If I’m going to be brutally honest, I’m not entirely sure how we’re going to go about helping our kids build a relationship with God!
One thing we currently do is pray before dinner each night. We try to pray for specific things and for specific people instead of saying a generic prayer. One thing I remember about growing up is that we generally only saud prayers by rote (ie. “Now I lay me down to sleep …”) so I was very uncomfortable actually praying out loud around other people since I’d had so little practice. I want to give Gwen the opportunity to pray out loud her own prayers in our home so that she becomes used to using her own words to express herself to God.
Another thing we hope to do is family Bible reading. I don’t yet know how best to do this and not make it a chore and boring, though, as that was most of Brad’s experience regarding family devotions as a kid!
I hope, also, to expose our kids to other Christian adults. Living in an intentional community in which we have deep relationships and intentional get-togethers (ie. weekly potlucks and weekly morning prayer) is a wonderful way to show our children the love of God through others. I think having positive adult role models who talk about their faith, their relationship with God and their walk with God is an awesome thing for kids to have!
All in all, I think the number one thing to do to encourage kids to have a relationship with God is walk with God yourself. Kids learn the most from what they see, and if all they ever see is a ‘Sunday Christian’, how can we ever expect them to move beyond that? That means that both Brad and I have a lot of work to do in how we live our lives and ‘walk the walk’. I hope, and pray, that we can rise to the occasion.
Oddly, I’ve been thinking a lot about babywearing lately. I guess it’s not too odd, since I still carry Gwen quite often, but I find myself thinking about the fact that I’m not likely going to be able to wear her nearly as long as I was hoping.
And finding myself feeling guilty.
When I was pregnant with Gwen, I developped some NASTY varicose veins in my left leg. I had to wear support hose. One of my tip-offs that I might be pregnant again was a nice plump varicose vein running along my thigh. I poked it and thought, “Hmmm … it’s been a while since I’ve seen one of those … like … almost a year … OH CRAP.”
So, needless to say, the veins are back and I’m already wearing the support hose. During my last pregnancy, my midwives wanted me off work because it involved lifting that was adding extra strain to my cardiovascular system. I’m assuming it’ll be the same this time, only the lifting and carrying that I do now is of a very different sort.
I’m hoping to wear Gwen as long as possible, not only because I love it and she loves it, but also because I am one of the few people I know or have seen in Hamilton wearing a baby. And you know what? I believe that being visible and wearing your baby out of the house goes a long way toward normalizing babywearing and encouraging other people to do it.
I am, however, thankful that Gwen doesn’t hate our new stroller - in fact, she loves riding in it and gets excited when she sees me pull it out and open it up. But the best is still how she rests her head on my chest when I’m getting her in the Mei Tai and snuggles her head under my chin when I’m tying it.
I feel like I’ve totally dropped off the blog world. I realize that it’s not technically true, but it has been a while since I’ve crafted a somewhat thought-provoking post. I figured I’d give everyone an update on what’s going on Chez Schellingerhoudts that has made my blogging a bit slow!
I’ve been really tired. Although I didn’t think I was this tired with Gwen, I was poking around at some old posts and found this one that proved me wrong. I still think I’m more tired this time around! I’ve actually been napping during Gwen’s naps, which means that I haven’t had much time on the computer.
We’ve been trying to organize a trip to Gores Landing (near Cobourg/Port Hope) to pick up an antique dining room table and chairs from my mom’s cousin … this is taking up a lot more time than we’d hoped it would!
We’ve had my mom draw up a plan for a potential kitchen reno and we’ve been contacting some contractors so set up quotes and such. I’m so excited at the possibility of our kitchen/dining room reno getting done before Love Bug arrives that it’s not even funny.
Gwen’s consistently down to one nap a day (ya know, except for today!) which means that my free time has been cut from 3+ hours a day down to only 1.5 - 2 hours.
Brad’s been off work for the last week, but went back yesterday … and when he’s home, I rather enjoy spending as much time with him as possible. We also did a bunch of house work and running around.
I think that about sums up the last week or two. It’s been busy. Good, but busy. I promise I’ll write a decent post soon
I thought I should get this stuff down in blogland for recording purposes! This week, Gwen learned the sign for ‘more’. It’s super cute the way she does it (focusses really hard on bringing her pointer fingers together) and it makes meal time a little bit easier, now that I can ask her if she’s ‘all done’ or wants ‘more’. Ah, the bliss of communication! I’m glad that I’ve stuck with trying to teach her some of these key words. I was initially really disappointed that she didn’t begin signing at 8 or 9 months like the early signers you read about, but I also realize that it’s not like I sign with everything I say and therefore she’s not going to pick it up as quickly! Regardless, it’s good to know that she is picking up signs … I’m trying to figure out some others that would be helpful for her to know.
This afternoon, we were outside hanging diapers on the line and we heard a dog bark. I asked Gwen if she heard the doggie and asked if doggies say “woof woof”. She looked at me with a very serious look and said “Whoo Whoo”. I thought maybe she was actually trying to say it, so I asked her again and she did the same thing. I asked her a couple more times throughout the day and sure enough - doggies say “whoo whoo”
At how quickly babies pick up their new skills! Yesterday, Gwen walked about 15 - 20 steps straight on 2 or 3 separate occasions, and even turned corners! She is bravely trying out her new skill everywhere … I think my favourite part is how she holds her hands out straight in front of her
We waited a loooooong time to hear Gwen giggle (I think she started doing it around 10 or 11 months?) but oh. my. goodness. Was it ever worth the wait!
This morning during morning prayer, Gwen dropped a ball and walked across our living room to pick it up. 5 or 6 steps!
All day she was crouching and standing and crouching and standing and walking 4-6 steps off everything! It’s incredible that she literally went from taking 1-2 steps and falling immediately to walking 2 or 3 and then stopping to look at something and then taking a few more. I don’t think it’ll be long until it’s her preferred method of locomotion.
