2010 was not a proud one for me spiritually. I went through some real moments of questioning my faith. I didn't ever wonder if there was a God or anything so basic. It was more a matter of self. Did I really believe that our Father in Heaven cared for us? If he did, and we're doing what we're supposed to, he would bless us, right? Am I worthy of blessings? There were some dark months I went through a bit of a depression cause I hated my life and I hated myself for hating my life. Thankfully things have gotten slowly better (not my life, just my outlook.) Now I find myself seeking the light I have missed so much. Yesterday Ammon and I got to attend the temple, and even though it was a bit of a runaround at first, we really enjoyed it. I can't wait to go back, and we have plans to within the next week or so.
Well, today in Relief Society we were discussing Sacrifice... having a broken heart and a contrite spirit. I thought about how horrible I've been, and how little I've appreciated. I realized that we have EVERYTHING except a steady income. We are so blessed, and I have been SO SELFISH!! I couldn't believe what a jerk I've been, and I found myself in tears. Then a scripture was brought up. Luke 18:18-23. A young ruler asked Christ what he could do to be worthy of eternal life. Jesus listed off the commandments, and the man said he had done all those things. Then Christ asked him, "sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." The teacher asked if we would be able to give up our material things to be with Him. When I thought about it, I realized that Heavenly Father had already gotten us halfway there by forcing us to live without a lot of the luxuries we are so used to. Now all we need to do is follow Him. He gave me this wonderful gift to give me a chance to be closer to Him, and all I've done is whine and complain. My very ugly true colors have come out and I've been wearing a Laman and Lemuel badge for way too long!! No more! I'm so grateful for that lesson, that lightbulb that I was granted today in class. I just pray that I can continue on this better path.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Kaleb at 19.5 Months
As always I like to document Kaleb's continuous progress. He already seems so much older than a few months ago. We have seen him trying to declare his independence over and over again as he will for the next upteenth years. Ammon has become a great disciplinarian. Very consistent... I on the other hand tend to get the giggles when he's in time out. I'm the worst when we tell him to stop doing something and he just keeps doing it, looking at us like, "Um, I don't want to stop, so please just ignore me if you can. Thanks!" I can't help but smile at how completely unappreciative he is of our power. Anyway, he is usually a well-behaved kid, so I can't complain.
Light Up His Life: The other day, Kaleb discovered my touch lamp. You tap any metal part and it has three lighting settings. It's like 20 years old. Anyway, Kaleb thought it was the most amazing thing, so I had to snap a photo.
Good One, Mom!!: About a week ago I bought some bubble bath for Kaleb. A stroke of genius, so I thought. We can't afford a bunch of new bath toys, so having foam covering his bath water seemed a logical solution....
I couldn't tell you what he didn't like about it. He kept trying to escape from the tub until we moved the bubbles out of the way. Even then, he would only crouch, whereas normally he sits flat on his butt during his whole bath. We've tried a few more times. Tonight I put the bubble bath in at the last minute while he was already in, and he didn't seem to mind that. Baby steps I guess.
HANS Kaleb Anderson: My favorite new thing Kaleb does is his story-telling. We've been working on his words (see entry below), and I guess that has given him some verbal confidence. Now whenever interesting happens (usually something falling), he will tell us all about it. The other day, while playing with his cousin, she started crying and so he came over to us and told us all about how she had fallen down. He even rolled onto the floor to show us. Keep in mind, we usually can't understand a word of it, which makes it that much more fun for us. I'm gonna try to get a video one of these days.
Word Wise: After our pediatrician pointed out Kaleb's slight delay in learning words, Ammon and I put ourselves to work. One night he really wanted to look at a book, so we wouldn't let him until he tried to say the word "Book." It took about 90 minutes and a whole lot of tears, but we finally had a break through and since then Kaleb has accepted that he doesn't get anything without first trying to pronounce it. Over a month has gone by, and I've written down more than 20 words in his vocabulary, which is considered pretty good. Granted most of his pronuncuations leave much to be desired, but the point is for him to have words for things. His best words are probably Bye, Nana (banana), and Night Night. His most popular is MeeWee (Movie), Tosh (trash) and Bu Bu (Buckles). The hardest to figure out is when he says Ow for Open. I've worked hard on getting a second syllable, but for some reason he thinks open sounds like Ow. The last few days he has even said "what's that?" in his own way.
Light Up His Life: The other day, Kaleb discovered my touch lamp. You tap any metal part and it has three lighting settings. It's like 20 years old. Anyway, Kaleb thought it was the most amazing thing, so I had to snap a photo.
Good One, Mom!!: About a week ago I bought some bubble bath for Kaleb. A stroke of genius, so I thought. We can't afford a bunch of new bath toys, so having foam covering his bath water seemed a logical solution....
Obviously NOT!!
I couldn't tell you what he didn't like about it. He kept trying to escape from the tub until we moved the bubbles out of the way. Even then, he would only crouch, whereas normally he sits flat on his butt during his whole bath. We've tried a few more times. Tonight I put the bubble bath in at the last minute while he was already in, and he didn't seem to mind that. Baby steps I guess.
HANS Kaleb Anderson: My favorite new thing Kaleb does is his story-telling. We've been working on his words (see entry below), and I guess that has given him some verbal confidence. Now whenever interesting happens (usually something falling), he will tell us all about it. The other day, while playing with his cousin, she started crying and so he came over to us and told us all about how she had fallen down. He even rolled onto the floor to show us. Keep in mind, we usually can't understand a word of it, which makes it that much more fun for us. I'm gonna try to get a video one of these days.
Coordination: Just a side note that Kaleb actually ate a whole bowl of oatmeal today with a spoon... and I didn't regret it. He barely spilled any of it! It's a little thing, but I'm so HAPPY about it!!
Kaleb Steps it Up: The other day we rented Step It Up 3 (not worth the Red Box dollar unless you're really into dancing), and Kaleb LOVED the dance scenes. He even started rolling on the floor to mimic a guy's breakdancing. It was awesome. Here he is during a waltzing scene. We wanted to get something a little more interesting, but he REALLY wanted to play with the camera whenever I would get it out. Anyway, he makes us laugh:
Word Wise: After our pediatrician pointed out Kaleb's slight delay in learning words, Ammon and I put ourselves to work. One night he really wanted to look at a book, so we wouldn't let him until he tried to say the word "Book." It took about 90 minutes and a whole lot of tears, but we finally had a break through and since then Kaleb has accepted that he doesn't get anything without first trying to pronounce it. Over a month has gone by, and I've written down more than 20 words in his vocabulary, which is considered pretty good. Granted most of his pronuncuations leave much to be desired, but the point is for him to have words for things. His best words are probably Bye, Nana (banana), and Night Night. His most popular is MeeWee (Movie), Tosh (trash) and Bu Bu (Buckles). The hardest to figure out is when he says Ow for Open. I've worked hard on getting a second syllable, but for some reason he thinks open sounds like Ow. The last few days he has even said "what's that?" in his own way.
Mommy Who?: In relation to that, every night Kaleb gets a few bedtime stories. Lately he has been obsessed with a book my sister-in-law made about us getting married (She does it as a business, so Liz leave your info in the comments if you want.) Anyway, it has pictures of our wedding day and he just loves to have us read it to him. SO SWEET!! Well, tonight after his bath he was looking through it and I was asking him to point out each of us, "Where's Daddy?" "Who's that?" To every response I got, "Daddy." Kinda cute, but I finally had to bribe him with a 3 Musketeers to even mention my name. Here's the video:
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