Aden and His Blocks!

Just a quick update on Aden and his balancing act.... his new record for balancing blocks on top of each other is up to sixteen, which could very well be a record for the entire station. Seventeen was in his grasp, but could only stand for one second before it tumbled. He has even started trying to stack his blocks in the back of his dump truck to see how mobile his towers can be. His balancing talents continue to grow as he has progressed to building groups of towers side by side, incremental heights, and shorter towers all in a row. It was quite impressive as he changed from one type of tower to another in minutes, with a "Daddy, yook!" in between each one. He is also working with measuring cup towers as well as balancing various objects in places you would never imagine, such as a bent-over-daddy's back. You really have to see it to believe it!!

Rockin'....

Wiley is good at a lot of things, but one of his specialties is rocking himself in his chair. One of Wiley's favorite places to be is in his chair. It is similar to a 'bouncy' chair. He loves to sit and watch Aden run around the house. Incidentally, Aden also likes to push Wiley around the house in it (almost like he is in a wheelchair). We have learned to make sure Wiley is strapped into the chair for these joy rides. His chair has some toys that hang in front of him and Wiley has figured out how to kick his feet in rhythm so that the chair rocks and the toys swing. We have seen him rock so hard that the toys swing over the bar! 

...and Rollin'!

Just yesterday mommy put Wiley on a blanket in the kitchen while she was cooking. When she turned around to check on him, he was no longer on his back but on his tummy! Daddy got to witness it firsthand last night while playing with him, and mommy too has since seen him with her own eyes conquer 'the roll.'  Milestones are fallin'!! 

"Airplane, Bye-Bye!"

One of the recent highlights for Aden was the helicopter that landed at the hospital. It was a Saturday morning and he was still at the breakfast table. Knowing how much he likes helicopters and airplanes, as soon as we heard it coming in for a landing to the field about 300 yards from our house, Daddy grabbed Aden from his highchair and ran with him down to see it land. In his pajamas, with jelly still on his mouth from his breakfast, we made it just in time to see it land and join the other one hundred people or so who ran from their houses when they heard it. We stayed to see if it would just be a quick trip so that we could watch it take off, but we ended up being there for quite awhile. We finally went back to the house to tell Mommy about it, but as long as it was still sitting in the field, there was no way we were just going to stay at the house. It became a family outing and we all went back to see it. Mommy and Wiley eventually gave up and went home, but it finally did leave. Not knowing the difference between the two, Aden began saying "Airplane, bye-bye!" and waving as he went out of sight. And now, every time we walk through that field, he says "Airplane, bye-bye!"  (sorry, in the excitement, we forgot to take any pictures of the event.)

Wiley Celebrates a Birthday

              
He's three months old now!! So to celebrate we had both of his namesakes (and families) come for dessert. We all had shakes made to order (Snickers, Oreo, peppermint, brownie, etc.), and shared a delicious Black Forest Cake made by another missionary family. Aden pulled out his blocks and entertained everyone with his amazing stacking abilities. Wiley seemed to enjoy watching all the festivities and loved cuddling with his aunts and uncles.

Simple Prayers

When Aden is allowed to watch a video, one of his favorite videos to watch is about farming. He likes it because of the tractors and other heavy machinery that are featured on it. He refers to this video as his 'tractor video'. He asks almost daily if he can watch the tractor video, and many times the answer is No. He has learned to accept this quite well amazingly. The other morning we sat down to breakfast and were saying our prayers. Aden has become quite good at bowing his head, folding his hands and jabbering things that we can't understand. I guess that is what Mommy and Daddy sound like to him. This day was different though. Among all of the jabbering, we heard two things for the first time that we recognized: 'Tractor Video' and 'Bubu Jim' (bubu is a pidgin word in PNG for grandpa/grandma and Jim refers to one of his missionary uncles, or I guess grandpas). We aren't sure if these two things were separate requests or if he thought Bubu Jim might let him watch the tractor video if the Lord could just bring them together that day... The prayers aren't just at the dinner table. Aden has been known to pray as he is wandering around the house, while he is playing with his toys and even while he is in the bathtub. While they still are not always clear, we are starting to hear more of mommy, daddy, Wiley and of course Bubu Jim. His method is a little different than what you may be used to. After saying Amen, or sometimes in place of Amen, he usually claps his hands and says "Yay!" What a blessing it is to see him beginning to learn that prayer is part of our everyday lives. We seem to have a little prayer warrior on our hands.

Mommy, Watch!! ... Daddy, Watch!! ...

One of Aden's favorite's words around the house these days is "Watch!" He wants everyone to watch everything he does. Through most of the waking hours, we hear "Mommy, Watch!!", "Daddy, Watch!!" and even "Wiley, Watch!!" Now, what are we watching, you might ask. It may just be rolling one of the many trucks from his fleet (that he received for Christmas. It seemed to have been the Year of the Truck.) across the coffee table. It may be putting a book on the couch. However, the most common thing to "watch" involves balancing. Aden loves to balance things on top of other things. Recently it has been (again) one of his trucks on the arm or the back of the couch or chair. In the bathtub, it was his washcloth on his knee while he moved his knee up and down. (Don't try this at home!) By far, the most impressive balancing act that Aden has though involves his blocks. We have included some photos for your amazement. He seems to have a steady hand, and just when you think there is no way he can get another block on with it swaying like it is, he gets two or three more. His record is twelve blocks high. And that, my friends, was enough to call up the neighbors to come over to hear him say "Ah-Bu (Uncle Bill), Watch!! ... Baca (Aunt Marsha), Watch!!"

Joah is Coming To Town...

Well, we did wake up at the crack of dawn on Christmas morning but it was just another morning for Aden and Wiley. We did our morning rituals and still didn't notice the presents that were under the tree. After about an hour, Aden finally noticed some wooden blocks that were under the tree and not wrapped. What's this? And so it began, the discovery of what all of these wrapped boxes had inside of them. We started with the stockings, which took quite a bit of time as Aden wanted to examine and play with each item for awhile before moving onto the next item. This carried over into the wrapped presents and after a few hours we had finally made it through everything and it was nap time. I think Wiley ate twice and slept through most of the morning's events. It was still a special time as we watch our boys grow up and experience Christmas. Aden is very aware of "Baby Jesus" easily identifying him in all manger scenes and books. Now you may be wondering about the title of this story. Well, Aden has a lot of books with Noah in it and pronounces his name as Joah. As you know, Noah is usually depicted with having a big white beard. On first seeing pictures of Santa Claus, Aden immediately began referring to him as Joah. He still does, so it seems that maybe Joah brought presents to our house. Of course he was probably in an Ark instead of a sleigh, and pulled by two of every kind of animal instead of reindeer. We trust you all had a Merry Christmas!

The Christmas parties have begun. We had our annual Missionary Christmas Dinner last night, complete with food, fellowship, singing, games and a visit from Santa Claus himself. Mommy was part of the group that was in charge of the program and she did great getting everyone situated and keeping them entertained, while still managing to feed Wiley even while being up front. She is either becoming a very 'seasoned' nuring mommy or very comfortable in the culture that we live in. Maybe it's both. Santa came with presents for all of the Missionary kids. He put on quite a show as always, and it was enough to scare Aden pretty good. Santa had to tone it down when he gave Aden his gift and try to convince him from behind that beard and red suit that it was really A-Bu (Uncle Bill). Aden loved the gift he received. It was a little dumpt truck, loader, and backhoe. He also loved the toy airplane that he flies around the house. Last night, he played with his dump truck on daddy's lap until he fell asleep. Wiley slept through most of the dinner and as always was passed around through it all (here with one of his namesakes), but also got some fun gifts. Board books, clothes, and a toy car. Both boys also got $10 each. What a special time the Christmas dinner always is. That was just the beginning, as there are events planned for every day through Christmas. We will try and keep you updated.

So There We Were...

Daddy finally got his turn to feed Wiley this week. It was at 2:30am, but you take what you can get. Mommy graciously gave us the opportunity to do this by providing some of her milk in a bottle. Even though part of the reason for doing this was so that Mommy could get more sleep, she couldn't help but get up anyway and document the event with pictures. We don't have it down to where it goes smoothly quite yet. When we first got up, Wiley was of course crying and Daddy was unsuccessfully keeping him quiet. Mommy was holding the bottle under warm water to try and get it to the right temperature. The noise of the crying and the electric water pump that pumps the water from our water tank outside into our taps was too much and within a few minutes, Aden woke up crying and there was all four of us up in the middle of the night! We eventually got Aden back to bed and Wiley fed. He seemed to really like the bottle, downing it in no time. We were all back in bed by 3:30am. So, it wasn't quite like clockwork, but it is great to know that the option is there from time to time.