Surrenduring to Sleep
Everyone says that we have such a good baby. Do not let the boy decieve you. Joshua is an extrovert and a very social baby. He loves people when he is out in public and puts on a great public face. When guests come over, nine times out of ten he is asleep or very compliant and wide eyed so as to solicit comments such as "He's so cute!" or "What big eyes he has!". He eats it up. Joshua loves all the attention you heap on him. But, like all babies, he has his whiny crying side that doesn't want to go to sleep. Mommy & Dadddy say, "It's time to sleep Joshua" and Joshua's facial expression and flailing body movements say, "It's playtime!" But we love him, even if it is often a fight to get him to go down for a nap or to sleep at night. He struggles. He cries. He thrashes and moans and sighs. He wriggles his little arms out the swaddling cloth like a Baby Houdini. But when all is said and done, he finally goes down (to sleep, that is). As you can see in the picture, Joshua eventually puts his hands up and surrenders, submitting to the parental wisdom that sleep really is better than crying and thrashing about all night.
Joshua's Baptism
This past Sunday, we had Joshua baptized. It was wonderful to see Joshua formally recognized as a part of the covenant community of God's people at Grace Presbyterian Church. I know that Joshua will remember none of it, but he was as content as could be as I held him in my arms and Pastor Ron asked us the appropriate questions and sprinkled his little forehead. God has given his covenant promises to his people, both adults and children (Acts 2:39), and as Joshua grows up, he will be reminded that the waters of baptism signify God's promise to wash away the sins of all who trust in God, confessing Christ to be their Lord and Savior.
Like Father, Like Son
On the left is Karl at around 3 months old. On the right is Joshua at almost 3 months old. Do we look alike? Is father like son? Leave a comment and let us know what you think.
Attempting a Routine
We are trying to get Joshua on a routine in the evening for our sanity and his well-being: feeding, bath, reading and soft singing, and off to bed. We are trying to wean him off his binkie (that's a pacifier, in adult english) and it is working OK so far. It takes him a while to go down and sometimes involves quite a bit of screaming but once he goes down, he is really down - for anywhere between 6-9 hours. Gotta love that. If Sun puts him down, she'll read some Scripture to him and sing a song of her own invention ("Goodnight Mommy, Goodnight Daddy, Goodnight World"), Jesus loves the Little Children, and whatever else she can think of. If I put him down, I'll sing the goodnight mommy song with some of my own lyrics and then some hymns. I have "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" memorized as well as four of five verses of "All Creatures of our God and King." I only have the first two verses of "Be Thou my Vision" down but I hope to do the rest later. It can be really difficult to maintain a soothing, calm, soft tone when you can't hear your singing over the screaming. Oh well - try, try again.
Sleeping Through the Night
A common question that everyone seems to ask is, "Is he sleeping through the night yet?". Our thankful answer is, "Yes, for the most part." The baby gurus say that most babies start sleeping through at about 6-8 weeks or over 12 pounds. Joshua is 2.5 months now and was 12 lbs 8 ozs as of a couple weeks ago. Joshua tends to be a really good baby although he does have his screaming fits and bouts of "Bedtime? What's that? It's Playtime!!" On average though, he is sleeping at least six hours per night, on occasion eight hours. Gotta love those eight hour nights. It is almost like life is back to normal again.... almost. Sun really appreciates the long sleeps that baby has because she may have to only get up once to feed him. If he goes down at 11 pm, then we could be good to go until anywhere between five and seven in the morning. Not so shabby, eh?
Baby Ninja
Most children progress from holding their head up, to pushing themselves up, to crawling, to walking, to running, etc. However, our Joshua is quite amazing and has skipped all of these phases and decided to go directly to flying through the air. It could be attributed to his incredible intelligence or maybe just too many kung fu movies before bedtime, but we marveled at our little baby as he leapt across the bed like a mini ninja. You may not believe such tales, but the photographic evidence should sufficiently prove our claims.