sink or swim

and, MAJOR Lily announcement!....

She wrote her name yesterday by herself (in red) 

and then wrote it all over everything that was on my desk, 

and I was SO proud of her that I didn't know whether to cry or clap...

so I gave her candy.

a girl and her dog

 Everywhere that Lily went her pup was sure to go...

 "LOOK!  It's a dog!"

 VERY happy to be doing something that her big sister does

This sick picture of Sofie looks JUST like sick pictures of baby Matt...I think :)

my leader

We just can't shake this sick!  Sofi had a 101 fever today and was downright miserable, Lily and I still have hacking coughs, and nobody is sleeping through the night yet...yuck!


However, when trying to keep them distracted from their misery today, we girls went on a long walk and played in the yard and garden with the guys.  We learned how to know when carrots are ready, how to find the sweet potatoes, how to identify all the different plants, how to get veggies started, got to eat some parsley and tomatoes, and really had a good time hanging out...the weather was just gorgeous today!


On our way to the garden:


Mom: "I'm following the leader, the leader, the leader, I'm following the leader, wherever she may go!"


Lily:  "Mom, stop.  I'm not the leader.  I'm a PERSON."


Mom:  "Well, leaders can be people, too.  You don't want to be the leader?"


Lily:  "No, I'm a person.  I don't like to be the leader."


Mom:  "Oh, I think you do."


Lily:  "No, I don't.  You be the leader.  I'll walk behind you.  Ok, go."


Mom:  "Ok.  I'm following the leader, the leader, the leader..."


Lily:  "No, Mom.  Not that way.  The leader is supposed to go THIS way.  Go this way, leader!"

Sofia the Hun

When Lily came along, she was everything we had pictured....sassy, independent, sweet, bossy, helpful, busy and thoughtful.  

We had predicted Sofia would sit sweetly in her shadow, happy to just watch her big sis, quiet, contemplative, shy and timid.  You know, Sofia Lovely.


We should have known how wrong we were even before she came, with all the ups and downs she gave us in pregnancy!

She has been dubbed, instead, "Sofia the Hun", and I swear she is the roughest baby known to man.  She's a bruiser, all over the place, pushing Lily out of the way to get in front of her, taking toys from all the big kids, biting, chewing, throwing herself at things, pulling hair and getting into general trouble...and then grinning when she gets scolded.


She is strong, perseverant, knows what she wants and will get it for herself, all the while smiling an ornery grin, making everyone around her smile.


In other words, as Matt put it last night when both girls were in the bathtub, Lily trying to wash Sofie's hair saying, "It's ok! It's ok!" and Sofie shouting "Na! Na! Na!" and trying to get out of the tub to get her duck..."Look!  There's Stacey and Lisa!"


Hopefully, Sofia will get the sweet and incredibly thoughtful chip that my little sister has alongside of her strength and perseverance!


Meanwhile, there are bound to be fun days ahead with this one!

Lent for Little Ones: Days 8-14

Day 8     3/1        Luke 20:9-26            Parable of the Vine-Growers

Talk about what this scripture means by, “give to God the things that are God’s.”  Make round yellow circles out of paper and write on each “coin” something that belongs to God, and how we can GIVE those things to Him.  What does that giving look like?

Day 9         3/2             Luke 20:27-40            Is There a Resurrection

Talk about God being God of the living, and about how we will all live in Him.

Talk about heaven and those who lived in Christ and have gone to be with God            in heaven.  Draw pictures together about what your child thinks heaven might look like.

Day 10    3/3        Matthew 22:34-40      Two Greatest Commandments

Make a poster collage of the two greatest commandments using only pictures. 

 Find images together that your child believes capture loving God, and others.   Find another person for your child to explain the pictures to. 

Day 11     3/5        Matthew 23:1-39      Woe to You!

Ahead of time, paint a plastic or paper cup black.  With your child, talk about how our badness makes us black as night, but that Jesus can help us do what is right.  Paint the outside of the cup white with the child.  Now, talk about how important it is for Jesus to make clean the INSIDE of us, too…paint the inside together.  Talk about how Jesus can make us beautiful on the outside AND on the inside.

Day 12     3/6       Mark 12:41-44         The Widow’s Offering

Grab the bank you and your children made on Day 4.  Give one child 10 pennies, and show how these rich people put one or two pennies in the church money box.  Then, give another child (or a stuffed animal, or a Dad!) only 2 pennies, and talk about how the poor woman put in both of her pennies…all that she had!  Talk about the joy that God gets when we give Him everything, and when we give with a happy and humble heart.

           

Day 13      3/7      Mark 13:1-13       Signs of the Close of the Age

Talk about how, just like in Noah’s day, that today in the world there are many people who do not thing about or love or obey God.  Share with your child how important it is to hold tightly to God in our lives, even though there may be times that others will be unkind to us. 

                        Draw a picture of a large tree, our God, and your child underneath.  Talk to the child about standing close to God.  Draw the sun beating down, and ask whether when it is hot and uncomfortable if it is time to run from the tree or to run close to the tree.  Draw rain, and ask the same question.

 Troubles may come, but when they do, we can draw closer to Him!

Day 14     3/8       Matthew 24:15-35        The Coming of the Son of Man

 “How do you know when it’s almost Christmas?” ask your little one, and talk about all the ways.  “What about your birthday?”  Well, one day, Jesus, who is in heaven with God and all the people we talked about a few days ago, is going to come back to get all of us and to gather us up!  We know He is coming, just like we know your birthday and Christmas is coming!

                        Draw or paint a picture together of Jesus and his angels “gathering His elect” from the four winds, from one end of heaven to another.  Talk about how happy we can be to finally be with Jesus, have no sickness and no pain, no crying and no sadness.

the point

Sofie has this one little pointy finger that does ALL her work for her.  

In the morning, when she is ready to get up, it scratch-scrath-scrathes at her crib sheets.

  When you lay on the floor with her, it prods your eyes, picks your nose and claws at your lips.  

But best, when she's about to stick it in the electric socket or crawl off a step, if you say, "Sofie!  Ah-ah-ah!" she whips that baby finger out, points at you and grins...cause she knows. 

every single time.

it is just too cute.

Lent for Little Ones

When I couldn't find any daily kind of Lent program for little ones out there, I pulled forty passages of Scripture,  in chronological order, out of the New Testament, detailing Jesus' final days and the Easter story.  Some of the stories that are repeated throughout the New Testament are also repeated here, and if your toddler is anything like mine, repetition is a good thing :)

Each day, I am reading her the passage from my Bible, and then if her toddler picture Bible also has the story, we read it again from her Bible.  Next, we are doing the activity or conversation times detailed below.  My toddler loves to act out stories and movies, turn her stuffed animals into Bible characters and do crafts.  Therefore, the activities and conversations are aimed toward those interests.

Be creative!  If your toddler is into LEGOs, use LEGOs.  If you don't have a shoebox, use a cereal box.  It doesn't matter.  The point is sharing these stories in a way that conveys the meaning in a way your dear one can understand and remember.  Encourage your kids to share what they are learning with others or when Dad comes home.  

Take Sundays off, and you'll find the first 7 days below.  I'll add the next 33 days over the next week!

By the time Easter comes, you won't be popping the significance of the season on your children, trying to make it an inch wide and a mile deep.  My hope is that by Easter, the meaning of the season and His gift, great love and new life will be a part of who Lily is, seeping into her thirsty mind and dripping from her daily chatter.  

If we don't bind the Truth around their sweet necks

And write His words upon their moldable hearts...

who will? 

Day 1      2/22       Matthew 21:1-11       Triumphal Entry

Make big palm branch  from green construction paper.  Talk about all of the names that the child has, and write one on each frond.  This is the same  with Jesus!  Talk about all of the names he has, just like “King” from the story.  Write a name of Jesus on each frond.

Day 2      2/23      John 12:1-11       Mary Anoints Jesus

 Act out Mary anointing Jesus’ feet with water by washing child’s feet with waterand drying them with a towel.  Talk about how this act showed Mary’s love forJesus.  Talk about ways that the child can love others around him/her like this.

Day 3      2/24       John 12:12-19         Triumphant Entry

Act out ‘the Triumphal Entry’ with a stuffed animal “donkey”, paper palms from Day 1 and coats or blankets.  Act it out several times, letting the child play each role.

Day 4       2/25       Mark 11:12-26       Driving out Money Changers

Make a piggie bank from a tissue box or oatmeal container.  Talk about what the vendors were doing and why it upset Jesus, and talk about how important it is that we give of what we have to God to use.  Write on the box:  “Believe, Pray, Forgive” based on the Scripture.  Use this bank for putting money in this Lent season, and let child give the money to God or others as he/she chooses throughout Lent, or at the end.

Day 5      2/27       Matthew 21:23-32        Authority Challenged, Parable of Two Sons

Make puppets of the two sons on popsicle sticks, act out the parable using thepuppets.  Do it once for the child and then let the child do the same.

Day 6      2/28      Mark 12:1-12        Parable of the Vine-Growers

Paint many stones different colors.  Use a Sharpie to write names of different things that are important in the child’s life…Mommy, Daddy, friends, foods, toys.  Paint the largest stone white and write Jesus’ name on it.  Built the stones together into a house or wall with “Jesus” as the foundation.  Talk about the importance of Jesus being the chief cornerstone.

Day 7      2/29       Matthew 22:1-14       Parable of the Marriage Feast

 Build a “kingdom” from blocks, books, boxes, whatever, and gather many figurines, Barbies, action figures.  Act out the parable, and talk about what it means.