There is a little elf in my house that keeps checking the dresser drawers for stray edges of clothing that are preventing the drawers from closing. He then pushes on the clothes until they're out of the way and out of sight and closes the drawer properly. He gets visibly irritated when the clothes don't want to cooperate right away. His name is Joshua Allen. It's hilarious because I have no idea how he decided that wasn't acceptable and also because he is constantly emptying his own bottom drawer until all of his clothes are on the floor. Regardless, he's beginning to learn more and more where things belong and he's also beginning to put them there on his own. I know I have the ABA to thank for this. It's only been a few weeks, but I can already see changes in him. And although it's difficult to explain those changes to someone who isn't around him on a daily basis, I have noticed them and my faith has grabbed hold as tight as it can.
These pictures are one example of those changes. Eye contact. Focus. Smiling. All things I would have been hard pressed to get together in one photograph a couple months ago. It's something else I've learned: To take every positive thing and milk it for all it's worth. Don't let cynicism come in and diminish the little things because they aren't the biggest thing. We take every bit of progress we get around here and celebrate it to the fullest. Things I would have taken for granted him learning to do if he had always been typical, I get excited over. I have this feeling like at the end of everything, I will have been given the greatest lesson in gratefulness ever. Which even kinda makes me grateful.
Yes, that IS the same duck in both pictures. Or "Guck" as he has been fondly named by Caleb. He's only learned a couple words so far so he hasn't quite gotten all of his sounds down yet. Guck is Caleb's favorite toy because he has a silky ribbon around his neck that he can rub while he sucks his thumb. There is something about the children in this family and "silkies". Joshua and my niece, Ryleigh are both the same way, only they prefer blankets and Caleb prefers Guck. We almost lost the little guy in the mall the other day and I just knew if we didn't find him I was going to have to go on a hunt for a new one. Thankfully someone had picked him up and set him on the counter in the store we were in, so crisis averted. Of course, your 18 month old dropping his stuffed duck in a store is a lot cuter than your 18 month old causing you to accidentally steal something from a store, which happened the previous trip to the mall. All of this brings me to my point about Caleb...he keeps you on your toes. I think it has something to do with him being close to the ground and having cheetah-like speed. He's also hilarious and keeps me laughing all day. I can only imagine how much more entertaining he'll be once he starts really talking.
Kids have a way of making you take note of where your priorities lie. Just like Joshua is learning where things belong (and don't), I think I am too. Don't misunderstand...My kids have always been at the top of my list, but there are other things that I've let fall to the back burner that I maybe shouldn't have. I'm sure it's understandable...life is full of things that put a demand on our energy and cause us to shift our focus accordingly. But we can't get to where we let everything else go forever. I've had a vision for my children, but I've lost a little bit of the vision for me. Thinking of it spiritually it brings me back to Song of Solomon where it says, "...they made me the keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have not kept." Sometimes we get so busy doing 'stuff', that we don't take care of our own stuff. I take my responsibility as a mom very seriously, so I don't want to minimize what is required of me for my children, but if I'm not moving forward on the path God has specifically for me also, then I'm not going to be doing the best I can for them either.
Anyway, enough rambling. Just a little bit of the everyday to get the blog going again :)
Kids have a way of making you take note of where your priorities lie. Just like Joshua is learning where things belong (and don't), I think I am too. Don't misunderstand...My kids have always been at the top of my list, but there are other things that I've let fall to the back burner that I maybe shouldn't have. I'm sure it's understandable...life is full of things that put a demand on our energy and cause us to shift our focus accordingly. But we can't get to where we let everything else go forever. I've had a vision for my children, but I've lost a little bit of the vision for me. Thinking of it spiritually it brings me back to Song of Solomon where it says, "...they made me the keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have not kept." Sometimes we get so busy doing 'stuff', that we don't take care of our own stuff. I take my responsibility as a mom very seriously, so I don't want to minimize what is required of me for my children, but if I'm not moving forward on the path God has specifically for me also, then I'm not going to be doing the best I can for them either.
Anyway, enough rambling. Just a little bit of the everyday to get the blog going again :)
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