Wherein I gush with parental pride

I am so proud of my daughter. It is exciting to see her personality emerging and the goodness of her heart being expressed throuh her actions.

She loves to share with her little sister. Although sometimes this is problematic (say, when there's an extra Easter basket or rice heat pack to share), Abbie is getting really good at making sure Karis has a toy to play with. Whenever Karis cries, Abbie is the first to bound over to her, coo "Oh, Karis!" and give her a comforting hug and kiss (before commanding, "Mommy, feed Karis!"--ha!)

Abbie has also been practicing doing very grown-up things lately. She's working on getting her baby doll into a nap routine; she puts her in a diaper, nurses the baby, then puts the baby to sleep in Karis' bassinet. Then she announces to me in a whisper "Baby sleeping." The best part, of course, is watching her sit in my rocking chair and nurse her baby. I must be raising her right!

And then there's her frequent desire to pray. As a family, we've always prayed before meals and before bed, but recently I've added prayers once or twice a day for sick people in our church, or just people who are on my heart. Apparently, this has inspired Abbie. Sometimes in the middle of a meal she'll reach out her arms to Matt and me and say "Pray!" Then we all hold hands, bow our heads (yes, she bows her head too) and thank Jesus or tell Him we love Him. Sometimes I'll say, "I love you, Jesus" and she'll add "SO much." !!!!!!!!!!! I love that she understands who Jesus is and knows that she can talk to Him anytime she wants. (So to all the nay-sayers against infant baptism--yes, my 2 year old has indeed been brought into the grace of God and is becoming a disciple of Christ.) She challenges me to grow closer to the Lord, too...and to have faith like a child.