JDaniel and I read at least an hour a day together. He also “reads” some on his own too. It was really easy for us to complete the first ten hours of our library’s systems reading program. I think the librarians would have been surprised at how fast we completed them. Thankfully we went to visit my mother-in-law out of town and the library is closed on Sundays. It looked like it took us longer to complete.

As you can see we have spent a lot of time in the library. There has been one additional reason for visiting frequently. JDaniel loves a DVD called Garbage Monsters. I am really not interested in watching garbage being recycled and moved around the dump over and over again. ( It was a relief after watching Thomas the Train for months. I like Thomas too. I just don’t like watching him over and over again.) We returned Garbage Monsters after having it out for two weeks a month ago. Every week since we returned it we have checked the shelf it is housed on regularly. It was finally there. We have it back for two weeks. After that, I am thinking that there is a child somewhere in Greenville that really needs to have it visit their house.

You know your toddler is like a spider if he tries to climb everything.

Yes, everything is a piece of climbing equipment. The outside of the stairs become something to scale. JDaniel saw his friend Jake do this and has tried to do it for months. He has tried to climb a tree. He wasn’t sure how to make it up a tree. JDaniel just clung to a branch and said he was climbing. The crib is something many toddlers learn to climb out of. JDaniel has raised one leg to the top of his crib, but didn’t know what to do next. I am not going to teach him.

You know your toddler is like a mosquito if he learns to make loud sucking noises on your arms.

I love to blow on JDaniel’s tummy when I change his diaper and make a loud air horn noise. JDaniel decided to start doing the same thing to my arm early last week. I thought he was trying to bite me a first, but it turns out he just didn’t know what to do with his teeth.

You know your toddler is like an ant when he can carry things that seem to weigh more than he does.

Maybe not his full weight but heavy objects seem to be moving around my house. I don’t think my husband and I moved them.

You know your toddler is like a moth when he can’t get close enough to lights.

JDaniel loves flashlights. My mom has one out near her front door and he can’t wait to light it up. He also loves to climb up on the couch in the living room and turn out the lamp beside the couch. JDaniel really loves to do it if you are reading and he wants you to play.

You know your toddler is like an earthworm when he can’t get enough dirt on his hand, clothes, face, or toys.

We haven’t spent a lot of time outside lately due to JDaniel’s allergies. When we were outside a lot earlier in the spring, JDaniel was carrying his plastic spade everywhere and using it to dig in the mulch and dirt.

Finally you know your toddler is like a caterpillar when he can inhale lots of foods and later wants to cocoon himself your arms to snuggle.

Raising JDaniel right now is going almost parallel with the growing process of flowers. He is given enlightenment on areas of his life that need to change via timeouts and reading books about characters that display behaviors we want him to exhibit. We try to provide him with nourishment and steep him with praise in the areas of his behavior where little sprouts of goodness have started to grow. This is a slow process. My little one constantly wants to know if we will be persistent in our expectations and how patient we will be with him as he learns and grows.

Right now it is a challenge to tend to this little one. We are trying to help him develop deep roots and leaves that will reach for the Son. He is only two and we have a long way to go, but we hope that someday his life displays beautiful flowers.