First Steps

Sophia took her first toddling steps this past week, and like the classic story of the second child, I don’t have video.  She’s still pretty shaky on her feet, so maybe when she’s more stable I’ll be able to captures some video and post it.

Letter K

Attribute of God: King of Kings

Bible Story: Heaven
Once again, I used the Jesus Storybook Bible.  I really wanted to come up with something creative, but everything I came up with seemed too cheesy.  It wouldn’t have done heaven justice.  So we kept it simple.  This is what I know Caleb knows about heaven: It’s where Jesus lives.  Jesus is the king of heaven. There won’t be any tears or sadness in heaven; Jesus will take them away.  (I can hardly wait for the day…  )

Song: King of Kings; Hallelujah, Salvation and Glory

Common vocab: kittens, kite, kangaroo, kids, key, kick, kitchen, kind

Food: Kiss cookies

Video: BBC nature videos of kangaroos (like this one)

People we know: Katie H., Katie L.

Activities: Make paper kite, fly a real kite
The expression on Caleb’s face when Luke first got the kite in the air is something I hope I don’t forget for a long time.  Caleb had a lot of fun flying the kite by himself (just like Curious George).  Thankfully, he didn’t fly off like Curious George does in the story. 

And one last activity: Kickboxing.  Literally.

Grocery Lists

Last week, as we were cruising through the grocery story, Caleb spotted donuts. (And not the good donuts, but the donuts that say, “I’m loaded with sugar, and I don’t even taste good.  Why are you eating me?”)  Unfortunately for Caleb, donuts weren’t on his grocery list, so we couldn’t get them. 

The 5 minutes it takes to make a list for Caleb more than pays for itself, especially now that Sophia is taking his spot in the cart.  He gets to be like Mommy with her list, and he gets something to read. It also serves as a useful distraction and as a restraint when day-old donuts start calling his name.

Enrapt

This is what they were watching:

Letter J

Remember Caleb’s imagination? Ever since attending the Pied Piper Woodwind concert (put on by our local symphony), the vacuum extension tubes have turned into a bassoon, and the hammer has turned into a flute.

On another note, Sophia decided she wanted her cheeks to match.

And now on to our letter of the week activities:

Attribute of God: Just (Deuteronomy 32:4, 1 John 1:9)

Bible Story:  Jesus
I’ll admit I was rather lazy this week.  We read a few stories from Caleb’s story Bible and reviewed Joshua and Jericho just for kicks.  I was curious what Caleb thinks of when he hears “Jesus,” so I asked.  Caleb said, “Amen.” 

Song: I’ve Got the Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy…; Joy to the World (nothing like Christmas in March)

Common vocabulary: jazz, jump, jet, Jello, jam, jellyfish, jelly beans, joy

Craft: Read books about jellyfish and then make one (Those are fish getting eaten by the jellyfish, by the way.)

Treat: Jelly Bellies (Caleb sorted and counted them before enjoying them.  Actually he’s been enjoying them for dessert all week.  It’s been a great motivator to finish his food. He’s also noticed the words on each jelly bean, except he shouts “Jingle Bells” instead of “Jelly Belly.” ) 

Give: Take a meal to baby James and his family (Caleb helped make the brownies and carry the gift.) If our friends keep up this trend of naming babies to match with our letter of the week activities, I won’t have to

People we know: Uncle Jon, Joel, Aunt Jenn, Uncle Jason, Joey, James

Great-Grandma

I love these pictures.  I am so thankful for our loving and generous parents and grandparents.  We love you, Great-Grandma!  Let’s read books together again soon!

Reading is Dangerous

Sophia sat down while holding a book.  Ouch.

God Grew Tired of Us

If you’re more of a movie person than a book person and are interested in an eye-opening story, watch God Grew Tired of Us. 

God Grew Tired of Us tells the story of the Lost Boys of Sudan, a group (actually thousands) of boys displaced by the civil war in Sudan.  After reading What is the What, I borrowed this documentary from our library.  It’s definitely an eye-opening story.   Maybe it wouldn’t be as eye-opening for someone who followed this story from the get-go, but most of the “lost boys” would be my peers, meaning I would have been in elementary school (maybe younger) when they lost their homes and families, walked across their country, and started calling a refugee camp home.

If you want to see America with fresh eyes, watch the scenes in this documentary of a group of Sudanese refugees climbing onto a plane, seeing an aerial view of their camp, eating airline food, seeing an aerial view of New York, walking on an escalator, turning on a light switch, going to a grocery story, asking about our Christmas traditions…. These scenes feature both comic and sober moments.

The whole story makes me think back to a video our church showed before Christmas that tried to answer the question, “What is poverty?”  In the video, they defined poverty not by a standard of living, but by relationships.  If you suddenly didn’t have a place to sleep tonight or food to eat today, how long would it take you to find a place to sleep and food to eat?  How many people could you call that could give you these things? How many people could a Sudanese refugee call? 

Anyway…the documentary was well-done.  Interesting and informative.  Not your typical boring high-school-history-class documentary. I’d recommend watching it.

Letter I

Attribute of God: Immanuel.  God is with us.

Bible Story: Jericho…because of Joshua 1:9.  I reinforced the theme that the Israelites didn’t have to be afraid because God was with them.  Grandma and Grandpa (and even Great-Grandma!) got to participate in this one!  The slide turned into the city of Jericho, and the vacuum extensions turned into trumpets. We marched around the city, sounded our trumpets, yelled, and the walls fell down. 

Song: Emmanuel

Common vocab: ice cream, ice, icicle, igloo, iguana, ill, instruments, imagination, idea, icky

Give: Delivered art kit to the hospital foundation office.

Activity: Musical instruments. Nothing really new here, but we did a lot of drumming and trumpeting this week. 

Seems kind of slim this week, but oh well.  I considered helping Caleb make musical instruments, but I decided that he finds enough of those without my help. 

imagination

In honor of letter I week, I thought I’d show what Caleb’s imagination has concocted this week.   

Who needs a fancy play kitchen when you already have a bookshelf?  Who needs an oven mitt when you already have duplo blocks?  Who needs a chef’s hat when you already have a stocking hat?  (Caleb has even gotten Sophia to play along.  “Here, Sophia, have some blueberries!” And Sophia dutifully pretends to eat air.  So cute.)

Who needs to make a trumpet or trombone when vacuum extension tubes will do?  Who needs to make a fancy drum when you have laundry baskets, toy boxes, oatmeal canisters, baking powder cans, walls…

Who needs a phone when you’ve got a domino? 

Who needs a camera when blocks will do?

What is the What

Very rarely does a book inspire me to action.  In this case What is the What by Dave Eggers did just that. 

Reading What is the What made me realize how naïve I am and how blessed I am. Imagine living in a country that has known nine years of peace over the course of fifty years.  Imagine eating one meal a day for years on end.  Imagine losing your parents, family, and home when you’re six years old and not having anyone to turn to.  Imagine calling a refugee tent city home.  Imagine moving to the United States not knowing how to use a refrigerator or freezer. 

After reading this autobiography/novel of one person’s journey through the civil war in Sudan and his life in a refugee camp, I read a series of news articles to see what has happened in the region since the book was published and to learn the outcome of Southern Sudan’s recent vote for independence.  I read some of the country’s history from Wikipedia and browsed the main character’s foundation website.  Proceeds from the book are donated to this foundation.  They’ve built a secondary school among other endeavors.  I also came across this timely series of blog posts, encouraging the support of refugee families coming into Des Moines through this agency.  I also learned more about Christar, a mission agency working with refugees among other things. 

What is the What does an excellent job telling a difficult story, making the unimaginable real, and a clarifying a complex political situation. I’d recommend spending the time to read it. 

Birthday Balloon

Caleb’s not the only one who enjoys the birthday balloon!

Grand Visits

When Grandma’s coming to visit, I don’t hesitate to suggest that Caleb or Sophia ask her to read to them.  Somehow I know she won’t mind.  :) 

This time Caleb got to read one of my childhood favorites Lolly Elephant Says Sharing is Fun. The pages are fuzzy and it was often quoted in our family.  What else is there to say?

Unfortunately I didn’t get pictures of Luke’s parents on their visit.  Sophia was a bit too overwhelmed and snuggly for me to wield the camera.