meltdown. To my relief he finally accepted my suggestion that we "show her how you brush your teeth." Apparently the opportunity to show off was too great of a temptation.

From that point on, Benjamin "took it" like a champ. He lay, still and quiet, allowing the hygenist to polish his teeth with her "special toothbrush" and obediently opened, closed, turned his head, and leaned back upon request. The dentist pronounced him cavity-free and he was allowed to get down. The hygenist took him over to a shelf where he was allowed to pick out one toy. He chose a small yellow car, which he carried around with him for about a week.

Writing Phase

News Update from Seth:

I have started writing my dissertation! Praise God! This is the beginning of the end. I currently have the first 3 pages written. (The first 3 out of 200 or 300, but still it's somthing.)

For those of you who haven't heard, the title of my dissertation is "The Arsenal of the Hebrew Kings and Their Neighbors: A Description of Biblical Weapons, Armor, and War Vehicles in the Iron Age". It will be a study of the Hebrew words for weapons, etc., and trying to match those words with artifacts and ancient pictures that archaeology has brought to light. I'm looking forward to it, and hope that it will be a useful resource for pastors, teachers, students, and anyone interested in the topic. I know it won't be the next bestseller or anything, but I pray that God would use it for His glory.

Please pray for me as I work on this throughout the summer. The first draft is due in early September.

Little Ms. Dictionary

I keep meaning to write a post about Talia's new words. The problem is they are multiplying far too rapidly for me to keep up! I'm sure she now knows over 50 words. So next week she'll be heading off to college....

She now knows all about Elmo. She points and says, "Melmo! Melmo!" everytime she sees her furry red friend. She has a favorite Elmo book that she wants everytime we change her diaper--either that or Mr. Brown Can Moo. (Which she calls "Bown.")

Meals have become a whole new experience. "Eat. More? Peese?," she inquires as soon as we begin to strap her into her booster seat. "Bih" (bib) and "p-ay" (pray) are her next requests. She knows all about her "poon" (spoon) and of course her "bup" (cup). She also knows the names of a few random foods like "na nuh" (banana) and "Kix." If she doesn't want what we are offering she now turns her head to the side and says "down" (as in "I want to get...") Or sometimes she simply says, "ah da" (all done)!

A few days ago I got her up from her afternoon nap and her first words were "ti-ti" (stinky) and "po po" (poo poo). And she really was! I'm still trying to get Benjamin to tell me that fun little fact about himself!

I still maintain that she is the politest 14 month old I have ever met. She says "ta tu" (thank you) or sometimes even "ta tu ma" (thank you Mama) practically without fail everytime I give her something she wants. The other night she cried out in the middle of the night. I went in to rub her back, but eventually ended up picking her up and sitting in the rocking chair to help her calm down. She almost immediately fell asleep in my arms, body totally relaxed, hand twitching slightly every now and then. After a few minutes of rhythmic breathing she stirred and repositioned herself muttering, "ta tu." So precious!!

She knows a few of her favorite things ("book," "ba-k" [block], "baby," "ba" [ball] "niy niy" [Einstein], "tay tee" [blankie]) and makes requests for some of her routine activities ("eat", "tee-s" [brush teeth], "beh" [bed--yes, sometimes she actually asks to go to bed]). She knows all our family members "Da Da," "Mama," "Beh" (Benj), and "Ya Ya."

We are constantly amazed over this vocabulary explosion! I never expected that she would be this verbal at 14 months. Our theory is that she must be working on her verbal skills in lieu of her gross motor skills (such as walking...)!

3 times in the last 2 days

...that's the tally for Benjamin's left knee being skinned.

Yesterday he fell down on the porch and knicked it just a tiny bit. He jumped up and ran over to me saying, "kiss...kiss...kiss."

Last night we were on a family walk and Benjamin got going just a bit too fast. He tripped and scraped the same knee a little more severely on the asphalt. There was a bit of blood and weeping at the time and a great deal more weeping and some dramatic limping later, but all was resolved this morning when we noticed the little scrapes had scabbed over.

Just before naptime, as I was getting beds and sleeping environments all set up the way they must be :), I heard loud wailing coming from the porch where Benjamin was playing. It seems he thought it might be okay to ride his "bike" off the step which separates the main section of our porch from the little side area where our patio furniture sits. It didn't work so well. Boy and bike lay in a tangled heap on the lower section. I scooped up the considerably distraught Benjamin who's knee was now bleeding quite freely. In the process I accidently smeared blood on my t-shirt, which made the mess-conscious little guy even more upset. After some peroxide, a "spot" bandaid, and lots of hugs and kisses, the tears finally subsided. In the end, he ended up being rather proud of his "bike crash," aided in part by a conversation with Daddy in which Daddy assured him that he had crashed on his bike a few times too. I think it helped, too, that I told him he must be a BIG BOY to be skinning his knees!