Abigail...the beginning of our joy!
A
few months into this child's life, I would say credulous things like:
"This parenting charge is so easy I bet you I could do it twice, maybe
three times more with my half my brain tied behind my back."
If I had to describe our Abigail, what should I say? ...competent.
She is the kind of child pregnant mothers dream about, a child who will
sleep through the night, take five naps, do everything you ask, ask for
more homework, you give her one page she does five and is always lugging
around a flashlight and a Kipling, a Grahame or a Shakespeare.
When I made her take up typing to get her out of my hair, she
took it seriously and made my flimsy 50 wpm not so impressive anymore. I
used to aspire to play the piano until she started to play it, then I
found out that playing and aspiring to are two different things. You,
dear child, play beautifully and sing beautifully and so sing unto the
Lord and play skillfully with a loud noise! (Psalm 33:3) She loves
poetry...lots of it and remembers entire poems. I asked her and the
others to memorize maybe a four line poem, and she did me one better:
She memorized James Whitcomb Riley's When the Frost is on the Punkin' and the fodder's in the shock...
Sometimes I ask her to keep an eye on her little brothers and she gladly will...as long as I hide all the books in the house-unfortunately all the king's men and all the kings horses couldn't retrieve all the books lurking in, under, besides and wedged in the corners of her bed. Abigail loves The Lord and He loves her more. She is making her way through the book of Leviticus in the Hebrew bible and is reading the Christian bible over, yet again. Here's the world according to Abigail:
Sometimes I ask her to keep an eye on her little brothers and she gladly will...as long as I hide all the books in the house-unfortunately all the king's men and all the kings horses couldn't retrieve all the books lurking in, under, besides and wedged in the corners of her bed. Abigail loves The Lord and He loves her more. She is making her way through the book of Leviticus in the Hebrew bible and is reading the Christian bible over, yet again. Here's the world according to Abigail:
- Trees are magnificent things under which one sits to read a book.
- The coat closet is a good place to hide from your little brother and read some more books.
- When PBS says "read to your child for 15 minutes a day" She is horrified to find out that they really mean 15 minutes, not 3-5 hours a day.
- She loves nature, as long as you leave the flowers on the tree where they belong. For if your name is Anna, and you bring them inside (which you will anyway) and put them in a vase, with water, they might tip over onto one of my books...hence the utility of the coat closet where there is not enough room for a book, flashlight and flower vase!... Or unless the nature is a chicken or a goat, then we might even bring it inside the house and put it on the couch for tea and crumpets.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
He Percheth Himself on a High Stool and Singeth a Song While Strumming His Toy Guitar
God has been good to me. They call him JJ, he is three and that's where the trouble begins...
I have great readers, numbers buffs, nature aficionados among my
lot but hallelujah, I have a poet and a singer. He is our delightful,
fearless JJ. He hears a song once and repeats it almost perfectly days
later. When the Father was dispatching this one from heaven, He must
have thrown in some extra energy for good measure. He tires not, keepeth
quiet not, loveth conversation and chaseth anyone in sight brandishing a
book and demanding, "read et!". He seeks out company ALL THE TIME and
will usually find someone sitting on a chair and force you to scooch
over and engage you in conversation with perfect tense and a brilliant
use of the English language.
He walks right up to his dad and says in a matter of fact
way, "Hey ma daddy, what are you doing?" He used to call me "my mummy"
just in case I was being mixed up with other mummies. His smile is
eternal and as unceasing as is his energy. He is the owner of the
infamous red shoes that have a rather menacing something about them.
When he pulls one of his college level feats of the English language, we
laugh to which he chides "What are you laffing about? It's not funny."
His forbearing sisters spoil him, his brother fires him up,
his dad lays down the law and I am caught in-between hysterics and
bewilderment.
He is my littler boy-wonder, brother to the
other boy. While the feminists in the past 4 decades have tried to
promote a silly idea called "unisex" nonsense, my boy and his brother
are all boy not because anyone socially influenced them...silly social
engineers....they were born boys. To them, a Barbie doll comes in quite
handy as a cudgel or perhaps a good target for....what do soldiers use
targets for?
Daily I have my hands full just to keep them from marring each other's stunning good looks!...were they twins 'twould be the Comedy of Errors.
And JJ was not influenced to play really rough tumble and 'jump off
anything that will stand still', he was just blessed to be born a few
months after his brother and had a ready-made partner with whom to "live it up" with. He daily reminds me of my big brother and acts like it too-so sayeth my mom.
But today, he is my little boy. Loves to be read to, wields
his charm like a weapon and is quite difficult to a wear out. God bless
our JJ, my rough riding songbird. He is my (baddery)battery-thirsty lad
whose love of motor-cars would suit Mr. Toad in The Wind in the Willows just fine.
His name became Joseph and The Lord hath added and will
increase him and us all the days of his life and indeed double the
pleasure of this comedy that is the life of our son.
Here are some JJisms:
August 18 2011... When the day jumps into the dark, the dark will spoil
August 26 2011...You need to make a happy face and don't have a stern face and don't use that angry voice because I am behaving
August 30 2011...Mommy, I have a job for you: go upstairs and get those clothes in your room and wash them. They are half dirty
October 2011...JJ was asked what the thing for putting air into an air bed is called. His answer.."the air putter inner"
December 26 2011
January 2012 What's these hairy things on my doen doen? Eyebrows?
April 2012..."JJ, what do we call these?" JJ's reply? "Bun honeys"...oh, for the love of honey buns.
Here are some JJisms:
August 18 2011... When the day jumps into the dark, the dark will spoil
August 26 2011...You need to make a happy face and don't have a stern face and don't use that angry voice because I am behaving
August 30 2011...Mommy, I have a job for you: go upstairs and get those clothes in your room and wash them. They are half dirty
October 2011...JJ was asked what the thing for putting air into an air bed is called. His answer.."the air putter inner"
December 26 2011
January 2012 What's these hairy things on my doen doen? Eyebrows?
April 2012..."JJ, what do we call these?" JJ's reply? "Bun honeys"...oh, for the love of honey buns.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Our brilliant, sensitive and spunky Anna!
She always roots for the underdog and hangs in there with the Argentinian soccer team
[FIFA 2010] in spite of the German onslaught. Fearless and spunky
doesn't begin to define this child!. She says what she means and let's
the chips fall where they may. A master of inventing words on the fly
from infancy. She talks to her math problems out loud and tells them to
behave themselves or her brain to think harder and quit messing around.
When she was five she saw a bird fly into the backyard and said nonchalantly, "oh, that's a robin". I said, "how did you know it's a robin?" She said, "because it has a reddish chestnut breast, a yellow bill and a grey back". I said, "really?" She rolled her eyes and went into the house and brought an animal encyclopedia open at the robins section to convince the unbelievers.
She reads Atlases like a story book and tells us all where obscure islands that come up in conversation are located with 99.9% accuracy. When the rest of us were glassy eyed during the 2008 Olympics Parade of Nations, She pointed out that Those Solomon Islands people live North of New Zealand...and yes, we of little faith had to look it up.
When she was five she saw a bird fly into the backyard and said nonchalantly, "oh, that's a robin". I said, "how did you know it's a robin?" She said, "because it has a reddish chestnut breast, a yellow bill and a grey back". I said, "really?" She rolled her eyes and went into the house and brought an animal encyclopedia open at the robins section to convince the unbelievers.
She reads Atlases like a story book and tells us all where obscure islands that come up in conversation are located with 99.9% accuracy. When the rest of us were glassy eyed during the 2008 Olympics Parade of Nations, She pointed out that Those Solomon Islands people live North of New Zealand...and yes, we of little faith had to look it up.
She shows unmerited compassion to her little brother JJ and lets him get
away with "bloody murder" so much so that when he is in trouble and Iam
not around he runs to Ann
a. She loves to draw and pesters me constantly to get my super artistic brother to critique her Art.
Has always genuinely loved gardening and weeding and yes, she talks to the weeds too and tells
them it's a bad idea they decided to grow amongst her onions because they are going down!
She wants to be a nature teacher/park ranger and it's nowonder because she loves nature and the outdoors best of all.
History brings her to tears because those Romans and Barbarians should
have just figured out a way to get along and be nice to each other and
not fight all the time.
She wonders who made the rules that say a pink sock can't look just dandy with a white sock. As a child she insisted on wearing two different colored socks and why not?...and yesterday she had a green sock and a brown sock on... She adds so much color to our lives and we couldn't ask for more. Most times she wins most arguments on facts, and sometimes if she is not winning, why bother playing?
You go Anna! We've got your back.
July 2012: You turned 10. You have a heart that is tender towards the Lord. Keep pursuing Him and loving Him all the days of your life. We love you and are very proud of you!
July 2012: You turned 10. You have a heart that is tender towards the Lord. Keep pursuing Him and loving Him all the days of your life. We love you and are very proud of you!
Saturday, March 13, 2010
My analytical, leave no stones unturned Josh.
He wants to know why I back up into the garage slowly and not as
fast as daddy. He has a toy school bus with doors that open and shut and
furniture that he has "borrowed" from his sisters doll house. He has
asked me dozens of times just how much more space he gains by moving one
chair to the right or to the
left. "Mommy, how about if we
just get rid of one of these chairs in the front and make the people
move left and put the smallest chair at the back of the bus?"
"Is daddy's blue van bigger than the school bus? Is the blue
van really bigger or just medium?" "How come grownups are tall but they
never seem to bump their heads on the roof of the van? How much shorter
are you than daddy? Will I be taller than you too? Will JJ be taller or
will I be taller when we are grown ups?"
"How much money does daddy need to buy me a new bike? How
long do I have to wait for him to work get money for my bike? Will my
bike be bigger than Anna's bike or small
er than Abigail's? Or will it just be in the middle?"
"There
are no two Joshuas, if I go outside to play and want to get the thing
in the house, my hand will have to come in through the window because I
cannot be in two places at the same time."
"Did daddy park the car facing backwards or forward?, Did
daddy go to work? When will he come back? How many minutes? Is it the
same as hours? "Well, but a little is more than a little bit"
He counts too much, measures and re-measures everything. When
the clock says 6:05 and I tell him it's six O'clock, he says it can't
be six O'clock because the long hand is past already. Easy to get along
with and very accommodating of everyone, really. When he has a question,
he will ask it again and again until he gets an answer that measures
up...then he will check out the answer himself. When he is aggrieved, he
will plead his case and he will be heard. He will look me in the eye
and say.."but mommy, I have something to say and you are not
listening"... He is the kind of child that makes you want t
o
know the square root of 79, just in case he asks-because he will ask:
and when he asks, you know he will be wondering how come I have to look
it up.
His idea of art is drawing a ruler with the inches calibrated
just right...he is 5 and he makes me exceedingly proud, happy and think
more clearly. I love you Josh...our Josh.
Here are some more of his random questions...
"Is mud stronger than tape or not? Is it a lot more? But I am
learining to build with mud because if I try to build with tape, I will
have a hard time and I will be wasting tape. Is cement stronger than
tar or is tar stronger than cement?"
"Is the deep
end in the swimming pool the same as 9 papers standing up or laying
down?(He had arranged 9 orange construction papers 1foot long each lying
flat on the floor)
"If you start your timer at 60 and go backwards till 15, that is the same as 45"
"Can ants see atoms?" "How small is an ant's eye? How come it's very small and it can't see an atom?"
"If you try to measure two miles using inches, will you run out of inches?"
"Where is the left part of my right hand?"
"Are
snakes taller than people? Does a snake have a belly button?" I bet
everything has a belly button, except things that people build"
"Does your spirit help your heart beat or does the heart help itself beat?"
"Is a spirit the fastest thing in the world that God made?, faster than cars and aeroplanes and trains?"
"Can a spirit see an atom?"
"Is 12 cups a gallon?"
"When I am ready for math, can I start with learning about degrees?"
"Does the devil have teeth?"
"Does the devil live in the 50 States?"
"Which is louder? A yell or a microphone?"
"Are there any foods that grow with salt in them already?"
"Can the sun swallow a tornado?"
"How do you write zero in Roman Numerals?"
"If your trade is a builder, how do you build in the snow?"
"What's so important about light and darkness?" Oct 11th 2010
"Is a snail faster than the hour hand?" Oct 1 2010
"Are there things that have not yet been invented?" Oct 16 2010
"What makes the world go round? Is it rivers or lakes?" December 9 2010
"I think math has become a talent of mine" January 5 2011
"Mommy, do you know that you have been an adult for 14 years?" January 4 2011
"In 2021 I will be driving and in 2020 I will be in college"
"Are old people more patient?" January 3 2011
"I think I won't need a calculator when I grow up because I started doing math in my head when I was 3 years old" January 3 2011
"How long would one year be if one hour was 20 minutes?" April 12 2011
"How long would one hour be if one year was 66 days?" April 12 2011
"If 6 days was 31 days, how long would one hour be?" April 16 2011
"Did you know that I am 19 inches shorter than Daddy?" April 22 2011
"How come there is not thunder and lighting during the snow?" March 27 2012
"Are there 24 rays around the sun?" April 6 2012
June 13 2011. Josh asked me how many months old I was. Naturally I did not know. I gave him a very reasonable grown up answer like..."when I teach you how to multiply big numbers, we can then count how many months old I am." Then he said, "well, I'll count." Minutes later he came back and told me that I was 408 months old. I thought, "what?" Pulled out my little calculator and multiplied 34*12, turns out it's 408. I asked him how did he do it. He said..."it's easy. I used a measuring tape. If one foot has 12 inches, that is the same as one year having 12 months. So I just know how many inches are in 17 feet and then I just did it two times since 17+17 is 34."
"How come there is not thunder and lighting during the snow?" March 27 2012
"Are there 24 rays around the sun?" April 6 2012
June 13 2011. Josh asked me how many months old I was. Naturally I did not know. I gave him a very reasonable grown up answer like..."when I teach you how to multiply big numbers, we can then count how many months old I am." Then he said, "well, I'll count." Minutes later he came back and told me that I was 408 months old. I thought, "what?" Pulled out my little calculator and multiplied 34*12, turns out it's 408. I asked him how did he do it. He said..."it's easy. I used a measuring tape. If one foot has 12 inches, that is the same as one year having 12 months. So I just know how many inches are in 17 feet and then I just did it two times since 17+17 is 34."
Lord, help me..and help him grow in the fear and admonition of the Lord.
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