Love letter to our little

Callen is 18 months! Man, I love this age!

This past Sunday, we formally dedicated Callen to the Lord. Of course, we'd done so many time in our personal thoughts and prayers as we sought guidance and asked for blessings for him. But Sunday our church community joined us in committing to do our best to show him Jesus, to give him unconditional love and to entrust him into God's hands day after day.

For a bit of background, in our church we treat dedication as more of a commitment on the part of the parents and church family to love and guide the child in the way of the Lord, rather than as a guarantee of the child's right-standing with God. We believe when the child is older, they still must choose for themselves whether to follow the Lord.

Our church invites parents to write a letter to their child expressing how the child is a gift and how they hope to guide the child. Our letter is as imperfect as we are parents, but also as full of love. Here is it (with some parenthetical notes).

Dear Callen,

You are our pumpkin bear, our chicken wiggle, our little man. (Josh asked that I read that first line. It might have, maybe, possibly had something to do with the fact that I critiqued his pronunciation of "pumpkin" during the letter composition: "Honey, it's more like punkin..." Knowing I would never make it through the whole thing without crying, I let him take it after that.) We are crazy about how God knit you together, though we know we will spend a lifetime getting to know all the wonders he has put inside you. We love your big hugs and little pats on the shoulder. You make us laugh with your silly ways, and we love watching you as you learn how to do it on purpose. You take joy in the small things and help us see light on dark days. And the way you and Gavin play is just awe-inspiring.

We are so, so grateful that God has chosen to make us your parents. Woohoo! (Somehow, the woohoo was not read aloud...hmmm...) We for sure hit the jackpot with you and Gavin. And we are so humbled. You and your brother make us want to be our best selves, and though we are frail, we know that the Lord is faithful to do more than we ask or seek as we continue to rely on Him.

Today we, with our family and our church community, pause in this sacred space and commit to do all we can to help you know and take stock in the love of a God who spared nothing, not even His own Son, to make a way for you to be His forever. How we hope that at each step, you say “yes” to what God has for you. Yes to grace, yes to joy, yes to love, yes to the adventure of faith. How we pray that the clumsy, imperfect way we walk this walk somehow still helps you see life with Jesus as the truest north, the greatest reality and worth anything you have to give up to pursue it whole-heartedly.

We pray that as you get to know your creator and as you live in community with your church family, you are inspired: (I added a few lines below after we read the letter in church because I kept struggling with how to say what I wanted to say until I was cutting up pineapple in a quiet house the next day. Doesn't that happen to everyone?)

To be kind – taking the time to make the world a better place in simple ways

To wonder – taking in the countless ways God weaves beauty into our lives

To be compassionate – seeing others as God does and acting out of a loving heart

To join God in his ongoing rescue of the oppressed – shining light in dark places

To keep your heart open – listening to others, giving help and being ready to receive help

Callen, you are already such a valued member of our community. We take joy in knowing that God will continue to use you to teach us. We look forward to learning from what we hope you are bold enough to share, and brave enough to ask. We pray that you and your brother love and lead, being always ready to humbly point people to Jesus.

As we share a few of the hopes and dreams we have for you today, we want you to know that we will love you no matter what you do. We hope you will always see our love as a safe place to come home to, and yet the love we have for you cannot compare to the love God has for you.

You are a treasure. We love you, son. 

Love,
Daddy and Mommy

What Callen is doing at 14.5 months

I wrote a handful of these "what he is doing" posts for my first son, and in typical second-child fashion, I've done none for my second. Nor are there any pictures of him hanging on the wall. No photo books. His baby book is empty. Sigh.

But, our lives are full of joy, full of all kinds of chores and tasks, full of adventure, full of giggles and snickers and belly laughs -- full. And that's good. And here are some of the things that are filling us up lately.

Just today:

• He was saying "du-du" for duck and making a Donald-Duck-type quacking sound (that he surely learned from daddy).
• He was making a kissing sound! He's already blown kisses and given kisses, but today he just made the sound when we were talking about kisses and then later when we were tucking Gavin in for his nap. (Awww.)
• He signed "milk!" (He's already doing "all done" and "more.")

Also recently, he's started saying his version of "blehck" when I say something is yucky (and just today, he did it when I said something was "not for babies" -- precious! And when he wants picked up, he holds his arms straight up and stiff now instead of relaxed like he used to and looks at us like, "I'm cute. I know this is cute!"

Last week, he started making the chomping sound when he eats something, or pretends to eat something, or when I find a scrap of paper on the floor and pick it up before he can grab it and put it in his mouth.

And when he finishes a sip of his drink, he sometimes says, "Ahh." Which he learned from his grandma. Ha ha!

Other sounds he makes: the vroom of a car or plane, the toot of a train and animal sounds for elephant, cat, dog, cow, horse.

His words are (in order of appearance):

da-da (just before 11 months)

ma-ma (used sparingly, usually when he's mad, just like Gavin did)

na-na: can mean any food, but usually banana, orange (because in Spanish it is naranja); he uses it more when he's eating something he loves

tap

ba (can conveniently mean button, berries, ball, box, or any number of things) 

He loves to dance, even to something as simple as his brother's beat boxing and guitar sounds. He loves to clap, and if he doesn't have two hands free when he wants to clap, he'll pat his chest. He claps after songs, when he hears others clapping or when I tell him "good job." Be still my heart.

He loves toys! For as long as I can remember, he has loved them. Such a change from Gavin, who only loved playing outside or playing with me until he was about 3. Callen especially loves nesting cups, stacking, putting lids on containers and stirring with a spoon and bowl, but he will imitate almost any action with a toy the first time he sees it (if developmentally able). This should come in "handy" when his brother employs him as an accomplice for all his impish ideas...which I'm sure will happen way sooner than I think. Like tomorrow.

And finally, Callen's love tags: those sweet names that don't always make sense but are inspired by pure baby cuteness and flow out of my mouth when I'm all caught up in it. As you'll see below, the love tags have tended to revolve around anything having to do with pumpkins and bears. (I don't know why.)

Pumpkin
Bear
Pumpkin Bear
Sweet Bear
Pumpkin Butter
Pumpkin Muffin
Wiggle Worm
Chicken Wiggle (because of the Slugs and Bugs songs that is just so perfect)
Cuddle Bear
Huggie Bear
Snuggle Bear
Snuggle Pop
Snuggle Pocket

And if you think some of those are weird, you should check out Gavin's baby/toddler love tag list. It was way weirder.

Baby Dedication Letter - A Guest Post of Sorts

A few weeks ago, our friends dedicated their adorable two-year-old son (name omitted for his privacy) to the Lord. They wrote him this letter, which they read to him in front of the church. It floored me. It was so sweet and personal and profound. They have graciously allowed me to share it with you. 

I love the way their letter highlights the goodness of God, their son's personality and the individualized instruction they desire to give him in the Lord. It is precious to me that they want to be careful not to fit him into a predetermined mold or even create a carbon copy of themselves, but rather grow someone who's faith is vibrant in the Lord in the context of the person God made him to be. I believe this captures much of what Proverbs 22:6 is talking about, and in a very beautiful way:

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

I hope you enjoy the letter as I have. I know I will be praying many parts of it for Gavin...in the context of who God has created him to be.

(For a bit of background: in our church, we treat dedication as more of a commitment on the part of the parents and church family to love and guide the child in the way of the Lord, rather than as a guarantee of the child's right-standing with God. We believe when the child is older, they still must choose for themselves whether to follow the Lord.)

Oh, and notice the love tags in the first line. Love them!

Dear Son,

You are our silly goose, our cuddly bear, our wild monkey, our little rascal, and we love you more than we could have ever imagined. You are a perfect gift to us. You bring us happiness. We are blessed everyday by your enormous smiles and sweet giggles. Your joyful personality attracts everybody. We are encouraged and in awe of your carefree spirit. You make us laugh all the time! We love watching you enjoy life, from jumping at the playgrounds, splashing in the pool, kicking soccer balls, sharing a spoon at the yogurt shop, popping water balloons in your face, to letting the world know whenever you spot a bulldozer.  The list could go on, but life though your eyes is pure joy.

From the day you were born, we’ve felt enormous commitment and responsibility to make your world safe, beautiful, and happy.

Spending time with you clears our mind to see past the stress and worries in our life.

God knew just right person for us.

Now that you’re two, our focus as parents shifts from just meeting your basic needs to being intentional about how we raise you. We’re committed to creating an environment free of fear, where you can make mistakes and try new things and find out how to be fully you.

We want to teach you that everyone is valued and loved and we treat everyone with kindness and respect.  We’re committed to having fun together as a family.

We’re committed to giving you opportunities to find your passions and to teach you about the love of Jesus.  Every step of this life seems impossible without trusting that God is in control of your life. 

Your family and community of friends will have a lasting impact on your life. Our family will always love and support you (even though some live far away), and you are also blessed to have a strong family-like community nearby. We will continue to surround you with those who model Jesus’ love. Our hope is that our family and our community of friends will be a safe place for you. We will be your mentors. We will support and guide you, and live as examples for you.

And lastly, we dream that you will know joy and happiness. That you will want to help others and join in God’s work to make this world a better place. We dream that you will discover and say “yes” to the person that God has made you to be. We dream that our family will continue to grow together and that you will always feel the same closeness and tangible love that you experience now.

With love,

Daddy and Mommy

Big Week

It's been a while since I've shared some of Gavin's accomplishments and activities. I have a running list going on some scratch paper, and I can feel that it is about to get lost, so here's what's going on with us.

Gavin did his first real jump at the beginning of this week. He had been doing the knee-bend/toe-raise thing for a while, but recently I could tell that he was ramping up for the real thing. It's not the biggest milestone ever, but I really wanted to be there when it happened, and I was. And so was Josh.

At the beginning of this month, we were blessed to run away for a few days to visit some of our dearest friends. They have almost-seven-year-old twins (a boy and a girl) who sing constantly. Their repertoire is a healthy mix of Disney tunes and praise songs. While we were there and after we came back, Gavin would mumble a few notes and then say "song." Too cute! Well, today after a combined birthday party for his cousin and uncle, he sang "Happy Birthday." It was super close to being exactly right. He left off the last line, but, man, it was good. He sang it "to Grandpa" even though only Josh and I were there to hear it. We were SO proud!

A week that started with jumping and ended with singing...Mommy and Daddy are pretty excited. Here are some other things he's being doing over the past month or so:

• These days, most things are classified as: so fun, so yummy, zoom or pet (like I want to pet the goose). He thinks it's funny to get it wrong as in "helicopter -- so yummy" or "race car -- pet."
• Oh, and Daddy taught him "so messy" in a gravelly voice. Gavin thinks it's hilarious. I'm pretty sure that's going to come back to bite us sooner rather than later.
• Sometimes he suddenly becomes excited about where we are. He puts both hands in the air and says the name of the place, usually park, restaurant or home.
• He can almost count to twenty in English (that pesky fifteen) and to ten in Spanish (darn that nueve). He understands which numbers are bigger (for the most part) as evidenced by the following conversation: Mommy: "Two more Cheerios." Gavin: "Eight more? Nine more? Tennnnn!"
• He has held up one finger to signify the number one for a long time, but today he held up two fingers and said, "two." That will come in handy since he is almost two.
• He is always experimenting with something, and lately he'll say something in a normal voice, like "Daddy's car," and then try it without final consonants, "Da-Da Caaaaa." Of couse, he likes it when I repeat it and usually tries it a few more times after that.
• He first said, "I love you" about five weeks ago, but now he says it often. Love!

Here are the current love tags (see blog intro):
Honey Bear, Snuggle, Snuggle Bear, Silly Guy, Pumpkin Pie, Sweetie Pie, Baby Boo

What Gavin is Doing at 17.5 Months

But first...the current love tags: snuggle, snug, snuggle pocket, buddy, baby boo, sweetie pie, honey bun. If you're new to the blog, I can't help it. They just come out. Not that I try to stop them...

So 17.5 months! Here's his latest and greatest.

He is totally taken with stepping up and down. I could take him to the best toddler play area ever, and he would find a step and say, "Up....n dah" at least a dozen times. And then he'd glance around at all the cool stuff and find another step and do the same thing. The more challenging step, the better.

Pouring - it might not seem like a big deal, but I was kind of waiting for it. I don't know why.

He is using his voice to do some new intonations to ask questions (like "Where's the orange egg?" which sounds more like "Ahh Ange?") and express surprise (like "There she is!" which sounds more like "Ahh-she!") It's the intonation and sometimes the hands going straight up in the air that makes it a question or an exclamation. I LOVE it.

To go along with the above: hiding eggs around the house has been a favorite game since we found them in Grandma and Grandpa's yard on Easter. It's just now starting to lose steam (in other words, he watches mommy hide the eggs, finds one and then moves on to something else). It's pretty amazing to me that now he can look in the bucket (yes, Easter bucket, not basket) and know which egg is missing. The pink one was missing, and after a few days of hearing "Ahh Hum??" (translated "Where is the pink one?") repeatedly and with looks of great concern, you betcha I invested some time in finding that egg!

One day in the ER (we've had a few trips due to his some-are-calling-it-asthma-some-are-calling-it-reactive-airway-disease), I was trying to distract him a few more minutes and started bouncing his Pooh Bear up and down in time with (my version of) the Winnie the Pooh song. He loved it. Now, he bounces Pooh in time to the song. When he wants me to sing faster, he moves him faster, and when he wants me to sing slower, slower. And today, he matched pitch with one of his toys. It sings "red," and he repeated, "red" on the same note. I felt pretty proud.

On Mother's Day, he started saying "cuddle" and hugging me. Aaaahhh! Even writing about it, I'm about to just DIE. It's so cute! Now he "cuddles" with Daddy, his cousins, his Pooh Bear and our dog Millie (once). This past weekend, he started saying "hug" and giving really good squeezes with both arms. Aren't you just dying?! Well, unless you don't know Gavin at all, and then maybe you're at least smiling.

He's doing all kinds of new gross motor skills: revving his cars before rolling them, bending his knees or lifting one foot when he sees another kid jumping (I hear they don't jump until they're 2-ish), doing toe raises, putting his feet into our shoes, not to mention all of the skills he's learning in our Mommy-and-me gym class.

Here's a scary one. Now he can look into the future and remember the past (somewhat). Today at lunch, I said that maybe we could read his "Wheels on the Bus" book when we were finished eating. About 5-10 minutes later, he walked over to the book shelf saying "bee" (bus). Of course, we found the book and read/sang it.

Daddy sometimes juggles bean bags for him, and it's so cute to watch him hold two bean bags straight up in the air as if willing them to fly in a juggling formation.

He loves making jokes, even if we sometimes don't understand why they are funny. He'll try just about anything to make us laugh. And his laugh is changing from a baby laugh to a kid laugh--a long, loud, delightful kid laugh.

My favorite words he's saying now are ride (that long "i" sound is new and just too cute), hug (of course) and go (because of the way he extends the "o").


I've had several friends say, "Every age is the best age," and I think about that often. So far, it's absolutely true.

Current Love Tags

It's been a long time since I've posted love tags (the loving nicknames we are calling Gavin). We've just been through a trying week of breathing problems, fever, diaper rash and teething. What better time to recount our love tags. Here are the ones currently gushing forth.

Honey Bear
Baby Boo
Sweet Somethin'
Snuggle
Snuggle Pocket
Snuggle Pop
Sweetie Pie
Fussy Bucket (only when he's fussy, of course)
My Pumpkin Pie

Gavin is feeling much better now. So much so that he feels he can conquer the world, or at least, repeatedly walk toward and touch all of the off-limit items in the house (all the while smiling and saying "no" in acknowledgement). Oh well. I would much rather redirect a mischievous baby who is smiling than try desperately to figure out how to help a miserable baby who is just trying to make it through the day.

Today was a bright spot, and I am so thankful to my loving Lord for that.

The Love Tags

Okay, a long while back I promised some readers book reviews... They are still coming. They are just taking longer than I had thought they would. So, in the meantime, I thought it would be fun to post all the love tags for which this blog was named. They are somewhat in order of when they came on the scene. Some have stuck around.

Sweet Boy
Tiny Baby
Baby Bundle
Squenchy -- Yes it is a made up word, and I don't know why. It's one of the first love tags from when he was a tiny baby. I guess he was just so cute and squishy and, well, squenchy. The terms Squench and Squenchy Bunch soon followed.
Squishy Face
Squenchy Face
Little Love
One-Eyed Gavin (when he was a tiny baby, he would sometimes open only one eye when he was waking up)
Squishy
Munchkin Face
Little _________ (insert the name of any animal that people generally agree is cute)
Little Bundle
Little Guy
Love
Lovey (I tried to stop saying this one...it just comes out)
Darlin'
Cutie Face
Sweetie Pie
Honey Bun
Honey Bear
Little Son
Sweet Son
Baby Gavin
Gavin Face
Honey Pie
Squeaky Toy (Daddy coined this one)
Silly Face
Silly Head
Baby Head
Baby Doll
Sweet Somethin'
Pumpkin 
Pumpkin Face
Pumpkin Pie (you know, for the seasonal names)
Snuggle
Bundle

Your mommy and daddy love you, Gavin...Squishy Face...our Sweet Boy.