My baby sister, Hannah, turns 27 today! I'll never forget when she was born! We packed a suitcase and spent the night with Grandpa and Grandma Ford. The next morning at school I was called to the office to take a phone call from my parents. They told me I had a new sister (which I somehow wasn't surprised to learn), but apparently I was surprised enough to forget to ask them what they named her! I had to wait until after school to learn the answer to that question.
Our boy turned 18 months old today! Folks tell us he's talking more than the last time they saw him (most having seen him not that long ago)! He LOVES to make animal noises. New words include, "please", "cracker", "balloon", "cookie", "drink", "thank you", "Bible", and "Buh" (for Buzz Lightyear). His favorite book is a board book about trucks. And his favorite trucks and tractors have beds or scoops -- which he can load with more cars or trucks -- or hitches which he can connect together like a line of train cars. His throwing arm is getting stronger. He's definitely all BOY! His ears are still giving us trouble which means his sleep is not so great (correlated to the ears). An appointment has been made with an ENT! I'm very tired (because of a few particularly rough nights), so I may amend this post later with a more thorough list of our big boy's accomplishments as I'm sure to remember a few more (yeah, we're more than a little bit proud of him)!
I know this looks like Nathan's wringing their knecks, but they're really having fun.
Trying not to look tired... not working!
Reni didn't want to be left out. Coincidentally, he did get a word right tonight -- NO! We got a good laugh out of that!
For some short & sweet, worthwhile reading, click over to the Minus-1 Project...
Ellie's nature has always craved routine. As a child with little control over much in life, predictability is understandably comfortable. It can be frustrating and difficult for Ellie (and thus all of us in our household) if deviations need to be made. But on the other hand, routine can ensure that important things do not fall by the way side in the name of efficiency or out of sheer laziness. Part of our evening routine includes Bible story time right after putting on jammies. Reni's attention span lasts all of 30 seconds, but we trust that bits and pieces are not falling on deaf ears while he plays quietly on the floor. Ellie's favorite request is to hear the story of Jesus dying on the cross, but we've been able to make our way methodically through a series of children's Bible story books to round out her knowledge. We are presently reading the Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name. There is slightly more text than other books we have read with her, but it presents stories in a slightly different, lyrical way that Ellie can enjoy. 
This particular night we had reached the story of David and Goliath. This is a story that she is especially familiar with -- one that we discussed repeatedly as we prepared for David Reni's arrival. Ellie craves routine but she's also attracted to episodes of excitement and adventure -- and this story packs that in spades. While many of us think about the 5 little stones, she's fascinated with the size of Goliath's sword.
Counting the stones...
Evenings can be somewhat hectic given the nature of life at the student center and bedtime can start anywhere between 7:30 and 9:00, depending on the night. But following this pattern has been a wonderful way to close out our day together and prepare little heads for sleep, regardless of what time the clock says.
Daddy is the target!
(below) Uh, what just happened?
(below) You're going down, sista!
Pause! School's cancelled tomorrow!
Gotta love Nathan's expressions -- makes his son feel super tough, and his wife feel like she's getting 'the shot' with each shutter click.
That was fun.
Ellie was too fast to get any good shots. Both kids fell asleep in record time.
Like any child his age, Reni is extremely curious with the contents of any bag within his reach. This morning his dad left two camera bags on the floor by the door. Nathan thought it wouldn't hurt anything to show him one of the cameras and went so far to hook everything up and give Reni the full effect.
Then, just so you know that we do say "no", here's Reni's face when we put it all away...
A few quick milestones and updates on our boy:
Living at the student center brings opportunities every day for our children to join us in what we do... including a trip on campus Sunday afternoon to scrawl some last-minute publicity for the semester's first Global Cafe`, later that evening.
Yesterday Ellie brought home her first Kindergarten report card. Grading is a bit different than what we are used to, but it wasn't difficult for us to ascertain that Ellie has made some great strides in school! We were immensely proud of her and let her pick two treats for the evening. The first was a visit to the pet store. The second was the purchase of a new lunch box -- which in her opinion had to have two "lockers". This met the criteria. Good job, Els! We love you!
Due to cancelled school on Wednesday, Reni's physical therapy session was postponed until this morning. Here he's practicing his standing balance while playing with a toy. He also worked on standing up from the ground (in his prosthesis) and transferring from the couch to a surface behind him (I really am not describing it well). 
Ellie had school cancelled yesterday (and today as well), and in anticipation of the upcoming snowfall, Daddy was prepared with the purchase of a REAL sled this year (no more trash can lids -- yay!). We bundled up the kids (which took a REALLY long time) to play in the snow for about half an hour. This was Reni's first experience down in it and he loved it. We didn't have snowpants for him, but layering up seemed to work fine. Keeping his gloves on was another matter.
We had already lined up Mark to stay with Reni so we could get some office work done, so he was a helpful set of extra hands which allowed me to take photos.
Later on we bundled back up to have lunch on campus. Ellie insisted on trying to carry Reni on her back. She was amazingly strong! As you can see, Reni didn't have much faith!
