'Meet me where I'm at' by: Owen

From the mouth of babes..

Hi friends!!  I'm two days short of eight months old and that means it's time for an update.  I know you're all wondering what I've been up to.  (Although my mom's picture posting is borderline paparazzi so I guess you've got a pretty good idea!)  Anyway, living life in this big, beautiful world is a full time job.  And, WOW, have I discovered some neat stuff..  

First things first, DIRT!  I'm obsessed with dirt.  My Mom finallllly embraced the truth that she can't always keep me clean. Now I get to dig my hands down deep in the ground.   It trickles through my fingers, colors my feet a nice shade of brown and cakes itself under my fingernails; I positively can not get enough of it.
I'm a big fan of my nightly bath, but my favorite way to get cleaned up from a solid dirt session is hose time.  Usually I do this with my Dad.  He comes home from work, we're both covered in dirt and it only makes sense to bust out this magical, water dispensing tube and play in the front yard!

Speaking of yards, mine is fantastic!!  I spend almost every waking minute outside; there is so much to see!  In the afternoons my Mom spreads a blanket in the backyard and we lay on our backs and look up at the bamboo.  She tells stories and I keep up a running commentary with my mimicking and various pterodactyl sounds.  We sing a lot of songs together, throw the stick for Kai and usually end up having a tickle fight unless she has to go fishing for leaves in my mouth. I don't know WHY she's so adamant about me not swallowing them?  But that usually puts a damper on our fun..
Oh, I had my first wound!  My Christmas present was a jumper and it took me awhile to realize its full potential but, let me tell you, that contraption is FUN!  Only problem is that I jumped a little too hard for a little too long and rubbed off a few layers of skin from my big toe!  I wasn't overly concerned about it, but I did bleed all over the patio and... you guessed it, Mom freaked.  It's good practice for her, though.. I do all these things for her own good, preparing her for the next few years, lifetime!  Plus, I am the proud owner of Despicable Me bandaids, now; totally worth it!

All this outside time has resulted in my very first farmer's tan!  Mom thinks it's cute, Dad thinks I need to go shirtless like a real man.  All I know is that I love where we live.  My parents do, too.  At night we take walks together and watch the sun set.  And last weekend, for Daddy's birthday, they went paddle boarding.. without me!  They had so much fun, though, I suppose I can forgive them for leaving me behind.  Plus, I got to stay with an auntie that I really love.  

I know, I know.. you all want to know if I'm crawling and the answer is no.  I figure, why rush?  But I can do a mean 'inchworm' and always surprise my Mom with where I end up when she's distracted at our part time office job!  Gotta keep her on her toes! 

Now, where were we?  New discoveries.  I've noticed my parents start flailing their limbs whenever people are coming or going.  Not sure where they learned this gesture they call a 'wave', but it sure is entertaining and I've started joining in on the action.  I'm also starting to figure out these signs my Mom does over and over and over.. last week I tried out the one for 'all done' (just to humor her!) and she almost had a heart attack!  (I tell you what..she's such a sucker!)  My Kai dog is still all things awesome and we can spend quality time together now that I'm not so fragile.  Up until this point I think our relationship was pretty one-sided, but now that I'm a food flinger and leave a trail of cheerios in my wake, he's really warming up to me.  

Oh, yeah, food!  At this point, I can take it or leave it.  But my Mom puts a lot of effort into cooking and blending new things for me to try so, once again, I humor her!  I do have a few favorites though; pears, sweet potatoes and yogurt- combined! That, my friends, is a breakfast of champions!  Don't get me started on peas, though.. let's just say, my Dad was right!

Hey, how's two teeth for a bit of new?  I'm looking around and noticing most people have a whole mouth full of these pearly whites, though.  This is not extremely encouraging because popping those suckers out is hard work!  First I was hot, melting point hot!  And if that wasn't bad enough, my Mom insisted on taking my temperature 300 times a day!  Then I had gastrointestinal issues that you're better off not  hearing the details on.  I lost my appetite and didn't do much sleeping... oh wait, I'm on a sleep strike and haven't actually slept through the night in three months.  (But I'll leave THOSE fun stories to my Mom..)

I've moved into a big boy carseat, although we refer to it as a 'rocket ship' in these parts.  And I had my first hair cut!  I was still growing out a few of my newborn hairs and Daddy decided a trim was in order.  Don't worry, Mom made him put the buzzer on the longest attachment.

As you can see, it's been a wild ride!!  Lots of changes and new and ups and downs and laughing and crying.  Every night I hear my Mama pray to Jesus, 'meet me where I'm at'.  She's thanking Him for doing the meeting and asking for strength to do the same, to meet me.  Most everyone loves to meet me but she means an entirely different type of 'meeting'.  It's in the backyard quiet times, the front yard happy times, the food flinging and every single first- her and Daddy are there!  But beyond that, it's in the times when I refuse to sleep, the times I'm covered in poo and the times I'm feeling especially clingy.  My parents meet me there, in the not-so-fun and the downright painful or disgusting.  Daddies and Mamas get a front row seat to all the cuteness and giggles and firsts.  They also get to do all the 'behind the scenes' work.  They don't get to clock out, these guys are in it for the long run and they don't always like it but they do always love me.  And that is the meeting she's talking about, the meeting that hurts but makes life worth living.  This meeting is what Jesus does for us, and now we do our best to follow His example.  '1 John 4:19 We love because He first loved us.'