regarding neth

Over the last week Batman has moved into our house, you should know Batman has assumed a new alias: Dear Son.  Every morning he wakes up and asks,

“Can I put on my Batman costume?”

Depending on if he has to go to school of not, the answer is usually:

“Yes.”

Batman, aka Dear Son, now watches TV with us, eats dinner with us, walks the dogs with us and most wonderfully before we walk into any room – checks for Bad Guys.  Should they exist he is sure to clear out the room and make it safe.  I am glad to have Batman on my side.

eyes of a child children, eyes of a child, imagination

Recently Dear Son has become infatuated with growing taller.  Last Saturday morning when he awoke, he came into our bedroom and the following conversation occured:

Son: Look how much taller I am?
Us: what?!?
Son: Can you tell, I grew much taller in my sleep… Overnight?
Us: OH WOW, look at you.
Son: I know, look how much TALLER I AM!!!
Us: I KNOW, WOW! How did you get so tall, just overnight?
Son: I slept really GOOD and now LOOK how tall I am…

These types of conversations are now occurring frequently after each nap or in the morning when he awakes.  It truly is precious.  I am really starting to get convinced he is growing taller!

eyes of a child eyes of a child, growing

Lately Dear Son has been convinced he is JJ the Jet Plane, running around the backyard, arms out to his side, wind blowing thru his blond hair – seemingly free as a bird… to him he is flying.

When he races, which is frequently now, he says “I’m JJ the Jet Plane.” The freedom of imagination, where it can take us – no limits, no boundries, follow our dreams.  As adults, we should hold on and capture that feeling, that freedom and remember it in times of trouble and times of searching.

eyes of a child, the search freedom

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A few weeks ago mama G and myself had noticed that Dear Son had out grown a lot of his current toys and felt it was time for a lesson on giving and receiving.  We sat down with Dear Son and asked him how he felt about GIVING AWAY some of his toys for which he did not play with anymore and were for younger children to children who needed toys and really did not have any toys to play with?  We explained to him how God says to us that those who give will receive 10x and God loves and giving heart.

Dear Son looked at us in a puzzled look, almost as if he had realized a new reality.  See, when he was younger, before we got him, he did not have many toys to play with either.  I believe he was also trying to figure out this 10x receiving concept.  At first he was a bit hesitant, because of his attachment to the toys, and then with joyful heart he said YES!

We began going through ALL of his toys one by one.  We had him make the decision to keep it or give it away.  All of the ones he wanted to give away were right on course with what mama G and I were thinking.  He gave away pretty much all of his younger toys to make room for new toys, but there were no new toys yet.  He did this all on faith!

Last week several packages arrived in the mail NEW TOYS for the faithful giver.  New toys more for his age and learning needs.  He was so excited and he truly saw the lesson of giving and receiving!

This week we got a card from mama G’s aunt and grandma, in it was a check for $130 the letter said, “to use it on something for Dear Son, they had been meaning to write for a while, but had been busy.”  This reminded us of the lesson of giving and receiving.  God is good all the time, and truly faithful!

eyes of a child children, faith, lesson

A little and A lot!

Dear Son decided he wanted to begin calling Gwenn and myself ‘momma’ and ‘mommy.’  For those who don’t know, Dear Son is my adopted nephew who has now officially been living with us for almost a year and who’s adoption went through legally in April of 2008.

When Dear Son made this proclamation he was so happy and you could tell his heart was melting with joy.  You see, everyday he sees and hears the children at school talk about “mom’s, mommies, momma’s” and inside we could tell he was feeling left out, misplaced, confused.  The discussion begain about ‘mommies,’ what they are, who they are, their role in a family.  Last night, Dear Son decided he wanted to start calling us officially his ‘mommies.’

To all you mommies out there… take that name with joy and pride, there was a little boy who has been waiting for 3.5 years to truly understand what a momma and mommy is and I will wear the name with honor and do my best to love him, teach him and care for him always!

eyes of a child adoption, eyes of a child

Fish Kisses
Learning to Swim
Raft Slides
Belly Laughs
“The Cheese”
Chocolate Ice Cream
Grandma and Grandpa
Summer Days at the age of 3…

Does it get much better?

eyes of a child children, happiness

I found this quote in an article i was reading on parenting.com

The real goal of discipline isn’t to punish.  It’s to help kids really want to do the right thing.

It really made me think about how, when and why I discipline Dear Son.  This quote is so true… discipline should be for teaching, a lesson – not to punish or make them feel guilt or shame.  Going forward I will think of this quote with each disciplinary action needed and really think does the discipline match the ‘crime.’

eyes of a child children, Discipline

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We were driving to grandma and grandpa’s over this past 4th of July holiday weekend, when Dear Son excitedly blurted from the back seat “I see a sheep in the clouds!” Gwenn and I paused for a moment and looked at each other, this was his first cloud image. We both got so excited and started playing along with him. The game continued on the rest of the afternoon randomly whenever anyone saw an image in the clouds. By the end of the afternoon we had seen, flying dogs, race cars, sharks and much much more. It was such a moment of joy to see his imagination at work and for us to remember that childhood fun.

eyes of a child eyes of a child, imagination

Image via Wikipedia

This weekend our family enjoyed 2 wonderful play dates for Dear Son.  It was so great to see him interact with children his own age and watch them in amusement and imagination.

On Saturday we attended a local festival full of music, bounce houses, great food and new friends.  On Sunday, we enjoyed swimming, great food, bubbles, tractor rides, good conversation at an old friends house whom we are getting to know better.

All these activities left me tired, but thankful for friends and people who are willing to open up their lives and let my family into theirs.  At times, I can be very closed to new situations and moments, however, this weekend reminded me that I need to be willing to try new adventures, be spontaneous again, and show Dear Son it is OK to sometimes stay up past his bed time.  It is the sparkle in the eyes and the new wonders that keeps life fun and magical in the mist of all the routine and chaos.

So thank you friends for reaching out!

eyes of a child eyes of a child, new wonders

In our family we have a process called ‘cycling toys.’  This process allows us to keep the amount of toys manageable within the household.  The process of cycling toys has generally gone unnoticed to Dear Son until this last cycle.

What we do it take a few of the toys we notice Son has not been playing with for a month or so and place them in a storage bin and take out the previously cycled toys for play.  This allows us the keep toys with a sense of fresh [new] in the house and his imagination fresh and learning, without always having to buy him new toys.

This past weekend I felt as if it was time to change up his toy and train track table in our living room.  This is usually cleaned up each Sunday as part of our chores; however this Sunday was going to be different, I made the decision to change up the train track design, cars, buildings and people on the table.  This was quite an eye opener to Dear Son, he was so excited, it was as if it was Christmas in June.  He had actually remembered that Santa brought him the yellow helicopter which replaced the white one which went in the ‘cycle bin.’  He was extremely exited to come home and play with the new setup after school on Monday.  He even was jumping up and down when he saw the airport landing strip set up with the toy airplane.

As I sat back and watched his outward enthusiasm continue to raise, his smile get bigger and bigger.  I realized, sometimes it is the little things we do for our children that they appreciate the most.

eyes of a child eyes of a child, the little things