Best Job in the World

I have the best job in the world. 

Who else gets to splash in a backyard kiddie pool with some of the best people in the world? 

No pictures today.  I was having too much fun splashing. 

Sad Goodbyes

It started with a small tear that gradually grew.  I watched it grow with trepidation, hoping the day it turned into a choking hazard would not come too soon.  Some big crocodile tears were shed this past weekend as a little boy realized his beloved pacifier was broken. 

You may think I sound overly dramatic.  Last year we stupidly and mistakenly tried taking away the pacifier cold turkey, traumatizing the whole family in the process.  (Two year olds should not stay awake until midnight.)

This past Saturday, I was fully expecting to have a long night trying to reteach Caleb how to fall asleep.  Surprisingly, he quickly fell asleep and has slept normally (if not easily) since, aside from a few early mornings. 

We’ve offered to let him keep his dilapidated remnant of a pacifier, but he’s made it very clear that he doesn’t like it. If telling us or throwing it off the bed wasn’t enough, he has also left it several times on the farthest corner of the bed, as if it had cooties. 

He’s still plotting how he can get another one from the store, so we won’t be going by that aisle for a very long time.  Thankfully he hasn’t realized that he could raid Sophia’s unused stash of rejected pacifiers right next door. 

And now when I check on him sleeping, I leave his room thinking, “He looks so old.” 

Here’s to growing up—moms who learn from their mistakes and little boys who learn to grieve over a broken pacifier. 

Letter S

If you’re like me you’re getting tired of reading these posts about crazy preschool-ish alphabet activities.  Summer was in full swing early last week, so we spent a lot of time swimming and splashing.  

Attribute of God: Strong
We had plenty of teachable moments while the storm sirens went off during a big storm Wednesday night.  We talked about how strong the winds were and who made the wind.  Thursday we toured the neighborhood several times, looking at the big trees that were uprooted or blown over by the strong winds.  If God can do that so easily, think how safe we are when we take refuge in him!

Story: I had planned on retelling the story of Samson, but didn’t get in gear to do it. 

Song: Mighty to Save

Common vocabulary: saw, stop, sad, splash, strawberry, swim, spaghetti, smoothie, sundae, Saturday, Sunday, sunscreen

People we know: Sophia!

Activities:

• Thanks to a delivery of prime hand-picked strawberries from Grandpa and Grandma, we enjoyed strawberry sundaes, smoothies, cereal, yogurt, and pie! 
• Splash pad (If you’re not in the area, we have fancy sprinkler systems at several parks in town…and they’re free!  Sophia loved it and “dove” right in.  Caleb still likes to stay mostly dry, but is learning to tolerate more water in his face.)
• Swimming in the kiddie pool
• Swinging (I can’t believe I haven’t taken pictures of the kids on the new swing set yet!)

(It got a lot of attention this week.)

Ramps and Racecars

Siblings

Just a few videos highlighting some of the fun ways Caleb and Sophia are interacting these days. 

Giggles

Games

Of course, this isn’t the whole picture.  They’re also getting lots of practice saying sorry and sharing.  My prayer for them is that they would continue to be best of friends for many years to come. 

Birds

Looking for the birds she heard out the window and climbing as high as she can to find them:

Sophia loves to look for and listen to birds. “Bird” was one of the first signs she used consistently, even before milk and all done.  I’ve seen more robins, blue jays, cardinals, crows, and other birds I can’t identify this year than any other.  It reminds me of my Grandma McCracken who could identify any bird I pointed out. I love that my kids open my eyes and help me be amazed by the world God made and put right in front of me.

Seeds Take Time

Just a reminder that seeds take time to grow:

I planted these columbine seeds three years ago.  This is the first year they’ve bloomed. 

Recent Projects

“Recent” meaning “I barely have time to make the stuff much less blog about it.” 

Combined birthday cake:

Birthday pajamas for Sophia:

More PJ pants:

Lightweight winter hat from this pattern:

Felt fried egg (perhaps the easiest and fastest item I’ve ever made):

Toddler drawstring backpack from this tutorial and a larger one using the dimensions and “stringing" instructions from this tutorial:

It’s pretty cute to see Sophia carrying one of these around, so a girl-version may need to be made. 

More PJ pants (the accompanying shirt has yet to be made):

Caleb’s birthday block cake:

Every time I try decorating a cake, I gain new appreciation for people who are actually good at it! 

So the water was a bit cold…

Letter R

Attribute of God: Rescuer
This is a theme that The Jesus Storybook Bible hits really hard, so the term was already familiar to Caleb. For his book, we used this picture along with 1 Samuel 17:36-37, 2 Samuel 22:20, and Colossians 1:13.  We also played a game where Caleb pretended to be drowning in the crashing waves (a blanket) and to being eaten by a crocodile (a stuffed caterpillar).  After all that fun, he would yell, “Help!” and I’d come to rescue, pick him up, and put his feet on the rock (a laundry basket).  A little cheesy, but perfectly fun.

Bible Story: The Rich Young Ruler from Matthew 19
We kept it pretty simple.  I pulled out the camel from our Little People Nativity Set, a blunt tip needle, and we read the story from my Bible.  Main idea: “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Song: Rejoice in the Lord Always

Common vocabulary: rain, red, run, rainbow, raisin, rock, root, rub, rice, ramen

People we know: Grandpa Ray, the Ryons

Activities: We kept busy visiting relatives, building and playing on the new swing set Luke built, and hiking over roots and rocks in Palisades. 

Letter Q

Guess I wasn’t very quick to get this posted since we’ve already done Letter R.  I could add a quip, but it’d just be the quintessential excuses. 

Attribute of God: Quick (as in quick to listen, forgive… Ps. 103:8)

Bible Story: Queen Esther

Song: Um, yeah.  I hit a blank on this one. 

Common vocabulary: quack, quarrel, queen, question, quick, quiet, quilt, qwerty, quinoa, quarter, quesadilla

Activities: playing loud and quiet games, typing using qwerty keyboard, doing everything quickly, making rubbings of quarters

Just because:

Teaching Attributes of God

I’m pretty passionate about teaching my kids that the Bible is more than a group of fun and strange stories; namely, that it’s a way to know God.  As such, I’ve been trying to incorporate an attribute of God into each week’s alphabet activities with Caleb. 

Sometimes the most effective discussions come at random times of the day—cleaning up after lunch, singing songs at the piano, sitting in the middle of a pile of toys—and it helps me to be prepared and looking for opportunities.  Other times, it’s helpful to create opportunities.  This week we played a game where we pretended we were drowning and someone came to rescue us.  We had a bit of fun, and hopefully it’ll give Caleb a clearer picture of how God relates to us.   

I’ve also recorded each attribute so that we can look back and remember what we know about God.  Each page includes the attribute in large text, some clip art or a drawing to help us remember, and a Bible verse.  Every so often, Caleb and I will sit down together so Caleb can “read” the book to me.  I’m amazed at how much he remembers!

Some are simple:

Some have several pictures:

God is the Creator along with pictures of some of the things he made.

Here I explained holy by saying God never makes mistakes.  We then drew pictures of several commonly made mistakes around our house—breaking dishes, yelling in anger, not sharing, etc.—and drew a line through them. 

Some, I mean, most are good reminders for me: 

Immanuel: stick figure with a barely visible person next to him and Joshua 1:9.  A good reminder that God is with me even when I can’t see him, and that if I look closely I’ll be able to see him at work. 

More than anything, the time we take to draw or look at pictures and talk about them is beneficial. I pray that as we think and talk rightly about God, our hearts will turn to worship the One who is worthy of so much more than we can give.