Oldest Mouth-

Danny took Daniel Josiah camping a few weeks ago and the boys were to return Saturday afternoon some time.  I was busily making a late lunch, (which, at that time, I was actually hungry for), when I heard the door swing open. “Hey Guys!!” I sang out.  But the minute I turned around a huge skull was being clamped up and down in my face.

“Look, Mom!!  I found a dinosaur skull!!!”

my reply, “Thats fantastic, honey!….but get that thing out of my house!” I no longer wanted lunch.

(*note* I WAS a little more encouraging concerning the skull once it was safely OUTdoors and the thought of eating was no longer on the horizon.  AND, under very careful investigation, we discovered that it was not actually a dinosaur skull, but rather a deer skull, which was slightly less exciting but still very fun nonetheless)

Also , in homeschool we had been studying World War II and had just finished a book about the atomic bomb. The other night Danny was explaining during family devotions that Adam who sinned in the garden(thus ruining mankind) was the first Adam and Jesus was the second Adam who came to redeem mankind.   Daniel Josiah said, “Then Jesus was the second “Atom” bomb who blew up Satan”.  Yeah, son, something like that.  (This was vast improvement on a comment he had made a week prior about a suggested use of the atomic bomb to defend all the persecuted Christians we’ve been reading about.  THAT comment resulted in a long and serious talk about the severity of the atomic bomb)

Second oldest mouth-

For Lent, the kids and I are doing “Forty Days of Praise” in which, at every meal we write down little gifts that the Lord has given us throughout the day (we narrowed it down to gifts during THAT day because I got tired of writing

and rewriting every member of the family down for each child at each meal).

We then put them in our “praise bucket”. 

Upon Trinity’s turn, she takes a deep breath and says “I’m thank-you for ……” and always has a long list of things she is “thank-you” for.  And despite the fact that I’ve tried to explain the difference between being “thankFUL” for something and saying “thank-you”, she not only persists in beginning every praise report with “I’m thank-you for…” but all of her siblings now do the same thing.  Sigh.

On second thought, in a way, they are more correct than this English-major-wants-her-kids-to-speak-correctly Mom, because, where being “thankful” can be a broad, vague concept, saying actual “thank you” is always directed at a Person.  And thats the point of this practice anyways.

Mouth with a huge head of curls atop-

Grandpa (the kids call him Ji Ji, which is the Japanese nickname for “grandpa”) came to visit, all the way from Japan!! Well, he actually came to speak at a bunch of different mission conferences, which were conveniently located in Florida, and therefore we got to see him. Regardless…

Katy-Grace was eagerly anticipating his arrival, and which we had been talking about (and explaining that Ji Ji was their grandpa on Daddy’s side), so when he got to our house, she RUNS out the door and runs into his arms and says, “Grandpa! My Ji Ji is coming today!”  (Evidently we were still a little confused on the grandpa/Ji Ji lesson…but you’ve gotta cut her some slack, she hadn’t seen him since last year…these things get confusing to a 3 year old’s brain.)

The mouth not quite making words:

Benjamin’s not a big talker yet but he’s sure good at making car and gun noises.  He likes to come up behind me while I’m doing dishes and “pshhh! psshhh!” me with DJ’s plastic pistol.  It makes for an entertaining show. He’s a born warrior (with some encouragement from his brother’s arsenal of play weapons)

He also loves the “Happy Birthday” song and sings his own version while presenting to an imaginary crowd whatever he has recently made into a cake (shoes, cell phones, girl’s kitchen items, etc.)