How is "cute" not good?

My son is the most adorable creature on the face of the planet-in my mind, anyway! He is a true musician at the tender age of two, with a repertoire of probably 20-30 songs! He started singing before he ever started talking, and this is corroborated by our family friends, its not just our wishful thinking as parents. His first song was "Lullaby" and now he is busy learning various Thomas the Train songs as well as some good ol' Matchbox Twenty. Anyway, the other day Owen was in the back seat singing at the top of his lungs, "Hey now, you're an allstar, get your game on, go play..." I started cracking up and said, "Owen, you are so cute!" He immediately frowned at me and said very decisively, "No mommy! I not cute. I siwwy! (He says "w's" for "l's") I said, "What?"-as most parents do when they want their toddlers to repeat something cute, and he banged his hands on his lap and said it again. "I not cute! I siwwy!" Well...I think that's pretty cute!

Nightmare

Last night at 4:45 in the morning, I was rudely awakened by the high-pitch shrieks of my 5 year old daughter, Jenna. After debating for several seconds about whether I should try to ignore her or not, I groggily pulled myself out of bed. She was probably having a nightmare and she needed me right? Wrong. My husband had already responded and what I perceived to be the sound of fear and anguish was merely the struggle of my daughter fighting being put back to bed. Our son, Owen, who shares a room with Jenna, had cheerfully awakened and was ready for the day, so I went to work putting them both back to bed. My husband later told me that when he had entered the room he had found Jenna curled up on Owen's bed, Owen stroking her hair and back saying, "It's ok brudder, its ok. Its ok Jenna McClaren." Our daughter had had a nightmare and went to her two year old brother for comfort! Owen rose beautifully to the occasion and in his dear little two-year old mind was using words that sister had probably comforted him with in the past. You see, Owen called her "brudder" and used his middle name after her's-"Jenna McClaren." What a sweetie. How precious to see such a compassionate heart at such a tender age, and how funny too!

Over the River and Thru the Woods...

Today we were discussing our upcoming trip to Grammy"The Maire's" house. My husband was telling my daughter, Jenna, about how we will have to go through snow and mountains to get there. My daughter was so excited! Then she soberly said, "I don't want to hear any more. Promise me that when we go down the mountains we'll slow down, it will tickle my tummy!"

God for Halloween

Some Christians have a bit of an aversion to Halloween, some passionately so. After all, it did originate as a pagan holiday celebrating a time of the year when spirits make contact with the physical world. But its been a long time since we have observed this holiday with any type of religious conviction. Much like Christmas has lost its true meaning in a country rampant with commercialism and consumerism, Halloween has become not much more than a big dress-up day. And I love it!

Our household, Christians though we are, has decided to participate on October 31st by dressing up and joining others in our church for various festivities. As a mother, I have so much fun sewing, painting and creating my children's costumes (as cheaply as possible). My first endeavor was when my daughter was about 17 months and she was Princess Leia. That costume left much to be desired. She looked more like a ghost than Leia! The following years she dressed as Dorothy (my favorite so far), a ballerina, and a clown. We have a strict rule: NO PRINCESSES! Ever since the clown make-up came off, she has been debating about what to be next year.

Last night in our car on the way home from church Jenna began for the umpteenth time to talk through her ideas for Halloween. I suggested she be a fairy or better yet an angel. She loved that idea. But that idea sparked the greatest idea of all. "Mom, I could be God for Halloween!" Can you imagine? I couldn't hold my laughter in. God for Halloween! What would that even look like? Leave it to a five year-old to picture herself as God!

Well, that was supposed to be the ending of this post, but I feel I should briefly mention my son. He has been a cowboy and an Oreo cookie. Yes, I said Oreo cookie. And he totally pulled it off!