A Good Big Brother

With the new baby, one of the most common question I get is how is Joash handling it. And to be honest, I think he is a pretty awesome big brother. He loves Mataya and he tells her that. He loves to get her to smile or coo at him, and she does it for him all the time. He always keeps an eye out for her and tells me when she spits, or rolls or touches him. And she eats up all of the attention. They are quite the pair.

This is Joash's idea of "getting a few toys for Mataya to play with on her blanket. I think she has enough.

The only differences I have seen in Joash is that he is a bit more moody and little things can turn quickly to tears, especially if he is tired. He doesn't like to go to nursery any more. And he has developed a fear of the dark. But, it is hard to say if these things are due to Mataya entering our life, or just the fact that he is almost three.

So, if anyone has any good tips on how to get a child through his fear of the dark. I am all ears. Right now I am thankful for nightlights and bedroom lights that are on dimmer switches. Otherwise, I don't think anyone would be getting much sleep in this house.

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A Perspective

I have already mentioned my "Word of the Day" screen saver that I have on my laptop that is hooked up to the projector in my room. I am learning that the words go in cycles a bit, so the same word will pop up in several classes during the day. Today's popular word was "entitlement." A fantastic word to share with teenagers who often think they are entitled to a whole lot of stuff. In fact, we as humans often think we are entitled to a whole lot of stuff when really we are fallen people who deserve nothing but death. We so often miss how wonderful and blessed our life really is and we get caught up on the little things. This video sort of puts that in perspective in a rather humorous way. I am by no means promoting this comedian, but if you take what he says to heart, it is so true. We live in an amazing world, created by an amazing God. We really should be happy with the blessing we have been given.

An Afternoon at the Park

I am not a mom who spends a lot of time at parks and playgrounds with her kids. This is for several reasons. 1) I have to drive to any park and we all know packing up everyone in the car takes a bit of extra effort 2) Joash doesn't have a really good relationship with playground equipment yet. In the past, he has never wanted to go and explore a playground structure on his own, he didn't really like to swing and he didn't really like slides. So, that kind of limits the amount of fun one can have at a play ground. Why would I drive somewhere to have my kid pretty much want to just sit on my lap the whole time. We can do that at home. 3) Joash doesn't do well when there are too many unfamiliar kids around. Yeah, he is a bit shy and timid. So, he doesn't really like to go on anything that another kid is using. And if he is on something and another kid comes over, he gets off right away and runs to me. But, a new year has come and I thought we should try out...

American Thanksgiving

One nice thing about being from two different countries is that we can celebrate more holidays. And since there are a few more people from the states here, last night we had our own American Thanksgiving feast. There were six couples and all of the wives and two of the husbands were from the States. So the Americans out numbered the Canadians, which doesn't happen very often. And we had a feast. There was turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green beans, bread, stuffing and three different kinds of pies for dessert and a pumpkin cake. It was wonderful. And the fellowship was great too. The hosts said there was no assigned seating, so the ladies all sat together at one of the table and guys at the other. It was funny how it worked out, but we had great conversations full of laughter. It was a great way to celebrate a holiday. Hopefully we have started our own tradition here.

The Talens' Tales

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