Bathing

We could hear shrieks of laughter all the way down the hall, coming from the bathroom. Hannah and Eli were “playing at the waterpark,” also known as our bathtub. When we had put them in, the tub had perhaps 8 inches of water in it. Ten minutes later, it was down to 2 inches. We figured out the reason for the laughter.

Hannah took one of the pails in the tub, scooped up water, and dumped it on the floor. This caused Eli to giggle his addicting giggle, which further inspired more pails of water… It was like a waterpark on the floor!
It took two bath towels and two beach towels to absorb the water from the floor.

We now have NO PROBLEM filling up 3 loads of laundry instead of 2½.

(To concerned readers, we do not leave our children unattended in the bathtub for 10 minutes, but we mostly just listen to them.)

The Name of Our Third Child

A couple of weeks ago, I asked Hannah what we should name the baby-in-Mommy’s-tummy.
“Assie.”
“You mean Ashley?”
“No, Assie.”

And she is unshakable in this. So we are experimenting with different spellings.

Haunted

“What are you haunted by?…The Psalmist says we are to be haunted by God (Ps 25:12). The whole of our life inside and out is to be absolutely haunted by the presence of God. A child’s consciousness is so mother-haunted that although the child is not consciously thinking of its mother, yet when calamity arises, the relationship that abides is that of the mother. So we are to live and move and have our being in God, to look at everything in relation to God, because that abiding consciousness of God pushes itself to the front all the time.”

The last month or two, Hannah has had terrible troubles with fears. It mystifies us why this started; there is not one single event that we can see that began it. She has always had odd fears of odd things like silk, Santa dolls that talk and sing, velvet, bugs, lace, and furry stuffed animals. A switch flipped sometime in April, making her also suddenly afraid of doing her business in a toilet or potty chair, going to bed at night, eating, Mommy or Daddy leaving her, and bunnies coming in through her window to eat her. For an entire week, our sweet daughter, who has always been insanely easy to tuck in began taking an hour-and-a-half of intense conversation, cuddling, and praying before she would go to bed without screaming in fear.

It began one night when n8 was working outside her open but curtained window. Earlier that day she and I had talked about how the bunnies had eaten the tulips so we would not have any flowers. When she heard scuffling and scratching outside her window but could not see anything, the natural conclusion she drew was, now that the bunnies were finished with the tulips, they were coming in to eat her. I admit that such a thought amused me. BUNNIES. Not rabbits, BUNNIES. They are typically viewed as soft, cuddly, mild animals, not carnivorous ones.

I logically explained that bunnies eat only plants, never, ever people. I also closed the window (even though it was stuffy) and we talked about how the window protected her from animals entering her room. Finally, we talked about how Jesus protects her. We talked about how when she was afraid, all she would have to do is say, “Jesus!” and He would hear her and help her. I told her that her prayers were even stronger than Mommy and Daddy’s prayers. All she had to do was ask Him—say His Name—and He would help her…

Her eyes were round and huge as she took all this in. n8, meanwhile, had no idea why it was taking me so long to put the kids to bed. He came in the room, hitting the door a little as he entered. Hannah, who could not see the door from her angle, had no clue that this would happen, and was terrified of what was coming. In keeping with what her mommy had just told her, she said the first thing her fear put into her head: “JESUS!”

I think she understands.

About a week or more ago, we took Hannah off of wheat and dairy AGAIN, and she has improved dramatically. We also massage her fears from her head out her toes, then give them to Jesus. She has stopped pulling her hair out at meal times. She is not so moody; she does not lose complete emotional control suddenly and without warning over inconsequential things or unchangeable rules. Best of all for her underwear, she has not had any more “solid” accidents (for the first time in about 6 weeks) and is getting much better at remembering to run to her toilet before she relieves herself. Yesterday she almost made it the entire day without a single accident. She ended up peeing the second we arrived at home, ten minutes before we put her to bed.

Her bedtime ritual has also eased, and the other night when Daddy asked her what fears she had that she could give to Jesus, she said, “Not crickets and frogs and squirrels and bugs and worms that go like this,” and she inched her forefinger up and down.

I am so grateful that this stage has lasted only a month or two!