Proud moments...

I've had a couple recently.

A couple of days ago we sat down to eat breakfast and reached for each others' hands to pray. Before Chris could begin praying we hear Ryan say, "Ga i guu" (God is good). Seriously? Brought tears to my eyes. He must have learned it from Anna-Kate saying the prayer she learned at school. Both of my kids do really well waiting to eat until we pray, holding hands and keeping their eyes shut while praying (well, not Ryan the whole time. Not that I'm looking...). Ryan always concludes with "amn" (it's all one syllable).

***

Today we were playing outside. Ryan is totally into being independant on the ladder/slide. Like, I went over to stand behind him to make sure he didn't fall and he shook his head no and pointed for me to go sit down. Hmm. Anna-Kate said, "I'll watch him mommy". She was precious. She stood right behind him, not touching him, but with her hands up and about 4 inches away from his back (just like she's seen me doing). When he got to the top she ran to the bottom of the slide to "catch" him. She did this 3 or 4 times, not even going herself. I called her over to me to thank her for being such a helper and doing such a good job. I gave her a big kiss and told her she was my best helper. I can't even tell you the look of happiness and pride on her face (Note to self, make a point of praising the good much more than criticizing the bad!). The next time she "helped" Ryan she looked at me to get an approving word or smile. I waved and said "good job", then she said, "call me over mommy!" I told her to come on and asked what she needed. She said, "you need to tell me good job and I a helper". Lol.

She then proceeded to teach Ryan the finer points of swinging on your belly. He loved it.

And, it's good for me. No more pushing...