On the cusp of change

Now that I am beginning to feel better, it is time for another blog post. It has been evident to me today that we are on the cusp of change as a family in many different ways. Yeah, the baby is coming soon. That'll be a major change for us all of course, but it is a familiar upheaval to Mommy and Daddy at least. Child number one seems to be much calmer about that one, also (maybe because she's starting to enjoy her time with her sister? Who knows?) It will be a shock for child number two. Hopefully not too bad, since she seems to like babies in general.

Beyond the obvious new family addition coming, I've noticed some other things too. Child number one has been a little more in touch with the world around her than usual. She has quite an imagination and has lots of fun in her own little world in her head. So, this is noteworthy. She still comes up with funny statements that we love to giggle at. Tonight, Daddy mentioned having "shoo'd" one of the cats out of our bedroom. She seemed to mistake the verb for shoot and asked him if he used a cannon. Daddy also tossed a knit hat at her the other day and she said "Daddy, you hit my brow." She has an amazing vocabulary for a four year old. In her homeschooling, we have only one more day of work on her phonics lessons and then we can change gears a little. We will shift to concentrating on having lots of reading time and some writing practice. That will help her get a better grasp of the phonics that she has been learning. I also want to get more Bible reading as a daily thing. That will help when the baby comes, too, if most of her schoolwork is reading so just about any adult available can do it with her, and Mommy is freed up to take care of herself and the baby for a while.

Child number two has been changing before our eyes too. She is picking up language fast now. She can talk in sentences (although short ones). She understands so much of what we say and responds in words we didn't know she knew yet. When she was playing a game with her uncle (involving her being spun in a box) and her uncle was done, she happily stated "Daddy's turn!" The other day she saw one of our cats lie down on the floor and she said "Cat sleepy." On top of that, she has started telling us when she wants a potty time. Half the time it is a delaying tactic on her part, but the other half she needs a diaper change and it is obvious that it is recent. That gives me hope that she won't be as hard to potty train as her sister. She has started to count, stack legos and blocks as high as she can reach, and has shown some interest in drawing. We saw that kind of behavior with her older sister, but until recently this one hadn't been very interested. She has also been wanting to be read to more. This is noteworthy, because up until now she has been our active energizer bunny who couldn't stop long enough to get through even a short book. She is also turning into quite the jokester. She has learned how to make funny faces for entertainment, she calls just about any fun activity a game, and tonight she spent about 10 minutes in the car saying "AAOOOOGAHH!!" and then giggling over and over.

So, it is looking like things are happening on just about all fronts with the kids. Mommy and Daddy are pretty much the same (except Daddy just mentioned that Mommy is going to be losing a bunch of weight any day now). Though somehow, I get the feeling that our family is about to go through some substantial changes in the near future (family dynamics, maturity levels, intellectual abilities, attention spans) so that although the faces are the same, the experience as a family will be different.