Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Sign!

It's almost too good to be true, I've been waiting ten months for it, and finally!  Grant is signing!  HOORAY!  He is able to wave 'bye-bye', curling his hand into a wave, and he signs eat, more, all done (I think, it's hard to distinguish the sign from his regular arm flapping).  He also understands milk, mom, dad, I love you, and the wave for 'Hi' - different from the wave for 'good-bye'.

I'm very, very excited to teach him a huge pile of signs.  I'd love to teach him 'please' and 'thank you' and have him signing those before his 1st birthday - especially so that he can say 'thank you' for his birthday presents!  I also want him to learn 'hurt', 'drink', 'banana', 'apple', etc, as soon as he can.

I am so happy that he is signing!  YAY!

Eleven

Wow, I literally feel like it was just a couple days ago I was sitting typing Grant's ten month update.  In fact, I've only done ONE blog entry between that one and this one - oops!  I have been quite busy, with a couple sewing projects, hanging out with good friends, decorating for Christmas - although those excuses still aren't very good, because I've mostly been sitting on my butt at home avoiding going outside.  It's absolutely ridiculous how cold it has been this month.  Yesterday, here in Lethbridge, it was -42 degrees with the wind chill at one point.

On to Grant.

I am THRILLED to say that he has starting signing.  In fact, I am going to give that tidbit a post all it's own, coming up right after this post.

He does the bum scoot to get around, no crawling yet.  He thinks he's bigger than he is - when he's standing, holding on to my or Trevor's hands, he tries to let go with both hands, and then wonders why he starts to fall over.  He's a serious goof.  He's pulled himself up to standing on a stationery object once, in his bedroom.  I was in there with him and he pulled himself up on an open dresser drawer.  He's going to create ALL kinds of havoc when he can walk!  He's not moving along furniture yet though, so I think I get a couple more months of peace... we'll see.

He is very sweet and full of personality.  He will scoot over to the Christmas tree and reach to touch the branches with his little bitty pointer finger.  I don't want him to eat the needles, so I say "Grant, no" and he turns and makes a little throat noise in retort.  If he starts playing with the presents, I say "No, Grant, it's not Christmas" and then he goes back to picking at them.  I have to keep telling him it's not Christmas- he says it should be Christmas NOW.

He is finally getting a third tooth, a right incisor on the top, which might look very silly if it comes in before any other top teeth.  It's coming in very slowly, like his two bottom teeth.  It would be nice if he had more teeth, so that I don't have to keep buying and he doesn't have to keep eating so much mushy baby food.

I am very excited to say that Grant said the closest thing to a real word this past Saturday, the 12th.  We were on our way home from Superstore with Kyle and Lindsay, and Lindsay was feeding Grant some banana.  He looked like he might be done, so I said "All done?" and he said what was clearly "All done."  It was extremely cute, and Lindsay even gasped.  All of us in the van were excited!  Way to go, Grant!

Now, to post about his signing!

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Wonderful

Here's a test to see if you really know me - because if you do, you'll know that more than ten years later, I still know where, dig out, and listen to my NSYNC Christmas album.  In fact, at one point I had two of them, because one slid under my passenger seat and after a few days of missing it one December, I went to King of Trade, where I found an abundance of unwanted NSYNC Christmas albums.  If only I could have given a home to all of them.  (Just kidding).

But really, my message is, this CD brings back more than ten years of memories for me.  I still like the songs, the words, the beat, even the too-high falsetto Justin does on the a cappella 'O Holy Night', and moreso, it reminds of how far I've come.

When I was fifteen I received a great Panasonic portable CD player from my older sister for my birthday, my first one, and I thought it was awesome.  It looked really cool and high-tech, and I used it and used it until it nearly didn't work anymore, and I had a hard time parting with it a couple years ago - but I gave it a good home at my old friend, the King of Trade.  (Life goes in circles, it really does).  A lot of play time on this player was spent listening to the NSYNC Christmas songs.

This particular Christmas I spent in California with my mom's parents.  There was no rush on Christmas Day, just a regular slow, slow waking up to a bright, sunny, summer-like day in Sierra Madre.  Time changes things far too fast - my grandparents are gone and so is their amazing three acres of land in those beautiful hills.

Except when I was sleeping, and even some time when I was sleeping, I was listening to that CD.  Now when I hear those familiar songs, the desert foothills, the waterslide up on the hill that dumped you face first into a concrete driveway, the million-dollar view, the collection of signs on the side of the house warning you about alligators and train crossings, and the comfort of grandparents comes back to me and I picture the little 'guest room' off to the side of the living room where I slept that time and many other visits.

The lyrics of the songs talk about being in love on Christmas, celebrating family traditions, and brings to mind happy, picture perfect couples having a perfectly romantic holiday season, topped off with a sweet New Years kiss and an exciting future waiting.  That's what really reminds me of how far I've come - when I was thirteen, fourteen, fifteen - I dreamed of the time when I would have the life that I have now.

Here it is:

Our third Christmas together as a married couple, a real Christmas tree in the corner that we decorated ourselves.  A little baby that we love so dearly playing at our feet, and presents already under the tree long before Christmas.  A handsome husband who comes home smiling and gets up early on Saturday mornings to make me my favorite kind of pancakes, and days filled with all the regular life things:  groceries and laundry and diapers.  And that's what Christmas is about - how each of us can become much more than we ever could by ourselves, thanks to the supernal gift of His Son, our Elder Brother, who came to earth and showed the way.

Thanks for bringing me all this way, NSYNC.  You can stay in the CD player until January, when I'll have to put you away until next year.

To all of you out there in cyberspace - make your life what you've always dreamed it could be, if you're not there yet.  Life CAN be happy, happier than you think you deserve.  And you don't need Christmas to remind you of that, but you do need CHRIST.  Come unto him, this season, and every season - seek, and you will find.