Active Imagination

The mind of a toddler is a wonderful thing. Nathanael's imagination has really taken off lately. It helps that his vocabulary and language skills have improved as well so that we can peek into his mind. Just today he was playing "swords" with Forest--cut swim noodles that they use to sword-fight. It was time for Forest to go back into the study to work so Nathanael came out to play alone. He came to the kitchen to tell Laura that his noodle was his wooden staff. He threw it on the ground and said it was a snake. Then he held it upright and struck the floor with it and said the water turned to blood. Can you guess what our nightly Bible readings have been about lately? We have been in Exodus and reading about the plagues on Egypt.

A couple weeks back he came up to Laura one day and said, "Mommy, I want to give you a blessing." So he found a toy, the lipstick from one of Hannah's toys, and gave it to Laura and said "Here's your blessing." This happened shortly after we had been reading in Genesis where all the patriarchs give blessings on their sons.

He also likes to imagine what the baby is doing inside Mommy's belly. A couple nights ago he said she was dancing inside Laura's belly and singing a song. Often she's just "kicking back," since he often feels her movements when we are sitting close and reading a book.

Hannah is One!

The Lord is truly a Great God! One year ago we were excited that Laura had gone into labor on black Friday while shopping at the mall. We took Nathanael to the Bell's house and checked into the hospital late in the afternoon, around 4 o'clock. After a few hours of laboring and only four pushes, Hannah Elizabeth was born at 10:21 pm at 7lbs, 4oz, and 21.5". We were so excited to have a beautiful baby girl.

Not too long after, Laura thougtht something was wrong with her and called the nurses to come take a look. At 4am they took her away and didn't bring her back to Laura's room. She was not breathing properly and needed to go to an advanced NICU in another hospital. Forest went with her and Laura stayed behind to recover.

God is Sovereign and He had Hannah taken to an excellent children's hospital where she was on a ventilator for only three days and then was moved to a less-intensive NICU for the remainder of a week to finish out a course of antibiotics. Eight days after birth, Hannah came home to meet her brother!

The Lord has been faithful over this last year as Hannah has never had any other breathing problems. She has grown into a wonderful little girl that loves to read books, dance, play with her brother, and get into everything. We do truly have a Great God!

She walks for Daddy

Hannah walked for Daddy again! Once again Mommy wasn't home to see it. Maybe being around Laura all day and getting carried around and being helped to walk makes walking alone less motivating than when Forest is encouraging her to walk. Perhaps it's a Dad thing--to do all the rough and active things for him, and the cute cuddly things for Mom. Either way it's pretty cool that she's very close to walking all by herself. It is neat too that she is only sharing this skill with her Dad, since Mom is the one who usually gets to see all the firsts just because she's home all day with her. However, Hannah did take a couple steps toward Mom today, but only two and then lunged to finish off the distance. Maybe she'll be walking by the time we bring home the new baby this winter.

Lots of new things!

Now that Nathanael is three, he gets to sleep in a "big, big boy bed." He moved into a twin bed and he really likes it. He is taking on more responsibilities as well. He takes care of his dirty laundry, and helps with dishes. He really enjoys feeling his baby sister kick and has been to a couple appointments and gotten to hear her heartbeat too. He's consistently dry overnight, and often wakes to use the potty. His imagination is taking off as well. The supports for the baby tunnel toy became bridges, bumpy roads, and water sprayers all in one morning.



Hannah has taken off! She is such a fast crawler and pulls up with just about anything to stand. Just last week she started standing in the middle of the floor, without assistance. She even took her first steps!! Laura was in class and Forest had a friend over and she took 3 steps toward Forest without any help. She has yet to perform for her mommy though. She has learned a couple of signs, she can say "more" and "milk" with her hands. Often, just before Laura makes lunch or snack, she can be found signing "more" over and over. Sometimes "Mama" and "Dada" are used to refer to the opposite parent. She enjoys saying "hi" and waving bye. Sometimes she seems to be just saying "hi" to the trees. When she plays with her ducks, or sees a duck at a friend's house she'll say "kak, kak" (quack, quack). Her random hugs accompanied by "aaww" and kisses are a sweet treat.



Hannah really enjoys a good song. She'll bop to anything, and her nick name is "Hannah Bopper" In the video below she is dancing to a song from the library about a freight train and the different cargo it carries. Part of the song says "puff, puff, chug, chug, clickety, clack" but it must sound like it ends "clap, clap" because Hannah started clapping in the middle of her dance to the song. Enjoy!

By the way, don't forget to visit our photo site, we've recently uploaded a lot of new pictures.