Produce Pilferer

I came into the semi-dark kitchen to find Madi crouched at the table, an ashamed look on her face. The look is completely transparent. It proclaims, "I've done something wrong, and you're not gonna like it!" My mind began reeling with the list of possible destruction that she could have accomplished in the brief time that I had been out of the room. So, it was with great relief that I noticed that she was munching on a long stalk of celery. In fact, the whole bunch of celery was on the table. She had absconded celery without permission, treating herself to a pre-breakfast snack. Only when she noticed the slight smile on my face, did she reveal her other contraband, a slightly munched on apple. Yes, it is frustrating that she helps herself to the fridge and climbs on counters to swipe fruit, and even more frustrating when we find half-eaten pieces of fruit lying around the house (or moldy fruit hidden in her play kitchen). But you gotta love her choice of snacks!

Oh Lent!

If you think cajoling 2 preschoolers to sit calmly through an hour-plus long church service on a Sunday morning is fun, then try taking them on a Wednesday night...it's a real barrel of laughs. But in an effort to instill in them the discipline of observing Lent, and hopefully to build their anticipation of celebrating Jesus' Resurrection, we are trudging through these Wednesday nights.

But it's not all frustration. Here are some amusing Madi moments from last night:

After we finished eating (gotta love those free soup suppers) Matt and Caleb went to the restroom to wash up. Madi, freaking out at their departure, requested to "go bathroom." So, I took her to the ladies' room. As we entered, a puzzled expression came across her face. She looked around the room, then entered each stall, asking, "Where Daddy?" I tried to explain about boys' vs. girls' restrooms, but the concept was lost on her. "Find 'em!" she demanded.

Later, in the service, Madi was excited to sing. I cannot describe her singing in words (in fact, she doesn't really use words when she sings) but you might compare it to mild yodeling. It's an effort to restrain her singing during the non-singing parts of the service. At some point, she opened a hymnal to a random song, and started following along the words with her finger. It happened to be a song that was half English/half Spanish, so completely comprehensible to the 2 year old non-reader. Nevertheless, at one point her finger happened to leave the page. She demanded "Where are we?" and was satisfied when I pointed to a random spot in her hymnal.

Caleb Quote O' the Day

Caleb: "I had 3 scoops of honey!"

Jen: "I told you that you could have 1 scoop."

Caleb: "Oh. My ears are not that good at hearing, but my eyes are good at seeing."

Where Jesus?

At church last night, Madi was excited when the pastor began his sermon. "Jesus!" she shouted, "That Jesus!" Our pastors wear robes, and this particular pastor was in his 30s, so the confusion is somewhat understandable. When I explained to her that the pastor wasn't Jesus, she shouted, "Where Jesus? Where Jesus?" and continued to shout this intermittently throughout the service.

The Little Theologian Strikes Again

Caleb has a habit of asking theological questions about concepts that even adults have a hard time grasping. And he doesn't direct these questions to a pastor or some other individual who's well-versed in theology...he directs them to me. Usually, no one else is around, so the sole burden of fumbling and stuttering in an attempt at a semi-intelligent answer is mine. In the past few months, some of his more notable inquiries have been about the Trinity and about God's omnipresence. Then, this weekend, he hits me with this:

"If God and a giant were fighting, would the giant win?"
I told him that God always wins.

So, he asked,"Then why did those knights take Jesus? Was Jesus not strong enough?"

A Disgusting Chef

A cucumber went missing last week. Madi had been eating it (whole, like it was a giant pickle) and then it was gone. I suspected that she hadn't finished the whole thing but assumed she'd tossed it into the trash. The mystery was solved yesterday. She was whining about being hungry as we were preparing dinner, so she decided to take the matter into her own hands. She rummaged in her little play kitchen for a few moments before reaching into the play oven and pulling out a moldy remnant of a cucumber. As she unhesitatingly opened her mouth to take a giant, moldy bite, I swiped the cucumber from her. It finally rests in the trash.