Forming My Relationship with Ella

Ella and I have both had a cold the past few days, and I've almost completely lost my voice from it. I've lost my voice so bad that my husband can't really hear me sitting on the next couch over from me. This is the first time that I've lost my voice since I've had Ella, and it made me realize something - I sing to Ella a lot. I sing spiritual songs and educational songs to her. Sometimes I sing crazy things to her that probably only a mom can understand (I'm not kidding when I say I sing songs about changing her clothing or changing her diaper, but you do what you do to make a baby smile!).

Losing my voice also made me realize that I talk to Ella a lot. I talk to her about many different things ranging from the silly to the serious. I know you are probably thinking, how serious can a conversation with a 9-month old be? But honestly, I talk to her about things she doesn't understand yet and things she won't understand for many more years to come, but a large part of my conversation with her is a training process for me. I need to be able to talk to her about silly things and about serious things. I need to be able to talk to her about physical things and spiritual things. I need to be able to talk to her not only so I can form a very special relationship with her, but also so that my husband and I can bring her up in the Lord.

In a Christian parenting book I read recently called Your Mama Don't Dance, the authors (Glenn and Cindy Colley) make the point that parents who get the attention of their teens are the parents who gave attention to their toddlers. It is important to me to start forming my relationship with my daughter now, while she is still young. I highly recommend Your Mama Don't Dance- this book has given me many great ideas for raising children in the Lord. One of the authors, Cindy Colley, also has a blog you might want to check out.