Wintertime joy with kids

"Fixing the boat"

"All fixed!  Let's sail!"

 Rayna has turned into the “uh-oh” alarm queen.  Whenever she hears something fall, even if it’s way off in the distance, or even if she is the one who purposely caused it, she looks at us with her big wide eyes and says “uh-oh!”  We hear this MANY times a day.  I think she thinks it’s her job in life to alert us.

The funny phrase “gobegotcheenomenome” is still a hit with the kids.  (And we adults still have no idea what it means or why it’s so funny.)  A couple weeks ago Rayna was sound asleep in her nap and we were trying to wake her up.  First I went in her room and started thumping around as I was putting things away.  Then I started talking to her and asking her if she wanted to get up – still no movement from her!  Then Strider came and said, “gobegotcheenomenome” and she immediately, poked her head up, stood up and smiled a big grin!  Then last week, when Rayna was sick and nothing could make her happy, anytime Strider would say that to her, she would summon all her strength to look up at him and smile.

Rayna’s phrase for “that’s so funny” is “bi-ja-bi-ja-bije.”  She always says that when we’re all laughing at something.

The other day Strider, Rayna and I went for a walk to the park.  While we were there, Strider was off exploring and he came upon some teen-age boys playing with their skateboards.  He sat down to watch them, completely enraptured, and I was thinking about how old he’s getting and how he’ll soon want to be part of them.  But a few minutes later he was calling me over to show me something, saying “Mommy, come do this with me!” and I realized he’s still young enough to want to be with his mommy – and didn’t realize that it wasn’t “cool” to call to me like that.  Then, as we walked by them later, Strider was very un-self-consciously singing to himself, “God is bigger than the boogie man” (from Veggie Tales) in a loud voice, not caring who heard him.  I just love this age!

Whenever we ask Rayna a question that starts with “Where” or “When”, (such as “where is your head?”) she almost always answers something that sounds like “right the-ere.”  It always has the same inflection and sound – she is purposely saying it we think.  But she doesn’t know what it means, because she doesn’t point at anything!  So you ask her where her head is and she gets a big smile and looks you in the eye and says “right there,” but doesn’t show you where.  Maybe she knows that we already know?

Strider has started telling us every once in awhile things like “Only 2 more days until we go to Heaven!”, or “Guess what!  On Thursday we’re all going to Heaven!”  The first couple times we were caught off-guard and wondered if he knew something we didn’t know… but he’s been wrong a few times now.  J Nevertheless, it’s good that he’s keeping us on our toes and thinking like that!

Strider has also started asking us occasionally if he “can use our restroom.”  We say yes, and then he very seriously says “thank you” and goes on in.  What a strange bird.