Questions and Prayers

Christopher has been full of interesting and sometimes challenging questions lately. Here is a sampling of the questions he has asked in the last week or so:

Can God see Himself? (He decided "yes" since he learned from his catechism that nothing can be hidden from God.)

How does the tv read a disc if it doesn't have eyes or a brain?

Are you sure Mr. Tony can't hear you? (When I was yelling at Tony Romo on the tv.)

What do vitamins look like? (Not the pills, the actual vitamins.) How do the vitamins get into the oranges?

Also in the last couple of weeks, we've seen a change in Will's mealtime prayer habits. Recently, I talked with the boys about why we pray before meals. We talked about how everything we have comes from God, even our hot dogs and chips and milk. God gave Daddy the ability to do his job and make money. He gave us a place to live where there are grocery stores nearby where we can buy food. When we thank God for our food, we are acknowledging that our food and everything else we have comes from Him. Will seems to have taken that last part about "everything else" very seriously when it comes to prayer. He has changed from a rushed, "Dear God, thank you for this food, Amen" to a lengthy listing of everything he can think of (or everything he can see through squinted eyes). His lunchtime prayer yesterday went something like this:

Thank you, God, thank you for our food, and thank you for all the food that we have in this house, and thank you for our food that we eat for snack. And thank you for Mommy and Daddy and Christopher and me and Sarah Kate, and thank you for our drinks and for Sarah Kate's drinks, and for our cups and our sippy cups and our straw cups and the cups that Christopher uses. And thank you for our shoes and for our boots and our rain boots. And thank you for our clock, and thank you for the big clock that has numbers, and for the clock in the kitchen, and for ours, and for all the things that are made in this house. And thank you for Jesus, that He died on the cross for our sins, and for babies and for baby food, and thank you for Jesus, that He died on the cross for our sins, Amen.

Will the Smart Aleck

A recent occurrence in the life of a friend reminded me that I haven't talked to the boys about what to do if they get separated from me in a store. So yesterday, I had a chat with Will and laid out the scenario for him . . . you are shopping with mommy, you look up and she's gone, you are all by yourself in the store--what do you do?

Without hesitation: "I would go outside of the store and spit on the store."

What makes this even funnier to me is that the day before, Will had been disciplined for spitting on Christopher. I think he figured if no one is around, I can go spit on the store and not get in trouble!

Tonight at dinner, we were talking about addition with Christopher. Christopher was quizzing us with some challenging addition facts. This is how it went:

Christopher: What is 200 plus 200?
Mom: I don't know.
Christopher: 300!
Dad: No . . .
Will: 400!!!
(So naturally, at this point we are thinking this kid is a genius.)
Dad: Will, what is 2 plus 2?
Will: 4.
Dad: What is 1 plus 1?
Will: 4.
And that was the end of that genius moment! :)

Halloween 2009

Halloween was so fun this year . . . Christopher ran from every house screaming about what he got, and Will was only slightly nervous about the "big kids" in the scary costumes. :) After trick-or-treating with friends, the boys loved handing out candy to trick-or-treaters. Then they chowed down on some candy and slept in their costumes.

Pumpkins

We carved pumpkins for the first time this year. (We meaning Noel. The one who is good with knives and all.) The boys had a blast picking them out at the pumpkin patch, and then Noel drew several sketches for them to choose from. Christopher wanted a scary monster, and Will wanted a goofy ghost. Christopher has asked everyone who has come to our house which pumpkin is scarier. Much to his dismay, a couple of people have said Will's ghost is the scariest!

Counting

As reported by Grandpa:

Will says, "I'm going to count to 20. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 . . . (pause) . . . I'm going to count to 14."

Sarah Kate--6 months old

I absolutely cannot believe my baby is 6 months old. (And yes, I am going to start all these posts this way.) We celebrated her 6 month birthday by going to get a flu shot. Sarah Kate was busy charming the nurse with her smile when the nurse had the audacity to stick her in the leg with a needle. SK got a concerned look on her face, whimpered for about a minute while I picked her up, and as soon as the nurse's face was in sight again, SK just started grinning at her. It was hilarious!

Sarah Kate is really enjoying her baby food these days. Sometimes she protests when the little plastic tub is empty! Other times she turns her head as far as she can to the side to let me know she is all done. (We're working on our sign language!) When baby food isn't available, she likes to chew on her own toes. (Just like her Aunt Amanda! I mean, when Aunt Amanda was a baby.)

And Sarah Kate is on the move! She can turn herself in a circle and also push herself backward by pushing up on her arms. I usually put her down on her playmat in the middle of the family room rug, but the other night, she managed to get herself to the hardwood floor and discovered she could really take off. I found her trying to pull up on the stone hearth and putting her mouth on it. (Note to self: time to order rubber cover thingies for the hearth.) Here's the picture: I had put her by the dog toy on her playmat, and look how far she went!



She is also making some progress with sitting up by herself. She can do it for a few seconds, but then something captures attention and she flops over to try and reach it. :) Her other new favorite activity is her exersaucer . . . check out that smile!