Q&A with Olivia

Brian and I LOVE asking Olivia questions about things and listening to her response.  Her responses have often made us laugh, but sometimes they can be very humbling.  I absolutely love the honesty that children bring to the table.  They have no fear of rejection and they are so teachable by their honesty.

Yesterday on the way to church we asked Olivia what she wanted to be when she grew up.  But we didn't just want any old answer, we asked her specifically what she thought God put her on this earth to do, what was His design for her and how could she fulfill that with our help.  She said, "I think God made me to be on a stage."  She wants to sing, dance and act.  We pushed her a little further and she said, "Actually, I think I should teach kids theater and singing.  And I want to teach art."  She told me this morning that she has already gone through theater camp so she knows how to be a good actress and singer and she can teach it to other kids.

Last year we got into a conversation with Olivia about growing up.  We told her how mommy and daddy left our moms and dads and went away to college and then after college we got married and moved in to the same house.  She couldn't imagine ever leaving her parents.  She determined that she was never going to college and never getting married because she didn't want to leave us!    She was VERY emotional about this - in fact, she was sobbing at the thought of leaving mom and dad.  She said, "if I have to go away to be a mermaid artist then I don't want to be anything!"  I'm going to remind her of this in about 10 years!  So yesterday after she determined what God designed her to be, Brian said, "so when you grow up and leave mom and dad's house to go to college this is what you are going to go to college for and then get married and live with your husband, right?"  Silence.  After a few seconds, she said, "I'm never leaving."  We just can't convince her that this is actually something she will look forward to one of these days.

As we were leaving small group yesterday she said something and Brian said, "Okay little Shawnie".  She said, "I'm not little Shawnie."  I said, "are you a little Brian."  She said, "no". So we got into a discussion about how kids have different characteristics of their mom and their dad and we wanted to know what characteristics she thought she got from each of us.  From dad she got "she likes Jack's hair (Brian wanted me to cut it shorter for the summer and I absolutely hate it!) and she likes Jack's shirt (Brian dressed Jack for church in a shirt that I personally do not like)."  The next question was what characteristics she thought she got from me.  She said, "I say a lot of the same things as you."  I should have stopped there!  This is one of those times where her honesty has humbled me!  I asked, "well what kind of things do I say that you say also?"  She said, "get off the couch and do something dad!"  Of course I never remember saying this, but I obviously did at some point and that has stuck with her.  GULP!!!!

This was such a teachable moment!  Sometimes it doesn't matter how much good you do, kids can dwell on the one thing that you did that was less than desirable.  It reminds me that in every situation I have to be cautions of the little ears around me.  I'm sure that when I did say that about Brian on the couch I said it in a joking manner, but it didn't come out that way when repeated by a 5 year old.

In my MOPS February newsletter there was an article called, "Out of the Mouths of Babes.  Love and Marriage as described by kids."  There were several questions that were asked to different kids and their responses.  One night at dinner we decided to ask Olivia the questions on the page and write down her response.
How do you decide who to marry?
O:  If they look handsome.
What is the right age to get married?
O:  31...because you're not a kid anymore
When is it okay to kiss someone?
O:  only when they're a part of your family.
How can a stranger tell if 2 people are married?
O:  If they kiss.
What do most people do on a date?
O:  Go somewhere and have dinner together by themselves, but if they want to stay home then the kids can be the server and give them a flower.
What do you think your mom and dad have in common?
O:  you love me!
Is it better to be single or married?
O:  Unmarried because if you get married you will miss your family.
How would the world be different if people didn't get married?
O:  No one would have a dad.
How would you make a marriage work?
O:  Love each other, put on a song and start dancing.

I found a great list of questions to ask kids at Revive Our Hearts, it's called 23 Great Questions To Ask Your Kids by Sharon Jaynes.  I think this will be our discussion tonight at dinner.  You should try it out also.  Print it out and ask your kids these questions today.  Be sure to write down their responses.  Come back and post some comments we would all like to know some of the responses by other children.

For a couple of years I have kept an index card box in one of my kitchen cabinets.  As often as I can remember, I try to jot stuff Olivia says on an index card and put it in there.  I put the MOPS article in there with Olivia's responses and I plan to do the same for the questions I linked up to above.  It's nothing fancy, but I think it will bring lots of laughs when she gets older.  I plan to send it with her one day when she leaves our house to marry her prince charming.

He has risen, He has risen indeed!

Thank you Jesus for your humble existence on earth and the cruel death for someone like me.  It's amazing to think, you could have come to this earth much differently...perhaps, raised in a palace, after all, you're a king!  Thanks so much for the surprise on Easter morning...you shocked the world!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On Thursday I took the kids to Indy to visit family for a couple of days. On Good Friday we visited my parents church for their Easter Cantata and enjoyed a children's spring celebration at their church on Saturday.  After that we returned home and before going to bed we decorated Easter eggs and did the Easter Story cookies.  Easter morning we attended an incredible service at our church and got together with our NWI family for lunch and an egg hunt.  

monster eggs

monster family photo shoot

Easter Story Cookie

Olivia and two friends at church

Crossroad Community Church

morphed

I'm not really sure when it happened, but I have been morphed into my mother.
I find myself saying the following things that I thought I would NEVER say:
"Don't sit so close to the tv, you'll hurt your eyes."
"If you keep making that face, it's going to stay like that."
"Hear those sirens?  The police are coming for you."
"One of these days he's going to be bigger than you."
"You can't go outside like that, you'll catch a cold."
"We're you born in a barn?"
"If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand time."
If everyone else jumped off a bridge, would you?"
"I'm warning you!"
"Do we need to go to the bathroom?"
"Mind your manners."
"There's kids in ________ starving!"
"This place is a pigsty."

I have a feeling the following aren't far behind
"Just you wait until we get home."
"Stop crying before I give you something to cry about."
"Life's not fair!"

I'm sure I'm leaving lots out!  What are some things that your mom used to say that you swore you would never say, but have found yourself saying it after having children yourself?

Rub-a-dub-dub, pictures in the tub

bubble beard

playing in the waterfall

where's sis?

baby butt

taking the bubble beard off of sis

figuring out what toys to play with

blowing bubbles

blowing the bubbles in Jack's face

play-dough

Once I got over my fear of play-dough colors mixing, I have found that it's okay for our house.  I used to hate the stuff.  I hated the colors being mixed so I'd watch over Olivia like a hawk and swoop in whenever 2 colors got close to each other.  

Olivia has a blast making stuff - it's a little more fun to create stuff when you can use more than one color!  She also likes to discover what you get when you mix two colors together.  When Jack's not eating it (we have some homemade kind that is safe) he is imitating his big sister and trying to make what she is making.

Olivia was making dinosaurs with the play-dough on this particular day

Jack showing off his creation

Olivia showing off her creation - a triceratops

age 2+ is just a recommendation, right?

Trying to take a picture of Jack when a triceratops walked into the frame

All of Olivia's dinosaur creations

Then there's the clean-up!  This is another reason why I used to hate play-dough, but I have discovered that now that there are two kids in the house, the kitchen floor needs swept everyday anyway and I can always get some "help".  Here Jack helps with clean-up.

funny faces

We love making funny faces and taking pictures.  Here's some of the latest ones - I definitely have more of Jack because Olivia is too cool for pictures these days.

Scarred for life

It's been several weeks since Olivia was scarred for life, but it's been a heavy week this week and we are all in need of laughter, so I feel like this post is needed!
Early last month, Olivia developed a horrible stomach flu.  She spent several days at home unable to keep anything down and having horrible stomach cramps.  After a few days I joined her in hugging the porcelain bowl.  Olivia was in a lot of pain and we felt like she needed to see the doctor.  Since I was unable to get out of bed Brian felt like it would be best to take Jack with him also.    Before the doctor sent them on to the hospital for a CT scan they were sent to the bathroom for a urine sample.
I'm sure you wondering where the laughter comes in, right?  I mean so far, this is nothing to laugh about.
Brian takes Olivia and Jack into the bathroom.  As Jack starts to open cabinets and get into everything, Brian takes the collection cup and....  Well, he kind of just stands there with lots of thoughts running through his head.  He tells Olivia that she needs to pee in the cup and so she drops her pants and starts to get on the toilet - she's been in the bathroom at my midwife's office enough to know how girls do this.  Brian on the other hand is completely clueless!  He tells her to get off of the toilet and stand up.  He has her kind of spread her legs a little and he holds the cup up to her and tells her to pee in it.  After looking at him like he has 3 heads she tries, but the girl cannot pee in the cup while standing up.  It doesn't help that Jack is getting into everything and she's yelling at him while Brian holds the cup with one hand and tries to keep Jack out of stuff with the other hand.
Brian finally realizes that she is going to need to sit down on the toilet to accomplish this.  Olivia sits down and Brian is baffled as to where he puts the cup.  He starts to put it in the front but decides the holding it under her from behind will be the best option.  He finally gets into place and is ready for her to pee...and he drops the cup in the toilet.
He goes out into the hallway and asks a nurse for a new cup.  The nurse also offers to take Jack to help out a little.  Brian takes the new cup back into the bathroom and attempts this again.  This time Olivia was successful at getting pee into the cup...and all over Brian's hand.
This is when Brian knew that there was something wrong.  He told me, "when she peed it just went everywhere and not in a straight stream!".
Thank God Olivia is only 5 and will hopefully never remember this.  If she does, it will probably come out in a therapy session many years from now.

Sibling Rivalry

I know ALL about sibling rivalry because I have two older brothers.  One of the cruelest things I remember them doing was mixing up play-doh until they got an ugly brown color.  Then they would roll it up to look like poop and put it in my baby doll's diapers.  It freaked me out every time and I hated it!

I had no idea that the sibling rivalry would start so soon!  Jack's only a year and a half and Olivia has been waiting the entire year and a half for her brother to be old enough and interested in playing with her.  Now that he's to that point there are times when she doesn't want it.  

Olivia has started the I-don't-want-Jack-in-my-room phase which will probably last for the next 15 years.  I know that my children each need their own personal space, but I also feel like it's important to share and part of that means letting your brother come in your room.  So the rule I started with Olivia is, "if you have gone into Jack's room today, then he's allowed to go into your room".  It seems to be working for now.  

When Jack is in Olivia's room and annoying her, she reacts by taking whatever she is playing with to the kitchen table or somewhere else that Jack can't reach.  The other night she was playing Littlest Pets and Jack was in her room "wrecking" it so she brought it downstairs to the kitchen table to play by herself.

It didn't take too long for Jack to realize this so he came into the kitchen and climbed up on the table to play with his sister.

Jack the spectator

Here is where he starts to disturb her and she stops him

He decides that he'll just annoy her by peaking through the window

...and while she's not looking, he'll reach through the window and steal whatever is within reach

The I'm-up-to-something look

Olivia takes action, trying to push her brother back

She finally realizes that he's not going anywhere and he might be a good playmate so she let's him play.