Little Pitchers Have Big Ears

Micah is getting old enough to soak things in SO easily. I'm often surprised by things he does. Or by behaviors of ours he adopts. For so long he's pretty much only 'learned' what we specifically set out to teach him. Now he's old enough to learn just by watching. Which is downright scary. Emily had a post a while back about how her one-year-old passively learned that in their house, shoes go in a basket. It really brought in to focus how insanely, utterly, crucially important it is for Terry and I to be living examples and not just words.

As far as being a shining example goes... We've got some areas down okay, and we really struggle in others. We've made some good decisions; we've made choices to completely eliminate some things from our lives, completely accept others, and we feel good about those choices. But it's a big job-- a scary thing-- to have little eyes watching you at all times. Devouring your actions.

I picked Micah up from a visit at Aunt Kelly's earlier this week and I watched him take a dvd out of the player and wipe it on his pants. I guess he watched someone clean it that way. We have moments like that all the time lately. Moments where I think, "Where did you see/learn that?" And what awful habits of mine are you already picking up and claiming as your own?

What God gently reminded me yesterday is that no one would qualify to be a parent if we were held up to standards of perfection. In truth, God NEVER expects perfection from us. We know he died so we didn't have to be perfect, but could, instead, be forgiven. We are children of a merciful parent.

My favorite image of God is as Abba Father. He knows how it feels to be a parent and to want your children to find their way. He alone was the perfect example, but I can rest assured that in his example, I've been given the perfect manual for raising my own sons.

Having children made Terry and I look so deeply at our lives in order to create the best godly environment, that we've become better people for it. Maybe that's just another perk that God intended when he promised us that children are a blessing.

There is this look Micah gives me sometimes that I know is just a face of mine he's copying. When he's pushing the limit, I give him my "I'm serious, here" face and sometimes, when he feels equally frustrated with me, he returns the squinty-eyed face. It's hard to see your inadequacies mirrored in your offspring! I've got to work on my eye-rolling and telling Terry to shut up (which is done completely in jest). And ever since Micah discovered Sponge Bob I've heard from parents and grandparents alike that it's not the best cartoon. Up until this point Terry and I haven't heard anything disconcerting from Sponge Bob. But, Micah only catches the cartoon a few times a month. Now that he's big enough, though, I've got to pay attention to all the exposure (media and otherwise) he gets and see what he might inadvertently learn.

But I'm sure the biggest changes will be the ones Terry and I personally have to conquer. No matter how hard we try, I'm sure one day we'll still find ourselves saying, "Do as I say, not as I do." Tough stuff, this parenting thing!