My Little Man

Luke is such a joy and a delight to have around the house. Of course, I love my little girl very much, and could write another post completely about my little lady (check back in the next few days) but Luke is making himself quite indispensable as Mommy's right-hand man! He is learning to do so much and he is very particular about things around the house. He likes to say, "We yike mess? No! We yike keen [clean]!" When playing in his room, if he notices that the corner of his rug has gotten folded under, he stops and, with an expression of shock and alarm, says, "Oh! I nee fit rud!" and then fixes it before going along with his playing. I can show him once where something belongs and he knows and can be trusted to put things away in their proper place ever after. He can even be counted on to correct those who make mistakes!

He is also becoming such a little man in his speech and expressions. He picks up on so many things that I say, and I really have to laugh at hearing my own words coming out of his mouth (granted with a somewhat humorous pronunciation)! Recently, Emma had a bad diaper rash and every diaper change was a trial for her. I spent most diaper changes crooning and comforting, while trying to be as gentle as possible. Luke would always appear at my elbow, repeating, "I know, HAW-nee." Today, when Emma fell over backwards, he ran to her and kissed her head, saying reassuringly, "Be OK, Emma. Be OK."

We are even beginning to have theological discussions. In Bible Time we have been learning about Joseph. Recently, we talked about how Joseph's brothers took his coat and, after covering it in goat's blood, presented it to their father with the story that Joseph had been killed by wild animals. We talked about how those brothers lied to their father and that this was not right for them to do, that God commands us always to tell the truth. Later, that day we talked about Luke telling the truth when he had a poopie diaper and Mommy asked him about it. The next morning at Bible Time, as we went through the story of Joseph, Luke explained that Joseph had poo and Joseph told the truth. Hmm ... I guess we're going to have to be more careful to distinguish between the actual Biblical story and the personal application of it!

In conclusion, I just have to say that I don't write all of these things to prove that MY little boy is amazing or outstanding. I just write them to revel in the joy of experiencing the life and growth of a little person, to share the blessings of being able to raise the children given to us by God.

It's A Girl!

We had our ultrasound on Friday. Our baby girl looks beautiful! The technician said she weighs about 10 oz. at this point and could fit in the palm of your hand. Her profile seems to resemble her sister.

Luke went with us to the ultrasound. I spent some time Friday morning talking to him about what to expect. I showed him the photos from his ultrasound so that he wouldn't be so surprised at the black and white images he saw on the screen. The whole way to the doctor's office, he kept saying "I want baby boy! I want baby boy!"

During the ultrasound, when we found out that it was a girl, the technician said, "Now you will have a sister!" I said, "Another sister." She asked Luke how many sisters he had and he said, "One ... two ... three ..."

It took most of the drive home to help Luke see clearly that we are going to have a baby girl, not a boy. When we got home, he was accurately able to report the news to my mom (who had stayed with Emma). But as we sat down to lunch, I asked Luke what we should name the baby girl, and he promptly responded, "Baby Boy!"

Back in the Saddle!

Well, after a very long absence from posting, I hope to be back at it again. In December, we dropped our cable Internet in favor of dial-up, simply because of the cost. We took it as long as we could, but we have now given in and returned to Comcast! Hopefully I will now be able to post more often as posting on dial up was nothing short of a hassle. Here is a quick update on what we have been up to during our blog silence:

Matt has been thoroughly enjoying his job at McKesson Medical Surgical where he is an Inventory Analyst. He has also taken over responsibilities as Treasurer at our church - a lot of work, but a great learning experience. He continues to serve as a Deacon at church as well. At home, Daddy is most famous for the homemade biscuits he makes for us every Saturday morning!

Luke turned two in June. He is growing quickly physically and mentally and is into all kinds of new things. He loves to sing and can recite practically the entire version of "My Milk" from our Silly Songs CD. He has also been learning the Children's Catechism, memorizing Bible verses and learning hymns and Bible stories. If you ask Luke what Sarah said when the three men told Abraham the couple was going to have a baby boy, he will respond, "Ha Ha! I too old have baby boy!"

Emma just had her first birthday in August. She is much slower in her physical development than her brother was, but that's OK with us. She has just recently started crawling regularly (for the past couple of months she has been moblie but has preferred the army cralw). Just within the last couple of weeks she has also started pulling up and standing, holding on to furniture with one hand (Luke was doing this at six months). She is also signing "Please" and "Thank You" and a self-invented sign for "telephone" that involves her holding her fist up to her ear.

Baby number 3 is due at the end of January/early February. Just after Labor Day we have an appointment for another ultrasound at which point we should be able to discover the sex of the baby. Luke says he wants a "baby boy." We don't know if this has anything to do with wanting a brother, or if he is just used to talking about Abraham and Sarah having a baby boy. When I have a doctor appointment, he says, "Mama go doctor? Check new baby?"

Mothering and wifing are my full time occupations at this point in life, and I couldn't be happier. I am so thankful to be able to be home with my little dears during the day. I am still fairly tired at this point in the pregnancy, though at 17 weeks, I keep hoping that any day now things will improve. I also continue to run my on-line Latin program for homeschooling families. And this year, in addition, I will be offering the program as a supplemental review resource in cooperation with a local Classical Christian private school. I am excited about this new way to expand the reach of the program.

So, there you have it - a slice in the life of the Sutherland family. Check back for updates. I hope to post at least once a week, though I suspect posts will more likely be driven by interesting events to report, rather than a regular time frame of checking in. Blessings all!

Two "Wrong" Right Answers

We have been working with Luke on the Children’s Catechism (a series of questions and answers to teach Bible doctrine).  The first question is “Who made you?” and the answer is “God.”  The second question is “What else did God make?” and the answer is “All things.”  We have also been impressing on Luke throughout the day specific things that God made (i.e. “God made Mommy, Daddy and Emma,” “God made the sun and the moon,” etc.)  A few days ago, I asked Luke if he would like some of Nan’s raisin bread to eat (Matt’s mom bakes a loaf of raisin bread for Luke fairly often).  While he was eating, I said, “Luke, who made this raisin bread for you?”  And of course, he answered, “God!”

 

On a slightly less “spiritual” note, later the same day I was showing Luke a puppet I had been given as a gift.  I led a workshop for student teachers from Randolph-Macon (my alma mater) and as a thank you give they gave me a puppet of a Yellow Jacket (our mascot).  I asked Luke, “What does a bee say?”  He responded “buh” (as he has learned from his talking phonics toys).  I didn’t correct him!

Blind Obedience

The children and I had to run an errand today.  When we got back to the house, I got Luke out of his car seat first so that he could run around in the yard a bit while I got Emma out.  After I – with Emma on my hip – headed to the house, I called Luke to come to me.  He immediately began running – but not towards me.  I was surprised to see this.  Yes, I have seen my son disobey before.  Usually when I call him, he runs right to me.  But there are times when he dawdles or just sort of wanders in my direction.  This was the first time, however, that I have seen him running in a different direction.  He wasn’t really running away from me, either.  He was just kind of running parallel to the house, rather than towards it.  Surprise and not sure what to make of it, I called him again.  He changed directions slightly and kept running, though still not quite towards me.  Then I realized the problem.  The sun was shining over the house from behind.  He didn’t want to look into the sunlight and so was doing the best he could to come in my general direction by sound, rather than sight!  Once I realized his dilemma, all that was left was to chuckle at how earnestly he was trying to come to Mommy, though he couldn’t really figure out where she was!

Roll Call

Well, this morning, Emma woke up early. Usually if she wakes up early, I just let her go on back to sleep, and she does. However, this morning, she just kept crying. Then Luke woke up (they share a room) and started calling "Mama? Mama?" I went in to get them up and found that Emma had rolled herself over! Yea Emma! Of course, I guess we'll never know what was the cause and what was the effect. Did she get fussy and roll over, or did she roll over and get fussy!

Sorry, no pictures. When you go in to get your little girl and she is mad and hungry, it just seems too cruel to get the camera!

Matt's Last Day at Costco

Today was Daddy’s last day to work at Costco!  Everyone was so kind to him.  They had a kind of on-going party all day in the pharmacy.  I was able to take the children there to join the fun for a little while, and Matt’s Mom, Aunt and Grandmother met us there, too!  (Friday is their usual Costco day anyway.)  Click on the picture above to see the rest of the photos.

FINALLY!!

Well, it seems we have FINALLY found a soultion to our photo problems! In stead of having to try uploading photos via Blogger's Photo Upload wizard (and waiting and waiting and hoping it works) we now have almost all of our photos on-line at Phanfare.com. Not only can I link to the pictures I have posted there, but I can actually provide you with a link to see the other photos in the album (no membership to any site required)! Plus, from the website, you can download (for FREE) the full images! This should make everyone a lot happier! (Note: The photo above is Emma modeling the new outfit her Uncle Ryan picked out for her as a Baptism gift! Thanks, Uncle Ryan! Click here to see the other photos in this album ... and you can get to all of our other albums from this page as well!)

P.S. I am going to go back to some older posts and add in the pictures. Scroll down to see them if you wish.

P.P.S. We are really LOVING Phanfare. If you decide you are interested in trying it out, I can send you an e-mail with an invitation to a free 30 day trial and a coupon for $7 off should you decide to join. Click here to e-mail me and ask for it.

OK ... Walking! ... ??

Well, as I just mentioned in the post that I published this morning (and actually wrote last night) Luke has not really started walking yet. The trouble is, that we don't really know when to say that he is officially walking. Way back when he took his first steps, I posted about that. Now he is making gradual progress and taking more steps at once. We can set him down and he will walk from one of us to the other.

Before today, his record had been about 3-4 steps at a time. Then, this afternoon, he took 9 steps from me to Ryan at my parents' house. Just now as the three of us came into the office, I set him down and he took 13 steps into the room before plopping onto his bottom. So, he's walking! ... kind of. He still really prefers crawling, and he still really doesn't initiate walking, but he'll do it if you aim him and clap when he's done. So, is Luke walking? Who knows. You be the judge. I guess all we can do is to continue to update you on the progress!

P.S. Just to let you know, we are having some very frustrating problems uploading pictures. At first we only had difficulty with Snapfish, but now we are having trouble uploading pictures to Blogger.com as well. In fact, I have almost half a dozen posts that are saved as drafts waiting for pictures. But I think I am going to just start publishing them without the pictures so that at least you can have the information, even if there are no photos. Hopefully at some point, I can go back and add in the pictures. (Note: This means that some "new" posts are going to appear before some that are already up. Be sure to scroll down and look for them coming soon.)

Thirteen Months

Yes, one year AND one month old. This is how many months old I have been telling people Luke will be when his sister is born, and now he his that old. My how time flies. So, here is a brief update on what Luke is up to in his last few days or weeks as an only child.

Communication:

• He just started doing "please" (in sign language) this week. We have tried to introduce it before and it just lead to a lot of sign confusion. This week, however, I only had to show him once, and he had it!
• He has been signing "Thank You" but just in the last couple of weeks, we think he has actually been saying "Thank You" except it sounds like "dee-do" or something similar. He says and signs "Thank You" at the same time (which makes sense as this is what we have been doing all along to teach him the sign).
• We are also about 97% sure that Luke has picked up a few other words. He says them with some regularity in a way that we can be reasonably sure we know what he is talking about, but the pronunciation is sometimes such a stretch that it's hard to be absolutely certain. Also, I'm not sure of the rules for pronunciation respelling in baby language, so you'll have to make your best guess!
  Daddy ("da-da") - this is the most likely (he even calls for Matt "DAAAAH-DA" from another room)
  bear ("baaaah") - the large stuffed bear in his room
  baby ("bah-bah') - himself in the mirror or any other baby
  I did it ("de DE de") - I first noticed him saying this after I said it to him following an accomplishment (like turning on or off the light switch or closing a door or drawer)
  gentle ("deh-dow") - we just noticed this one this morning (he was petting Charley and I was saying "be gentle" and I realized that he was repeating after me!)
• He has been using all kinds of his own made-up ways to communicate with us as well. For example, he has been pointing to things or places. Today, he was using the "more" sign to ask me to do something for him. I couldn't tell what he wanted. Then he pointed to the ground right by where he was sitting. It was like he was saying, "Come over here and I'll show you what I mean." I did and he did.
• It seems that Luke is quickly learning to understand more and more of what we say to him. The other day, he was standing by my desk chair in the office. I gave him a coupon to hold. A few minutes later, I needed it back. He didn't have it in his hand. I asked him, "Where is the paper?" His eyes opened wide, he looked all around, then he spotted it on the floor, picked it up and gave it to me!
• He also knows lots of commands, like "stay in this room with Mommy," "close/open the door/drawer," "give it to Mommy," "don't smush your food," etc/

Transportation

• I was really sure that when I wrote the post for thirteen months, I would be able to say that he is walking. He almost is ... but not quite. More and more recently, we have had random episodes of two or three steps in a row, but it is clear to see that he still vastly prefers crawling.
• Luke has gotten so good a crawling and very quick. He can get around almost anywhere he wants to go. And if he is standing, he's pretty quick at cruising around holding on to the furniture, too. He can move all the way around the sofa (even the back, which really has nothing to hold on to) balancing with just one hand and moving his feet side-to-side pretty efficiently.

Eating

• Except for nuts and honey, Luke is allowed to eat pretty much anything now. His only real limitation is the consistency of a food (i.e. apples are too tough for him to handle, though he loves applesauce).
• He seems to have a pretty wide ranging appetite (from sardines to hot dogs to tomatoes and much in between) though I have heard that the scope of his preferences may narrow as we enter the toddler years.
• He has started using a spoon to feed himself occasionally. Matt's Mom gave him this really great spoon and fork set, each utensil having a big easy-to-grip handle. I let him try feeding himself applesauce one day, and he did pretty well. His biggest challenge is not getting the sauce onto the spoon or getting the spoon into his mouth with the sauce still on it (as I thought it would be) but getting to all of the applesauce that is in the deepest part of the spoon. Interesting. I guess that whole maneuver that we take for granted comes with practice!

Other

• Luke had his first bubble bath about a week ago. At first, he was a little puzzled by the bubbles and couldn't figure out how to get them off of his hands. Then, he was puzzled by the fact that he couldn't see any of his toys in the water. Finally, though, he adjusted to the new environment and was comfortable crawling around in the water - with little patches of bubble fuzz on his hiney!