Finger Painting Fun/McWayne/Biting...

Elijah and Luke's Nanny and Poppy came into town a few weeks ago and took us to the McWayne Center. We had so much fun, although we were all completely exhausted after only 2 hours of playing. Here are just a few cute pics from our morning of fun!

So today, I introduced Luke to the world of finger painting... I had introduced Elijah to it when he was about 14 months old - right before Stephen came home from Africa, we made a big "welcome home" banner..so sweet! But while Elijah had kept his paci in his mouth (way back when), Luke kept spitting his paci out in hopes that Mommy would look away so he could sneak a taste of the super enticing turquoise paint. (As you can tell from the picture, he didn't like it too much!) But he was able to finger paint some flowers for a future craft project, and then he kind of painted his name. Elijah did a great job on his flowers, which he basically did all by himself, and then he decided to use a paint brush on his name. I was quite impressed!


LUKE
Luke has taken way more of an interest in books. He still likes to walk around a lot while we're reading, but lately, he's sat in our laps so much longer and has been really interested in pointing the pictures and trying to say the words. He is now forever dropping his cup in his highchair, just so he can say "uh oh!" (the 'oh' part isn't really there... it's just "uh uh..." but w/ the inflection of 'uh oh'). We started our classes at the library this week, and as I was singing the hands up song to him today, "Luke, Luke, if you're there, put your hands up in the air," he put his hands up! And he did it time and time again! So cute!


Now for the so cute, but not so cute... Elijah has been knocking Luke down and pushing him lately. And while Luke is smaller, he is not going to take it! When Elijah knocks him down, Luke has no change in his facial expression, but he just puts his hands up and opens his mouth (think godzilla) and just rams his mouth into Elijah's shoulder and stays there. I don't think he's biting down, but he's just going at him w/ all his body weight. It is SO HARD not to laugh while Elijah is freaking out that his little brother's going after him. So we've had to talk to Luke about how to respond to Elijah's behavior (and, yes, we've had to talk to Elijah about how not to push and hit)


ELIJAH
I don't know what he'll be when he grows up. He is such a smart little guy. But he has a knack for all things related to God. As early as he could talk, he could tell you that we go to church to learn about God. And if you asked him who God was, he'd say Jesus, and vis versa. Well, in the Lord's Prayer, he was saying one line wrong since day one, but we never really corrected it - "as we forgive those who have trespassed against us". Well, we corrected him maybe 2 nights in a row and he says in perfectly every time! It's the sweetest thing to hear. In church, they've been learning the verse "There is no one who does good. Not even one." Well, I said to him yesterday "There is no one who does good..." and he said "not anybody...Only God does good all the time." It looks like his sweet Sunday School teachers are getting through to him! He prayed before his nap yesterday and this is how it went... "Dear Lord. Thank you for Mommy. Thank you for Daddy. Thank you for Sage. Please protect her tummy from the peanuts. Please keep daddy safe while he's driving. Please help him drive home safely. Please help him be fuccessful (successful w/ an "f") at work. Help him to trust in the Lord. Help him to trust in the Lord. Amen". I love it!


Tonight, we put Elijah in a footed, zip up pajama that we bought him. It was the first time he'd been in a onesie pj since he outgrew his 18 month clothes. He LOVED it! He was dancing around his room, dragging his rubber padded feet along the carpet, with the biggest smile on his face. Too cute!


Every night, we go into the boys' rooms to check on them when we go to sleep. We shine the light from the monitor on Elijah's face as we kiss him and tell him "I love you." Both Stephen and I try SO hard to get him to say "I love you" back in his sleep. He says it every few nights and it's so precious.



And just to show how much both the boys are growing up - we were at the playground yesterday and I said "Okay boys. If we want to play soccer, we need to head over to the tennis courts b/c it's getting late." We were at the stairs at the time. Elijah immediately walked to the tennis court gate to hold it open, as Luke walked to the stroller, grabbed the soccer ball out of the back, and walked w/ the soccer ball into the tennis courts. It was so precious!