Walking on Sunshine

In the long list of accomplishments and milestones of babyhood, a child’s first steps mark the transition from infant to toddler. The baby that yesterday could only crawl can now reach new heights, literally. In our house it’s an almost weekly assessment as to how far onto the countertop a new walker can reach in our ever vigilant quest to keep danger out of little hands.

Bethany has made the transition. It started right after Christmas when we saw her take her first steps in our kitchen. No cruising, no hesitation, just two little free-hand steps and a giggle of delight. Then nothing for weeks. Crawling was faster and easier. She could chase the boys and they could chase her. No one could push her over, and she had become adept at holding things in her mouth for transport like a cat carrying her kitten. If she really wanted to use her legs to move, Bethany would carefully and deliberately plant her feet, stand up, and pump her little legs up and down to dance to whatever music was playing. Sometimes she ended up back on her diaper-padded bottom, and sometimes not, but always smiling with delight at her ability to move her body in such a joyful way. Then in late January, she tried walking again. A few steps one day. A few more the next. A very little distance, then a little more and a little faster. She used everything from her arms to her toes to maintain her balance. In the last week, Bethany has walked more and crawled less each day. Her knees are still shaky and her balance is still a little tentative, but she is upright and proud of her accomplishment. Now she carries things in her hands that she couldn’t carry in her mouth. Now she can pull her sippy cup off the table or endlessly climb in and out of her rocking chair. Standing and walking have opened up new vistas.

I’ll miss her baby crawl. Her right leg tucked under her and her left leg propelling her forward with her arms pulling. The faster she’d go, the more likely there would be a little frog-like hop added at the end of each stroke for good measure. I’d like to remind her not to grow up too fast; being a grown up is overrated. For now we’ll just celebrate the bitter sweet success of yet another baby milestone conquered.

The November Birthday Club

It’s been a marathon, but not the kind I had to run with my feet, just my heart. From 1 to 97, we covered them all, starting with Bethany’s 1st birthday, then Grandpa’s 97th, Daddy’s on Veteran’s Day, Zac 2 days later, and last but not least Nathan’s. Five family birthdays in 12 days, not to mention at least half a dozen friends who also celebrate birthdays between 1 November and Thanksgiving. One birthday cake, two dozen cupcakes, and countless feet of wrapping paper and ribbon later…all the presents have been opened and every candle has been blown out with all the wishes made. The Church family November Birthday Club!

A Blue Birthday

Nathan had a blue birthday; Thomas blue that is. It was a beautiful blue-sky day complete with a blue balloon and lots of Thomas the Tank Engine…pajamas, books, a 3-D deluxe play set and best of all, TrackMaster tracks and trains! However, there was nothing blue about Nathan’s mood. He danced from morning to night, starting with the wiggly dance of excitement that it was finally his birthday, to soft-shoe dancing with his singing Winnie-the-Pooh card, and ending with a waltz in Mommy’s arms in the blue twilight of the evening.

“Mommy…”
“Yes Nathan?”
“Sing Bocelli, Mommy”
“Okay Nathan.”
It always starts like this. His favorite lullaby is Andrea Bocelli’s version of “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” It’s our sooth-the-savage-Nathan song. When he was a tiny baby, I’d sing it to him and rock/dance him around the living room. I guess the memories and feelings stuck with him. “So take my hand, take my whole life too for I can’t help falling in love with you…” When I thought I couldn’t love another child as much as I loved Zachary, along came Nathan. From his first breath, the first moment I held him, the first time he looked into my eyes, the first moment he opened his tiny fist and laid his finger tips against my chest, I couldn’t help falling in love with him, and I knew I’d give him my life.

On Nathan’s birthday this year I had the privilege of walking hand-in-hand with my son downtown to pick out his blue balloon. That night we danced in the living room to his favorite song. With his arms and legs wrapped around me and his head on my shoulder, we waltzed to Andrea Boccelli and the love between a mother and a son…in the blue twilight of Nathan’s third birthday. Take my hand son, I love you.

Big Boy Birthday

In 2004 our wish was granted, our dreams came true, and our prayers were answered with the arrival of our first bouncing baby boy. I hope I never forget the unspeakable joy of cuddling and nursing that warm bundle of love in front of our wood burning stove on cold nights. We covered him with a million kisses a day, and poured every ounce of love we could into him. In the evenings when he was fussy and wouldn’t let me put him down, his Daddy would happily take on dinner duty while he reassured me that my most important job was to hold and love that baby because there would come a day when he wouldn’t want to be held anymore.

Today that bundle of joy turned 5. This was his big boy birthday with a big boy football, a big boy bicycle, and bigger clothes. Despite the celebration of the day Zac is still a curious mix of little and big boy. My greatest joy on this day was not watching his little man hands cradle the football or watching his imaginative play with his fishing adventure set, or even watching him learn how to ride a bicycle on which he has to stretch his legs to reach the peddles. No, my greatest joy was when he walked into our room this morning with the announcement that he was five today, then, without another word, he crawled into our bed, leaned over and wrapped his arms around me, put his head on my shoulder, and settled in for a good long cuddle. Happy birthday little man!

Butterfly Birthday

This morning the children and I ventured downtown for a special pink birthday balloon for Bethany. With the balloon securely fastened to her stroller via pink curly ribbon, Bethany was all smiles as we proceeded to the park. On the way, I spied a butterfly on the sidewalk. When I bent down to investigate, it climbed on my finger so that both of us could get a closer look at each other. It was a beautiful small butterfly with butter yellow wings outlined in the same pink as Bethany’s balloon and with a few tiny pink circles on the lower wings. What a treasure! The boys crowded around to inspect with the usual exuberance little boys have of all things in nature. Bethany waited patiently for me to hold the butterfly closer for her to see. As I stretched my finger towards her, the butterfly made it’s most exertive move yet. It hopped onto the pink button on Bethany’s jacket. Imagine our delight! Bethany giggled as the butterfly stretched its wings a few times, just long enough to say “Happy Birthday Bethany,” and then fluttered into the breeze. Happy first birthday baby girl. May the magic of the yellow and pink butterfly be with you always.

Sleep Baby Sleep

It’s amazing how the amount of sleep one has can dramatically affect one’s day. As a parent, we know that our sleep is often determined by our children, and the more children we have, the more interruptions we can count on. I’ve read that for babies, pediatricians consider a full night sleep to be 6 hours. Hooey!

How two people who love to sleep bred three insomniacs, I’ll never know. For the last 6 months we’ve been playing musical beds. It started with Zac sleeping in his own bed in his basement room, Nathan in the crib, and Bethany tucked in safely between Mommy and Daddy. The first move happened when Mommy said enough of baby in the bed. A month and a lot of determination later, Bethany was in her cradle most of the night…when Mommy wasn’t sitting up in a chair nursing her. Then Bethany quickly outgrew the cradle, so the second move was a two parter 1) put the toddler bed in Nathan’s room and have him nap in it instead of the crib, and 2) put a portable crib in our room for Bethany until we could move Nathan out of the crib for good. Sometimes Nathan in the toddler bed worked, and sometimes he was more interested in running around the room, which makes for long afternoons and a crabby 2 year old. Bethany was safer in the portable crib, but she was really too big for it too. Third move…toddler bed back in the basement with no toddler in it. Then last week Kristy stayed with us. Nathan decided she was his new best friend, so he wanted to sleep in his toddler bed in the basement with Zac and Auntie Kristy. It worked! He hasn’t been back to his crib since, but it has taken Daddy sleeping in the basement in the wee small hours of the morning. Finally, we moved Bethany to the crib. After some jump starting…magic happened. Last night (Wednesday night) Zac and Nathan slept all night, by themselves in their basement room, and Bethany slept ALL NIGHT in her crib. I’m not talking about the 6 hours “all night.” I’m talking 11.5 hours! The next thing Alan and I knew, it was 5:00 a.m., and nobody had stirred. I checked on sleeping beauty, but she was deeply asleep on her belly, and she had obviously rolled all over the crib. Thank you to all the angels that helped us through the night. Here is hoping for many more nights of peace.

The Cat Shepherd

”Come on Zac, we’re in a hurry.” It had been a busy morning this early August, and we still had not started on our main mission for the day. Zac and I were walking to the post office…the last errand before loading everyone in the truck to leave for the day. A couple of blocks from our house we heard the plaintive cries of a hungry kitten. It didn’t take long to find the little guy. He had parked himself at the back door of an apartment where someone obviously wasn’t prepared for a cat because they had put out graham crackers and water. We continued on our journey while I tried to think of a plan for feeding the little fellow. There was no one at the apartment when we knocked on the door, and catching the skittish kitten would be difficult. As we passed by the kitten on our way home, he followed us. Zac cheered him on for a while, then I sent him on to the house let Daddy know we were about to entertain a four-legged guest. I wasn’t sure the kitten’s little legs would carry him the two blocks to our house, but it seemed that God took care of the transportation; he followed me all the way to the back deck where Alan met us with a bowl of soft cat food. Zac was ecstatic!

Just as we were settling in to the idea of having a new member of the family, someone else heard the kitten. A couple of yards north of us, there was a team of people preparing to paint a house. One of the ladies walked over and asked if the kitten was a stray. As soon as we confirmed, she was on her cell phone calling her brother to tell him his kitten had been found. Apparently 2 days earlier the kitten had hitched a ride from the farm into town unbeknownst to its owner. Zac was devastated!

While Alan and I were calming our grieving son, I realized that we had just been used by God. As frustrated as I was about our schedule that morning, He made sure we were late enough in our morning rush that all the people necessary were in place to shepherd this kitten home. Zac had just experienced being a servant of God. I reminded Zac that God had a plan for a new kitten for our family but it wasn’t the one we had just found. Zac cried that he didn’t like God’s plan! I gently reminded him that when Mommy and Daddy wanted to have a baby, it took us 4 years before we had one. We didn’t like God’s plan for our family during that 4 years, but if we hadn’t followed His plan, we wouldn’t have Zac, and now Nathan and Bethany. Daddy and I told him that somewhere there is a perfect kitten for our family, but in God’s timing.

Weeks later a friend told me of a family who lives down the street from us whose cat had a litter on the 4th of July. On 18 August the entire family traveled down the street to pick out two kittens. Molly (calico tabby) and her brother Slade (white and gray) have been a great delight for everyone. They love to play with the boys and they run to Mommy and Daddy for attention, snuggling, and protection when they get spooked. Bethany giggles with delight every time she sees them, and she has even learned to say “kittay.” God’s plan is good!