September began with Uncle Josh Goodwin and Aunt Sarah getting married--here's Canaan (the flower girl) with her cousin Courtney (also a flower girl...more like a "flower pre-teen").
Canaan kept busy trying to 1.) keep the 2 pound bow on her head, 2.) keep Courtney from picking her up, 3.) walk in a straight line down the aisle,
and 4.) learn how to dance with her Daddy!
I learned an important lesson that day: hold Canaan as much as I can, kiss her often, take lots of pictures and videos, and enjoy every last second of her little-ness because there will be a day when she's dancing with her Daddy on her wedding day!
And I don't want to think, "If only I..." I want to be thinking, "Thank the Lord I..."
Canaan also enjoyed spending time with her second-cousin, Austin Woodger: Tim's cousin's three year old son. Talk about busy--Austin took it to a whole new level.
Thus, the "action shot" where they're planning on where to run next--the hotel lobby, up the elevator, or under the buffet?
And speaking of weddings: Canaan has been busy hosting Andre at her house for "juice and finger snacks."
Here, the kids are watching a movie while munching on snacks. Note that Canaan is eating out of Andre's snack cup, while Andre is snacking out of Canaan's cup. Sharing is a big deal--however, we do draw the line at sharing kisses--that's why "movie dates" are supervised, rated G, and random hand checks are preformed (just to be sure there's no hanky panky, "Oh, that's your hand? I thought that was my sippy cup"...right.)
In the following video, you'll see Canaan busy drinking from Andre's cup while he's eating from her snack cup. We try not to share germs, but another lesson I've learned as a parent: I do what I can to keep Canaan healthy--don't put that in your mouth, where did that crayon go, don't eat that cracker that's been shoved in your car seat for a week, don't drink after other kids, etc.--but I've learned that 100% of adults have gotten sick as kids and have made it out alive. I have to realize that I can't be a perfect mom because God is a perfect Dad and Adam and Eve still disobeyed him. So, how in the world can I assume if I do everything just right Canaan will never get sick, or mess up, or make a bad choice?? That's what grace, mercy, forgiveness, and unconditional love are for!
And this is what soap's for: letting Canaan eat chocolate and really enjoy it.
And in this video, you can see that Baby Signs really do work: when asked if Canaan wants more chocolate, she doesn't hesitate to use the "more" sign--and quickly. She also tries to tell me how wonderful chocolate is and why hasn't she eaten more of it until now? We've been busy teaching her how to communicate with Baby Signs in the hopes that we can by-pass the terrible twos (after all, if she can communicate, she won't get frustrated, which means no tantrums). We'll let you know how that turns out--does stomping your feet, throwing things across the room, aggressively squishing the play-dough through her fingers when it doesn't roll into a ball correctly, and squealing so loudly and at a decibel that only dogs and whales can hear when I tell her we're "all done with ice cream", does that mean that we're on our way to by-passing that terrible-twos stage? That's a lesson we've yet to learn.
Canaan's also been busy cheering for the Dawgs this season (to no avail, apparently.) Here, she's intently watching the game with her Aunt Cassie's almost-step-kids, Paige and Nathan.
Canaan is wishing the defense would get busy doing their job and hold the line.
And finally, September ended with the ultimate in busy-ness. I found Canaan butt-naked in her crib after a nap.
When Canaan is "not tired" because she's been "so busy" (or so she thinks), she'll entertain herself by throwing everything out of the crib and commentating on each item and where it landed.
So one day, before church, I take off her dress to clean it (she was busy squishing strawberries on her nice white dress at breakfast) and lay her down for a nap.
Thirty minutes later, after I hear many crashes and lots of chatter and laughing, I arrive in her room to find everything on the floor, including, to my surprise, her diaper. So, afraid of finding poop, I peek over the side of her crib, thankfully finding only a puddle of pee. Canaan points to it and laughs, her naked booty shaking with her.
Lesson learned: the joy of parenting vastly outweighs the messes I clean up, the frustration of washing the fourth set of sheets in one week, the headache I get when I've been drinking de-caf coffee for three days even though I thought it was caffeinated and I kept wondering why I was still so tired in the morning and then I think, "Maybe its cause Canaan was up three times last night with her teething (again)." But despite all the "other things" that come with parenting, when your baby says, "MAMA" and laughs and smiles and asks for "more" when she sees you, it's all worth it.
