"What this one about?"

Here's a guessing game. What is David (2 1/2 years old) talking about when he says, "What this one about?" A book? A movie? Nope!

Here's a hint - the answer is something like sour apple, root beer, watermelon, etc.

He's asking about ... a sucker! When he gets a sucker from the bank, he asks, "What this one about?" Translation = "What flavor is this?" ;-)

Ready, set, go!

Tonight at dinner, David asked if he could pray. Joseph said sure, and David folded his hands, bowed his head, and said in one breath, "Ready, Set, go! Dear God ...." :-)

That Friendly Old Man

Last year in November, Daniel and I were in Lowes and he saw a big inflatable Santa on a top shelf. His excited response was to point and say, "Look Mom! It's Noah! ... or is it Moses?!" ;-)


This year, we were driving in the car and we passed Rally's drive-through restaurant. Daniel laughed and laughed in the back seat. "Mom! There's an old man sitting on top of the Rally's drive through! ha! ha! ha!" (I'm thinking, "What is he talking about?!) "Mom," he continued, "it was that friendly old man who sometimes gives candy to kids in the winter! ... sitting on TOP of the drive-through!"

Now I get it! :-)

I'm not Jesus!

I got out Daniel's winter coat from last year, and I said to him, "Does this still fit you?" He started to put on the coat and answered cheerfully, "Let's try it. I don't know. I'm not Jesus - I don't know everything!"

Very true statement, Daniel! :-)

Not me!

Joseph was reading to David and Daniel about Jesus' empty tomb. To review the story, Joseph asked David (age 2 1/2), "Who rolled away the stone from in front of the tomb?" David replied quickly with urgency, "Not me! Not me! I not do it!" He's pretty convincing! ;-)

Praise Ye the Lord

Daniel has been learning the song "Praise Ye the Lord, Allelujah!" at church.
However, he sings: Praise G the Lord, Allelujah!
I explained to him that the word is "ye" and it means "you."
He said: No, Mom, it is 'G,' like short for Jesus. Praise "Je-" the Lord! :-)

Nicknames

Last winter when Daniel was 3 1/2 and David was 1 1/2, a high school girl at church often called Daniel "Dan the Man," and he called her "Anna Banana." In response, we were explaining to Daniel the idea of nicknames. He replied, "David's nickname is 'no!'" ;-)

VERY loud

Daniel was telling me about his day today. He was building lego towers with a baby sitter. Daniel said that when they knocked it over, it was VERY loud! It was like 500,000 lions roaring outside or like 2,000 homes falling over. David even had to cover his ears!

I love his descriptions!

Be Careful, David! - Tongue Troubles!

* Warning - injury pictures!*

Because of David, I know how to get to the Emergency Room (actually I had directions in my daytimer before we needed them!! Thanks, Lord!!), the pediatric dentist, and the urgent care! Yikes!

In a period of 2-3 months, David had several accidents.

First, David bit through his tongue so that the tip was dangling off!! At about 9:00 pm after Sunday night small groups, David was sitting on the couch watching football while I got the boys' rooms ready for bed. Joseph was at work for the night.

I heard a "thump" and then a cry, so I came quickly. David was face down on the floor in a little pool of blood!!! Apparently he fell off the couch! I grabbed the first thing I could find for him to suck on to stop the bleeding -- a dirty dish cloth!! Ahhh! (Note to self, take an extra 2 seconds to grab a clean one!) The second thing I got him was a frozen teething ring ... which he kept in his mouth for the next 16 hours!!! Literally!

I called for Daniel and we quickly went next door to the Kleitz's house. They kept Daniel until Aunt Loretta could arrive. David and I headed to the ER.

At the ER, David was a TROOPER! He repeatedly opened his mouth and stuck out his dangling tongue so the doctors could examine it. By midnight, the ER determined that they didn't want to try to stitch David's tongue without sedating him, and they didn't want to sedate him. Instead they sent us home and referred us to a pediatric oral surgeon/dentist to give him stitches in the morning.

Aunt Loretta took Daniel to her house. David and I slept together in the living room chair for a few hours, and he continuously held the no-longer-frozen teething ring in his mouth! Perhaps the pressure made it feel better? Perhaps he was too scared to move it? Regardless, it brought him comfort and we got a little sleep.

In the morning, we headed to the oral surgeon, but unfortunately we miscommunicated. I thought the dr. said to be there first thing. The dentist thought that first thing they were calling me to set up a time to come in. They were gracious and agreed to work us in. So, we spent 5 hours there! But again, thank the Lord, David did very well!

At this point, David hadn't eaten or had anything to drink since the night before - and the dentist didn't want anything in his stomach in case he needed to be put under for stitches. By late morning, David began asking for apple juice, but he was pretty okay when I explained that the dr. said he couldn't have any yet.

When David did finally see the dentist (15 hours after the accident!), he was pretty amazed with David's willing cooperation! Thank you, Lord, for helping David stay relaxed and compliant!

At about 2:00, they were able to put in two stitches, without sedating David, and secure the tongue tip back in place.

The three pictures below are 1) the tongue before stitches, 2) David outside the dentist with his trusty teething ring, and 3) the tongue after stitches!

I think I'll have to write about the other injuries another time! Whew! This was enough for one post!

Conversations with Daniel - Fast-backwarding

Daniel likes to watch videos. His favorites right now are about fire trucks and ambulances - kind of like rescue hero documentaries for kids. We just implimented a new movie ticket system for Daniel. He gets four tickets each week, good for one half-hour movie. He can use up to two on any day, but he only gets four per week. He can bring me a ticket and say, "Is this a good time for me to watch a movie?" So far, this is helping to eliminate his consistent asking, "Can I please watch a movie?" and it is helping him make choices. By the way, if I tell him to watch a movie (which I occasionally do - right before company comes, when we are babysitting several children, etc) he doesn't have to turn in a ticket.

All that to say, I was putting in a VHS video for him the other day. We were talking about the numbers on the VCR moving quickly as I was rewinding. Daniel said, "Oh - if we were fast-forwarding, the numbers would go the other way. But since we are fast-backwarding, the numbers go like this!"

Fast-backwarding! What a great word! Makes total sense to me!

Conversations with Daniel - Vibrating

- Jessica -

Daniel (4), David (2), and I stopped at Wendy's to use a reward coupon from the library for a Frosty. After a few minutes of sitting at the table eating their Frosties, Daniel said, "Brrr. I'm so cold I'm vibrating!" ;-)

Yep, shivering is a lot like your body vibrating!

Conversations with Daniel - Marriage Concerns

- Jessica -

4-year-old Daniel was having a snack at our kitchen table with Grammy (my mom) and I was doing dishes. Out of the blue Daniel said, "What if I ask some ladies to marry me and they all say no?"

Grammy wisely took his concern seriously and encouraged him that if God wants him to get married, He will provide a godly wife for Daniel, and that he doesn't need to think about that yet.

Daniel replied with a solution to the problem, "I guess I could marry a dog or a cat ... Or I could just marry a man!"

Grammy calmly explained that God designed for a man to marry a lady, not another man.

Daniel said, "Yeah, that would be silly for me to marry a man."

Grammy elaborated that it would be more than silly, it would be sinful for him to marry a man.

After letting that idea soak in for a couple seconds, Daniel moved on to some other subject -- Bikes, Diggers, more snack ...


Whew! Sincere deep life concerns and lessons at the kitchen table!

Daniel at Homecoming 2006

- Joseph -


When Jessica and I visited our alma mater, Taylor University, during homecoming, Daniel was 2 1/2 years old and David was 6 months. We were in a large gymnasium mingling with our old professors and classmates. As I was talking with my professor, Bob Lay, I was watching Daniel about 50 yards away jump up and down on a mat with some other kids. I noticed Daniel was beginning to take his shirt off. I excused myself from my conversation with Dr. Lay and began jogging over to Daniel. All of a sudden he started taking off his pants and underwear - I began sprinting! I jumped on the mat and tackled my naked son, "what is going on?!" He answered, "I got hot, daddy." :-)