She's too young to have a real conversation but nonetheless...
Scene: Nutmeg is carrying her nappy (diaper) to the bin in the kitchen. The Engineer is holding the bin-cupboard door open for her.
The Engineer: "Come on, in the bin!"
Nutmeg drops the nappy, and sits down next to it.
TE picks it up and holds it near the bin. "Come on sweetie, come and get it."
Nutmeg gets up, retrieves nappy from TE, drops it next to bin, sits down by it. Looks at her father and shakes her head very firmly.
Nutmeg thinks: "My intention is to play with this nappy, and hopefully chew it a bit. I'm not putting it in there. I know you won't let me have it back afterwards!"
Wednesday, 27 January 2010
Saturday, 16 January 2010
More conversations with Froglet
Froglet is four years and 3 months.
Yesterday I taught him how to peel carrots. As I stood behind him explaining how to hold the peeler so that it works properly, he said "You sound like Granwen" (my mother). This to me is a compliment, and I think he intended it as one too. Then he volunteered to teach Uncle Luke, my brother-in-law, how to peel carrots too*.
Today The Engineer received an in-depth explanation of tectonic plates:
(Froglet holding up two hands parallel with the floor.)
This hand is Switzerland and this hand is Haiti. Then they go like this!
(bangs hands together vigorously)
And it makes Haiti wobble.
(wobbling Haiti-hand to demonstrate)
*This is admittedly funnier if you know Luke and are aware that he and the kitchen are not always on first-name terms.
Yesterday I taught him how to peel carrots. As I stood behind him explaining how to hold the peeler so that it works properly, he said "You sound like Granwen" (my mother). This to me is a compliment, and I think he intended it as one too. Then he volunteered to teach Uncle Luke, my brother-in-law, how to peel carrots too*.
Today The Engineer received an in-depth explanation of tectonic plates:
(Froglet holding up two hands parallel with the floor.)
This hand is Switzerland and this hand is Haiti. Then they go like this!
(bangs hands together vigorously)
And it makes Haiti wobble.
(wobbling Haiti-hand to demonstrate)
*This is admittedly funnier if you know Luke and are aware that he and the kitchen are not always on first-name terms.
Wednesday, 13 January 2010
Conversation with Froglet
We had this conversation at bedtime after reading Guess How Much I Love You.
Froglet: I love you as far as the moon and the sun.
Mummy: I love you as far as the moon and the sun and back again.
Froglet: How much else do you love me?
M: I love you enough to make your breakfast, and make sure you have clean clothes, and wash your hair even when you don't want it washing. How much do you love me?
F: I already said I love you as far as the moon and sun!
M: Well I said that too, but you still wanted to know more.
F (thinks carefully before answering): I love you as far as God.
One happy Mummy. :-)
Froglet: I love you as far as the moon and the sun.
Mummy: I love you as far as the moon and the sun and back again.
Froglet: How much else do you love me?
M: I love you enough to make your breakfast, and make sure you have clean clothes, and wash your hair even when you don't want it washing. How much do you love me?
F: I already said I love you as far as the moon and sun!
M: Well I said that too, but you still wanted to know more.
F (thinks carefully before answering): I love you as far as God.
One happy Mummy. :-)
Thursday, 7 January 2010
Blogs I like
This year we are trying to simplify, scale back and other similar-sounding things.
One of the ways we're doing this is by not buying anything other than what we need (raising the interesting question of what exactly does constitute a need and what a mere desire).
Another way, for me personally, is by scaling back my blog-reading. I have found that with a newly-toddling eats-everything baby and a very wriggly 4 year old I'm not getting any chance to do crafts, so I have removed from my blog-roll a bunch of the craftier blogs along with those whose headlines I tend to peruse without actually reading the post itself. This should save time when I am taking a few minutes to glance through my reading list. However, I don't want to forget where those blogs are in case one day I do have time for crafts, or need an idea. After all, Froglet starts school in August and by then Nutmeg may be interested in messy things to do with Mummy! So here they are:
http://4crazykings.blogspot.com/ 4 crazy kings
One of the ways we're doing this is by not buying anything other than what we need (raising the interesting question of what exactly does constitute a need and what a mere desire).
Another way, for me personally, is by scaling back my blog-reading. I have found that with a newly-toddling eats-everything baby and a very wriggly 4 year old I'm not getting any chance to do crafts, so I have removed from my blog-roll a bunch of the craftier blogs along with those whose headlines I tend to peruse without actually reading the post itself. This should save time when I am taking a few minutes to glance through my reading list. However, I don't want to forget where those blogs are in case one day I do have time for crafts, or need an idea. After all, Froglet starts school in August and by then Nutmeg may be interested in messy things to do with Mummy! So here they are:
http://4crazykings.blogspot.com/ 4 crazy kings
http://www.acrossthepage.net/ Across the page
http://adventuresofaflake.blogspot.com/ Adventures of a Flake
http://babymakingmachine.blogspot.com/ Baby Makin(g) Machine
http://infantbibliophile.blogspot.com/ Chronicle of an infant bibliophile
http://growingandlearningbyleapsandbounds.wordpress.com/ Growing and Learning by Leaps and bounds
http://lettersnumbersandbooksohmy.blogspot.com/ Mommy's little artist
http://michellesjournalcorner.blogspot.com/ Muffin Tin Mom
http://raisingsmartgirls.wordpress.com/ Raising Smart Girls
http://filthwizardry.blogspot.com/ Filth wizardry
I now only have 17 (!) blogs on my bloglist. Several of these only post once a week or less, others are still worth my time because they provide specific wisdom, encouragement or help with what I'm dealing with right now. To all the ones I've had to set aside (for now!) as well as to all those I'm still reading - THANK YOU!
And a very Happy New Year.
Sunday, 13 December 2009
Second Week of Advent
December 6th, second Sunday of Advent. We're supposed to be making angels but have skipped it due to not finishing the trees yet. But St Nicolas came today and brought a Wii Fit Plus (just the CD-rom, as we already have the basic Wii Fit), which everyone was very pleased about. We particularly like the game where you flap your arms to fly like a bird. I found a whole new set of muscles in my arms!
December 7th. Today Froglet's nursery is being visited by the saint too. He usually brings such items as satsumas, peanuts and cookies (I think I've mentioned this before)
December 8th. The Ten commandments are today's Jesse Tree reading. Time to learn a new memory verse (the last one was Genesis 1:1) - obey your mother and father!
December 9th The Engineer is ill this week so not much is happening. We will have to catch up on making the Jesse Tree ornaments this weekend, but are still having the readings every day. Froglet is very much enjoying them although I think he often doesn't understand.
December 12th. We have chickenpox! But that is not stopping us in the slightest as Froglet only has it mildly. The Engineer helped me paint the kids' hands and feet to make hand-foot angels which we were supposed to do ages ago and didn't get round to. I still have to cut them out and stick them together.
December 7th. Today Froglet's nursery is being visited by the saint too. He usually brings such items as satsumas, peanuts and cookies (I think I've mentioned this before)
December 8th. The Ten commandments are today's Jesse Tree reading. Time to learn a new memory verse (the last one was Genesis 1:1) - obey your mother and father!
December 9th The Engineer is ill this week so not much is happening. We will have to catch up on making the Jesse Tree ornaments this weekend, but are still having the readings every day. Froglet is very much enjoying them although I think he often doesn't understand.
December 12th. We have chickenpox! But that is not stopping us in the slightest as Froglet only has it mildly. The Engineer helped me paint the kids' hands and feet to make hand-foot angels which we were supposed to do ages ago and didn't get round to. I still have to cut them out and stick them together.
Monday, 7 December 2009
On Isaac
As I said yesterday, the story of Isaac is not a pleasant one. I've always known that, but I think having a small boy yourself must bring it home to you in a new way. It's easy to imagine how terrified Isaac must have been when his father started tying him up on the altar.
And from there, very easy to think that God must be pretty sadistic to be willing to put a small child through that sort of terror just to check whether his dad loves God more than anything.
Yet we are told that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. And it's very hard to imagine Jesus doing such a thing. Didn't he encourage children to come to him? Didn't he show kindness and mercy to anyone fragile or hurting? Didn't he make love the centre of his teaching?
This made me feel quite miserable for a while as I thought about it and considered that even if other local cultures practiced child sacrifice at the time, and this was to show that Jehovah is different to those gods, something doesn't add up.
And then it occurred to me that the something is my assumptions. I'm assuming that God is happy with the way this has happened. That he's fine with putting Isaac through something so horrible. (Just like we sometimes assume that he was fairly happy for Jesus to go ahead and be tortured). But the Bible doesn't specify either way. I just assume that God doesn't do things unless he's happy with them - that nothing can compel God to do something he doesn't want, and yet the Bible is full of examples that show otherwise. God didn't want to kick Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden, yet their sin forced his hand, because he loved them too much to let them stay and live forever in sin. God didn't want to exile the Israelites - after all he put them there in the first place - but their steadfast rejection of him made it necessary for their own good. Just like I don't really want my son to spend his evening doing his homework instead of playing, but it has to be done and because I love him he has to be the one who does it.
So why assume that God was happy to tell Abraham to kill Isaac? We don't know the context because we weren't there. Perhaps this really was the only way to convince Abraham (and his descendants after him) that child sacrifice was not going to be accepted by this God. If we believe in a loving God, the God whose visible image is Jesus, then we have to believe that this was the only way possible and that God was not pleased to have to do it. No other explanation works.
And from there, very easy to think that God must be pretty sadistic to be willing to put a small child through that sort of terror just to check whether his dad loves God more than anything.
Yet we are told that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. And it's very hard to imagine Jesus doing such a thing. Didn't he encourage children to come to him? Didn't he show kindness and mercy to anyone fragile or hurting? Didn't he make love the centre of his teaching?
This made me feel quite miserable for a while as I thought about it and considered that even if other local cultures practiced child sacrifice at the time, and this was to show that Jehovah is different to those gods, something doesn't add up.
And then it occurred to me that the something is my assumptions. I'm assuming that God is happy with the way this has happened. That he's fine with putting Isaac through something so horrible. (Just like we sometimes assume that he was fairly happy for Jesus to go ahead and be tortured). But the Bible doesn't specify either way. I just assume that God doesn't do things unless he's happy with them - that nothing can compel God to do something he doesn't want, and yet the Bible is full of examples that show otherwise. God didn't want to kick Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden, yet their sin forced his hand, because he loved them too much to let them stay and live forever in sin. God didn't want to exile the Israelites - after all he put them there in the first place - but their steadfast rejection of him made it necessary for their own good. Just like I don't really want my son to spend his evening doing his homework instead of playing, but it has to be done and because I love him he has to be the one who does it.
So why assume that God was happy to tell Abraham to kill Isaac? We don't know the context because we weren't there. Perhaps this really was the only way to convince Abraham (and his descendants after him) that child sacrifice was not going to be accepted by this God. If we believe in a loving God, the God whose visible image is Jesus, then we have to believe that this was the only way possible and that God was not pleased to have to do it. No other explanation works.
Sunday, 6 December 2009
Advent week 1
Please forgive the lack of photos. Our old computer died and the new one is a Mac... needless to say, I have not yet worked out how to move the photos onto it from the camera, or how to find them once they have been moved, let alone put them on the blog! A task to add to this weekend's list.
November 29th, first Sunday of Advent, we put up our tree. Nice and high so Nutmeg can't get at it! Although the baubles are mostly child-safe (papier-maché). Froglet helped decorate the lower branches, while Nutmeg tried to eat everything within reach.
November 30th, first Monday of Advent, we started the Jesse Tree. There are some nice family devotions over at rca.org. We have brought the potted kumquat tree in off the balcony to use as the Tree. It's a bit big for the table but otherwise perfect. Kumquats do badly on their own stock so they tend to be grafted onto some other citrus fruit tree - meaning that there is a clear stump with the kumquat branch growing from it. Almost ideal for a Jesse Tree... of course Christ was not grafted onto Jesse's stock, but we gentiles are grafted into His family!
December 1st. No activity because Froglet goes to nursery all day on Tuesdays, which wears him out. We just did the reading, having coloured in the bauble the previous day. And I hung up his advent calendar. Photos may follow...
December 2nd. The story of Noah. Froglet is mildly obsessed with floods. Every time it rains he asks if there will be one (the last one we saw was the summer before his birth!) so he's fascinated by Noah. I make sure to stress God's promise that no flood will ever wipe out humanity again! We also tried to make Christmas cards by painting paper and then using a cardboard comb to make designs in it. Not hugely successful so we settled for painting on the table, drawing in it with our fingers and making prints from that instead.
December 3rd. Today's activity is one from my to-do list (over there in the sidebar): paper plate Christmas trees. What with waiting for the paint to dry and Froglet not feeling like doing crafts, we haven't managed to finish these yet!
December 4th - finish trees *cough* or not.
December 5th. Story of Isaac. Not a very pleasant story! I have another post on this coming.
November 29th, first Sunday of Advent, we put up our tree. Nice and high so Nutmeg can't get at it! Although the baubles are mostly child-safe (papier-maché). Froglet helped decorate the lower branches, while Nutmeg tried to eat everything within reach.
November 30th, first Monday of Advent, we started the Jesse Tree. There are some nice family devotions over at rca.org. We have brought the potted kumquat tree in off the balcony to use as the Tree. It's a bit big for the table but otherwise perfect. Kumquats do badly on their own stock so they tend to be grafted onto some other citrus fruit tree - meaning that there is a clear stump with the kumquat branch growing from it. Almost ideal for a Jesse Tree... of course Christ was not grafted onto Jesse's stock, but we gentiles are grafted into His family!
December 1st. No activity because Froglet goes to nursery all day on Tuesdays, which wears him out. We just did the reading, having coloured in the bauble the previous day. And I hung up his advent calendar. Photos may follow...
December 2nd. The story of Noah. Froglet is mildly obsessed with floods. Every time it rains he asks if there will be one (the last one we saw was the summer before his birth!) so he's fascinated by Noah. I make sure to stress God's promise that no flood will ever wipe out humanity again! We also tried to make Christmas cards by painting paper and then using a cardboard comb to make designs in it. Not hugely successful so we settled for painting on the table, drawing in it with our fingers and making prints from that instead.
December 3rd. Today's activity is one from my to-do list (over there in the sidebar): paper plate Christmas trees. What with waiting for the paint to dry and Froglet not feeling like doing crafts, we haven't managed to finish these yet!
December 4th - finish trees *cough* or not.
December 5th. Story of Isaac. Not a very pleasant story! I have another post on this coming.
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