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Finding The Wonder

“However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” — the things God has prepared for those who love him—”
1 Corinthians 2:9 NIV

Yesterday, in church, Landon was quietly drawing on the back of Penny’s bulletin with a ballpoint pen. I confess I was watching him from time to time, in part, to ensure he wasn’t drawing on anyone’s clothes. He was drawing blobs and rough circles, scribbles and lines – not bad for a three year-old. 

At one point, he handed me the pen and pointed to a bare corner of the paper. I took the pen and just quickly drew a star, the kind we have all made, without picking up the point of the pen. In my eyes, it wasn’t even a very good one…the top point was shorter than the others. Blasted perfectionism. 

I moved my hand and, when Landon saw the star, he looked up at me with wide eyes and said in that excited whisper-that’s-not-a-whisper, “Daddy! What did you DRAW?!” 

His laughter was a great reward in that brief moment. His wonder and awe at my simple star made me wish that I wasn’t such a grown-up who often lets the wonderful and awesome moments in life slip by without much fanfare.

And then, I read that verse in I Corinthians this morning and am reminded that the most wonderful visions that I can conceive in my mind are but scribbles and stick figures compared to the plans He has prepared for my future – in this life and eternity – and for all of his children.

Lord, help us look for and find the wonder you will show us today.

Landon’s First Cereal

Here’s a little 60-second video of Landon’s first try at eating rice cereal. In the end, I think we can call it a mixed review…

Happy Landon

We’ve recently had one of those times in our family, every year it seems, when we seem to just be tag-teaming each other with some sort of sickness. We’ve had ear infections, sinus infections, chest colds, head colds, Penny had a touch of pneumonia, I had the first case of the flu in Charleston County, and it just seems to wear us down in general.

Even little Landon had his first mild ear infection at 4 months. But he’s different… he hasn’t yet learned to moan and groan about his general aches and pains. Sure, he fusses a little here and there, but our whole family has been so encouraged by his happy demeanor, even when he’s sick. His smile is also contagious and we’ve all agreed that we need more of those around here lately.

Here are a couple more photos of him, learning how to bite his big toe… he’s a flexible kid!

  

Oh, the things the flu will make you do…

So, I got the flu. I only catch it every 4 or 5 years, so I guess I shouldn’t complain. Got it the middle of last week and, with the help of my new friend, Tamiflu, I think I’m on the mend now. As soon as it was verified as the flu, Penny bugged out to Nanny’s (Penny’s mom) in Bonneau with all four kids. I did get a nice, “Hope you feel better… We’ll be praying for you!” from the garage as they were leaving. Actually, she did feel really bad about leaving me, but I insisted ’cause – we didn’t want them to get it, right?

Wrong. Now the girls are the only ones left at Nanny’s and Penny, Logan and Landon are back in the sick-house with me – everybody moaning and groaning from fever and pain, except Landon, so far. We’ll get through, I reckon. God brings humor to our home in opportune times to help us do just that…this scene unfolded this afternoon.

Logan hates taking his medicine. Tylenol. Motrin. Decongestant. You would think we are giving him cotton candy flavor chalk ground up in water. I even tried it and it tastes really good.

Well, today was the day for the showdown between me and Logan. He had a fever and we absolutely had to get the medicine in him, no matter what it took. I kept my cool and encouraged him for over 30 minutes, listing all the benefits the medicine would have for making him feel better, how good it tasted, how it would only take a few seconds if he just drank the medicine… only to be met with weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth, mostly from Logan.

So, finally, I crossed that line. I threw all rational thought about family economics and the laws of parenting out the window and I said flatly, “Logan, I will give you TWENTY… FIVE… DOLLARS… if you drink this medicine right here, right now.”

Let me just interject and offer sincere apologies to our parents, our friends who actually practice good parenting, and our parenting mentors, Gary & Anne Marie Ezzo – you all taught us better.

Logan’s eyes brighten and he knew he had me. But here’s God’s humor sent down from above…

Logan says, “Well, Nanny gives me a quarter. Will you give me TWO quarters?”

I bit my bottom lip so hard it hurt and I looked down like I was thinking over the counteroffer. I finally looked up and said, “Deal.” He drank his medicine with a smile on his face and left me thinking about how things might play out six hours from now when we had to do this all over again.

Anyway, I wish you all good health and relatively sane parenting. Pray for us…

Introducing – Landon Douglas Locklair

We are overjoyed to welcome Landon Douglas Locklair into our family! He was born today, July 18, 2012 at 1:01 pm. He weighs 7 lbs 12 oz and is 20.25″ long. Penny and I went to the hospital this morning and had a smooth relatively quick delivery. We are thankful, relieved, ecstatic, and exhausted all at the same time. We will have more photos to come, but this is one of my favorites so far. Thanks for your prayers! They have been answered in so many ways.

Garden Project: Phase II – Planting Day

We have been preparing for our garden for some time now and Planting Day finally arrived. We always plant on the Saturday after Good Friday, which puts us a little later in the season this year, but no worries. We had to clean out the winter growth from garden bed. Our good friends Gary and Anne Marie Ezzo made a generous donation to our venture this year – a truck load of rich organic mushroom mulch! I snapped a few shots over the past couple of weeks and then set up an interval timer series with my Nikon D200 on a tripod while we were actually planting the garden.

This year, we are just planting basic, staple vegetables – zucchini squash, yellow straight neck squash, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, sweet red peppers and cantaloupe. We may try some smaller raised box beds on another part of our yard that gets full sun nearly all day. Our sycamore trees have gotten tall and are shading our garden bed more than I like, but they still get 5-6 hours of full sun. We’ll post updates as things grow…

Logan’s Day at the Children’s Museum

Recently, the girls had an opportunity to attend a friend’s birthday party at the Charleston Museum. Penny went with them and Logan and I went around the corner to the Children’s Museum were we also have a membership (go Groupon!). He and I don’t get to spend one-on-one time as often as we’d like and we had a great time. Nowhere to be. Nothing else to do. No one else to pay attention to. We just did whatever Logan wanted to do. No limitations in the craft room. No rushing through the little grocery store. Played pirates to our hearts’ content. It was a great day!

Valentine’s Day Sabotage

Sabotaged by a 4-year old. I doesn’t make me feel any less outsmarted to think of him as “almost five.” Here’s his latest…

I got Penny a card for Valentine’s Day and wrote a nice, long heart-felt love note to her inside. We’re not huge Valentine’s Day folks, but this year, I thought I’d take it up a notch…you know, from nothing. I was so pleased with my note and placed it at the perfect angle next to her toothbrush in the bathroom, where she was sure to see it when she awoke.

However, I went to bed late and the girls got up early to make Mommy breakfast, so Penny got up before I did. More importantly, Logan got up before I did. Big mistake. Penny comes in and gently asked if I had gotten her a card with a yellow envelope. I smiled and said I had and asked if she liked it. She smiled right back and said that she did – when she finally found the card underneath the kitchen table and the envelope next to the bathtub on the floor!

Logan! Seriously, dude? He said that he liked the card too and thought it was for him. Anyway, good laughs for the day…until our next holiday. What is that, St. Patrick’s Day?

Perceived vs. Actual…

So, I had a brief dialogue with Logan earlier today about the hierarchy of leadership in our home. I had this little talk with him after he decided to not accept my decision on when he could have a piece of gum – after I finished lunch vs. now. I had him come stand in front of me and we had this calm little chat that went like this:

“Logan, who is the Daddy?”

“You are.”

“And who is the son?”

“Me.”

“And who is the boss?”

“Mmm… Mommy.”

“Ah…hmm…I see. Well go ask Mommy when you can have a piece of gum…”

And…backfire! I guess I’ll do some research and write another post on the authority of the father in the home. In the meantime, cancel your plans for tonight and go see Courageous at a movie theater near you. Excellent, impactful movie!

Erin’s Wipeout

Today, Erin had her first major Big Wheel wipeout, which produced a vibrant quarter-sized scrape on her knee, but not a daunted spirit. She got a gauze pad and an extra large Band Aid. Logan was a great in trying to console her, even at his young age of 20 months. This photo shows him standing by to comfort her and love her… and probably take a sip of her tea when she’s not looking.