Bread and Soup

First, a shot of Sam wearing a wreath of hearts while sticking out his tongue. I have no explanation for that aside from his being five.

Saturday: Clef Club, library, grocery shopping, and home for homemade oat bread and carrot potato cheddar soup. YUM. You see here the before and after shots of Sam sampling the bread.

Sunday, Jim Smith and his two boys joined us for Sunday dinner. Emily Smith flew to Haiti yesterday with a team from our church. They will be working on rebuilding a Christian school destroyed in the earthquake.

After dinner, Sam and Kevin and Trevor took to the blackboard, as you can see. Sam and I had spent quite some time filling it up previously, but it's always good to have new material. I am sure we will redo it again soon.

It's February break this week, so Susan and Sam will have no shortage of time together this week. I may even take a day off, depending on whether I decided to hoard all my time for a possibly imminent sibling for Sam.

Other than that, not much. Sunny and 50s on Friday (got to see the lawn again!), upper teens and a howling wind on Saturday and cold again today, with half a foot predicted by morning.

Thinking hard about where Sam should go next year for first grade. Montessori is amazing and he would be happy and prosper... but it would probably be easier for him to adjust to public school this year than next. Rochester Christian is also a candidate. We are planning to visit soon. Thoughts and ideas? Share in the comments!

Quotes...

On Friday it was in the 50s with a very stiff wind. While driving around Sam noticed the ripples on the puddles and commented philosophically, "A puddle is an ocean to a germ." When I mentioned this to him this morning he added, "And the ripples are waves."

Maybe February makes him contemplative; the other day he said, his eyes on the horizon, "I have had five years on this year." Susan asked him if he knew how long Mommy had been on this earth. First he guess eighteen, then he guessed 1,000.

Weekend update

I am writing this from a poor connection (think dial-up) while flying to California--so please excuse sloppy formatting...

Over the weekend:

• Sam was attacked by his stuffed animals. Or they attacked him. You be the judge. He was pretty happy about the whole thing. It's easy to forget as an adult how much fun a Saturday morning can be!
• We went to Eastview Mall and engaged in Sam's two favorite activities there: riding the carousel and buying a votive at Yankee Candle
• We went to a birthday part for a school chum, Ethan, at the Science Museum. I've blogged plenty about the museum (not Strong Museum of Play), so you know my mixed feelings about it. Turns out they throw a good party, though. Way better than the zoo or any of those bounce-it-out indoor-gym-with-carnival-balloon-ride places. In two hours they built catapults with cups and spoons and rubber bands, petted a tarantula and other assorted creepy things, made slime, and watched a demonstration of how to make ice cream with liquid nitrogen (easy and delicious!). That demo included their screeching in fear/glee when drops of lN2 were sent skittering their way on the floor.
• Re-visited, this time with mommy, the animatronic dinosaur exhibit
• Ate cake, of course
  
• Didn't get a headache!
  

Other than that... Sam had a great babysitter weekend--a really good time with Sara Friday night (he was hopping up and down in excitement when she arrived) while we were at small group, and another three hours with Corinne Sunday late afternoon while we went to a fantastic lute concert by the best lutenist in the world, Paul O'Dette (fun fact: born and raised in Upper Arlington, a suburb of Columbus).

(He's a very engaging performer, too, with a good sense of humor. The first piece he played had a title something like "Can't Keep My Wife At Home", the lyrics to which he said were unprintable. Those were bawdy days, they were. We also learned that the greatest composer for lute, John Downland, was likely a double agent while in the royal court of Denmark. Apparently England made much use of its musicians as spies because of their travel and access.)

Sam had a fantastic time with Corinne as well, and they passed them time making another booklet. In this one a pony with a magic multicolored tail has an adventure, and chooses/finds a new home. Today, Susan tells me, he's working with her on a book about a Lava Monster.

Sam's starting to realize I am gone. On previous trips, less so. Last night while lying in bed reading him a bedtime story I told him I'd be away. He suggested I bring something back for him. The words "well, maybe I could" were barely out of my mouth when he suggested a new marble racer. I responded that a piece of chocolate was more likely. This morning he grabbed an inconsequential toy (a tiny eraser shaped like a killer whale) and offered for me to take a picture of it to remember him by. I offered to actually take it and he looked aghast. A picture was a much better idea!

Jon, if you are reading this, you should know Sam's also been having a great time with the Mighty Beanz you lent him a long time ago. :-)

One last story: This morning on the way in to school we were stopped at a light by an abulance. Sam noticed the caduceus--the symbol of the snake wrapped around the staff--and asked about it. I started to hunt back in my memory for Greek tales of Asclepius when he blurted out that he knew where it was from--the story of Moses and the poisonous snakes! I like that much better as a basis for the symbol, and was amazed he remembered it. :-) He asked me if that story was true, something he's been asking a lot lately. And who can blame him? The picture Bible looks like a comic book and we are also reading stories of ghosts and pirates and monsters, so it takes a little discernment. When I said yes, it was true, he pointed out that Jesus told some stories which weren't true--by which he meant parables. I think it's neat that he's making that distinction.

Okay, that's enough for one post! Say a prayer for Susan as she single parents...

Sunday school candid

Here are Sam and Zachy (two months Sam's junior) in Ms. Cok's Sunday-school class yesterday morning. She is a phenomenal teacher and Sam always enjoys the class. There are usually three students, but one of the students was near someone who was sick, so his parents kept the whole family home, leaving just Sam and Zachy.

The curriculum has them learning Bible stories and doing crafts. It focuses on various themes. Right now it's on belonging to God. They see how this is played out in the various Bible stories.

They also manage, even with just three of them, to rarely work without bumping and nudging and interacting with one another. We'll call that Practicing Christian Community. :-)

I also have to put a plug in for the picture Bible Sam received from his Aunt and Uncle (and cousin?) for Christmas. (Someone at church calls it the "Prince Valiant Bible" for its artistic style.) We are up to Judges and he loves it. The thing I really appreciate is the care the editor took in straightening out issues which might otherwise seem nonsensical or contradictory or cruel.

The editor will have a severe test in Judges, though, with the dismembering of the prostitute.

Back to Sunday school: If you are reading this (and you must be), what are your best and worst memories from Sunday school when growing up?

Winter Aunt Amy Visit

Fun weekend visit from Aunt Amy!


These are always quick trips, especially when Amy has to drive back on Sunday. Highlights included a trip to the Science Museum on Saturday afternoon, and a family movie night that evening. At the Science Museum we saw a new exhibit which consists of about a dozen animatronic dinosaurs.

They swung their heads to and fro looking menacing (carnivores) or irenic (herbivores). To a t they all sound like giant, loud, hungry, scary birds. I think the two things which scientists really can't determine with any certainty are the color and sound of dinosaurs, but they don't let that stop them. If there had been a aviatic era in addition to jurassic--an era when birds ruled the earth--I suspect scientists would have cardinals and robins sounding like Godzilla as well.

Family movie night was Despicable Me, recommended by Aunt Ruth and others. Thanks for the recommendation--it was great fun and had some laughing uncontrollably several times.

In it, an evil genius adopts three orphan girls for his own nefarious purposes, and ends up loving and caring for them. I wonder what Sam thought as he saw the three girls waiting to be adopted?

On the way to the museum I drove by a house which always has the most amazing snow sculptures. We were lucky enough to talk recently to the fellow who makes them, and learned some of his methods. He colors them using colored water in spray bottles. The trick to building them, though, is to take snow inside his sun room in big bins, to allow them the snow to melt a little so it holds together better. His methods work very well.

Other than that, a quiet weekend. Got to see Amy's Israel scrapbook again, prior to her second trip coming up in March. Even now she is driving back to her world. Greetings from ours!

Sam and the Giant

It's -1 deg F at 9:26 PM Sunday night--so we didn't spend any more time outdoors than necessary. (We did our best to relate to Sam that it was minus 15 in Uncle Paul and Aunt Ruth's world this last week, during the day even!)

Appropriate to the weather we read a children's book about the Junior Iditarod race. Very exciting book based on a real boy and his dogs.

It was a quiet weekend. Susan and Sam and a friend, Lexy, made and painted a large number of salt-dough Valentine's Day ornaments.

Sam and I also made a trip to the Play Museum for the first time in eons. There's a new area devoted to video games, which has the above yellow Pokemon (?) statue.

Sam is shown here with a giant. It's controlled with levers and has a microphone which changes a child's voice into a rumbly giant's.

I remember clearly the first time Susan took Sam to the Play Museum, she said he hid behind her legs. I wonder if he's twice the height he was then. Now when we visit the PM, he ranges about, viewing the old exhibits as if flipping through a yearbook. Though he did spend a fair amount of time in one area (the Berenstain Bear exhibit), which is still entertaining.

* * *

Sam was walking gingerly, because he has a big bruise on his shin which his boots aggravate. Today's quote-of-the-day: "I didn't know bruises hurt!"

Skull and Crossbones Jammies

Isn't this heartwarming? Our little boy in his skull & crossbones sleeper! He's thrilled with it.

Here's a funny, recent exchange that demonstrates he's not ready to be an evangelist yet:

Susan: I wonder what you are thinking about.
Sam: I'm thinking about my neighbor classmate who doesn't know Jesus.
Susan: You mean a classmate from the other classroom?
Sam: Yes.
Susan: How do you know he or she doesn't know Jesus?
Sam: Because I asked her.
Susan (thoughtfully): Maybe we should pray for her.
Sam (innocently): Why would we do that?

In other news, Sam has had a bandaid on his hand for a little scratch he got a few days ago. When asked how he got hurt, he said, "Oh, this is from when I hugged Ariana too hard." We have no idea how the hug resulted in injury, and we hope Ariana came out of it okay.