Babysitting

I love learning new things about my children. For instance, they LOVE it when I babysit another child. I know it's hard to tell, but I am actually not being sarcastic. MUCH to my surprise, Rebekah and Luke were beside themselves in excitement while we watched baby Abigail 2 afternoons this week. Rebekah would have loved to take care of her herself, while Luke just enjoyed having a small play mate, to whom he bestowed coveted (truly) "macks" and grins. I was sooo pleased to see how good-natured he was around another baby who required my attention. It was almost as if he grew up a bit in those few hours.

I loved how they're all engrossed in play. That's the way it should be.

Sweet girl. :)

Regardless of what this picture says, I was so tickled to hear the kids giggling outside with Josh and I came out to find this. Prior to seeing Mama, Luke was LOVING this car ride.

Luke also found R's sunglasses and really enjoyed wearing them. It's a miracle he still has both eyes. I felt like we had just given him a Red Rider BB gun.

Luke has been precious! So many new things to share! A couple nights ago, he took his first (and only) steps into my arms. As alluded to, they have not been duplicated, but that's okay. He has a few days until he's officially 18 months...sigh.

In more encouraging news, Luke has a few new tricks and is at an age where he is more than happy to perform on command.

Trick #1: Ask him to "jump" and he will, from a sitting position, throw his arms up and his body forward into a crawling position or on his tummy and giggle. He looks like a wrestler pinning someone. Best we can tell, he thinks he's doing what Bekah does when she jumps.

Trick #2- as of yesterday: he says "woh-oh-va" (Roll over) when he steam rolls across the floor. This is from me singing Phyllis' song, Roll Over when he squirms/rolls away/almost falls off/gives me headaches on the changing table. :) It is also priceless.

Rebekah is just exploding in every way. Here are some things you may or may not know. She is very much a mama's girl right now, which is fine with me. She still loves to do crafts and you can't throw any of them away- ever. I don't think I have ever successfully gotten rid of something of "hers" without her finding it and asking me in an appalled, and definitely hurt voice, "Mama? Are you throwing this away? Why would you do that?" Caught. :(

She is also still crazy-creative and makes up tons of stories and songs and random stuff. The other day, she mused aloud, but to herself (common), "I like seeing how things work and how they go together." Josh beamed and replied, "Me, too, Bunny. Me, too." (If Luke could have talked, he would have said, "Mama and I like eating popcorn and watching movies.") Anyway, along those lines, Rebes really is interested in everything and how it works. For example, we were driving and she saw a suspension bridge. "Mama, how do the cars get up there?" Me, "Well, Rebekah, there is a hill the cars drive up and then they're on the bridge. "Why don't they fall through those holes?" "Those holes you see are just on the side of the bridge, not where they drive." "Do people go up there or do they get hit by cars?" and it goes on and on and on....reminds me of Billy's "Big Indian" questions...you'll have to ask my dad about those. I digress again. I am shocked at what she notices and how she categorizes it all and pretty much never forgets anything. It's frightening.

I also love her linguistic patterns- JUST like her father, she loves to shorten or abbreviate names, such as "yo" for yogurt, "Mick" for Mickie, "Lashy" for eyelash, "pop" for popcorn. This also makes Josh happy and frustrates me b/c I have to figure out what they're talking about. Another new phase is "never sawn before." She wants to do and see things she has never "sawn" before. We're not sure why.

Rebekah is also transitioning to longer books and real movies. She loves Annie (and really enjoys singing "It's a hard-knock life"), Madeline, and Charlotte's Web. She is on the verge of tears EVERY time Genevive gets lost and "the pig's mommy" (aka Fern, the girl) has to go away to school. Regardless of the fact that she has seen what happens and that everything is okay, she is worried every time. Very me. Finally, something that resembles me! That reminds me- a girl who is doing master's work here joined our women's group. She had never met Josh, but had met Rebekah (she gave her a tour of her room). I figured out she and Josh were taking the same Latin class (yes, Josh has chosen to take on another language in addition to Spanish, Greek, Hebrew, and German). She introduced herself last week by saying that it had to be him since he looked just like his daughter. :)

That's it for now- we are off for Ramstein, Germany tomorrow until Tuesday! We will not be taking our computers (not sure if Josh will be able to make it honestly), so you'll have to wait until next week to hear from me (hence the ridiculously long post). We will be driving from Glasgow next Tuesday night from 8 or 9 pm until 1 or 2am, so pray for us!