I'm an Artist!

Like many kids, Josiah enjoys drawing and coloring. His bedroom walls are quickly filling with the fruit of his crayons, markers and creativity. Yesterday he drew a picture and then proudly proclaimed, "I'm an artist! I once was a little boy, but then I drew and drew some more and now I am an artist. I don't wear an artist hat though. I may only be a little boy, but my art is big!"

Oh to have his confidence. We talked briefly about how everyone in our family is an artist (Papa is an author, Mommy sings and Elijah's at least learning to draw), but I would never describe myself as an artist to someone else. I might say that I enjoy singing and that I like stamping my own cards, but to call myself an artist would seem like a stretch. And yet, in many ways, I am an artist. We all are in one way or another.

Later in the day I was working on stamping some cards and Josiah asked to help. I'm a little too protective of my own creative works to let him help with my cards, so I put him to work creating his own cards. He observed different techniques I used and wanted to try them all. I had to work on my sharing skills since my stamping supplies are more expensive than his, but we worked things out pretty well. He particularly enjoyed making Transformers "postage" stamps for use on future letters.

Our art may not be displayed outside our mother's homes, but Josiah and I are both artists, even if one of us is reluctant to admit it.

Quick Quotes from Josiah

The other day Josiah came home from school and said, "Guess what!"

"What?"

"An older girl on the bus called me a cutie... I didn't mind. She's going to sit next to me tomorrow."

(I love the "I didn't mind" part!)

--

While looking at his chest in the mirror Josiah noticed his ribs. I said, "Do know what ribs are for?" (I was planning to explain how they protect his heart and lungs).

He responded, "They make women."

It took me a few seconds to realize he was thinking about how God used one of Adam's ribs to create Eve.

Silly Syllabus

This is the syllabus Josiah and I created for the class Al had to take on being silly.

Teachers: Mommy and Josiah Hsu
Date and Time: March 2, 2008 – 8:00 a.m.
Location: Team Hsu Headquarters, Basement

Objective:

This is a practical class where the objective is to learn how to be silly. You will not learn the purpose, history, theology or philosophy of silliness (although we are certain these are worthy areas of study). You will learn some very basic ways to be silly. This class will be a lot of fun.

Requirements:

You must attend two classes where you will be asked to participate in a variety of silly activities with Mommy and Josiah. You must also read two silly books and take a test.

Required Reading:

Calvin & Hobbes by Bill Watterson. Kansas City, Missouri: United Press Syndicate (1987).

The Sixth Garfield Treasury by Jim Davis. New York, NY: Ballantine Books (1991).

Class Schedule:

Class one: Mommy Hsu

1. Laughing. We will begin with the basics. The whole point of being silly is to laugh and/or to make someone else laugh. We will practice a variety of laughs including: giggling, happy laughing, belly laughing and super silly laughing.

2. Tickling. While you are not required to enjoy being tickled, it is important to master the skill of tickling someone else. Mommy and Josiah will demonstrate the fine art of tickling, including the “Bumble Bee Poke”. You will then be asked to tickle Josiah until he can’t stop laughing.

3. Silly faces and funny voices. One of the quickest ways of making someone smile, is making a silly face and talking in a funny voice. We will practice making silly faces and talking in funny voices.

4. Goofy dances. You will learn the “Quack, Quack, Quack, Quack, Quack, Cock-a-doodle-doo” dance and practice making up your own silly dance to music.

Class two: Josiah Hsu

1. Telling silly jokes. Everyone loves a good joke. Josiah will teach you some silly jokes.

2. Goofy noises. Our bodies are capable of an astounding variety of giggle-inducing sounds. Josiah will be your guide as you explore a number of noises you can make.

3. Funny motions. You will learn how to do funny motions by participating in a silly, silly game of Simon Says.

4. Silly games. You will learn silly games like the “High Five, Low Five,” “Smoosh the Lump” and “Kid Salad” (tossing kids on the bed).

Final Test:

At the end of the classes you will demonstrate your mastery of silliness by taking a test in which you will be asked to act very silly. You will be graded by how much you make Mommy and Josiah laugh and by causing them to exclaim, “You’re so silly!”

(This was a pass/fail class. You will be happy to hear that Al passed).

Silly

This morning I recieved the following email from our six year old:

Papa signed up. I am telling you that Papa signed up for a test about being silly. This is for you, Mommy. Guess what, Mommy. It's six long. Two classes for six. We both get halves.

Love,
Josiah

Here is Al's explanation:

(Josiah says I need to take a class to learn how to be silly. He and you will teach me how to tickle. My first class is 8:00 on Sunday).

I love the way kids think!

Josiah's Song

At the end of our advent activity last week, Josiah said he wanted to sing a prayer. Here is the song he sang:

O Jesus you're the best king ever
You're really joyful
Jesus and God are the best ones
We worship them
They're the best glorious people ever
Jesus dies for us to save us
They saved the whole world
And they are really nice
They shine down on us
They have been the nicest guys ever
They are really nice

I imagine God peering down on Josiah with a parent's loving pride, accepting Josiah's song of praise (imperfect theology and all) with a tender smile and, perhaps, a quiet chuckle. Or maybe God shines with glorious pride at such childlike faith, laughing aloud with joy, reveling in our love for him even as we revel in God's love for us.

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.

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.

A Late-Night Scare

We had a bit of a scare the night I arrived home from Germany. We drove from the airport to church (our church meets on Saturday evenings) and then went to a friend's house for dinner. Since both Al and Josiah our allergic to our friend's cats, they both took some allergy medicine on the way there. Both made through the evening without any allergic reactions and we had a really nice time.

We got home later than usual and since I had been up since the equivalent of 11:00 p.m. the day before, Al put the kids to bed while I got ready for bed myself. I quickly fell asleep. At around 2:00 a.m. I woke up to the sound of Josiah coughing. It sounded like he was getting ready to throw up. So I threw myself out of bed and stumbled (literally) to his room.

"Josiah, are you okay? Are you going to throw up?" I whispered.

"No" Josiah croaked.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know" he managed between hacking coughs.

As I listened to him I realized he was wheezing when he breathed. When he sat up in bed I saw that he was still in the shirts and pants he had worn all day. When we get home late, we sometimes put Josiah to bed without putting his pajamas on, which usually isn't a big deal. The problem was that his clothes were full of cat hair and Josiah was clearly having a serious allergic reaction.

Josiah refused to take his allergy medicine because he doesn't like the taste. I woke Al up, partly so he could help and partly so someone else could worry with me. Josiah was still coughing and wheezing a lot and I was beginning to worry about him. Okay, I woke up worrying about him, but now I was seriously considering taking him to the E.R. What if he was having an asthma attack? He hasn't been diagnosed with asthma, but Elijah had issues with "wheezing" last year and Josiah's coughs sounded similar to when Elijah had difficulty catching his breath.

We changed Josiah into clean pajamas and took the sheets off his bed. Al threw everything into the washing machine while I sat listening to Josiah's breathing. He didn't sound any better so I decided to take him to the emergency room. I quickly changed into jeans and a sweatshirt and told Josiah that he needed to see a doctor. He Josiah fought me all the way downstairs sobbing, "I don't want to go to a doctor in the middle of the night!"

He finally agreed to take some allergy medicine and I agreed to wait and see if his breathing improved. A half hour later he seemed to be okay. We trudged back upstairs and settled Josiah down in a sleeping bag in our bedroom. I put my pajamas back on and slipped into bed. I listened intently to Josiah's breathing, which was beginning to sound normal. When I was satisfied that he was okay I closed my eyes and got some much needed sleep.

Recent Photos

I feel like I should post something, but I don't have much to say this week. So here are some recent photos of the kids. Enjoy!

Look out! This kid is dangerously fun!

Ready for the first day of kindergarten...

Here we go!

I love this duck! (It sings "Splish, Splash I Was Taking a Bath" while dancing). Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!


Hanging out at the arboretum where some real splishing and splashing is possible.

Riding the tram at the arboretum.

This is so much fun!

Do you like my new jammies and haircut?

Josiah's First Day of Kindergarten

Well, it's official, Josiah is a kindergartner. We got to school early and I stood around with the other parents while Josiah played with a friend he knows from preschool. I took pictures until the camera battery died. After a few minutes the bell rang, startling all of us a bit. (I'd forgotten about school bells and Josiah has never heard one before.) The kids wandered into two lines, backpacks bumping each other, while the teacher made sure everyone was there and checked how they would be getting home. Then she said, "Okay kids. Smile big, wave to your parents and say 'Kindergarten is great!'" And off they went. A few kids sniffled quietly, but not Josiah. He smiled, waved, said "Kindergarten is great!" and walked into the school without glancing back.

Two and a half hours later I returned to school to pick him up. The kids were playing outside for recess when I arrived. Josiah saw me and waved, but listened very well when the teacher told everyone to line up and go back inside. He chatted cheerfully with a teacher's helper as filed in the door. When he was released a few minutes later I asked him how it went and he said, "It was great!"

Al's mom was waiting for Josiah in the driveway when we got home. Since I had to go back to work I pulled up to the curb and dropped Josiah off. He smiled and waved then looked at his Ama (Grandma) and said, "It's just like a bus!"

I'm very happy that Josiah enjoyed his first day of kindergarten. I hope things continue to go well. My prayers for Josiah these days center around the friendships and character he will form at school. I pray that he will make good friends, that he will be a good influence on others, that he will not be bullied and that he will not be a bully himself. I have a feeling that I will be praying the same thing for the next 13 years or so.

Breaking Josiah's Heart

Yesterday I took away Josiah's toy lightsaber. He was hitting things (including me) and when he refused to stop I took it away and put it on top of a high bookshelf. A few minutes later we had the following conversation:

Josiah (looking very sad): Mommy, you made me sad. You broke my heart.

Me: I did?

Josiah (drawing a heart in the air): Yes, my heart that is shaped like this. You broke it.

Me: How did I break your heart?

Josiah: You took my lightsaber away... (dramatic eyes, quivering lip)... If you give it back, my heart will be fixed.

Ellen: You can play with it tomorrow.

Josiah (on the verge of tears): If I have to wait until tomorrow my heart will be broken forever!

At this point I had to try very hard to hide my giggles. He seems to have the guilt trip thing down. When I refused to relent he resorted to threatening me with a ghost, vampire bats and a sheep dog. A sheep dog?! Where does he come up with this stuff?

Josiah's Song

I love to sing and and often make up silly little songs as I go about the day. Josiah has picked up on this and will also make up songs from time to time. This is what he sang for me last night (I wish I could have video-taped it because its even funnier when you hear the tune...)

I love you
You love me
Everybody loves each other...
Except bad guys
This is the truth, this is the truth, this is the truth!

Love each other
Don't eat bugs
Don't eat anything alive...

He never really finished the song. I think I distracted him when I shot out of my chair to find a pen and paper. This still makes me chuckle.

Cute Kid Stuff

Here are some cute things the kids have said and done recently:

• On Saturday Al took the kids to a picnic while I stayed home. Josiah didn't realize that I was not going with them until we were saying good bye. He looked at me and said, "Mommy, I can't live without you." It was very cute and made me melt a little.

• Al was talking with Josiah about college and Josiah, hesitant about leaving home, said, "Will you and Mommy come with me?" Al assured him that when it was time for college Josiah would be happy to leave without us. Al mentioned that maybe Josiah would meet a cute girl at college and asked Josiah what color hair the girl might have (don't ask me why Al was talking about this with a five-year old). Josiah said the girl would have blond hair "like Mommy."

• Last night we read a Bible story from Philippians 2, which led to a talk about temptation and the difference between thinking about doing something bad (temptation) and actually doing it (sin). So, I said something like, "Temptation is like when you think about stealing a cookie when no one is looking. If you don't actually steal the cookie, you haven't actually done anything bad. But if you do steal the cookie, that is bad. Its not always naughty to think about bad things, but you should not do bad things." We talked for awhile about Jesus being tempted and such. After a while I tried to wrap things up and pray, but Josiah said, "Wait, Mom. Let's think about some bad things for awhile." I think this may have been an attempt to delay bedtime, but it left me a little flabbergasted. That's not exactly what I meant to encourage...

• Elijah has started imitating us a lot. Yesterday he followed me around the kitchen and copied me: open refrigerator, close drawer, dry hands on towel - almost everything I did, he at least tried to do. Later on he even put a bunch of pots up on the kitchen table like he was trying to cook something.

• For the last few days every time I sneeze at home Elijah "sneezes" too. He even puts his hand over his mouth.

• Elijah loves getting piggy back rides. If we are sitting on the floor he'll come up behind us and start climbing on our back. Once he is on our back he signs "go" and tries to say the word (although it usually comes out "bu" or something similar). At church this weekend we were standing in line for Eucharist when Elijah leaned forward in Al's arms and tried to climb onto my back for a ride! I'm not sure if anyone else noticed, but I thought it was pretty funny.

Tending versus Taming

Carla Barnhill wrote something in The Myth of the Perfect Mother that has stuck with me for the past two weeks:

God has crafted each child with hopes and dreams of her own, with a personality and set of passions that we are to tend, not tame.

If the title of this post didn't give it away, it is the idea of tending our children rather than taming them that has caught my attention. All too often I am tempted to tame our children. Both of our kids have energy and exuberance to spare. I am often tempted to "tame" them into being quiet and obedient. While the obedient part is good, I need to be careful not to expect them to be someone they are not. Maybe God didn't intend for them to be quiet. All the harder for me, perhaps, but how sad would it be to "tame" them so that they lost their joyful exuberance.

For example, I approach Eucharist with a sense of quiet meditation and respect. Josiah, on the other hand, skips forward, pops the bread into his mouth and chugs the juice. My tendency is to put a restraining hand on his shoulder and try to "tame" him into participating in Eucharist the same way I do. A few weeks ago a friend from church told us how much she enjoys watching Josiah take Eucharist. She appreciates his joy. What a good reminder both that Eucharist has multiple layers of meaning, one of which is joy at the resurrection, and also that different people relate to God in different ways, including Josiah. Quiet meditation and joyful exuberance can both be appropriate responses during Eucharist.

I struggle with discerning tending from taming, but Carla's quote was a good reminder for me to be more concerned with tending our kids God-given gifts and passions than with making them polite and well-mannered.

Tooth Torture

I noticed a spot on Josiah's teeth a few weeks ago and set up dentist appointment. Even though Josiah brushes his teeth two or three times a day and eats a limited amount of sweets, he has already had five cavities filled and I was worried this was yet another one. It turns out one of his previous fillings didn't work and the tooth had become infected. So, we were referred to a pediatric dentist who could "fix" his tooth.

Josiah was in a great mood the day of his appointment. He got in the car before I even asked him to and was all smiles and good humor. He was delighted with the Superman pillow they gave him for his feet and was very cooperative while the dentist examined his teeth.

Things took a turn for the worse once the dentist decided she needed to pull the tooth. Do you watch Alias? This morning I had a flashback of watching the tooth extraction and it occurred to me that it was very similar to some of the torture scenes in Alias. The main difference was that instead of holding him down and yelling, "Tell us who you work for!" I was holding Josiah down and saying, "You're okay. You're doing a great job!" For his part, Josiah was writhing in agony and screaming. It was horrible. Like I said, I'm having flashbacks.

Josiah is feeling much better now. I bought him $30 worth of soft foods (applesauce, yogurt, ice cream, Popsicles, etc) and he spent the day watching videos and playing games. The next day he showed his missing tooth to all of his preschool friends and their parents, proudly declaring, "I lost my tooth! The dentist had to take it out. It had a cavity." The small Lego set the "tooth fairy" left under his pillow may have helped cheer him up.

Meanwhile, I am still in mourning for his tooth. This is one of my favorite photos of Josiah (taken before the tooth was pulled). Doesn't he have a handsome smile? It will be another five or six years before his adult tooth comes in (which means we have to go back to the dentist two more times to have a space maintainer fitted and installed). That's okay though. He's starting to lose some of his baby teeth naturally, so he'll be gap-toothed for awhile anyway. And it isn't his teeth that make his smile so wonderful, it's his personality and exuberance.

Kindergarten

Well, it's almost time for Josiah to start kindergarten. I attended a Kindergarten Roundup meeting for parents this week and received a stack of flyers, handouts and packets of information about what to expect and how to get involved with PTA.

I'm sure that Josiah is ready for Kindergarten. He can read and write. He has counted to at least 200, can do basic addition and subtraction and knows his shapes and colors. He loves preschool and enjoys playing with other kids. Yep, he's ready.

I'm just not sure if I'm ready. One mother commented on how happy I must be getting the first kid off to school so that I would have more time to do other things. But, you know, that's not what I look forward to. I am excited for him to learn new things and make new friends, but I fell a little sad transitioning into a time when he will spend so much time at school. He's fun to be around (most of the time) and I love playing with him, laughing with him and watching him grow and learn. I know that won't all go away once he starts school, but it still feels like a small loss. And I suspect that the next 13 years will fly by and that he will be heading off for college all too soon.

It's almost time for Josiah to start Kindergarten. I can't believe how quickly the last five years have flown by. I have the whole summer to prepare myself, but I'm pretty sure I'll end up crying after I drop him off for his first day of school.

Kiss me, I'm Cute!

This St. Patrick's day I was explaining to our five-year old that he is part Irish. I was trying to get him to say, "Kiss me! I'm Irish." He refused saying, "Irish is not my favorite thing to be." So, instead he said, "Kiss me, I'm cute!" all day. I was feeling a little sad that Josiah was not embracing Irishness as a part of who he is. Finally, right before bed he said, "Kiss me, I'm Irish!" and I felt a little better.

We don't usually spend a lot of time discussing ethnicity, but when we do we tend to talk about his Asian heritage more than his Irish-German heritage. Al is a second generation Asian-American and is more in touch with his Asian identity. His mom watches our kids twice a week so they have a direct source for information about Asia. She cooks Asian food, gives our kids red envelopes for Chinese New Year and is teaching Josiah a little of the Chinese language.

I don't know much about my ethnic heritage. I know that my mom's grandparents came to the USA from Germany and that my dad's family has a mix of Irish, German and other European ancestors. My family has its own traditions and ways of doing things, but I don't know if any of them are specifically Irish or German or anything else. My grandma has mentioned that when she was growing up her family worked hard to fit into American culture to the detriment of maintaining their German culture. For example, she was encouraged to speak English all the time, even though her parents spoke German.

I wish I knew more about my family's history so that I could help my own kids better understand their ethnic heritage, but I'm not really motivated enough to start doing a lot of research. Maybe I'll try to spend more time with my grandma during our next visit and ask about her family's history.