And a little bit of a sentimental photo for you... Baby Gabe holding his daddy's hand.
Ladan has been saying some hilarious things lately, so I thought I'd catch up on those...- Ladan has been a bit quick to tell us "no" sometimes, so we've been working on the "Yes, Mom" or "Yes, Dad" response. This afternoon, he was being a bit noisy, so I explained that he needed to speak more quietly. Before he could even argue, I reminded him that the appropriate response is "Yes, Mom." He complied. A few seconds later, he was talking in the hallway (to himself--I have no idea where he gets it). He walked in to me and said, "That's not too noisy. Now you say, 'Yes, Ladan.'" I mean, really, what can you do except smile at that?! I did gently remind him that he's not in charge, and I thanked him for quieting down.
- I mentioned in a previous post that we've been instructing Ladan to call out to God for help when he has scary dreams. Well, the other night, he started screaming bloody murder. I usually let him work it out on his own, but this time his cry was different, so I went in. When I walked through the door, I asked, "What's wrong, Buddy?" He responded with urgency, "Please, God, help me! I'm scared!" He had worked up a sweat and was shaking. I asked him about his dream, and he described something about a basketball coming at him and making him fall off his bed. So we prayed, and he reminded me that God will help him when he's scared. He also reminded me that God will help me when I'm scared.
- We rented Flipper, the movie, last week. It's the version with Paul Hogan (aka Crocodile Dundee) and Elijah Wood. There's a scene where Paul Hogan comes up out of the water after skiing and he has a dripping cigar in his mouth. Ladan saw that scene the other day and exclaimed, "Oh, no! His hot gog (hot dog) is all wet!" I had no idea what to say, so I just said, "Oh, wow!" Except I kept laughing, so Ladan knew something was up. He added with great seriousness, "Mommy, it's a hot gog," as if I was really silly for laughing at a wet hot dog.
- Last night, I was laying beside Ladan in his bed. He likes for me to "carry" him, which basically just entails letting him lay on my arm and putting my other arm around him while he lays there. We were just quietly laying in his bed, me carrying him, and he said, "Mom, Jesus is riding on a white horse." Remembering that we've had this conversation before, I asked Ladan how he knows that Jesus is riding on a white horse. He replied, "It's in the Bible." GREAT! Here's the funny part... he went on to say, "Mom, I saw Jesus riding a water buffalo." And I thought we were getting somewhere. :)
One of my friends from the Columbia days has three boys, and two of them are just about a year ahead of each of our boys. When I explained to her about a year and a half ago that we have a hard time getting Ladan to eat meat or much of a variety of anything for that matter, she told me to just be patient. She had a similar experience and encouraged me, saying that as soon as we had another child and he started eating solids, Ladan would see him eating new foods and want to keep up with the little guy. Well, she was right on! Today, Chet got out the sliced turkey (just an aside... please make sure your deli meat is nitrate/nitrite free) to see if Gabe would want some. He was rejecting a bunch of his baby food, but he was clearly hungry. Well, Ladan saw Gabe eating that turkey and asked for some himself. He proceeded to eat two entire slices of turkey. He has never actually swallowed turkey after chewing it, so this is super-exciting!
My neighbors and I are heading to a farmer's market in the morning to get some fresh produce, and I'm pretty excited about it! I always buy fresh anyway, but at this particular market we get $10 of free produce. I'm excited to see what we find!
