I just cannot contain myself...

Please forgive this "stream of consciousness" blog, but I have the best kids in the world.

Here it is Saturday and I am doing some reading, writing, and studying at my desk, which is my habit, and the kids are watching TV. I had been watching cartoons with them and goofing off, which is half the purpose of a Saturday morning (the other half being waffles!!).

As I am about 8 feet in the middle of a Greek participle (and anyone who has studied that language knows exactly what that means), I am drawn back to this plane but the persistent tugging of my shirt by my daughter. As I become aware of my daughter, I also become aware that she is giving a little lioness roar (actually, it is more like "rawr" but you get the idea).

When she sees that I am paying attention, she reaches up for me to pick her up. While I am holding her, she continues roaring. I start to chuckle because I had not heard her do this in a long time. Then, she pointed up at a picture her great-grandma had oil painted and continued to roar. I realized that the painting is of a little lion cub sleeping.

Now, it took me a few seconds to understand what was going on, but without Shannon or myself having really emphasized what a lion is (except when the zoo or TV ocasioned it) and only less frequently doing the roaring, Alexa was able to connect a semi-abstract painting of a lion cub with the roar of his bigger father.

I was impressed. She continually amazes me as to how perceptive she is. Since she does not talk very much it is easy to miss that she pays very close attention to everything.

So, there we sat, for about 15 to 20 minutes, just roaring back and forth. She would point at the lion and roar, then I would find a lion on the computer and I would roar, then she would get excited and giggle and then roar.

And now, my little lioness is lying in bed, asleep.

While she has been asleep, Timothy had a snack. Shannon gave him extra snacks "to share with Daddy." So, he comes to me and breaks out the fruit snacks. "Here, Daddy, and orange one." Then, he walked over to Mom, "A green one!" So he gave mom the green one. She mentioned that she liked the green ones, so he looked for another green one and gave it to her.

Then he had some more for himself. "A red one, Daddy!" "A green one!" The green one went to mom.

When he had only three left, I told Tim he could have the rest. "A red one, Daddy!" Yes, he gave it to me. "Another red!" He gave that one to me. "Another red!" He gave that one to me...I gave it back saying he could have it. He then handed it to his Mom. He would not hear another word about it, the matter was done.

Such a giving child.

I hate to inform the rest of the world of this simple fact, but I have the best kids in the world.

Attack of the Claw/Attack of the Books

Ok, so it was not really a claw, and it was not really an attack. Although it was a coordinated attempt on the part of mom and dad to cut Timmy's nails. Now, you would have thought Grendel himself was coming after Timmy by the way he reacted toward my cutting his nails. Although Shannon tells me that the way he acted toward me was *considerably* more mild than when she has tried it herself or even her mother when she was here.

My strategy was to give Tim a pillow (which he covered his face with) and let him watch cartoons. Then I had mom come over to comfort him. Sort of worked. Sort of didn't. But, to be honest with you, what was hardest for me was not the movements of Timothy. They were easy to predict so I did not hurt him. Nor was it the crying. What was most difficult was my own laughter. Let me explain before you think that I am a sadistic father.

Whenever Timothy knows that he is in trouble, or thinks he is in trouble, he runs through his entire family lineage aloud hoping someone will hear him and come to his rescue. So, when I was clipping his nails, he was crying, "GwampaUnaJim" which, being translated is Grampa and Uncle Jim. See, in later Timothean dialect, the phrase "GwammaGwampa" has been displaced with "GwampaUnaJim" to indicate that the place we visit is cleary Grandpa's, and Uncle Jim plays with him there.

Once they did not come to his rescue, he went through the list, "GrannyGwamps" which are his Grandparents in Yuma, "Brian and Megan" which is his uncle and future aunt in New York.

By this point, I am only slightly chuckling. Then, in his most emphatic scream, he yells, "Alexa!!!" So, desperate was he to get away from those clippers that he was willing to call upon Alexa to rescue him. Baby sister to the rescue!!

Ok, Shannon and I tried hard to suppress even our earlier chuckles because we both still remember what it was like as a kid to have "The Claw" come and get us as well. But, we
completely lost it when he called upon the Mighty Alexa!

Last night, as I had been recovering from the flu (102.9 at its worse), the kids were trying to play with me and it crushed me having to turn them away. So, knowing that dad likes to read (because they see me do it alot) Alexa brought me a book from my library.

I chuckled and thanked her and started to read the book since she brought it too me. She has good taste since it was Charles Spurgeon. However, the trend continued. [Interjection: As I write this, Alexa brought me her Barbie doll...and held her up by her hair. I had to chuckle at that.] Ok, where was I? Oh yes, after I had accepted one book, next, Alexa brought a computer book that was about half her size. Then another theology book, a philosophy book. Not to be outdone, Timothy started bringing bigger books.

Not really in the condition to stop the flood, I had a great idea. "Shannon, see that notebook that is on its way over to me by the lovely hands of the blueyed Alexa? Why not get two pencils and have them draw?"

Worked like a charm. Alexa seemed more focused, but Tim was more creative. He first said that he spelled his name. Now, what impressed us was not the scribbles on the paper that looked nothing like T-I-M but that he told us that he was spelling T-I-M. He had never done that before. My son can spell his name.

Then he drew a "kitty." Alexa just drew and drew her little heart out.

I was still feverish so I could only partially enjoy things as they happened. But, these things I write that you may enjoy them as well.

I wonder if I have blackmail material against Timothy for a future girlfriend for the "Alexa" thing.

Time goes by...

As I sit here I am reminded of how fast time goes by. Some days seem to fly past with out hardly time to catch your breath. Yet there are days, like today, when one can sit and enjoy the time, and reflect.
As I sit here, my wonderful son is sitting in the living room, playing with his cars, and dancing to one of the songs on his Dog Train CD. I like this CD as the music is adult friendly and even though the words to the songs are cheesy, Tim really likes it. Anyway... I digress...
Tim is growing up so fast now. He can hold actual conversations now, almost all of audible. When he gets really excited or frustrated, he mumbles, but for the most part he has a pretty good vocabulary. It's amazing that just at Christmas, there was still so much of what he said we could not understand. Time goes by...
He seems to understand a lot more now too. More than even a few months ago. It is amazing to realize how fast he is growing at this stage. Time goes by...
Lexa too, has come a long way in just a short amount of time. At Christmas she was barely taking those first tentative steps by herself. Now I look at her as she "waddles" all over the house, and I am amazed. She is so independent now. She wants so much to be like her big brother and do all things he does. Time goes by...
They were out in the back playing yesterday. As I watched, Tim would go and play in the sand box and then go on to something else. Lex was right behind him the whole way, watching and trying so hard to imitate what he was doing. It was very cute!
It also made me realize how much she looks to him for how things are done. And it made me realize that Mike and I have long road ahead of us. Tim is going to be so influential with Lex, so we really need to make sure we are raising him right. It's kind of scary... I mean the world is so big, and there are some really not nice people out there.
But you know what... Our kids will be ok. I think all parents have this belief that their kids will be ok. They will learn how to survive in the world. They will live, love, laugh and be happy. I think as parents we all want these things and more for our kids.
I want my kids to know the Lord. I want them to work, and be responsible and yet still be able to have fun in life. I want them to marry for love, and never know heart break. I want them to live life to its very fullest and still have enough to give something back. I want them to realize that money is not the ultimate success story. These are just some of the things I want for my kids. I know some of these things will never happen. But I have hope that through time and prayer that most of them will.
Time. It all boils down to time. "Only time will tell..." "Time flies..."
So when you look at that way, it's good to take some time to reflect on things. Especially things that are important to you.
So, I hope everyone takes some time to just sit and reflect, and hopefully realize how much time we spend on things that are not so important, and maybe start moving around some priorities.
I have. In fact I am ending this now, so I can go read a book to my daughter, who just came over and handed me one, and then threw up her arms up for me to pick her up.
Take care~