Counting Blessings

Looking back at my blog page, I can't believe it's been four months since I last posted! Where does time go? Actually, I know exactly where it goes. Work, family, sleep. But, it's all good really. I'm about five and a half months along in my pregnancy, and things seem to be going really well. We had an ultrasound last month and got a really cool 3-D picture of Baby Dos's face. It's incredible what technology can do. So far, this one isn't as active as Garrett was, which could be a very good thing.

Garrett is 20 months old now, and may be entering into his rebellious stage. (I refrain from using the term "terrible two's" because he's not really terrible, just frustrating.) He's been testing Mommy and Daddy to no end the past few weeks. Many common phrases heard around our house lately are: "Don't you use that spoon as a weapon!", "Let go of the dog's tail!", "Don't pull the dinosaur's head off!", "Where are your pants?", "Sit down-- on your bottom!". Obviously, my master's degree in education is being put to great use! Garrett is proving to be his mother's son. He is willful and stubborn, and nothing seems to deter him much when there's something he's intent on doing. It's very tempting sometimes to just walk away and let him climb onto the table to chase the cat, but I suppose there's no lesson learned in that. Eating and going to sleep are constant battles in our house. Garrett has determined that the only table foods he's going to eat are oatmeal, yogurt, applesauce, crackers, chips and french fries. Oh, and the occasional tub of ravioli. Except, of course, when he's at the babysitters, for whom I think he would eat a five-course meal.

I was recently lamenting all of these things to a church member we were visiting, when she reminded me how blessed we were to have these toddler trials and tribulations. Her grandson, who is a little over a year now, just finished treatments for cancer and is now in remission. I started thinking about all of the mother's out there whose children aren't eating well because of sickness or lack of food. Of mother's who dread bedtime, not because it's a fight to get their child to bed, but because there's a fear that they won't wake in the morning. And I realized, in that moment, how wonderful it is to have a child who can chase the cats around the house, who can bring me the same book 300 times in a row to read, who can yank a spoon out of my hand and fling food all over the kitchen-- a child I can hold in the middle of the night when he wakes up and gently rock back to sleep, a child who wakes up singing happily to himself in the morning (at least for a few minutes) and can look forward to a carefree day.

I didn't get my son a gift for Valentine's Day, mostly because we have no money and he doesn't notice anyway. (He also got a balloon from the ladies at the local flower shop which he likes better than most of the toys he has.) But I was thinking, although Valentine's Day has passed, about making a small donation to St. Jude's Children's Hospital, or giving a mosquito net to Nothing But Nets. Some small token that could potentially make a difference for another child, and allow another mother to experience the everyday frustrations and blessings that should come with a 20 month old.

Blessings and Peace,
Sara