Scissor Tragedy

Each of my kids have gone through the stage of being fascinated by scissors.

Well, recently Angel has been obsessed with doing her hair in the bathroom. This is so funny to me, because we recently chopped all her hair off just because she was tired of me combing it. And now, all she wants to do in the morning is brush her hair and try on different headbands and ribbons.

She'll strut around the house in a new hairdo asking everyone, "Aren't I beautiful? Don't I look gorgeous?"

So, one morning I noticed her spraying water on her bangs and combing them down into a peak over her eyebrows. I was playing with Julianna at the time, and didn't think anything about it because Angel is always playing with her own hair.

After about 15 minutes, I'm thinking, " Angel has been really quiet! I wonder what she's been up to?"

I walk down the hall and am horrified when I peak into the bathroom to see golden hair sprinkled ALL OVER the bathroom counter. Angel has cut off her bangs to the very top of her head. NOTHING is left but some stubble.

When Angel sees me she smiles and says confidently, "My bangs were a little long Mom, so I decided to give myself a bang cut! Now you can see my eyes...don't I look beautiful?"

I was very upset and was trying not to cry. I said, "No, no, no no! We are not suppose to cut our own hair, Angel! Even Mommy doesn't cut her own hair! Now your hair is all messed up and it looks funny!"

Poor Angel was devastated by my negative response to her new found past time and was broken hearted. She had thought it looked so lovely. She cried and cried and wailed broken hearted in her room for a long time, and refused to be comforted.

I felt so bad for making her feel so terrible. I wish I could have been more gentle. However, I am feeling justified in that it was a negative experience for her. I do NOT want her to feel good and empowered with using sharp scissors at the tender age of 4 years old. It just goes to show that little kids don't always see themselves as little. They consider themselves "all grown up".

She calmed down eventually, and for a while was telling everyone she met how she had cut her hair because she thought it was a good thing to do, but that now she knew it wasn't okay.

To my great relief, it hasn't effected her "self-esteem" at all. When she passes the mirror, she still sighs in satisfaction at her "beautiful face" and makes sweet shy faces at herself. She is still asking me to do her hair multiple times a day. (Even as she pulls out all the hair ribbons as soon as they bother her).

Courtney cut all her bangs off when she was 3. It took almost a year to grow back! I'm already dreading when Julianna is that age. All those curls! Any kid cutting their own hair off is sad news for Mamma.

I am hoping that Angel will stay away from scissors for a while. But unfortunately, in my house there is no such thing as hiding the scissors. I have kids doing school projects all day long and scissors are frequently laying around. Which is why, I guess, Angel was so comfortable using them in the first place!

Angel's Tooth

Angel had a bad fall at the pumpkin patch and damaged her front tooth on October 1st.

We had already been at the pumpkin patch for over 4 hours. I was getting tired and wanted to go home, but the kids were having so much fun and there was still more to do. I was tired with chasing and guarding 5 kids all day by myself. We walked to the playground equipment. Angel was right behind me, but then she ran off to the Hay Castle to be with big brother Christopher.

Right when I saw her run off, I felt a inner prompting inside that said, "Call her back. Call her to come to you."

I opened my mouth to call to her. Then I stopped. I thought, "I'm so tired, and I'm already taking care of Julianna. She's younger, and should take precedence. I'll have to chase her around the swings. Angel will be fine with Christopher won't she?"

Again the feeling came strongly to my mind. "CALL HER BACK NOW...Something bad or dangerous could happen! Call her to you, call her name."

I looked up at those tall hay castle walls...could Angel fall off of them and get hurt, I wondered? But by the time I was done wondering, Angel had run inside the castle and was with Christopher. I mentally shrugged my shoulders. I thought, "Angel is always so cautious...she'd never do anything unsafe. She's nearly 5, it's okay for her to be with her brother!"

I didn't feel any more warnings after that, just a strange emptiness. But I was busy chasing Julianna round the slide so I soon forgot it. Less than 3 minutes later, I could hear Angel crying in a loud torrent of sounds.

Angel came to me across the field, wailing, holding her hand over her mouth.

I felt a sinking weight of dread. Why didn't I listen to the Holy Spirit's prompting? Or even just to my Mother's intuition that I shouldn't have let my young, sweet, tender Angel run off by herself? Yikes, I had been selfish! and now Angel had to pay the price for my stubborness! All I had to do was open my mouth and call out to her! That wouldn't have taken so much extra energy or time....

As Angel came to me, I saw with a twinge of horrific guilt that she had a bloody nose. Her face was all scraped up. Her hands were scratched up bad too. Worst of all, she was holding a front tooth and wiggling it. She was crying, "My tooth hurts! My tooth hurts!" Her front tooth was very loose and wiggly. The flesh of her gums above it was purple and black. It looked very bruised and traumatized.

I was very upset over the whole situation, and had a hard time not crying and having a nervous break down right there on the spot. Was Angel going to be okay? What did it mean to her future? Did we need to spend the rest of the day at the Dentist office?

No mom wants their kids' beautiful face messed up! It took me a while to calm down. I had to remind myself that loosing baby teeth early is not fatal, just a minor inconvenience.

Much to my relief, Angel hadn't fallen off of the high hay castle walls. She had changed her mind that the castle looked too big and scary. When she saw me so far away, she was running back to be with me. In her anxiety to catch up, she tripped over a big black rubber liner, and did a face-plant, with her full body weight being caught by her front tooth.

Our fun day cut short, we spent 2 hours at an urgent dental care facility. I spent a long time frantically calling dental offices to see who could take us, as it was nearly 5 p.m. The kids were so wiped out from the long day, I had Christopher stay in the van with all of them and feed them snacks and play a movie on the mini-tv-screens.

They took an x-ray to make sure there was no fractures or worse damage. They needed to verify if her tooth was broken beneath the gums where we couldn't see. The dentist confirmed that Angel's tooth was badly traumatized. It was the nerve. He doesn't think it will fall out, but he says we have to play the waiting game to see if Angel's tooth will live or die.

He said in the next few days to 2 weeks, the tooth could turn light gray to dark gray or black. If this happens, the tooth is dead and Angel may need a root canal to keep the tooth.

Angel's tooth could heal and recover, however. In 2 weeks or so, her tooth could once again harden in place and last her a few more years. We just have to be careful to not let her USE her front teeth (haha, this is so hard) She has to chew with her back teeth.

Angel was so cute, once she recovered from the initial pain and shock, she was enjoying all the attention! Angel is my kid who LOVES the doctor and dentist and would take the smallest excuse to go. And here she got to spend 2 hours there! To her, that was a treat. She delighted the whole office with her coquettish smiles and shy waves. She talked the Dentist's ear off, too. They were impressed with how eager she was to do everything they said.

Later, Angel enjoyed telling every friend, family, and neighbor about her tooth and showing it off. It made her feel so IMPORTANT!

So later that same day, I caught her with a big hard apple. She had taken several bites without me knowing it. She comes to me later, saying "Mom, my tooth hurts again" I nearly screamed and fainted right then and there. Poor Angel was crying because of my reaction! I had to tell her she could only eat apples if they are sliced THINLY and she chews them with her BACK TEETH!!! Yikes, that was tough.

Courtney, who is 7, just lost her first front. So Angel would have a 3 year wait for a grown up tooth, not just 1 or 2 like most other kids. My kids are notorious late bloomers when it comes to teeth. I didn't loose my front teeth till 2nd grade when I was 8.)

This was a perfect opportunity for me to use my new herbal knowledge.(limited as it is!) I gave Angel a small internal dose of B,F & C formula from Dr. Christopher 2x a day. It has a variety of herbs, including Comfrey which will help support her body's ability to heal. I also have some herbal tooth powder that I will pack on the gum and tooth every night. It has a large amount of white oak which is suppose to help teeth in many different ways.

The Indians used to brush their teeth with white oak twigs!

I am suppose to treat her in this manner for at least 2 weeks, but Angel is NOT being very cooperative. I guess no kid wants bitter powder in their mouth. I am hoping that these herbal remedies will give Angel a great advantage towards keeping her tooth alive! I mixed the B,F, & C formula in Honey in the hopes she would take it better. She's doing okay with that.

Everyday that I put the tooth powder on, I noticed a huge improvement in the look and feel of her gum and teeth. After 5 days, her tooth felt totally firm in its socket!

So, silly me, I thought, "Hurray, she's healed! I don't have to wrestle her in bed every night to give her herbs. I can stop now, she's all better!" So I didn't do the full 2 week treatment, and stopped after the 5 days.

Well, I'll never know if the full 2 weeks would have made a difference.

About 2 weeks after I thought her tooth was healed, I began to notice a subtle difference in the color of her front teeth. Everyday the old hurt tooth looked a shade grayer.

At first, I thought it was my imagination. In a few days, however, my worse fears were confirmed. Angel's tooth looked black. Some days it seemed very loose. Other days, it seemed just fine.

One early morning, I awoke to hear Angle pounding on my door, "Mommy guess what! Guess what! My tooth is loose! I get to see the tooth fairy!"

I tell her she has to STOP wiggling it so she can eat apples again. She wants so much to be like Courtney and loose her teeth.

Strangely, just recently her tooth looks almost back to normal. It's whiter and less dark. I have no idea what this means. I'm going to get Angel referred to a special Pediatric Dentist so that they can keep tabs on what is going on with her teeth.

I just hope she gets to keep it instead of having a "window" in her mouth for 2 to 4 years!

I keep hoping someday I'll magically become a perfect, omniscient parent, and know when to not do stupid things. Not in this life, I guess! The most I can hope for is to live and learn....and decide that the next time I feel the Holy Spirit Whisper a message to my heart, that I'll obey RIGHT AWAY!

Tinker-Bell Toes & Cinderella's Woes

Springtime is headed our way!

Angel is experiencing a magic-filled phase of great imagination. I love listening to her child-like view on reality. Life is much more refreshing when you can occasionally look at the world through the innocence of 4 year-old eyes.

Angel came to me in excitement tonight exclaiming, "I'm getting sprinklings on my toes! Sprinkles! My feet are tingling! And if my feet tingle like this everyday, it must be fairy dust! And in a few more days that means I'll be the fairy Tinkerbell, and I'll be able to help YOU, Mommy! Isn't that great? I'm going to be Tinker-Bell!"

All that just from her foot going to sleep! When Courtney's foot would fall asleep at that age, She would cry and scream in terror, "There's sand in my feet! Help! Help! There's sand in my feet! And I CAN'T..............GET................IT...................OUT!!! How did it get IN there, anyway?"


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Currently, Angel's favorite imagination game is pretending to be Cinderella. She even wants to sleep in her dress-up clothes. Angel is my third girl, and she is the first one I've had who enjoys playing princesses, or playing house with dolls. Dorathy hated all that stuff for years, and wouldn't touch a baby with a 10 foot pole (even her own siblings) until she was around 7 yrs old. She'd only play with ponies and carebears. Courtney liked babies and princesses okay, but she liked playing with her big brother and exploring animals outside much more. But Angel? She's ALL princess right now.

Funny Story: a few weeks ago, when Angel was just falling in love with Cinderella, I'd try to call her Angel, but she'd insist,"NO, Mom! I'm Cinderella. Just call me Cinderella!" She would then insist that I pick out a princess name for myself. If I didn't pick one out, then she'd choose one for me...and I would become "Princess Samantha" for the day.

Well, since Angel was so into the Princess act, the older girls thought it would be fun to "act out" the story of Cinderella. They volunteered to be the two wicked step-sisters. Christopher would play all the male roles(with little tolerance, he prefers being the bad guy only), and I would get to be the horrible step-mother. I thought this would be a great idea to put some drama into our homeschool.

Angel was looking forward to putting on a "play" all day long. After we got our work done, I told her it was time to act the story out. Everyone dressed up. Dorathy and Courtney got really into their characters, gleefully ordering Angel about. "Clean my room! Wash the dishes!" etc, etc. The big girls kept on trying to put an apron over Angel's beautiful Cinderella outfit. They handed her a broom and a mop. I soon noticed Angel's crestfallen expression. To her eyes, this was not going at ALL how she expected it to. I thought I could explain it to her, since she HAD seen the Disney movie a few times. I even tried singing her the mice song "Cinderelli, Cinderelli, night and day, it's Cinderelli...."

"Mom!" the big girls complained. "Angel isn't doing it right! She's not playing along!"

Poor Angel broke into a torrent of heart-broken sobs. "No, no, no!" Angel cried, "This isn't playing Cinderella! All I wanted to...*sniff*....do was.....*sob*....dance with the prince at the ball!"
Angel then pulled off her apron, threw down the mop and broom and shouted, "I don't want to be Cinderella anymore!" And ran off to her room crying in disppointment.

Well, that was a little lesson to me about the different expectations of different aged kids! We won't be acting out that full story for some years to come, I guess. Angel has since recovered her love of Cinderella, and loves to invite me to play princesses along with her. Now when she wants to play Princess all I have to do is put on some pretty music and dance with her and she's as happy as can be. She won't invite her sisters to participate, however. Every once and a while when she's dressed up as Cinderella, she'll quietly confide to me, "You've got to protect me from the other princesses! The bad ones! They don't like me very much. Don't tell them where I am, okay?"


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Angel has joined her sisters in her love of writing books. Angel will draw several pictures, have me staple them into a book, and then she'll dictate to me the words she wants written down. They are all quite adorable. I'm seeing some main themes emerge, however. I'm sure it would be an intersting study for anyone studying the psychology of children. The books all involve a Mommy, a grocery store, and a birthday cake. And almost all of them end with the Care Bears shooting the Aliens dead. So hilarious. I think the Alien influence comes from Big Brother's stunning puppet shows he puts on for his sisters. The funniest part is that she loves me to read them to her before I put her to bed.

Here are a few examples for your entertainment:
story #1
"Once upon a time there was a girl called Alluga, and Alluga had a chipmunk and a racoon and a bird. There were a few chipmunks who said, "We are NOT chipmunks, we are frogs!" They decided to all be Alluga's pets, and she decided to take care of them. Then the Aliens came and everyone screamed AAAAHHH, and then the Care Bears came and saved everyone and shot the Aliens Dead." THE END
story#2
"Once upon a time there was a girl named Shell. All Shell wanted to do was play all day long and stay in her pajamas. One day, she went to her Dady's work. Dad's work was big because he was a GREAT BIG DAD! And then Shell went to the Playground -- she was so busy! She played and played and played till her Mom called her to go bye-bye to her house, and she didn't want to go to her house. THE END."
story #3: The Sea of Land
"Once upon a time there was a Cathamon's family. Then a girl jumped in and said HELLO to her brothers and sisters and her Mom and Dad. And then she got to the museum and she said, "That is the best painting I ever saw! Look at that silly face!" Then she saw a pony. It was a cute pony. The pony was stuck on the wall. Angel helped her off, and then Angel rode on her. And then she went off of her and the pony said, "That was a good ride, Angel!" And then they were best friends forever." THE END
Story #4
"When you are little, you have to wear diapers, but when you grow up, you can wear them only at night. There was a family with an Angel, Mom, Dad, Courtney, Dorathy, Christopher, and Julie. And they lived in a house. And then the house caught on fire. Oh no! Everyone yelled. And then they were surrounded by monsters. Aaah! Everyone screamed. And then they all went to the Grocery store. And they bought Angel a birthday cake. And then they bought a new house. But then the Aliens came, and they wanted to get everybody. AAAhhh screamed everyone, Aliens! Run away! But then the Care Bears came, and the Care Bears shot all the aliens dead and then they disappeaered. And then they went to the grocery store again and bought apples, oranges, bannanas, and another birthday cake. And then everyone went to the new house and had Angels birthday cake and gave her presents. THE END."
Story #5
Once upon a time there was a Mommy and an Angel. And the Mommy went to run a race. And she ran faster and faster, but she fell down and got a hurt on her knee. So Angel went and got a bandaid and made her Mommy's scratch all better. And then Mommy could finish the race, and then she won and her scratch didn't even hurt anymore." THE END



Mmmmm.....I wonder what is at the center of Angel's Universe?

Angel the Storyteller

My little 3 year old has developed a surprising new talent: STORY TELLING.

Just this week, here is a sampling of her latest tales:

"Mommy, I can't sit down on the big potty because it will suck me down and flush me away and I'll die and drown. You got to be careful or it will get you too! We can't let Julie fall in, because then she'll get sucked a way and drown...and then we'd have to get a new Julie!" (No amount of persuading will convince her that our toilets are safe)

While coloring the picture of a bird at nighttime when it's dark outside, "There's this really really CREEPY BIRD outside, with GLOWING RED EYES and when you look at it it will jump out and GET you! Watch outside at the bird feeder, look out the window in the dark, Mommy, and you'll see the really really CREEEEEPY bird!"
(Okay, who has been reading my child horror stories?! Where does she get this stuff? And I had no idea that the word creepy was even in her vocabulary!)

During dinner while we were eating tacos: "Mommy one time when I was at the store they built a big taco, it was as big as me, "This" (she puts her hand up to her head) tall and it was 10 feet high! It's really really really true! A taco as big as me....and I ate it."
(Angel's new favorite word is really really really really....she prefaces every sentence with it!(really ;))

"Once upon a time Hyrum and I were playing outside and exploring, and then we saw a deeeep dark well, and Hryum fell into it! And he was like "HELP HELP!" and then I called out, Hryum, Hryum, I will save you! So I crawled down and pulled him back out, and then we played and played....The end!

(WOW, okay, this kid is only three years old and yet she spontaneously told me a made up story with 1. a beginning, 2. a conflict, and 3. a resolution. She's got the formula down pat! I am so impressed. Hryum is her cousin and best friend. It's cute that she's making herself out to be the hero of her own story)



It's not telling a lie, it's telling a story, but whatever she says, she believes. At the magical age of 3 years old, there is no definite line between reality and imagination. It all blends into one another, and she really can't tell what is true and what is false. This is why I am so careful about what I let her see in the media, or what she hears...because whatever you tell her, she believes it with blind faith. (unless you are trying to convince her that regular sized flushing toilets are safe...she's already made up her mind about their deadly dangers!) It's a very special, magical, and vulnerable time in a child's life.

I am enjoying her stories very much! And I am trying to get the kids to be able to accept her tales of pretend and imagination for what they are, instead of calling her out on her make-believes and calling them lies. Now if she starts spouting tales about a make believe friend who is doing naughty things that she did herself, that will be another thing entirely.

Kid Quote

After a series of unfortunate events this morning, I was being quite grumpy with everyone and everything and then Angel said to me,

"Now, Mom, while I go play outside, if you clean up this kitchen I will be SO PROUD of you! That is a nice word Mommy, a NICE word. Now don't be bad anymore, and be HAPPY, okay?"

Geez, I guess Angel noticed I wasn't being very nice or happy. Kids have a way of seeing things, don't they?

To Flush or Not to Flush....

Whoever invented the automatic toilets never had a potty-training 3 year old!

Several months ago, Angel was making great progress in potty training. She loved trying out new potties. At church, or at people's houses, she was very proud of herself using "the BIG potty" all by herself. I was certain that at last I would have a quick no-complications potty trainer child!

Then while at Homeschool P.E. (at Western Oregon University) She encountered her first automatic toilet. While sitting on it, the potty flushed 3 times in a row. It was so loud, and poor little Angel was TERRIFIED. I don't blame her! They scare me too! She was screaming and crying, totally confused. Then the next day we were at Winco, and she had to use the potty. Once again, an automatic toilet flushed spontaneously while she was sitting on it.

That was the last time she used the BIG Potty. She totally reverted to diapers for a while. She walked around saying "I'm little for diapers...I LIKE diapers!" I got tired of that quickly, since I knew she was perfectly capable of using the potty!

So we came up with a new idea. Even though she used the big toilet for months and could get on and off by herself, we took our little potty out of the attic, and Angel was thrilled. A nice, small, non-intimidating, comfy seat. I then discovered that as long as Angel's bottom was bare, she'd use her little potty all by herself without being prompted. But as soon as a pull-up, underwear, or bathing suit touched her skin, she treated it like it was a diaper and let it all loose!

So this is the summer gone BARE and Angel is going to be wearing a dress everyday. At least with a girl, you can be modest while doing that. We've been taking the potty with us in the car wherever we go. I'm just hoping that by the time cold weather comes around that she'll be ready for underpants.

Even my older girls hate the automatic potties. They'd rather hold it than use them. I get quite exasperated with them over that, because it's not helping Angel any. Angel won't even climb on the big potties at home. I despair that she'll be using the small potty till she's 8.

It's so funny, I heard Courtney say yesterday while we were using a portable potty "I like these kinds of potties best...they have no flush at all!"

Does ayone have any suggestions for helping kids who are scared of flushing? And what do you do when your 5 and 8 yr old kids refuse to flush the potty even at home? Just because they don't like it, they continually conveniently "forget" to flush.

Did the pioneers have a hard time potty training their kids? I guess their kids never had to worry about loud flushes! Maybe their kids instead where afraid of falling in the hole in the outhouse?

That brings up another potty memory. Once when Dorathy was 4 years old, we were at Christopher's soccer practice. She had to use the potty, and there were portable potties close by, so we went to use them instead of walking the long distance to the Aquatic center. Unfortunately, this potty was almost full. I have never seen a portable potty so close to the top! When I saw that, and smelled it, I was on the verge of losing lunch. I wanted to GET OUT and g0 walk to the aquatic center, but poor Dorathy had to go REALLY REALLY bad, so we tried to stick it out. I was pregnant with Angel, and Holding on to a toddler Courtney, and Dorathy then started to fall INTO the hole! I barely caught her, but she got into the nasty mess. Stop reading this if it is too graphic for you, I'll try not to get into the horrible detail, but let me just say, that we ended up going the aquatic center to clean all 3 of us up. It was a nightmare. Ever since then, even my older girls want me to help hold onto them when using the porta potties because no one else wants to fall in the hole!

I have just one word for that.....YUCK.

Angel's 3rd Birthday

Angel's 1st Birthday

Angel's Second Birthday

I can't believe my little Angel turned 3 years old! In the middle of her birthday my family was all sick. We had to "cancel" her original party and just have some family over.

Hyrum, Louisa, and Athena

At least I was well enough that day to bake a cake!
I got a horrible stomach flu virus right the 2 days before her party, and then the day after her party, Angel herself got it. No one else in the family caught the stomach flu, but they all have nasty colds, and now Julie has a croupy sounding cough. This is one of the reasons I hate winter! YUCK YUCK YUCK. It wouldn't be so bad if none of us got sick!

Angel loves Winnie the Pooh. My kids have the mistaken understanding that I can decorate ANY kind of cake. Angel has been wanting one that looks like Pooh Bear; but this one looks more like a care bear than winnie the pooh. Angel loved it, though! Thank goodness! I overbaked the vanilla cake and ruined it, but at least kids' tastebuds are undiscriminatory when it comes to Sugar!After watching all her siblings get birthday parties, balloons, and presents, she was pretty excited about being in the SPOTLIGHT! She laughed and giggled the whole time we sang Happy Birthday to her.She eventually figured out how to blow out all those candles! It took a few tries, though.Cousin Hyrum gave Angel a BackYardigans radio that Angel loves and her siblings play with too! Very fun for kids, very loud for parents. Especially the microphone part of it!
Angel, the POOH BEAR lover! We decorated her bedroom with pooh bears. (except now it's Jewel's room and Angel is with the big girls) She has a little stuffed pooh bear she sleeps with every night. But now she thinks that ANYTHING with any pooh bear emblem in our house belongs to her. When she sees it she says, "OH! That's MY pooh bear."

Overall, it was a very happy day, and Angel was a very happy girl.

Jack and Jill

Today while I was busy doing morning preparations, I saw Angel running up and down the hall with a metal pail. Every once in a while, she'd trip and fall and the bucket would CLANG with a loud and satisfying metallic sound.

After a big fall when she was rubbing her head I went up to her and asked if she was okay, she just stared at me like I was crazy.

So I went about my business, and then in the background, I could hear Angel singing.

"Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water....Jack fell down, (CLANG) and broke his crown, and Jill came tumbling after..."

OH MY GOODNESS! It was so darn cute to see her running up and down the hall acting out that nursery rhyme. She did it over and over and over again. Soon all the other kids noticed. I was trying to nurse baby Jewel and put her down for a morning nap when I could hear all four kids running up and down the hall, singing it with Angel and joyfully falling on purpose with surprisingly loud clunks. My kids sounded like a herd of Elephants. Too bad that Daddy was trying to sleep on the other side of the wall.

Of course, Mommy had to be the Party Pooper and stop all their fun before they woke up the baby, too.

It was a pretty amusing sight, and I got a good laugh out of it!

Angel a few months back when she got a good shiner

This is the prayer that never ends...

Guess who out of all our kids, (including the parents!) says the longest prayers?!?


Angel!

She just recently began wanting to say her prayers by herself, without any help. This is impressive for a two year old. Especially considering that 5 year old Duckie still likes occasional help.

But just this week, Angel has discovered that she holds a lot of unprecedented power when she volunteers to pray for family or mealtime prayers. Everyone in the family stops whatever it was that they were doing and listens to HER. What 2 year old (and 4th child) wouldn't love that kind of attention?

So her prayers have turned into a list, where she thanks God for everything that crosses her mind, and then she starts talking to him like he's right there next to her and He's her best friend. It's so adorable. It's a WONDERFUL thing! With such childlike innocence and faith, it's a great example to all of us.

But what do you do when the prayer doesn't end? What do you do if 20 plus minutes have passed? If you interrupt Angel, or try to prompt her in anyway, she gets very upset. Offended, she insists on having to start over from the very beginning.

Tonight this happened for her bedtime prayers. It went on forever, so cute, rambling on about how she loves baby Jewel, and how she ate blue jello, and about all the books we just read...etc....etc. and then she'd pause, for a really really long time trying to figure out what to say, but if I prompted her to close the prayer. She'd shout "NO, MOM! I SAY THE PRAYER! NOT YOU! I SAY THE PRAYER!" and then she'd start all over. After the 4th time this happened, the ludicrous situation got to me and I started giggling uncontrollably. Angel was just too cute, and the situation was just too funny. I had been trying to hold it in for some time.

Angel was very delighted with this turn of events, as it garnered her more attention. Now she was even more excited to say another prayer. I guess Mom doesn't laugh enough, Angel was impressed that Mom could giggle.

But as it was now almost 1 hour past her bedtime with the multiple prayers repeated over and over, I had to put an end to it, cut it short and just turn off the lights and tuck her in bed.

Angel had a melt down and threw a fit. And I felt really bad and guilty for doing it. What parent tells their child to STOP praying? That's just fundamentally wrong!

*sigh*

I have a feeling that Angel might fit this whole episode into a regular part of her nighttime routine. If so, I'll need to try and find a more tactful way of ending her prayers early, but reasoning with a strong willed 2 year old is no easy task!

I'm glad she likes saying prayers, though. I have another daughter who still has a hard time wanting to pray meaningfully, so I'll count my blessings.

I guess I just need to be more patient. And schedule an extra hour into the girls' bedtime routine!!!

The Blankie Queen

Angel is the ultimate Blankie Queen. If she had only one toy, and it was a blanket, she'd be happy! Her use of the blanket reminds me of Arthur Dent's use of a towel in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy book series. It is her most indispensable item. Don't you wish a blankie could make you this happy?

I can do it Myself!

Most kids hit the I can do it myself stage by the time they are two, but Angel who is almost 3 just hit it recently. Now she wants to buckle her own seatbelt, cross the street by herself, go up and down stairs and run down steep inclines, all with no help from Mom. It's hard for her to understand why I can let her do some things herself (like clean up her own spills) but not let her do other things by herself (like walking across a busy parking lot). It makes for a lot of melt-downs and crying. I have the greatest sympathy for her predicament....but I hope she outgrows it soon!

Here are some pictures back when Angel was happily potty training of her personal Declaration of Independence....I DO IT MYSELF, MOM!

Happy Angel!