Looks like “Ding Family Creations” is about to expand from signs into furniture:

Just to be clear, this personalized furniture (purchased originally from Ikea) is for the boy to set his feet on as he situates himself on the adult-sized toilet and reads his books.

P.S. Yes, the next installation in our series on relationships is coming soon…

I discovered this on the bathroom door in the kids’ bathroom last night as we were bathing the kids.  It speaks for itself.

I spent some one-on-one time with my six year old last night.  We had the following conversation that brought me much amusement:

Matthew: “Mommy, when we have our 6th baby, do we need to change our van?” (Just so you know, we’re having our 5th baby this year and we haven’t made any plans for baby #6 … and baby #5 will max out the capacity of our family minivan.)

Me: “Hunny, I’m really not sure if we’re going to have a 6th baby.”

Matthew (a bit perturbed): “But we’re going to have an odd number of children!!!!”

Me (smiling and amused): “Okay, hunny, we’ll see what the Lord gives us. Let’s just concentrate on having baby #5 for now.”

My boy loves symmetry and completeness, just like his Daddy the software engineer / numbers guy. Even numbers are good and odd numbers are just odd.

Of late, I’ve been entertained by my 3.5 year old son who says the most heart-warming and funniest things.

Heart Warming:

Andrew woke up crying in the middle of the night again. The next morning I asked him why he was crying and he said, “I was crying for you, Mama. I want you.”

One Track Mind:

While I was in the middle of making dinner, Andrew said, “Mommy, I want to go to sushi.” He meant he wanted to go to a sushi restaurant. I told him no and that I was cooking this evening. He replied, “Mommy, can we go to sushi after you cook?”

Homeschooling:

While I was snuggling with Andrew I asked him:

“Andrew, do you want to do school with Mama?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“I want to play.”

“Well, school is like playing.”

“No, school is work.”

Now, I want to know where he learned that!!! Nevertheless, it was cute and the conversation cracked me up.

Many times we have challenges picking out gifts for the kids.

We’re frugal.

We don’t like clutter.

We don’t want noisy toys.

The toddler/baby product review blog Thingamababy has solved our  dilemma.

Here’s what we’re getting the kids.  Now & forever.

Below is a conversation I had with my son Matthew, and it cracked me up as much as it warmed my heart. I was preparing some chicken and he climbed up on a chair next to me to watch.

“What are you doing, Mom?”

“I’m prepping some chicken and then deliver them to our good friends who are sick.”

“Mom, you should give them some strawberries.”

“Errr. . . we don’t have strawberries.”

“We have some frozen ones.”

“Why do you want to give them strawberries?”

“That’s what my ‘Body IQ’ says!” (At this point he got down from the chair he was standing on, and went and grabbed a ‘Body IQ’ chart that we use for school) “It says: ‘Strawberries contain vitamin C, which helps you fight off an illness‘ so you should give our friends strawberries instead of chicken.”

I cracked up and then went and tackled him. This little boy of mine sure is resourceful and clever.

Recently I overheard my son singing Twila Paris’ “Lamb of God” with a different twist. He was happily and proudly singing his own revised version of the song without really knowing it. The correct lyrics for the first stanza are:

Your only Son
No sin to hide
But You have sent Him,
From Your side
To walk upon this guilty sod
And to become the Lamb of God

When he changed the first line to “Your only Son, You choose to kill“ I burst into laughter. As I told my husband, his revision was not very poetic and the word choice was not the best. But he is theologically correct:

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. (Isaiah 53:10)

For truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. (Acts 4:26-28)

I suppose he may have a future as a theologian even if becoming a artistic poet is out.