Jesus Suckers & Baby God

Little Man attends a private Christian preschool. This year, the administration decided to incorporate a chapel lesson each week where the minister tells a story to the three- and four-year-olds. This has been interesting on my end, to say the least!

So today, Little Man gets in the vancar and announces that he stayed on green today and that he had TWO, not one, but TWO suckers from chapel. The teacher said, "What are you suppose to do with the second sucker, Little Man?" He promptly said "Share it!"

He buckled in and handed me the Jesus sucker....huh? Probably talked about this poem:

Look at the Candy Cane
What do you see?
Stripes that are red
Like the blood shed for me

White is for my Savior
Who's sinless and pure!
"J" is for Jesus My Lord, that's for sure!

Turn it around
And a staff you will see
Jesus my shepherd
Was born for Me!

He did share that second sucker with me. Sweet boy.

A few minutes later he was telling me about a little boy in his class that has a hard time keeping his hands to himself. He is constantly a source of conversation. So Little Man says, "Mama, Avery kept pulling my shirt. While we were standing there looking at the Baby God, he kept bothering me!"

Baby God. I suppose his little mind translated that Jesus, God's son, and God incarnate, was Baby God.

That is pretty tough theology to grasp....

Smokin' The Peace Pipe

Goosey Lou attends a school that uses the Core Knowledge curriculum. A part of this program is exposure to the Core Knowledge "saying" every week or so. For example, while they were studying ancient Rome the saying for the period was "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." Other sayings that she has mentioned in the past are "The early bird catches the worm" and "Dog is a man's best friend".

At first, I thought it was crazy that they would spend time on this type of education, but I have come to realize that people learn these types of sayings only because they are exposed to them. Anyway....

The current topic for social studies is the early American settlers and the American Indians. Evidently, the saying for this period is "Smoking the peace pipe." (Daddy Mac went hysterical when he heard this one...he said that he would have gotten detention if he had been talking about smoking the "peace pipe" in his day...but I digress).

After hearing a really good sermon one night about repaying evil with good, I thought that I had a really good teachable moment and started to chat with Goosey about a scenario that she had just went through a school.

Me: I want to know what you would do in this situation, Goosey.
GL: Sure.
Me: Say a little girl was telling everyone at recess that you were hateful, and mean, and a gossip and that no one should play with you. She makes up all this bad stuff because you are playing with someone she wants to play with by herself.
GL: I bet you are talking about Hannah G.
Me: This is hypothetical. Do you know know what the Bible tells us that we should do when someone unjustly attacks us?
GL:
Me: Jesus commands us to do this....
GL: Smoke the peace pipe?

I went nuts! I was laughing and she was confused as to why her answer was so funny. I explained that "Smoking the peace pipe" was not part of the Scriptures, but the gist of it could be taken from the Bible...be at peace with others...

I told Goosey not to be embarrassed. When I was in first or second grade, one of our Sunday school lessons was about tithing and how God will bless those that are faithful with their income. The example was J.C. Penny. He was an evangelical believer in Christ and tithed his income from his department store. God blessed his business.

After hearing that lesson, I remember getting out of the car at the mall and reading the store sign: JCPenny's. I declared to my mom that I knew exactly who Penny was: One of Jesus's disciples and a minor prophet in the Bible. My mom rolled with laughter and had to correct me: J.C. Penny was not one of the original 12 disciples, nor was he a minor prophet.

Daddy Mac, hearing this story at dinner a few nights later, thought it was funny and decided to educate the kids a little further on the Bible. He quizzed both Goosey and Little Man on the 13th disciple since it evidently was not J.C. Penny. [Side note: I was SO impressed! I knew that we had heard a bit on the 13th disciple during a sermon in the last several months and thought that Daddy was really stepping up in his Biblical knowledge.]

The kids sat there having absolutely no idea what the answer was...

Daddy Mac then dropped the "answer" on them: The 13th disciple was...BILLY GRAHAM.

I almost fell in the floor I was laughing so hard! I was protesting and going on. Daddy was laughing and admitted that he was joking (the kids did not see much humor in it).

I am just waiting for one of the Sunday school teachers to relay Carter's response to the name of the most beloved disciple...

(For the record, after Judas betrayed Jesus and then committed suicide, his replacement was Matthias...found in Acts 1.)

Dreary & Melancholy? Not my Little Man!

On the way to preschool this morning in the cold, wet rain, I was trying to introduce some new words into Little Man's vocabulary. I told him that this was one dreary, melancholy, wet, wet day.

Little Man replied: Not for me! It is a bee-u-tiful day, Mama!
Me: Why's that?
LM: Because I get to go to school and see my Jake (BFF)!

He makes the day a bit brighter with his little sunshiny attitude!

Sugars

I noticed the other day when I give Little Man a kiss on the top of the head or the cheek or anywhere really, he takes his hand and swipes at the sugar spot. I grabbed him up and kissed him a hundred times and said "Don't you wipe away those mama-sugars! They help you grow big and strong!"

He laughed and kept swiping. I kept kissing.

I finally put him down and planted a big one on the top of his head. He walked off "scratching" the spot claiming to not be wiping the sugars away. =)

This morning, Little Man, smelling yummy after a vigorous shower, comes down to the table and demands: Smell me, Mama! I give him a big sniff of approval.

He leans into my shoulder and wraps himself under my arm and whispers, "You can give me sugars, Mama. I won't wipe them away." I proceeded to shower him in Mama Sugars and held on tightly.

I just love that Little Man of mine.

First Day of the Last Year of Preschool

....occurred yesterday. Little Man was beyond excited about going. I was ready for him to go also. He was given the honor of picking out a special breakfast for everyone. It was donuts! We never, ever have donuts, so it was a nice treat.

I decided to walk him into the building for the first day so that I could take pictures of him going up the stairs, hanging up his backpack, etc. The teachers wanted us to drop them off from the car, but I just couldn't do it for the first day.

So I walked him down to his teachers at the drop off area and he was skippy-happy to see his friends. Loads of "HEY GUYS! I MISSED YOU!" was heard throughout the hallways. As he took his seat in the hall with the others, he asked one of his teachers if it was "show and tell" day. She said "What did you say, honey?" He repeated himself. She leaned down to him and then said "No, Little Man. Today is not show and tell. And if you had read your calendar, you would have seen that." Then she looked directly at me.

WHOA! I think I was being schooled in reading the calendar. There were so many things that I WANTED to say, but I refrained.

We will have a good year. We will have a good year. We will have a good year.

A New Year - Third Grade

I just returned from dropping Goosey Lou off at school. A new year! She is really excited about third grade, but admitted on the way that she is nervous. This is the first time she has ever said that about school. She is in the main building on campus this year and her closest buddies are all in different classes. She will be fine.

I, on the other hand, have had a rough morning. When Little Man came into the bathroom, I announced that today was a big day: Hannah's first day back to school! He looked at me with such a concerned, almost scared look on his face and said "Mama? Is she leaving forever?" I answered "No yet." and then the tears came.

It is not that she is going back to school. It is that I realize that time is rapidly passing and that first day of college is not that far away. She is leaving us a little bit at a time. For the life of me, I have no idea how my mother made it through my leaving for college without having a major breakdown in front of me. I know that she shed a few tears on the way home from helping me move into my dorm, but my goodness! I am crying as I type this...just THINKING about a point in time 10 years from now. Wahhhhh!

Anyway, when we walked her into class, she found her seat and let me take a few pictures. I kissed her on the head. Her daddy gave her a hug and told her to have a good day. We started to leave and Little Man turned around and said "Goosey. Don't forget about me! I am going to miss you today." She gave him a big hug and we were gone.

Ten years. It will be gone in the blink of an eye.

Drowning and Starving

Little Man is really coming out with some gems this week!

I signed him up for a group swim class at our pool club..an introductory to water. He can swim a little bit, but I thought it would be good for him to be in a class without his mama.

When I told him about the lessons, he insisted that he was going to wear his nose mask and floaties. I told him that he could only wear his goggles. He was pretty ticked about it but did not say anything.

So yesterday was his first lesson. I dropped him off on the pool steps, introduced him to the instructors, told the instructors where I was in case they needed me for anything and off I went. About 10 minutes into the lesson, lo and behold, a mad looking Little Man walked across the deck to my lounge chair. I asked him why he had walked away from his lesson. And he said "Well, they are trying to DROWN me over there...I don't like to put my face in the water. It gets in my nose. I am going to drown!"

Stifling a laugh, I marched him over and told him that he was not leaving the lesson and that he could sit on the side of the pool until the end. I did tell him that if he did not participate, he would sit out the remainder of our visit that day.

He promptly sat on the side of the pool, turned his back to the water with crossed arms and refused to participate. I let it go on a few minutes and then walked over to remind him that no participation in the lesson = sitting out the rest of the morning.

He jumped right in! =)

Later that evening after a trip to the library and to the store to pick up some items, he began to complain about everything. Whine. Whine. Whine. Whine. They he announced "Mama! I am starving! When are we going to eat?"

Bless him. We prayed for his language skills to improve and boy howdy! Did they EVER!

Can We Keep Some Things To Ourselves?

This was a very busy morning for the kids and I. We needed to hit the Dollar Store to purchase some compostition notebooks for Goosey to write a summer journal and to buy some stickers for Little Man. Then we headed to the library to pick up some videos and books. When we left the library and getting into the car, Little Man said, "Mama! I don't have any underwear on!" I asked why and he said that he could not find any in his drawer so he just put his shorts on without them. I told him to keep it to himself and we would find him a pair when we returned home.

We had one more stop: Our Local Museum. After looking at their membership benefits, we decided to purchase one for the family. (The kids and I are heading to visit Grandparents Mac in Chicago and this membership allows us free entry to a TON of museums up there.) While I was filling out the form and chatting with the receptionist, Little Man had started a conversation with a musuem employee who happened to be standing nearby about a stuffed oppposum...a dead opposum...dead, dead, dead, dead. (Little Man tends to focus in on that word lately.)

Anyway, Little Man's conversation turned from oppossums to dinosaurs to stating that he was not wearing any underwear. HUH? The worker leaned over and said, "Excuse me?" and once again, Little Man told her that he just could not find underwear and decided to wear his shorts without them! I snatched him over next to me and told him that he should not discuss his underwear with anyone. I was so embarrassed!

The lady was gracious and said, "Commando, huh, mom?" Yep. And they now have our names, address and phone number if they want to contact me for further stories....

A few days ago, we booked our flights to visit the grandparents in Chicago sans Daddy Mac.

I'm Only Seven....

Goosey has had a little boy who has been her admirer for the last couple of years. Noah has really had stars in his eyes for her and has written her notes, brought her rocks from home and trinkets here and there. Her "boyfriend" even pitched enough of a fit that his mother asked him to be moved to her class at the beginning of the year.

Goosey has always been nice to this little boy who seems to have trouble making friends. She played with him and invited him to her birthday last year. However, she decided that it was time to break it off...

One day coming home from school, Goosey told me that she needed advice on how to "successful breakup" with her boyfriend without being mean and ugly...because her efforts were being ignored by Noah. He was still writing notes and wanting play with her without including anyone else. I gave the sage advice on how to be direct and tell him that she no longer wants to be his girlfriend and that any notes, trinkets, etc. will be ignore or returned.

The next day, I inquired as to how things were going with Noah. She informed me that she had a successful breakup and that Noah was OK. She said that he told her "You can't breakup with me! You told me that you would be my girlfriend forever!!" To which she replied: "Forever? I'm only seven...and forever is a long time, Noah."

Ahhhh, young love.

The 8th Year

Well, I have to say that I am a total slacker. I have not even thought about this blog very much with the every day chaos that goes on in the House of the Mac.

Goosey Lou just celebrated her eighth birthday. She decided that instead of a big kid party like we are used to having, a trip to the shore would be a great idea. So a few weeks ago, we all hoped in the vancar and hit the beach. Mostly the pools though. Both Goosey and Little Man preferred to swim in pools than to partake in God's creation.

The one big gift that Goosey has asked for was a fish bowl....with a fish of course. So we decided to hit the pet store and look for a great fish bowl. There were none. Every single one of them were made of flimsy plastic! We could not believe it.

So we ended up with a 1.6 gallon aquarium and two sunburst type fish. We eventually named them Kisses and Hugs. Well, Hugs kicked the bucket and was found deceased this morning. Luckily, I still had the receipt and remains, so back to the pet store we went. We now have a new and improved Hugs who is doing nicely.

I am going to try and update more frequently.

The Bless You's

I picked Little Man up from preschool this morning and noticed that he had a runny nose. I told him when we got home that he needed to blow his nose so he could breathe better.

He said, "Yes, mama! I had three really big Bless You's at school today!" I asked him what a "Bless You" was. He imitated a sneeze and said "Bless You. That is what it is."

Jury Duty Blues

So I spent the past weekend at the beach with my girlfriends. (I had a fabulous time in the frigidness, by the way.) Daddy Mac was super about the whole thing. He had to tote kids to school and back; take Goosey to a skating party with Little Man in tow; he took Goosey to piano lessons with Little Man in attendance; he made it to church with both kids; no one was starving and the house was not a total trashpile. He even encouraged me to go out with another set of friends upon my return for dinner since I did not officially return to "work" until Tuesday AM.

When I go away, Daddy Mac is not like most husbands. He rarely calls me for any reason. He doesn't check up on me at all. He figures that I am away for a reason, and will only call in a serious situation. So when I return, he uploads the events from the weekend to me. The first story he tells me is how Little Man dressed himself to take Goosey to her lessons. Blah, blah, blah. Then Daddy Mac makes the off-handed comment that he was summoned for Federal jury duty in the Big City. This is for a 3 week period for criminal court. I pointed out that it was no big deal since he was already in the city for work so our schedule did not have to change. He commented that it would be a huge pain in the rear if I was called since I had Little Man at home, had to pick up Goosey, piano and dance lessons, etc. Total disruption to all of us.

The next morning I plopped down to use his laptop and noticed his paperwork for jury duty. I was reading over it and all the additional paperwork. Then something just perplexed me: Why in the world would all of Daddy Mac's paperwork have my full legal name on it? Mama MaidenName Mac on every.single.page.

Daddy Mac did not get summoned. I did. And I cannot get out of it. And if I don't turn it in, they will arrest me. And if I had mailed it in without checking, Daddy Mac would have gotten me arrested for falsifying a federal application/document­!!!

A HUGE pain in the rear. HUGE. Three weeks of HUGE. And with my luck, I will get some heinous crime that will cause me to have to be sequestered in some rat-hole of a place.

At least I have two months to stew over it and figure out a plan for the kids. I suppose Daddy Mac will be working from home a bit.

That is what I get for going out of town, I suppose. My next overnight trip could be in the federal pokey.

The Picture of Patience

After church today, we were sitting in a local restaurant waiting for our food to be served. Little Man was sitting with Daddy Mac and behaving very nicely. When Daddy Mac excused himself to get something from the vancar, I noticed Little Man bouncing and twitching around in his chair.

I asked him if he needed to use the restroom. He did not. "Then what are you doing?" (all the while jumping around in his seat). His answer "I am be patient, Mama!"

Hanging My Head in Shame

It has been too long since I have entered a post into this blog. Shame on me. Life got busy with school and church and holidays and life. I guess my resolution should be to document more this year...and more consistently. We will see.

Little Man has been such a hoot lately. With the onslaught of his fourth birthday, quickly followed by Christmas, he has had ample opportunity to work on his manners in regards to opening gifts. He did very well with the exception of our friend Ms. Vicki. After an hour or two of socializing at Ms. Vickie's house, it was time for us to leave. We exchanged gifts and when Little Man opened his present, a DVD of Pocohontas. He was not very happy. I don't like this movie. I want sumtin else! It is a girl movie. He then proceeds to cry and actually had an accident he was so upset!

I was HORRIFIED! We had a talk in the bathroom and he absolutely was besides himself that he was given a girl DVD. Ms. Vickie, a veteran parent and grandparent, did not blink an eye. She was very gracious about the scene.

So, needless to say, this was a starting place to really work with Little Man on how to accept a gift, even if it is not something he likes. As we were heading to the TN Grandparents, I was prompting him with scenarios that may happen concerning a present he was not happy with.

Me: LM, let's say you open your first gift and it is a shirt!
LM: I don't want a shirt.
Me: I know. But someone took time to buy you a shirt and you have to thank them. Let's say it is a nice blue shirt with a car on it.
LM: But I don't want a shirt. I want a toy.
Me: I know that. But you need to have good manners. What do you say when you open your present and it is a pretty blue shirt, with a car on it.
LM:
Me: LM. What are you going to say?
LM: I say let's go home! I want some toys, not a shirt.

He was so sincere.

I am happy to report that he did great with opening his gifts. He said thank you and tried to pick a nice thing about each gift....even if he needed a bit of a reminder and prompting.