Ruth Reflections Journal: January 2012

Micah's at such a fun age when he says some remarkable and silly things, often without meaning to...I've been writing down Micah "quotes" on scrap pieces of paper for over 6 months now, and am now sitting down to type them all out. Warning: long, wordy, picture-less post ahead. Not even grandma is expected to read it all (these are partly just for my sake so I don't forget these moments and conversations, that's why some have dates and some don't). :-)

Micah's getting to be too smart; one day he asked me something and I just mused, "good question..." He responded with, " ' Good question' means you don't know." (5/2/11)
I enjoy asking Micah what's on his mind. On one such occasion, I asked Micah what he was thinking about. He answered, "I was just thinking about how kind God is." (6/2/11)
Micah overheard someone talking on the radio about open houses. He asked me where they were, to which I replied, "Oh, they're just talking about open houses in General." Micah then declared, "Oh, okay, we don't live in General." (Jan. '12)
One morning when the kiddos and I were together, we heard Scotty's alarm. I told Micah that I heard daddy's alarm go off. He then corrected me: "Daddy's alarm went on."
Micah made some comment to which I responded with a generic "oh." He then told me, "When you say 'oh' it means you're not listening." (1/5/12)
Last year as we were reading through the New Testament Epistles, yet another one started with Paul as the author. Micah declared, "Whoa, Paul wrotes lots of letters!" (10/25/11)
After one of the first snows of the season, Micah went outside to play. I little while later I heard a knock on the door. Upon opening the door, Micah stood there and asked casually, "Mom, can we have a snow fight sometime?"
Back in October Joy had an ear infection, for which we got that good ole pink, liquid amoxicillin from the pharmacy. Micah noted that "it's pink because Joy's a girl."
Micah is growing like a weed. I mentioned how he was getting bigger during a bath-time, and he figured out a solution: "We need a bigger bathtub!"
At the dinner table with Micah -

                      Mom: What are you thinking about?
                      Micah: Daddy's apps...and the website.
                      Mom: The BraveBit website?
                      Micah [feeling the need to correct me]: BraveBit App Studio.

Micah was closing a tough window and I asked, "That one's a little difficult, huh?" After a short pause he confidently said, "But my muscles are very strong." (8/12/11)
Piping up from the backseat while I was driving, Micah had his sunglasses on and said, "I can see you darkly." Upon taking them off he told me, "I can see you lightly." (5/29/11)
Talking about a 3-lb. bag of almonds we bought from Costco, he thought it to be "So, so, so big. Whew...incredible." (6/23/11)
We had a ton of work done on our landscaping this year, gifted by my in-laws. While someone was using a wheelbarrow to clean and haul out a huge patch of dead ground cover and debris, Micah said, "Oh man, they should probably put those sticks and leaves away somewhere." (8/11/11)
Scotty usually peaks into the kids room at night just before we go to bed to check on them while they're sleeping, say goodnight, pray for them...One late night, at 2:00 a.m. Scotty got an unexpected remark from the pitch black:

                      Micah: Hey! What's going on here?
                      Daddy: Just daddy saying goodnight.
                      Micah: Oh, okay. [Then back to sleep, just like that - 8/11/11]

While taking some of our newly bought supplies down to the basement, Micah was carrying two cartons of formula at the same time. He told me, "I'm strong. I'm showing you my muscles." (11/9/11)
Upon waking up from a nap one summer day, Micah was really sweaty, so I offered him some grape juice (to cool down). For clarification of the offer, Micah inquired, "So if you're sweaty it [grape juice] makes you not sweat anymore?" (6/29/11)
Once while eating peanut butter, Micah noted, "Oh man, this peanut butter is creamy." Then he ate it with a tart apple and noted a difference, "Oh man, this peanut butter is spicy." (5/12/11)
He overheard someone talking on the radio about President Bush. When commenting on the radio program, he said, "It's about bushes." (5/14/11)
Micah truly is a helpful boy, and he likes returning the carts after grocery shopping to the cart return. He told me, "I want to go to Costco again because I like the speed bumps there." (That he has to push over into the cart return). (6/23/11)
Referring to a pile of books, Micah called them a "Big loaf of books." (6/10/11)
On a Friday Micah was looking forward to something on the next Wednesday. In hopes that it was sooner rather than later, he asked, "Is Wednesday after Friday?"
When Micah goes to play outside I put a chalk line down so he knows the limits of how far he can go. He totally knows where it belongs, and doesn't even really need a line anymore, but on one such occasion when he had gone outside to play, it bothered him that "There was no line!"
Scotty has a habit of washing his face a couple times a day to just freshen up and recharge. One time I caught Micah getting his face wet in the bathroom sink and he told me he was washing his face like daddy.
Several months ago I was so proud of Micah when he wrote his name out for the first time. I had it all planned out that I would save that scrap piece of paper, date it, keep it forever. When I came over later, I saw that he had erased it! In his little mind, he had already written it, so now it was time to erase it. So much for sentimentalism.
We picked up the BOB early reader books at the library for Micah to help with his reading. He called them, "BOB the builder" books.
While reading Proverbs 4 during Bible time one night, our question was from verse 23 (Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life). We asked him, "What are we supposed to guard?" He said, "You're supposed to guard...your garden." (6/12/11)
One day Micah told me, "I'm feeling tickly." I think he meant to say "prickly." (9/21/11)
On a bright day outside, Micah said, "The sun's looking at me, so I'm looking down." (9/20/11)
Recollecting a recent flight he had been on, while he was playing with a toy he said, "The plane is turbulencing." (10/12/11)
While he and I were eating at Qdoba, he finished drinking his milk from the little kids' carton. He had noted that it was "cow's milk" (there was a picture of a cow on it). I rinsed it out and filled it up with water before leaving, so Micah told me, "This is cow's water." (10/12/11)

Wow. It has been such a great month of celebrating Jesus' birthday, Scotty's birthday and the New Year...enjoying visits from grandparents and a good friend...relishing lots of family time as Scotty took the whole week of Christmas off of work...and just talking about all that God has done in our lives in 2011- to Him alone be the glory!

I could probably put up at least 100 photos, countless stories and a dozen blog posts to try and cover it all, but these quick tid-bits and pics will have to sum it all up for now. :-)

For Christmas we THOROUGHLY enjoyed a visit from g'p and g'ma Ruth in PA and had a great time celebrating the whole Christmas weekend. I'd say we all agree that Jesus has been so kind to us in placing us all in the same family. Scotty and I were able to share the news that baby #3 will be joining us next year. Loved the surprised face, expressions and exclamations. :-) God is good!

For Scotty's birthday we enjoyed a family day of bowling and being together (Joy was too stylish in her skinny jean outfit from g'pa and g'ma Sovilla)…

For New Year's we enjoyed another holiday hosted by my generous in-laws. Micah finally got to make the long-anticipated gingerbread train with DeeDee.

Micah has been patiently waiting for a real good snow, and God gave it to us on January 2nd. He was overjoyed. During Joy's nap time he and I had a great time outside with his new sleds and snow block makers from Brad and DeeDee.