What to say...
Elyana is 9 months old! At her appointment, I had to fill out a developmental form and go through all these things they wanted to know if she's doing at this age. Checked them all off, except I'm not sure I've seen her use a toy to bang against another toy (J says he's seen it). She's eating like she should (both nursing and baby/table foods), weighing 19 lbs! She just changes so much every day! Such as:
- Can identify words & the objects they go with. For example, if I ask for a book (and use a title sometimes) she will go get it for me. She will point to a "light" if we ask her to. She loves lights!
- She will wave hi/bye at request. She said "ba-ba", but only to Aunt Karen and her daddy, and has dropped its use for now. The waving is so cute!
- She found her shadow a little over a month ago (which she LOVES), but now she will wave at it (and mine)! We see it outside, but she even found it inside where a lamp was casting it on the floor. She is so observant, she surprises me with it!
- She has started going "oooh" at things she likes... pictures on her book pages, my pretty jewelry, my coffee make, dogs, trees, wind: pretty much anything she thinks is fun or nice!
- She is still doing wonderfully with using a toilet. We'll have 1 or 2 dirty diapers a week, during a nap or that we missed. Even Jonathan can tell when she needs to go, he's pointed it out to me a number of times. Love this! (I don't even really intend on trying to train her from wetting the diapers for a long time. That's just something I'm not sure she or I are ready for. She will use the toilet to do that, but it's more incidentally b/c she's already going to go.)
- She stands alone for up to 5 seconds now. :)
- She's totally changed her "favorite" books. Seriously, she had 3-4 ones she loooooved, and a night-night book as well. Well she won't sit for any of those anymore. It happened overnight. She has a one new favorite book and one new favorite night-night book. And other ones she may sit for, but not the old favorite. It's so funny, a bit odd, and I'm getting bored of her new favorite. She also fusses if we use animal noises anymore!!! Go figure?!?
Jonathan and I just adore her. So much. Being parents has been such a joy for Jonathan and me. Truly, we feel so overwhelmed with joy that we've been entrusted with her little life!!!
Jonathan and I are also preparing for Deployment #4 at the end of November. That sinking feeling in the pit of our stomaches returns. I find myself with tears close at hand at random times. It's a very emotional process, preparing for the inevitable. Preparing for something you've gone through so many times before, you know the steps, but don't get any better at handling them. We've got a little over 3 weeks left before the window of leave time hits. I pray they will stretch out as long as possible.
We have gone to Saturday night service at our church a few times (it's new). It's much smaller, and we have enjoyed it a lot. It also leaves Sunday more free, which has been so nice. Also, no missed/delayed naps! :) Elyana sat through the entire service last week (which was a good 10 minutes longer than usual) and she did great! She made a little fuss/scream maybe twice. That's it. We both concentrated while she played and ate Puffs. Yes, without Puffs we would not have made it. So what? I can deal with that! One thing I did was call a very dear friend of ours, who Jonathan and I both think has done amazing with their 3 children (who are around 11, 7 and 4). I got her advice about leaving children in nursery, separation anxiety, and some child training. It was so, so good! I really praise God for the wonderful people he's given us in our lives that we can learn from rather than just walk through things with good intentions but only our own limited wisdom. We are in one accord right now in what we're doing. Sure, there will be things to talk about in the future, but right now we're good. :)
That's all for now. :) Except pictures. I'll do those in another post, because Elyana's about to wake up and I need to finish stuff up!
7 comments:
I'm not surprised she's doing so well. She is absolutely wonderful. We have a funny story about Ethan, you were talking about the list you filled out for her at the dr. When Ethan was 2 months old Erin filled out a form listing what his accomplishments were and he 'failed' We were all in shock 'What?! Can can our perfect little Ethan not be 100%?' Then we realized that the little guy was so spoiled that he never had to reach for stuff, or find things he lost or communicate a need cause he had all of us watching his every move, anticipating it and giving him whatever his little heart desired. After that we changed our behavior (sort of) but now he passes his tests with 100%
She certainly sounds like a delight :) Children are such a blessing, yes?
Elyana just sounds like the smartest little lady! I'm so glad that she is doing so well! I love this stage of rapidly developing into a little person:)
I'm so sorry that deployment #4 is so soon on the horizon. I'll be praying for all of you as your prepare. May the Lord have many sweet and special times in the next few weeks!
I'm sad to hear your deployment is looming over the holiday. It's a hard time to be without Daddy/Husband. I keenly feel your tearful anticipation of it, Denise....I know right where you are, dear. I'm praying for you. On the bright side, does this mean you'll be coming to visit the Shenandoah Valley this winter????
Denise,
I can't wait for the next time I get to see you guys! Elyana is such a cutie pie! It sounds like she is doing wonderfully and you and Jonathan are being such great parents and giving her the right tools and treating her the right way so she develops well.
Wow, a Saturday night church service? That sounds interesting. It sounds like it would possibly fit into your life right now rather than a morning service. I know it always messed my children's schedules up for the whole day! Arg!
I'm so sorry about Jonathan's deployment. I'm sure that no matter how many times you guys go through it you can't get used to it! You guys love each other so much and have a very close relationship so separation makes it so difficult, I'm sure. You know we'll be praying, thinking and calling often during that time.
Love you!
Whenever you feel inspired to write, I was wondering if you might share your opinions on breast feeding and birth control? I'm trying to puzzle out my beliefs/convictions in these areas and I'd love the opinion of a young mom!
I already know I want to breastfeed but any tips would be great!
As for birth control, I still have no idea what I think about it. I am trying to research it more so I understand how it works. Any thoughts on how you decided would be helpful. Thanks!
Whenever you feel inspired to write, I was wondering if you might share your opinions on breast feeding and birth control? I'm trying to puzzle out my beliefs/convictions in these areas and I'd love the opinion of a young mom!
I already know I want to breastfeed but any tips would be great!
As for birth control, I still have no idea what I think about it. I am trying to research it more so I understand how it works. Any thoughts on how you decided would be helpful. Thanks!
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