The anatomy of cows

A few weeks ago, Ben spent some time with my sister Cara and her friend Andrew. At some point through the course of this time, Ben inquired about the udders under a toy cow. Andrew explained that they are where milk comes from.
Tonight we went on a walk/run down our road. As we passed the cows, Ben said, "Dad, I need you to let me go in that fence so I can squeeze the things under their bellies and get milk."
Jeremy said, "No, first of all they aren't our cows and second of all, they don't have those yet."
(The cows are young heifers who haven't had babies.)
As I am writing this blog, I asked Jeremy for clarification about what Ben said to ensure accuracy. He asked Ben what he wanted to do. Ben hopped off of his lap, found his farm animal puzzle and pointed to the udders and said, "These things, Dad. Can you see them? I need to do that some day."
Apparently, we have a farmer in the making!

water, milk, and soil

The other day I made myself bran muffins. They are one of my favorite breakfasts, so I don't share them with my kids (not to mention, my kids don't need the bran, if you know what I mean!). I told Ben that when we went to the store we could get the stuff to make his own muffins.
At Walmart today he picked out Triple Berry Muffins. These are then pour the mix in the bowl and just add water. That's why I bought them.
He would not put them down. They never made it into the cart. He personally handed them to the cashier who had to hand them right back, and then he carried them in the car.
*On a side note, I told him we were going to stop for ice cream on the way home. He said, "I don't want ice cream. I want a muffin." That changed when we pulled in to the Dairy Queen and he decided he could have ice cream and then a muffin at home! Boy after my own heart!
As we were driving home he said: "Mom, this says we need to put in a cup of water and milk and soil."
Jeremy and I discussed whether he meant soil or oil. We aren't totally sure, but it was cute either way. Knowing that I bought those muffins just because it only needed water, I was worried he'd be disappointed. He wasn't though! He loved them so much! I can't wait to watch him eat them for breakfast tomorrow!

a "cheerful" giver

Tonight Ben's devotion was about giving. It asked questions like, "Do you give away toys that you don't play with or clothes you don't wear?" He doesn't really get the concept, but explained that when he grows out of clothes we give them to other people, mainly his friend Kai.
Ben said, "But, I need cool things. If we give all my clothes away, I won't have anything cool things to wear!"
Apparently, I'm raising a more materialistic child than I thought! Ooops!
We did explain that we don't give away his clothes until he has new clothes that fit him and we only give away the clothes that don't fit. However, he was slightly disgruntled! We'll put that on the list of things to work on this summer.

Mr. Tom

Because it has been Bible School week, our kids have been REALLY cranky. Last night when we were headed back to church, Ben asked who his teacher was going to be. Jeremy told him Mr. Tom. Ben adores Mr. Tom and loves to go to Rainbow class with him. Ben started to cry and said that he didn't like Mr. Tom and didn't want to go to Rainbows.
Jeremy and I encouraged Ben and reminded him how much he loved Mr. Tom and all of the fun that he had. While we were sitting in the Cafe eating dinner, Mr. Tom came in and sat at the table next to us. Ben looked at him and said, "Mr. Tom, I said 'I don't like Mr. Tom,' but they [he pointed at my mom, Jer and I] said, 'Yes, I did like him.'" Then he turned around and kept eating his dinner. We are so grateful for a gracious Mr. Tom who loves our Ben!

The big question

So, Ben's devotion talked about how we are miracles. It showed a picture of a group of kids with a baby and talked about how God creates us in our Mommy's tummies. Not even thinking, I said, "Did you know you were in Mommy's tummy once?"
He kind of looked at me and said, "Did God have to break you to put me there?"
I said, "Nope, he just puts babies in Mommy's tummies."
That was really not a satisfactory answer for him though! He said, "But Hooooooow?"
So, I said, "Well, he just has a special way of putting babies there. Isn't that cool?"
I guess adding the word cool to the explanation makes it better because it worked. He smiled and said, "Yeah, it is!"
I'm really glad that the conversation ended there and he didn't add some thing like, "Well, how do they come out?"

Pastor Benjamin

This morning was the first day of Bible School (such a great day)! I was sitting in the foyer at church working on some name tags. Ben was in Jeremy's office (to my right and up some stairs) and my mom was in her office (to my left). The phone rang, which usually makes me panic because a call before VBS starts is usually someone cancelling.
I heard Ben talking and my mom talking. Somehow, he called one office from another. He talked to Mom for a minute. Judy, the treasurer, whose office is next to Jer's, told Ben he wasn't talking to anyone. Ben said, "Yeah, I'm talking to Grammy Pastor!"
Mom got him to hang up the phone. He ran down stairs to me and said, "Mom, I just talked to Grammy on the phone. I told her, 'This is Pastor Benjamin!'"

Spiritual conversations

Since it has been so long since I've posted a blog, I decided to post two stories tonight. Hopefully now that summer is here I can be a little more faithful!

We are working with Ben on memorizing the 23 Psalm. He's good a memorizing songs and stories that we read a lot. After reading the book Faith Training (which I recommend for anyone with kids), I decided that he could start learning small passages. So far he "knows" the first two verses: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters.
We tried to practice tonight and he got out, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want" with a little help. Then he decided that he was going to say it to us so that we could repeat it. This is what we got:
God is my life.
God is everything.
Quiet waters.
He got two really important points... and part of the verse!

Our game at bed time right now is pretending that Ben and Jer are lions and I hide. It ends in Jeremy "attacking" me and Benjamin saving me. This usually results in Jeremy, or me, getting some sort of injury as Ben flails about.
Tonight, Ben got a little out of control and kicked Jeremy in the face. After Jeremy's recovery, he tried to talk to Ben about it, which was slightly unproductive. After prayers, Ben hugged him and said, "I love you, Dad. I'm sorry I kicked you in the face."
Jer: "It's okay, Ben. I forgive you."
Ben: "No, Dad, I forgive you. (hugging me) Mom, I forgive you, too. (arms extended) I forgive ALLLL the people."
We need to explain forgiveness soon!