Gabriel Lucas has reached the ripe age of 2 1/2 this fall...a fun age, a hard age. Lately he's either very happy or very--not happy. Kind of like the little rhyme about the girl with the curl in the middle of her forehead..."When she was good, she was very, very good but when she was bad, she was horrid." I think I've quoted that little rhyme between 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 often with all the kids.
First we have the "NO" saga. Nearly everything out of his mouth is "no". Most of the time with an attitude. And when he lowers his brow and glares at me, I just pick him up and plop him in the nearest time out area until he can "be sweet". I think whoever thinks that little children are innocent needs to come and visit our house for an hour! Then, as I sit there getting frustrated at the umpteenth time he's been on his "NO" bandwagon during the day, I have to see how often I say "NO" to the Lord. No, I don't want to be patient. No, I don't want to control my tongue. No, I don't want to do my work. No, I don't want to obey. No, no, no. I guess I need some time sitting in my "time out" spot letting the Lord work on my attitude too.
Next we have the tendency to not listen, not acknowledge, and ignore any adult giving instructions. He's quick to obey if it's "come and get a snack" or "let's go for a ride in the truck" but suddenly, the child is deaf when it's "put your cup on the counter" or "pick up your shoes". The result is a mama or daddy that goes over to Gabe and takes his hand walks him over to do what was asked...kicking and screaming if needed. Sometimes it takes a time out if the resistance is prolonged and it takes 10 times as long to get the simple task done. And then I realize...yep, sure enough, that's exactly what I do to God. If He says, "Go to church and worship with your friends" or "Sing a praise song with the radio"...no problem. When he says, "Go talk to someone you don't know well" or "Go apologize and ask forgiveness of your husband"...well that's a good time to turn a deaf ear. And then what does the Holy Spirit do? He nags...keeps dragging me over sometimes kicking and screaming inside with a bad attitude.
Finally we have the "nobody but Mama" issues. Gabe has always been the easy one for going with people. He's the one that liked the nursery much better than the others. He's the one who LOVED his daddy to distraction and would run to meet him whenever he saw him. He's the one who would take his brother or sister's hand and go off on an adventure without a look back. Not so much right now. Now if Mama thinks she will leave his sight during naptime or heaven forbid, leave the house for a meeting...it's major meltdown with cries of "Mama, Com'ere!" I thought we were supposed to be moving toward independence! But after much reflection...I think I can learn much about insisting on Jesus' presence alone instead of all the others who can't satisfy from Gabe. Not that I can take the place of the Lord for him, but at this juncture, I am the security, the most familiar, the one who is there though bad and good, the one to run to for help for Gabe. And shouldn't the Lord be that for me?
All in all, 2 1/2 is a steep climb nearly every day. There are surely times when he uses a big word or does something new and his face lights up that we laugh and clap along. (You wouldn't believe the party we have when he goes poop in the toilet!) But some days when he's finally down for a nap I have to sigh in relief for a little respite. Most days by the time he's down for the night I have to collapse into my bed too with no energy or thinking power to spare. But it gets me in good communication with God even if it's frequently..."Lord, I need some HELP!". It's good to see that God sees me in a lot of ways the way I see Gabe...but he's never out of energy or patience. Thank you, Lord, for that!
Last weekend (the first weekend of August) found our family of 5 camping at Branched Oak Lake near Lincoln with 4 other families from church. It was a first for Elly and Gabe and Mom but a second for Kevin and Isaiah, who did an overnight this spring.
Friday am found us packing up the tent, bikes, coolers, swimming stuff and way too much clothing and sleeping gear in the truck. Yes, it took us all morning and half the afternoon. But we did make it to the campground by check in time at 4. We were the first ones by a long shot. Could have not stressed about the time...lesson #1, camping is not a scheduled activity time.
We got our tent up--something that should have taken 10-15 minutes but took 3 times that long since Gabe was wandering off and Isaiah and Elly were too distracted by bugs and flower picking to help much with set up or Gabe watching. Lesson #2...take a leash for your 2 year old when camping.
Our first night's meal was simple...I had made the sloppy joes ahead so they only needed heating on the camp stove. I let Kev do the "cooking" or burning whichever the case may be. I realized I'd forgotten most of our fruit/veggies in the fridge at home but it was hot and we weren't too hungry anyway. Lesson #3, even with a list, you still will forget things. Do without or mooch.
Sleeping went OK the first night after we'd gathered for the traditional s'mores. Lesson #4--Always pack glow sticks.I had some glowsticks from Target that saved us as far as keeping track of kids. We could tell where everyone was because they glowed neon! And, bonus feature, they work as nightlights (which are something my kids can't live without)!
The next day was a SCORCHER...we were at the beach all morning and most of the afternoon. Good for keeping cool, bad for sun exposure. Lesson #5--Spray on sunscreen is for the birds. Everyone who used it burned. (Thankfully, we didn't learn this one the hard way because we had "tea tree sunblock lotion". I highly recommend it.)All the kids got on the tube with Daddy. And Mommy and Gabe and El got a really "bumpy and fast" ride back to the dock with lots of "bubbles" (water spray). Gabe was thrilled to have a "boat ride"--words that I heard from morning to night while we were there. In fact, he woke the whole tent with those very words--at 6:30 am.
The evening was hot but we kept our spray bottles handy and made frequent trips to the shower and water spigot to soak ourselves. Finally, when we collectively could take it no longer, we wimped out and drove to the nearby town for ice cream in a semi-air conditioned parlor. (Then our family took a trip through the small town on Malcolm and all the way around the lake in an effort to get cooled off and keep the kids busy till bedtime without being soaked.) The kids were beat so they went down OK but it was SO HOT in the tent that I put them all crosswise on the air mattress with me in the middle and sprayed water mist into the air every 2 minutes or so until they were sleeping and then some. It's a testimony to their exhaustion that they didn't even peep when I sprayed them, even in the middle of the night. Lesson #6...If you have an electical outlet at your campsite (we did) bring an electical FAN!!
Sunday was basically everyone up early to pack up and a unanimous vote to move the family camping weekend to (Lesson #7) early JUNE next year. We loved camping...we're just wimps about hot weather. We're thankful for safety and lots of fun and give the Lord the credit for it.
Our adventure this week starts on Wednesday night after supper. Kev and I sent the kids to the trampoline to play after supper was cleaned up so we could chat a moment. We were watching, really we were! Isaiah comes to the door distressed that Elly had hurt her knee and sure enough she was crying and holding it. We got her off and put ice one it. Couldn't see anything wrong...but she was pointing to her leg right below her knee. So began the 'Mommy Weight Lifting Regiment' as she couldn't/wouldn't put any weight on it. She slept the night with some Motrin and ice.
The next am we debated, kept ice on it to make her feel better and decided that if it was a twist of some sort, working it was best...so we went to the pool where she cried and whined the whole time even though she was floating. I was exasperated with her for not trying to work it since she didn't say it was hurting, only that she was afraid it would hurt to put it down.
The next am--still more crying and a little bruising showing up so I had her crawl around. She desperately wanted to go to Grandma's with her brother's for the weekend but Gram has a bad leg herself and can't lift her and Grandpa had wrist surgery recently so no help there either. I was sure when we dropped the boys off her desire to see the puppies would give her enough umph to walk...but alas more crying and no walking.
So, we went to the doctor. He pulled, twisted it...she didn't peep. (She was a bit scared of him since he wasn't our regular lady doctor.) He said any swelling was bad for a bone and ordered three X-Rays. We were back in the exam room when he came in to say, "You have to see this!". I was worried we were really in trouble...never having really considered a broken bone. But alas, she has a buckle fracture near the top of her tibia on her right leg. Could see it plain as day (once the doctor explained it). So we got a bright white cast and went to the drug store/med. supply for kid sized crutches...
So far the crutches are a no go but the stroller is good. We had a neighborhood picnic last night so the white cast now is rainbow colored with names and pictures. She's been playing a lot of pet shops on the porch with whoever is feeling sorry enough for her to come and play.
So we have three weeks in a cast and then a promise that it should be healed "beautifully". We'll pray to that end. And pray that lessons in character traits such as perseverance and patience that will be coming for both Elly and Mama won't be too taxing.
Today, my first blog....something I've been noodling around in my head for awhile. At least this might be an online scrapbook of sorts.
A SNAPSHOT OF TODAY: 7/25/08
We had some family fun today. Our new (to us) trampoline is up and has been for several days. Thank the Lord for it! My kids are moving and shaking and if they ever appear to not know what to do...now they know. As long as they are careful and noone gets hurt. Does it seem that it takes a fraction of a second for them to get comfortable with something and then they go right on to mastering something extreme (in this case flips)?
We also spent the late afternoon and early evening swimming at Mona's pool. What fun that finally is now that Gabe has learned to swim with waterwings and isn't grabbing me (and my suit) at all times. Isaiah and Elly who were not too excited about even getting their faces wet in June are now doing cannonballs and flips off the deep end (with some floaties) just to make me feel better. I could use octopus arms but at least today Kev and Mo were there so it was 1:1 correspondence :).
I found a great book in the stash from Swenson's today...on dinosaurs from a Christian perspective. Isaiah is thrilled with it and I'm sure I'll have it memorized by the time I'm done. We learned that what have been drawn for dinos are not necessarily what they looked like. That dinos may have been around as recently as the 1500's and may exist in remote jungles today. That the Great Flood would have made the perfect conditions for making large numbers of fossils...that occurring about 5000 years ago. And we're not through yet...
I also read from the Brrm Brrm book...a book I made for Isaiah when he was into tractors which was a copy of one my mom made my brother, Luke, when he was a baby and called all large movers Brrm Brrm's. I suppose I'll have to come up with a better format than construction paper, magazine pictures and contact paper for Gabe's next one. I need a new one; I'm tired of the old one but at least I can read it with eyes closed :).
Thank you, Jesus, for these little ones and their laughter today. For Kev's chance to come out a play for awhile...for a new blog to record my thanksgiving.
