School Days

I registered Liam for kindergarten in the public school system this week.  I'm not that excited about putting Liam into public school.  We've looked at a couple of private ones in the area, but finances are a factor right now.  Some of my readers are probably thinking "home school!" and I see the point, but Liam loves being with friends so much and with the new baby coming I just don't think it's an option for us right now.  So I started jumping through the hoops.  Made the appointment.  Found most of the documents they wanted.  Finally found the area in the high school where registration was being done.  While Liam was demonstrating that he knows pretty much all the letters, colors, numbers, shapes and how to write his first name (didn't know rhombus) I started putting our names, addresses and telephone numbers on about 15 different forms.  Including the busing form, which is interesting because they haven't even told us which elementary school he will be going to and I don't know if he will be morning or afternoon, so how can I possibly figure out if he will ride the bus and if so which one.  It's a good thing I have naturally low blood pressure because I can feel it rising again even as I type.

It will be fine.  Liam will do great in school.  But after almost two years of an awesome preschool - with lots of adult interaction and so many great resources - I'm dreading the change.  So lets just focus for a moment on the preschool he's in right now.  Last night was the "art show" for his class, as well as a chance for the college students who get teaching experience in his classroom to show the units they designed and taught.  We were a little rushed because Allen had a curling game to get to, but Liam still managed to achieve his goal of eating a cookie with a music note on it and participating in the "activities" the teachers had set up.  He managed to put his own twist on pretty much every activity they had.

Printing with vegetables and paint.  Pretty straight forward right?  (Other than me hovering nearby thinking that it had been a bad idea after all to let him wear his "spiffy" clothes.)  I guess I stopped taking pictures right before he started to slide the apple around the page and mix the colors.  Not a recognizable vegetable shape in the finished product.  He said, "This is very creative!"

Playing in colored rice in the "color" unit section.  This one didn't have much of a goal, but he did demonstrate his love for digging and burying things. 

Retelling the "Three Little Pigs Story."  After he told the story he put all three "houses" in a tight row and pointed out that they would be much stronger that way.

Jumping on the trampoline.  The kids each jumped 100 times on Thursday for part of their "100 Days of  School" party.  The boy who jumped before Liam tried to demonstrate, but that wasn't part of Liam's plan.  He just wanted to enjoy the action.  This unit was actually about growing - plants and what helps people grow.  They had a nice snack selection of raw veggies and dip.  Liam took a few veggies including some strips of sweet pepper.  I was concerned about getting done in time, so I suggested that he share a few with his dad.  "OK," he said.  "But not these peppers.  They're sweet!"

So I just hope that if part of Liam's strategy for dealing with kindergarten is to find his own twist on whatever activity they are doing that his teacher has a sense of humor and likes creativity.

The Faith of a Child

Liam's singing while putting puzzles together.  The worlds include the phrases, "Tell me what you like about me.  I really want you to love me.  This is what I want you to do.  I really want you to do this with me.  This is what I love, what I really love best."

Today I have been reminded that I should be careful about getting my theology from the internet.  (So read on at your own risk.)  First I read a devotional, posted by a friend to Facebook talking about the third chapter of Romans which teaches us that we all fall short of God's righteousness and need to receive His forgiveness.   No problem.  This is an idea that I grew up with and it doesn't jangle my nerves. 

But then I read this quote from another mom - posted in a group created for moms to share about challenges of parenting and to ask questions and share information and solutions:  "My son is 4 and lies alot as well, I believe its to keep him out of trouble... So I've been teachin him that no matter what he has done if he tells the truth he won't get in trouble, there will always be consequences for his actions but no "punishment" I also tell him that Jesus doesn't like him to lie and it hurts his heart and makes Him very sad because he knows [my son] is a good boy and good boys don't lie."

Wow!  That's a lot of theology in one guilt-inducing statement.  It really got me thinking.  What is my purpose in trying to mold my child's behavior?  How does God feel when He sees a young child act in ways that are contrary to the moral ideals that are set out for us in scripture?  How does He feel when I "fall short" of his righteousness in my actions - even though my faith has declared me "justified" in his eyes?

James 2:20 tells us that in spite of the fact that we are saved by faith, "faith without works is useless."  (NASB)  But from the context I would say that this teaches that true faith will result in actions that are consistent with what God wants us to do - not that our actions demonstrate to God that we are "good."  The idea I see is that we can't compartmentalize what we believe - separate it from our actions.

Even the most sincere believer, though, sometimes "fails" to live up to the standards set out in scripture.  After all, part of God's purpose in spelling out His righteousness is to impress on us that we can't live up to it on our own.  So is God watching my behavior, responding with sadness and disappointment when I fall short?  Or does He see the righteousness of Christ when He looks at me - secure in the knowledge that when my sanctification is complete I will reflect his image perfectly?

And back to the parenting question, how do I represent God to my child?  Maybe the mother who shared this is more certain of the faith of her child than I am of mine.  We read Bible stories to Liam and talk to him about what they mean.  We pray with him every day and go to church with him regularly.  We try to answer his questions about how God can be everywhere and invisible at the same time.  

But I don't know if he understands concepts like righteousness and sin.  I find that I tend to tread lightly when it comes to telling him what God expects of him or how the Bible describes "good" behavior.  I believe that following God's standards of behavior will benefit anyone - the wisdom on Proverbs, for example, can be applied to many of life's experiences.  But I don't want him to develop an externalized, behavior-based idea about how we relate to God.  I'd rather that he think about God in terms of the song he sang this morning - someone he loves and is loved by.  Someone he wants to do his favorite puzzles with.

An idle mind....is something we don't get much around here.

This morning on the way to music class Liam wanted to know if other preschool classes made "snow trees."  Once I found out that a snow tree is a tree that kids have thrown snow at (seems obvious, but several other posibilities had presented themselves to my mind) I told him I thought they probably had.  "Why?"  he asks, ever suspicious it seems of my simple, confident answers.
"Well, lots of kids have snow and lots of kids have trees."
"Everyone has snow."
"Well, not everyone." (Why I felt it necessary to introduce this detail is now a mystery to me.  It seems harmless at the moment, but....)
"Why not?"
"Well [I say this a lot I need a chance to think but have to let him know I'm going to say something so he doesn't keep asking over and over again] some places are too hot and some are too dry."
"Like the desert.  Why doesn't it snow.... How do they make freezers in the desert?"
You see what I started here.  We are now veering dangerously into territory I know nothing about.
"Well...Freezers are run by motors that use electricity."
"How is electricity made?"

Mercifully we had arrived at the school where his music class is held by this time and he was distracted by the presence of a truck with pictures of milk on it ("Oh, it's a dairy truck.  It says 'dairy' on it."  Absolutely true and no time for follow-up by me on how he figured that out.)  It's not that I mind telling him that I just don't know something, but the truth is that sometimes I know something about the subject, but just feel too tired or distracted to try to figure out how to explain it and deal with the stream of related questions that will inevitably follow.  Do you have any idea how many different aspects of life we just let flow by, on an average day, without considering why they happen or where they come from or how our lives would be different if they didn't happen?  Lots.  Take it from me.

On the way to preschool he wanted to know how they got all the radio stations into cars when they make them.  I got through that one just by telling him that cars have radios that are designed to pick up all the radio stations.  I think that the only reason I didn't end up in the confusing world of radio waves and broadcast towers is that he started thinking about our (usually) yearly trips to New Hampshire and how on long trips like that we listen to CDs because the music on the radio gets "scratchy."  And then he was on to remembering sleeping in the tent and how we don't have much supper - which turned out on further discussion to mean breakfast ("Daddy had pieces of bread with syrup and I had some too.")

So I dropped him off at preschool and now for three hours they can deal with his questions.  Although from what I've seen and heard he's usually so busy at preschool that he asks fewer questions.  Actually I'm very grateful to them for filling him with lots of information so that he seems to spend some time mulling it over before coming up with his next round of interrogation...I mean questions.

We've been waiting for this day!

So I'm in the bathroom getting dressed when suddenly I hear loud crying coming from the living room.  No crash or preliminary whimper - just loud, pitiful crying.  "What's wrong Liam?"  Crying.  "What happened?"  Finally I get a tearful explanation involving a Lego wheel and pinching.  More crying.  "Well," I say, "I'd come and give you a hug, but I'm mostly naked."  "O.K." comes the tearful reply.  "I'll wait."

Thankfully by the time I got done getting dressed he had calmed down.  Turns out it wasn't even the standard little Legos, but the over-sized ones designed for very little children.  Liam suggested that maybe these weren't a good toy and we should put them away.  I suggested that if he wanted the wheels taken apart in the future he should let me do it.  The logic of this was not immediately obvious to him.

We've had a few more meltdowns than usual over the last couple of days.  The colds we started to get Friday have not gotten as bad as I thought they might, but Liam has had a runny nose and once complained of an uncomfortable feeling around his eye.  This morning I was thinking of taking him to a friend's house, but he woke up claiming that his throat was too sore to eat his usual breakfast of a jelly sandwich and that he just wanted a banana.  I try to be understanding about the meltdowns since I get pretty grumpy when I'm not feeling good too.

Liam would have liked to play outside on Saturday, but it wasn't that warm and since he was fighting a bug we kept him inside.  He discovered (again, I think) that magnets will leave their shape on his magnetic drawing board.  He made this arrangement and carefully removed each magnet.  Then he wanted me to take a picture so I could put it on the blog.  So hear it is.

Sunday was actually warm enough to be outside and even open up the sandbox.  The first order of business was burying himself.  Pretty easy with nice dry sand.  Tricky to pose for the picture because of the bright sun, though.

The neighbors were also outside.  They were using their power saw.  Is much less bothered by loud noises these days, but that power saw noise - well, I think you can see how that went over.

He also built the first sandcastle of the season.  We had to add some water to the sand to get it to actually pack well enough.  Still, I don't think he got the definition he was hoping for.  He was very happy, though that in spite of having only one door he was able to make a tunnel that went all the way through.  And he insisted that I go inside and get "something red" that he could put on top of the stick.  It's a good thing I brought the scissors, because it turned out that it had to be red and a triangle.  Mission accomplished.

The warm, sunny weather seems to have been a bit of a tease.  Although the forecast does call for warmer temperatures this week it also includes lots of rain.  Liam was pretty happy to get to wear his fire fighter inspired raincoat.  At preschool today the "Question of the Day" was "Do you like rain."  Liam said "Yes.  Because it makes lots and lots of mud!"  Sigh.

Theology of Ears and some Creative Efforts

It seems that Liam and I have come down with a cold.  Thankfully he doesn't have strep throat.  I think that "little brother" is growing especially fast right now because I've been running even more exhausted than usual.  So here's some of what's been going on lately with no real attempt to link any of it or make a point.

When Liam was going to bed the other night he wanted to know if God has a face.  He said when he gets to heaven he'll look and see if God has a face, then when I get there he'll tell me.  Then when we were praying he told God he wanted to know if He has a face.  Liam said that God will come and whisper in his ear and tell him if He has a face.  Liam says that little people can hear God better than big people.  He says that God comes and has supper in his ear. Liam says that God eats the dead skin cells and ear wax in his ears.

 Liam spent a couple of days making this tower.  It contains all three sizes of linking plastic blocks he has.  He wanted to make sure to document the final product, then made of video of himself destroying it.

He likes to pose with a "friend."

Here's a close up.  It actually has an inside.

And a few more architectural features.

Here's one of my "creative efforts" lately.  With the help of pricey chicken hotdogs and for the sake of feeding my child I have overcome an almost life-long aversion.  I can't resist adding some veggies, though.  Liam was very excited about the oven roasted mushrooms and didn't object to the zucchini.  He ate the leftover veggies in a quesadilla today - insisting that just plain cheese was not good enough.  The leftover hotdogs went into a cabbage and bean dish that we had last night.  Liam ate three helpings of the cabbage and then got the chocolate ice cream he requested.

Today he made this "sick diplodocus from Germany."  He wanted to take a picture of it before he took it apart to make sure his dad gets to see it.  Don't know what a diplodocus is?  I recommend Google.

Sharks, Snow and Music

This morning we had a conversation about sharks and eating snow.  Liam was telling Allen about a new show he watched on Netflix.  He was worried that it might be scary because it had a shark in it, but it turned out to be about a bunch of talking bath toys.  The shark did have "big pointy teeth" however (this is actually a quote of Allen, who is quoting Monty Python).  Liam explained that in the episode he watched the shark ate a bunch of snow.  Then he observed that our neighbor boy and his little sister both eat snow.  Liam doesn't believe it's good to eat snow because it can make you sick (something the good folks at his preschool have been trying to convince the children who play outside together in a pretty small area).  He says it's OK to eat a few flakes, but if you eat a "whole bunch" (complete with very dramatic hand movements which are way cuter when the speaker is wearing footy jammies and snuggling with his daddy in the big bed) you will get sick.  The neighbor does eat a whole bunch but "apparently, that doesn't happen to him." 

"Apparently not."  I agree.

"What does apparently mean?"  asks Liam.

"Seems like..."

"Oh.  Well it seems like that doesn't happen to him."

As part of his music lesson today Liam and the other little boy in the class played some notes on a piano.  After the class I got Liam to show the teacher how he can play part of "Are you sleeping Brother John" from memory.  Liam announced that we should get a piano.  Preferably the one they were using.  If anybody in the general area knows of one going reasonable we'd be interested.  Although I don't know where we'd put it.  We have been talking about taking the TV and entertainment center out of the living room, but the idea was to have more space.  Lots of rearranging is going to have to take place around here over the next couple of months.  Not a big strong point of mine.  Maybe I should take some "before and after" shots, although if you look in the background of many of the shots I've already posted you can see that I'm not exaggerating.  And I rarely actually get to the "after" stage.  Apparently I am always in the during part.   

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit....

So tonight as he's settling down to go to sleep Liam says to me:
"Your not a very happy mom."
"Why not?"
"Well, when you have a baby your not very happy?"
"Why not?"
"Because you don't feel good when your having a baby."
"Well it's true it's hard to be cheerful when I don't feel good."
"What does cheerful mean?"
"Acting happy."
"Oh.  Yeah."

Today I took Liam to get his haircut.  We went to the barber shop - the place that gives lolipops AND has toys.  Although he didn't get to play with the toys because the barber didn't have any other customers when we got there.  I commented to the barber that I don't know why it always takes me so long to get in there, but I know why, really.  The actual haircut process is quick and painless and he does such a good job.  But Liam always smells like he got dropped in a vat of Old Spice afterwards and the smell persists for days in spite of any number of hair washes.  That smell does weird and not wonderful things to my nervous system.  It really bugs me.  But if I don't get an actual migraine I will put up with it considering the advantages I listed above.  But I will probably wait way too long before getting Liam in for the next haircut.

Also today we discovered that Liam's digestive system doesn't do so well with lots of fresh blueberries.  After a quick trip to the bathroom he told me he had "fast poop."  He was afraid that he had gotten my morning sickness and thought that maybe he shouldn't go to preschool.  Indeed, every time he ate anything he felt the need to sit on the pot, but he didn't actually poop right away - if at all.  Really seemed like more of an irritation than an actual virus.  So I sent him despite his reservations, mentioning to some of the student/teachers at his preschool that maybe he should just skip snack.  Reportedly the main teacher told him about the BRAT diet and since they were having toast today anyway he ad some of that and part of a banana and was fine.  Thankfully.

So after preschool we went for a walk in spite of a cold wind.  (What's known in these parts as a brisk breeze.)  Liam had been campaigning to go to the park when I picked him up, and when I offered playing on the back deck (with the sandbox) or going for a walk he was much more excited about the walk.  The sun felt great.  But that breeze really tripped us up.  Liam spotted the camera in my purse and wanted to take some pictures, but after a few he was ready to tuck his hands back into his sleeves and hunker back down in the wagon.

The sidewalk less taken.  With the wagon handle for perspective.  Can you see the flag on the front of the house?  If this were a crime show they could calculate wind speed and direction from the angle of the stripes.  Just saying.

After supper it was time for the first of the attempting-to-get-the-Old-Spice-out-of-his-hair showers.  He wanted to take a bath, but I told him a shower would be better because it would mean that those little hairs from the haircut wouldn't be floating around in the water and get back on him.  He laughed when he got into the tub because the water splashing from the shower tickled him.  Then the washcloth tickled him.  He said he wished he could stay under the shower water for his whole life because it kept him so warm.  I said I could understand that feeling.  Finally, he thought he looked hilarious wrapped up in his towel - "like a hotdog."  He had great fun imagining what his life would be like if he were actually a hotdog.  Or a food cook which means a cook entirely made out of food - in this case broccoli.  I don't know why.  asking was beyond me.  He concluded that a shower had turned out to be "much more enjoyable" than he had thought it would be.

So I guess we just have to find happiness and comfort where we can and put up with the hassles when they come.  This morning Liam got to put his hand on my belly and feel the baby moving for the first time.  He looked pretty blissful and said, "The baby's getting strong!"