Spencer's Two.

Dearest Spence,

You are two today.  When you were born, I thought to myself: I think life will be really great when they're two and four.  They will be able to play together, I will be able to shower, they'll talk and argue instead of pooping and urping all over me... and on and on and so forth.

And now we're here.  And I'm not gonna lie, I'm loving watching the two of you be brothers.  You play with Landon every single day.  And for brothers, I would say you two get along just great.  You make each other laugh in a way I know I'll never be able to.  You especially make Landon laugh, even when he's upset or frustrated.  You are such a blessing to him. You guys look out for each other and honestly care about each other.  You talk and giggle and run around every night after I put you to bed, and when I come to check on you later, you're usually curled up together in Landon's bed fast asleep, two cuddling puppy-brothers.  Just like I had always imagined.

But I'm also glad you still like to be the baby, too.  I miss having a newborn right now--even the pooping and urping.  But you still have those soft, chubby, baby cheeks, and I nibble on them every day.  You let me snuggle you every single day when I put you down for naps.  You come and sit on my lap when we watch a show together.  You're not quite obsessed with being a "big boy" yet, like Landon, and I'm okay with that. I don't know exactly when it was that you became such a toddler--but I'm glad I can still see my little Baby Spence in you still.  (At least until I have another newborn, in which case, you will need to grow up immediately... just kidding... sort of.)

You are the fastest running two year old I have ever met.  You are a small little thing, but so coordinated.  You climb on anything you can get your hands and/or feet on.  You can kick and throw balls with stunning accuracy.  You are a toddler of few words--but I just know that one of these days you'll start talking.  I can't wait to get to know you a little bit better then!

I try to think of our family before you came into it, and I honestly can't remember! You just fit in so well, it seems like you've always been here! You are best of buddies with your dad, and you look just like him.  I like that about you.

Last night I couldn't sleep because I was up with a cough, and your big brother kept trying to sneak into our room, so I read your birth story... remembering that it was about that time of night exactly two years ago that you started to make your way into the world.  I was so, so grateful that I had written that entire story out because there were so many details I had forgotten! But when I read it all, it all came flooding back to me.  I honestly remembered the way I felt when I saw you the first time, when I heard you the first time, and when I held you the first time.  And for a few moments I was there re-living it all--just because a story triggered my memory.  And for those few precious moments, Heavenly Father let me feel that joy and pure happiness of meeting my baby for the first time--nothing else matters.  Then your brother came in for the second time and told me he had a bad dream, and I had to come back to earth to deal with "life" again.

I tell you this so that you maybe understand how glad I am that you came into my life and into our family.  Even though you weren't the first, you are so very special to me and dear to my heart.  And your birth was just as precious to me as your brother's.  I can't believe it's already been two years.  You are great.  And your life is great. And I can't wait to see what lies ahead of us!

I love you with all my heart,

Mom

I should be more like Landon.

Lately the main interest Landon has had in praying is getting to be the occasional "boss" of choosing who gets to pray.  Usually he picks Spencer.... the one person in the family who can't talk of course, but whatever.  I'm sure Heavenly Father understands the thoughts and intents of Spencer's heart?

Anyway.

A few evenings ago, I was trying to teach little Spence a lesson at dinner time.  The lesson was: you can't scream at me when asking for food--you must at least attempt to say something even remotely close to "please."  As if we haven't already had that lesson 50 times, but whatever.  Anyway, poor Spence was just losing it.  And I felt bad for him--learning words has been a slow process for him.  He's a very stubborn little thing, and while he's very, very coordinated physically, he just hasn't quite gotten there with the communication thing.  That's a whole different post.

Anyway.

I felt prompted to ask Landon to say a prayer for Spence that he could learn to say please. Being the "awesome" parent that I am, I doubted this prompting.  What if Landon prayed, and Spencer didn't say please?  How would I explain it?  What would the point of that be?  Also, every time we ask Landon to pray, he usually tells us it's not his turn, and I already had one screaming child, I didn't need two.  So I decided I would just say a silent prayer in my head.  Spencer did calm down, and eventually did say something sort of close to "please."  But I still felt bad I hadn't listened to the Spirit.

An hour or so later, when we were putting the boys to bed, I decided to ask Landon to say the family prayer, and I asked him if he thought that maybe Heavenly Father could help Spence learn to say more words.  Landon responded very quickly that he knew that Heavenly Father could help Spence.  Without argument, he folded his arms and closed his eyes and said one of the sweetest prayers I've ever heard him say, including this part: "Dear Heminy Father,  Thank you for my family.  Thank you for my house.  Please bless that Momma and Daddy can have a good day.  Please bless that Spence can have a good day.  Please bless that I could sleep better tonight.  And... please bless that Spence can learn to say please."  After the prayer, I asked him how he felt after praying for someone else.  He told me he felt good.  I asked him if he thought his prayer would work for Spence.  He said it would.

I then said a silent prayer that it would, too.

The very next day after putting the boys in the van when we were leaving the pool, a small flock of birds descended in the parking lot.  Landon said, "Hey! Look at those birds!"  Spence pointed and immediately said, "Bird."--a word he has never ever said before.  We clapped and cheered for him, and he said it multiple times, smiling and clapping for himself.

"Your prayer worked, Landon!  Spence learned a new word!"

Today I left the boys with BK while I ran some errands.  He took them outside to wash the cars.  Spence kept trying to run in the street.  A few minutes later, Landon dropped his sponge and said, "Dad.  I need to say a prayer."  He ran around the van and knelt down and asked BK to join him.  BK agreed, and knelt down next to him, inquiring as to what Landon would be praying about.

"I just want to tell Heavenly Father thank you for the world."

BK told me that Landon's prayer not only included thanking Heavenly Father for multiple things in the world, but also a special request to help keep Spencer safe and that Spencer would stop running into the street.

This whole experience has been mostly the Lord trying to show me that I need to continually act on the promptings of the Spirit.  Teaching Landon to pray for his little brother adds more meaning than only praying at meals.  Teaching him that our prayers really are answered is an important lesson for him to learn.  Teaching him that we should be grateful to our Heavenly Father for all that we have is another important lesson.

Although I wasn't there for the second prayer, I can imagine that Landon's little heart was just full of happiness--washing the car with his Lightning McQueen sponge with his dad in the beautiful weather, laughing and playing in the hose--and he recognized that he was grateful for that happy situation he found himself in.  And that sweet little boy knew he had to drop to his knees in that exact moment to thank Heavenly Father for it all.

I'm not quite sure where he learned that considering I'm not the best example, but it does make me want to keep trying so that he can keep having these experiences in his little life.  In our Adult Stake Conference Meeting tonight the General Authority mentioned parenting by letting the Power of Heaven speak to our children's souls.  I came to that meeting with almost that specific question: How can I better help my children to have a testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ?  What's the most important thing I could focus on right now?  Prayer? Scripture study?  My marriage?  Reverence at church?  The answer came through that simple phrase--allowing my children to have experiences in which the Power of Heaven can speak to their souls.

All of those things I listed are important, but they're important for a different reason than I thought.  We don't do those things so that our children will learn to listen to us.  We do those things so that our children will learn to listen to Him and recognize His voice.  I'm not the one who has all the answers.  I'm not the one who will always be there to remind my sweet boys what the right thing to do is.  My job is to teach them how to recognize the Spirit, so that it can be their constant companion--so that He can be their constant companion.

So that we all can be together forever.
I love when the Gospel just makes sense to me.

March is gone?

Videogames with Dad

 A few weeks ago, Mel & Company came over for a playdate.  At one point the boys decided to play dress up and have a parade.  It was quite entertaining.

 The cow is Spence.

The weather was awesome last week, so we had a couple of swim-playdates!

 Brothers wrestling for the remote--which neither of them are supposed to have in the first place...

 We took a last minute trip to Vegas/St. George for BK's grandma's funeral.  It's always nice to get together and let the kids play.  At one point Tara's family and our family went to Costco for a hot dog dinner.  Landon and T cracked each other up for the entire time telling knock-knock jokes.

 It's fun having babies so close in age.  I'm glad they're such great friends. :)