Why Our Toddler is Crying

When Caleb was two, he went through a typical toddler phase in which he'd cry and melt down for the dumbest reasons.  It was so bad that I started taking pictures of his meltdowns in order to help myself laugh through them instead of being frustrated all the time.  Then I had the idea to post pictures with the theme "Why Our Toddler is Crying" but never got around to doing it.  Now, however, Kai is going through the Terrible Twos and I thought it was an appropriate time to post some meltdown pictures.

First, a few of Caleb back in the day:

He asked for yogurt...and I gave him yogurt.

He wanted to plug the lights into a different outlet.

Mama wasn't done eating dinner.

And now, a few of Kai:

I said he had to eat all the Lucky Charms, not just the marshmallows.

The snake "won't stay on track."

I put the sausage in the microwave.

In their defense, sometimes toddlers melt down for completely reasonable reasons, like being told it's bedtime when it's still sunny outside.  (Daylight Savings Time is so confusing!)  Or when the stack of books in his hands keeps falling out of his hands because he simply can't hold them all.  (We've all struggled when coming face to face with our own weaknesses at times.)  Life at Two Years Old can be rough.  It's such an independent yet oh-so-still-dependent time of life.

Most recently, Kai broke out crying for a reason that I'll never forget.  We were driving home and he started bawling when we pulled onto our road.  "I don't want to go to the lakehouse!"  I asked him, "Kai, if you could go anywhere in the world right now, where would you go?"  And with tears in his eyes, he choked out, "I want to go to Kenya.  Go on a plane to Kenya."  Because we've been talking about going to Kenya and riding on an airplane to get there, but we haven't done it yet, and gosh darn it, why would you eat candy in front of a kid and not let him have a bite?  He's anxious to go.  So anxious, apparently, that returning home to the lakehouse one night was too much to bear.  Kai wants to go to Kenya!  Soon enough, big guy.  We'll get on that plane in two days and be on our way!

Six Months Young

Our sweet boy is six months old!  The time has flown by and suddenly we have a boy who can almost sit on his own, who has two bottom teeth and chomps on everything he can reach, who rolls over easily, who giggles when tickled, and who loves to smile at anyone and everyone.  Asa is a true delight!

Like I said, he chomps on everything.  All of his toys (and blankets and socks) are usually being chomped on and subsequently coated with drool.  But somehow it's cute!

In honor of turning six months, Asa tried baby food for the first time.  He hasn't shown much interest in food (whereas the other boys would stare at our food longingly by this age), but we figured it was as good a time as any.  We started him off with sweet potatoes.  He was less than thrilled.

After the sweet potatoes we tried bananas, but he was adamantly opposed to participating in our charade.

The poor kid.  Eli said that Asa will lose a lot of chunk if he doesn't like food soon.  I think he has a wide margin in the chunk department, so he should be okay :)

Our Bubba will be six months when we move to Kenya, which should be a great age to begin his world travels.  He won't be overly mobile during the longs flights to get there, his palate hasn't been formed and confined to American cuisine, and he's finally figuring out how to nap longer during the day.  In a few months he'll be a lot more work, but right now he's relatively easy and simply delightful.  It's a great age to take our baby overseas!

Extended Anniversary Celebration

March 4th marked our 10 year anniversary!  Since our life is crazy with preparation for moving to Africa, and since we have an infant who nurses round the clock, we couldn't go on a trip to celebrate (although we daydreamed about the kind of trip we would've taken had we been able to).  Instead, we are celebrating bit by bit and extending the celebration of this milestone.

First, on our actual anniversary, we sent the two older boys to Grandma and Grandpa Clark's house for a sleepover with their cousins while we went to dinner at a lovely place called White Horse Inn.  It's incredibly charming and the food is amazing!

We brought Asa along and he only added to the charm :)  That boy is so easygoing.  And who can resist a baby boy in overalls?

We ate a lot of food, and all of it was amazing.  The real treat: chocolate chip cookies for dessert!  We'd never been to a restaurant that offered a whole plate of chocolate chip cookies, straight from the oven.  It was amazing, not only because they were gooey and yummy and the perfect ending to our anniversary dinner, but because we had chocolate chip cookies at our wedding, served straight from the oven.  I remember the cookies falling apart in my hands because they were so fresh...and then washing them down with a glass of milk...mmm...  Is there any better way to celebrate a wedding?  It sure beats cake!

We returned to the lakehouse after dinner and had time to watch a movie and still get to bed on time, which might sound boring to some, but was divine for us parents of three young kids who do not afford us much sleep!  We currently have 3/3 kids who do NOT sleep through the night, so having just one kid overnight while the other two were at my parents' house was definitely a great way to celebrate!

Next up in our anniversary celebration was one night at a B&B in Port Huron.  Eli's parents were here for a visit last week and stayed with Caleb and Kai while we headed to Adventure Inn B&B with Asa.  It was a lovely place right on Lake Huron and our hosts were amazing.

It was unusually warm and we enjoyed the chance to walk along the water.  It was also nice to have Asa with us.  Having the chance to focus solely on him was a blessing.  It's hard to give him our undivided attention at home, but it's relatively easy on a one-night anniversary getaway with our baby in tow!

The B&B owners recommended a place called Casey's for dinner.  We took the scenic route along the lake and had a fabulous time.  It was warm enough that the restaurant had a couple doors open - a couple garage doors, that is.  One entire wall of the restaurant was comprised of garage doors that could be opened to let the fresh air in, and bocce ball courts were just outside.  Despite our love of bocce ball, we did not indulge in the game.  We did, however, indulge in the delicious pizza.  Mmm...it was simply scrumptious.  By the time our bellies were bursting and our baby was bellowing (it was past his bedtime) we headed back to the B&B with the intent of watching another movie before going to bed on time.  In the end, we decided to skip the movie and simply fall asleep...at 8:30.  Like I said, we currently have 3/3 kids who do NOT sleep through the night, so the chance to curl up and sleep was an anniversary gift to ourselves.

The last bit of our anniversary celebration will take place later this week by getting massages.  Our bodies are tired and achy from chasing and carrying our boys around, particularly by carrying Asa who weighs approximately 23 pounds (and he's not quite six months old!)  It takes a toll on a body and we're choosing to help ourselves out by getting massages to heal our bodies a bit before heading to Kenya.

All that to say, Happy Anniversary to us!  The last ten years have been full of adventures and the next ten years will no doubt be full of the same.

Headed to Kenya!

It's official!  We're headed to Kenya!  We bought our tickets this past week and will be flying on Monday, March 28 - just over three weeks away!  Our boys are excited and have been talking about Kenya all week.

Now that we have tickets, the reality is sinking in.  We're excited to go, we're nervous to go, and we're wondering how we'll get everything done that still needs to get done before departure!  Now that we have tickets, we're also being reminded of why we're doing what we're doing: there is hope and healing in Jesus, and we have the honor of sharing that Good News with the sick and vulnerable in Kenya.  The kingdom of Jesus looks like this: "The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor" (Luke 7:22).  On March 28 we'll have the privilege of officially joining the work God is doing to further build the kingdom in Kenya, and we are delighted!

Nature Centers

There are two nature centers close by and we've been utilizing them for the past few weeks.  The boys were ecstatic the first time we took them to For-Mar Nature Preserve and Arboretum because there were real turtles and fish and snakes and lizards to look at.  There were also lots of stuffed animals around the room, plus pelts!  So it was a magical experience, especially for Caleb, our animal-lover, and we had to drag them out of there when it was time to leave.

After saying goodbye to the animals inside, we took the boys on a short hike through the woods and learned what a suspension bridge is, observed the roots on several knocked-down trees, and watched the water flow under the ice on a stream.  The hike took way longer than it should have (read: Kai stopped at every rock and tree and wouldn't keep up, then Eli had to carry both older boys for half of it because they were tired and a bit crabby by the end), but we're still glad we did it.  We've decided that, for the most part, we're willing to put up with the extra work of getting our kids out into the woods for the sake of getting our kids out into the woods!

Nature centers are marvelous places.  Eli and Caleb have returned to For-Mar a couple times for the Knee-High Naturalist program and learned about owls and animal defenses through stories and crafts.  And this past weekend we ventured to another place, Seven Ponds Nature Center, to learn about early voyagers around the Great Lakes and to explore even more "animal friends" as Caleb calls them.

Asa was really excited to tag along and was dressed in his adorable overalls until having a blowout in his pants right before we left.  At least it happened at home!

My mom and dad joined us for the afternoon program, and Dad volunteered to be dressed up like a voyager.  Doesn't he look great?

Caleb and Kai particularly loved the beaver lodge.  They could crawl inside and pretend to be beavers!  They returned to the lodge many times throughout the afternoon.

Caleb was also a fan of the pelts.  He's fairly good at identifying them and knows more about them than the average 3-year old.  (Have we mentioned that he's an animal-lover?  He's kinda obsessed.)  Kai liked the skulls on the Touch Table and thought every one was a T-Rex skull :)

There's a lovely sitting area in front of several windows with birdfeeders outside, and many birds were flying around, especially woodpeckers.  Kai was attempting to identify which was which.  His favorite?  The tufted titmouse!

And this boy was as happy and adorable as can be!  Asa is honestly such a good baby.  He's flexible and patient with our life right now, so he goes with the flow and catches naps when he can and does really well without much of a daily routine.  We're so thankful for his good nature because it allows us to get out of the house fairly easily and do things like this!  He's currently learning how to sit and loves playing with his toes, so he spent some time on a bench near the windows and did just that: sorta sit and play with his toes.

We've always know that spending time outside and learning about the natural world was going to be important for our family.  We're trying to instill those values into our kids even now, and heading to the nature centers close by is one way to do that.  We've been happy to hear Caleb's repeated requests that we return to Seven Ponds soon!