Deep Thoughts

                                         Getting the wiggles out


                                          Micahfish

                                        Me and my two favorite boys

                                            "Mom, all I see are spots...is that ok?"                                          

                                          "C'mon people, one more round and I've got a full house!"

This video showcases Jacob's climbing skills. I discovered that Jacob can now get himself up onto the rocker and then onto the bed unassisted. Good for his gross motor skills. Bad for mommy's sanity. Good thing there's carpet in his room! I wish I could have gotten the first tie he did this on camera. You should have heard that squeal of delight! He's also doing something else in this video that has become a favorite passtime--sampling tissues from around the house. Why he likes putting them in his mouth, I don't know. But I have picked more bits out of his mouth than I care to remember! He's getting the bottom molars now, so maybe that's it.

Micah received his first progress report from preschool this week and he is doing well in all areas and excelling in math concepts and communication skills! More importantly, he continues to enjoy it. His teacher put a note on there about how he is a joy to have in class :-) Last night we had an interesting discussion about heaven, a topic he has recently become fascinated with. It requires a little backstory. We had brought him into the service with us on Sunday and there is a large wooden cross hanging over the pulpit. Last night he asked me if that was the cross Jesus died on. Well, that's a logical conclusion for a preschooler, right? Of course I had to explain about that happening a long time ago, etc., and then about Jesus returning to heaven. He then gave me a puzzled look when I told him we were waiting for Jesus to return and take us to heaven with him. He said, "But Mama, did you know we are in heaven right now?" I tried to explain that, no, we are on Earth and heaven is another place. He said, "Well, God has us in his hand. (I had told him the verse about how no one is able to take us from God's hand--John 10:29). And God is in heaven. And no one can take us out of his hand. So we are in heaven, right now. Did you know that?" I thought about that for a minute. Now, I know that the Bible talks about Jesus coming again and how there will be a "new heaven and a new Earth". But it's easy to forget that the essence of heaven is being in the presence of God, all the time.The idea of gold streets and singing angels is pleasant and all, but to be honest, it's never really done much for me. But the thought of "knowing as I am fully known" and being near to God, letting go of pain, anxiety, all those things that we carry around down here, now that's heaven to me. But sometimes I forget that we can have pieces of that, right here, right now, if we remember that "no one is able to pluck us from his hand." God loves us and we can never be separated from that love. We can be in his presence. After a pause, I said, "I think that's kind of true, buddy." I am thankful to my son for pointing out that important truth in a new way to me. I know that sounds a little like a "Hallmark special", but it's that kind of moment you read about but you don't experience yourself all the time. It made me think that maybe I should do some more listening a little less talking sometimes! And now for another cute Jacob video :-)

ABCs and 123s

I don't have any new photos to publish today but I did want to let certain people know (mom) that I have loaded all of the photos from the blog, plus some, on to the Snapfish account :-)

I wanted to share a couple of cute things the boys did yesterday. I don't know if it's just the stage he's in or the great teacher Micah has (probably both) but I have noticed that he is a lot more chatty about the things he's learning at school. In the car on the way home he regales me with all the things they talked about or did that day. I've heard about "moo shakes" (They made these in the school kitchen with fruit and milk while they were learning about cows.), Miss 'Ola Swamp (Miss Nelson is Missing! is a great book.), and yesterday, about how we get milk from cows, eggs from hens, and meat from pigs and there were three kinds--bacon, pork chops, and ham. He also explained that he would like it if we could get some of these pork chops and try them for dinner sometime. My picky 4-yr-old said that he would like to try pork chops. Yes, folks. He expressed interest in eating a meat that isn't encased in some kind of breading and/or fried. This is a breakthrough! Now, I don't think he really understands that we're actually eating the pig when we eat pork; I think he's under the impression that we get the meat from pigs like we get milk from cows. But hey, I'm not going to break that to him just yet. Not at least until he's put a little of that meat on his bones! When he's talking about these things, I can't always understand what he's trying to say since sometimes the word he uses isn't quite the right word he wants. But since his teacher tells us what units they are studying each week, we can usually guess after a few questions.

Jacob does not want to be outdone by Micah on the learning front. He points to everything and asks, in a very inquisitive tone, what it is. He uses a bunch of nonsensical words to get this point across but he loves to imitate words after you say them and you can see him really trying to let it all sink in. This morning he surprised me. I had been buying these snack bars for toddlers that were his favorite things for awhile but I haven't bought them for a month or two. Well, we were cleaning under the couch cushion and came across one of these wrappers, which I put on the table. Jacob found it and began to crinkle it up in his hand. He held it up to me with a question on his face and said "nak ar". You should have seen the grin on his face when I told him that was right! I've been teaching him to pet the kitty gently since he likes to haul off and swat her, and yesterday he walked over to her and began petting her gingerly with one finger. After a few praises, he bent down and kissed her on the back. He would have gone on with the kisses, but since we're not sure whether he is allergic, and everything sticks to his runny nose, I had to put a stop to that or he would have ended up with a mouth full of cat hair.

It's still amazing to me the process that people go through to learn things. Even though we've already been through the process with Micah, I love watching Jacob learn new words and new ways to express his desires. And I love watching the world open up before Micah as he begins to learn all those bits of knowledge a person acquires through school and life experience. I know someday soon he will come home and talk to me about things I didn't know before. He already asks me questions I don't know the answers to.

Long Time No See!

We've just been so busy with adjusting to Micah's new school and we've all been sick so I haven't been taking very many photos lately. But I snapped a few this morning--the one of Micah was taken just a few minutes after he got up, wandered into the living room and began downing peanut butter and crackers--his new favorite breakfast. He continues to enjoy his preschool experience, which includes a huge playground, a smartboard in the classroom and new friends. He attended a birthday party last weekend and has been talking about what he wants to do for his, which will be in a couple of months. To this point, we've just done birthdays with family since he really didn't have specific "friends" that he wanted to invite. But this year that has changed, and I'm pretty sure we will have several kids over for cake and ice cream, although I'm not brave enough to invite the whole class yet! Of course, it will be Spider Man-themed.

The video is of Jacob playing with his favorite frig toy and then stopping to give a big kiss to the camera! He's a sweetie. I love those kisses; of course, it's also those kisses that land us with our heads in the toilet when he decides to share the stomach virus with us, like he did this week. But, you've seen the video. How can anyone resist that? He continues to do well with the ear tubes. Unfortunately, we found out that Micah will have to get tubes and have his adenoids out in a couple of weeks since he still is having a lot of trouble hearing. Although I'm not looking forward to going through that again, I know it will be worth it when he know he can hear well. We're are especially concerned about that since he is in "real" school now and is starting to learn pre-reading skills.

Dan is headed to the dreaded "tech-week", the week in the rehearsal process right before the show goes up where the cast and crew meticulously work through each lighting and sound cue, blocking movement, and choreographed dance to make sure everything gels well. In other words, it means Dan is gone for almost the whole weekend. Blah. I hope he's feeling better by tomorrow so he's up for the challenge.