No Song And Dance

I've said before that I believe that most of the stories I will have to tell about my son will be about things that happen in church. Well, if that is true, then the second most frequent stories I have to tell are about his tremendous fear of.....BUGS. While driving. In the car.

This time he wasn't singing...yet. He saw the GInormous beast on the roof in the back seat. His brave sister did her best to kill the monster, but missed. I asked her where the offensive critter was.

First mistake.

She told me.

Second mistake.

"It's ON Seth," she answered, without thought.

And the end of the world came. Shrieks and screams. Fits of terror. I pulled the car over, I must confess that I was going to tie him to his booster seat and duct tape his mouth FULLY EXASPERATED, and opened his door.

If you have ever wondered if it was possible for a kid to wiggle out of their seatbelt, I have full evidence that IT IS. Seth was at an angle that put him partially out of his seatbelt.

I never did find the bug, but I checked and reassured my son that it was gone. His sister, trying to make up for her earlier mistake, told him that it "must have flown out when mom opened the door". He believed her. His big sister knows pretty much everything, after all.

I end with one last thing: This incidence sure weren't no song and dance.

Just Thoughts.....

It's 9:30 p.m. My worn out husband has gone to bed even before the kids. My daughter is writing in her journal. My son has been kissed, cuddled and prayed for.

So I'm writing.

As my daughter gets older, I realize I have to be much more careful about what I write about her (thus the lack of blog posts about her in comparison to my son). Even though she is only 8, she really is quite mature and VERY sensitive. I find myself in tug-of-wars with her will about things that I am not prepared to battle yet. She tells me she "feels grown up" all the time (which proves, of course, how not-grown-up she really is - which may seem contradictory to my initial statement about her being quite mature for her age....but really isn't), so even though I am loosening the strings significantly, it is not fast enough to suit my daughter.

{Big Sigh}

Tonight my son told me that we needed to buy a "barrier".

"A what?" I asked.

"A barrier," he told me.

"What in the world is a barrier?" I asked him.

"You know," he said, "it's one of those things that you need to bury people with. So that when one of us dies in our family we can bury them."

How comforting......

I honestly don't know where he comes up with these things.

I find that he asks many of his questions while he's eating, likely because we are trying to get him to stop talking while he's eating - since it's pretty much constant chatter and he takes forever to eat - so when he's not yapping, his little mind is going a mile a minute.

"What do giraffe's bones look like?" he also asked. And: "Why do officers like donuts so much?" (to which I almost choked. Honestly, his dad and I have not made any jokes lately about the police frequenting Tim's or anything....) He comes up with these so out of the blue, that's what makes them so hysterical. And, he'll ask several questions in a row, all about completely different things.

School starts in a couple of weeks and I feel totally unprepared mentally right now.

This is one of those "rambling" posts that I don't have a brilliant ending for. Just my thoughts cuz I was in the mood to write. So good night.

Question Of The Day

My son's question this morning, while eating breakfast:

"Do elephants lie down when they pretend to play dead?"

So, do they I ask?

Definitely will be the title of one of the chapters of their book of life.

Not Wired

My son yelled at me, quite frantically this morning:

"MOM, COME! MOM! THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH THIS PLUG. IT DOESN'T WORK AT ALL WHEN I PLUG IT IN!"

I quickly discovered the problem:

He was trying to plug in this white plug protector and wondered why nothing "lit up".

I'm thinkin' the chances are slim that he will be an electrician when he grows up.

Perhaps he'll stick to his carpentry work and tender for that electrician when the time comes.

Whatcha think?

Of Bugs And Praise

Have I said lately that my son hates bugs? I mean the loathe-kind of hate. He freaks out over everything with the exception of butterflies, but truthfully, I'm sure if a butterfly swooped down near him and caught him off guard that he'd freak over it as well. And it's because of his dislike of bugs that I'm telling my story.

The setting: Our car on the way to church Sunday morning.

Seth is sitting in his seat, just building up to a rousing rendition of Send Up Judah, which was the current song playing.

"Send up Judah, send up Judah, send up........DAD!!! THERE'S A MOSQUITO LOOSE IN THE CAR!!!!!" And all through his shrieks, the song keeps on playing.

And he keeps screaming AND singing.....back and forth.

"DAD!!! KILL IT!!!........For everything He has done, for every victory He has won.......DAD!!! I SAID THERE IS A MOSQUITO!!!!!......Lift it up, lift it up, lift it......AHHH!!! THE MOSQUITO IS ON MY WINDOW DAD!!! GET IT DAD!!! Let everything that has breath praise the......IT'S GONNA GET ME!!! KILL IT, DAD!!!! Praise Him, praise Him......."

I was trying in vain to maintain control in the front seat. Spasms of laughter were trying to burst forth. Dad, on the other hand, was unmoved. Bugs loose in the car and his son's wails are a regular occurrence, after all. For me, it was the combination of wails and singing that got me going.

Then all of the sudden there was a big "thud" against the window.

"There, dad. I threw my Bible at the window and I think I killed it. Yup. For everything He has done, every victory He has won, send up.....AHHH! IT'S STILL MOVING, DAD!"

That was too much for me and I could not suppress it anymore. Dad was still NOT amused. I realize that throwing your hard cover children's Bible at the window is really not a good idea and could cause damage, but it is was still really just too much for me.

The story ends with the mosquito NOT dead. With dad unamused. With me finding it all totally hilarious.

And with my son sending up praise while the crippled mosquito hid for dear life.

Questions

"Is there going to be a hole in heaven when you get there mom, so you can come back to me?"

Rather serious, huh? In fact, this evening has been rather different. Seth went from being upbeat and perky, to almost crying in the blink of an eye. He became suddenly concerned about me dying and was literally sniffing and teary-eyed. He has just recently started asking questions about death (I'm not sure why because nobody we know has recently passed away and I'm unaware of the subject being in any books or computer games), so it took some time trying to calm him down.

He wanted me to ask Jesus when I would die. I tried to explain to him that Jesus wasn't going to tell me, so he wanted to know why. Then asked me if I would die in a car accident.

"I have no idea how or when I'm going to die, Seth," I explained. "I may live to be great-grandma's age. She is 89, remember?" I said.

"You mean, great grandma GOT INTO A CAR ACCIDENT?" he asked.

Huh?.......(which proves the theory that boys have hearing defects..)

And my favourite question of the evening? A much lighter one (after the tears and sniffing).......it's one in a million......

"Do bugs eat mini wheats, mom?"

And I think: If I ever compile my stories into a book like I long to, I have found the perfect title.

DO BUGS EAT MINI WHEATS?

And other stories of my kidlets....

by

Darla Hude

I can always dream, can't I?

My Brilliant Husband

I have a brilliant husband. Truly. I am convinced that there isn't a subject that, even previously ignorant about, he cannot master.

The key to his success is that he has learned the true art of studying.

He recently finished his fifth (of a total of eight) correspondence course through the City of Saskatoon. These courses take anywhere from 4-6 months of study, minimally four evenings per week. His ultimate goal is to be well prepared in the next few years when all the "higher paid supervisor positions" become available because of several people due to retire. Having a better position means one job (that means no night work for me as well), home every evening with his family, and a little more breathing space in terms of the future. I truly appreciate his hard work and dedication in this regard.

He got 99% on his latest exam. He has had no less than 95% on any of his previous courses, and I believe averages around 98% with all five.

He has told me that it was a smart college professor who taught him the art studying, and it has obviously paid off.

I am the primary home educator in the family (dedicating much of my time as well to research on homeschooling in general) AND am very outspoken (big shock......) about home education. However, I am convinced that it will be my husband's superior study habits and fantastic teaching ability that will help the kids most in the years to come. Any success they may have with their schooling will most likely be because they have a dad who taught them proper study habits and patiently found ways to help them understand a concept. He excels at both.

And I am more than okay with that. In fact, I'm grateful.