Pondering

I wrote this post this morning at about 6:30ish, but our internet wasn't cooperating. So I typed it up in Word and now I'm copying and pasting it in, now that my techno-hero has woken up and fixed the internet.

Main Entry: pon·der (from Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary)
Pronunciation: \ˈpän-dər\
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): pon·dered; pon·der·ing \-d(ə-)riŋ\
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French ponderer, from Latin ponderare to weigh, ponder, from ponder-, pondus weight — more at pendant
Date: 14th century
transitive verb

1 : to weigh in the mind : appraise <pondered their chances of success>

2 : to think about : reflect on <pondered the events of the day>

intransitive verb

: to think or consider especially quietly, soberly, and deeply
— pon·der·er \-dər-ər\ noun

I wonder if Mary, the mother of Jesus, would have been a blogger, had she lived in our modern times. I wonder this because of the part of the Christmas story when it says she pondered these things in her heart. Maybe she pondered them in her heart because she wanted them to be a secret, between her and God. But maybe, if she had the tools she would have blogged about it. I know that when I ponder some things, I get an urge to blog about it. Like this morning. Cayson woke up at about 5 this morning. Shaun went and got him and placed him in bed with us. As he was cuddling with me, I began to ponder the wonder that is this child that God made for us. I pondered the success of last night. (More about that in a minute.) I pondered the fact that even though he’s becoming a daddy’s boy, he still wants to cuddle with Mommy.

About that, him becoming a daddy’s boy. This started a few days ago, last weekend really. He wants to be with his daddy almost all the time. I love that, really I do. I can’t wait for the day when he’s old enough for his daddy to teach him how to play ball and build things and work on cars and other “manly” things. But it’s been a little hard, especially since it coincides with his weaning. Side note—we made the decision to let him wean himself, instead of forcing him to. It has been such a good decision, for both of us. But now, I’m wishing he had waited a little longer. I miss that time with him. However, I am very glad that he still wants to cuddle with me in the wee hours of the morning.

Now, about last night…we had our annual Family Fall Festival to end our Family Emphasis month at First Southern. We do a Trunk or Treat where we turn our trunks into carnival-type games. Shaun and I decided to do a trunk this year. We made it a pirate theme, even dressing the part! We turned our jeep into a boat, complete with a treasure chest full of candy and a life size cutout of Capt’n Jack Sparrow. We named our boat “The Mini Pearl”. Get it? (On Pirates of the Caribbean, the boat was called the black pearl. Plus, it’s a pun for Minnie Pearl.) I wish I had pictures to show you, but I forgot to bring the camera. Several other people took pictures, so I’ll have to beg for copies. For our game, we used our Nintendo Wii, letting the kids play tennis, bowling, or baseball. It was the big hit of the night. We always had a long line of kids. We even won a Walmart gift card for the most creative Trunk. Cayson dressed up as our little monkey. He was so adorable! And he kept his hood on for most of the night!

As I’ve been posting, I’ve been going through a Bible study called Victoriously Frazzled. Yesterday, I was able to really apply the truths I’ve learned in that study. Normally, getting ready for an event like that I would be totally stressed out. I’m a perfectionist, so if things don’t go the way I think they should I get upset. However, yesterday I was pretty calm. Even when the timeline of building our “boat” didn’t exactly go as planned and we had to leave a few things off (mainly our “cannons”). I give God the full glory for this, as there is no way I could have remained calm and peaceful myself. Also, this week’s study has been on Godly responses and letting our light shine, so to speak. I was able to apply that as well, especially since we had tons of guests. I got to meet several nice families, including one that just moved to Central City. So, all in all, last night was such a huge success…and a lot of fun!

I know this is a long blog post, but as I said, I needed to blog this morning. Something about the quiet of the morning and a steaming cup of coffee makes blogging so much easier.

Here are some updates on Cayson:

He has learned his first sign. We’ve been teaching him baby sign language and he finally is starting to pick it up. I was sitting on the couch Monday and he starting whining about something. He was standing at the gate of the kitchen. I thought at first he wanted his football that he’d thrown over, but that wasn’t it. Finally, he turned around, looked at me, and gave the sign for “more” and pointed at his empty bowl leftover from breakfast a couple hours earlier. He wanted more to eat! I was so excited to see him communicate with me! I gave him a snack and he was very happy that I understood him! He has continued to use “more” every day this week. So far, he uses it for when he wants something to eat and drink, so we’re working on “drink” and “hungry”. We’ve been working on “thank you”. I wish you could see him when he does the sign for “more”. It is so cute, makes my heart melt! And now, he’s trying to say “more” with the sign. It comes out more like a tentative “mo” right now.

He’s trying to feed himself with a spoon. He’s getting so independent. I’ll be feeding him and half-way through he’ll take the spoon and want to finish by himself. And he doesn’t make that big of a mess. He’s also trying a few veggies again, without me hiding them in potatoes!

He’s able to step up and down small steps, but he’ll only attempt when I’m holding his hand!

So far he can say daddy, mama, ball, cat, dog, batgirl (sounds like “aatguhl”, our dog btw), uh oh (his favorite word right now!), and almost drink and more.

Did I mention he’s very independent???

Well, I’ve taken enough of your time, if you’re even still reading by now. Sorry it was so long. I don’t blog enough for it to be too much of a problem, though. Cayson’s up now, so I better go. Have a great day!