Celebrating Christmas

A few ways we’ve been celebrating Christmas around here with a preschooler:

Reading the Christmas story from The Jesus Storybook Bible or from The Story of Christmas most days before naptime.  Sometimes we’ll add in a Christmas carol or two. 

Playing Hide and Seek.

Getting ready to give gifts.  Wrapping.  Shaking. Guessing what’s under the tree.  Encouraging Mommy to open her presents early (which hasn’t happened).  Caleb is also starting to realize that letters make words, so he understands that if a present has a label starting with L, it’s for Luke, etc. 

Making and eating Christmas cookies.  If we have time today, we’ll package some up for our neighbors.  These cookies were great for Caleb to make almost all by himself.  He had a blast unwrapping all the Rolos! (He is his father’s son.  He unwrapped all the gold ones first, then the green, and then the red.)

Decorating for Jesus’ birthday party:

And decorating some more…

And some more.  Caleb wanted to keep making these, so they are everywhere!

   Making a cake for Jesus’ birthday party:

We’ll be throwing a birthday party for Jesus today before we head out to see family and celebrate some more.  Have a great Christmas!

P.S. Caleb has been asking about going to Grandpa’s house for a week, about 20 times a day.  “Caleb, we’re going on a car ride to the store.  Let’s get your boots on.” “Grandpa’s house?”  or “Caleb, eat your peas". “Grandpa’s house?”  In the process of explaining when we’ll be going to Grandpa’s house, Caleb has starting learning the days of the week.  “Twosday…Threeday!”

Hide and Seek: Christmas Edition

We’ve been playing a Christmas version of Hide and Seek the past few days.  Here’s how it works: Take Jesus from your nativity set and hide him. Take a star ornament from your tree and put it somewhere above Jesus.  Then go find Jesus! 

The Box that Became a House

Yesterday Caleb decided to build a house out of the box.   Bedtime.

Suppertime.

Thankful today that turning a box into a house is simply a fun way to play and not a harsh reality!  

Baby Jesus

This Christmas season, I’ve been reflecting on the fact that Jesus—the Savior, Creator, King—came as an infant.  An infant whose Mama could have dropped him on his head, or not responded immediately to his cry, or misinterpreted his cries and didn’t feed him when he was hungry.  Who knows… the chickens in the barn could have started pecking at him and although he could have fought back with his God-powers, he chose to be a helpless, vulnerable infant whose only defense was to cry.  The God who sees inside everyone’s heart committed himself to be an infant who couldn’t even see across the room.  The God who knows the ultimate best committed himself to be a sinless, obedient child of young, inexperienced, and sinful parents.

So what?

Through Christ coming as an infant, I see…

…God’s power to bring about his plan. Jesus survived all manner of hazards (high infant mortality rates, absentminded chickens(?), and King Herod) and accomplished his purpose on earth.

…Jesus trusting his Father. Can you picture the scene if Jesus didn’t trust God the Father?  “You want me to be a baby? in diapers? in a barn? in unsanitary conditions? to a teenage girl? to a poor family? What if she drops me on my head? What if the chickens peck at my eyes? What if…” Instead, Jesus was a healthy baby (despite high infant mortality rates and unsanitary conditions), survived to adulthood (escaping King Herod’s killing spree), and died at God’s allotted time and in God’s plan.  (Anyone else ready to celebrate Easter?)  

Glory to God! I marvel at the way you work, Lord. 

Christmas Shopping

One more reason to shop online:

 

(You know you’re loved when you get one of these hugs!)

 

In addition to playing with boxes on Christmas day, you get to play with them before Christmas!

8 months

Sophia

8 months old, 5.5 teeth, 2 naps, orange (but not green) veggies, applesauce (but not bananas), sensitive tummy, sunny disposition, loves chasing her brother, 

Loved.

Jesus Storybook Bible

I’ve mentioned The Jesus Storybook Bible before.  It’s been part of Caleb’s bedtime routine for almost a year now.  Caleb often requests it during the day as well.  When we started reading it, Caleb was too young to sit for an entire story, so we would abbreviate the stories or simply look through the pictures.  All that to say, it’s been a great resource for our family.  Yesterday I came across several youtube animations of the Christmas story as it’s told in The Jesus Storybook Bible.  Check them out if you’re interested in the book, need a few minutes of entertainment, or you just want to hear the Christmas story told with a British accent. 

Snowmen (and boy)

 

Acorn eyes, carrot noses, stick arms…snowmen!

Someone looking through the window wishing she could join in the fun. 

Expensive Entertainment

This time someone else paid the bill.

What a difference 2 years makes.

January 2009

December 2010

Sophia

    Confusion

Curiosity

Joy

Celebrating Thanksgiving

This past Thanksgiving weekend, we spent Thursday at home:

eating pumpkin pancakes, smiling, baking, relaxing

and enjoying Thanksgiving dinner with the fancy plates. 

On Friday, we traveled to my parents’ place, where we enjoyed their company,

their toys,

their books,

and their carpet. 
(Sophia’s trying to figure out how to move on carpet in this picture.)

By the time we were at Luke’s parents’ place on Saturday, Sophia had figured out how to crawl on carpet and get to those toys she desperately wanted to eat.  Luke also found his shoebox full of old track medals, his boy scout badges, and his old piggy bank.  We also discovered his high school ID badges, which have some awesome pictures on them.

We have much to be thankful for—tiny new family members, family that lives close enough to visit, good books, good toys, good food, siblings that play with our kids, one child who sleeps in the car.  We are rich.

Thanksgiving Gift Bag

If I were an interior decorator, I’d have used something other than a gift bag that someone else gave to us (and my table would be clean).  If I were more prepared, I’d have labeled it with 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.  As it is, I was happy that we were able to celebrate Thanksgiving with more than turkey and pie.  This year, I pulled a gift bag out of our stash at the beginning of November, prepared a stack of colorful cards, and began writing down what we were thankful for each day.

On Thanksgiving we read the cards while enjoying pumpkin pancakes.  We ended up with things like:

• jumping on Daddy (one of Caleb’s favorite ways to play with Daddy)
• bananas, sushi, bean sprouts, and taste buds to enjoy these things
• that Deborah makes it possible for me to sleep in
• Luke
• sunny November days and discovering new parks
• good, silly books to read (Skippyjon Jones)
• communion
• somersaults
• quiet evenings at home
• that the sink, a few spice jars, and a measuring cup is so entertaining for Caleb.
• Dad-his hope in God, his sacrificial love
• generous friends
• naptime
• playing at Joey’s house
• sharing and enjoying a beautiful view of the moon with Caleb
• God’s perfect timing

What a reminder of all the (big and little) ways God gives us way more than we deserve each day.

Treasure Hunt

God has loaned me two treasures with the names Caleb and Sophia. The following video will share a bit of them with you. Here are some of the things that made me smile while I watched this:

• Sophia's creative "crawling"
• Caleb offering commentary for the video
• Sophia chasing Caleb
• Caleb's rainbow
• Sophia getting stuck between the table and the chair
• Sweet giggles between siblings
• Big smiles from Sophia
• Sophia making the sound of the letter "A" (and Caleb pointing out that fact)

New Tricks

Sophia's moving! She's still planning on living with us, but she now has the privilege of inching her way across the floor on her own. She alternates between an army crawl, a scoot, a gyroscopic roll, and magic. How did you get there? This is eerily reminiscent of Caleb's early attempts at crawling.

And Caleb has several of his own tricks he'd like to share:

Daily Highlights

Today: Sunshiny picnic in the park with friends.  No coats in this 60 degree November weather!

Yesterday: Discovering a new (to us) park in the 60 degree November weather.

Sunday: Celebrating the time change by making cinnamon rolls (since we were up anyway).

Saturday: Sushi date with Luke.  Running a 5k.  Playing in leaves with Caleb.

Friday: Umm, I don’t know if I can remember that far back.

And because pictures need to be posted:

Caleb enjoying his Halloween loot.

Thankful

I started this post last week, so even though it’s a bit out of date, I thought it’d be appropriate to start off November remembering a few things I’m thankful for. 

It’s been one several of those weeks that reminds me of how much I have to be thankful for.  You may not want to read all this, but it’s good for me to remember how faithful God is in the daily stuff. 

• Thankful for friendly neighbors who jumpstart my car
• Thankful for an auto repair budget and an auto mechanic with a kid-friendly waiting room (and cookies too)
• Thankful for a reliable car that doesn’t leave me stranded
• Thankful for previous experiences with cars that did leave me stranded so that I know how to jumpstart a car
• Thankful that we had been planning and saving to replace our roof before the hail storm hit
• Thankful that our roof has a simple, straightforward design so they squeezed us in on a Saturday instead of having to wait a month to get it replaced
• Thankful for parents and others who showed us how to manage money
• Thankful Sophia still smiles even when she misses a nap
• Thankful that bedtime usually doesn’t take 2-4 hours
• Thankful for mornings without an agenda that I can spend playing with my kids and playdoh
• Thankful for mornings with an agenda so I don’t drive my kids crazy (and they don’t drive me crazy)
• Thankful for a washing machine that quickly makes the awful spit-up smell disappear
• Thankful that we were able to get our fence repaired after a tree limb fell on it
• Thankful that the other tree limb that fell the day after our fenced was fixed didn’t damage the fence
• Thankful for neighbors who shared their sidewalk chalk with Caleb, prompting a new activity and hours of entertainment/learning
• Thankful that Caleb loves to help, even if it’s just pressing the start button on the microwave
• Thankful for naptime when everyone in the house naps
• Thankful for a warm, cozy house on windy days
• Thankful for friends who come over and play
• Thankful that Sophia seems to be past her allergic reaction to who knows what (and thankful it was a mild reaction)
• Thankful for sunshine, crunchy leaves, and afternoon walks

I think I could go on and on.

I hope it doesn’t sound like I’m saying half of these things in jest.  I really am thankful for them.  I may have preferred that our money go to other places than into our car and house, but I am thankful for our car and house and all the ways God has provided as we take care of them.  I wish that Sophia hadn’t had an allergic reaction, but I am thankful that doctors and medicine are readily available. 

Halloween: Part 2

Hopefully, I’ll have just as many posts about Thanksgiving as I have about Halloween.

Grandma helped us carve pumpkins this year, and Caleb discovered that jack-o-lanterns make great puzzles!

Caleb got to dress up as a construction worker this year.  We heard a lot of: “Oh how cute.  Bob the Builder.”  But since Caleb has no idea who Bob the Builder is, we just left it as a guy with tools.  He’ll probably still be wearing this costume at Thanksgiving he loves it so much.  He loved walking with his flashlight attached to his tool belt, lighting his way to the next house when we went trick-or-treating.  We went to just a few houses around ours and actually met neighbors we haven’t met in the five years we’ve lived here.    

Decked out with his hard hat, tool belt, tool box, and tools.  This is the face we get when we tell Caleb to smile.  Isn’t it lovely?

Caleb’s candy stash.

  Caleb enjoying his one treat for the evening. 

Caleb explaining the best method for cutting plastic “wood” with a plastic saw to Sophia.  

And in case you’re wondering…Sophia got to be her lovely self for the Halloween festivities.  Plenty cute enough, if you ask me!

Halloween

The beginning of the sugar rush…

 

And if you’re looking for a last minute costume idea…

Take a salad spinner and voila: old-school hair salon.  

Pumpkin Decorating

I was debating how much pumpkin decorating to do with Caleb this year.  Painting?  Carving?  How much will he want to do?  How much will he want me to do?  What would be fun? 

So we were sitting at the table playing with playdoh with the naked pumpkins right there waiting for some decoration when inspiration hit:

Caleb had fun.  It wasn’t messy.  You can start over if you make a mistake.  The worst part?  Putting the playdoh away.  I suppose if you want to sacrifice a jar of playdoh, you could leave it on the pumpkin.  The best part?  We can do it again tomorrow if we want.  Or we can carve them later in the week!

Chalk

  Sidewalk chalk has been a frequently requested activity around here over the past few weeks.  Our neighbor introduced Caleb to its wonders, and since then we’ve been enjoying the warm, dry afternoons jumping on letters of the alphabet, counting, drawing simple shapes, and just getting messy. 

Caleb also loves finding letters all over the place (at the grocery story, in the car, in books…).  One place is his hand.  Can you find the “Y” that he sees? 

Creator

Heard on the car ride home from church today:

Me (holding up an inverted "U" with tissue paper stuck to it): "This is a beautiful rainbow Caleb. What did you learn about today at church?"

Caleb: Snack.

Me: Did you hear a story about Noah? What did Noah do?

Caleb: Boat.

Me: What happened?

Caleb: Rain, rain rain!

Me: A lot of rain or a little bit of rain?

Caleb: Lots.

Me: What did Noah do after he got out of the boat?

Caleb: Thunder! Boom boom boom!

Me: Yep. I bet there was lots of thunder when it was raining. Caleb, who makes rainbows?

Caleb: Caleb!

Me (laughing): Yep, I suppose that's true. You did make a very nice rainbow. Who puts rainbows in the sky?

Caleb (thinks for a moment): God!

6 months

Happy half birthday, Sophia!

You are a joy to have around.  I’m thankful that I’ve been able to share in all the days God has given you already. 

In the last several months, you’ve earned a few extra names:

• Little Gyroscope – when you spin, turn, and roll your way across the room
• Miss Sunshine – at 5 am when you’re really happy to see another face
• Miss Tootsalot –at 1 am and 3 am and…
• Fia!! – when Caleb wants a playmate.  It’s also a common refrain in the morning when I go in to get Caleb up for the day.  He loves to see you first thing in the morning and have you read our morning story with us.
• Miss Persistence – when you find another leaf to stuff in your mouth and when you successfully eat a Cheerio all by yourself after trying again and again and again
• Punk Rocker – for your mohawk.  I’m trying to decide between pink barrettes and purple hair dye.  Halloween is coming up…. (With Caleb’s mohawk, we simply cut it when it got too long.  What do you do with girl hair at this age?  And no, this is still not an option.) 

Miss Sunshine (with a toothy grin)

  Miss Bank-Robber-In-Training
(otherwise known as “Mommy hasn’t gotten me a girly hat yet”)

General Sophia update:

• Close to dropping her 3rd nap during the day.
• Not close to sleeping through the night. at all.  I don’t think she’s slept through night once since I wrote about it last.
• Started eating some solid food, but isn’t very interested.  She’s very interested in getting Cheerios in her mouth, but not very excited about actually eating them. 
• Tries to get up onto her knees into a crawling position, but it’s rather difficult on our wood floors, so she usually ends up scooting backwards and stuck underneath chairs.
• Loves sitting up and watching everything that’s going on.

Good Manners

In honor of my mom, who taught me which fork to use for what when there are three forks at my place setting… and how to eat spaghetti politely… and how to use chopsticks… and how to wait to start eating dessert until everyone is served, I thought I’d review a few children’s books on the subject.

Achoo! Good Manners Can Be Contagious is a fun, modern approach to manners. 3 simple rules taught by farm animals who then learn the golden rule is more important than any other rule. While I don’t agree that good manners will solve all the world’s problems (as the happy ending in this book suggests), I do appreciate its focus on being kind to others as the most important social “rule.”

The Polite Elephant by Richard Scarry definitely falls into the classic book category and it follows a more traditional approach to teaching manners. The polite elephant is held up as an example of what to do when playing, eating, saying hello, etc. I hope Caleb learns to be a gentleman on par with the polite elephant!

Caleb loves both of these books, and the benefit of reading them has been opening conversation with Caleb that we wouldn’t otherwise have. We’ve been teaching Caleb to say “please” and “thank you” even before he could verbalize those thoughts, but these books take good manners a bit further and help me consider what else we should be teaching Caleb. Incidentally, Caleb didn’t know he could chew with his mouth open until we read Achoo! Maybe we should just stay away from the books…

But from this video, it looks like we’d better keep reading. We have a lot of work to do.

Family Pictures

Quality.

Sophia’s looking at a puppy.  Caleb wants to climb up a wall (literally).  And we’re just trying to hold it together until the camera clicks.  Maybe we should hire a professional.  or maybe we should just enjoy the hike.  We did get a few good pics of individuals, just not the whole family.

This is one of my favorites: 

We enjoyed another hike through Palisades last weekend (over a week ago), crunching leaves, hunting acorns and acorn hats, walking along retaining wall balance beams.  Hiking with a two-year-old is both fun and frustrating.  He slows us down enough that we notice and enjoy things we would otherwise have missed, but it’s a bit difficult to be amazed by the 26th acorn he’s picked up.