Course Goals: Complete independence by yesterday.
Instructor: Charlie Marzinke /TA: Mama
Syllabus starts with beaded necklaces and how to indicate (by tantrum) prejudices about wearing particular articles of clothing. Also included in these first classes are the subtle indications for the need of hair brushing, mascara and lipstick (only Mama) and headbands (they don’t always bounce back from being pulled straight).
I do declare the joy of imaginary play is blossoming just like the trees around here!
(Please also notice (and praise her with many praises), how quick little “a” is to share and trade plates with Charlie. It’s a simple moment of triumph in their intense relationship and reflects much hard work and discipline over the last 9 months for all three of us! And, of course, reality is, that I had to edit out the tussle over the rooster plate that followed close on the heels of this encounter! Still, it brings me great joy to see it. )
I’ve been thinking a lot about labor as our little girl’s arrival into the world gets near. It was a very overwhelming experience with Charlie. And while there were many lovely things I remember about it, the intensity of the experience took me so very much by surprise, that I didn’t do a lot of choosing what I thought about. At one low point, I was even imagining that my contractions were ocean swells, going over my head and that my nose was only high enough to stick out to breathe in the troughs between them. Not good. It is scary facing it again.
It is also exciting facing it again. I learned a lot about what I need in labor, especially the importance of having positive, true words being spoken to me. I’d like my attitude to be different this time. Most importantly I would like to try to pray my way through this labor in an intentional way. Instead of getting lost in the downward spiral of focusing on the pain of my contractions, I’d like to choose to worship with my husband and rely on the Lord. I’ve been asking the Lord to prepare my heart. To give me verses from Scripture and mind pictures that I can cling to when our time comes.
So imagine my surprise (and gratitude—the Lord really does speak through little children!) when I wandered past Charlie drawing at his easel this morning. I stood silently behind him while he drew a big circle and then a tiny circle inside of it. He told me “wittle tiny circle, wittle tiny baby sistuh.” Then he drew another circle next to these and announced, “Jesus.” Then he moved his crayon over and said “storm” while he violently scribbled and made roaring sound effects.
I know he was thinking of the story of Jesus in the boat and storm with the disciples, because we have talked about it a lot after reading it in his picture Bible. But baby sister inside of another bigger circle, right next to Jesus? That was all him! I assumed I was the bigger circle around baby sister until I asked him to explain his drawing for the camera and got an even better answer!
MUD! (Charlie spent most of his time trying to get the biggest splash. He would jump, get his boots stuck in the mud, and fall down laughing.)
My ode to Spring:
Take your time, Lady Spring. Meander. Touch the trees with pink and white, but slowly. Hand out your vibrant green leaves to shock our eyes, one by one, carefully. For while you linger here, Summer waits--quelled by each icy puddle and wet, floppy snowflake—holding back her humid heat.
I am happy to report Charlie is feeling better, and slept the whole night through last night—hooray! As this picture suggests, Charlie woke up fever free today and for the morning at least, is back to his usual football playing self. 
Charlie says thanks for all your well wishes! “g mm mmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmm mmmmmm nmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm……………………………………………………..’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’tgfredhnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm……………………………………………………………………….qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa”
Charlie has had a yucky cold/cough/fever thing since Thursday. He has been up 2-3 hours out of every night since then. We are realizing how spoiled we have been. Since he was six months old, he has always (even when sick) slept a solid eleven to twelve hours at night. Pro: it’s been reminding and preparing us of/for what it is like to have an infant in the house. Con: we, especially Jonathan who takes the brunt of night wakings, are soooo tired!
Charlie started out the morning today with a steam bath to help him decongest…as you can see it put him in the most cheerful of spirits:
He watched Elmo and Dora the Explorer all afternoon. I was resisting this at first, and then Jonathan reminded me that one of the perks of being sick when you are kid is getting to watch lots and lots of TV. Which is true. And look at that face—who could resist “jus wun moyh, Mama, wun moyh”(“just one more”)—especially when it is said in a croaky cute little raspy voice? He rallied enough to eat five bites of smoked salmon before heading off to bed--much better than the 1/16 of a tortilla that was the entirety of last night’s supper. Maybe we are on the mend? Here’s to hoping we get a little more sleep tonight!
I do not recommend taking two-year olds to concerts. However, Jonathan was slated to play with a band of fellow covenant students, and I didn’t want to miss it. So I bundled Charlie up and we went to do our best at listening. (It started at 7:15pm, which is usually Charlie’s bed time, so I knew we wouldn’t be staying for the whole thing.)
Luckily the venue was at a coffee shop, so it was pretty laid back. That was a good thing too, because every time a song ended, Charlie announced, repeatedly, in a loud voice, “All done! Song all done!”
And then there was the moment I looked down and realized Charlie had taken off all his shoes and socks (thankfully not his shirt). Another time I glanced over and realized he had knocked my strawberry smoothie off the table in front of me and spilled it down the side of the leather sofa we were sitting in. We also had to leave the room where the band was playing several times, because the other rooms of the coffee shop had TVs with basketball playing, and Charlie needed to keep up on the score.
We left for home before the first set was even finished. And Charlie, misunderstanding my instructions to wave goodbye to Dada, escaped me and climbed up onto the stage to give Dada a hug goodbye! Oops!!
Still, all in all I’d say it was a pretty successful evening—I did get to hear Jonathan play and I enjoyed the music I heard and could pay attention to!
Charlie had some decided opinions about some of the songs:
Jonathan played beautifully:
And Charlie and I clapped enthusiastically for every single song!
Thanks to our friend Alaythia and her parents, Charlie and I have been enjoying swim lessons once a week since January at the Little Fishes Swim School. It has been a great way to get out and still be warm during the winter. Our last class was today and we will sure miss it! Charlie has learned how to put his head under water and hold his breath, to blow bubbles, to jump in from the side (going all the way underwater) and to relax while floating on his back. Big skills for a two-year old, I think!
They snapped this picture of him ‘swimming’ under water from his coach to me. (Its really more of an underwater hand off, where the coach pushes Charlie about 4-5 feet under water and Charlie tries to remember to kick before I scoop him up!)
Thanks for such a great Christmas present Alaythia and Alyssa and Kabyn! Charlie adds: “DJJQ M/CN ,NVC L/.LPPPJKNKFC”
…As he brings me the shirt he has just removed on his own….“Hot, Mama. Ta (Charlie) hot!”
This has already happened three times today, and its only 8:30! It turns out he really likes being naked. I see trouble in our future!
There is just so much cuteness when the two of them are together that it is hard to resist posting pictures and telling stories. 
With the weather being warmer, we got to go to the park several times this week. It was wonderful to be out in the fresh air and sun! (Notice they both have vests on and are holding balls…woe is me when they can’t have/do everything the same way!)
We’ve been fending off Charlie’s requests to play t-ball all winter by saying that he can play t-ball again when the snow melts.
Much to our family’s joy (especially at having ‘outside’ as an option again for this very energetic boy), Charlie was finally reunited with his bat this week and discovered all sorts of ways to use it!
Praying out loud: Jonathan and I pray with Charlie before bed every night. We usually ask him what he wants to pray for and take turns praying. Our only requirement of Charlie is that he sit still while we pray out loud. One night he was having particular difficulty doing that, and Jonathan was explaining to him that we listen quietly to whomever is praying. He told Charlie that if he was praying, Mama and Dada would listen to him. He asked Charlie if he wanted to pray. Charlie’s first bedtime prayer went something like this, after he solemnly closed his eyes and bowed his head:
“Der God, tank you, sleep, night, Nana, Papa, amen.”
Discussing God's whereabouts: When I turn off the light and prepare to leave the room at night I tell Charlie, “Mama loves you, Dada loves you, and God loves you very much.” Sometimes this turns into a 15 minute session of naming everyone he knows or can remember and saying that they love him too.
A few nights ago something different happened. He sat up suddenly and said to me, “Where God go?” (This is the phrase he uses to ask where something is.) I looked at him for a stunned second with my mind spinning on about heaven and an invisible God, and the options for explaining an intangible, invisible God to the concrete brain of a two year old, and I settled on saying, “God is in your heart. He is in Mama’s heart and in Dada’s heart and in Charlie’s heart.” This seemed to satisfy him and he returned to the familiar pattern of conversation, agreeing, "God Nana hawt, God Eya hawt..."
Then again he suddenly stopped and without any prompting asked, “Where Jesus go?” So we had pretty much the same conversation about Jesus, and seemingly appeased, he laid back down. I left the room hearing him mutter, “God Dada hawt, God Mama hawt….God Tali hawt…”
I don't know for sure what this conversation really meant to a concrete two-year old mind, but I felt our first conversation about God was something to celebrate regardless!
Quiet Time: Several mornings a week, Jonathan and I get up early to read our Bibles and journal and pray separately in the living room. Charlie’s wake up usually puts an end to this. The other morning I had literally just sat down and opened my Bible when he woke up. I really wanted to read even just one Psalm that morning before life began in earnest, so I went into his room and asked him if he wanted to read his Bible in the living room with Mama and Dada. I told him he had to be really quiet. He was excited about the idea.
So we got his children’s Bible and went out to the living room. He commented on Dada’s Bible, and pointed out Mama’s Bible, and proudly claimed “Tali Bible” for his own. I settled him on the couch next to me and he exclaimed several times, “weelly kite (really quiet)” before I told him to hush. Then we all opened up our Bibles and read quietly. Ok, it was really only for about 8 minutes. THEN he felt the urgent need to discuss, out loud, the storm and the disciples afraid and Jesus asleep in the boat as shown in the pictures he was looking at. At which point I had read my psalm and happily read the story to him. What was even more of a blessing was that he remembered the story that evening and we talked about it and drew a picture about it again before bed.
It worked so well, I’ve just started inviting him to join us when he wakes up on the mornings we are reading. It never lasts for long because he is two, after all! But there is always one moment when I glance up into the quiet lamp glow and see my entire family, immersed, with little frowns of concentration in God’s word. I love that!
All this to say, I know these are little, inconsequential things, but they make me so excited for the future. I’m delighting to see these little indications that there is hope that Charlie will grow up into more understanding and love for God. I imagine it will just get more exciting and more challenging the older he gets.
Pray for this sweet boy’s heart before the Lord! Pray that his Mama and Dada have the wisdom to teach him in a way that delights God.
At dinner tonight, Charlie figured out how to hold up two fingers in one hand. This skill has been eluding and frustrating him ever since he turned two. Naturally, the conversation turned to asking each other how old we were. Then Jonathan asked Charlie, “How old is Mama?”
Charlie answered, with a definitive nod, “Mama two old.”
