My children's Isms

2010-11-10T11:50:00.001-06:00

"My eyes make pictures, when they are shut"
Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Birthday thoughts

2010-07-25T10:28:00.001-05:00

Birthday Kids

1. Look what I got!!!, 2. Birthday Boy., 3. 1,2,3,4,5, SIX !!!!!!, 4. Birthday Girl., 5. We are Superheroes!!, 6. 9 candles!!

"Ethan, what does it feel to be six?" I asked.

"It feels gooder"

and

"I'm also taller"

"can you tell, mom?"

Hugs

2010-07-01T14:52:00.000-05:00

With the man of my life.

Ethan comes to the kitchen one afternoon as I was making dinner and says:

Mom, is all your fault!

What's my fault? I ask

You make me wanna hug you!

Tracing

2010-04-10T21:18:00.005-05:00

Wiggles

Ethan has been doing a lot of drawing lately. This afternoon he kept drawing all kinds of pictures on his board using a dry-erase.

He kept asking me if I had something for him to trace as we had done before. I told him to keep using what he had for the moment.

He finally sits next to me and ask:

"Mom, can you help me hold Penelope flat on a piece of paper while I trace her?"

On learning a new language

2009-08-29T07:45:00.014-05:00

Ethan playing in our neighborhood, "El Alamo"

Claire relaxing in a Hamaca while staying at Hotel Santa Leticia, Apaneca, El Salvador.

I know my children will thank me one day for bringing them to my beloved country, El Salvador, be immersed in the culture in order to learn Spanish and everything about their mother's heritage.

They just don't know it yet.

All these years I have expanded their horizons and created thousands of new neurons paths in their brains by speaking Spanish at home from the very beginning. So far I have had two reluctant students and one fascinated by the idea of being a polyglot.

One night 4 girls came to our house, they introduced themselves... in English! my girls were delighted!!!! New friends! They all attend a bilingual school and were in their summer break, just like we were! They follow the American School system. A majority of children in El Salvador attend bilingual schools. Public government schools do not offer bilingual education.

Immediately, one of my reluctant children was convinced! No more arguing with Mom about the importance of learning a second (or third language)!

It has been a month since we started this adventure, they have overcome their shyness and are able to order their meal at a restaurant and have stopped complaining when Friday night movie is in Spanish

Hasta pronto!

Deja Vu

2009-08-14T14:37:00.001-05:00

July 31, 2009

We are back again in El Salvador, this time for an extended visit. As if traveling with three children under 9 is not stressful enough, I added our small toy Poodle to the equation! She flew with us in cabin and yelped every time I put her down, or whenever she felt I was abandoning her with one of the children.
Here we go again!

Technology

2009-04-24T22:01:00.002-05:00

-Mom!!!
-Yes, Ethan.
-Come, I need to show you something!

I find Ethan standing next to the printer holding a piece of paper:

- Look, Momma, I know how to make copies. Daddy showed me yesterday!
- Ok! (Yes, I have to add some exclamation marks to my sentences, the kids is sooo excited, I have to show the same enthusiasm, right?)

He places the paper facing down (wow, he actually knows what he's doing), then, he actually presses the right button!!! ( not SCAN, OK, but COPY) The kid doesn't even read. "So smart" I say to myself.

The printer takes a few seconds before ejecting the copy. We are both standing side by side looking at it. Ethan looks at me and says:

See Mom, is thinking!

Knock, Knock

2009-02-24T11:30:00.004-06:00

Ethan has been learning a lot of knock, knock jokes from his sisters. He tells me one morning:

-"Momma, I have a knock, knock joke". Say, "knock, knock"

- Isn't the other way around? I think to myself, but I go along and say: "knock, knock"

Why did the chicken cross the road?!!!!

(Follow by giggles and laughter, from Ethan, of course)

Hurt no living thing

2009-02-19T12:32:00.009-06:00

The kids and I are in the car, we are listening to the radio, the Dj is interviewing first graders and asking questions about love and the meaning of Valentine's Day. We laugh at their answers.

I ask the kids the same question. Grace answers first:

Mom, when I grow up I'm going to live with you and Dad, plus

3 fish

1 hamster

a rabbit

2 dogs

and 1 bird!

and judging by these pictures..... I believe her!

Nickname

2009-02-12T14:09:00.003-06:00

I'm in the kitchen one morning, Ethan comes in running:

"Momma! The man fixing our garage door knows my nickname!!"

What's your nickname? I ask him.

Grace chimes in: "Mom, his nickname is Buddy!"

Yes Mom, when I walked outside he looked at me and said: Hi Buddy!

Theater

2009-01-23T11:35:00.006-06:00

Claire plays a Lady in Waiting in the musical "Once Upon a Mattress"

A page from Claire's journal. (Used with permission from the author)

I'm in a daze. I'm dreaming that I'm on Broadway singing.

-"You know that's barbecue sauce, right?" says Brice.

I wake up.

"Oh! Yes, that's why I picked it.

-"Finallly someone who likes it" Brice adds.

I close my eyes and picture me as the star of the show, people cheering for me as I made my final bow.

Friends

2009-01-16T09:44:00.006-06:00

Ethan says one Sunday after church:

"I got married today Mom!

"To whom E?"

" I married Abby and Stacy"

"Ethan, you can only marry one girl"

"Ok, I married Abby"

Ethan and Abby met at church when they were still in diapers and have been friends ever since...

Wishes

2009-01-16T09:11:00.003-06:00

"Momma,
do you wish sometimes you were a camel so you didn't have to drink water all the time?"

Ethan ~ 4 1/2 years old.

Mom & Dad

2009-01-16T08:34:00.003-06:00

Grace, wearing her Praire dress, which she wore almost every day until it fit her no more.

Momma?

Are you and Dad related?

On Learning

2009-01-15T16:49:00.004-06:00

It is easy to give a quick nod to lifelong learning, more difficult to consider what it really means, for the idea that people should study for about 12 years and then start living is more deeply seated in our culture than many people realize. Lifelong learning is more than an occasional adult education course. It is the expectation that someone will know more at age 40 than she did at age 30, the realization that it is never too late to begin learning another language, the belief that there are important new insights just over the horizon, no matter how old you are. But it is easy to forget these things, and a great deal of pressure on a homeschooler results from the perhaps unintentional assumption that everything a child will need to know during his life must be mastered in his first 18 years.

-Larry and Susan Kaseman, in "Taking Charge Through Homeschooling"

Super Hero

2009-01-08T18:12:00.003-06:00

Ethan and I are talking, he says:

- Mom, I'm a Super-Hero, you know?
-Really?
-Yes, I'm just trying really hard not to shoot laser things with my eyes

Brownie Points

2008-12-23T15:42:00.004-06:00

It's Christmas time!

The children are on their best behavior.

Ethan has been very good everytime I ask him to do something, especially when it's something he doesn't want to do:

"Yes, Mom, right away" he answers.

Then, he smiles at me and asks:

"How many brownie points was that?"

Habits

2008-12-22T23:21:00.004-06:00

I am cuddling with Grace one afternoon; I ask her as I tickle her nose: " Why are you so grumpy today?"

She laughs...

I tell her that lately she has been just a little grumpier than usual.

"Why Grace?"

" Mom, all kids have habits"

What I want for Christmas

2008-12-15T19:30:00.005-06:00

Hey kids, on Saturday there is a "Breakfast with Santa" at our neighborhood park. Would you like to go?

- "No Mom, we're too old for that" the girls answered.

- Ethan chimes in: Mom, that's not Saint Nicholas, is just somebody pretending to be Santa Clause.

Ethan doesn't want to go without his sisters, they convinced him is for little ones and is ok for him to go.

" Mom", he says, this is what I'm going to tell him:

"I know you're not Santa Clause, but I want a real remote control helicopter what* shoots real cords"

* Ethan really means "that"

flower girl

2008-11-23T15:51:00.008-06:00

"...why is there no word for this but joy?"
Victor Hugo

new friend

2008-11-18T20:38:00.007-06:00

"I made a new friend at church today, mom " says Ethan, and then he proceeds to tell me all the details of their conversation.
The conversation included naming all the costumes a four year old boy would have liked to wear for the "Fall Festival" but wasn't allowed to because "mom thought it was too scary". Also mentioned in this conversation was every super-hero known to all, and some that I still need to "google" in order to verify their authenticy.

"She is really nice and we played a lot", he added.

"I'm so proud of you Ethan", "It's good to make new friends". By the way, " What's your new friend's name? I asked.

I don't know.

Reading Aloud

2008-10-13T22:30:00.010-05:00

I am reading two books to the kids:

Five little peppers and how they grew. I usually read it during the day.

The Phantom Tollbooth. Nighttime reading.
(Update: By popular request, I have agreed to read this book during the day while we all curl up in the couch)

days of the week

2008-09-11T19:51:00.007-05:00

While Ethan and I play outside I ask him if he knows the days of the week. (I'm about to have a short lesson with my new Pre-K student)

- Yes Momma, Sunday and tomorrow!

- Sunday is one of the days of the week, but not tomorrow, I say. Let's sing a song together, repeat after me:

- Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursdaaaaay, Friday, Saturday.

- But Mom, when do I get to say "Tomorrow"?

Reminiscence

2008-08-19T11:29:00.004-05:00

Today I am here, reminiscing as I go through my pictures.

"Her mind seemed wholly taken up with reminiscences of past gaiety" (Charlotte Brontë).

Travel

2008-07-13T18:37:00.019-05:00

Momma, What is "pan frances"? Claire, carrying pan frances (French bread). It is a tradition among Salvadorean families to buy freshly baked bread everyday. A lady and her daughter will bring a big basket with different varieties to choose from. Claire enjoyed this daily routine, a few steps, and there she is, right outside the neighborhood!

“The peculiar value of geography lies in its fitness to nourish the mind with ideas, and to furnish the imagination with pictures.... The child gets his rudimentary notions of geography...in those long hours out of door.... He gets his first notions of a map from a rude sketch...or with a stick in the sand or gravel. ...Let him be at home in any single region; let him see, with the mind’s eye, the people at their work and at their play, the flowers and fruits in their seasons, the beasts, each in its habitat; and let him see all sympatheticall, that is, let him follow the adventures of a traveler; and he knows more, is better furnished with ideas, than if he had learnt all the names on all the maps" Charlotte Mason

Momma, what's a Lagoon?
Playing at the "Laguna Verde", the Green Lagoon located inside the crater of the volcano that holds the same name. This is what we learned while running, picking flowers and rocks:

Volcaninc origin, 5650 feet over sea level, aproximately 1300 square feet, and 15 ft. of depth in the center.

Life at home away from home

Ethan at the beach having too much fun!

Ethan-ism:

Momma, we can't go back home.

Why not, E?

Well, if go back home they're (referring to all the cousins, friends, aunts) going to feel AWFUL. That's why Momma; we have to stay here!!

I don't blame him !!!!

Oh, the places you'll go!

2008-06-30T21:44:00.003-05:00

The children and I are traveling. We are visiting El Salvador, my homeland. I have packed passports, mosquito repellent, sunscreen, and a big supply of children´s medicine to arise the suspicion of any salvadorean Customs offcial.
Off we go.

Thank you

2008-06-23T16:57:00.006-05:00

The children are about to have lunch. Grace gets her own fork and cup. Ethan is already sitting at the table:

- Grace you didn't get me a fork?
- No!
-Grace (I said), the nice thing to do is to get a fork for everybody. Please get a fork for your brother and sister.

She hands Ethan a kiddi fork.

- Grace!!!! I don't like this fork!!!!
-

Ethan ( I said) when someone does something nice for you like get you a fork, you say thank you!

-Thank you Grace.... but, no thank you.

Question

2008-06-21T01:40:00.004-05:00

"How can God be in your heart and in heaven at the same time?"

Questions

2008-06-21T01:05:00.007-05:00

We are leaving church one night, and as I buckle Ethan's seat belt, he looks out the window and asks:

-Momma, is God going to stay here all night?

Philosophy of Education

2008-06-20T22:06:00.014-05:00

A child is born a person with the spiritual requirements and capabilities of a person.
Knowledge "nourishes" the mind as food nourishes the body.
A child requires knowledge as much as he requires food.

(Photo~ Botany activity: opening seeds)

He is furnished with the desire for Knowledge, i.e., curiosity; he requires that in most cases Knowledge be communicated to him in literary form.

(Photo~ Playing with child African Piano)

The natural provision for the appropiation and assimilation of Knowledge is adequate and no stimulus is required; but some moral control is necessary to secure the act of attention;
a child receives this in the certainty that he will be required to recount what he has read.

(Photo~ Practicing Linking Verbs)
(Photo~ Field Trip to Museum of Natural History Children have a right to the best we possess; therefore their lesson books should be, as far as possible our best books.

They weary of talk, and questions bore them, so that they should be allowed to use their books for themselves; they will ask for such help as they wish for.

They require a great variety of knowledge- about religion, the humanities, science, art; therefore, they should have a wide curriculum....."

From Volume 6 " A Philosophy of Education" Charlotte Mason.

2008-06-16T23:11:00.005-05:00

Ethan sees the girls wrapping presents for Father's day and asks if he can help. We give him some paper and tape.

-Mom, do you think I can get a little present for me?

- Why?

- So I can open one like Daddy?

- Are you a Father?

~silence~

-Ethan, (I said) we are giving these presents to your daddy because tomorrow is Father's day.

-Daddy is a father????

Bug

2008-06-16T22:54:00.004-05:00

Claire and Grace are looking at a dead bug in our living room. They are trying to decide who is going to put it in the trash.
Claire says she doesn't want to do it:

-Mom!!! This bug is as big as Ethan's palm!!!!

Ethan and I are still having breakfast, he turns around and says:

-Hey, I don't have a palm!!!........ what's a palm, mom?

Proverb

2008-06-10T01:23:00.005-05:00

- How was Art Camp Grace?
- I'm glad Art camp is over!
- Come on Grace, tell me, what did you do?
- We made pictures and we each had to come up with a proverb. This is what I wrote:

"Take a step forward and relax"

Dinosaurs

2008-06-10T00:37:00.002-05:00

It's night time, I'm putting PJ's on Ethan, he is talking about the day until he notices his PJ's:

-Momma, I don't like these pajamas anymore..
-Why E?
-look at these dinosaurs! they look like baby dinosaurs!
-( He is right, they really do...) What do you mean E?
-Well, look at these colors, I don't like these colors. I like dinosours that look more like the dinosours at the Museum and more dark yellow!

Bubbles

2008-06-03T08:26:00.003-05:00

The kids are blowing bubbles. Claire decides she wants to blow bubbles inside the house. I tell her to go outside....After a while she comes back inside blowing bubbles again!!!
ummm? Maybe I should try a different approach?

-Ethan, please tell your sister why we don't blow bubbles inside.

-Bubbles will make a stain on the floor...

-Yes ( I said looking at Claire)

-Bubbles have water, soap and gas...

- Gas ???? What kind of gas?

Ethan thinks for a moment,

- Bubble gas!

Baby Teeth

2008-05-27T12:53:00.004-05:00

Grace has been anxiously waiting for her first tooth to fall off. Yesterday while we were talking she said:

-Mom, every night I check my teeth in my little mirror and wiggle every tooth....

-Good, keep doing it and soon you'll loose your very first tooth!
-Mom, I've been waiting so long, I've stop doing it because there is no use!

Thinking

2008-05-27T12:36:00.005-05:00

"I only think when I have nothing to do"
Ethan

handy mom

2008-05-19T13:19:00.005-05:00

Ethan brings me one of his toys, a piece has fallen:

- Momma my toy is broken (between whimpers)
- Let me see.... Ethan, don't worry, it's not broken, all I have to do is put this piece back on.
- Thank you mom!!!!
- See, mom can fix things for you.
- Yes mom, you should be a handy manny girl

Sweet recreation

2008-05-19T13:08:00.002-05:00

"An interesting piece of work, freely chosen, which has the virtue of inducing concentration rather than fatigue, adds to the child's energies and mental capacities, and leads him to self-mastery."
- The Absorbent Mind :: Holt & Company, 1995 :: p. 207

"But in those countries where the toy making industry is less advanced, you will find children with quite different tastes. They are also calmer, more sensible and happy. Their one idea is to take part in the activities going on about them. They are more like ordinary folk, using and handling the same things as the grown-ups."
- The Absorbent Mind :: Clio Press Limited, 1994 :: p. 154

"As soon as children find something that interests them they lose their instability and learn to concentrate."
- The Secret of Childhood :: Fides Publishers, 1966 :: p. 145

Book

2008-05-16T08:47:00.002-05:00

- Ethan?
-Yes, mom
-Are you done with this book? We have to return it to the library.
-No mom, I'm on the next chapter.

Bored

2008-05-11T20:20:00.003-05:00

-I said to Ethan as we are getting ready to leave with the girls: I'm sorry E, but you will stay home tonight with your grandmother, you can't come with us.

-Why Mom?
- Last Sunday afternoon you told me you were really bored at the GA's Recognition night, and you kept asking me to bring you home.

-Mom, can I go with you please, pleeeeease? I want to be bored tonight...

Mother's Day

2008-05-11T19:53:00.004-05:00

This morning, I was greeted by my sweet children bringing breakfast in bed in a beautiful tray. My oldest daughter made hot tea, toast (adorned with a twig of fresh chamomille), fresh strawberries and grapes. And because details are important, there were two carnations, a pretty cloth napkin and a handwritten note for the menu. Precious!

Only one mother

George Cooper

Hundred of stars in the pretty sky,

Hundreds of shells on the shore together,

Hundreds of birds that go singing by,

Hundreds of lambs in the sunny weather.

Hundreds of dewdrops to greet the dawn,

Hundreds of bees in the purple clover,

Hundreds of butterflies on the lawn,

But only one mother the wide world over.

Yom ha-Azma'ut / Israel Independence Day

2008-05-08T20:46:00.003-05:00

Yom ha-Azma'ut, or Israel Independence Day, is commemorated each year on the fifth day of the Hebrew month Iyar. This day marks the end of the British Mandate and the official forming of the State of Israel in 1948. Jewish sovereignty over the ancient homeland enabled Jewish people to return to Israel from the four corners of the world, as the Bible predicted they would. (1)

(1)From: Jews for Jesus

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
"May those who love you be secure.
May there be peace within your walls
and security within your citadels."
For the sake of my brothers and friends,
I will say, "Peace be within you."
For the sake of the house of the LORD our God,
I will seek your prosperity.
Psalm 122:6-7

Piano recital

2008-05-07T15:40:00.006-05:00

Performing "Go tell it on the Mountain" arr. Bastien

"Holy, Holy, Holy" arr. Bastien

Performing: "What a friend we have in Jesus" Converse, arr. Bastien
"If I only had a brain" Arlen, Harburg, arr. Faber and Faber

Reading

2008-04-22T23:24:00.004-05:00

"The most common and the monstrous defect in the education of the day is that children fail to acquire the habit of reading. Knowledge is conveyed to them by lessons and talk, but the studious habit of using books as a means of interest and delight is not acquired. This habit should be begun early; so soon as the child can read at all, he should read for himself, and to himself, history, legends, fairy tales, and other suitable matter. He should be trained from the first to think that one reading of any lesson is enough to enable him to narrate what he has read, and will thus get the habit of slow, careful reading, intelligent even when it is silent, because he reads with an eye to the full meaning of every clause."

"A child has not begun his education until he has acquired the habit of reading to himself, with interest and pleasure, books fully on a level with his intelligence. I am speaking now of his lesson-books, which are all too apt to be written in a style of insufferable twaddle, probably because they are written by persons who have never chanced to meet a child.

All who know children know that they do not talk twaddle and do not like it, and prefer that which appeals to their understanding. Their lesson-books should offer matter for their reading, whether aloud or to themselves; therefore they should be written with literary power. As for the matter of these books, let us remember that children can take in ideas and principles, whether the latter be moral or mechanical, as quickly and clearly as we do ourselves (perhaps more so); but detailed processes, lists and summaries, blunt the edge of a child's delicate mind.
Therefore, the selection of their first lesson-books is a matter of grave importance, because it rests with these to give children the idea that knowledge is supremely attractive and that reading is delightful. Once the habit of reading his lesson-book with delight is set up in a child, his education is––not completed, but––ensured; he will go on for himself in spite of the obstructions which school too commonly throws in his way."
-Charlotte Mason

Disappointment

2008-04-22T22:44:00.003-05:00

This is how my 31/2 year old handles disapoinment:

After hanging up the phone with the lady in charge of swim team I called E:

Ethan?
Yes Mom?
Well, you have to be 4 years old to be in swim team.
(Silence)
Mom, I don't want to be in swim team because when everybody is 4 we are all curious..., so that's why I really don't want to go to swim team!!
(Silence) oh? ok sweetie, I see.
End of conversation.

Handy Man

2008-04-17T12:53:00.003-05:00

Ethan's new apron. Made with love by Momma.
He was so excited to wear it and even to pose for pictures:

Journaling

2008-04-15T14:27:00.003-05:00

Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart~ William Wordsworth

Piggy face

2008-04-11T23:25:00.005-05:00

Ethan and I are talking one day as I put his clothes on:

Mom, there is a girl at church that looks like a pig..
I'm a little surprise and I ask him what he means?

He says: her nose looks like this... (he proceeds to show me how her nose looks, by pushing the tip of his nose up with his hand).

I tell him that's just the way her nose is and it doesn't mean she looks like a pig. So please don't say it again!

But mom, her nose really looks like this!! (repeating the same gesture)

I explained to him that God made this girl's nose that way and therefore he shouldn't say anything about her nose looking like a pig...

I can see he is a little frustrated with me for some reason, so he looks at me and says:

Mom, I'm not talking about her brains, I'm talking about her nose!!!!

Western days

2008-03-13T23:18:00.002-05:00

1. My cowboy, 2. Hat, 3. cowboy

Quiet days

2008-01-24T21:54:00.000-06:00

A gentleman

2008-01-06T15:27:00.000-06:00

Ethan, please open the (back) door for your sister, she is knocking..
Why mom?
Well, that's what you should do, open doors for ladies and girls.

But mom, I am not a gentleman!

In which we learn more about Angiosperms...

2008-01-06T15:16:00.000-06:00

I ask Claire during our Science lesson for some examples of Angiosperms plants/fruits:

She begins with Apple, Pear, Avocado and Guacamole!

At this point Grace begins to giggle and says: Guacamole???!!!
So I turned to Grace and asked:
Is Guacamole a fruit? Nooo, she says between giggles.
Is it a vegetable? Noooo, more giggles.
Ok, Grace, tell your sister what it is.

IT"S A GAME!!!!! more giggles, this time from Claire and me.

Nature Day

2007-12-09T20:04:00.000-06:00

The study of trees. Children should be made early intimate with the trees, too; should pick out half a dozen trees, oak, elm, ash, beech, in their winter nakedness, and take these to be their year long friends. Charlote Mason -Home Education.

"So exceedingly delightful is this faculty of taking mental photographs, exact images, of the "beauties of Nature" we go about the world for the refreshment of seeing, that it is worth while to exercise children in another way towards this end, bearing in mind, however, that they see the near and the minute, but can only be made with an effort to look at the wide and the distant" Charlotte Mason.

Ethan-isms

2007-12-09T19:08:00.001-06:00

This is Ethan's response when I tell him how upset I am when he misbehaves or he is in trouble:

Mom, I'll make you feel better; You're pretty!!!!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The other day I found Ethan sitting by the back door whining, I asked what was wrong?

I was thinking that Daddy was a lobster and I was scared!!

Claire-isms

2007-11-30T13:49:00.000-06:00

Mom, when dogs have puppies, do they give birth to them the same day? Yes, Claire, usually they have 1 or more puppies, and they are all born the same day.

Well, how come you didn't do that with us?

Ethanism

2007-11-30T13:46:00.000-06:00

Ethan woke up sick one morning. This is what a 3 year old had to say about it:

I'm sick, Mom. Poor me!

Grace-isms

2007-09-17T19:51:00.001-05:00

-Mom? Yes, Grace.

-There is a boy at church in my new class who is always teasing me!

-What is he doing?

-Well, yesterday he kept following me and asking me: "Grace do you remember me? do you remember me? do you remember me?

- What did you say to him?

- Nothing!!!

-Grace? Maybe if you answer his question he will stop asking you wether you remember him or not. Don't you think?

Oh!

More Ethan-isms

2007-09-17T19:06:00.002-05:00

At dinner time I am again teaching Ethan about God. What an imagination he must have...I am so glad he tells me what he thinks... afterwards I realize I always need to come down a few levels when conversing with a 3 year old. As if I would ever be able to explain how awesome is GOD!!!

This is how it went:

I say, Ethan, God is watching over us! He says, Mom, God is in Heaven!! Yes! I answered, God's throne is in heaven (note to self: research if 3 yr. old comprehends concept of a heavenly throne).

My husband adds: God is everywhere (another note to self: explain later to 3yr old in simple language the difference between omnipresence and pandeism).

Ethan at this point has a puzzled look on his face and he proudly explains to all of us:

Noooo! God is floating!!

Ethan ism

2007-09-17T18:21:00.000-05:00

I am having a deep conversation with my 3 year old one day. I am trying to explain to him that God knows everything, He sees everything. This conversation started after he had lied to me and he denied it. After I told him that God in heaven knew what he did, he immediately asked?

Mom? How does He see all the way from heaven? Is God sticking His head out in the sky?

I love u... and...

2007-06-21T16:48:00.000-05:00

Ethan-ism.

Ethan was playing outside in the backyard and he walks in the kitchen and says:

Momma?
Yes? I answered.

I love you and I broke the pot.

Reading

2007-05-29T20:59:00.000-05:00

I just finished reading Charlotte's web to the girls. I did most of the reading, I said "most" because Claire told me one day that she kept on reading one day on her own... I understand, it's hard to put a good book down.
Ethan joined the girls and I as I was reading the last chapters while vacationing in Florida. We all laughed so hard as I read and re-read the following night, per their request, chapter XVI. We kept picturing the geese "cheer" at the men and Avery as they tried as hard as they could to put Wilbur in the crate, whom by the way, fought with all his might, and did not go in without a struggle.

This is Momma's favorite part:

"Life in the barn was very good - night and day, winter and summer, spring and fall, dull days and bright days. It was the best place to be, thought Wilbur, this warm delicious cellar, with the garrulous geese, the changing seasons, the heat of the sun, the passage of swallows, the nearness of rats, the sameness of sheep, the love of spiders, the smell of manure, and the glory of everything."

Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

My dear little ones: May your life in this house, your memories of this home be the sweetest one you'll have. In spite of your parents failures and shortcomings, may you always remember the good in the midst of those days when everything seemed "dull" or boring, hard and unfair in your innocent eyes. In this place call "home" you are being loved with an unconditional love put in our hearts for you by Our Heavenly Father, the Most High God. Much love, Momma.

Ethan-ism

2007-05-29T09:53:00.001-05:00

Ethan comes to me so proud to tell me that he has used the potty all by himself. I cheered and asked him if he flushed the toilet.

Yes, I flushed my pee pee all the way to the ocean!

Claire-ism

2007-04-06T17:17:00.000-05:00

I was telling Claire about a little boy named Vladimir, who is waiting to be adopted, and how I read about him and now I am praying for him to find a family.
Claire all excited said, Mom, let's adopt him!
I said: Well, Claire, is not that easy.
She thinks for a moment.....

How much is he Mom?

Grace -isms

2007-03-19T16:59:00.001-05:00

OK, Grace It is time for you narration from the Book of Ruth.
Grace thinks for a moment.

Mom, I don't remember the beginning, but can I start at the end?

The book of Ruth

2007-03-19T16:41:00.001-05:00

Narration by Claire

There once was a man and his name was Elimelech and he traveled to the land of Moab to find food. And he took with him his wife and two sons. He died and left his sons and wife. And he left Naomi a widow.
Then afterwards his sons died. And Naomi and Orpha left alone to provide for themselves. Then Naomi said to Ruth and Orpah I am going to go back to the land of Judea with my family you must stay here and find another husband. But Ruth and orpha said: No, we want to go with you. But Naomi said No, you will never find husbands there. Young man would never want to marry Moabite girls. Orpha agreed to stay and do what Naomi said, but Ruth said Nom, I will come with You. Naomi said, You can with me. When they went to Judea, they found a house. Ruth said to Naomi that she will go and collect the left over barley that the young men left when they were working. Naomi said, Yes. When the owner of the field, Boaz, saw her collecting barley, he asked one of his servant; Who is she? he said, She is Ruth, her mother in law is Naomi, she is part of you family now. Then Boaz told her, stay here, collect the barley. Ruth brought some left over food to Naomi, then Naomi, said you may go back tomorrow and collect some more and when Boaz has eaten and drunk cover his feet and when he awakes he will tell you what to do. Ruth obeyed her and went to Boaz. When he awoke he asked her, who are you? She said: Ruth, Boaz, said: Go to another cousin, closer to you.
Boaz and Ruth married and had a son named Obed who was the father of Jesse, and Jesse was the father of David, king of Israel.

I am hiding.....

2007-03-19T13:50:00.000-05:00

Ethan ism

2007-03-17T20:54:00.000-05:00

Ethan, again, in the back of the car, I hear him say:
Mom?
Yes, I answered.

I am making hicups!

At this point I decide that I don't want to correct him yet and tell him the right way to say it. After all, as I said on another post, there are things that I just don't explain to little guys like him.

Ethan ism

2007-03-06T15:28:00.000-06:00

What are you?

My 2 1/2 yr old son came to me one day and asked: Mom? are you a Mom and a Lady?

Yes, I said, I am a Mom and a Lady.

He said, Noooo, you are a Mom.

Ethan ism

2007-03-06T12:21:00.000-06:00

I am driving and the 3 children are in the back. My 5 yr old is arguing with my 2 1/2 yr old son. She asks me to explain to him that the car is not his, because he keeps saying "This is my car". I tell her that he is only 2 and that I don't explain certain things to him because he doesn't understand.
What do you mean she says? Well, I said, trying to put and end to this conversation, there are certain things that I don't explain to you guys because you and Claire are too little to understand.
At that point my 2 yr old says:
Mom, they are not "guys", they're "kids"

and we all laugh....