Busy week

There is one week that all mothers in Tyler seem to live for. It is the big event that draws together so many different women and connects moms who would otherwise have nothing or very little in common. This is a very social town (sometimes in a bad way, sometimes not), but I believe this to be one of the top-rated social events going on here. Excitement has been brewing for months, and it's the most common discussion topic in any playgroup or circle of moms. I could feel the tension of anticipation everywhere this week, as the event got closer and closer. I had decided in my mind not to participate in the emotional contagion that accompanied this event, convinced that the women's enthusiasm was probably unmerited or at least excessive. The whole thing seemed a little borderline occult-ish, to me. Just kidding about that last part, but it is a BIG deal here. It's this huge, three-day children's consignment sale that sells brand-name kids' clothing, toys, items, maternity clothes, furniture, and home-decorative items. EVERYONE goes. No joke. If you sell items or volunteer to work at the sale, you get to attend a special preview sale, and I went on Wednesday night to that. I wasn't kidding about it being a social event. We met up, shopped, and hung out afterwards at IHOP until midnight. It was all anyone had been talking about for weeks, so I was preparing myself all this week to expect that it's probably not as great or fun as anyone says. I went into self-protective mode, wanting to guard against disappointment. Oh my goodness. You wouldn't believe how fun it was. I way underestimated how much good stuff I'd find. And yes, I spent too much money on stuff I didn't really need right now. At least now I know to budget for it every year, like so many friends here do. So, yep....I've been sucked in. My new obsession is this consignment sale (check it out - www.cccsale.com), and I'm already getting excited for the next one in September. Even if you live a few hours away, you should consider coming to this sale. You could stay with me! It's SO great. I found some clothes and shoes for Jonah, although maybe not quite as much as I'd hoped for in the size he's wearing right now. Also, I wasn't looking for baby items, but I found things that I know I'd want to have for a next baby whenever I do get pregnant again (Lord-willing), so I got a Moses basket that's so cute... and a Baby Bjorn for $15. Yes, that's right. I said $15!!! It's in perfect shape. I was thrilled. The Moses basket was my biggest splurge there (still way cheaper than in the stores), I hesitated since it's not really a necessity. My friend Kate was supposed to tell me that I didn't need it. She failed me. I went home with it. Joel didn't really understand that purchase.

Jonah got a new DVD and just one toy, because I've been trying to figure out how to get rid of some of the toys in our playroom. Somehow there's just too much. So I didn't let myself linger in the toy area for long, but I couldn't pass up this one toy - the Elefun game, where the elephant blows butterflies out of his trunk and you catch them with your net. Jonah was so excited about it, although he has yet to catch any of them in his net. He just gets really excited, almost deliriously so, yelling out the colors of the butterflies that shoot out. And then says "more! more!" each time we're done.

Speaking of my little man.....he's still so funny and getting even funnier by the day. One of his favorite mealtime choices is cheese-toast. Well, I made him some toast with strawberry jelly on it one day for breakfast, and he got really happy and said, "red cheese-toast!" I tried to explain that it didn't have cheese on it, but he had made up his mind that that's what he'd call it, and he's said it so many times since. His most common statement over the last three or four weeks has been the single-word "nnn-nere" which translated, means, "in there," (but also refers to "out there," "over there," and "through there") and has all of a sudden been replaced by multi-word phrases and entire sentences. I still can't believe how fast their speech develops once you hit a certain point! One morning this week, we got him out of bed and brought him into our bed for a few minutes before we got up for the day, and he said very clearly, "Daddy in there, on the bed" as we got into bed. As of this week, he rarely leaves out a part of speech. Prepositions and all. It's just funny, because my mom has talked a lot about how teaching kindergarten, she saw that every kid seemed to have a certain natural aptitude in an area of learning, either more skilled in language or in the math & sciences. So we've really seen this week where Jonah is probably going to be a language-boy. Some of the biggest enjoyment I have as a parent (and it was my favorite part of nannying too) is the process of trying to teach my child and watching him learn new things and especially getting to have little discoveries of the natural abilities and gifts God has given him. I think it will be most gratifying, exhilarating even, to see how he grows up to use those skills to influence his world and what God has created him to do. He's just seemed a lot older to me this week. I feel like he's not a baby anymore, and as fun as it is in a lot of ways, my heart is a little sad, realizing how fast he's changing and growing up. Just today, we had a big-boy moment that almost brought me to tears. We were in the car and Jonah was letting me know his nose was running, but since I was driving, I just handed him a Kleenex, and he wiped his own nose. HE WIPED HIS OWN NOSE! I thought, "he's not supposed to be doing that!" It seemed like such a grown-up thing to do. I think this mom is going to have a break-down the week of his 2-year birthday. I'll start praying now about having peace with this growing-up thing!

Tomorrow, we will be spending most of the day with family. My great-aunt and great-uncle from Gig Harbor, WA will be in town, and so aunts, uncle, and cousins are coming too, and we are all having lunch over at my mom's. I'm excited!