"Why Mama? And, so why?"

Wednesday September 10, 2008

As a parent, you often hear of kids asking “why” all of the time.....but I never really thought of it as an official “stage”. Well, one day about two weeks back, the day arrived. Caleb asked me why, regarding this or that.....and then, from that point on, he must have ask (and continues to ask, I might add) why countless times in a day. I will say that it has worn off a bit. He still says it, but perhaps not after every breath!

I think we are in one of those developmental stages in which I am standing back and looking at Caleb, seeing just how much of a little boy he is. There is no more baby. I look back to pictures from just last summer – one year ago. He wasn’t even really talking then – a word here or there maybe, but definitely not talking. The soft baby edges to his little face have melted away since then. I wonder what I’ll think seeing pictures from next summer. Perhaps there is more of a baby face than I recognize, which as it disappears more – I’ll see it even now. I mean, yes – he is indeed still a little boy – there is no question there, and I love every bit of him.

Caleb is just blossoming in his understanding of things. He will often find a book on the shelf that he hasn’t seen or read in a while, and not remembering the name, will come up to me and ask “Mama, what is this favorite story?”.....”I haven’t read this in a long time!” Sometimes phrases such as the last are just jumbled enough to know that he is still imitating what he hears from us, but doesn’t really get the order of all of the words.

He is fascinated with his Bible and his “Voshal” (Devotional – The One Year Bible Devotional for Preschoolers). Every night before bed, he and Papa read these together. It is very important that Papa explain what they will be reading the next day. Caleb insists. It is so sweet to hear Jason in his animated voice say the prayer and the scripture that Caleb repeats. I adore it. I should try to get that on video to capture those precious moments....at least a small piece of them, though they will forever be captured in my heart. Sometimes however, even if things are stored, it is nice to have something to prompt them, bringing them to the forefront of your mind. I hope to build a treasury of those memories to cherish in the years ahead. I don’t want to miss a minute. That is why I am so grateful that I can be home with my boys at this stage of life. So very grateful.

Every morning, he awakes and if I am still in bed, he crawls into Papa’s side of the bed and curls in with me until Baby Emet wakes to nurse. Then, he likes to climb into the blue rocking chair with this Bible and “Voshal” and read. He reads stories aloud sometimes, and I hear interesting bits and pieces of all of the stories coming together. His obsession with King Herod has lessoned a bit, and he has now moved on to wanting to hear the “The Giant Story” (David and Goliath) over and over and over – though he prefers I tell this one versus looking in the book. He also talks about lions all of the time and insists we give them a spanking. He calls them like he hears Papa do for Greta (and the lions). “Lion?! Come here! You need a panking” “S” is still hard for him, so there are so many sweet phrases that I have come to adore such as “Curry Piders” (Scary Spiders), “panking” (spanking), and the like.

I have been trying to work thankfulness into our daily discussions and lives. Of course we include this in prayer time, but I try to do it in the small things – For instance, our peach tree was finally done for the season. Caleb had seen a final, rotten peach that had fallen off the tree. I said, “Thank you, God for our peach tree – for the yummy peaches we had and the peach pies we will still enjoy.” Just following me saying that, Caleb says, “Thank you God for Baby Emet.” That, of course, made my heart melt!