mother of a 2-year-old & checking in

After writing 100+ pages for two papers in December and January, I guess I felt like I needed a break from writing for a while. I've been THINKING a lot about blogging, but not getting to it. I'm being a bit of a slacker this semester. I'm a senior, but I don't think it's senoritis--I think it's just because this semester feels relatively easy (at this point, anyway!), so I'm not too stressed and not really working very hard. This could be bad in a few weeks, but hey, I'm enjoying it while it lasts. I'm spending a lot of time with my boys (husband and son), and sleeping almost a whole 8 hours per night! (Besides the times the boy wakes up!)

I will (presumably) graduate from my MDiv in May! So my husband and I are trying to figure out what comes next. Graduate school? Move back to Oregon and work for a while, and give his amazing photography business thttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifime and space to become even better-established? (He does destination weddings, too, so if you're reading this and need a photographer...check out his site! Check it out anyway, though!) We don't know. So if you'd pray for us/hold us in the Light as we make this decision, we'd appreciate it.

Also, our son had his second birthday a couple weeks ago! It was a great day. If you want to see pictures click , and a 4 minute video can be viewed here. (Joel also put that video together. What can I say--he's way more talented than a majority of the population!) Our kiddo knows about birthdays through books, so he knew there should be cakes and decorations and party hats and friends. He was excited about it for the week beforehand, from the moment we mentioned it to him. He couldn't stop talking about how he was going to have cupcakes. He still hasn't stopped talking about the cupcakes! His relatives sent us money for birthday gifts, and I got to go shopping. It was about the most mom-ish I've ever felt, shopping at Toys 'R' Us and for party accoutrements. He didn't really get any presents that were open-able at Christmas because we were in Oregon and had to fly back on a plane and then take a train to our house, carrying luggage and an almost 2-year-old. So it was fun to have presents he could open this time. Then we went to meeting, and one of the people there had a butt on that says, "Birthday boy Espen" for him to wear. He still wears it whenever he sees it. Friends came over for a party and a good time was had by all, I think.

It was kind of funny putting so much effort into a birthday he won't even remember, but at the same time, he remembers it now, so that makes it worth it. And hopefully it will carry through as an impression of being loved and made to feel special.

Now our days are filled with potty training, reading books, playing with Duplos and trains and his little house, and listening intently to figure out what he's saying. The potty training is going well (especially for a boy) and when we're at home he almost always goes in his potty chair when he's awake, after 2 weeks of training. There are fewer and fewer messes each day... =) He gets chocolate chips for going in the potty chair. We haven't quite figured out how to get him to go when we're out, because he doesn't like sitting on normal-sized toilets, and plus he gets really distracted by whatever we're doing and does NOT want to have to stop just to go pee. But all in good time, right?

He's speaking in sentences, which often have all the elements of a sentence but in the wrong order. I can relate completely, since I'm taking German, and I'm sure I sound very similar in German as he does in English! (He's also learning a few German, French and Spanish words from Dora and other books.) I think every parent should take a new foreign language while their child is a baby, because it gives one such empathy for the steep learning curve, the necessity of talking slowly, and the difficulty with figuring out word order, etc. It's amazing how fast and how much he learns each day.

Some of his favorite foods and drinks right now are "steamy milk," cashews and dried cranberries. What kid even knows what any of those even are??? I think it's hilarious. We have an espresso machine at home and usually make ourselves a drink each day, so he gets his little demi-tasse fully of steamed milk. When we go to a coffee shop he gets a few ounces of steamed milk as well. Every day he wants cranberries and I will refrain from telling you why we can't give him too many, but suffice it to say they're kind of like prunes. And cashews? Well, who doesn't like cashews? We got a bag of them a few weeks ago and now he wants some every day.

Well, hopefully you don't mind the break from my usual discussion topics, but I wanted to let you know how that aspect of my life is going.