Milestones

This is Baby T at 6 months. He is a week away from being 7 months old, but that's how it goes when you are the third baby. He is still full of smiles, a great sleeper, and when I pick him up he burrows his head in my shoulder, like he's hunkering down for a long, cozy stay. He is almost crawling and is pretty content to play on the floor if he's with one of his siblings. The boy also has hair: he's had three haircuts already! His other 6-month accomplishment is that he just started sucking his thumb. All three suck their thumbs/fingers but never started this late. I'm all for thumb suckers (although I know there is much debate on this).

His little will is also starting to emerge- arching his back to get out of my arms or let me know he's done nursing and piercing screaming if he is tired of playing are two of his favorite ways of communicating displeasure. It starts young.

Right now we are beginning what we call "church training," where we practice sitting quietly for a set amount of time in order to one day sit as a family in church. My expectations for him are very different from what I expect from Sweet A, who is also still practicing. :) As a new 2 year-old, she has to sit completely quiet, but is allowed to have a small toy. Baby T just needs to be quiet, and if he is too wiggly (as in, major flailing) I make him lay his head down on my chest (another advantage to thumb-sucking...built in comfort). I expect we will be working on this until after his first birthday, but the goal is to be generally ready for church by about 14 months. With the other two we tried to practice several times a week so that when Sunday rolled around it would be a natural thing for them to sit through a church service. It's doesn't seem very reasonable to expect a small child to sit that long once a week when they never have to do it at other times (it also seems like a great way to condition them to despise church). I am convinced that learning to sit quietly is a good discipline for children and maybe it will teach them to one day know how to sit and think real thoughts vs. always having to be entertained. Who knows- maybe they'll come up with the next life changing invention!

On the flip side, I am amazed at how much balance having multiple children brings. When Coop was a baby it seems like we expected so much of him. Every stage was new and exciting and we were eager for him to get to the next thing. He seemed so smart and capable and we just loved it all, as new parents should! It seemed so babyish to dress him in anything less than little khakis and a button down for church- even when he was 9 months old. Now that we have bigger children in contrast to Baby T, we are aware of- and enjoying more- his babyness. It doesn't bother us as much when he cries...we don't expect him to get over it but we pick him up (not all the time, but a lot). :) I love putting him in boyish smocked outfits for church. I don't even mind waking him up for a 10pm feeding- something I resented and tried to get rid of as soon as possible with Coop. Now I am just happy to have a few minutes of one-on-one time with the baby.

So as with all things, we are trying to maintain a delicate balance of enjoying these children for their childishness, and training them to be self-controlled and mature. And most of all, to love the Lord with all their heart, soul, and mind.