rain puddles, steps and the chicken dance

So this time around in parenting (remember my husband and I have a 26, almost 12 and a 9 year-old and now a 16 month-old too), I am stopping a bit more to enjoy little moments that to others might seem insignificant but to me it’s a gift.

The other day she unceremoniously stepped off a small cement step all by herself.  She usually turns around and scoots safely backwards off the step or holds my hand while I help her carefully step down. I nudged my husband to look at our little girl and we praised her new skill. A list that continues to grow each day. I feel so blessed to be a part of her life and that I can be home to raise her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This girl is such a joy in our lives. She makes us laugh, grow, smile, hug more, sing more and dance more! She loves music and knows the sign for music. We taught her to sign music because she kept going over to the computer keyboard and trying to turn the music on herself. Her favorite song is Greater by Mercy Me! It has great words and is a great dancing song too! She also loves The Chicken Dance, as well, which her grandmother introduced her to!

She keeps us busy but a good busy and I wouldn’t trade it for the world!

Here is a picture of her running in rain puddles for the first time! She was thrilled and fascinated! She did this continually for fifteen minutes. She didn’t want to go inside. What a blessing!

siblings

Time is flying by. I see it in my eleven-year-old’s face and voice. His pants are short again. He asks me to measure him. We find that he is now two inches taller since his birthday! That was only eight months ago. My nine-year-old’s desire to dress-up grows less and less with each passing day. I found a cardboard, sheriff badge I quickly made when he and my husband were playing dress-up years ago. I unexpectedly felt a lump in my throat when I saw it; they are growing up.

This past year has been a whirl.  When I look at pictures of my sons holding their tiny, new sister I can’t believe how much they have grown and matured; all three of them.

They have been such a great help in so many ways. Although they are growing up, they have a tenderness for their sister. They adore her and are so good with her.

They sing to her, read to her, dance with her and make her laugh like no one else.  She searches their usual nooks to find them in the mornings. When she wakes up from a nap they gently pick her up and hold her.

  She walks around putting toys to her ear and talks to her oldest brother on the “phone.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Now, at thirteen months, when they get their coats on to go ride their bikes, she insists on getting her coat on so she can be with them outside.

   She watches them swing and chase each other out the sliding glass door.

 When they see her adoring smile and small frame pressed up against the window they can’t resist running over and giving her a kiss and talking to her!

She watches them, studies them and is now beginning to copy their laugh, expressions and movements. She calls for them from the other room and her gaze quickly jumps from my eyes to where she thinks she hears them.

This bonding is so beautiful to watch.

She loves them so!