Sticker Fun

Hello Malcolm Fans!

Were you starting to think I'd never post again?  I've been AFK (away from my keyboard) for the last week or so, enjoying the company of our dear friends, Angela & Nate, who were so kind as to come visit us!

Now I'm catching up on a backlog of cute Malcolm photos.  Here is Malcolm exploring a new favorite toy -- stickers!  It turns out that paper was far to boring a medium for the new craft, and much like finger paint, was best applied directly to the skin.

His skin, my skin . . . the dogs bolted from the room.  Hmm, can't imagine why . . . .

I plan to take full advantage of this delightfully silent toy for our plane ride home to New York in December.  I think about 487 stickers should see us safely entertained for the duration of the flight!

I Got It!!!

It's official!  I got the internship!

In the generous words of my Uncle Lew:

SFX: [Loud applause, whistling, stomping of boots on floor.  Large display of fireworks.  Raucous cheering.  (Optional: skies open and chorus of angels appears.)]

To celebrate, Matthew fed me Mexican food, and taught Malcolm to say "Woo Hoo!"

A Moment of Grace

(So this evening's blog-entry has no pictures to go with it, but I hope you will take the time to read it, nonetheless, because it shares one of the sweetest moments in my life since Malcolm first slept in my arms.)

As many of you may know: tomorrow is a very big day for me.  I will have my final interview for the Child Life Internship position.  There were over 100 applicants for this session, and they usually take about 3 interns.  Yikes!  But I've made it to the final round, so tomorrow's interview will decide it.  Besides being a wonderful chance to learn hands on skills, this internship is a mandatory step to becoming certified, and being able to work in the field.

So, on to tonight's sweet moment.

Malcolm's bedtime routine is the same every night: we brush our teeth, put on our jammies, then we have 2 books, 2 songs, and a prayer.  We finish up with Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Malcolm turns out the light, and we tuck him into his crib, where he drifts sweetly off to sleep.   We have a few prayers we choose from each night, and tend to go with whatever Malcolm's recent favorite has been.  For a long time, it was the drumming prayer, which Malcolm could drum out the rhythm for, much to all our delights.

For the last several nights, we've chosen one of our favorite Baha'i prayers.  Malcolm sits in my lap (or Daddy's) and I sing the prayer:

"O God, guide me, protect me,

make of me a shining lamp and a brilliant star.

Thou art the Mighty and the Powerful."

Tonight, before I sang the prayer, I said to Malcolm, "Tomorrow is a very special day for Mommy.  When we say our prayer tonight, we can ask God to help me do well at my interview."  Then I began to sing.

And so did Malcolm.

His sweet voice joined with mine, perfectly in tune, though with only a few of the words.  I've never been very good at praying.  It's not a skill that comes to me naturally.  I struggle to feel that connection to the Divine that so many others seem to find so easily in prayer.  But tonight, as Malcolm raised his voice to pray with me, I felt it.  I also felt a sense of awe, humility, gratitude and joy.  My son, not quite yet two years old, is helping me learn to pray.  And that is an amazing thing.