Tuesday, October 07, 2008

20 month cutie...

Have I mentioned that he's finally walking? He took his first steps to my dad a couple of days after he turned 20 months. It was really funny because he didn't know what he'd done, and he seemed shocked that we all were cheering for him. The next day, he seemed to get it that he was walking without holding our hands. He did a few circuits back and forth between us, and he was pleased as punch at his achievement. At this point, he walks on his own at least a little bit every day. I've got to get some video before he gets really good at it...

Mom read to him a lot this weekend in the car, and he's really gotten back into books after a period of not being that interested. He brings me books and wants to climb in my lap and read all the time. He can tell me what sounds a horse, cow, and a cat can make. And he recently learned to say the word "bumblebee." I was impressed. It's in his current favorite book, "Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?" Whenever we get to the page with "boom boom" and "splatt splatt," he always laughs.


And here we have a couple of very safety conscious toddlers. It's dangerous to push or ride a toy car without the proper headgear. They found the helmets and put them on all by themselves. Well, maybe Peter helped. He's a little older than Seth. We have a small group time every week at someone's house, and the boys play while we do our thang. We're starting a short video series on parenting soon.

Ok, time to digress. Sometimes, I admit, my heart sinks when another parent tells me about the latest and greatest parenting guru. I have read a few parenting books, I admit, and its not like I don't want to do my best at this job. But sometimes I feel like its a bottomless, never ending pit of stuff to know and do and learn. There are so many suggestions for great things to do (50 different techniques for doing amazing daily devotions, for example) that you can never take them all. Sometimes the pressure to go to parenting conferences and read parenting books just plain gets on my nerves. I feel like I'll be looked at as a bad parent if I'm not interested in going each time someone new comes to town. Anybody else feel like this sometimes?

Maybe its just me. Or the pregancy hormones. I plan to blame a lot of crankiness on the pregnancy hormones for the next 9 months, so be aware...

2 comments:

Shannon said...

What a cutie! I'm still chuckling about the bike helmets...Ian and one of his little friends do that too! Wow...we must be AMAZING parents to be raising such safe toddlers... =)

I agree about the plethora of parenting materials...it's overwhelming and annoying, and there's a lot of junk out there too. I've read some great things, and seen some great videos, so I'm no knocking it all, but it is overwhelming.

They say morning sickness is a good sign...so, I'm happy for you! =) But I hope you get to feeling less pukey soon.

Anonymous said...

at a baby shower this weekend, we were all asked to write down a piece of advice for the mom-to-be. Mine was "don't get too bogged down with all the books out there"
Go with your God-given instincts and keep praying for wisdom and patience, that's all I do anymore. (but I haven't entered the teenage years; I may need books for that age!)