Icky-Ow and Melmo

Millie and Hunter probably watching "Icky Ow" or "Melmo"

I don't know why, but God has chosen to give me children who talk long before they walk. Both Hunter and Millie waited until 16 months to learn to walk. Millie is now 17 months old and has only been walking steadily for a few weeks.

But, boy, do my kids talk...and I love it. For this mom who an be a bit of a talker herself, it is so much fun to start even the smallest conversations with Millie...and quite profound conversations with Hunter.

Today I felt the urge to document some of Millie's words. I am a scrapbooker, but I am often behind and forget the details once I get around to actually scrapbooking their little lives. Sooo...this is more for me than it is for anyone reading this...but enjoy anyway. The parentheses are the translations of what she is saying.

Words Millie has had for a while: Mommy, Daddy, No (a favorite), Mimi (My mom - she got that one after a trip to Chattanooga in July), nana (banana), Bubba (our neighbor's dog...whose name she now attributes to most animals except for cows and cats - see below)

Recent developments: Up, Down, Memo (Nemo), Melmo (Elmo), Pease (Please), Meeeeel (Milk...it stands for anything to drink), shoe, choo-choo, bubble, bumble (for Hunter's Transformer Toy - Bumblebee), moo (cow), me-ow (cat)

Words she is working on: Hu-tee (I think it's Hunter), Icky-Ow or sometimes Icky-Mow (Mickey Mouse)

Today we went to church for Bible Study, and she walked into the nursery. Her first words? Au-dee (her little friend, Audrey Little). It was fun for her to recognize, know, and verbalize the name of a friend.

I am so thankful for little talkers. Sometimes I don't think that at 3am when I hear "Mommy" very loudly and clearly...but isn't that what being a Mommy is about?

Also, I really love turning the radio on and trying to find a "rockin' song" for us to have a dance party to. Today, as we were driving to the gym, we heard Chris Brown's song "Forever." Hunter said: "Mommy, that's where he says "and me." Sure enough...the first few words are "You and me." I need to start listening to what we are really listening to...because he is really picking up on words in songs...and I like a little Top 40 and hip-hop every once in a while...for a Friederichsen Family dance party in the Chevy Venture...the party van.

Thanks for humoring my desire to record these memories. Good night.

Happy Birthday Hunter!

Hunter turned 4 last Sunday on the 14th. I can't believe how big he is. He is all about pretend right now, so it was the birthday of costumes and characters. When he's not dressed up as a pirate or Peter Pan or a cowboy, he's playing out some kind of show with his new Mickey, Toy Story, and Diego figurines. We love seeing his little imagination at work.


It's Saturday night...almost 11:00 p.m. Donny and I sat down to watch "Made of Honor" (my pick). About halfway through, Millie screamed out about something. She has been sleeping a little weird these days. Anyway, I was just having one of those mom moments when I wanted to hold her and snuggle rather than let her cry it out. So...Millie watched her first official chick flick tonight...and it was so fun to just hold and snuggle with my little girl.

Let My People Go!!!

Donny and I began teaching children's Sunday School in August as the new school year began. Donny is teaching 4th and 5th grade, and I am teaching 4-5 year olds. I am in Hunter's class. At the beginning, I asked the Christian Ed. director if I could do it on a trial basis, because I did not know how it would go being in Hunter's class....It's amazing.

I am officially in love with teaching Hunter's class. I don't know if it's 4-5 year olds or being able to teach Hunter and his friends...or both. The funny thing to me is that we are going through the life of Moses. I am team teaching with the pastor's wife, so I officially taught for the first time today...on the 10 plagues of Egypt (Exodus 7-10)...lovely. The curriculum we are using has fairly graphic pictures of the Nile turning to blood, livestock dying, boils, etc. I had to warn the parents as they picked up their kids that we talked about God's power in the plagues, so don't be surprised if they asked questions about locusts, boils, and the like. Hilarious.

As I taught today, I had the children pretend they were Moses giving Pharoah the Lord's message from Exodus 8:1 - "Let my people go, so they may worship me." I had them repeat it throughout the story. It was so fun when we got in the car this afternoon, and I asked Hunter to tell Daddy what Moses said to Pharoah, and Hunter shouted: "LET MY PEOPLE GO...SO THEY MAY WORSHIP ME!!!" I want Hunter to know so much that God does what he does because he loves us and wants us to worship him...and I guess I want to know more and more that God does what he does because he loves me and wants me to worship him.

Today was the first day Hunter sat through the entire church service with us. It was a communion Sunday, and they don't do a Children's Church on communion Sundays, because we value having the entire family in the service. We let Hunter bring his Jesus Storybook Bible (Thanks, Aunt Jenn!!!) to have during the service. When we got in the car after church, he asked if he could read his story Bible in the car so that he could "learn to obey God." Amazing.

We had lunch with some friends from church today, and we did not get home until 4. We put Millie down to sleep for about an hour, and I needed to rest too. Hunter came into my room and wanted to rest with me...precious. Then he brought in a toy cup and bowl with puzzle pieces in it. Hunter was going to serve me communion (not the first time this has happened). Before he served me the bread (puzzle pieces), he did something different...he said: "First, let's pray." Our elders pray with us before we take communion, so I guess he was taking his cues from that. Although I can't remember all of his words, I pray God will help me remember watching him bow his hands, fold his hands, and really talk to God. Some of his final words were "so I can know you." Oh Lord...would you let my son know you? Would you take any efforts we have to train him and turn them into a heart knowledge and love for you? Thank you for a precious day of seeing you at work in his life.

After "communion," Hunter told me a story from his Bible similar to how I do in Sunday School. He "read" from the Passover story in the New Testament (Lord's Supper). He would hold up the pictures and ask "Can everybody see?" as if he had a captive audience. After the story, we sang (his idea) "Christ the Lord is Risen Today." Alleluia.

It was one of those days when I had a number of moments when I shot up a little prayer asking God to help me remember this moment...and my memory fails me almost instantly...so I thought I would write down what I could remember.