Thankful Thursday

Tonight I'm very thankful to be sharing a house with a toddler! I tell you, if babies started out at the stage Daniel is in right now, I'd be like the Old Woman Who Lived in the Shoe! He just trots around here, getting into everything, and passing out belly laughs for nothing more than a quick tickle. I also love all his cute little words right now: "beeshot" for basement, "mishak" for music, "bee-ah" for bear, etc. Now, he does have his moments (a couple weeks ago he "discovered" his scream!)...he's a natural-born sinner, after all, but he brings far more joy than grief. How I love my baby boy! And he's the one that we weren't even going to have. We had always thought maybe four kids, but after three in 3-1/2 years, we felt like we were pretty good to go. Then God worked on both of our hearts and here we are today. And what a blessing Daniel is to our family!

Take today, for example. Homeschooling can, of course, lend itself to some pretty intense moments, what with the various personalities and story problems and all. Today one of the tribe was in a not very happy state of mind. Daniel walked into the room where this child was "struggling", then stopped and looked at them for a long time (seriously, 10 seconds or more) without saying a word. We all got quiet, waiting to see what he would do. Then he blurts out, "BLAA-DAA DOD-IT!!", and calmly leaves the room. It was the perfect tension breaker!!! We all laughed, and went on with our day in much lighter spirits. Thank you, Lord, for that boy!!