How handsome am I?

Going to the opera with my wife, dressed in a suit and tie.

Zach (who is exceedingly sweet) exclaims to me, "Dad, you are SO HANDSOME!!!"

"Thanks Zach," I reply, "that makes me feel good."

Duck out to get something, come back in the room. Zach, again, "Dad, you are SO handsome. You're as handsome as ME!!!"

I guess good looks run in our family...

Chronological Age vs Perceived Age

My youngest, Judah, just turned two. I got up with him that morning and we were cuddling on the couch as I began to explain that it was his birthday.

"h'py bthday" he said, smiling.

"You're two now, Judah. Can you say two?"

He looked at me with a grin and said, quite distinctly, "SIX!"

I fear what this portends...

Still more theological discussions with Hope...

Putting Hope to bed a month or so ago, Hope announces - "I don't believe in God."
Me: "Why not, Hope?"
H: "I can't see Him."
Me, blowing on her face: "Did I breathe on you?"
H: "Yes."
M: "Did you see my breath?"
H: "No."
M: "But you saw the effects?"
H: "Yes."
M: "God is like that. You don't see Him, but you see the effect that He has."
Maybe all those years of seminary paid off if I can explain faith to a four year old...

Understanding baby-talk...

On the way back from ECFE after Judah had been in the baby room. Hope had just recently gone to somebody's birthday party and so she was talking about who she wanted to invite to her birthday party when Judah interrupted. Hope interpreted accompanied by gales of laughter from all three of the kids -
J: "bu bu ba bu bu bu"
H: "Oh yes, Judah"
J: "bu ba ba ba"
H: "You want to invite the baby class to your birthday party?"
J: "bu bu bub bu"
H: "You want a big cake at your birthday party?"
J: "bu bu ba bu bub bub "
H: "Oh yes, Judah?"
J: "bub ubub ba bu"
H: "And then you want to invite more babies from your baby class?"

More theological conversations with Hope...

Driving somewhere today, Hope is chattering about Robbers. Not quite sure where that came from. Suddenly she asks me, "Dad, does God love Robbers."
"Yes Hope, God loves Robbers. He does not love what they do, but He loves Robbers."
"Dad, what do Robbers do?"

Superman! Or Batman! Or Spiderman!

Zach LUVS superheroes. I believe his favorite is currently Spiderman (who he often is). "My Spiderman. You Batman." So I get to play along. He has superhero pajamas (he and I both have Superman pajamas, which makes him inordinately proud) and it is sometimes a struggle to get him to take them off in the morning to change into his 'day clothes'. In fact if you see him wearing them under his shirt, don't be surprised.

Zach still however has troubles with his "s", so Spiderman comes out Piderman which has led to some fascinating conversations...
Z - "My Piderman."
H - "Piderman?"
Z - "No, Piderman!"
H - "Piderman?"
Z - "No, Piderman!"
H - "Did you say Piderman?"
Z - "No! Piderman!"
At which case parental intervention is necessary...

Theological discussions with Hope...

Talking to my wife ->
"Mom, why can Owls hear what is underneath the snow?"
"Because God made them that way so that they can find the mice and eat them."
"But God made the mice, too."

He's a Rocker...

Judah has not quite figured out how to crawl. He has the basic idea, but his belly gets in the way. Sometimes he even pushes himself AWAY from his target (occasionally my hair which appears for some reason to be his Holy Grail) and gets frustrated. However, he has come up with a solution - he rolls one way until he is on his side, pivots slightly, and then rolls the other. Not the fastest, but effective nonetheless.

I don't think there is going to be a clear delineation between crawling and not crawling as there was with Hope & Zach, more a gradual move from rocking to crawling. He definitely loves to be mobile!

Hope discovers the joy of reading...

This actually started a couple of weeks ago, shortly before she turned five. She proudly read a book. Now she has gone through a few of them. They are all very short words (like "See Spot Run") but it is exciting to see her get started. I don't have the heart to tell her that once she starts she is going to have a hard time stopping.

Picture from this week - Hope and Zach sitting at the breakfast table. Bowls of cereal at the ready, chomping away. Each of them has a book open and they are intently poring over it during the entire breakfast time. Probably time to bring forward the rule that I grew up with - no books at the dinner table!

My only concern with her reading is my old worry that she will expect to pick it up too quickly. How do you teach a child perseverance?

Hope turns FIVE!!!

Wow! It seems like only yesterday that she was born, it is still so vivid. But yes, my eldest just turned five. In so many ways she has grown so that she almost seems a completely different person from the brand new baby that I held, but she is still the same...

Next year she goes to Kindergarten, the only question is which one. It is nice to have so many good options to choose from. Should we keep her in her current school which is in walking distance, but is private, or send her to the French Immersion, or to another? Had a tour of the French Immersion today, very impressive!

Strange to look back at how time has passed. I have been very lax in updating this, so I am going to stick in a bunch....

Now THAT is what I call imagination!

This actually happened over a year ago, back when Hope was about 3 and doing a "Creative Movement" class. One day when I went to pick her up her dance instructor came out giggling. The story goes like this -

All the kids were supposed to be dancing around pretending to be trains. And they all were. Except for Hope. She was simply standing there.

Concerned, her instructor went over and asked why Hope was not dancing like a train. This was her response:

"Well, you see, I am a passenger train. And the animals of all my passengers stayed up too late last night. So all my passengers are sleeping in, and I can't leave until they get here."

Now THAT is imagination!

Pray for Trains...

Zach is so train crazy it is hilarious - although I must note that he appears to prefer Gordon over Thomas. Maybe because Gordon is the EXPRESS!!!

Anyway, one of his Sunday school teachers came up to me laughing to assure me that the trains were getting prayed for. I guess everytime they ask the kids what they want to pray for Zach says, "TRAINS!!!"

So the trains are covered...

I am hoping that we can go out to Seattle on a train this fall, but we shall see. I still remember train rides as a boy with joy and I think this would be a thrill for both him and Hope.

When they learn TOO well to encourage ...

My wife and I tend to encourage our children when they do something we want, such as, "good job using your fork" or "good job saying thank you."

Overheard the other day our 4yr old saying to our 2yrold very encouragingly - "Good job coughing in your milk while drinking it."

Who pulls the switch?

Maggie went in to get Zach from his nap today and the brilliant sun had broken through the window. Zach's happy quote, "The sun turned on!"

The Big Boy

Recently Zach has made some major strides in his concept of himself as a "big boy". Two of note are his potty seat and his car seat.

Zach has been pretty well potty trained for a year or so, which is exceedingly advanced for a boy from what I understand. But we had to have a smaller potty seat simply because while he is big it is a little scary to sit on a toilet that you might fall into. However, he has continued in his amazing growth and now he can sit on the toilet without the potty seat, in fact he can not fit on the potty seat at all. He is very proud!

What makes him even more proud is the fact that he has graduated to a Booster seat. We are trying to squeeze three car seats into a narrow back, and because he is tall enough and weighs enough we have moved him into a Graco Booster.

Talk about PROUD!!! With a capital "P". The first time that he rode in it he was so excited that he did not want to get out, just wanted to sit in it an savor being such a big boy.

He is SO CUTE!!!

What can Hope do?

A couple of weeks ago Hope was putting on her one-piece footy pajamas, the kind that zips from the neck down to one of the feet.

She was putting it on by putting her arms in first, and then trying to maneuver in her legs. Noting that this is not the proper, or feasible, way to do it (one should do feet first because otherwise the second leg needs to get twisted up in a bizarre angle to fit into its slot), I told her, "Hope, I don't think you are going to be able to do that."

"Daddy, I can do it." She replied instantly looking at me in the eye, "I can do anything."

I bet she can.

Zachariah's first taste of wine...

A couple of days ago I was sitting having dinner with my family when my 2 1/2 year old, Zach, expressed interesting in tasting my wine. "My taste." was the exact phrase.

My initial reaction was, "Noooooooooo", but my wife prevailed upon me convinced that he would not like it.

I must note that it was not a particularly good wine, viable for dinner but not necc for strict enjoyment. It was no surprise that upon taking a sip a look of utter horror crossed poor Zach's features and he quickly downed some water to wash away the taste.

Now he declares that when he is a daddy he will drink wine (but not before). The sad part about this is the next bottle that I opened a couple of days later was "Red Truck", a fairly yummy wine which (critical to a 2 1/2 yr old boy) had a label with a big, red truck on it.

I am not sure if he would have prefered the "Red Truck" wine any better, but I don't think that I am going to pursue it. At least not until he is 3.

;-)

A list of what I can drink (according to my daughter)

At dinner one night (horrified that I was drinking tea and not wine), my daughter listed what I was allowed to drink:

"Wine, Beer, Coffee and Tea."

I think that about sums it up, don't you?

No tea for me, thank you...

My daughter was horrified to watch me drink tea at the table.

"Dad, you can't drink tea for dinner. You have to drink wine."

When she gets old enough for an allowance, I am giving her a raise!

Baseball Player and Home Team

Zach regularly requests songs - "choochoo song", "baseball song", etc. The baseball song is the traditional 'Take me out to the ball game...'

Yesterday as we were snuggling he looked at me and said, 'My baseball player, you Home Team..."

I don't think he quite gets the idea, but it is very cute!

MONSTER TRUCKS!!!

Zach has discovered a new love - Monster Trucks!!! Right now they rank up there with Race Cars and Choo-choos.

I told him that they have "Monster Truck Rallys" and that maybe we could go to one.

Maggie did not look too thrilled at the idea...

;-)