New Rider

Yesterday we took Mollie for her first ride in the red wagon.

Exploring Nature

Ben is watching bugs. He's been very interested in bugs since Elmo was thinking about bugs on a recent episode of Elmo's World.

Mollie tried to eat dirt, . . .

and leaves and grass.

Finally I brought the exersaucer outside so that she couldn't get anything yucky in her mouth. Mollie was a little pink after our trip to the park Thursday so I found a sun hat for her this morning.

Ben and I dug for worms. We only found this one small worm.

Do you see the tiny brown dot by the worm? That's worm poop! The worm pooped on me.

Park Day

We have had beautiful weather with temps in the high 70s and low 80s this week. On Thursday we went to story hour at the library and then met friends at the park to play.

Having snacks. Burn poured a bag of Chex mix on the sidewalk and they all just ate off the ground.

Playing with Aubrey and Olivia

On Tuesday we played with Aubrey, Olivia, and Cara at MawMaw Wilma and PawPaw Sherman's house.

Mama swinging Mollie.

Aubrey playing in a live trap.

Olivia driving the tractor.

Ben "hiding" from Cara. He would lay down in plain sight, close his eyes, and think we couldn't see him.

McDonald's Milestones

I know I've posted a hundred pictures of Ben sliding, but this is actually a picture of a first -- Ben climbing and sliding at a McDonald's Playplace. Normally he will not crawl through the tunnels, even when we go to Chick-fil-a with friends. Monday, as we were travelling to visit my family, we stopped at McDonalds to eat and run around (mainly run around. Ben can eat a chicken nugget in the car). As usual, he was just climbing up and down the steps. However, a three-year-old girl named Leah convinced him to follow her. After he did it once, he was hooked. Around and around and around he went.

Mollie sat up and ate at McDonalds for the first time. She was the only person in McDonalds eating carrots and sweet potatoes.

On Wednesday heading home we stopped at a different McDonalds. The play equipment was even larger, but Ben had no fear (I had some, though) and climbed through all the tunnels and went down the biggest slide.

Crawling through a tunnel suspended in the air.

I was trying to get a picture of how tall the slide was.

Happy Valentine's Day

Ben and I made Valentine's Day cookies last night.

With the extra dough, he made Barney. I thought he did a good job.

Painting the cookies with powdered sugar icing.

Barney and his purple dinosaur cookie.

Firsts

Yesterday morning, Ben, Mollie, and I were in the kitchen. I obviously was not paying close enough attention to what was going on around me until I heard, "Mollie DOES like cookies!" Ben had very sweetly shared a bite of snickerdoodle with Mollie. She eats bits of toast all the time so she didn't get choked on it, but she still wasn't sure about it. Most of it dribbled back out of her mouth. I'm not as sure as Ben that Mollie likes cookies.

Mollie loves to bounce. She jumps up and down in her exersaucer all the time. Yesterday I got out this jumper and she jumped and jumped and jumped. This morning she jumped the entire time we were getting dressed for church. She actually bounced herself to sleep.

Below is a video of Mollie bouncing yesterday while Ben was taking a bath. You can hear Ben talking and singing in the background. Ben never figured the jumper out when he was a baby. I would put him in it and he would just hang.



This weekend was our annual missions conference at church. Friday night there was a presentation of all the flags of the countries where we support missionaries. Since Ben loves flags, we took him into the first part of the service. Last night he was determined that he was staying for the entire service. We explained that there was a long talk after the singing and that he would have to sit very still and very quiet. He still wanted to stay. After the music ended I asked if he wanted me to walk him to his class. No, he wanted to stay. Halfway through the sermon, I asked if he wanted to go now. No, he wanted to stay. This was the first time that he stayed for the entire service. He sat in my lap for most of it and drew in a notebook. He was very good. He was proud of himself for being able to do it.

Toddler Theology

Today as we were getting ready for church (we have our missions conference this weekend), Ben asked me if Jesus was at church. I said yes, but we can't see Him. Then I added (from the children's catechism question "Can you see God?) we can't see Him, but He always sees us. Since that's what I always tell him about God, he asked, "Are God and Jesus the same?" This was getting us into deep theological water. I went with, "Yes, but it's difficult to explain." Ben's next question, "Are God and Jesus twins?" That I could answer.

We are trying to teach Ben how to pray thoughtfully, not just repeat memorized lines. Every night before he prays, we ask him three questions, "What is one thing you want to say thank you for?" "What is one thing you need to say I'm sorry for?" "What is one thing you want God to help you with?" We try to encourage him to come up with the answers himself. Tonight he said thank you for Cat, he was sorry for disobeying Mama, and asked God to help Cat not have stinky feet. We tried to convince him to pray for Mollie's cold, but he was determined to pray for Cat's feet. We tried really, really hard not to laugh.

Return of Zoo Days

Yesterday we went to Zoo Tots at the local zoo. Thankfully, it is an inside program since it was very cold. Last week it got postponed because of rain and ice. Early in the week snow was forecast for Thursday but did not end up coming this far south. We learned about the different things different animals eat. We began with a book, Do Cows Eat Cake. Then we "fed" the zoo animals. There were pictures on the walls with food pans below them. Each pan had a few things in it that the animal ate. There were bags of different foods for the children to get animal food out of. Ben is feeding the hawk plastic worms.

He's feeding a monkey cut up apples and carrots.

He lifted the bowl up to the animals' mouths. (That wasn't part of the instructions.)

We played musical chairs. Each chair had a picture of food taped to it. You had to do different things like clap your hands or spin around in circles if your food was animal food, people food, or both.

Petting a live tortoise, Serafino.

Waiting for Serafino to decide to come out of his shell so that the kids could feed him.

Feeding Serafino "salad."

And where is Mollie you may ask? On my hip. I was holding Mollie with my left hand and taking pictures with my right. I should have gotten Marion to take a picture of us.

Quick Run

Ben got his hair cut today. Thankfully, we don't have anything to hide because he talked nonstop to the lady cutting his hair. It was like stream of consciousness. His conversation went from Sesame Street to Sunday School, Daddy sleeping with a naked tummy, eating blueberry muffins for breakfast, living in Grenada when he was a little boy, having a cat named Hal and a blue cat named Cat, playing basketball, and on and on and on.

After he got his haircut, I decided he needed to burn a little more energy. We took a walk to the end of our street. Ben asked me what we were going to play. I told him we were just going to run and jump. He took me literally and ran and jumped down the street. Here he's jumping over some concrete on the street.

And he jumped over it again, and again, and again. His jumping has really improved lately. His feet actually leave the ground.

The temp was in the mid 50s this morning, but the wind was kind of cold so Mollie rode bundled up in the carseat on the stroller frame.

Getting Dressed

Today on Elmo's World Elmo was thinking about getting dressed. So, of course, Ben had to dress himself. When I went to his room to see what he was doing, he had both legs through one pants leg. He shuffled around his room like a penguin trying to show me that he could walk with his pants that way. I ran to get my camera and while I was gone, he got his legs in both holes, but a little twisted.

I don't know how he got the pants (from the dirty clothes?), but he had trouble reaching a shirt.

Thankfully, it didn't occur to him to try to stand up on the stool. He climbed to the top and sat down. He still wasn't tall enough. I chose three shirts that matched his pants and let him choose.

Finally dressed.

Finger painting

Ben had fun finger painting this morning.

Ben was making handprints so I decided to strip Mollie down and add her handprints to his.

Ben said he had "paint freckles." He didn't want them washed off when I washed his hands.

"Washing his hands" with paint.

Big Shoppers

Our grocery shopping trip yesterday was a big adventure for all of us. Mollie sat in the cart while Ben walked. Mollie was still riding fine in the front carrier, but I thought Ben needed to walk. We've been inside so much lately because of the cold that he's had lots of energy to burn. I thought walking around Wal-Mart might help. Mollie really enjoyed looking around and it seemed like every shopper in Wal-Mart stopped to talk to her.

It took a little longer, but Ben did good walking so we'll probably do it again next week. He did, of course, decide he needed to pee as we were headed to the check out line. He didn't need to use it when we were in the back of the store even though he had refused to go to the bathroom before we left home because he wanted to use the "toilet that flushes by itself" at Wal-Mart.

Ellie Friend

Mollie was having a hard time getting settled in to sleep one night last week so I decided it was time for a friend. Ben bought Mollie this pink elephant that we named Ellie before she was born so that she would have a friend like Cat.

Playing

I've been working on my 2010 blog book this week and haven't taken the time to post. I have been taking pictures, though.

Ben and I were playing hide and seek. He hid under his chair every time.

This picture doesn't come close to showing how much fun Mollie was having bouncing up and down in the exersaucer.

We're making grilled cheese sandwiches. Ben loves butter. He would eat it from the tub with a spoon if I would let him.

After lunch we made music. Mollie was enjoying the maraca until she hit herself in the head with it. She had to switch to playing a tamborine.

Ben drew this picture of his friend Barney.