Ten Months

Happy birthday Win! Today he's ten months old. He celebrated by batting around this balloon for a few minutes, and stealing most of his cousin Luke's toys.

Touch

There are so many new things for Win to investigate here at Grandpa and Grandma Henderson's house.

Nothing to Do

Win and his cousin, Luke, have been a little bored at Grandpa and Grandma's house. There isn't much to do here.

Christmas

Jared, Win and I are having a great time at Grandpa and Grandma Henderson's. Win has been playing with his cousins, Chloe, Jordan and Luke. Ezra, Eden and Kiah couldn't make it for Christmas this year becuase they just added a new baby sister to their family. Win now has a new cousin, Willow Faith Henderson. Cousin number 8 arrived on Christmas Eve and she is perfect. Number 9 isn't due until June.

Merry Christmas!

Randall Claus

Our ubiquitous neighbor, Randall, came over for his daily visit, except today he came bearing 3 gifts, one for each of us. Each gift came carefully gift wrapped (thanks to Denise for her help with that) and marked with a card. Each card came with a little message on the outside and then words of Christmas spirit on the inside. I hope you enjoy the messages that Randall left for Winfield on his package.

Playing

Win spends most of his days playing with the toys in his green laundry basket.

Clothes

Win does too wear clothes. . . when he is in his running stroller in December.

Hobbies

Jared and I are trying to encourage Win to find hobbies that he really likes. He found one.

Mugging for the Camera

Here are some shots of Win hamming it up in his high chair. He has lots of expressions, as you can see.

First Cookie Party for Win

Win attended his first ever LaBarge Christmas Cookie Party. Every year since 1997 our good friend Melissa LaBarge has thrown a Christmas cookie decorating party for all of her friends. Jared, Melissa and Heather Swier are the only three people who have attended all 10 years. I missed one year because I was in Mexico. We are all so die-hard about this party that we even had t-shirts made to commemorate this the tenth annual party. As you might be able to see from the picture this is no ordinary cookie decorating party. This is a cut-throat competitive decorating party. If your cookie is not 3D it better be amazing to even get noticed by the judge--Missy's Dad.

Who Needs a Pediatrician?

Jared, Win and I went in for Win's most recent well-baby check. After waiting 45 minutes in the room Win decided that he would just do the examination himself. The doc did eventually come and Win checked out alright.

Things to Do

Win is a very hard worker. He has many things that he has to do everyday. Several times a day the doorstop needs to be checked. He makes sure that it gets done.

A Few Things in Common

Jared and Win both like books, but that is not all that they have in common.

New Parents Have Big Ideas

Like most parents we have some big ideas for our little boy. Mostly we want to raise him to be the person that God made him to be.

When we found out that we were pregnant we were so excited. We loved this little person so much, even though we knew so little about him. A couple of months into the pregnancy we learned that he was a boy and then we (I, mostly) learned that he was a very active boy. After he was born we learned more things about him but they were mostly physical and would change dramatically in the coming years. Everyday since then Jared and I have been living with him and studying him. Everyday we learn something about this person, but there is so much yet to learn. Jared and I are always observing Win, trying to figure out who he is.

We do this because we love him and want to know him, but also because he is our son and it is our responsibility to nurture him and teach him. We really want to parent him in a way that it is easy for him to become who he is.

Yesterday, Jared asked me if I thought Win was going to be smart. As a proud new mother I listed all of his accomplishments, like crawling, and opening doors, and saying, "ba ba ba", and concluded that he must be the smartest boy around. We then concluded that we didn't necessarily want a smart boy. We would like him to be smart enough to get by, but being really smart isn't all that important; neither is being a leader, or a musician, or an athlete, or handsome, or successful, or passionate, or any of a long list of things that parents often want for their children. If he is any of these things we want to nurture that in him; but he will be who he is. If he is a musician we will give him lessons, or an athlete we will sign him up for a team. But these things aren't that important by themselves.

Whoever he is we want him know that we support him in that. More importantly we want to teach him how to be kind, how to forgive, how to be confident in who he is, and how to be content with little or with plenty. Ultimately we want him to know that he can't be even these things without the life of Jesus in him.

If Win becomes awkward, plain, of modest intelligence, and works an uninspiring job, but he is kind, forgiving, confident, content, and he trusts Jesus for that, I am convinced that he will be happy. We will consider that a huge parenting success. We don't really care if he is successful, handsome, intelligent, and all of the things that don't really affect happiness. But if he is, and he probably will be, we hope that he has character, the Character of Jesus, as his identity.

Protest

Win really likes to unload things, as all babies do. He has a sharp eye. Whenever we leave the dishwasher open he scrambles over to it to unload it. This is the face he makes when we close the door.

A Little Behind

We've been a little behind on our blog lately. Sorry.