Church school

My Torii loves Sunday school. We find it ironic that our most devilish child is also the one who seems to be the most faithful as well. Since Christmas I've gotten to sit in on two of his classes. The parents were asked to come and talk about the Lord's Prayer with the kids. They are learning it this year and are going to say it as a group in church sometime soon. Torii knew most of it and when the teacher asked if they had said the prayer before Torii raised his hand and said we were just practicing it on the way to church school. I think the teacher liked that and asked him if we were practicing again the next week. On the second meeting the teacher was asking the kids questions about the prayer that they had learned the previous week. Each time Torii's hand shot up and he had the right answers.

Torii also loves singing in church school. When the music teacher can't decide what song to sing next, Torii always raises his hand and puts in a request. A couple of Sundays ago they learned a new song. Yesterday afternoon Torii was singing it, "Sing lasagna, sing lasagna, sing lasagna to the king of kings." I had to correct him, "no Torii, it's sing Hosanna."

To sleep or not to sleep? That is the question.

During Christmas Cordelia stopped taking naps. Between being out of our routine and the boys being home, she just wouldn't lay down. We figured she would return to naps after the break, but we were sadly mistaken. Now she takes a nap maybe twice a week. Right now I don't know what to do with her because her sleep is so out of whack and we lose whether she takes a nap or not. When she doesn't take a nap she becomes down right unbearable at about supper time. However, if she does take a nap, she's up until 10:30 at least. I hope this is a short passing phase. I know like all things this all shall pass, but I'm ready now.

Red tickets

Each week students at the boys' school focus on a certain life skill. These life skills include friendship, initiative, sense of humor, integrity and many more. Now the school has started a new program in which students can receive a red ticket if they are caught demonstrating one of these life skills. Then their names go on a board by the office and they have a chance to win prizes. Rion got a red ticket today for effort and responsibility for his work with his speech teacher. He was really excited about it and we had to go see his name on the board. Torii got one last week for patience. He said he was being very patient when the line to the bathroom was long. He was pretty proud too. After school that day the boys got out of the car quick when we got home and I still had to unload Cordelia and put the car in the garage. When I finally got to the front door, Torii was whining that I was taking too long and kicking at the door. Really, Torii, you got a red ticket for what again?

Bedtime milestone

Not long ago I realized Cordelia was two years old and still sleeping in a crib. I guess I was waiting for the time when I had to put her in a regular bed like the boys. Then I realized she was a girl and she may never try to scale the sides of the crib like the boys were doing at 18 months old. New beds for the boys were a necessity and for Cordelia it just hasn't been that way yet. Finally the other day I got her crib converted to the toddler bed. Cordelia loved her new bed and I was excited for her. Then it got close to bedtime and I realized what I had done to myself. No more "trapping" Cordelia in her bed. She was now free to get up at will. What did I do when the boys went through this milestone? I really had to think about it because it seems so long ago. Cordelia has always been pretty good about going to bed so I tried to lay her down and let her be. That did not work. Not even close. So I laid down next to her. She did toss and turn and talk some, but I was lucky enough to discover her weakness. I rubbed her back. Instant quiet. Tonight she was having a hard time settling down so I told her to rollover and I would rub her back. She rolled right over and again instant quiet and asleep within 10 minutes. Last night she did really good. I laid with her during halftime of the game, but when the 3rd quarter started I got up even though she wasn't asleep. Amazingly she stayed in bed and fell asleep by herself. I remember this being a real difficult stage (for me) when the boys got their own beds. Maybe Cordelia won't be as bad. The only problem now is that I wake up with an extra little body next to me in the morning.

Aladdin

On New Year's Eve I let the boys stay up late and watch a movie. I knew they wouldn't make it to midnight and besides I wouldn't want to deal with them the next day even if they could. They still thought it was quite a treat to stay up late and have candy like at the movies. The boys picked Aladdin to watch, which is one of my all time favorite movies. I still know it word for word and could still watch it over and over. I'm not sure if Torii has ever really sat down and watched it so this was really the first time he's seen it. I've never viewed the movie from a five year old's eyes, but I never realized that Aladdin is a little "violent". Torii got a little anxious that Aladdin was stuck in the cave. "Are they going to get out of the cave?" "Are they going to die?" Then after Jasmine asked about Aladdin: "What's beheaded mean?" I started to think about what else was coming up that Torii was going to freak out about. Nice, one of my favorite movies and it was going to give him nightmares. He was fine, but the next day he was asking about the genie.
Torii: "What can't you wish for?"
Me: "You can't wish to kill anyone (great more violence), you can't wish to make anyone fall in love with you and you can't wish anyone back from the dead."
Torii: "Who would you wish to fall in love with you?"
Me: (ummm, Jon Hamm) "Your daddy."
Torii: "But he already loves you."
Me: "Then my kids."
Torii: "But we love you."
Me: "Then I don't need to wish that."
Torii: "Who would you wish dead?"
Me: "Nobody."
Torii: "Me neither. Who would you wish back from the dead?"
Me: "Nobody."
Torii: "I'd wish for Winnie and Tigger." (two of my parent's cats)

Gifts from the kids

I'm a little behind in my blogging and haven't gotten around to posting what the kids bought me for Christmas. The boys picked out what they thought I would like without any help from Fred. Rion said I would like some Diet Coke for Christmas. That suggestion made Fred laugh so Rion wanted to pick something else, but Fred told him that was a good idea and that's what I got. It really was a great gift because I woke up Christmas morning really wanting a Diet Coke only to realize I forgot to buy some. Torii got me a game because I like to play games with him. He got me a kids game in which you have to catch fish. So really it was a gift for himself, but it's the thought that counts, right? Cordelia, with help from daddy, got me some pajamas. They were all very nice gifts and it was fun just to see what they picked for me.

Yahtzee

Tomorrow the kids are back in school and no doubt the big topic of conversation will be, "what did you get for Christmas?" I'm hoping Torii leaves out the fact that he got Yahtzee for Christmas. It's a great game and we've had fun playing it, it's just that Torii can't get the name right. I don't know if he just keeps forgetting the name or we've just had too much Indiana Jones around here, but he keeps calling it "Nazi". I didn't know what to say the first time he told me he wanted to play Nazi. So I'm hoping he doesn't tell his classmates and his teacher about his new game Nazi and how much he likes it. He has also told me he's really good at playing Nazi. I keep correcting him, but it's just not sinking in. So hopefully he gets it right or just doesn't talk about it. Or else I hope that's the phone call Fred gets from the school.