Family night

Friday nights are Family nights in our home. This always means Papa John's Pizza and some fun activity. Last week we went to PopPop and Gramme's house and they had an activity planned. Week before last was VBS with the theme, "Fishers of Men." Since then Allan has been fishing with just about anything he can get his hands on. Dad Brown dug out an old fishing pole and put a sinker and bobber on it so we were ready to roll. We went to a local park and Allan "fished" (if you can call it that with no hook involved) and played with the remote controlled boat Dad Brown bought the boys (I think it was to be for the boys) to play with in the hot tub. After we were through there we went to a playground and slid down the slides and watched the ducks. Nothing better than an evening spent having fun with family!

Title Explanation

The title from yesterday's blog comes from one of Allan's favorite books, "God's Wisdom for Little Boys: Character-Building Fun from Proverbs " by Jim and Elizabeth George. It takes character traits from Proverbs and gives a little four-line poem for each trait and a supporting Bible verse. The artwork is fabulous! We have enjoyed reading it to him before bedtime and talking about the pictures. If you have little boys this book is a good investment.

Funny from Allan: the other evening I took him to see Pop-pop Brown. As we were sitting around the table eating supper, Dad Brown said the word, "bummer." Allan said , "What is bummer?" Dad told him that something that is disappointing is a bummer. As Allan mulled over this he said, "Spankings are bummers!" We both agreed with him that they really are!

God's Little Boy Is....Thrifty

Some time ago we were at Home Depot and Allan saw a shovel that he thought he must have. It was a little over $8.00 and as he puts it, "my size." I knew it was about time to teach him in a concrete manner what working and saving money is all about.

We sat down and talked about the cost, what work he could do to earn some money, and the fact it might take him awhile to earn enough money to be able to buy the shovel. The very next morning he came running into our room and around to my side of the bed whispering very loudly, "Mommy? What work can I do?" Ohhhhh....isn't that music to a mother's ears!

So he has done extra things for me and his daddy to earn a quarter here and another there. We've had him do everything from being absolutely silent for 15 minutes (that really should be worth more than a quarter!), sorting silverware, carrying groceries, picking beans, to watering flowers, dead-heading marigolds, and being a "go-fer" for me. He had a little purple car that he'd put his quarter into and if we didn't pay him he'd keep on us until we did.

In the process we learned other lessons: you may not raid daddy's change cup in the dresser (that lesson also included not lying about stealing because you get in trouble two times instead of one), nor may you raid mommy's Sunday School change collection in the diaper bag. One day he asked if I would open the car door for him, I did and he went straight to the little compartment that we keep change in and promptly emptied it. It actually has been quite interesting to me to see his diligence but I knew he really wanted a shovel "his size."

 At the initial talk we also created a visual aid with a circle for every quarter that he would have to earn to buy the shovel. Every time he earned a quarter he could color one circle. That worked for the first two days. He decided that was taking too long and so colored all of the circles. I told him mommy would keep track and let him know when he met his goal. Since his daddy has been gone (last week Minnesota, this week Philippines) he's really been doing a lot of extra work so that I can have more time to play with them.

Yesterday he finally met his goal (except for the sales tax...mommy paid that...we'll wait a few years for that lesson). You should have seen us as we walked into Lowes. You would have thought the child was high on something. He laughed the whole way down the aisle and as soon as the shovels came in sight started yelling, "There's my shovel mommy! The one that's my size! I want the black one." So I took it off the rack and handed it to him. He hugged it all the way to the checkout and did not want to surrender it to be scanned until I explained he would get it right back.

So now my little guy has his own digger. We went through several plastic ones and I must admit this is a fine shovel. It should last as long as he keeps it in a place where it won't get stolen. So today was spent digging in: the shrubbery in front of the house, trying to dig up my hydrangea plant, the dirt along the sidewalk, a big hole in the garden and many little spots all behind the house. Right now I'm thankful that we don't have grass planted yet so that he can dig to his heart's content (Except the Hydrangea - we had a talk about that one.) Here's a picture of my little man with his purchase. I'm actually very proud of him!

Happy April!

Here we are entering another busy month! Deanna Wolf is getting married this coming Saturday and I have her cake to do this week. Allan's 3rd birthday is also this Saturday. My niece Kathryn's birthday is today and my sister-in-law and brother-in-law's anniversary is also Saturday. We're on spring break here at GBS so I am relieved of teaching responsibilities. YEAH!!!!

 Allan and Daniel are now exactly 10 inches and 10 lbs apart. I'm thinking that soon they're going to be wearing the same size!

 Allan has taken it upon himself to make sure all of the GBS personnel are in a right relationship with the Lord. Last week as I was combing my hair I heard him in the office hollering out the window, "Mr. Durham?..... Do you have Jesus in your heart?" Mr. Durham answered affirmative. And then I heard, "Mr. Lum?..... Do you have Jesus in your heart?" (Also affirmative) I'm just waiting for him to do that to someone passing our house on the sidewalk. I hope I'm there to see their face!

 This morning I was a little disturbed by his amount of noise at breakfast (you mother's know what I mean...you inwardly sigh because you know it's going to be a LOUD day). And he could tell by my face that I wasn't a very happy camper because he said to me with a big grin on his face, "I'm happy in Jesus! Are you happy in Jesus?" I decided in a split second that my attitude needed to change and I said that I was happy in Jesus. He then said, "Well, you need to smile!" :o) I followed his advice.

Here are some photos - Daniel is now sitting (at the pushing of his occupational therapists!) and having a wonderful time being a baby. Allan is loving all of the nice weather since it allows him to play outside for hours at a time. He did tell me the other week that he wanted to come in because it was "sweaty outside." Ha! And we're not even to summer yet.

Daniel

In a recent post I mentioned that Daniel was learning how to sign "please." I need to clarify that he doesn't have a hearing problem. When they reach the age where they know what they want but they aren't verbal their tendency is to whine and point. The problem comes in when you answer their whine by giving them what they want thereby teaching them..."I make this noise and I get what I want". A friend of mine used sign language for her little girl to solve the whining problem and it really does work. So, we've taken that idea and are applying it to Daniel's training. Instead of whining he points and pats his chest (actually he's supposed to rub his right hand counterclockwise but the coordination isn't there yet).