Josiah Thoughts on Santa

Al and I discourage our kids from believing in Santa. As my mom puts it, "If I'm the one giving the presents, I want the credit." This year I had a discussion with Josiah that makes me think he doesn't believe us. So, here is what I imagine Josiah might be thinking this year...

Mommy and Papa think they know everything. They're always telling me what to do and hurting my feelings. Like when they make me stop doing fun things, like jumping on the furniture or when they won't let me watch PBS Kids twelve hours a day. It's just not fair.

Every year they try and convince me that Santa Claus isn't real. I used to believe them, but not anymore. Santa must be real. Everyone talks about Santa and I've seen him at Christmas parties! The presents don't show up under the tree until Christmas Eve... just like magic! None of our Christmas presents say they are from Santa, but I bet Santa puts them there and Mommy and Papa change the labels!

So, if Santa is real, I better be good so I can get a lot of presents. That's why I'm being an extra good helper! I helped Mommy clean the bathtub, wash the mirrors and mop the floors. I tried to help vacuum, but it's really hard work. When Mommy asks me to help clean up toys, I get right to work except sometimes when I'm busy playing or watching PBS Kids. And I'm really good at helping Mommy peal vegetables and bake goodies. It makes me feel frustrated when Mommy forgets that I want to help. Especially when she cracks the eggs when she's baking. That's my job! And I have to do a lot of helping so that Santa knows I am a good boy and brings me Lego Star Wars!

I hope I get to see Santa this year. I don't want to get too close or anything (he's a little scary), but I can point him out to Mommy and Papa and say, "See! I told you he's real!" I like being right (I get that from my Mommy). It will be good to teach Mommy and Papa something they did not know.

On the Bright Side

Here is the bright side of my weekend:

• Josiah and I enjoyed making chocolate cinnamon bread together and, since no one came to the coffee group I hosted Saturday morning, we have some nice breakfast treats to share with family and friends.
• I had a relaxing Saturday morning reading a book, drinking coffee and munching on pastries.
  
• We have a new, more efficient water heater and Al's comic books didn't get wet when the old water heater decided to spew water out the top.
• The smoke detector works well.
  
• The kitchen sink works again and we didn't have to call the plumber a second time.
• I had a really nice time visiting with my mom, sister and niece (and there is not even a negative side, implied or otherwise, for this event).

I'm usually a bit of a pessimist, so I'm a little proud of myself for focusing on the good instead of brooding about the not-so-great!

Conversations with a 6-year old

During a recent trip to the store I kept reminding Josiah to stay close or asking him to walk faster. I was frustrated with him for not listening better and he, apparently, was just as frustrated with me. On the way to car, we had the following exchange:

Josiah: "I would like to live in a different house. Not with you."

Me: "Oh? You don't want to live with me anymore? Do you wish you could do whatever you want without Mommy telling you what to do?"

Josiah: "Yes."

Me: "Well, if you lived in your own house, who would cook for you?"

Josiah: "I could make peanut butter sandwiches all the time."

Me: "Who would clean for you?" [Josiah isn't quite big enough to use the vacuum cleaner yet.]

Josiah: "I could use the carpet sweeper."

Me: "Living by yourself is expensive. Who would pay your bills?"

Josiah: "I could sell some stuff."

Later that week we had the following conversation in the car. I have no idea why he was thinking about this.

Josiah: "Wouldn't it be funny if kids got married?"

Me: "Yes, that would be interesting."

Josiah: "We could have babies. I'm glad I don't have to get hurt."

Me: "What do you mean?"

Josiah: "I'm glad I don't have to get hurt having a baby. I'm glad I'm a boy. I won't even eat an egg."

I wasn't quite ready to tackle that subject, so I just smiled and changed the topic.

Birthdays

Last week was Al's birthday. We had a simple family celebration with dinner at a Chinese buffet and a birthday pie. In my family of origin we always celebrated birthdays with a cake. My mom would put candles on the cake and carry it out while we all sang "Happy Birthday." Al's family didn't really do the whole cake thing and he doesn't particularly like cake anyway. It's taken awhile for me to help Al understand how important it is for me to have a cake on my birthday. I've also found that I cannot celebrate Al or the kids' birthdays without a birthday dessert of some sort either. For me not providing a birthday dessert is like saying, "I don't really care about you." So, we compromised with a pie. I stuck a candle in the middle of the pie and brought it out to Al while Josiah and I sang "Happy Birthday."

We planned to go out for a date on Friday night, but Al got pretty sick. So we stayed at home where Al slept and I took care of the kids. My "warrior princess" came out as I set aside my own desires for the weekend to take care of and protect the family. I'm not complaining though. I love taking care of my family, whether "mothering" someone who is sick or looking for ways to make a birthday boy feel loved.

Yesterday was Josiah's birthday. I stayed up late Saturday night wrapping gifts, making a nice "Happy Birthday Josiah!" sign and cleaning up the house. We all slept in (a nice gift from the kids to us, perhaps) and I made apple waffles for breakfast. Josiah opened his presents and then we all went to the Museum of Science and Industry to see the Star Wars exhibit. We got to the museum around 11:30, but had to wait until 3:30 to enter the Star Wars exhibit. We all had fun and were pretty tired by the time we left at 5:00. Since Al had to leave for a meeting, we ate birthday cake and ice cream for dinner. Then Josiah started putting together the Lego Stars Wars kit he got for his birthday and Elijah spent some time resting. Later we ate some soup and went to bed.

So I am exhausted, but happy. I also have a bunch of leftover pie and cake in addition to all of the Halloween candy laying around.

P.S. I added some Halloween photos to a previous post.

Warrior Princess

This past weekend I learned that I am a "Warrior Princess." I heard Michele Miller speak at the ECPA Publishing University, an event for Christian publishers with training in different publishing areas. Michele's speciality is marketing to women. My job has nothing to do with marketing to women, but her presentation was incredibly interesting all the same. I love personality inventories and the like and used the information she presented to better understand myself and the world around me. Not what she intended perhaps, but more fun for me!

She made the case that to effectively market your product to women, you need to know a woman's internal motivations, not just her demographic. To help us better understand various types of women, she explored where women receive their energy from (external sources or internal) and how they value time (live in the moment or leave a legacy). Depending on the combination of these factors, she created four types. Here is what I learned about me...

I am an introvert and I want to leave a legacy. That makes me a "warrior princess." According to Michele, a warrior princess is methodical, efficient, logical and far-sighted. We tend to be perfectionists and have a strong sense of right and wrong. That certainly describes me. This helps explain why I enjoyed Sharon Hinck's book The Restorer so much!

The other types are "Regal Queen" (extrovert who lives in the moment), "Sorceress" (introvert who lives in the moment) and "Healer" (extrovert who wants to leave a legacy). To learn more about all four types you'll have to read Michele's new book when it comes out this January (sorry, I can't remember the title).

Highlights

Highlights from the past week:

• Splurging on some spa treatments (aromatherapy bath and a massage).
• Hearing Rev. Dr. Brenda Salter McNeil preach at the IVCF Women's Staff Conference
• Realizing that Elijah is vocalizing at least six to ten different words and phrases. Yay!
• Dressing the kids up in their Halloween costumes.
• Seeing the Serbian translation of Wanting to Be Her by Michelle Graham. I really like this book (I can only read the English version, but I'm sure the Serbian is good too).
• Learning that a friend had her baby.
• Having Josiah tell me, "Mom, I think its time for me to learn to take care of myself. Can you go inside?" while waiting for the bus (I went to our front steps and not all the way inside, but I was so proud of him).

Things to look foward to next week:

• Stamping cards with a friend
• Attending a publishing conference
• Josiah's first report card
  
• Al's birthday
• Josiah's birthday