Jesus is alive!

This morning, Christopher started asking me questions about Jesus.  I think he was confused, because he couldn’t reconcile what he was hearing about Jesus dying on the cross and Jesus being with us and helping us.   So he asked me if Jesus was with us, and I said yes.  Then he said, “But Jesus died on the cross.”  I said that yes, Jesus died on the cross for our sin, but three days later, he rose again and is alive.  Christopher got the most joyful look on his face and asked incredulously, “Jesus is alive?!?”  I said, “Yes, he is!”  and Christopher clapped his hands exuberantly and shouted, “YAY!”  It was one of the most touching reactions to the good news of the Gospel that I’ve ever seen.  I don’t know how he missed that point during Easter, but I think he is just now starting to realize what death means, and I’m glad we got it all cleared up when it comes to the resurrection of Christ!

On a related note, Christopher has started praying out loud at mealtime.  His prayer is always the same, and I wish I understood better what it meant.  He says:  “Thank you, God, for this food.  I always love you me.  In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.”  I think the middle sentence has something to do with loving God and God loving him, but I’m not sure.  Will just clasps his hands and says, “da da da” during prayer time.   And sometimes starts eating if Daddy gets too long-winded. 

Say Cheese!

Will is becoming quite the character.  For some reason, he LOVES to sit on the sofa.  Yesterday he was sitting there, clutching a remote (because he also loves to play with remotes), and he looked so cute, so I grabbed the camera.  As soon as I pointed the camera at him, he started saying cheese (pronounced “eese!”) and giving me this big, fake grin, just like his big brother does.  I couldn’t stop laughing!

Yesterday we also went to the Children’s Museum, probably for the last time for a long time.  (We’re trading in the Children’s Museum for trips to the grandparents’ houses!)  I tried not to get sentimental–although it is fun to watch the kids enjoy everything, it is also exhausting and stressful to keep everyone happy and not lose a kid in all the chaos.  Will has just reached the age where he can really enjoy the museum, and he had a blast at all the different exhibits.  Christopher’s favorite part was the huge downpour we ran through to get from the front door to the covered walkway to the parking garage.  He cracked up several other museum patrons when he exclaimed, “Mommy, can we run in that rain again?!?”

Conversations with a 3-year-old

For some reason, the constant asking of questions is magnified when we’re driving in the car. (Maybe because I can’t escape!) Christopher wants to know about everything, and he is relentless with the questions. Here’s an example from today:

Christopher wants to know why a construction machine is sitting still on the side of the road. I tried to explain that the driver stopped working to go home and eat dinner.

Christopher: Why?

Mommy: Because he wanted to go eat dinner.

Christopher: Where did he go?

Mommy: I don’t know.

Christopher: I want you to tell me the truth.

Mommy: I am telling you the truth, I don’t know.

Christopher: Well, you need to know, Mommy.

Mommy: I can’t know everything.

Christopher: Why?

Mommy: Because I know some things, but I can’t know everything.

Christopher: What sump-things do you know?

Mommy: Seriously? You want to know everything that I know? Well, I know that 2 plus 2 is 4.

Christopher (mulling it over): What’s the next number, Mommy?

Mommy: Well, 2 plus 3 is 5 . . . and then I somehow managed to change the subject!

What on earth will I do when Will starts asking questions, too?? Maybe I can get Christopher to answer Will’s questions! Or just send both of them over to their grandparents’ houses . . .

Fun with language

Lately, Christopher has been experimenting with language, and today it really came in handy.  He loves to say each word three times (like like like this this this) or start each word in the sentence with the same letter, usually B (bit’s beally bun boo bisten boo).  The other day, we realized that the nonsense we thought he was singing was actually “For a Thousand Tongues” being sung that way.

Today, his two-year-old friend Alyssa came over, and there was some discussion about Alyssa being a girl.  Since he also is a compulsive Why-asker, Christopher wanted to know why Alyssa is a girl.  I replied, “Because God made her a girl.”  Christopher said, “Bhe boesn’t bave ba benis, boes be?”  in a silly enough voice that Alyssa had no idea what he was talking about.  I manged to squelch the conversation after that and avoid becoming Alyssa’s sex education teacher.  It was a close call, though.

Sharks and roller coasters

Last week, Daddy took his last two vacation days, and we took the boys to the zoo. They have a new “Oceans” exhibit with amazing fish, lots of penguins, a big window to see the polar bear, and a pool filled with small sharks. You stand around the shark pool, and they will swim over to you and let you touch them! (Apparently, this is safe.) I was trying so hard to not let Christopher see how terrified I was as I helped him reach into the pool and touch the sharks. He thought it was great! Will kept saying, “Oooh! Oooh!”

The other “first” at the zoo this trip was that Daddy took Christopher on the roller coaster! I did not think it would work out well, since the roller coaster has one pretty big hill and some potentially terrifying-to-a-3-year-old curves. I guess Christopher has his mommy’s roller-coaster genes, because although he was on the brink of meltdown for the first half of the ride, he almost seemed to enjoy it by the end. He called it the “really fast mountain train.”

Mommy has a spin-off blog

After about 6 months of trying to push the idea out of her head, Mommy has started a spin-off blog to this one.  (Because she doesn’t have enough to do, apparently!)  Puppy Dog Tails tells you all the cute things the kids do . . . solagratia2.wordpress.com (By Grace Alone) will tell you all about the times Mommy wants to pull her hair out and what God is teaching her through it.  That sentence is in the future tense, because there’s nothing there at the moment but an introduction, but check back soon!  (See the Blogroll on the right-hand side of this page for a link.)

Will’s cutest picture ever (so far this month)

I LOVE this photo I took of Will this afternoon at the sprinkler park (not that you can tell we’re at the sprinkler park) . . .

And another great shot of the boys wearing the Colts hats given to them at their going-away party this afternoon at the sprinkler park. Somehow I managed to not get any actual photos of the sprinklers. And Christopher managed to play in them for an hour without getting wet. (Those of you who know my son are not surprised by this.)

See you in July!

We spent the past two weeks in Arkansas, where we bought what is becoming known as “the red house.” (In loving memory of what Christopher referred to as his “light brown house” and still proclaims his affection for regularly.) The first week we were there, I was out constantly with the realtor, and I would tell Christopher that I was out looking for a house for us to live in. After a few days, I was repeating this to Christopher, and he replied, “I bet you are saying, ‘I wonder where all the houses went!’” The poor kid thought I was just out there wandering around, trying to figure out where all the houses had gone! It did feel like that at times, but thankfully, God provided just the right house for us. I couldn’t be more excited!

Will is taking several steps at a time and also adding new words to his vocabulary, much to the delight of Nana (an easy one) and his other grandparents, who all recognized some form of their name at some point during the trip. He greets everyone, including strangers, with both arms raised jubilantly, like he just can’t wait for you to hold him. But if Mommy is around, he’s just teasing you–he’s a mommy’s boy! He loves to try to sing “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” (complete with finger motions), and he also likes to pretend to talk on an imaginary phone and then hand it to me.

Since everyone managed to avoid running a fever this time, the boys got to spend time with their 3-month-old cousin, Caroline. Will seemed to ignore her for the most part, but Christopher was obsessed! He constantly wanted to hold her, talk to her, kiss her, even check her pants for poopy diapers. It was too cute.

The boys and I also spent some time with a friend of mine who lives two hours away with her husband and FIVE boys. (And you think you’re tired?!?) Christopher was pretty overwhelmed at first, but both boys had a great time with all the kids and toys and fun things to do.

When it was time to say our good-byes, it was a little easier given that in less than 6 weeks, we’ll be living so close to all our Arkansas relatives. As Aunt Laura, Uncle Garland and Caroline were saying good-bye, everyone kept saying to Christopher, “We’ll see you in July!” He looked longingly after them and whined, “I just wanted to go to July!” Me too, kiddo! But first there are going-away parties and packing to be done . . .