ONE MAN'S TRASH...

You know how they say that parents will buy their children fancy toys and the kids are only interested in the boxes?  Not only have I found this to be true with my kids, I try to encourage it.   I want to raise them as low maintenance as possible.  Something about keeping it simple, boosting their creativity, encouraging thankfulness.  

Yet I have to say that even I felt bad today when Jonathan showed me his "sticker collection":

Is it possible to be too low-maintenance?

OUR FIFTH CHILD

I have no idea where Baby Lion came from, but I couldn't have known what he would become to Jonathan and the rest of us.  Jonathan, as some of you may remember, was not a particularly affectionate child, but he loved his Baby Lion with a fierce, unwavering loyalty.  "Baby Yai-yon" played with him, sat through thousands of "alone times", got into fights with other stuffed animals and had to be disciplined, dried his tears, kept him company as he fell asleep. 

In return, Baby Lion quietly remained faithful through Jonathan's "Dark Ages", through the unfortunate Laundry Debacle of 2000 (let's just say that his mane used to actually look like one), through a few I-can't-find-him scares (Jonathan would plead, "Can you look on ebay under 'Baby Lion'?"), through the highs and lows of Jonathan's life, and darn it all if I didn't start to feel like he was part of the family. 

And yet, like the toys in Toy Story, I know that these days will sadly come to an end.  No more tucking Baby Lion in to sleep at night, no more instructions from Jonathan on how to babysit him while he goes somewhere.  He will be relegated to the toy basket, only to be drawn out upon remembrance. 

It hurts just to think about it.  I had a foretaste of this one evening when I was cleaning up after the kids had gone to bed.  I found Baby Lion squeezed between the cushions of the couch.  And then it hit me- Jonathan went to sleep without Baby Lion.  That never happens.  I, for one, was offended.  I came this close to marching into his room, and accusing him, "How COULD you?!"

SUPERHEROES FOR A DAY

Last week we had the pleasure of visiting the California Science Center to see the Superheroes Exhibit.  Of course, we went with the noble homeschooling motive of learning the science behind the superheroes, but the kids mostly ended up running around and playing with things.

These pictures pretty much sum up the day...

PUBLIC SCHOOL 101

The kids and I were sitting around the dining table, finishing up lunch and talking about this and that.  I think Benny may have dropped something on the floor, and I jokingly said, "Ooh, busted" (although it sounded more like, "Ooooooooooh buussssstiiiiiiiid" with its appropriate tonal variation/ rising inflection).  The kids gave me a quizzical look.  Right then and there, I realized something- they had no idea what that meant.  How would they?  As homeschooled kids, they weren't in a classroom setting, picking it up from other kids.

Now there are a lot of other things that they don't know, and for that I am thankful.  That's a side benefit to homeschooling.  But at that moment, in my imagination, I flash-forwarded to a possible future moment- where they would be sitting in a public school setting and not knowing the meaning and significance of all these random, peripheral sayings and practices going on around them.

I set out to familiarize them with as many of these things as I could think of.  Here are a few that I came up with:

• saying "Get off my trail, you dirty snail" when someone is swinging at the same pace as you on the swings

Okay, maybe that's not such a good one.

• playing Cat's Cradle

In hindsight, I would not recommend teaching this to your kids by yourself.  It is an exercise in frustration, I assure you ("Okay, so take your fingers and pinch that X... no, not that one!  The other one!")

• doing those sing-song pat-a-cake type things (e.g. "Say say oh playmate..")

This is probably too girly for the boys.  I'll wait for Katherine and Mia.

Through this little exercise, I realized that most of the things I remembered from the playground or classroom were either a) an expression of a sinful heart or b) now deemed archaic (for example, they did not seem that impressed with my verbal agility in reciting "Big Mac, Filet o' Fish, Quarter Pounder, French Fries..."). 

Do you have any other suggestions?

THURSDAY IN THE PARK

As some of you know, we try to take our kids to the park everyday (with the exception of Sunday).  Now before you applaud our desire to keep the children fit, to give them fresh air, etc., let me confess that the real reason we do this is to keep ourselves sane.  A good 30 minute trip for them (including a few laps around the track) is just enough to take the edge off.

The kids usually meet new friends each time they go.  It's always interesting and enlightening to see how they interact with new people and new situations.

Today, there was one boy there who was about five or six.  He was a "Mine-er"- "That's MINE!  And that's MINE!"  I sat at a short distance away to see how the boys would react. 

Boy (grabbing Benny's shovel):  That's MINE!

Benny:  No, it's not.

Boy:  Yes, it is.  It's mine!

Benny (calmly):  No, everything belongs to God.

Boy (starting to run away with shovel):  No, it's mine!

Benny (chasing after him):  But that's what my Mommy says!  And she's THIRTY-THREE!