Bits & Pieces

Daddy's girl.

We've had quite the couple of weeks around here. I'll start with some cute phrases Miss Mouse has started to use. She's into a new phase of language development, too; I've noticed that she adds "ed" to almost every word now - hurt"ed", buy"ed" - she's trying to figure out the "rules", and I just think it is absolutely awesome that she figures them each out without me correcting her at all! I just repeat things like "oh, yes, we bought that at the store", and I know she'll pick up on it at some point! She picked up on the I/me distinction in the same way. Such fun stuff. Here are some of the recent sayings:

*Upon noticing that Baby Mouse was getting a bit fussy on the floor the other night, Miss Mouse translated, "She's saying 'Help me, Mommy! Please help me, Mommy!'"

*At the grocery store: "Somebody put an onion on the potatoes! That's kinda weird!"

*Ending every pretend phone call on her old phone from my parents: "Yep. You bet!" She picked that one up from Daddy and his frequent cell phone phrases.

*In response to our chiropractor asking her yesterday how she was doing: "I am not doing very good (she'll pick up on the correct use of well/good, too)." She probably wasn't doing well as she fell off the slide in the backyard onto her head and shoulder two weeks ago (we reference this fall often because it happened when she refused to listen to my repeated warnings against climbing the slide the wrong way....we use a lot of "you didn't listen to Mommy and got hurt, so now you should listen, right?"....I'm a stickler on the slide thing because when I was about 8 I saw a little girl fall off and get hurt very, very badly).

In the midst of developing language, she's also learning about an entirely new eating system. We found out last week that she is sensitive to a great many foods: wheat, gluten, rye, eggs, all dairy, casein, whey, and to a lesser extent peanuts, almonds, soy, citrus fruits. We've been dealing with some intenstinal issues for about a year, and we were at a loss as to what else to try. Believe me, you name it, we tried it. We're thankful that we were able to have these tests done and find these sensitivities before fighting with this problem any longer. Hopefully cutting out these foods will make a big difference for her. We're very hopeful that in six months, when she is retested for sensitivities, that her little body will have healed enough that we will be able to tell to what she is truly sensitive. We were told that it is highly unlikely that she is actually sensitive to all these food groups; instead, she is showing sensitivity because she is so inflamed and irritated right now. So, there is some hope that we will "only" have to deal with one or two or even three sensitivities in the long run instead of what we're dealing with right now. I'm learning new recipes and cooking styles, and we are really learning to eat without cheese! That's a real trick for us!

Last Sunday was "Rally Sunday" here, so the flurry of activity has started up again here. Wedding season keeps summers fairly busy, but without the two mid-week worship services and two mid-week Bible studies that Mr. T is involved with, it keeps things a little lighter. This year, they've added a third mid-week worship service; the girls and I are trying hard to adjust to this new schedule. I'm sure it's as hard for Mr. T to be away from his girls (the smaller two at least!) as it is for them to have him away. Seeing the girls for 30 minutes a day from Sunday to Sunday this week is getting pretty rough for all involved. He's hopeful that there will be some break-time on Friday and bit on Saturday, as well, but we're also mindful that he is "on call" for the weekend and has a wedding Friday, one Saturday, and a wild game feed for men on Sunday. Yipes!

I suppose this schedule is particularly hard for me to understand because I was raised on a farm where families, children and wives, were often directly involved in the careers of the fathers/husbands. It's not necessarily that my dad worked fewers hours than Mr. T; it's just that I was able to see him basically whenever I wanted - ride on the tractor, ride on the combine, ride in the truck, tag along for animal chores, take suppers to the field, etc. Growing up, I also saw rural ministry where families of pastors were also very connected to their congregations; I quickly learned things are different in larger congregations. It's not a complaint - things are just very different for pastors' families in a congregation of 10,000 members than in a congregation for 500 - sometimes that is good and sometimes that is not. Thankfully we see the wonderful work that God is doing through Mr. T's ministry and try to remember that when we're separated so much during weeks like this! Miss Mouse is already proud of her Daddy; she and Baby Mouse couldn't ask for a better one.

In the words of Miss Mouse, "There's the little mousey!"



They look good, don't they?!

Who knew a six-foot-two man and a three-foot girl could fit together in a barrel train?! They had a great ride! He tried to get out of it twice, asking Miss Mouse 'would you rather have Mommy?' The repeated, emphatic answer was "Daddy! Not Mommy!" The Mice know what they want at an early age, I guess, and in this case, Miss Mouse got exactly what she wanted - a train ride with Daddy!