Mr. Personality!

Ok, I am sure you all know already, but I think I have the most adorable little boy! That is why I am including so many photos this time. They crack me up and remind me of how blessed I am. Just look at that belly sticking out as he wears his TT hat while he welcomes daddy home!

As he grows up, I am amazed at how much his little personality is starting to develop. It is hard to believe, but I am sure I am only seeing the tip of the iceberg of his personality. I look back on our memories we've had with him, but look forward to each new day, to see how he transforms into a wonderful toddler, great kid, and fine young man.

So, his personality is become so cute. He really likes to be funny and be laughed at, as well as play fun games and laugh at things. He puts his bowls upside-down on his head and laughs (he usually waits until they are empty, except for a few crumbs). Then he will put them on our heads and laugh. He is loving the game peek-a-boo. If you watched our video, you can see how cute and funny he thinks he is. And he is cute and adorably funny! When we are talking to my parents on Skype, he will run behind the arm of the couch and duck out of the view. Then he will pop up, say Coo-coo and laugh. He loves to laugh. When he is watching his Baby Einstein video, he will momentarily look up at us during a funny time, just to get our attention so that we can giggle with him. Daddy likes to make loud "Boo" noises to scare Mommy and Canaan. Canaan thinks it is hysterical. And he loves to splash in the bathtub when Daddy is giving him a bath; I think it is half way because he thinks it is funny, and half way because he knows Daddy thinks it is funny and wants to laugh with him. It is just great! He gives us more reasons to laugh and smile, which is supposed to be very healthy for you, right?!

He is also showing his personality in other ways. He has realized that he has the choice to obey in many situations (there are more and more new ones each day with all that he is learning and getting into). So, he is exercising his ability to choose the opposite of what Mommy has said in some of these situations, and learning what consequences are. This is a little frustrating to Mommy, but she is learning that she needs to be more consistent so that she won't have to prove that she means what she says so much. (Mommy side-note: It is hard to be a consistent Mommy-especially when you are trying to decide what to make a big deal about and what not to.) So, we see his strong will pop out more these days too. But it is all just very neat to me as I watch my little boy grow up. It will be interesting to see what hobbies he likes, sports he enjoys, school subjects he loves/hates, how tall he will become, what style clothes he will wear, what job he wants to pursue, etc. But as Dougle and I pray over his bedside every night, we are reminded that the most important thing is that he become a follower of Christ. Everything else we will love about him, whether we like it or not, just because he is our son. But becoming a disciple of Christ, that is what matters most, and that is what we hope most to instill in him as he grows up. All that we are doing now in raising him is all for the purpose of him knowing Christ when he is older. And whatever else comes in addition, is all bonus features. Wow, being a parent is amazing, and a lot of responsibility too! But it is all worth it (at least from what I can tell in my 16 months of experience)!

Ok, so the pictures... (remember, click on them and they get bigger).

Canaan smelling the flowers -I though was too cute to pass up. He loves to smell flowers, something he learned in Bible class at Sunset- I think it is part of their Creation curriculum- God made the flowers on day 3. They hold them and smell them and thank God for them. Anyway, he doesn't say a word for flower, but he sniffs really loud when he sees them. He loves to touch and smell them!

Canaan and the Sheets- I was drying our sheets on our drying rack. He loves to run through it with clothes on it, but this was an especially cool situation, because it was set up like a tunnel. Of course, he thought it was just for him. He ran through it so much that I got out my camera to take a picture. When he saw that, he wanted to play with me...peek-a-boo, of course!