A told B and B told C, "I'll meet you at the top of the coconut tree!"
Tap tap clap clap! the little hands go.
"Boomboom!" the little voice chimes.
"Wee!" says D to E, F, G. "I'll beat you to the top of the coconut tree!"
Chicka chicka boom boom! Will there be enough room?
"Boomboom booh (book)!" my little man says to me, a serious expression on his face.
Eagerly, he turns the pages, pointing to each letter when he is able to pause and take a break from gulping milk from the now nearly empty cup.
The whole alphabet, up the-----OH NO!
"Uh oh!" he tells me, hands out to express his worry.
We turn the page.
Chicka Chicka BOOM BOOM!
"Boomboom" he murmurs.
Skit skat doodle dat, flip flop flee! Everybody's running to the coconut tree! Mommas and papas and uncles and aunts hug their little dears and dust their pants!
He snuggles close at the word momma and pats me on the chest. "Momma" he whispers, content.
And the sun goes down on the coconut tree...
But...
A is out of bed and this is what he said, "Dare double dare, you can't catch me; I'll beat you to the top of the coconut tree!"
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom!
*****
We have read this book together every night, nearly every nap, for the last week.
Such a classic alphabet book, and it fast became a favorite of Joshua's! When we finish the story, we sing the ABC's and point to the letter "J" and point it out in his room as well. (He has a big J on the wall). Tonight, when I got to the letter J, Joshua tapped it with excitement! It's so amazing to me that in just a short week of talking about letters he has already grasped the importance of his own name's first letter. :) He is incredible!
Reading this book with Joshua has become a special time for me. We still read our other favorites, "Love you Forever," "Curious George" the puppet book, "That's not my tractor," and "I know that my Savior loves me." But Chicka Chicka boom boom has reached the "kiss goodnight" status.
Sweetest moment of every night is when my 16 month old (yes he's only 2 months away from nursery...) leans over to the book, sometimes the pictures of Jesus, sometimes the ABC book, and kisses it multiple times. He then leans over and plops a sloppy, (currently booger slimed) kiss on my face.
This last few weeks, even though Joshua has been more difficult to handle in many ways, he has also been the sweetest and most tender boy I remember him being in his small short life so far.
I love my role as his mother and hope I can continue to teach him as well as I can in everything he needs to learn throughout his journey in life.
He's a boy on a journey! He sure loves visiting his Aunts and Uncles at Grandma and Grandpa's house!
Here's to the last week in February! Only one more week till the month we move to a new home!!!
I was complaining to Danny the other day that I felt like this month was going by too slowly.
SO.
Slow.
But then I looked at today's date, and I realized we only have 23 DAYS till we have to be moved out of this house so we can move into the new house in 27 DAYS!
It inched up, and creeped up on me this week. I thought I had ages to go. ;)
But I don't want to talk about how stressed I've been with moving this week.
I want to talk about the things I've been trying really hard to do this last couple weeks (and failing miserably at many of them).
A wife, a mother, a primary teacher, a choir accompanist, a choir participant, a health and fitness coach, a friend, a sister, a daughter, an aunt, a cousin---it's nigh impossible to find ME in there if you didn't notice. I'm coming to realize through the help of a wonderful visiting teacher, that part of being me is being so service-oriented, so willing to put others in my life completely before myself that I forget to find the time every day, every week, every month to just be ME.
And ME is the important part, because without developing myself, without loving myself, and taking time for myself, I can't BE my best self--the self that is so able to identify with and serve so many others around me.
In the church, we always talk about how serving brings us joy. I don't disagree with this statement. Sometimes we can be far too self-centered, usually when there is a particularly stressful time in our life, and part of our "news flash" from Heavenly Father can come by way of opportunities to serve others around us. I know this has brought me joy on many occasions, even if it was the simple act of bringing someone a meal.
But there was something I realized this week, as I was stressing about moving, where to store all our stuff in the "inbetween houses" stage, how best to help the people around me in my coaching business, what to eat, when to go on a date with my husband--the list could go on! I realized, after taking some delicious homemade muffins to a friend (I'll share the recipe below), who had just had a baby and is now a mother of 3 under the age of 5, was that I needed the visit with a friend as much as she might have needed it. I needed some social contact with someone who I could just chat about random stuff with, even if it was just for 30-40 minutes of my day--and so "selfishly" perhaps, I took that service opportunity and made it as much of a special time for me as it was a service to my friend.
Sometimes, I believe making the choice to serve others is as much of a service to ourselves as it is to the people we serve. Really, most of the time. We just have to have the right mindset to see it.
So friends, family, gals, guys: If you take anything from what I'm trying to say here, it's that yes we need to serve others. But we also need to take the time to recognize that we need to serve ourselves with as much gusto as we go about serving the wonderful people who we come in contact with every day.
I'm having to learn that I can't possible DO everything I want to do as a homemaker, wife, mom, friend, and coach. I have to work on accepting that I have to trust some things to be taken care of by someone else. I'm learning to say "no" to others so I can say "yes" to myself and then more people as a result.
My takeaways:
1. Unplug from the internet as much as possible over the weekends. (Blogging is like a journal...so this doesn't count. :P)
2. Find 1-2 hours (even if it's spread out) to do SOMETHING for me (exercise, get ready for the day, read a good book, play piano for fun)
3. Be present in the moment--the future will happen whether I stress about it or not.
Highlights this week for Joshua, in case you were wondering...
This spunky one year old is learning more and more sounds and words by the minute! We love helping him try to say new words!
The new word that is fast becoming the bane of our existence as parents (and the bane of all parents alive) is the word "no." Since he gets so much attention from this word (hehem, Petersons and Johnson family!), he responds to nearly EVERY question we ask him with, "nonono!"
He thinks it's hilarious.
Also on the list of new ideas for Halloween costumes next year, courtesy of uncle Evan, is a ghost, because he can now cry, Boo! when he plays peek-a-boo or wanders into a room unannounced! The highlight of my day was when he toddled around the corned, bonked into my leg and cried, BOO! as big as he could! Love that kid!
We're so excited for the adventures of moving into a new house--one with a POOL for swim lessons!
Have a wonderful week everyone!
Here's a great and delicious recipe for some "Toddler" muffins--I eat them too much, so they're not just for toddlers!
The BEST Toddler Muffins http://www.pinterest.com/pin/194921490098136386/
Author: Maria
Recipe type: Muffin
Cuisine: Breakfast or Snack
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 12-24
Shredded Zucchini would also go great in these fun and tasty muffins. Throwing a couple tbsp of wheat germ or chia seeds would also be a perfect way to add a little more healthy-ness.
Ingredients
1 cup brown sugar
⅓ cup of plain or vanilla yogurt (heaping cup)
⅓ cup unsweetened applesauce
¼ cup butter, softened
3 eggs
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup finely shredded carrots (about 2 medium carrots)
2-3 very ripe bananas, smashed (the riper the better)
1 cup quick oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
2½ tsp cinnamon
⅛ tsp nutmeg (optional)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Cream together: sugar, yogurt, applesauce and butter
Add eggs, pumpkin, carrots, and bananas
Mix well add all dry ingredients: oats, wheat flour, all-purpose flour, salt, soda, cinnamon and nutmeg
Mix until combined
Scoop batter into greased mini or regular muffin tins. Can use cupcake liners if you prefer. Recipe can make 48 mini muffins or 20-24 regular size muffins.
Bake at 375 for 12-15 minutes for mini-muffins or 15-18 or until toothpick comes out clean for regular size muffins.
Remove from pans and cool on cooling rack.
OH!!
Almost forgot to add in my journey of making almond milk this week!
Here's my progression photos from doing that--directions on this blog site--it's really easy (would have been easier with cheesecloth instead of paper towels to separate the pulp from the milk)
Soaking the almonds....this was kinda weird. haha
"milking the almonds"--one day I'll get a Vitamix for Christmas...but this worked well!
Draining the milk from the pulp! It was kinda scary with papertowels! Bounty are fantastic!
The PULP. To be used as almond flour--currently it lives in my freezer...haha
The finished product!
For directions, go here! http://www.doublethebatch.com/homemade-almond-milk/
