Sound Theology

Before I forget this hilarious tidbit, I better write it down. This past week Huston has started talking more about Jesus being in his heart. One night at bed he said, "Bear Bear has Jesus in his heart," and I said, "Oh really? Do you know that you can ask Jesus into your heart and he'll come in and stay there forever?" Huston then squinched his eyes shut and said, "Please, Jesus, will you come into my heart?" This was immediately followed, however, by, "No, Jesus! No! You don't want Jesus in your heart." I didn't push him because it was obvious he was looking to pick a fight.

The next day we were outside playing and he just randomly started running around saying, "No, Jesus! Go away! You don't want Jesus in your heart!" Again, since he was just trying to get a reaction out of me, I just ignored him.

But later that same day we came into the house and he had Bear Bear and Blankie on the couch, and he said, "Bear Bear has Jesus in his heart." We talked about it a little bit and then he said,

"For Bear Bear take a bath, Jesus just got all wet! For Jesus come out of his heart he got all wet!"

Now that is some sound theology.

Preschool Man

Here's my big man eating breakfast before his first day of preschool yesterday (September 8th). My mom took him to school and they managed to get out of the car and into the school during a lull in the torrential downpour that lasted almost all morning. Huston didn't seem all that nervous leading up to school starting. I expected him to be saying "No, Mommy, Huston doesn't want to go to preschool," but every time we talked about it, he would just say, "You're going to preschool. Grandma's going to take you." He didn't cry when Grandma dropped him off. She said he just walked in nervously, kind of chewing his shirt. But when she picked him up the teachers did suggest that he bring something special next time because he was kind of whimpering for awhile. So Bear Bear might get to go to school next week.

Here he is standing in front of the door to Saint Stephen's. I loved the little snippets I got from him about school. He has a cubby hole with his name on it. I asked him what he put in his cubby hole and he said, "Oh, your backpack." (Almost every sentences starts with "oh" these days). He said, "Did they turn the lights off," and indeed they did turn the lights off for nap time and my mom said Huston was still sleeping when she came to pick him up (he was one of three kids still dead asleep on the floor while they other kids played). Never would I have expected that!

He came home with a heart sticker on his hand and based on the little "recipe" cooking activity he brought home, I deduced that they read The Kissing Hand, a sweet story about starting school. The little heart sticker is supposed to represent a mom's kiss that stays with you all day at school. He got really upset when his heart sticker fell off at home, and this from a kid that never wants to wear stickers for more than 3 seconds.

He told me they had circle time and he also told us "The music didn't work. Did it go 'mmmmmmmm'," so there must have been some kind of technological mishap that made an impression on him. And then late last night he suddenly bust out with, "At your preschool did they sing 'Days of the Week, Days of the Week.'" I found the Dr. Jean song on my ipod that I think they might have sung and he got really happy listening to it.

So, a fortuitous start to the school year. I hope he loves school and I can't wait to go up there and meet his teachers and see his little class.

Random Updates

I just had to record, so I don't forget, that Arden waved for the first time yesterday, September 4th. Clarke and I took the kids to the park because the weather was so nice in the morning and Arden saw a lady walking three dogs and she got so excited. (Her first real interaction with a dog was at Huston's birthday party with my brother's dog, Pup. She loved Pup and followed her around making happy sounds during the whole party). Anyway, she stretched out her little hand and started waving it up and down while she kicked her legs and strained to go see the little doggies. The rest of the day she would occasionally move her hand up and down or open and close it while she watched it, as if she was thinking, "Oh, so that's how you do it."

Although she's not walking yet, she took her first steps about a week ago, on August 26th. It is so fun to set her a few feet away from me and let her toddle over. She looks just like Frankenstein with her arms outstretched and her lurching, lunging motions. She can easily take 5 or 6 steps in a row, but usually lunges towards you at the end and still doesn't really try to walk by herself.

Huston and Arden both had check ups last week (Arden's 9 month and Huston's 3 year). Arden is now 29 inches tall, which is 90th percentile, and 18 pounds, 12 ounces, which is 50th percentile. Huston is 38 and a half inches tall, which is in the 75th percentile, and he weighed 31 pounds, which I think is 50th percentile.

Okay, that's all the updates for now.