Akiane, Child Prodigy

Has anyone heard of this girl? Strange thing happened to me yesterday at Barnes and Noble... I approached a woman working in the kids section to find out if there was a "religious" section for the kids - I was looking for a book for Morgan, and there just are not very many christian book stores here, except for our church, which I never have time to enjoy. Anyway, she began asking me if I knew about this amazing little girl who began drawing at age four when she either had a vision or God showed something to her. She was apparently born to atheistic parents, which she lead to Christ at age 4! I am interested in reading her book, but just typed in her name in google to see what it was all about. She has poetry, paintings and drawings, and her book for sale. Her paintings are amazing. But as fasinating as it was too hear about her in the moment, later I realized that I may have missed my opportunity to share with her the good news and how Christ has worked in my life. She said she had a boyfriend who is very into God and that he is turning her onto Christ and she is very interested in learning more. I did make some comments about the holy spirit as I chatted with her. I also informed her that God can reach us anywhere - even a 4 year old born to non-believing parents. That God reveals himself to everyone at some point in our lives.... Well, anyway, I just found it all very interesting and wondered too if in some way God is divinely directing my steps in all this...

Here is her website if you are interested in checking her out: http://www.akiane.com

We Did It, We Did It, We Did It - Hooray!!!

Well, amazingly taking the diapers away has been a success....at least with #1! The rest of the afternoon she went potty twice on the big girl chair! I was so proud of her that even when I bribed her with candy, she went right in, sat down and tinkled! I can't believe it, she actually CAN do it! Left to her own choices, she would be content to continue going in her diaper. So, I didn't know what to do today as we had daycare. I certainly did not want to send her in big girl underpants and she have accidents all day, but on the other hand I didn't want to put her back in a diaper after I told her we were not wearing diapers anymore. So I let Morgan choose and she insisted on wearing big girl underpants. We went into daycare, and I politely explained that I told Morgan yesterday that mommy was done with diapers and that since she has used the big girl potty with no accidents. So I left her with a change of clothes and said good luck! Kyle and I had been anticipating picking her up all day to see what would transpire. We really didn't know what to expect. I knew she could do it and with the other kids there going, I figured it would be just more encouragement. On the other hand, in a different enviroment, playing with the other kids, getting distracted, I wondered if she would forget and relapse. So initially we were downhearted when we went in to see her in the change of pants that I had sent with her. But once we talked with her teacher she said Morgan went on the potty all day, except when she laid down for a nap, which I forgot to tell her to put a diaper back on her. Sometime between sleeping and standing up after the nap she had an accident. So her teacher changed her, and Morgan wanted her big girl underpants back on! That is a good sign! I think that is it, she is pretty much trained for #1, except for nights. She has even gone once since we have been home and when I took her diaper off her when we got home it was dry! She has not gone #2 yet, so I am anxious to find out how that will work....stay tuned for more updates.....

Is Creamer Bad?

This morning after Morgan and I got up, we went downstairs and while I was making coffee I took some of those little portable creamers out (because we need to go grocery shopping) and poured it into my coffee cup as I awaited my coffee to finish. Of course Morgan wants to do everything mommy does and says "what's that mommy?" I told her it was cream for mommy's coffee, of which she responded "Morgan needs some." So I indulged her by asking "would you like to try a little bit of mommy's cream." Naturally she said "yes." So I gave her a little taste, to which she replied "mmm, mommy, that's good." So I asked her if she would like some in her milk this morning and she said "yes." She thought this was really something neat, because she said she was drinking coffee like mommy! I can't imagine that creamer would be bad for her, if anything it's got more calcium. Of course, maybe not the portable ones!

Does this ever happen to you?

Morgan is such a joy and blessing in our lives. I couldn't possibly imagine my life without her. I can't imagine waking up every morning not going into her room to see how her night went. The first picture is the way I saw her Tuesday morning. The second picture is her in our bed Wednesday night....again. Periodically I wake up to Morgan in strange place or sleeping in weird positions, this by far is the craziest I have ever seen! On the other side of the sleep pattern, is at night when we try to get her to go to bed, and for the most part it is pretty easy, but from time to time we head up to bed only to be startled by Morgan in our bed! So, I am wondering if others of you have as interesting sleeping patterns from your children as Morgan does? Oh, by the way, the flashlight, yeah that's her reward for going to bed since she is terrified of the dark and will sleep with every light on in her room - yes, even the flashlight shinning in her eyes, she has still managed to fall asleep!!!

Diaper Crutch?

Is there such a thing as a diaper being a crutch and aiding in holding a child back from potty training? I am thinking that that is where we might be right now. I gotta say I had it today! Morgan and I came home after MOPS this morning and as I was checking some email, she came up to me to let me know she had poopy pants. So like any good mom, I took her up to clean up the mess, only to open one of the all-time most disgusting diapers since she has entered our lives! I had it! So right then and there she and I had a talk about using the big girl potty from now on. I told her I was done putting diapers on her and done cleaning up the mess.

So my question is when is enough, enough? She fully well understands the whole potty concept and has on occasion used it. She knows when she goes in her diaper and every stuffed thing under our roof has used the potty. She gets it! So when does a diaper become a crutch? Is this the point you pull the plug and say no more? I did end up putting big girl underpants on her this afternoon and kept remindering her to let me know if she needed to use the potty - and guess what? She did do it! So going forward do I no longer allow a diaper at home and while she is awake? I need advice, if ya gotta it post it!

Ski Trip #1, Snowbird/Alta Utah

Well, we have been home now for about a week since our 8 day trip out to Snowbird, UT. Besides all the wonderful skiing there is, and we had, the most amazing thing to me so far in my short, somewhat senic, sheltered life are the mountains. What a creation they are! My mouth just drops in awesome wonder to the creation God has made. To me, if anyone has not pondered the meaning of life and if there is a God, I don't know how you could look at something so magnificent, so powerful and not begin. When I look at the mountains it is as if I can hear the seraphim shouting from the heavens "holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, the whole earth is full of his glory." The moutains scream creation all over and they are flooded in the glory of God. Just look at this picture! However it does no justice at all to being there surronded by them.

Thankfully, I would say that we had a successful trip. No one came back with any broken bones and I am so thankful for that and the fact that God has provided Kyle and I with something we can enjoy together. So, picture this a hotel room with 2 beds, a small love seat, and a bathroom. Yeah, all four of us slept there for 8 nights! Leslie (my sister) and I bunked together, and Brandon (Kyle's brother) and Kyle bunked together. For the most part we all got along really pretty well. There were a few spats, but nothing that couldn't be worked out with some sleep. While, Kyle can be a snorer (sp?), I had no idea the amount of noise a nose can produce - and it wasn't Kyle. One night I found myself not being able to fall asleep because of the penetrating sound of Brandon's nose! So, I headed off to the bathroom floor with a blanket, comforter, 3 towels and 4 pillows. The first time I awoke was to my sister needing to use the bathroom. While my head was at the opposite end of the toliet, it seems I awoke nearly on top of it and was confused to exactly where the door was! Eventually after some good feelin' around and assurance to my sister that I was coming, I did find the door. The next time I awoke was Christmas morning!

The other most amusing thing that happened was Brandon's gracefully shot down the hill off a jump, landing perfectly, continuing on down the hill to finally arrive in some fresh powder! Picture this: Brandon and Kyle were at the top of the hill and while les and I were skiing with them on a green run, we waited halfway down the run for them to catch up. So in our leisure time we decided to take a picture with her camera phone. We were standing at the edge of a little ledge smiling at her phone as Brandon, wosh down the hill ski tips pointed straight forward with no sign of making turns or slowing down. As he picked up speed nearing us, he went of the ledge we were at and shot up into the air to some 5o feet later land the jump and continue like a maniac down the hill picking up more speed all while les and I are screaming "sit down, sit down, sit down." So you gotta understand something, this was only Brandons 3 time skiing ever, so what we were witnessing was terrifing in the moment. Evidently, Brandon found a soft landing spot and vered (again sp?) off into some powder. After thinking it all through, he realized how scary it was, but we all got a good laugh in the end reliving the moment!

Both Kyle and Brandon became pretty decent skiers by the end of the trip. Kyle wound up chasing Les and I down some black diamond runs, some that we wanted to wring leslie's neck for, but others not too bad. Brandon upgraded to some blue runs. We also enjoyed celebrating Kyle's birthday the day before Christmas. All in all we had a wonderful time, and even the drill sargent (which is what they were calling me) was tired by the 8th day of straight skiing! Thank you Leslie and Brandon for accompaning us and making our time more enjoyable!!!

Bauer Christmas

Here are pictures of the Bauer side Christmas before we left for UT. Morgan passed out all the presents to everyone there. As she passed them out she would say Happy Birthday! Poor kid is so confused with having mom's birthday in November and Celebrating Kyle's birthday before we left and then Christmas! Well, I take that back, she is correct it was afterall Jesus's birth! How confusing! We finally got her to say Merry Christmas as she delivered presents. She even said Feliz Navidad a couple times! It was so cute. Her most beloved gift this year was her Dora backpack, which she never takes off and has even slept in once! As you can see she also received an Illini outfit as well....looks great with the backpack on!!!

A special visitor stopped by bearing a gift - Santa Claus! Needless to say she was shocked and almost scared out of her wits!!! We enjoyed our time there together. When it was time for us to leave, she didn't seem to even care that we were leaving her behind with the dogs that night!