This weekend we had a lot of much needed interaction with friends. We started on Saturday with some friends of mine that I know through the BOMB mountain bike ministry that I'm involved with. Shawn and Nina were heading up to Bar Harbor with family for a vacation and needed a place to spend the night. We had a great evening with them all and Riley got to play with their daughters who are five and one.
Riley had a co-ed bath with Aspen (the one year old) in the afternoon, and then assumed that it was OK to help her eat her dinner later on. She didn't seem to mind:
On an absolutely terrifying note, Riley fell down the stairs Saturday afternoon. There's more to the story that I'm not going to go into, and yes Mama and Daddy had put the gates in place properly. Amazingly he was unhurt. He was obviously quite scared (Mom & Dad were pretty freaked too!) but he calmed down pretty quickly and was back to normal in no time.
The fall brought up once again the Whole New World of Terrors that I have a a parent. It scares me senseless that something beyond my control could happen that would harm my boy. I'm normally not one to live out painful and terrifying scenarios in my head (I leave that to my wife...) but with Riley it's different. My love for him is so incredibly powerful and I have such a strong desire to protect him from harm. I also feel horribly inadequate to do so. Parenthood has made me cling to my God so much more than before. Where I am inadequate God is all powerful. I am constantly needing to put my son in His hands knowing that God loves Riley far more than I'll ever be capable of...and He loves Riley's Mama and Daddy that much too. Learning to trust can be difficult sometimes. Fortunately I have a patient teacher...
The house cleared out on Sunday morning. We spent Sunday afternoon with a bunch of friends from church. We were delivering a meal to Chris and Jenny who are new parents (for the second time) and also lending them our Bumbo seat again. When I first got it out Riley saw the Bumbo (which has been in the basement for a while now) and wanted to sit in it. We got a picture and thought it would be fun to contrast pictures from four and 14 months:
Four months old at Acadia:
Our 14 month old:
We had a great afternoon, but Riley had a better one. He got to play with a couple of ladies that are kind of close to his age. Hannah chased him around the house:
Frankie didn't seem too sure about Riley though:
I'm really surprised at how much Riley does play with other kids his age. I would have expected a little bit of interaction here and there, but they actually play together. It's really fun. We got such a kick out of watching Hannah chasing him around. Kid's laughter is such a happy thing. Makes me want to have another kid and soon. Hopefully that's a blessing that God will give us.
We love our boy!
Jonathan
4 comments:
That running from Hannah picture is adorable!!
I know what you mean about watching your kid fall down the stairs. Lucy did that once when she was 2, and Penny did that a few weeks ago. Fortunately kids are extremely tough in some respects; Lucy was up and rocking out at Kindermusik a mere 45 minutes after falling down the stairs. But there's something nightmarish when it happens -- you see the kid trip, and from that moment you know s/he's going the whole way down but you can't get there fast enough to stop it. It's kind of every parent's nightmare in a single action.
Also, from my experience, two kids are much better than one. Whether three are just as much better than two is unknown; can somebody call up the Floreys and ask?
I don't even want to know if any more than two is better...two is more than enough to keep me hopping!
Besides, Debbie Florey has energy reserves that are pretty much unheard of in this world, wouldn't you say??
hannah had a great time chasing riley...and i'm sure she would love to do it again any time you want to visit! we'll be praying about another kid, and soon! kids are such blessings!
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