Signs of the Times

My 4 1/2 year old taped this sign to a tree in our yard today. Apparently, he wasn't happy that some of the neighborhood boys were in the tree. So he came inside, printed a sign and grabbed some tape. It reads:

DON'T CLIMB

ON THIS TREE

ALONE TIME

NILS

I guess he has declared the tree to be his (mainly by merit of it being the one he can climb)--and where he has his "alone time."

Kisses

Nils won't let us kiss him good-night right now. Only God is allowed to kiss him currently. And according to Nils, He has a few times.

Sesame Street: Celebrity Lullabies

I don't normally post videos, but this one both the parents and kids can enjoy (at least we all do in my family--my 4-year old can't stop laughing during it).

Wanting Some Attention

Nils [coming down long after being in bed]: I had a dream.

Me: Have you been asleep yet?

Nils: No.

Me: Then it wasn't a dream.

[long pause]

Nils: I had an idea...

What's He Got to Do with It?

Tonight as we were sitting in Wendy's between our museum hops (it was the only restaurant nearby), we found ourselves listening to a lot of classic 80s music. At one point, my six-year old was singing along with Tina Turner with the words, "What's love Dr. Doolittle."

Boys on Beauty

We were watching an old episode of the Muppet Show tonight with Marisa Berenson as the guest star when Nils (who just turned four today) said, "She's beautiful."

To which Anders (his six-year-old brother) replied, "Yeah, you have to admit, she really is."

Role Play

Anders & Nils (to me): Yargh! We're pirates (wielding "swords" made out of K'nex).

Anders (to Nils): Now let's be muskrats. I mean musketeers.

Get It In Writing

Nils said to me tonight, "I'm going to be Iron Man for Halloween. I'm goimg to write that down."

Growing Up Too Fast

Yesterday, my three-and-a-half-year old told me (while looking at a "Little Critter" book) that he loves girls. The day before my six-year old told me that he was thinking about marriage. I don't know that I'm ready to have those talks already!

For Better or Worse

On the way home from church tonight, my six-year old announced, "I am already beginning to think about marrying."

I told one of the fathers of one of the girls (there were two specific ones mentioned). He replied, "No worries. I've told all my girls they can date when they're 24."

I'm sure it'll all work itself out. Of course, my nearly four-year old also declared that he's going to marry the same girl. I hope this doesn't turn into a bloody feud some day.

Lofty Goals

Late this afternoon we were hanging out with our neighbors a little bit. She asked Anders what he wanted to be when he grew up. He said, "A lot of things." So to try and get some specifics she asked what he'd like to be first. "Maybe a Jedi . . . and then a superhero."

The Jungle Messiah

Anders: Daddy, I think Tarzan is half-like Jesus.
Me: How so?
Anders: Well, he helps people like Jesus.
Me: So, is Batman half-like Jesus?
Anders: No.
Me: But Batman helps people.
Anders: But he's like a bat.

I Thought We Were Here to Learn to Swim

My 5-year old is almost finished with his first round of swimming lessons. He's doing great. I'm looking forward to being able to do a little more in the lakes around here this summer.

To get to the pool at the school where his lessons are, you first have to go through what is practically a maze (thankfully there is signage)--up stairs and back down, with several turns along the way. Then you enter the locker room (where he changes into his swim suit), through the shower room (one of those "group showers" where there are six posts with like 5 nozzles on each one--the ones we hated using in junior high) and then you walk out into the pool.

I often have my 3-year old along. Today, as we were walking through the showers to get to the pool for lessons, the 3-year old says, "That guy looks funny." Awkward.

For the record: the guy was naked. And no, I didn't look to confirm it.

How Many Bites? A Exercise in Quantity

Our 3-year old has a wonderful way of helping us get him to eat more. We make our boys have a set number of bites (matching their age) of whatever they're served. Tonight we were having taco salad. He just wanted a burrito. So I wrapped everything up in the tortilla. Then he unfurled it and just ate the tortilla. He wanted some of the chips that I had out for the salad. I told him he would have to eat most of his veggies first. After a while I asked him how many more bites he needed to eat before I could give him some chips. I suggested three. He suggested four. A deal was made. (He's suggested as much as two or three times the amount of what we're suggesting before. We always let him win in those situations.)

In Case You Were Wondering

Anders is sitting on the toilet reading a Scooby-Doo book (yep, it's a sit-and-read moment, but that's another posting), when I heard him ask his brother, "What's the difference between zombies and skeletons?"
Nils: "I don't know."
Anders: "Zombies have hair."

We Feed Him, Honestly!

So after breakfast this morning, I heard our 3-year old tearing open something. I couldn't see him. Naturally, I became suspicious. I found him under the table. He had clearly opened a bag of something and was eating it. I wasn't sure what he would be eating that he would feel a need to hide it from me--his older brother's Valentine's Day candy was well out of reach.

It turned out to be an envelope of instant oatmeal.

I said that if he had asked I would have gladly made some for him, which I proceeded to do. After heating up the water, mixing it in and putting a little milk on it to cool it down, he didn't eat another single bite. I guess some fruits are best eaten when (you at least think they're) forbidden.

Make Believe = Gender Trouble?

Today during rest time, Nils stripped down--initially to his undies, then to nothing. He's been doing this lately. He says he's dressing up as a girl (one who apparently doesn't wear anything, which makes it all the scarier). Often he's a princess and the bunkbed is a castle. He often puts a blanket over his shoulders (the one we used to swaddle him in when he was a baby that has been stretched out so much we could still swaddle him in it if we tried). Today he had on a cowboy hat. I don't know what it means. I think God wires kids to do this to keep their parents guessing.

Both he and his brother have often pretended that their "stuffies" are girls--even Nils' bear he named Bobby and Anders' bear named Tommy. Sometimes they make each other their sister (or do it voluntarily).

Before Nils was born, Anders wanted him to be a sister. Except that he got his role confused in it. When people would ask him about the impending new baby he wold tell them, "I'm going to be a big sister."

Neither of them will be getting a little sister--at least until God calls us to adopt and gives us the resources to do so. Beth will not go through another C-section again. So I guess make-believe is their realm of possibility for now. Sometimes, though, it just makes me scratch my head and wonder what's going on. But I'm a little afraid to ask.

House Dad on A Prairie Home Companion

If you caught A Prairie Home Companion on NPR this last week, you may have heard a humorous song by Garrison Keillor about the plight of a stay-at-home dad. If not, be sure to check out The Only Living House Dad in Eau Claire.

Deena = Code for Clean Up

Since our firstborn was old enough to help pick up toys, we've sung the "Clean Up" song whenever we do it. You maybe know the one:
Clean-up, clean-up
Everybody do your share.
Clean-up, clean-up
Everybody, everywhere.
I don't know where the song comes from--perhaps some children's program that I would be chagrined to watch. But my wife sung it, and we've all been singing it ever since. Except that our firstborn used to sing, "Deena, deena" instead of "Clean-up." And so for almost five years now, we've all sung "Deena." I'm not sure if our 3-year old has ever heard the right words.

Our boys have actually moved beyond using it now. Now they say that they're "clean upping." The funny thing is that my wife and I still call it deena. "Boys, time to deena your room." "Let's deena before we do something new." I suppose each family has their own words like that--words their kids made up and everyone still uses. My wife and I even catch ourselves using it around other adults. It's probably just a phase--we'll grow out of it someday.

Holy Make-Believe, Batman

Anders was suffering from allergies terribly yesterday (we're thinking a little mold in the hay at the farm park on Saturday), and was home from school today (which was okay because some accident on the road near the school caused it not to have electricity today). So he's being creative with stuff around the house--earlier he and his little brother colored a cardboard box to make it into a school bus.

A few minutes ago Anders put a yellow blanket around him with a blue scarf around his chest like a sash and said, "Look, I'm God." I said, "Why, yes, you do look a little like Jesus" (trying to correct him subtly and avoid a lightning bolt of blasphemy). His next step was to look for a red marker to put on his hands and feet. He just had me come look at him in--he was standing on the edge of the tub in the bathroom. "Doesn't it look like I'm rising into Heaven?" (He's suffering from some allergies, so his eyes look like he's been through quite the ordeal. Currently he's drawing with a marker on a wrapping paper tube. I believe he just said, "I"m going to make it into a ninja stick," and, "Nils, go get my Ninja Turtle undies." (Did Jesus wear boxers or briefs?) I guess we'll just wait this one out and see where they go with it. It could be quite the afternoon . . .I guess it's better than him fighting with Nils. At least hopefully Jesus won't do that to his brother.

When he was younger, Anders would play "Joshua and the Battle of Jericho" in which he would walk around the couch seven times, make a loud noise and then pretend that the walls fell down. David and Goliath was another favorite thing to act out (I was usually Goliath). I guess when "Cowboys and Indians" are politically incorrect, the kids come up with something else to play.