Oh the things they say

So like most parents, I think my children are pretty extraordinary, but here are some sentences and phrases that have been coming out of their mouths lately...

"Poppa, Little Bo Peep has sheep legs."

"Oh really, how do you know?"

"I saw her legs on the movie (Toy Story) and she had sheep legs."

Tim, after being carried down and set at the breakfast table sits with a terrific scowl on his face. After 1 minute of people telling him good morning, he lets a deep, angry roar. Startled I laugh, and he cracks a slight grin...

Ethan says, "I am so happy, its like I am jumping a thousand feet from one mountain to another mountain and landing on a tower of pillows."

Some kids have imaginary friends, and well Ethan does have an imaginary friend named Sasa...Sasa comes complete with family and extended family. According to Ethan Sasa never gets sick, always obeys his mommy, and has completed several large building projects. Well, thats one thing and here's another...Ethan now has an imaginary plant called "Showdon" The Showdon has leaves in the winter and no leaves in the summer and when you sit in its shade in the winter you feel warm.

Tim, "Where Tim's sword is..." "Where Tim's helmet is..." "Where Tarzan is..." "Where Sir Kay is..." "Where Buzz Lightyear is..." (To this we show him his Buzz...he says no, other buzz...its in America, thats Christopher's Buzz....deep frown, and he says "Merica...")

Whenever we tell Tim something is empty or gone, or we can't have it now...he says, "Have after dinner."

Tim sits in bed saying his friends names..."Cameron, Ella, Daniel, Becca, Ethan, Hannah, Toby, Amy, Bethany, Ethan, Ella..."

For the most part they still talk like Americans, and have only picked up few British words...Tim will ask for dry trousers and Ethan says he needs to use to use the Loo....Tim seems to know if we need more bread, the place we get is Tesco. One time, Tim even called out "Cheers" as he we were leaving a place.

Ethan tells Tim as they are playing with sand, "Tim, God is always with you. Even if you can't see him, he's there."

Tim points to the air and says, "God"

Ethan, "Every day with Jesus is like 1 mile closer to heaven."

Tim, "Jesus Alive."

What unique and wonderful children I have, and how great it is to be with them all day!

I have to be honest and say that they use these same tongues and knowledge of words to say nasty things to one another, tell me a lie, whine or complain. The nasty words are as nasty as the sweet words are sweet. What a reminder to watch what comes out of my mouth!

The End of a Matter is Better than its Beginning...

Hanging up Timothy's wet nappies, my heart is lifting a hopeful song...he has begun to use the potty! Hard to believe my mischievous 2 year old has been wearing the same cloth nappies since we came home from the Birth Center in 2008.

Not to say I don't enjoy the cloth nappies, because the ones we have are so adorable, and they are soft on his bum. Besides the other bonus of how simple and happy they look all hung up in a row, or folded in a drawer. Tim likes to sit in a big pile of his clean nappies unfolding the tabs.

All the same, the idea that Tim is now using the toilet at least a few times a day is a very encouraging one. The daily tasks of mothering are repeated over and over and over. Its so easy to let them be done without love, filled instead with bitterness, resentment, annoyance, irritation, self righteousness, pride. Somehow, day after day these tasks are nurturing these little ones as they grow. Then we get to stand back and see how far they have grown, and marvel that this was happening all the while.

For "The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride." Ecclesiastes 7:20

Sky News / I Hate Iceland

In case you didn't see this crazy family today....

(This is the tree Todd chased the squirrel up)


For being such a private person, today was a day full of drawing attention to ourselves, so I thought I would write about them here for all the rest of you who didn't get to witness the entertainment we provided London today.

As we are headed out for the day together, Timothy is screaming "MY SCOODER" all the way from our home to the bus stop. He is offended, of course, because though he is learning to ride his "scooder" he is not able to take it into the crowded streets and it had to stay home. Ok, so that is minor.

We walk up Richmond Hill and down into the Terrace Gardens, have an enjoyable walk and time exploring the mud, sticks, trees and rocks with the boys. We stop and have lunch on a bench where we are approached by a very aggressive gray squirrel. Todd throws a piece of bread past it and it goes and eats it and then again approaches us. At this point Todd unleashes his blue umbrella, opens it and charges at the squirrel shouting (with his mouth full of turkey sandwich) "YAH...YAH...YAH..." at which the squirrel dashes up the tree. Meanwhile a very proper, probably very upperclass, British couple rounds the corner and walks past our very strange family.

Next on the list today, we head down to a green patch in front of the statue of Old Father Thames, and Ethan picks Tim up lays him flat and tries to get him to roll down the hill. Then Ethan chases what remaining squirrels there are in the area up trees with a YAH, YAH, YAH!

Follow this up with a fairly normal afternoon walking along the Thames. Todd has to leave for the afternoon, and we head to a playground. At the playground Ethan sits in a yellow saucer that spins, and very loudly makes delighted sounds of "whoa, whoa, whoa" while I change Timothy's cow print cloth nappy. Then Ethan's sounds change to HELP, HELP, HELP. There is a chinese family nearby watching him and they begin to look uncomfortable...

For the bus ride home we are the last ones on at our stop, I get on in a bit of a huff, at this point carrying Ethan's scooter, pushing the push chair up and searching for my oyster card, I finally am able to pay for the ride and of course people are blocking the aisle with their feet. This point is very annoying to me. We can easily fit down the aisle if people keep their feet in front of them, but it is impossible if they are in the aisle and any amount of trying to get by and apologizing for bumping will only be met with coughing, eye brow raising or sighing...so I get off the bus and go through the back door. Because the bus is parked in such a caddy-whompas way, I can't get the push chair on to the bus from the curb, so I have to pick the whole thing up and carry it up to the bus. The whole time I am thinking, now everyone just relax, don't everyone get up at once to help the american with the small children. Ahhhh.....

So on the bus Timothy screams until he falls asleep, which I tell myself is what he would have done had he been in a car seat. People keep turning to stare at me, and I think what? He's a toddler, what do you expect? Once he is asleep I sit with Ethan who is looking out the window with his face pressed up against the glass. Ethan likes to write on the windows with his finger when there is condensation. Today there isn't and I get suspicious of his face pressing, I see him with a spit bubble and I say, "what are you doing?" I thought he replied, "Just licking" I say, "Don't lick." And then Ethan indignantly yells, "I didn't say LICK I said, LOOK! Why would I say LICK, don't tell me not to LICK IT, I said, LOOK!"

After a brief respite at home we take Ethan's bike and Tim's beloved scooter to the nearby park. Before we get there, Ethan falls off the bike and cuts his hand fairly badly. He of course screams and cries and we have to go home to put a plaster (band aid) on it. So there we are again, headed down Colonial Avenue with Ethan screaming and holding his hand out, Timothy screaming because we don't get to go to the park and then there's me...head held high, I am the mother of these two delightful boys, wife of this wonderful man, and I have been so blessed!

Romans 1:16 "I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes." I sense God has been dealing with my heart over my pride and how easily I am embarrassed. Hopefully it won't take too many more days like today to break me of it!