On Santa Claus

We were in the car driving home from the library and Alex began firing off questions about Santa Claus. I kept answering them to which he would always reply, "But how?" "But why?" "But how?" "But why?" My answers about magic did not satisfy. He wanted to know how the magic worked. My answers about Santa clause having helpers and being special and this and that did not work. He wanted to know why and how and why and how.

Sooooo.....I finally said, "Well Alex, you when something is pretend it can be whatever and however you want it to be."

He energetically replied, "Mommy! Santa Clause is NOT pretend! He is REAL!!"

I said, "Okay then. Well, I don't have any more answers for you Alex. I don't know how he does what he does."

Wonderful Dinners

At a very random time of day....

"Mommy, thank you for always making such wonderful dinners for us."

Must Haves for a House

Alex often talks about what he would like to have when we move to Arizona. So far he has said:

"Mommy, when we have a house in Arizona can we have one with no couch so I have more room to run?"

"Mommy, when we have a house in AZ can we have a big huge yard so I can run and play?"

"Mommy, when we have a house in AZ can we have a garage so we can just get into our van right from our house?"

"Mommy, when we have a house in AZ can we have one with a fireplace so Santa doesn't have to come through the front door anymore?"

Now these things are very very important.

Testimony Meeting

On Christmas Eve after we act out the Nativity, we have a family testimony meeting where we share our testimony and love for the Savior Jesus Christ. I think Alex's heartfelt testimony sums up the Spirit of the Season.....in his words.....

"I know that Jesus Christ is our brother. I know that Jesus keeps us safe where we belong."



Rebekah's was sweet too: 


"Blebbedy blebbedy blebbedy . . . in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

4 Year Olds Do Weird Things . . .

Alex was peeing and I busted up laughing because he seemed to have discovered how to stop and start his pee in mid-stream. :)

He looked up at me with a big silly grin on his face and said, "What's so funny?"

I replied, "Its just funny that you are starting and stopping your pee. When did you learn to do that?"

He said, "Well. Ya know. When you turn 4 years old, you just do weird things sometimes . . . and you don't even know it!!"

When Will I Die Mommy?

Tonight as I was laying Alex down to bed, he paused and said, "When will I die Mommy?"

I paused a moment at the question and said, "Well, I don't know. Nobody knows when they will die. But I do know that some people die when they are very old and some die when they are very young and some people die in between somewhere."

He said, "Why do people die when they are very old?"

I responded, "Well, our bodies work work work all life long and eventually they get all worn out and don't work anymore, kind of like one of your old toys. But, some people die in accidents or from sickness too."

I then said, "Alex, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure mommy."

Mom: "How come you want to know when you will die?"

Alex: "Well, I just don't want to have owies anymore."

Mom: "Do you mean you want to die so you won't have owies anymore or you don't want to die because you think it might give you owies?"

Alex: "Oh I just want to die so I won't have owies anymore."

Mom: "Well, I think you are a very special boy because you already understand that when we die we are resurrected and don't have to feel owies anymore. We will get to live with Jesus and our families forever. I can't wait to see Jesus and hug him and hold his hand."

Alex: "Why do you want to hug him?"

Mom: "Well, I love Him and He has done so much for me. I want to see Him and see what He looks like and hug him and talk to Him."

Alex: "Yeah, we don't really know what He looks like. We know what OUR bodies look like though."

Super Heroes

Last night Joseph and Alex were talking about super heroes when Joseph was putting Alex to bed. Later, Joseph told me that he asked Alex if Mommy was a super hero.

He said, "No, she just likes kissing."

Tonight, Alex told Joseph all the families super powers
Joseph and Alex save people
Mommy is the kisser
Rebekah shares
Kaitlyn chews on things
and
Walker digs

We are all super heroes to Alex. :)

On Marriage

Today while driving Alex to preschool, he said,

"Mommy. I decided I am going to marry Rebekah."

I said, "Oh really. Why did you decide to marry Rebekah?"

Alex: "Because she's a really good girl."

Mom: "Well. That is a very good reason to marry someone Alex."

*We have tried on several occasions to explain to him why he can't marry Rebekah or Kaitlyn. He doesn't get it yet. So, for now, I will let him want to marry Rebekah. She IS a good girl after all. :)

You don't drink Coffee

I have a good friend named Mercedes that Alex loves! He is always concerned about her and asks a lot of questions about her. He asked me one day why she drinks coffee. I told him that maybe she doesn't know that she isn't supposed to. We had a conversation about how there are lots of good people in the world who do bad things because they haven't been taught Jesus's Gospel. So, we need to share our testimonies with them.

So, today when we were playing at Mercedes's house, he said, "Mercedes, why do you drink coffee?" She replied, "Because I like it."

Alex said, "Well, you don't drink coffee Mercedes."

"Why?" she said.

Alex said, "It is bad for you."

"How do you know?" she said.

"My mommy and Daddy told me," said Alex.

"Why is it bad for you Alex?" she said

Alex replied, "Well, Heavenly Father told us not to drink it, so it is bad for you."

Wet Fireman Pants

It has been raining all day today. As we were running from Target to our van, Alex decided to stomp and jump in some puddles. When we got into the van he said angrily, "Oh man! My pants are ALL WET!" In an attempt to help him realize why that happened, I replied, "Hmmmm. That's too bad. I wonder how that happened?" He thought for a minute and said, "Jesus shouldn't have sent this rain. He made my pants all wet!"

Clever. Yes.

Perhaps I shouldn't have reacted by laughing, but when I did he smiled and said, "Well . . . I did jump in the puddles too."

Forget About Em

This morning as I was cleaning up breakfast, I overheard Alex dancing around the living room and singing this at the top of his lungs,

Forget about em
Forget about em
You gotta forget about those goodies
Forget about em
Forget about em
They will make your tummy hurt
Forget about em
Forget about em
Forget about em
etc
etc

I said, Alex, I like your song.

He replied, "Thanks. I am trying to forget about my goodies upstairs . . . at least until tomorrow."

Pretty Duck

Tonight as we were walking out to the van to go to our ward Halloween party, I looked back at Rebekah walking behind me in her fluffy little duck costume and I said, "Rebekah, you are so pretty."

She replied, "I pretty duck."

Prayers

Alex's prayer tonight was a gem. It went like this:

"Dear Heavenly Father. Thank Thee for this wonderful day. Thank Thee that we can always give and be kind to others. Thank Thee that we can never give treats to others that need food. Thank Thee that we can only give them apples and oranges and even bread. Thank Thee that we never give them bad food. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

She's my Husband

Joseph, myself, Alex, and Rebekah were on our bed tonight getting ready to do our Book or Mormon story song and have family prayer and Rebekah came and snuggled up to me.

Joseph said to Alex, "Alex I need snuggles too. Can you come snuggle with me?"

To which Alex replied, "No. I want mommy. She's my husband."

**I guess we have some explaining to do. :)

Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day

Today one of the boys in Alex's class tried to take his fireman helmet.

Alex came running and crying and said,

"Mommy, today is just a terrible, horrible, no good very bad day!!"

*if you haven't read it . . . "Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day" is very cute.

Is She a Man or a Woman?

We pulled up to the preschool and Alex was sitting there in his carseat thoughtfully. I told him to hurry and get out so he could go into school. He replied:

"Mommy is Mrs. Einhorn a boy or a girl?"

me: She's a girl silly. How come you think she's a boy?

"Well, she doesn't look like a girl. She looks like a boy"

me: Why do you think she looks like a boy?

"She has short hair and well, she just looks like a boy"

(Alex)

Did You Hear That Mommy?!

Today while getting dinner on the table, Joseph commented kindly on the dinner I made and everything I had done that day.

Alex overheard it and said in a shocked sort of voice,

"Did you HEAR that Mommy!? Daddy said something very nice to you!"

It was as if this was something Joseph didn't do often. Untrue. He says kind things to me multiple times daily.

Indifferent??

This morning I was impatient with the kids as we hurried out the door to take Alex to my friend so she could take him to the school field trip.

Once we got into the van and I took a breathe, I felt badly for being so pushy.

I said, "Alex, Rebekah, Kaitlyn . . . I am so sorry for being impatient with you this morning. I love you."

Alex replied, "It's okay Mommy. It's fun to be indifferent sometimes."

(Alex)

Thank Thee That . . . .

We have noticed that when Alex says his nightly personal prayer, he always repeats the same thing. It usually goes in long spurts . . . each one-liner lasting a couple of weeks or so. The one lately has been, "Dear Heavenly Father, Thank thee for this day. Thank thee that I can be like Jesus. Thank thee that we can drive home safely. In the name of Jesus Christ Amen." Keep in mind, he prays that we will drive home safely when we are already home and he is about to get into bed. :) He always follows this prayer with, "Are we going anywhere tomorrow?" Hmmmm?

Anyway, so we felt it was important for him to maybe understand a little better who he is praying to, why we pray, and the importance of praying for meaningful things . . . instead of a memorized prayer. All this to a three year old, without squashing his faith and confidence, is a difficult task.

So, Joseph prepared our Family Home Evening for this week on the subject of prayer. He played a game with phones to give the idea of speaking to someone we can't see, and then talked about where we came from and how we lived with our Heavenly Father before, and how talking to Heavenly Father about our day, just like Alex does to Daddy, is important because he misses us and wants to know how we are feeling. It went as well as possible with three small children. :)

So, tonight as I was putting Alex to bed, he knelt to say his prayer, and this was what he said, "Dear Heavenly Father, Thank thee that we could go to the pumpkin patch today. Thank thee that we got to ride the hay ride and play with my friends. Thank thee that Mercedes can drive home safely. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

He then said, "See Mommy, this time I prayed that Mercedes would drive home safely!"

Mercedes is my friend who took him to his school field trip today for me and brought him home. :) He is trying. What a dear.

(Alex)

You Sound Like a Girl

Joseph and I were in the kitchen together and Joseph was trying to get me to kiss him. I was, of course, teasing him and Joseph was going, "Please?" "Pleeeeeaaaaase?" Alex overheard us and said,

"Daddy, you sound like a girl."

To which Joseph attacked him with some very manly wrestling moves. :)

(Alex)

Stupid People

Last night Alex overheard my friend Amber talking to Rebekah about our tortoise Walker. She kept referring to him as a turtle (like most people do) and Alex muttered to me in an angry voice, "She keeps calling him a turtle!" I didn't say anything and he continued to look pretty upset, so I said, "Alex what's the matter?" He then replied angrily,

"All these stupid people think Walker is a turtle! He is not a turtle! He is a TORTOISE!"

(Alex)

Thank You Mommy

In our family, we do our scripture study in the morning. In the evening we sing "Tell Me the Stories of Jesus," and then follow that song by showing a picture and telling a story of the life of our Savior. Last night we talked about the story of The 10 Lepers. We talked about how sad it was that of 10 Lepers who were healed, only 1 of them said thank you to Jesus. Alex sat thoughtfully for a minute. He then looked up and said, 

"Mommy. I wanted to tell you something."

What did you want to tell me Alex?

"I wanted to say thank you so much for hanging my clock up for me today. Thank you so much Mommy."

________________________________

Earlier that day during dinner . . . . Alex had been sick and had no appetite all day. Dinner rolled around and I made eggs and pancakes. He was starving. With a mouth full of eggs, he said, "Mommy, thank you so much for this beautiful dinner. Thank you so much Mommy."

I am grateful for my grateful boy.

(Alex)