Here is one of the awesome pictures my cousin in law of Quinntography took of Simeon in the fall. We ended up choosing a different one for our Christmas card. They were all so good it was hard to choose. I'm glad I have a family member who is a photographer, actually we have a few! Otherwise the child would probably not have any professional pictures made.
I can't believe how fast time flies! In a way I'm so very glad to be out of the the first trimester, let me tell y'all it was no fun. I had it easy my first pregnancy, I wasn't that sick and I was working from home so I could nap when I was tired, oh yeah and no delightful energetic person wearing me out all day. I know it was a hard time for Simeon too, and I'm honestly glad it's behind me. A wise lady from church, whose children are grown, told me that a "strong willed child" will teach you humility. Now I'm not a fan of negatively labeling children, but Simeon hasn't been the most easy going from the first. Now his personality is really fun, he is talking more and really expressive with his hand motions. I'm sure any child will teach one humility, but being pregnant and really not feeling well with a spirited, enthusiastic, non-napping 2 year old all day long taught me that I'm not nearly as gentle and patient as I'd like to be.
Since then I'm sleeping better and my tummy is better, so we are getting out more which always helps Simeon's behavior. He is so much fun these days. He wants to play all day long, when Daniel is here he is less interested in sitting with Momma and reading. I love that he becoming more and more a Daddy's boy too. Since my pregnancy especially he is kinda clingy to Momma, wanting me to put on his shoes, take him to potty, etc. But if there is fun going on with Daddy he's not as concerned with me. He is saying almost anything, it's not super clear but I understand him most of the time. He comes up with some very interesting thoughts in addition to giving me a running commentary of what is going on in his head. He loves Pooh bear and gets to watch a bit on youtube especially while I shower. It is addictive and I hate we started it, but I was losing my mind and for a length of time he is occupied. He also loves the stories and we read them often. He loves Richard Scary and we have a few books that I'm honestly wishing would disappear. I'm glad my boy loves books and I'm super excited when he'll let me read one of the Christmas books we have or something else beside Richard Scary! He seems to be grasping the concept of manners, and gentle touches to people and Barley, not that we don't have issues with these things from time to time but he knows what is expected of him.
We have had some mega tantrums thankfully at home that seem mostly brought on by exhaustion. I have tried different ways of handling them and depending on the situation different strategies are required. But after talking to our moms, and getting input from my AP group I feel more confident in the way I'm handling them and pray that they will pass. I hate to dwell on this because it is such of a small part of the day, but the negative events even short lived seem to overpower the positive ones.
Ok on to the title, the preparations I was referring to were for the Birth of our Lord. We haven't done too many for our baby yet. We will find out next week pink or blue! I managed to get our Christmas tree up this year and Barley and Simeon are having great fun undecorating it. I do love the excitement Simeon has had about Christmas. He gets so excited about the Christmas decorations at our house and around town. One thing I have tried to do this year is at the start of Advent I pulled out the Nativity set, advent calendar, and the Christmas books. He isn't interested in reading the books daily, but occasionally will let me read to him. He has a nice assortment, we aren't into Santa Claus except for teaching about who Saint Nicholas really is so all of our books are religious. But that doesn't mean we don't have variety. One of Simeon's favorite's and mine too is The Adventures of Spero the Orthodox Church Mouse! The Nativity of our Lord. We have a nice assortment with some from Orthodox authors and some classics, The little drummer boy and Babouska and the three kings. He would probably play with the nativity set every day if I would take the time to play with him and most days Daniel or I do, but not every day. I got him a wooden set that is very sturdy and he has really learned the Christmas story by playing with it. We also have an advent calendar that was given to me that he loves, it has 40 flaps that are numbered and you fold them back each day. Behind each flap is one of the Saints we commemorate for the day. We have been fairly faithful about doing this when we pray and I hate I don't have one for the rest of the year. He loves it and having a task seems to involve him in prayer time more each day. Our Christmas preparations aren't perfect and we're behind but I'm grateful I've been able to plant some seeds of our faith and teach him about God and how he came to become a man and walk among us for our salvation.
