Faith

14 Months Old!!!

Time goes by so fast. We just can't believe that Faith is already 14 months old! She's changed so much just in the last couple of months. She is now walking...every where. And she's into everything. I have never seen such a perceptive little girl. She misses no speck of dirt nor dust bunny that she might be able to put into her mouth.

She looks so much more like a toddler now, especially when her hair is pulled back into pigtails. She's definitely taller and has slimmed out some. She's almost completely weaned from the bottle. In fact, she's only had one in the last four days (which is impressive, because we only started weaning her off the bottle four days ago). She is so incredibly verbal. She says mama, dada, daddy, nana, and dau (dog). But, she has such a wide variety of sounds, tones, and inflections. I swear that she can say, "There it is!" when we are reading her favorite series of pop-up books. It sounds just like how I say it, but without the words. And my mom swears she can say C.G. which is my mom's grandma nickname (it stands for Cool Grandma).

Faith loves books and boxes right now. They are her two favorite things. She has a basket of books that sit on a shelf in the dinning room. She will go and get a book, bring it to Derek or me, and sit in our laps while we read it to her. She will sit while we read book after book. She pulls up the flaps on the pop-up books, and points to the pictures. She also likes to help turn the pages.

She can crawl into the tub by herself now. Boy does this girl love the water! She hears me running a bath and comes running, trying to climb in fully clothed. She can also climb out of the tub, which I found out last week. I had my back turned for just a minute, getting something out of the linen closet (which is literally 10 steps from the tub), and I turned around and she was sliding across the bathroom floor on her belly like a penguin on ice.

Faith can take her diaper off herself too, which is why she always goes down for a nap or to bed with shorts or pants on. You remember the pee diaper incident a month or so ago? Well, last week we had a poo-diaper incident. It was the most disgusting thing ever! She was down for a nap, and I heard her waking up and playing. So, I go in to get her, and what do I find? Faith, covered in poop. She had taken her diaper off and thrown it onto the floor. Her sheet and crib were coated in yuck. It was all over her legs, arms, hands, and face! And do you know, that little stinker, greeted me with a smile...so I've learned my lesson ;-)

I took some pictures of Faith this morning, playing after breakfast. She is such a ham! Enjoy :-D

(Getting into the cupboards is one of her favorite past times.)

(Helping out around the house...That's my brand new vacuum btw. Derek surprised me with it. I had been eyeing it for quite some time.)

(Sitting at the patio door with her box, watching the doggies laying on the deck.)


(Books and boxes are a girls best friend!)


(I love this picture. It really captures the blur that has become Faith. She's always in motion.)



(Looking for mischief.)



(What a happy girl!!!)

4th of July

We were pretty low key again this year with the 4th. It's hard to believe that last year, Faith was so small that she easily fit inside my little baby sling while we went miniature golfing. Look how big she is sitting on my lap this year!

We went for a bike ride on an old railroad line that had been converted into a biking trail. I think we went about 9 miles round trip. (The picture above was taken by Derek. Faith and I sat on the curb while he loaded the bikes and Faith's trailer back into the car.) Then, we did one of our favorite family activities...a scenic car ride around the Kettle Moraine North Park.

We debated about going to see fireworks in the evening, but decided against it. We'd have to wake Faith up, and we thought they might scare her. So, after Faith went to bed, we just hung out around the house. We got a private fireworks show, as it turned out, from our neighbors a couple of blocks behind us. They were setting off some pretty big fireworks, and we sat on the deck to watch them. All in all, we had a great day celebrating our freedom!

Having fun with painting...

I think these pictures speak for themselves...

P.S. I still have paint spattered on the wall. But, she had so much fun!

Watch This Video...

Homeschooling and Idiots

I have been researching homeschooling off and on for years. Now that we have a little one, the possibility of homeschooling has become more real to us. We've ruled out public school completely. I know that probably sounds funny coming from a teacher who has only been in the public schools, but we just don't like the environment. Public schools are so unfriendly to Christians. Some say that Christian children should be in public schools, because they are then able to witness to nonchristian children. While this may be true in some instances, that reasoning has never settled well with me, and I just recently read something which helped to articulate my thoughts.

They asked if you would send your, lets say, 11 year old off to war. Of course not! No 11 year old is ready to do combat in a war. Then they explained that there is a very real war going on in public schools, a spiritual war. Will our Christian children be expected to take part in this war as adults? You bet. They will be called and demanded by our Lord to be on the front lines. But, just like a child is not ready to go off to a physical war, they are not yet ready to face a spiritual war. They do not yet have the training and foundation built up to hold steady against the onslaught.

So, anyway, today I was doing research on socialization and homeschooled kids since that's the number one argument against homeschooling. I've already heard that from certain family members, followed by, "That's just not right." I'm married to a research scientist and I'm an educator, so we're both big into...research ;-) I came cross a blog that had a post titled, "The Case Against Homeschooling." It's interesting to read the wide variety of opinions on the subject, but to be honest, most of this person's ramblings were idiotic.

Case in point: Reason number 8 was the following:

"Homeschooling is selfish. According to this article in USA Today, students who get homeschooled are increasingly from wealthy and well-educated families. To take these (I’m assuming) high achieving students out of our schools is a disservice to our less fortunate public school kids. Poorer students with less literate parents are more reliant on peer support and motivation, and they greatly benefit from the focus and commitment of their richer and higher achieving classmates."

I mean, come on! Seriously??? One of their arguments is that people who take their high achieving students out of school and homeschool them hurts less fortunate public school kids? So, I should not act on the best interests of MY child, because they are doing the teacher's job in the public school?

This blogger also listed "God hates homeschooling" and "As a teacher, homeschooling kind of pisses me off. (That’s good enough for #5.)" as reasons not to homeschool. So obviously, I'm not putting a lot of stock on this blogger's opinion on homeschooling. But, I do find it interesting, idiotic, and kind of funny.

So, we're trying to decide between private school or private school (one way we look at it, since homeschooling is private). There's a homeschooling co-op in Wisconsin with a chapter near us. There is a homeschooling P.E. class offered at our Y. And there are a host of classes and activities open to our children outside a traditional school setting. We have a little bit of time to decide, but for now, I'm off to do a little more research...

Different Trips to the Same Place

By: Author Unknown ~

Deciding to have a baby is like planning a trip to Australia. You’ve heard it’s a wonderful place; you’ve read many guidebooks and feel certain that you’re ready to go. Everyone you know has traveled there by plane. They say it can be a turbulent flight with occasional rough landings, but you can look forward to being pampered on the trip.

So you go to the airport and ask the ticket agent for a ticket to Australia. All around you, excited people are boarding planes for Australia. It seems there’s no seat for you; you’ll have to wait for the next flight. Impatient, but anticipating a wonderful trip, you wait---and wait---and wait. Flights to Australia continue to come and go. People say silly things like, “Relax. You’ll get on a flight soon.” Other people actually get on the plane and then cancel their trip, to which you cry, “It’s not fair!”

After a long time, the ticket agent tells you, “I’m sorry, we’re not going to be able to get you on a plane to Australia. Perhaps you should think about going by boat.” “By BOAT!” you say. “Going by boat will take a very long time and it costs a great deal of money. I really had my heart set on going by plane.” So you go home and think about not going to Australia at all. You wonder if Australia will be as beautiful if you approach it by sea rather than by air. But you have long dreamed of this wonderful place, and finally you decide to travel by boat.

It is a long trip, many months over many rough seas. No one pampers you. You wonder if you will ever see Australia. Meanwhile, your friends have flown back and forth to Australia two or three more times, marveling about each trip. Then one glorious day, the boat docks in Australia.

It is more exquisite than you ever imagined, and the beauty is magnified by your long days at sea. You have made many wonderful friends during your voyage, and you find yourself comparing stories with others who also traveled by sea rather than by air. People continue to fly to Australia as often as they like, but you are able to travel once, perhaps twice.

Some say things like, “Oh, be glad you didn’t fly. My flight was horrible; traveling by sea is so easy.” You will always wonder what it would have been like to fly to Australia. Still, you know God blessed you with a special appreciation of Australia, and the beauty of Australia is not the way you get there, but in the place itself.