Delights to My Heart

The last few days have brought several delights to my heart.

Daniel's language development is taking off. Of course, he's only 18 months, and everything is one or two syllables, but his understanding is growing. It is like watching the sun come up. Life is full of anticipation and wonder!

He has a Thomas the Train calendar in his room that he has been saying "boo" to ever since it turned March. I've been saying "That's a calendar, and this is Gordon (the train)." He says "boo!" Then today, he pointed to Thomas the Train in a book, and a car in another book and exclaimed "boo!" Then it flashed on me: they are all BLUE. He's telling me Gordon is blue! He's right! On top of that, he's been repeating as many sounds as he can: copying Daddy's pronounciation of the bathtub ABCs last night, and today announcing that Mommy is wearing a "cos" (cross necklace).

My most recent delight was at lunchtime. It was just starting to rain so I took Daniel out into the rain. We don't get much precipitation here, so our kids think that thunder, rain and lightning happen at the produce section of the grocery store. I let him feel the rain on his face and hands and we looked up at the sky and I told him "this is rain!" The look of delight and wonder on his face was one I hope I never forget, like "WOW! This is what we've been talking about in my books!" I love sharing these moments with them. I'm so thankful to be home with them! I still remember Hannah discovering "real rain" in Florida when she was almost 2 years old. She danced in the rain until she was sopping wet.

Speaking of Hannah, she has had her own discoveries. She is fascinated with clocks right now. Everywhere we go, she counts the clocks. My mom bought her a book last week that teaches telling time, and she does this book several times a day. It works. She is looking at analog clocks and telling us what time it is! She is about 90% accurate with something on the hour, and about 50% accurate with most other times (ie. 11:20am). Peter is amazed. He says he's relearning telling time with her, because he never really caught on and it is so easy to rely on digital clocks.

The last delight I have is actually and answer to prayer. Hannah has had a breakthrough with potty training and is doing her "brown poopoos" in the potty. I am ecstatic!!! I am just praying that we can make this a habit before the baby is born. - Less than 6 weeks left now!