Haircuts, Glasses and Snowmen

Friday night I cut Chet's and Ladan's hair. It was the first time I used the clippers on Ladan's head, and he was petrified at first. He was pretty much screaming bloody murder. I had to tell him to get control and listen to me while I explained what was happening. Then I showed him on his arm that it just tickled. After a bit more screaming about how he still didn't want it on his head, he got used to it and had a good time. I can see that one of our jobs as his parents will be to help him branch out a bit and get over his fears, sometimes by just making him try something and then getting really excited when he's done it. Anyway, here are a couple of photos of his new haircut... just like Daddy.

Ladan is gearing up for the Cardinals baseball season, that's for sure! He's getting really good at throwing the ball up and hitting it by himself. He doesn't have the happiest face in this second picture, but I like it because it shows how much taller he is than Gabe. I told Chet that I wonder if I thought Ladan was such a little peanut at Gabe's age or if I thought he was big. I really can't remember. I think I thought Ladan was small, just because he was so much smaller than his friends and he still wasn't walking at the same age. Either way, Gabe is a little man, and Ladan's practically a giant, and this is the proof...

Doesn't every kid have to take an opportunity to wear the Mr. Potato Head glasses? What a cute-face kid!

Over the course of Friday and Saturday we got about 12 inches of snow here in Louisville. As a result, the Casting Crowns concert was postponed, not because the roads were too bad, but apparently the bands had some trouble with cancellations at the airports they were flying through. Bummer. They've rescheduled it for May 4, which isn't exactly great timing for us. It's a small group Sunday, and it's right at the beginning of Chet's finals week. Pretty much, the only way it could be worse timing is if they had rescheduled it for a time when I was going to be out of town. In any case, it's better off that everyone is safe. At least we can think ahead how to pull it off.

The snow outside was so deep that I knew Gabe wouldn't be able to walk in it, and I wasn't ready to hold him the entire time (call me a whimp if you want to, but that kid is like a wet noodle whenever he has a snowsuit on). So Chet took Ladan out to build a snowman on Saturday while Gabe took a nap. (Lest you think that Gabe was deprived of an opportunity to enjoy the snow, I'll let you know that Ladan, Gabe and I had a snowball fight outside last night when we got home from church. It was good fun, and the boys were both drenched when we came inside.) Here are Saturday's photos...

Recently, Ladan has been saying he "can't" do quite a few things that we know he can do. We've reminded him that he can do them (sometimes going back and forth a couple of times with him), but he's still been saying it a lot as a bit of an excuse. Today, I started explaining to him that God has given him the ability to do these things, and one way he can show thankfulness to God is by using his abilities and doing the things he knows he can do. This seems to make sense to him, and he's been a lot quicker to snap out of it when I've described it to him this way. Why I didn't step back and think of this myself a couple of weeks ago when it started is beyond me... actually, I'm realizing that it's the Lord's demonstration to me that I would do a terrible job as a parent without His help! Thankfully, He's gracious to reveal better ways to do things to me, and as a result I can be a better help to Ladan.