Maybe it's just a stage, maybe it's our little girl...but someone LOVES music! Loves dancing!
When the music comes on she can't stop her feet from moving, she can't stop her hands from clapping, and there is usually this high pitch squeal of delight that exudes from her being. If she really lets herself go you can find her spinning in circles as the music plays...it's freedom...
As I find myself watching her with so much delight and I see the pure joy she gets from dancing and from the music I wonder why I don't see people breaking out in Hyvee or Hobby Lobby in spins or clapping. Okay maybe not Hobby Lobby because their music is creepy. But multiple times when we are out Kadence hears the music and NEEDS to get her groove on. I started reflecting on this and wondering why I don't see adults spinning and clapping through stores. At what point did we lose our freedom to let loose and leave the cares of the world behind.
Did someone tell us to stop dancing and act proper? Did someone tell us our behavior wasn't acceptable? Did we look around and see other people not dancing and so decide on our own it's not okay? Who decided it wasn't okay? Why don't we live in a world of freedom where when music comes on we can drop everything we are doing and dance? When music comes on and our kids can't stop it from letting loose, can we drop everything we are doing and clap along?
When did I myself stop dancing? I mean I never had "rhythm"-let's be honest but did I react to music and movement the same way Miss K does? When was it not cool anymore? Does it take people surrounding you to make that filter go away and just let loose? I think about High School dances, college formals...all of those are dancing in groups (minus middle school- that was a lot of boys on one wall and girls on the other). But when did I myself stop dancing? Now I will tell you when Andy is not home and I can crank up the music and belt it at the top of my lungs and do some serious dancing with the broom. But when in public or outside of the comfort of my car you get the "polished" Kylie. The Kylie that is "appropriate (well to a degree) in public. But why?
I want to be that mom! I want to be the mom that for as long as Kadence will be moved by music and experience that freedom that I would encourage her to "let it go" and belt it out, stomp those feet, and let the world be her creative masterpiece. I want her to know that she is brave, beautiful, and that music is powerful and should be danced to. I want her to appreciate and be passionate about "feeling" the music and I want her to be surrounded in a home, family, and a culture that's not afraid to dance, let go, and clap along.
If I sit in theses thoughts for any time at all it becomes a very spiritual wrestling. Kadence in her purest form is being child-like. She is showing a side of herself that I think makes Jesus smile the largest smile. She is experiencing a freedom that in my heart I feel is the freedom that Christ gives to us. I feel like she dances in the way that Jesus dances when He sees creation. I think she "gets" it way better than my adult brain can ever comprehend. So for me and my family we will clap along to every song that comes on, we will worship together, we will dance together, we will live in this freedom together and we will encourage others to dance with us! Let's create a culture for our kids where they can experience that freedom of dance and the love for rhythm and music for the duration of their life! I pray for Kadence that she never stops feeling the freedom or joy in the way that she does when one of her favorite songs comes on and she just wants to spin...because that is a beautiful way to live and experience life. I am so glad Miss K teaches me things on the way that I should live. She is a great gift!
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Sunday, July 20, 2014
I blinked my eyes and she became a toddler...
I haven't posted in awhile...my excuse is that I have been living life at a pace I am not a fan of! But with a desire to rise above what is expected of me and to go against what is EASY for me I am practicing delegation, asking for help, and saying no. So, all of that equals YOU getting a new blog post. As random and all over the place that it will prove to be :)
Miss Kadence is amazing! I love her! She is growing and learning every single day!
I stand amazed at how much that little brain of hers can comprehend.
This last week we "studied" the color blue. People always ask me how I do all of our stuff that we do but doing stuff with Kadence doesn't feel like something I have to make time for. We were going to play anyway, we were going to read books anyway, we were going to make art, sing songs, take baths, and hang out anyway...none of that is different in my day to day life. The only thing that changed this week is when we colored we only brought out the color blue. When we took baths we used blue food coloring. We sorted our toys and only put the blue toys upstairs and left everything else downstairs. We went to the library and checked out books that were blue. After a week of "Blue Immersion" I have a little girl that when you ask her what color this is she says "BLUE" and if you ask her to go get her blue bear or her blue ball she will go and pick up just that.
Sometimes I sit back and I am amazed at the things that she is processing and understanding. It then becomes this huge God thing for me. Because I think wow God made us so intricately that somewhere along the line this 1 1/2 year old turned into a little human who thinks that she is very much a functioning adult.
Now, not all of her new found "grown-up-ness" is welcomed. She has very much figured out how to say no, yes, and all done. We have had to put some boundaries on what to enforce. Things that are questions of preference, she can have an opinion (i.e. would you like to wear your pink shoes? Feel free to say no to that, at the end of the day I don't even care if you wear shoes. ) Other things- commands- like take my hand. You MAY NOT say no to. She's still learning this concept and meltdowns happen but she'll get it figured out, I have no doubt. We have meltdowns when we don't get our way. She is cute, but she is human and not getting your way is a hard break sometimes. Luckily for her, she has a mommy and a daddy that can handle her meltdowns and aren't really even phased by them. So, throw yourself down...scream no and as soon as you are ready to pull yourself together we are ready and willing to go on with the next thing in the day. She'll get there and until then a lot of grace for a little girl who is learning the ways of the land and a lot of patience for a mommy and daddy who are learning a lot about God and our own ways of throwing fits through watching Miss K grow.
Mommy's Bragging Moments-
Large Motor-
She can dance, throw, stomp her feet, clap her hands, run, and walk
Fine Motor-
She can color (although sometimes she would rather eat the crayons), pick up things with her pincer grip, she can start threading things on straws like pasta or big beads
Language Development-
She repeats EVERYTHING, she can sing a long with lots of songs- recognizes them when they come on the radio. She has a very large vocab of basic words, names, and such. She loves animal sounds and often picks up her big book and over and over says "Bible" (it's so cute!)
Her favorite things- She loves her dolly and stuffed animals. She loves her soft blankets. She loves to rearrange things and organize things. She is a huge fan of any household routines. She likes to help empty the dishwasher, sweep, put things in the trash, pick out clothes, put clothes away (I am actually hoping she picks this stuff up quickly so she can do them independently) but till then is is super fun to see her desire to "help". She still loves elmo, the park, swimming, riding the bike with dad, reading books, going to target, getting messy, and eating!
Having a toddler keeps us on our toes but I can honestly say Andy and I have enjoyed every stage that Kadence has been in. From binge watching netflix on maternity leave, to her first summer last year, to all of the firsts this year, to figuring out who we are as actual "parents" in setting boundaries and figuring out how God desires us to shape our daughter.
This stage is fun and we go to bed exhausted at the end of the day because we have used as much joy and fun as one day can handle!
My words of advice to mommies with babies is don't blink...because before you know it...they become a toddler and you look around and question how that all happened so fast :)
sidenote: I have found more of prayer life question when is the next ewing baby going to be coming into the mix. I try figuring out if it will be a boy, a girl, a sibling set? What will our life look like then? Will it come from the states, internationally, private, through the system? There are so many options. But wondering if this is God's way of "preparing" me to stop the birth control aka sending in our application for our next. Fun thing with adoption is that it could still be 1, 2, 6, or 8 years down the line before this desire gets fulfilled so we'll see what God has instore. Would it be too much to ask for our birth mom to get pregnant again? lol. She just makes such great babies!!!
Well that's enough random thoughts from me :)
Miss Kadence is amazing! I love her! She is growing and learning every single day!
I stand amazed at how much that little brain of hers can comprehend.
This last week we "studied" the color blue. People always ask me how I do all of our stuff that we do but doing stuff with Kadence doesn't feel like something I have to make time for. We were going to play anyway, we were going to read books anyway, we were going to make art, sing songs, take baths, and hang out anyway...none of that is different in my day to day life. The only thing that changed this week is when we colored we only brought out the color blue. When we took baths we used blue food coloring. We sorted our toys and only put the blue toys upstairs and left everything else downstairs. We went to the library and checked out books that were blue. After a week of "Blue Immersion" I have a little girl that when you ask her what color this is she says "BLUE" and if you ask her to go get her blue bear or her blue ball she will go and pick up just that.
Sometimes I sit back and I am amazed at the things that she is processing and understanding. It then becomes this huge God thing for me. Because I think wow God made us so intricately that somewhere along the line this 1 1/2 year old turned into a little human who thinks that she is very much a functioning adult.
Now, not all of her new found "grown-up-ness" is welcomed. She has very much figured out how to say no, yes, and all done. We have had to put some boundaries on what to enforce. Things that are questions of preference, she can have an opinion (i.e. would you like to wear your pink shoes? Feel free to say no to that, at the end of the day I don't even care if you wear shoes. ) Other things- commands- like take my hand. You MAY NOT say no to. She's still learning this concept and meltdowns happen but she'll get it figured out, I have no doubt. We have meltdowns when we don't get our way. She is cute, but she is human and not getting your way is a hard break sometimes. Luckily for her, she has a mommy and a daddy that can handle her meltdowns and aren't really even phased by them. So, throw yourself down...scream no and as soon as you are ready to pull yourself together we are ready and willing to go on with the next thing in the day. She'll get there and until then a lot of grace for a little girl who is learning the ways of the land and a lot of patience for a mommy and daddy who are learning a lot about God and our own ways of throwing fits through watching Miss K grow.
Mommy's Bragging Moments-
Large Motor-
She can dance, throw, stomp her feet, clap her hands, run, and walk
Fine Motor-
She can color (although sometimes she would rather eat the crayons), pick up things with her pincer grip, she can start threading things on straws like pasta or big beads
Language Development-
She repeats EVERYTHING, she can sing a long with lots of songs- recognizes them when they come on the radio. She has a very large vocab of basic words, names, and such. She loves animal sounds and often picks up her big book and over and over says "Bible" (it's so cute!)
Her favorite things- She loves her dolly and stuffed animals. She loves her soft blankets. She loves to rearrange things and organize things. She is a huge fan of any household routines. She likes to help empty the dishwasher, sweep, put things in the trash, pick out clothes, put clothes away (I am actually hoping she picks this stuff up quickly so she can do them independently) but till then is is super fun to see her desire to "help". She still loves elmo, the park, swimming, riding the bike with dad, reading books, going to target, getting messy, and eating!
Having a toddler keeps us on our toes but I can honestly say Andy and I have enjoyed every stage that Kadence has been in. From binge watching netflix on maternity leave, to her first summer last year, to all of the firsts this year, to figuring out who we are as actual "parents" in setting boundaries and figuring out how God desires us to shape our daughter.
This stage is fun and we go to bed exhausted at the end of the day because we have used as much joy and fun as one day can handle!
My words of advice to mommies with babies is don't blink...because before you know it...they become a toddler and you look around and question how that all happened so fast :)
sidenote: I have found more of prayer life question when is the next ewing baby going to be coming into the mix. I try figuring out if it will be a boy, a girl, a sibling set? What will our life look like then? Will it come from the states, internationally, private, through the system? There are so many options. But wondering if this is God's way of "preparing" me to stop the birth control aka sending in our application for our next. Fun thing with adoption is that it could still be 1, 2, 6, or 8 years down the line before this desire gets fulfilled so we'll see what God has instore. Would it be too much to ask for our birth mom to get pregnant again? lol. She just makes such great babies!!!
Well that's enough random thoughts from me :)
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