Cultural Education

Allyson's school hosted an assembly last week.  After she tried explaining it to both of us, we determined that the assembly was kind of a cirque-de-soleil-ish-acrobatic-balance-y-show.  (I kinda think that term should be sent to Webster's.)  Since most, if not all, of our school-related information comes from a 5-year-old, we don't always get the whole picture. 

Anyway, the children were told that the performers were of Chinese decent and were there to perform various tricks that they should not try to replicate at home.  Ally tried to describe some of the tricks and told us (at least twice) about the girl that stood on the boy's head, "WITH JUST ONE FOOT!" 

At the end of her lively review of the performance, she knowingly declared, "CHINESE PEOPLE ARE AWESOME!"

Big Mama

A recent bedtime conversation:

Me: "I love you, big girl."

Ally: "I love you, big mama...BIG FAT MAMA."

Me: "HEY!"

Ally: "Okay, okay. Skinny mama."

Me: "You don't have to go that far."

Ally: "Okay. I'll call you 'Between Mama.' It's a little bit skinny mixed with a little bit fat."

Me: "I can live with that."

VBS highlights...

Allyson attended VBS at a local church last week. This was her third VBS, but the first that was without her mom as the director. The night before her first day she said, "I think I'd like VBS better if you were the teacher." Fortunately, she liked it just fine without me and had a great week. She came home with some fun new bits of wisdom...

On the second day, they talked about the 10 Commandments. On the way home I was testing her a bit to see how many of the 10 she could remember. I said something like, "You should never say..." and she quickly said, "Oh, yeah. You should never say 'Oh my God.'" I confirmed her correct response, then she continued: "And you shouldn't say 'Oh my gosh.'" I agreed. Then she added, "Or 'Holy cow.'" Hmmm. Did they roll in the story of the golden calf with the 10 Commandments?

Allyson has a sweet little friend from that church who is quite outgoing and fun. Apparently they were dancing together to the morning's music, and her friend got a bit out of control. Ally exclaimed to her friend, "If we keep dancing like this, you're going to put me in the hospital!"

And on the final day, she came home with all kinds of facts about bats. Bats sleep during the day, so if you see one in the daytime, it's probably tired. Bats eat fruit and mosquitoes, so they are really helpful for us! And bats are usually afraid of humans. As she is sharing her newfound wisdom, I'm thinking, "What Bible story has bats in it? 6 years of children's ministry and I can't think of a single one!" So I finally ask her, "Why were you talking about bats today?" Her quick answer, "Oh, there was a bat in the church." Which led to my giggles, picturing the teachers throwing out these helpful facts about bats to calm the nearly hysterical children as the bat swoops around their dancing heads.

5 days after she started, our Ally-girl is older and wiser...at least about the commandments and, um, bats.

The levels of pain.

When you're in the hospital, or even the doctor's office, you may see a handy little chart with various little faces depicting pain. At the bottom, there's a smile indicating very little or no pain. Progressively the little faces become grimacing, and you can almost sense the little dude's tremendous pain at the top of the chart. After my last c-section, the nurses would point to the chart and ask my pain level EVERY time they entered my room.

Ally decided to simplify things a bit.

Yesterday we were walking through Wal-Mart and she was holding a new Polly Pocket treasure that she had saved her birthday money to purchase. I was pushing the cart and she was walking between me and the cart. (Not a great spot, but at least she wasn't wandering off!) Anyway, I took an abrupt slow-down to eye up a clearance rack and caught Ally off-guard. She ran into the cart, making her package smack her chin.

I quickly apologized and she said, "That's okay. It didn't hurt hurt hurt. It just hurt hurt. Just two hurts, not three."

Okaaaaay. I said, "So two hurts doesn't hurt very bad, but three hurts is pretty bad."

"Yep."

"So how many hurts would make you cry?"

"Like 5 hurts or maybe 4."

Good to know.

As I See It...giving gifts.

Allyson and Natalie go to our youth pastor's home on Thursday mornings while I'm at work. They have two little ones: Malayna is 2 and Mariana is 6 months. I'm not sure how it started, but almost every time Ally goes to her home, she brings Malayna a little gift. A picture, a hastily beaded necklace, a sucker...you get the idea.

So the other night we went there for dinner. It was a bit chaotic with all of the children, (they have two older foster kids, too) but we really enjoy their company. Allyson, in typical form, picked out a necklace from her arsenal and declared that it would be Malayna's gift for the evening. After she presented it to Malayna, Meranda (the mom) praised Ally for being so thoughtful.

Allyson turned to me and said, "I bring things to her because I'm making love to her."

I'll give you a moment to gulp.

Yes, she actually said that. The adults in the room nervously looked at eachother and tried (unsuccessfully) NOT to laugh.

She's just so FULL of love.

Communion Curiosity

Last night, we had a Thanksgiving Eve worship service at our church. It is not often that Allyson experiences a worship service, but this was one such occasion. She politely listened to Daddy lead worship and Daddy and Pastor Tom (the Senior Pastor of the church sharing our building) play a song together on sax and trumpet. When Pastor Mike started preaching, Ally quietly colored pictures. Near the end of the service, Pastor Tom led the congregation in communion. As I said previously, Allyson has VERY little experience sitting in a regular service, so I was anticipating questions. Maybe even LOUD questions. But, to my surprise, she sat very quietly, STARING at my cracker and juice. I didn't acknowledge her stares, because I knew I couldn't explain anything during the service.

Later, as I was tucking her into bed, I asked Allyson, "Were you curious about what we did in the service tonight?" She nodded and I proceeded to tell her exactly what the cracker and juice stands for and why we celebrate communion.

She ended my mini-theology lesson with one simple statement. "I was really just curious why they didn't pass me some."

As I See It...

The other day we were all piled in the van and David and I were ranting and raving about something or other. David said something like, "It's like they've taken Jesus out of the picture!"

Allyson jumped in and said, "Jesus can be in the picture! He's cute!"

I'm not sure I've ever heard the words "Jesus" and "cute" in the same sentence!

"Jesus Gives us the Power to be Brave!"

The title above was one of the Bible points learned at VBS this year. Therefore, bravery has been on our Allyson's mind. She can be very timid when it comes to new or different things, so this lesson was quite appropriate.

At the park last night, David was showing off, climbing on top of the monkey bars. At one point he became a bit nervous and was unsure how to get down. (Great job, Dave!) Allyson told him, "You just pick up some braveness (she motions picking up something from the ground), and put it in your head. Then you take the scaredness out."

I couldn't have said it better myself.

As I See It...Ranch Dressing

Today, we were having lunch with Grandma and Grandpa Fox at Famous Dave's. Since the waitress brought ranch dressing out with Allyson's chicken strips, Kristen asked Ally if she wanted to try some of the ranch on her strips. Allyson made me proud with her reply. She said, "No mom, that looks like bird poop!"

As most of you know, I detest ranch dressing. I know I am in the minority here, but I thought I could win some anti-ranch converts by planting Allyson's imagery of ranch looking like bird poop in your minds. Next time you go to dip that chicken strip, carrot, or piece of celery ask yourself, "Is it ranch dressing, or is it bird poop?"

Sorry for the potty humor, but if you have ever been around a 4-year-old for any amount of time, you would know that it is a constant topic!

Have a great weekend.

As I See It...husband material

Allyson has valiantly declared the first qualification of her future husband. He absolutely must not be allergic to cats!

(She has said nothing yet of his character, personality, or looks...)

As I See It....Colic Baby

Natalie had a particularly rough weekend. There was a ton of crying and screaming in our house. Kristen and I are extremely ready for this season to be over. However, Allyson, as usual was able to put an interesting spin on it.

When I got home from church on Sunday night, I went up to Ally's room to say goodnight to her. While we were talking, she told me that Natalie cried a lot while I was gone. I asked her, "Do you like it when she cries?" Ally's response was, "No, I think we need to get a new baby....one that hiccups a lot."

Well, we are not going to trade Natalie in (Kristen won't let me....:), maybe hiccups would be a nice change of pace.

Thankfully, Natalie seems to be over whatever was bothering her this weekend.

As I See It....Breastfeeding

On Tuesdays, we pick up Allyson from school and we all eat lunch together before taking her to the babysitter's house for the afternoon.

As Allyson was eating her string cheese yesterday, she looked at Natalie and said, "You can't have string cheese unless it is in mommy's boobie."

It struck us as quite funny, and as you can see, we felt it was also "blogworthy"!!!

Have a great day.

As I See It...Police Officers N' Cheese

Today, Allyson and I (Kristen) had a pleasant lunch together at home, while Natalie was peacefully sleeping. We dined on Mac n' Cheese and were about halfway through the meal when I tuned in to Ally's babbling. (Don't think I'm a bad mom, she just talks so much that I often allow my mind to wander...) She was declaring that her Mac n' Cheese bowl was the building where the police officers' cars go. Oooookay. Here's how the conversation progressed.

Mom: So where are the police officers?
Ally: The Mac n' Cheeses are them.
Mom: The police officers are the noodles?
Ally: Yeah, they're dressed up like noodles.
Mom: Oh, dressed up like noodles.
Ally: Yep.
Mom: Do police officers like to eat mac n' cheese?
Ally: (thinks for a few seconds) Nope, they're allergic to mac n' cheese.

Just a glimpse into the conversations that develop with a nearly 4-year-old...

Another quick note...Tonight was "Daddy night" at Ally's preschool. All of the Dads went to school with their child and they did a craft, sang songs, and ate treats. As they were getting buckled into the van to drive to school, Ally told her Daddy, "You're gonna behave, right?" That's my girl!

As I See It...Daddy's Fur

Sometimes I like to get a little "wild" and skip shaving for a few days. This week was one of those times. Little did I know that it would have an impact on Allyson.

The other night we were wrestling on the couch while we waited for mom to finish making dinner. I brushed my chin past Allyson's cheek and then she started crying and saying that I hurt her.

From that point, she proceeded, as all 3-year-olds in distress do, to run to MOMMY and tell her she was hurt. When Kristen asked her what happened she replied, "Daddy hurt me with his FUR!"

It was all we could do to keep ourselves from busting up laughing. I guess the moral of this story is that I need to make sure to shave my facial "fur" before wrestling with Allyson.

Can you believe it...in just two days we can start blogging about two little girls instead of one!

I will try to post pictures sometime on Tuesday, but we'll see how things go.

As I See It....Getting Fat

Last night we were getting Allyson ready for bed when she looked Kristen in the eye and said, "Am I going to get fat when I grow up?"

We were both a little taken back by that and immediately asked her why she thought of that. She couldn't give an answer. So, I asked her, "Who do you know that is fat?" She then pointed at me!!!

How sad it is that a 3-year-old is thinking about that already.

As I See It....A Cure for Stomach Aches

Allyson has come up with a new cure for stomach aches! For the last several days she has told us multiple times that her stomach hurts. She then proceeds to say, "I think I need to wrestle with Daddy to make it feel better."

Today, she thought that wrestling with me would help her shoulder to feel better too!

So, the next time your stomach or shoulder hurts, find a good wrestling partner and see if a little wrestling doesn't help!

As I See It...Prayer and Spiderman

As you know, three-year-olds can say some funny things. We are constantly amazed at how Ally processes things in her mind. So, I thought that we should start the "As I See It" posts to document Allyson's perceptions about everyday topics. Hopefully, this will be the first in a series of posts....

1. This morning, we went to the donut shop before Kristen's pre-natal appointment and when I asked Allyson to pray for our food, she said, "We don't need to pray for this because it's not hot."
   
   
2. Yesterday, I asked her if she wanted some Spiderman fruit snacks, and she refused saying, "I'm not a boy, so I can't eat Spiderman fruit snacks."