Before and After

It is amazing how things change when a little child enters your life.  It makes you realize how selfish you were before with your time and money.  But now we run into being selfish still with our time and money, but in a familial kind of way.  I think that our idea of family is different than anyone we have ever met.  We were not raised the way we view family, it just sort of happened.  Some people who don't know us (and some who do) think of our actions as selfish, and I think the rest of our friends just know that we are passionate about the home unit.  Let me try to put this into a more specific detail.

We do not make plans as an individual without checking with each other first.  If I want to spend some time with a friend of mine then I will make sure that I have not been neglecting my wife and child with my school, housework, yardwork, etc... to where this will further alienate me from them.  I have a responsibility to my wife and kid(s) to be a husband and a father before I have a responsibility to be a friend to someone else.  I do believe in the importance of friendship outside of my spouse, however, my best friend needs to be my spouse and maintaining the health of that friendship is tantamount above all other relationships.  If more people thought along these lines then you might see a drop in the divorce rate in our country, but that is not a guarantee considering how many factors go into a decision to separate from covenant vows.

Another example is with our daughter.  We do not put her in nurseries or any sort of childcare.  I am not going to let a family friend watch her, and barely will we let our own families watch her.  People keep telling us, and I believe behind our backs at that, that we need to learn to let others watch her so we can have "us" time or so they can get time with our daughter.  That is our call to make.  First off, I only know a handful of people intimately to where I know if they are a pedophile or not.  Sorry family, but if we don't talk about your vices in advance and only talk about the weather and safe subjects then you are not on the list of approved people.  Honesty and transparency are key to watching our daughter.  Moreover, I want our daughter to see her mommy and daddy in love and creating a healthy marriage.  I want her to learn how to worship, understand the sermon, and fellowship at church (a book that has helped us find support for keeping our kid in service is called Parenting in the Pew).  Thankfully we are not the only ones doing this one as is evident by how many others we see keeping their kids of all ages in church with them.  If our daughter does not want to come to you then DO NOT pry her from her mother's arms.  Somebody will end up with a bloody nose before this over with because my wife's patience is about shot on this one.  So if you were thinking about doing this then stop yourself now.  We don't want nor need any encouragement for our daughter to get comfortable being away from mommy and daddy.  In short, mind your business and let us parent how we want to parent.  If something we do is detrimental to our daughter's health and well-being in your mind then talk to one of us about it.  That doesn't mean we will agree with you, but I will definitely give you an attentive ear. 

On a positive note, I am very pleased with how well both sets of immediate family have allowed us our freedom in parenting.  You guys vocalize here and there, but overall you let our wishes for raising our kid be what goes and not what you think is best.  I am seriously grateful for this.  It makes in-law relations on both sides easier.  The only thing I ask is that if you feel like you have to tiptoe on eggshells around us then we need to talk because that is not healthy.

Thanks for reading!

Keith, a.k.a. Daddy Moose

Not so baby Constance

Whew! One would think that blogging weekly would be an easy task. My time is consumed with a sweet little girl with a big name. Constance. Before she became mobile I thought she kept me busy. Now that she is a walker…a very fast walker…my time is consumed with keeping track of her. Constance’s philosophy must be, “Why stay still when I can walk somewhere…or run.” From the moment she gets up to the moment she lays her head down at night, this child is moving! Her reach has expanded as well. Once we had a small juice glass crash to the ground because I thought it was far enough away on the table where she could not get it. I was wrong! The glass crashed and shattered and thankfully she did not get hurt. Just last night my husband put her in her high chair as we were getting ready to eat supper. He moved the bowl of corn muffins out of the way and went to the sink to wash her tray off. Just as happy as can be she reached as far as her chubby arms would let her and plucked several large pieces off the nearest muffin.

She is also so smart! She knows that keys are supposed to unlock doors and start vehicles. She knows to bring whatever object handed to her, to her daddy (or mommy) when you ask her to. She can point to all kind of animals on books when asked to point to them. Constance has also started making animal sounds. She can tell you what a cow says and can imitate what monkeys do. If you ask her if she is hungry or if she wants a snack she will head for the kitchen. If you ask her if she wants a bath, she will head to the bathroom. If you ask her if she wants to go outside you better be prepared to go because she is always ready to play outdoors!

Constance has discovered the joy of sitting on things. While outside she loves to sit down on the first step or on the curb just because she can. I guess they are perfect size for her and she feels like a big girl.

Speaking of being big. She jumped from wearing 12 month (and sometimes 18 month) winter clothes to wearing 2T! Yikes! She is still in a size 4 diaper. With Keith getting ready to be done with high school for the summer we are hoping to try some early potty training techniques. If it sticks, great! If it doesn’t then it is not a big deal.

We are having...

A Boy!!!

Sorry for lack of posts. Will blog again soon

My Typical Day

I will be 15 months old on Friday and this is what a typical day looks like::

-Since the time change, I wake up at 7:15a.m. Mommy sings to me as she promptly changes my diaper. I sometimes like to wiggle and squirm just to make things interesting.

-I eat breakfast after my diaper change. Mommy (or daddy if he is home) fills up my sippy cup with delicious whole milk. I quickly turn that over to see if any spills out of the straw. I then eat fruit, dried prunes and peanut butter toast. I pretty much eat that every morning because I am already a very picky eater.

-Once breakfast is over-mommy becomes mean. Can you believe that she thinks it is okay to wash off my hands and face? It makes me so mad and I do everything within my power to stop her.

- Now it is play time! Mommy puts me on my little couch where my baby doll, Lily, and my teddy bear, Grey Bear, are waiting on me. I grab Lily first, give her a kiss and talk to her while I point out her ears, eyes and nose. I then cuddle with Grey Bear and give him a big hug. After that I go from the living room to my room to the living room playing with and pulling out anything I can. I also love reading my books.

-Between 9 and 10.a.m. my mommy gives me a snack! I love snack time!

-I then play. Or fuss. Or play and fuss.

-Lunch is shortly after 11a.m. Sometimes I eat a great lunch, but usually mommy just has to stuff me with fruit. I am a great fruit eater.

-I then play again for a short time and mommy has my crib ready for nap time by noon.

-Unfortunately, I nap from about 12:20-2:20…on a good day. I personally don’t see why I need a nap.

-I wake up and get another snack! I am usually cranky at this time and don’t want mommy to put me down. So I get extra snuggles while eating. Then, after awhile I play again. Or I stay cranky and give mommy a hard time all afternoon.

-If it is a nice day I get to go outside and play. I LOVE being outside. Now that I can walk I can explore things quicker!

-Shortly after 5 is supper time! I then get to play some more. I also get to play with my daddy now that he is home. I love my daddy. My favorite game to play with him is chase!

-At 6:50 daddy gets me dressed and changed for bed, sometimes against my will. Mommy get my crib in order and makes sure that I have my favorite blanket, stuffed toy and pacifier. Daddy then brushes my teeth while mommy cleans up the living room and turns off all my toys that make noise. We then sing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” and “Jesus Loves the Little Children.” Mommy or daddy pray and then I get to rock with mommy in the rocking chair for a few minutes before she puts me in my crib for the night.

We Communicated

My daughter and I went to Goodwill the other day. I had not been there in quite some time and had about an hour before needing to pick up my husband from work. Constance and I started in the front of the store and worked our way towards the back. Very quickly she became tired of sitting in the shopping cart so we went to the toy aisle. I figured I would let her hold something while we were in the store to keep her occupied. All the “nice” toys seemed a little pricey and I did not want Constance to become too attached to whatever object she held. I picked up a little stuffed kitty that looked clean and smelled fine. She loves her stuffed kitty that stays in the car so I figured she would like to hold this one as well. “Constance,” I ask holding up the stuffed cat, “do you want to hold the kitty while we finish shopping?” As I go to hand her the cat, Constance shook her head no and did the sign language symbol for no! So I put the cat down and we finished shopping without any problems. It was so cool though that she understood what I was asking her!