Happy Birthday Caleb

How is it possible
that today you turn two?
Wasn't it just yesterday
that I was holding you all brand new?

It was in that moment
that I thanked the gracious God above
I finally understood what He meant
by unconditional love

The joy you bring me
I really can't explain
Adults have hurts and fears in their life
but having a child seems to erase that pain

I realized the day you were born
how selfish of a person I had let myself become
Now all of my attention has turned to you
and I happily let those selfish desires go numb

Because you see, my sweet Caleb
one day I hope you'll understand
When you have children of your own
things won't always go as planned

There are bumps and hurdles
in the road we call life
This world will try to deceive you
and get you caught up in all the hate and all the strife

So my prayer for you

each and every night
Is to know how much I love you
and to always keep God in your sight

Because I know I'm going to mess up
I know I'm never going to reach perfection
But please forgive me in those moments
I do everything for your protection

Every day I tell you
that you have ten fingers, ten toes,
Two eyes, two ears,
and a cute little nose

But I forgot to tell you
the most important part
That from the very first moment you were born
you had my entire heart

Happy 2nd Birthday Sweet Boy

Love,
Mom

Wake Up Parents

I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again.  It amazes me how much and how quickly Caleb is learning right now.  He can repeat everything you say (which isn't always a great thing...) and he just picks up on how to do things that he didn't know how to do the day before.  Watching a child learn, day in and day out, is one of the finest things God gave us to experience.  I know I only have one child right now to watch, but I have to admit, I think he's really smart for his age.  I'm not trying to toot my own horn here, but this kid never ceases to amaze me!

At 21 months old, Caleb can spell his name.  Not just his first name.  He can spell his first, middle, and last name.  He can almost count to 100 with a little help along the way sometimes.  Actually, today he counted past one hundred.  He talks in complete sentences (when he wants to...).  He reads books all by himself.  He knows how to read so many words, I can't keep up anymore.  He knows the names of those closest to him...and how to spell them.  He knows all of his colors and shapes and how to spell them.  He can spell some numbers also.  His favorite things to do include coloring and looking up at the moon and stars.  No high tech toys needed folks.  Our battery expense is pretty low because Caleb enjoys hands-on activities.  This brings me to the real topic of this blog post.

A few days ago, I took Caleb to the Discovery Center here in Murfreesboro.  It's a wonderful place (that we now have a membership to) that is full of hands-on things for kids to play with and explore.  They have everything from live turtles, to running model trains, to a huge water table and Caleb's favorite, the rock bin.  When we go there, Caleb runs to the rock bin, grabs a little play shovel and digs in the rocks.  Not lying, we played in the rocks for almost an hour last time.  As I was sitting in the midst of the rock bin with Caleb with my own shovel, my mom told me to look around at the other moms.  They all had one thing in common.  While all of their children where playing, they were on their smartphones.  Here I was in the middle of a rock bin with rocks in my shoes and pockets and God knows where else, and these other moms were chatting online, checking emails, posting a new status or tweet, and reading their favorite blogs.

How sad.  Folks, I'm sorry, but I think things have to change.  We've become a people so interested in other peoples lives that we've lost track of our own.  We rely on other people to teach our kids about everything instead of taking on the responsibilities of parenting.  Wake up parents. 

I'm not saying I don't blog, Facebook, watch TV, or check emails.  I do.  However, I try my very hardest to do all of those things when Caleb is asleep so that while he's awake he has my attention.  Going back to my first couple of paragraphs, Caleb didn't become intelligent all by himself.  It took time.  It took attention.  It took me and others putting him first before the distractions this world offers. 

This morning, Caleb looked at me and said, "Love you, Mommy."  He tells me this all the time.  My heart melts when I hear those words.  There isn't a tweet, an email, a status, an online chat, a TV show, a phone call, or a text that can EVER bring me the joy that those words do.

R