homesick

I had a dream a few nights ago.  I was 20 again and starting my semester in Mexico.  We fresh-faced students were at an orientation, eagerly awaiting our family placements.  All of a sudden, I had a sinking feeling in my stomach.  Lucy!  Where was she?  What had I done with her?  Then I remembered, she's with my parents.  "She's fine," I told myself.  "She loves them and they're taking good care of her."  But I wasn't very happy about it, especially when I realized that this trip was 5 weeks long. 

Later that night, I was getting settled in in my new digs.  Anyone who has ever made a big move (to college, to a new place, especially overseas) will tell you that the first night is tough.  When it's getting dark, the new room seems totally unfamiliar, and the lights and shadows stand out to you because they're not the comfortable old ones you're used to.  It's not a great feeling, and I've had my share of very homesick first nights away from home.  But I've never felt as homesick as I felt in my dream for Lucy.  I just sat on my bed and realized that I COULD NOT stand to not tuck her in for five whole weeks!  I felt awful!  I started scheming to get home...

Then I woke up.  And, even though it was a dream, it felt SO real!  I had been so miserable!  I took a deep breath and smiled.  Whew!  The relief was palpable!  (And then maybe I ran across the house to disturb/check on my sweet sleeping baby).  All day yesterday I just felt so happy and thankful to have her near me!  It's kind of silly, but it was a good reminder in the midst of the too-many-bags-spilt-milk-my-shirt-is-on-inside-out reality of mine that the thing to focus on is gratitude for my blessings.

                                                         A cute little blessing, in particular.

 

talking and singing

By some miracle, we had a little time before church.  I am finding it impossible to get still shots of Lucy, but her growing communication skills make video so fun!

This is "Hi mom-mom!" AND an "I love you." (which is still pretty new and awfully sweet).

And these are a few of her favorite songs.  She sings, "Yes, Je (sus loves) ME!" and a few parts of Twinkle Twinkle.  My favorite thing, though, is her invitation at the end--"Mom, chair!" as she pats the rug beside her.  I've been getting those little invitations a lot, and they're hard to resist!

 

why L likes church

While walking in to church this morning:

Me: We're going to church this morning to learn more about Jesus.  Jesus loves us!

A sweet smile lights up her eyes.  I think, Ah.  She sure does love Jesus.

Lucy:  A SNA-ACK!!!!!

oh, summer

Arg!  The end of summer! It snuck up on us.  My plans to blog every few days obviously didn't pan out, so I'll have to remember bulleted style.

Lovely:

• Lucy hugging her baby, and patting the back of the baby's head with her hand (today).
• Lucy dancing for Nana and I.  Dancing free and happily, assured that we fully appreciated it, and feeling GOOD.  It just made me so happy.  Especially a move she invented which looked a lot like twirling high-speed bicept-curls. :)
• The La-la-las of Jesus loves me.
• How she smiles at herself in the mirror when she's all dressed up or sporting a new hair accessory or sunglasses.  She likes what she sees!  And so do I!
• Lucy's perch on John's foot.  So sweet.
• Flower-fly.  (what she calls flowers).  She points them out everywhere, reminding her (usually late, rushing) mama to appreciate the beauty God has surrounded us with.
• I've been asking Lucy to help mama by taking something to another room or putting something in the trash.  She's started volunteering, eagerly, "I hep!"  She saw my phone and rushed to put it in my purse--I hep.  She wanted to help me and was pleased to find a way to do so--so sweet!
• She prays.  I melt.
• Those little hands holding mine.  I can't get over it.
• She says, "I-ru-you" (I love you).
• She talks so sweetly to babies. The mere approach of a pumpkin seat elicits a high-pitched, "OOooooh! Baby! HI BABY!"  And usually some chuckling mention of the baby's toes. 
• She hides her eyes behind her hands and then lifts them up and says daintly, "Pize!"

Funny:

• I say "Hi, baby!" or "Okay, baby." and she says it back to me.
• Every time a monkey is mentioned, she says, "oo-ooo-oo" and does a wiggly-tickly monkey move.
• She gets on a "No way!" kick.  The answer to any question is No way!, regardless of her true feelings. No way, Mom!  Like, "You're crazy!"
• I hep!  Another way she tried to help me--I was using the "potty" and she rushed in, head down, hand outstretched with some toilet paper, saying, "I hep!"  If I hadn't stopped her, I think she would have actually gone in for the wipe!
• She thinks she's funny stuff when she leans forward at the table and then has to kind of peer up at you.  It's such a little thing, but those eyes twinkle!  She thinks she's being pret-ty cool.
• Usually, when playing any kind of chase game, she slows almost to a stop and cuts those eyes back, like, "Where are you?  Catch me already!"  Sometimes she actually puts it in reverse!  (She must know the ability level of her main chasers.)
• She loves to watch Uncle John train Macy (their dog).  He says, sternly, "Sit!" and then gives her a treat.  Lucy really got into the "Sit!" talk.  But hers came out sounding a little.... french!
• She got within an inch of sticking Pap's toothbrush in Macy's mouth.
• Okay, a little side-note about boobs.  Weeeell, I taught her the word boobs.  We're an all girl household.  It just came up in conversation.  Anyway, this may have been a mistake.  She called out this new word repeatedly at the pool when a woman got in who didn't have a lot covering hers.  Several mornings, when changing from pajama top to shirt, she'd locate hers.  "Boob.  Boob."  And then as I pulled her shirt over her head and down, she'd say cheerily, "Bye, boobs!"

Words:

• Lucy sings parts of songs.  If I leave off a word here or there of our favorites, she chimes right in with the right word (or a close approximation).  She does this with ABCs, Snugglepuppy, I'm Adopted, Deep and Wide, Jesus loves me, ALL the Dora songs, and itsy-bitsy spider.
• Hep!  Hep, Mom-mom!  Hep, pees.  I hear this a lot :)
• Longest sentence (I think):  Mom-mom, Iwa mo chicken, pees!  6 words--and polite!
• Counting... although we're not yet totally sequential, she counts things.  One.  Twooo.  Six.  Nine.  Five...
• She calls out for missing items as she searches for them, and if she can't find it, we get a "hmm".  For example:  "Milk?  Mii-illk?  Hmm."
• She is starting to be able to tell me what is happening when I'm not there.  She leaves church nursery earnestly telling me Snack!  Swimmy-swimmy-chomp. Ball!.  She told me on the way home from Nana's:  Tomato! You at a tomato? Yeah, mom!  Pap!  You ate a tomato with pap?  Lap! Lap!  Pap!  You at a tomato in pap's lap?  Yah! Yah!  And she woke up yesterday telling me about what Uncle John had taught her.  She said, "I say Happy to Nana"  You said Happy Birthday to Nana?  Yah!  Unca John, Unca John!  Uncle John taught you that? Yah mom!  This makes a mama happy!

Hair:

• Progress!  I finally realized (was told, thanks Angel!) that Lucy's tears were anger, not pain.   She doesn't want to have to sit still while I brush out her hair.  And so I pushed through the tears and detangled a bit every morning (or at least every other) and her hair has been looking so nice and healthy!  She hands me the comb if I forget, so I don't think she's too traumatized!  This was a major breakthrough, and I'm thankful for the peace of mind that her hair is healthy and it's not painful to keep it that way!

    In short, we didn't get a lot accomplished this summer.  My house did not get the deep spring cleaning I dreamed about.  The carpets were not shampooed.  I did not read the pile of books about Jesus and parenting that I want to read.  I did not practice Spanish, nor did I devote a day a week to school like I'd intended.  Somehow I'm still a bit more couch than 5K.

    So what did we do with this precious gift of time?  We read books and drew pictures and shopped and went to the zoo and story time and parks and ikea and looked at sweet babies and played with friends and got loved on by our sweet family.  We (ahem, both) took naps every day, and it was freakin' awesome.  We danced.  We sidled up.  We chatted.  We snuggled.  We swam and splashed and swang (swinged?).  We BE-ed together.                                  It was grand.

alligator purse

Lucy's new favorite spot.

She's crazy about her Uncle John, and she just perches on his foot and gazes up at him.

I. Love. Every. Bit.

ni-night

Lucy, you have been really enjoying playing ni-night.  We tuck babies in.  I tuck Lucy in.  Lucy tucks me in.  We gently say "ni-night" and give sweet kisses.  You fake snore, and it's so adorable I can hardly stand it!

I just tucked you in for real, and I have to say it's one of my favorite parts of the day!

After bath time, we lotion up with this thick, goopy lotion.  I rub in in and you get a little massage in the process.  I'm a little jealous :)   You jabber and talk to me, and make the next plans.  "Iwa passi."  Check.  "Iwa book."  You know the routine!  We put on your jammies and some delicious smelling hair creme and head over to our comfy chair for a book.  We're reading the Jesus Storybook Bible (for about the 4th time through) and we really love it.  "Who is this book about?" I ask you. "Shai-shu." You answer.  Jesus.  Tonight we read about David, who God used as part of his Secret Rescue Plan for us.

You seemed extra snuggly tonight, so we sang a song.  You still snuggled in with your sweet head on my chest, so I told you another wonderful story, the story of how God made our family.  I LOVE this story, and have told it to many people, but I realized that I hadn't told it to you, the star!  I told you about how God put us together and worked it all out and how perfect you were for me and how very very very thankful I was for you.  And I cried sweet happy tears because it's such a beautiful story, and you looked at me, puzzled, and patted my tears with your sweet little hands.

I love bedtime.

ballet

Some wonderful friends took us to Totter's Otterville, which has all these make-believe stations. Here is Lucy and her new buddy Keyana at the ballet station.

I think these preliminary dance moves show potential :)

 

I also love where she walks all stooped over at the end! She does that when approaching babies or puppies, usually accompanied by a squeal of delight. I love that little move!