Trick or Treat?

The kids had a great day doing school work Friday. They were enthusiastic, diligent, studious, and James really impressed me with his reading when he was concentrating. Since we were stuck at home all week with Ireson being sick for one day, and me waiting for the rest to get sick too...I was ready to get out and grocery shop! Exciting I know.

So, I decided that I would get the kids a super special treat. I'm talking an all out, nothing like mommy's normal definition of treat, sugar blitzing, blow the kids away, make you sick treat!

On the way to the store I told the kids my plan.
Response: "What kind of treat? A piece of cheese?" (A visit to the deli counter gets kids a free piece of cheese- highlight of the whole outing.) "No", I said, "bigger and better." "A cookie?" "No."

At this point they are at a loss for what I, me, the mother of all nutrition-nazi moms, would give them as a treat. Then I dropped the bomb! "What do you think about a doughnut?!" Insert shrieks, shrills, screams, and shouts of pure elation here- I mean the kind that make your ears hurt and you think someone is hurting them!

Then of course they revert to concerned questions to decipher my honesty on the matter. "Really? Why? Not cheese? Why would you give us a doughnut?"
I told them that I figured that it's close to Valentine's Day and that the store should have the decked out doughnuts and it would be fabulous!!!

So we went to the doughnut area (a place of the store they had never been around before so you can imagine their wide and googley eyes about to pop out of their heads) AND they all picked out their own special doughnut complete with 1000 calories, frosting, sprinkles, preservatives, sugar, processed ingredients, and intestinal distress waiting to happen!

So we got home, unloaded and they all lined up like the traditional, sweet deprived soldiers that they are, and got their doughnut on their plate. The flew over to the table and commenced with the gorging! I kid you not- Ireson had his entire full sized doughnut in his mouth in under 60 seconds. Hands and face caked with white frosting complete with pink and purple sprinkles. There was barely enough room for his jaw to move up and down so he could chew! What was even funnier was him trying to talk to share his gratitude and grins!

Teagan and James were close behind. You could hear all the yums, mmms, and ahhs, and ooohhhhs and expressions of complete and utter satisfaction. Then Teagan, stares me down with the most intent and earnest look and pauses from the gluttony to share this with me: "Mom, I just love this soooo much. I can't tell you how much I love this. It's better than cake with frosting with candy on top of it. It's just so good." You swore she was going to cry from such an intense level of fondness.

Then James pipes up with a rather full and vommitus tone to his voice. "MOM- I don't think this was a good idea! I have a really bad stomach ache. I don't think my stomach is used to this much sugar! YOU (as in me-mom) were NOT responsible."

HA! He was actually trying to make me feel guilty and irresponsible for giving him such a wonderful treat. I of course had to offer to eat it for him. A totally hypocritical moment for me:) I think I enjoyed it almost as much as they did....without the shrieking of course.

Whistle while you work...."whoo whoo whoo whoo" - when you're 2 ?????!!!!!

So we realized almost a year ago that Ireson could whistle. It seemed like a fluke thing because it would only occur once in a while. He couldn't do it on command, and it would happen when he'd be walking around just being goofy and making noises. Then, all of a sudden you'd hear a "whoo" -an authentic whistle! He has only done accidentally since.

James, on the other hand, had perfected whistling last month. He can mimic a tune, whistle a song, call for the dog, and whistle a happy tune at any ol' time. Ireson and Teagan are very proud and try their hardest to achieve that high pitched, little "whoo" that every kid so anticipates! So whenever James starts to whistle, Teagan and Ireson try to chime in. Teagan sounds more like she's singing a "hoo hoo."

Then it happened! The other day, I see Ireson toddling behind James in a parade-ish sort of way- whistling! It's just a little intermittent whistle- but it's still a genuine whistle! If you ask him- he can do it. It's kind of freaky seeing a 2 year old whistle. What's next - blowing bubble gum bubbles, snapping his fingers, tying his shoes? Stop the madness!
Here's a clip of him doing it...this one is faint but it's definitely there! He normally does it louder!

A Right of Passage

Well, in our church, there comes a time in every child's life where they cross the line from being in the Lamb's class (2 years old-preschool) to the Treasure's Class (kindergarten - 2nd grade.) James was privileged enough to graduate to the Treasure's Class this past September. He was more than ready to stop being the leading top dog of the preschool class to the under-dog (and shortest!) of the grade school class. He needed to be more challenged and to be with a more mature group. It's been good for him to be mentored by the older kids and for him to not have the answers all the time anymore. He enjoys the class immensely...though he tells me often that he really misses snack time. - Well yeah! I would too.

One of the early on goals for this class is to learn the books of the Bible. James has been so diligent in learning them. Every time we sit down to a meal together or get in the car he recites them. It's amazing how well kids' brains work to memorize!!! I was quite impressed with how quickly he learned them.

Today was the day he got to recite them ALL to his teacher and get his sticker and his fabulous homemade, giant-sized, personalized coloring book! He was the first one of all the new kids of the class to have learned them!!! AND- there's a chunk of kids who have been in the class for over a year who still haven't learned them all.

His teacher found me after church because she said she had to share the story with me and it made her day. She told me that he stood up, had a sparkle in his eye, a smirk on his face, and told her that "she was in for a treat." James knew that he only had to memorize up to the book of James but he asked me if he could just learn them all this week. So he was happy that he could share this surprise with his teacher. (The teacher's hand out little animal reminder card to the parents every week to let them know where their child is in the list of the books and the next chunk to memorize.) She looked at him with a huge smile and said "I know I didn't tell you that you had to do all of those. You're awesome!" She thought it was adorable. Her first little person to have accomplished that challenge.

I was so proud of him and he was proud of himself too. It's those small milestones that you cherish so deeply because you know that the same milestone will only happen once. AND you see your child growing up in the Lord and developing spiritual maturity and a passion for the Lord through such simple things as memorizing the books of the Bible. I love that my kids LOVE going to worship and that they feel like their church is their second home. I think that's the way it should be and that must be how the people of the Acts 2 church felt too.

SO- needless to say, this called for a celebration. We went with Grandma, Aunt Cindy, and Aunt Sarah out to dinner at Bob Evans for lunch!!! We had a gift card and 2 coupons for free kids meals and James proudly told the waitress and people in the waiting area that he had memorized all the books of the Bible. He is too cool! We all had a "special treat" indeed.