19 months

Seriously, where does time go? I can't believe my "baby" is rounding the corner to being 2 years old! Lincoln is still such a joyous person. We constantly are asked if he's always so happy and for the most part....minus teething and 3 rounds of antibiotics to clear an ear infection...he is! These days he's into doing anything the older kids are. He's working on putting on his own coat and shoes, but LOVES walking around in big sister's shoes because they are so much easier to get on. This past week the accomplishment was opening and closing doors - I've gotten quick to remember to deadbolt the door to the garage. Overall any activity that can prove his independence is a winner and gets a huge grin - climbing up and down on the couch, sneaking through the baby gate that an older sibling left open to beeline the stairs, hat on, door open, close, open, close, open, close...

His "18 month" pictures are scheduled for tomorrow...illness prevailed and this was the 3rd attempt in scheduling!

It's who she is...

As a parent, there are many traits we try to impress upon our children but some are just God given gifts they have. Compassion and seeing others needs above her own are Brooke's. She's still a six year old who is an oldest child would prefer to organize the world (and her brothers) to run the way she sees fit, but the past couple days have opened such a window for me into her heart. We've been fighting illness for over a month in our house. This weekend was particularly rough with a LOT of laundry, Tylenol, antibiotics and carpet cleaning.

Brooke has just done whatever she could to be helpful:

• Friday morning she was late coming down for breakfast so I went up to see what she was up to. Clayton had forgotten to make his bed, so she was taking care of that for him so that I wouldn't have to do it later.
• Sunday after church, I found Brooke in my closet and when I asked what she was doing she says, "Mom, I noticed that your shoes weren't very well organized, so I thought I'd help you and take care of that."
• Sunday night we downloaded the music for Annie (the broadway version) because she wanted to learn the music before she goes with Grandma Denyse and Grandpa Mark to see it over Spring Break at the Fireside. After she found out we could put it on a CD to listen to in her room, she wanted to call Grandma Denyse and see if she needed a copy too.
• All of those things were fabulous to see, but today I got a phone call that brought me to tears (not easily done.) Her teacher, Mrs. Stein, called to say that she was running a low-grade fever, not high enough that the office would send her home automatically, but she really didn't look well at all. Mrs. Stein asked Brooke if she wanted her to call home so that I could come and pick her up. Brooke told her teacher that she thought she'd be okay to ride the bus home BECAUSE "my brothers are really sick and if my mom has to come and get me then she'll have to wake them up because it's their naptime right now - I can make it through the rest of the day and ride the bus home."

Thank you Jesus for giving her such a compassionate heart -

may she serve you well with this gift.

Treasures

Clayton has a box of "treasures" that are his absolute favorite toy to play with right now. It is the box of things that most might label "junk." His treasures are the leftover and broken pieces of other toys, McDonald's toys, the free toy at the bottom of the cereal box, random pieces of string, etc. We had such a good time this morning with his box. Lincoln is sick - again - so we're spending the morning at home. Clayton created a game where I could "win" the prizes of his treasure box if I could guess which one he put into his bag (an old make-up bag). He could then win the prize back if he could tell me which letter the prize started with. I think my favorite part was the clues that he gave me to help me guess. "It has four legs and goes WOOF!" I was really struggling with one and he finally says, "Alright mom, it's a lizard, can you just guess the color? Here feel the bag and see if you can guess the color." I think it's funny that of all the games we have to chose from the treasure box wins most often.