The baby stopped napping recently, or I should say she started fighting sleep. Too much to see and do, I guess! Andrei has always been the bedtime person and I've never really had the knack, aka patience/stamina. I'll have to look back through my notes from David but up until now we pretty much would give a pacifier to Sophia and she would go to sleep. And then for nighttime Andrei would rock her a bit. But now for naps she waits for someone to actually put her to sleep.
A couple of times Andrei wasn't home and she just kept crying. Finally I got out the baby carrier, which I had intended to use more, but then found out it can be hard on a weak core. But I think the most damage would be from doing a lot of chores while wearing the baby. Just walking around a bit wearing the baby (I've heard up until an hour) is okay, until your core muscles get weak and you start to compensate. So I decided to get it out and have it handy for emergencies. One of those came about the other day when Andrei was out, so I put her in the carrier and paced a little bit. Then finally I remembered that Sophia likes music...as opposed to David, who doesn't really respond as well. There was even a period when I would put Mozart on and prop her up on a pillow with her pacifier, and she'd drop off.
Anyway, the song that came to me goes like this:
"Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us...that we may be called the sons of God!"
(if you know it, you're humming it now)
That song was just what was needed to calm both of us.
The next one that came to my mind was: "How deep the Father's love for us, how vast beyond all measure..."
As I was singing it, I realized it isn't one of my favorites, rather melodramatic! But at that moment it fit the theme of the hour. I was thinking about how I needed the Father's love for ME, and also wanted to model it and receive it for my kids.
Later that same day, David was watching yet another cartoon on Netflix. It was actually a new one that had cropped up, involving a naughty baby chick named Chiro. David watches a lot of action movies and cartoons, yet he found THIS mild one scary! Sometimes he would press pause or hide. I observed what was making him nervous, and it turned out to be the moments when the chick's parents were about to discover his wrongdoing! Of course the screenwriters did try to build suspense, but I felt so guilty that David was scared about discipline! I hope I'm not TOO scary when I'm mad.
In the evening, I meditated on this issue of parenting and thought about how I have a lot to learn.
"If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you." -James 1:5
That's funny (about David and the Chick cartoon). My thought would be that it doesn't have to do with you, but with a God-given sense of guilt. Sounds like you could have a great conversation with him about how much better it feels to confess than to dread the moment when your badness will be found out! (Unless of course you really ARE harsh! Why do I doubt that?)
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you are right. Adam and Eve certainly knew they needed to hide. But, I don't want him to be afraid of coming to me, especially if he did something by accident!
DeleteMY memory of the post office in Russia was as a place with a computer "lab" where we could use the internet for almost nothing. Moreover (the best part) around noon a nice lady would bring in a tray of warm piroshki that we could buy and eat right there. Now THAT is an upgrade from the US post office!
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