The Talens' Tales

I have a hard time knowing what Joash would like or can handle in the arts and crafts department. I really like to do arts and crafts and I would love to do some with him. But, I am never really sure where to start. And then I see all of the these great mom on Facebook and the internet who do such amazing crafts with their kids and think, "Yikes! We better do something!" We have tried finger painting, but Joash doesn't like the feel of the paint on his fingers. Then, one of my friends suggested trying a paint with water book. I thought this might work, and it was a good excuse to get some paint brushes. So we tried it out yesterday. He like it, but like most of his activities right now, his attention span is a bit limited. He painted a good part of the first picture, but then he just wanted to look at the different pictures in the book. We will try it again another day and see what happens!

I have been told that it is pretty common for your oldest child to just want to be by you through out the day. This is really true with Joash. He just likes to be in the same room as me most of the time. It can be a bit tricky in the places like the kitchen. He sort of likes to help make things, but we have now found a new pass time for Joash while in he is in the kitchen with me...playing with water. He pulls up the chair and "washes" the dirty dishes in the sink. I turn on the tap just enough so that there is a tiny stream of water coming out. He will do this for a long time, which in nice. It allow me to cook and do the things I need to do. Sure, some water gets spilled and his shirt usually ends up wet, but it all dries up. He will even help wipe up the spilled water, so that is nice. Joash is also demonstrating the beginnings of his "fishy face" that he is learning to make. Hurrah for simple activities that keep him occupied for a long time.

Where can you encounter God? So many people think the only place you can encounter God is at church or with other Christians. Tony Kriz, in his book, Neighbors and Wise Men , challenges this notion to the core. Kriz grew up in what many would consider an ideal setting. A happy Christian home, able to go the school he wanted and then entered foreign mission work after college. And it was there that his world turned upside down.  Kriz did mission work in Albania, a muslin country. There, while his past told him these people were on the wrong team, yet he found people who were more in touch with God and their faith than anyone he knew back home. This caused Kriz to start questioning everything he believed to be true. After being discharged from the mission organization he was working for, Kriz found himself back home and in theology school trying to get back in touch with his faith and his God. But, he quickly found out this wasn’t going to happen in the classroom, but in many...

Now that the Christmas tree is down, we have been getting creative again in our fort building. Joash really enjoys hiding out in the caves and showing them off of Daddy when he comes home from milking.  This one uses the space behind the chair and the couch cushions. Cheese! We have also been hiding out in Romans! We are two weeks into our memorization project and things are going well. I have been enjoying it quite a bit. It is so good to hide these words in your heart. I also really like having a whole week to learn the verses. It doesn't feel like there is a crazy amount of pressure to memorize, but by the end of the week, it is there. By doing a little bit every day, it adds up to a whole lot. One of the surprises of this was that Joash is memorizing little bits as well. I was so blessed to hear him repeat the words, "Holy Scriptures" over and over again while grocery shopping the other day. It just proves how much is soaks in of what we say. Proves ...

Some days, I am honestly surprised by what Joash shows he knows. I don't want to make it out like he is genius or anything. I mean, what do I know. Maybe all two year olds do this. Today he showed that he can recognize the letter "J," which is a good one to start with when your name is Joash. His big thing lately is sorting things by color. He may not be able to actually name the colour he is sorting, but he can tell that those things go together. Orange is his best colour for naming correctly. Usually his first guess is always red. But here are some sorting examples.  All of the blue letters go together on the fridge.  All of the red beads fit nicely in this wagon. (and a nice cheesy smile) And all of the blue beads fit well in the gravity flow wagon. Again, he did all of the sorting by himself. Usually I come into the toy room after he has been playing for while and find different blocks or beads sorted in different ways depending on color and somet...

We had our ultrasound. Actually we had 2 and, no, we did not find out the gender of our baby. We had to have two ultrasounds because during the first one, the baby was turned in a funny position and refused to move around despite drinking some juice and taking three different walks around the  ward. So the technician was unable to get all of the pictures and measurements needed.  So we headed back today. This time the baby was in a great position, but it was so active the technician had a difficult time getting a clear view for all of the pictures she needed. She had to be quick, but in the end she got them all. So here is a glimpse of Baby T #2! In this first one, the baby is looking right at you, but it is covering up part of its face with its hand.  And this one shows pretty much the whole length of the baby. It is basically doing a headstand in my body. It was nice to see the baby twice, but I look forward to meeting it face to face in about 20 weeks.

Well, there is a pregnancy picture for all you wondering what I am looking like. We took this today and I am at 20 weeks. You can do a comparison to my l ast pregnancy  if you like. It is different this second time around. I think I look different then I did last time. I don't really feel big yet at all. And this is the first picture we have taken of the belly growing process. Last time, we started back at 14 weeks . And that is how it goes I guess. Though now that we are half way, I have started to make a mental list of what needs to happen before this baby comes. The biggest thing is to get Joash settled in a "big boy" bed and then moved stuff into the guest room that is going to become the baby's room. Joash seems excited about the idea of a big boy bed, but has shown no interest in potty training at all. And while it would be nice to not have two kids in diapers, I am not going to push him until he is ready. I mean how can you potty train a two year old who r...

Joash likes to do puzzles. And he actually is getting quite good at them. When he does put a piece together correctly, I am quick to heap on the praise. "Give me a high five." " Nice work!" "That's awesome." Sometime he gets stuck on a certain piece and insists that it goes in a place it does not fit... He will jam it it, clap his hands, look at me and self praise. "Awesome!" squeaks out his little voice. I try to direct him to put the piece in the proper spot, but this often leads to stubborn protests and continuous jamming the piece in the spot he thinks it belongs. Sometimes, it leads to tears. I say, "Look Joash, this doesn't make a picture."  While I am happy to have an independent, thinking outside of the box child, when you are doing a puzzle, the piece have to go in the right spot. Otherwise you can't see the whole picture. Watching Joash today putting pieces in the wrong and the right spots today, I gave t...

As Joash grows, he keeps reaching for things. Like light switches. Now that we are in winter and it is dark so early, he is quick to say,"turn lights on." He is also learning he can do some of them himself. In the play room, he can reach the light switch if he stands on tiptoes on his little stool And in the basement, he does this... He uses a tool (rolled up posters that I saved from my classroom) to help reach the light switch. I was so surprised the first day he did this. Blown away by what the mind of a two year old can figure out. I, too, have been finding myself reaching for the last while. I have been challenged and humbled in so many ways be the people around me. Challenged to grow in my relationship with God. Humbled to see others around me who are in the same boat and making a conscience effort to do something about it. So, I too have been looking for ways to do this better. To learn more, to grow, to be the best follower of God, wife and mom I can be. A few...

 Happy New Year everyone! Joash took part in a few New Year's Eve traditions like the party blower (a non-noise making one thankfully) and had his first olie bolen. He did not however take part in the staying up until midnight tradition. He had a sleep over at Opa and Oma's house. We hope that everyone had a wonderful new year. We are certainly looking forward to seeing what this next year holds in store.