Seay Family Tales. : Month 10: Walking

Our little girl is walking! She took her first steps on January 27th and the first one's all by herself on February 5th. She really did skip the crawling phase. It has opened up a new world for us of adventure, played, pretend, and longer naps! She went from 45 minute naps twice a day to 1.5-2 hour naps twice a day. Walking around is tiring work.
Her favorite things to do are:

Open and close doors boxes, taking things out and putting them back in

Walk around the furniture throughout the main floor of our house. She is especially fascinated by the gate to the kitchen and spends so much time opening and closing it.

Share her food at the table and pull food out of her bib.
Pass around "invisible food" to mom and dad.

Listen to me tinkle and flush when I go to the bathroom. She gets this huge grin.

Have convos with Kia. They will bark back and fourth at each other.
Snuggle in on mom's soft "animal skin" jacket before her naps.

Mom's Favorite things to do with her:

Cuddle with her in the mornings when we are all just waking up.
See her excited face- she scrunches her face, snorts, and inhales and exhales loudly.
Watch her learn to do new things. Whenever Rand and her spend time together it seems like she learns something new! I feel so proud of her as she accomplishes new things and discovers what she is capable of.
Her her say Momma.
Family hugs with her and Rand.
Meal time games.
Dancing with her to the latest tunes.

This month I have felt more weary and I have felt desperate to gulp in deep breathes of grace to make it through some of these long winter days. It seems like there is always something to grieve each day. It could be Ellie waking up early or multiple times during the night and grieving not feeling rested. It could be Kia and her regression in potty training. Having it be too cold to want to leave the house. Not getting to connect with people in the way I long. It could be not getting to connect with Rand in the way I long because we are just wiped. Those just feel like the small daily things, but they are usually in tandem with other deeper griefs. I feel grateful for a heart that is being transformed and that has been able to treat myself with gentleness and compassion this month. My beautiful family is so precious to me and I feel so grateful that my ability to love is growing.