I must not be feeding him enough.

Clark is a funny kid. He constantly does stuff that cracks me up. He has a great sense of humor already (he gets that from his dad) and just seems to instinctively know what will makes us laugh. He also amuses me with things he does that I don't expect. He's only a year old, but he is stuborn (gets that from me) and will try things repeatedly until he figures them out. Here are a couple of stories from the last week that made me laugh. I took pictures to try to capture some of the events.

A little bit of background on this story: Clark is pretty good at entertaining himself and we have the baby gates set up to keep him from wandering into the kitchen or up the stairs so he has free reign of most of the living room. But, when he gets really quiet I know he's up to something. He also likes to go back over to his high chair after he finishes a meal and eat the cheerios or goldfish off the floor if I haven't cleaned them up yet. So, the other day he walked over toward his high chair and was quiet for a few minutes. I figured he was up to something so I stood up to see what he was doing. He was crouched down on the floor between the ottoman and the dining room table with something in his hands that he was cramming in his mouth. With closer inspection I found it was the core of my apple (which he and I had shared a few minutes before and I had laid on the table to throw away when I went into the kitchen). He was so pleased with himself that he had eaten every little bit of apple and most of the core. I figured he couldn't really hurt himself with it, I let him keep his "prize" and continue to chew on it. I turned around to get the camera and when I came back his hands were empty and the stem of the apple was sticking out of his mouth. He had crammed the whole thing in his mouth at one time. Here are the pictures.
This is Clark cramming the whole apple core in his mouth.

Here he's handing to left over pieces to me.

This is all that was left.

I guess he was a hungry boy.

Then yesterday I was packing Clark's diaper bag getting ready to go to Grandpa's. Clark's not usually allowed in the kitchen because he eats Hank's dog food and pulls out the dishes in the cabinets so he thinks it's a great treat when he gets to explore every once in a while. Because I was only going to be a few minutes and I had already put Hank's food and water up I let Clark come with me into the kitchen. The pantry door was open so Clark walked straight for it, grabbed a box of Chocolate Cheerios, sat down on the floor, opened the box, took out some Cheerios and proceeded to eat them. Of course Hank wanted to get in on the food action, so he came over and begged for some, which Clark happily gave him. I don't have any pictures of him getting the box, but here is the sequence of his eating and sharing with Hank.

Caught. Look at that face...it's like he's saying, "What Mom? I was just hungry."

Hank waiting patiently for his share.

Clark getting them ready for Hank.

Sharing with Hank.

Going back for more.

The chocolaty crumbs as evidence of his deed.

He looks well fed, but I guess he's trying to tell me I don't feed him enough :)

Fresh Air

It's amazing the wonderful things fresh air can do for my body and my disposition. This morning Clark woke up in a whiny irritable mood. From the moment I walked down stairs with him he was crying, screaming and trying grab everything on the end table he wasn't supposed to touch. After a few minutes, I realized I was fighting a losing battle, so I took him back upstairs, put him back to bed and decided to rewind and start over in 30 minutes or so. He fussed at first, but then played in his bed for a while. He was in a better mood when I got him up the second time, but he was still clingy and ornery. He wanted my undivided attention and if I walked out of the room to get something from the kitchen, or heaven forbid go to the bathroom, he would have a meltdown.

So, I decided we needed some fresh air and I needed some exercise. As I mentioned on Facebook a few days ago, we found a shortcut to the country club that it right outside our neighborhood. It's a beautiful, peaceful ride and because of the short cut avoids all roads and traffic. I'm not sure how far we went since I can't drive it to clock the distance, but we rode all over the country club. We didn't even notice the wind and slight inclines in the sidewalk when we were walking the other day, but today on the bike they made for a nice leg workout. As I was coming back into our neighborhood I noticed Clark's head was bobbling around a bit. When I stopped to make sure he was OK I realized he had fallen asleep! He was completely passed out in the bike seat. The poor little guy looked so pitiful so I managed to prop his head up on my left arm while I steered with my right. He slept all the way home, let me take off his helmet, unstrap him from the seat and carry him up to his crib without waking up except to rest his head on my shoulder. He was one tired little boy!

Now, he's napping, I have the back door open and the fan going and my day has made a 180 degree turn for the better. A little fresh air made all the difference!

I don't have a picture of Clark asleep in the bike seat (although I wish I did), but here's a picture of him in the seat when he was awake. I love my bike and the freedom and exercise it gives us to explore in the gorgeous spring weather. Clark loves it too!!

A few random thoughts...

As I write this I'm swinging on our glider watching the water flow in the lake/retention pond enjoying the sun while Clark naps and Michael watches the Master's tournament while napping intermittently. I'm struck by all the blessings we're enjoying right now even though this isn't the place or situation we would have chosen for ourselves or envisioned when we were in seminary. If you had told me that we'd spend 3 years in seminary so that we could move away from our family (or most of it), good friends and church that we love to work for a temp agency with no benefits and no church calling anywhere in the near future (that we can see) I would have said you were crazy. I probably would have also thought that this situation would make me depressed. However, it's amazing how good God has been to us and how he is bringing good from our situation.

I know I've said it before, but I can't possibly express how much I have appreciated being close to my grandparents and now my grandpa these last few months. Being able to share Clark with Grandma during her last months and watching her face light up every time she saw him is something I wouldn't want to replace with a secure job or better finances. Clark knowing and loving his Great-Grandpa brings me so much joy. Grandpa is literally one of his favorite people in the whole world. He leaps to him whenever we walk in the door and will sit still in his lap when he won't sit still for anyone else.

Grandpa has tried to help us out in any way possible. The church where Michael preached this morning was a connection Grandpa made for us. He called a friend who used to be the pastor of this church and recommended Michael to him. He was trying to find out if they were hiring a full time pastor, but unfortunately their budget will not allow that at this time. But, Michael has now had the opportunity to preach there twice and will hopefully be asked back again in the future. As we were leaving the church today Michael said, "Grandpa is too cool!" When I asked him to elaborate he said, "He drives all the way across town just to hear me preach." The awesome thing is that we know he will keep coming whenever Michael preaches. It's nice to have support right here in town.

We are also closer to my life-long friend Kathryn and her family than we were in Orlando. We've enjoyed being able to see her more and spent time with her husband and two boys. She came over for Clark's first birthday party and Clark and I went to celebrate with her for her birthday. We got to see her son Dillon play quarterback in one of his first middle school games and we've enjoyed several days in St. Augustine together. God has been doing amazing things in her life in the last year and I count it a privilege to be able to be close by to witness what God is doing.

The place where we live is fantastic! It's the nicest, newest place I've ever lived. We have a garage, community pool which Clark and I used a bunch last summer and place to use again this summer, a nice place to take walks, pretty views of the lake and nature out our back door and the peace of mind for me having our bedrooms upstairs so I don't worry about someone sneaking in to hurt Clark (I'm a bit paranoid sometimes). Our life group at church has provided friendship and community for us. I checked our bank account yesterday and between Michael's pay checks and the recent deposit I made we had the same balance we had a week ago before our rent check cleared. God has been so good to take care of us. It has now been 4 months since Michael quit with the Boy Scouts and we're no worse off than we were then. That's God's provision!

We're still waiting to see what God has in store for us, but I feel more content now than I have been in a while when I realize all the blessings God has poured out on us even in this time of waiting.

Clark shows off

This kid loves to read!

Ok, so his attention span isn't that long yet, but Clark loves to read for short periods of time. He will sit in the swing while I'm showering and read a book peacefully, he'll look at his picture book of his family in the stroller for long periods of time. If I sit down in the rocker to sing to him before putting him down for a nap or bed he reaches toward the bookshelf and says, "Ah, ah" in a questioning tone pointing at the books as if to say, "What? I can't go to bed without a book"

The other day he was playing in his room while I was going through his drawers taking out the clothes that were too small and going through his wonderful hand-me-downs to replace the clothes I was removing. One of his favorite things to do is take all the books off the bookshelf and then go through them and "read" them to himself. He was reading "From Head to Toe" by Eric Carle where the animals do different movements and ask the children to copy them. He was on the page with the gorilla and he was thumping his chest with his fist. I was so excited I could barely contain myself. He actually getting something from the books and making connections! He now also waves his arms with the monkey, claps with the seal and stomps his foot with the elephant. As a teacher, I have to say it thrills me that he loves books and that he'll hold still long enough to read them.

After his nap today we're going to go check out the library. Hopefully we'll be able to find some cardboard books so that we can add to his collection. Although, I don't think he cares if we read the same books over and over again, even if I have literally memorized every page.

Copycat

Clark has become a little copycat. He mimics our movements, gestures and eating habits. He's not talking yet, but he has way of getting across his needs and wants. Whenever we're eating anything he makes a beeline over to us and says, "Uh, uh" in a high pitched babble. In Clarkese that means, "What about me? I need some too!" He eats literally anything I'm eating from black bean soup to baby carrots (today's lunch). I guess he figures if it's good enough for mommy to eat it, it must be good.

That made me start thinking, I wish I copied to ways of my Heavenly Father the way Clark copies me. If I watched his ways, studied his movements and read his word with the same enthusiasm that Clark imitates me I would be much more godly and probably be used greater in His kingdom. Having children has taught me so much about God and his love for me. Nearly every day I learn something from Clark that challenges me and he doesn't even know it. That's my revelation for the day.

Oh, and here's a bonus picture of Clark eating carrots to go along with the post.

Mommy's Little Secretary