Beanbeard

Cora's parents have a weird sense of humor.

The "Sprinkler" is so 1993!

Cora is a natural born choreographer. Here are some of her finer moves.
The "where's my hat?" and the "squatty potty!" (She gets her talent from her father! ☺)

Plants and Parenting

I am famous around my household (among all 4 of us - that is, if you include the dog!) for being the grim reaper of all things green and leafy. I can't resist walking through a garden center and dreaming about how lovely certain plants would look in the window seats in my kitchen. John likes to bring me back to reality by humming the funeral march or telling the plants to "run away while you still can!" It's not that I intend to kill the plant. In fact, I always tend to go through some sort of strange mourning process whenever one is gone beyond possible rescuscitation. As we speak, I have 5 corpses spread out among 2 window seats. I keep them because if I dare get rid of them, it would be an admission that I have failed. Yet, the evidence staring at me as I eat my meals daily reminds me that I served as an inadequate host for these poor, beautiful things. I was inadequate because I chose to rely too much on myself. I, alone, am not sufficient to meet the needs of these plants. They need water, appropriate sunlight, pruning, plant food. My knowledge in these areas is clearly lacking! And, my desire to have them as a thing of beauty in my house is not enough. I must be an active participant in their growth and maturity.

In the same way, my desire to be a good and Godly parent is not enough. I have written before on humility, and I am slowly coming to realize that being responsible for a tiny being will remove any sense of pride I may have in myself or my abilities. Please understand, I do not mean I am shamed, I simply mean humbled. Yes, I can meet her worldly needs. I can feed her, clothe her, bathe her, shelter her, school her. (But, I dare say, with no condemnation or pride intended, that this can be done apart from a relationship with a heavenly Father.) Yet, how do I even attempt to meet her spiritual needs when I myself am shamefully inadequate?

How do I raise a girl to be kind and compassionate when I can be impatient and mean?
How do I raise a girl to care for others when I can be self-centered and selfish?
How do I raise a girl to have no self-righteous pride when I can be haughty and condemning?
How can I possibly raise a girl to overcome these and countless other flaws when she is confronted with them in person daily?

How do I raise a girl who values herself in a world where modesty and purity are not in vogue?
How do I raise a girl who builds others up in a world where it is customary to tear others down?
How do I raise a girl who seeks to know the one, true God in a world where "all roads lead to God?"

I am truly beginning to understand why we are called to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Thankfully, God equips me, even in my inadequacy. James 1:5 says that If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. Amen and amen! I am not on my own; God provides.

I am looking over in the window beside me at the plant that I have had the longest. It is some sort of ficus tree, and as any ficus is, I am told, it is quite persnickety. Lately, I have begun a renewed effort to care for these plants. My efforts have been woefully inadequate, but, blessedly, my God doesn't call for perfection, simply faithful commitment. And, though there have been many days where it wasn't pretty, so to speak, I now can see evidence of life and growth again. There are many green, leafy branches where before there were only dry, brown twigs. I know that God will likewise bless our parenting. Everyday will not be green and leafy, but each day we commit to being Godly parents, each day we commit to seeking wisdom from Godly sources rather than from the world, we can rest in the knowledge that we are giving her the ability to bear fruit.

Sweet Jesus, we lift up to you our little girl.

You have blessed us with a gift we could never deserve.

You have given us the chance to give you glory.

Please make us wise stewards of this gift.

We seek your wisdom.

We seek your blessings.

May our family serve to glorify your name.

Amen.

And, Again I Say Rejoice!

Cora had her 15 month appointment this morning, and I am just rejoicing here! Tiny-might has finally creeped back onto the growth chart. I am not ashamed to say that Dr. Mitchell and I both did a little happy dance when we realized where she was.

Her stats are:

• Weight: 20lbs, 3 oz/15th percentile!! (OMGOODNESS, there are actually babies smaller than her now!!)
• Height: 28 1/2 inches/10th percentile!!
• Head: 46.2 cm/50th percentile. . .giant brains, we hope!!

The 15 month newsletter for parents says that the slowdown in the growth rate "may change the look of your child form a baby with plump 'baby fat' on the arms, legs, and face to a leaner, more muscular toddler." Ha! Dr. Mitchell and I were cheering and high-fiving because little missy finally is a bit of a butterball! (Okay, maybe I exaggerate the level of celebrating, but we were both very happy!) Thank you sweet Jesus, for our little butterball! ☺ Everything developmentally continues to register as normal. Thank you, thank you, Jesus!

The appointment did take a bit of a sharp downturn when poor nurse Kathleen came in to give us the shots. . .4 of them, including the flu shot. Oy! It was not pretty! Gagged up goldfish crackers and water everywhere. But, I am thankful to get the shots and am grateful for the protection they offer! We are in the clear with no more weight checks or extra appointments until 18 months. Yippee and a-woo-hoo!

Cora Messes With Daddy

Cora doesn't have any toys of her own. ☺ She's forced to improvise and find her own fun. ☺

Poor Daddy!

The Most Favorite Game in the World

This is a good game to play before bedtime!

Not So Wordless Wednesday

A few random thoughts from Cora:
Anything can be made into a step. . .especially, if it is something that can get me on top of the coffee table.
I love shoes. . .especially my Yia Yia's shoes!

15 Months. . .Where Everything is Full of Wonder

Cora will be 15 months old next week. While I can't believe how fast the time has gone by, I am just loving every minute of this age. We were at the credit union today and one of the bankers commented on how at this age everything is a source of wonderment. (And, that did include the dead crickets on the floor. . .g-r-o-s-s!) But, it is completely true. Entertainment is unlimited at this age. Yesterday while we grocery shopped, she found shear joy in a can of cream of chicken soup. Today, I kept her entertained with ice cubes so I could finish eating. And, if anyone dares to start a rousing game of peek-a-boo, let's just say, it's on!

She's much more vocal now. She likes to babble non-stop. Her favorite phrase is "ugumbugum" which means just about anything and everything. Here are some of little chatty Cora's new words:

Uh (for up - usually said very loudly while holding her hands high in the air)
bye bye
orish (for orange)
bown (for brown)
da (for dog/Penny)

The best new thing is that she understands and responds to certain phrases. I can ask "Do you want to go to sleepy-town?" She will either shake her head no, or she will start walking to her bedroom. When I ask "Do you want to take a bath?" she will run to the bath tub and stand on her tippy-toes looking for the water. Then, when she has decided she's finished in the tub, she'll wave bye-bye to the water. Previously, waving bye to the water was a very quick process, but now that she has figured out how to work the stopper, it takes a little while to finish saying bye to all of it!!

I guess those are the high points of life with a 15 month old. I have some video to compress, so hopefully, I'll have it up soon!

Un Petit Problème

How do you take a sick day when your job is to "stay at home?"

Turns out, Cora's momma has strep throat. How I got strep throat, I have no idea. I have practically been a hermit this entire week. Thankfully, John was able to come home today because I have been given strict orders to stay away from sweet baby girl. And even more blessedly, she is still taking her antibiotics, so she will not likely get it. The only problem is, I hear her playing with her daddy and talking, and I miss her so! For now, I'll just take comfort in the sounds of the rain (Thank you, Jesus!), and my giant prescription strength ibuprofen!

File Under: Things I Said My Child Would Never Do BEFORE I Had Children

My friend Jessica recently told me that your seating area should be 1 foot away for every 8 inches of tv width. This means that our couch is ridiculously far away from our 31 inch tv! However, I think Cora has found just the right viewing spot. . .
It's too bad that at this distance she has also found the power button as well as the channel buttons. Cause and effect haven't quite sunk in with this little one!

A Labor of Love

And, boy was it laborious!I spent the better part of two days making this sweet little polka dot outfit for my cutie. Let me tell you, it's a good thing that I always buy extra fabric. After the first pair of pants came out looking like they were worn by someone who'd been in the saddle for about 17 hours, I decided to make some bloomers. But, I didn't flip the pattern over when cutting out the second piece of the bloomer. This, I discovered after I had done a lovely finished hem AND sewn the casing for the elastic on the legs. I got to start over on another piece. The good news is that if something happens to these bloomers, I'm halfway done making a new pair!

This was my first time to make a ruffle and elastic waist and leg bands as well as my first time to use a fabric with a pattern that needed to be straight when worn. I think I did pretty good job on it. . .even if it did take me two days! (Thanks, Mema, for all your help! Maybe I can make a blue and yellow outfit for homecoming in a few weeks!)

I Could Just Eat Her Up!

Y'all, I love me some overalls.

How I Know She's Not Faking

(Well, I mean, besides the fever, fussiness, lack of appetite, doctor bill, and prescription!)

Poor lethargic little missy!

And, Not Surprisingly, It Involves Target!

Okay, so for the third day in a row, I have ended up at Target. I'm going to try really hard not to go there tomorrow AND not to blog about it if I do! Otherwise, I will just need to change my background to a big red bull's eye and change the name of the blog to Tiny Target Addiction. But, that would be a lie because we all know my addiction to Target is not tiny!

THIS time, though, I had a good reason to be there. (I mean, besides the cute summer dress, sandals and purse I found yesterday when I didn't have my birthday gift card with me! Though, I find it hard to believe that those things are not a good reason. . .) Anywho, little miss Cora had a really hard time sleeping last night. We chalked it up to the fact that she'd gotten a wee bit addicted to having some precious daddy time when John would rock her to sleep. She would sleep for a short time and then wake up screaming. Not a good sign. Then, she had a fever this morning AND she wouldn't eat. I cannot emphasize enough how worried I get when she doesn't eat. Tiny-Might has a very, shall we say, healthy appetite. So, off to the pediatrician we schlepped, and just as I had suspected, it's an ear infection.

"Which pharmacy do you use?" I am asked.
"Hmm. . .How about Super Target?!"

Do you want to know the very best part? (Besides the fact that I got a whole new outfit including shoes and a purse with no guilt because it was all birthday money, bwahahahaha!!) The generic prescription was $4! How do I love thee, Target? Let me count the ways!

P.S. For anyone who listened to my whine about not being able to find shoes with tread that are size 2, thank you for not making fun of me to my face!! HELLO! Just look in the shoe section, not the baby section! This is #57 on the ways that I love thee, Target!

Wordless Wednesday

We ♥ Chick-Fil-A

There's a new Chick-Fil-A near my house. To be precise, it is near the Super Target that also just recently opened. Honestly, I don't know how I get anything done with those two meccas in such close proximity to me. Okay, okay, in actuality, I don't get anything done, but it's not always because of Chick-Fil-A and Target!

Today we met Daddy for some nuggets at lunch time. Cora can pretty much polish off her own four piece nugget meal. It's most impressive! And, the ESL teacher in me is in love with the toys they give for toddlers. They are little word board books. Cora has quite a collection going. (I mean, not that I would regularly take my toddler to a fast food restaurant!! What kind of mom would do that?! ☺)

This Chick-Fil-A just happens to be especially fabulous because it has a little toddler play area in the playground. (Perhaps all of them do. . .you must forgive me, I'm new to having to pay attention to such things!) So, after lunch, Cora got to explore a little bit. (Please forgive the quality of these photographs. They were taken on my Motorola Razr which was cutting edge technology back in 2006. . .meaning it's worse than obsolete these days!)

Not surprisingly, her favorite thing had nothing to do with the specially designed, developmentally appropriate toddler area. She, of course, preferred to climb up and down the first step! Always on the go, she is!