Shannon's New Sunday Tricks

I don't mean to make my daughter sound like a dog with that title (even if I do say, "Good Girl!" a lot.) I just love to watch the way she learns new skills on almost a daily basis. Today she folded her arms at church during the prayer--on her own! I'd encouraged her a few times before, but I never expected her to do it right away. It was cute and heartwarming. She even held her arms that way for three whole seconds. That's amazing for an 11-month old baby.

Then at dinner she helped me blow on her food. She's been practicing blowing into my tin whistle and blowing on our little straw mobile (like the straw stars and angels at Christmastime) and on the wind chime I hung in my room. The best part is how pleased she looks when she does something like this. We both grin like crazy and giggle at each other.

The one other thing Shannon did today was notice the birds outdoors. Today was the first warm day since she was six months old. So we went for a walk. I was so excited when she kept pointing to the sky when little flocks of birds or random crows flew above us. She hasn't gotten a good look at wild birds before now. It was neat.

I know that my family and friends with young children get to have these wonderful kinds of experiences every day, too. These children are straight from heaven, trailing clouds of glory, and it's such a miracle that we get to be their mommies and daddies.