On Heaven... with a 3 year-old

This is a conversation that took place a couple weeks ago:

We were just about to sit down to breakfast when John got a really sad look on his face and, out of no where, managed to mumble, "I don't want to die!" We didn't quite hear him right: "You don't want to what??"

"I don't want to die!" He repeated. He had a look of sadness and terror in his eyes.

My heart went out to him! We sat at the table and started to eat while Andrew and I talked it over with him. We told him that everyone dies at sometime but if he is a really good person and loves Jesus, then he will go to heaven when he dies.

He told us he didn't want to be a good person - I think he was thinking that if he was a bad person then he wouldn't have to die. We explained that even bad people die, but if he is a good person then he will have eternal happiness with Jesus.

I could tell this gave him some consolation, but he was still concerned. "You need to have another boy, Mama," he told me.

"What, why?" I was confused.

"And name him John, OK?"

*Melting heart* I ran to him and sat him on my lap. "Awe honey! When you go to heaven, we will all be there together! We won't need another John because YOU are our John and we will be together with Jesus! And heaven is going to be such a happy place!"

I was surprised how long the conversation went on. We talked about a lot of different aspects of death and I don't remember all the details. But I do remember that we were talking about being buried when we die and that Jesus will raise us up. John told us that he wanted to put a door on his grave so that Jesus could open it. =)

I'm continually amazed that John already seems to understand that this life is not our destination...

John Quotes ~ Vol. 9

John: You're gonna make me cry, Mama!
Me: Why???
John: Because I love you so much!
Me, melting heart: Awe, I love you too!
- - -
My little Washington-ion:
John, wearing a long-sleeved shirt in 70 weather: Mom, can you help me get my coat on?
Me: John, it's warm and summertime. You don't need a coat.
John: I don't want it to be summer! I want to wear my coat!
(Spoken from a boy who thinks rain boots are appropriate for any weather)
- - -
John and I were playing with a little doll house that was my childhood toy.
John: I'm having fun with this house!
Me: I'm glad! Do you like that it was mine when I was little?
John: Yeah, is that when you were a little boy?
Me: No, I was never a boy.
John: Oh.

John Quotes ~ Vol. 8

John: This is your choice Mama - do you want to play with me or... play in the sink with me. What do you choose?
- - -
His cousin gave him some Berenstain Bear books and he loves reading them. Whenever I ask him to pick out a book for story time, he picks one of those books. He calls them the "Bear-slene bears" =)
- - -
John: Mom, you can't play with me right now.
Me - pretending to be sad but secretly thinking of all the things I could do with a little "free time": What am I going to do???
John: Well... (pause), you can clean the diapers!
Me: Good idea! (not quite what I had in mind!)
- - -
John: Where's my lollipop?
Me: I threw it away because you weren't being nice.
John: Let me see... (looks in the garbage)... Oh - my - gosh, I can't believe you threw my lollipop away!
Me, stunned and holding back laughter: Well, John, you need to be a nice boy to have a lollipop.
- - -
John singing: ♫ a b c d h i k l m o p ... q r s t u v w x 10 2 3, now I know my ABCs next time won't you sing with me. ♬
(I love how numbers were inserted in the ABCs)

John Quotes ~ Vol. 7

Me: John eat your dinner because we need to go.
John: Where's Daddy?
Me: He's going potty.
John: That's amazing that you can hear him go pee-pee. That's amazing!
- - -
I was singing the Hokey Pokey and got to the end...
Me: ♫ That's what it's all about! ♪
John: No it's not!
- - -
John: Actually, Mama, I love you!
Me: I love you too Johnny! You're my sweet boy!
John (without missing a beat): Boogers live in my nose.
Me: Oh
John: Do boogers live in your nose too? I wanna see your boogers.
He looks up my nose... {I'm pretty sure there weren't any boogers in there...}
John: I think your boogers are stinky!

John Quotes ~ Vol. 6

I was doing dishes, Peter was in his bouncy chair and John was hovering over him...
John: I hugged Peter!
Me: You are such a good brother.
John: I'm a good kisser!
---
Me singing while serving up dinner: ♫ Do you like piña coladas and getting caught in the rain ♪
I bring John his quesadilla...
John in a really grumpy voice: I don't want that I want a piña colada!
---
Me: Are you going to go play with Peter?
John: Yeah, I'll be really gentle!
Me (feeling touched and proud): Awe, you're so nice! How did you get to be such a nice boy?
John: And I won't break his head! That would be an ouchie!
---
John: Peter rolled over. He's having tummy time!
Me: Go encourage him - tell him he's a big boy!
John crouching down and using "motherese": Peter, you're a big boy!
Peter coughs...
John: Cover your mouth, Peter.
---
Shortly after Christmas I showed John The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, which is a movie I fondly remember from my childhood. Now he likes to randomly throw things up in the air and says:
"Hip-hip-a-bay!" (Hip-hip-hooray!). It's cute =)
---
Cute pronunciations:

• Bid-i-wow (video)
• Moo-kiss (music)
• Gwhirl (girl)
• Bass-tick (Basket)

John Quotes ~ Vol. 5

I was singing a song to John and one of the lines was: "I had a heart forever true, but it left me and went to you. So guard it well as I have done, cause you have two and I have none."
The following conversation ensued:
John: Where's your heart?
Me: You have my heart!
John: It's not in my hands.
Me: Where did you put it?
John: I put it next to the goat shed.
----
At the table eating lunch, John coughed while drinking apple juice:
John: It went down my wrong way.
Me: It went down the wrong way?
John: Yeah, and in my bottom. It made poop for me!
(Where does he come up with this stuff??)
----
John picked up an empty beer bottle from Andrew's home brew crates:
John: Beer bottle!
Me: You don't drink beer, you're a kid!
John: I'm a beer guy!

John Quotes ~ Vol. 4

The morning after we set up the Christmas tree - talking about a van ornament:
John: "Look at that car we have!"
Me: "It's a van."
John: "My hold it?"
Me: "It's breakable, Johnny..."
John: "My be really careful with that ban!"
----
I was tickling John and he wanted me to stop. He said, "Stop tickling, Mama. That's not a toy, that's your finger!"
----
Me: Are you pooping?
John: No
Me: I think you are.
John: I think I not are.
----
After spinning around:
"I'm spin-zy"
----
Me: I'm so glad your my son!
John: I'm glad your my son too!
Me: John, am I your mom?
John: I am your mom!

John Quotes ~ Vol. 3

There is never a dull moment around this house. John is quite the talker and has a great sense of humor. Here are some quotes that I managed to write down over the last month or so:

-------

His critique of some homemade grape juice: "It's not sour, Mamma. It's very spicy!"

"Look my did!" (instead of "look what I did")

"This mines?" (instead of "is this mine?")

"Some-be-people" (instead of "somebody") Example: "Some-be-people live in that house."

When Peter was crying: "Oh, Peter, you're fake crying."

After trying to use the potty chair: "I put a toot in there! Come see!"

I was wearing a knit hat and John said, "I like your hat, it's really purple."

We were taking a walk and a sports car went by. The driver was revving his engine. After it passed, John said, "That car stinks!"

He gets to have a little cup of chocolate milk before nap and bed time. While he is drinking it he always puts his finger in his belly button. He calls this "belly button time".


Apparently I call Andrew "darling" a lot because John asked me one day, "darling had to go to work?"

When we were driving past a sign for a highway he said "That man lost his body" (In reference to the profile of George Washington).

Big Brother

John has taken very well to his new position as Big Brother. I love watching him smother his brother with kisses. He is totally smitten with Peter and that makes me think about his own call to fatherhood in the future - be it physical or spiritual.

I have noticed that with multiple kids, you have the added responsibility of teaching the older child how to care for the baby. There are so many life lessons for them when having a newborn around, but it does require more patience on my part to teach those lessons.

John is a great big brother and I look forward to seeing his relationship with Peter blossom over the years.

Here are some cute things John as said about Peter:

Pointing at Peter: "Look, so good brother is!"

"I like Brother."

"Let me hold him!" (says this about 100x a day!)

"Baby Brother a Baby?"

"Baby Brother so nice!" 

"I love Peter."

21 Months Old!

Grandma and Grandpa St.Hilaire came for a visit last weekend. John really loves being with them and it was hard to say goodbye! This picture was taken right before they left and I love how John grinned for the camera.

John is now 21 months old and his vocabulary is really blossoming. He says many words, but more than anything, he understands a lot of what we say to him! Today he was looking for his little cat figurine and I said "I think it is on the floor in our bedroom, go check for it!" And he ran off and came back in a few moments with the cat!

We have so much fun together every day! I am really loving this age!

Here are some of John's new words:

• "Bo-bo" - Elbo or knee
• "Toe" - Toes
• "Cookie" - He says this pretty clearly and he uses it for anything sweet
• "Boat"
  
• "Bo" - Bowl
• "May-may" - Cat; one of his cutest word creations. I'm not sure how he came up with this, but he has been saying it for several weeks. We recently went to the park and he ran over to a tree and said "May-may!!" He was remembering last November when we saw a cat up in that tree! I was amazed at his good memory and that he applied his new word to a past event.
• "Uh-oh" - Probably his most commonly used word, he says it when something falls or is unexpected
• "Choo-choo" - Train

He likes playing in the sink while I make dinner.

He stands on a chair and I spread a towel down to minimize the mess.

No more crib! John is now in a big bed!

Our big boy!

Today John turned 20 months old! It's hard to believe that he will turn two in only four short months! Here are some highlights from John at 20 months:

• His favorite toys right now are little cars that he can wheel all around the house. As I type this he has one car in each hand and is driving them on the couch's rough terrain.
• He really likes to accessorize (in a manly way of course) - hats, boots, mittens, scarfs...
• He has a minor obsession with hats. He will often say "at" (hat) and put his hand on his head when he wants to wear a hat. Or he will say "at go" when he wants to put a hat on and go somewhere. For some reason when ever he sees Grandpa St.Hilaire, he says "at?" and wants him to put a hat on.
• Other new words for him include:
• "Bay-be" - baby
• "wa-wa" - water, but he also could be referring to any other drink
• "ca" - car
• "guh" - glove, he does have mittens but he prefers to wear socks on his hands right now. He will bring me socks and say "guh!" insisting that I put them on his hands.
• "doos-doos" - blues clues or choo-choo train (they sound the same)
• "Ma" - grandma
• A whispered "pa-pa" - grandpa
• "go" - goat
• "up"
• "mo" - more
• I have started teaching him letter sounds with the help of the short video "Letter Factory" by Leap Frog. It is a fun video and teaches letter sounds in a neat way. The only letter sound he is confident in is "H." My parents got him some alphabet blocks for Christmas and he will find the "H" and make its sound. We always assume he is panting because he sees a dog, but then realize he is making the "H" sound!
• He is such a sweet little boy and very sociable. He likes playing with his friends in childcare while I go to Mothers' Group every Thursday at our church. A few weeks ago I went to pick him up and he had some older friends saying "Bye John!" It was really cute to hear little kids saying his name and treating him so nicely.

Here are some pictures of John from our friends' wedding in December

(Congratulations Marc and Nichole!!):

John and Clare had fun dancing together, it was really cute!

Under the gift table proved to be the biggest entertainment for all the toddlers!

Gotta love this action shot of him hitting his head on the table!

Here is John playing in a box full of peanuts. He loved playing in it until the box tipped over and he hit his head and spilled peanuts everywhere! =(

18 months

 

John turned 18 months old on Monday. That's right - he is a year-and-a-half-old! Whew, seems like yesterday I was in awe about him turning nine months old - and being outside in the world as long as he was growing inside me. Now he is TWICE that old!

I am so proud to be John's Mamma. He has his moments, but overall he is such a good kid! Here is a snapshot of John at 18 months:

• He says cracker - "ka-ka" (same noise for bird!)
• I can ask him if he went poop and he will shake his head "no" or "yes" - and he is usually right. Potty training - here we come! ;)
• He gives kisses and they are so precious. Sometimes I will be playing with him and he will randomly lean in for a kiss. I love it when he does that!
• He is a great sleeper and he likes to sleep with his Jesus doll that Grandma and Grandpa St.Hilaire gave him for Christmas last year. When we put him in his crib he will often grab Jesus under his arm and snuggle.
• When I ask him to say "please" he smiles and nods his head, but never says it. 
• He is really getting attached to his Da-da. During the day he will often call out for him and when he gets up in the morning he says "da-da?"
• Every Saturday we have homemade pizza and eat popcorn with a movie. Because of these special things, John loves Saturday nights! He enjoys helping me make the pizza. He pushes a chair across the floor and climbs up all by himself. He tries to "help" me mix the dough, but he isn't so helpful with that part. However, he is really helpful when it comes to assembling the pizza - he is sure good at dumping the cheese on!

We love you, little guy!

 

John Quotes ~ Vol.2

Here are some of the new words John has been saying:

• Belly button = "be-bu"
• Shoes = "shoo-sh"
• Hot = "aht-t" - whenever I do anything with the oven, stove top, or microwave he comes over and, at a safe distance, he will wave both his hands and repeat this word over and over. He definitely gets the concept.
• Broom = "sep" (I think he is saying "sweep")

He has become very vocal lately, and although I don't understand most of what he says, I know he is understanding a lot of what I say to him. When asked, he will point to these body parts: eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, head, hand, finger, toes, and bellybutton. When he points to his bellybutton, he insists on seeing mine too... silly guy! He also understands a lot of the little directions I say: "Give it to Mama", "Come here, John", "Let's go change your diaper"... and so on.  It sure is fun watching him learn new things every day!

John Quotes ~ Vol.1

John is venturing into new linguistic territory, and I want to be sure to write down the cute things he says:

• He has a wooden duck that can flap it's wings. Ever since he could crawl, he has liked to be chased with it, and while we chase him we say "quack - quack - quack." So now when ever he sees a bird he says, "quak - quak". Last week, there was a fly in our house, and guess what he said - "quak -quak"! I chuckled, but inside I was amazed at how smart he is, after all flies fly and so do birds! Makes sense to me!
• In Bremerton, at eight in the morning, the shipyard plays the National Anthem - which we love! And all the neighborhood dogs like to howl along - "Awooooooo." Naturally, John thinks that this is the typical sound a dog makes. So now when he sees a dog he says "awoooooo."
• We have made reading part of our bed time routine and John really enjoys it. During the day he often carries books around and looks at them. One day he was reading "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" to himself. I was watching him and he said "quak - quak," then he turned the page and said "Awoooooooo." Sure enough, there were birds on the first page, and a dog on the next!
• He also says ... ball - "ba"
• ... Jesus - "Jsh-sh"
• ... Bye-bye - "Buh buh"
• ... Banana - "Na na"
• ... Dad - "Da da"
• ... Mom - "Ma ma"