What's in the music?

I should preface this blog with an apology to myself for being blogabsent for the past 10 days or so. I was involved with the Judgement House production at our church and a couple days, I spent 15 hours at the church! It was worth it though and it's been another amazing experience. God really showed himself to me and to so many others through all the volunteers. Everyone was so flexible and adaptive. I enjoyed it so much.

Now to catch up a bit. Sometime last week Zach began asking me a question I just couldn't figure out. Everytime we got in the car, he's start saying "What's that mommy? I would try to figure out what he was talking about, because he wasn't pointing at anything. I would say you mean that building, or that car or whatever I thought he might be wondering about. He kept saying no and then pointed up. I thought he might be talking about the music so I asked him "You mean the music?" He said no, what's that? UGH, I thought OH he wants to know what song it is, so I told him. He just got more frustrated and finally said "What's in it, mommy?"

I was stumped for a minute until he said "drum?" Holy cow, he's asking me what instruments are playing in the song. So we listened and I rattled off a few and he was completely satisfied. This continued with a few more songs and I mentioned I thought I heard the piano in one song. He said "no, I don't hear the pano in this song." I listened closely and he was right, it wasn't the piano. This has been going on now for almost two weeks almost every time we take a ride somewhere. I'm proud of him for being so curious and observant. He's really amazed me. It shouldn't really surprise me though. Since before he was born, he was going to choir and worship team practice with me, hearing all kinds of instruments and having several of his own. I don't think he's ready for anything he can destroy just yet; although I doubt he would.

He's never even tried to bang on a piano. Even when he was really little, he'd climb up on the piano bench at church and just play one note at a time, looking at us after each one to see if it was okay. He still does that. Sometimes he plays the lower notes a little louder, but he never bangs the keys. Maybe he'll actually play an instrument someday. I know he loves music just like his mommy :)

Escaped certain death in the bathroom!

Once my heart pounding subsided, I realized the humor of the situation I got into last night. I also realized the blessing. After MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) at church last night, I made a little side trip to the bathroom by the gym. When I was leaving the stall, I unlatched the door and began to open it. It immediately fell off its hinges and barely missed my toe, but then the walls came crumbling down...literally. There are marble walls that divide the stalls in that bathroom and marble panels that hold the doors as well. When the door fell, the marble panel attaching the door to the stall divider went crashing forward. It fell perfectly between the sinks and broke into several pieces. I ran out the bathroom door and The other steering team members who were still there came to see what had happened. They heard the crash from the gym.

I realized I hadn't washed my hands in all that excitement, so I went back in the bathroom to do that and survey the full extent of the damage. Somehow the stall door had wedged itself under the marble stall divider, fortunately for me that stopped the wall from falling on me! I washed my hands and got out of there before the whole room collapsed!

We found one of the custodians still at the church and told him he needed to go in the women's bathroom but didn't really tell him why. All the sudden we heard him laughing hysterically. It was pretty funny, but I couldn't see the humor until my heart rhythm normalized! It may sound silly, but even in that I can see God's protection and I'm so thankful for it.

I quickly told the other girls that this only happened because Judgement House is next week and that's the bathroom they use since the other bathroom is across the hall from one of the main scenes. It makes me excited in a way because Judgement House is obviously going to be very good if Satan is using the lamest of all tricks to mess it up!

Calling all bats to Lamont Drive

Yes,it's true. I'm sending out a warm invitation to all bats in the Lexington area to swarm Lamont Drive tonight. There's a serious problem over there and we need your assistance. Don't worry, your payout will be large as there are millions of mosquitoes for your dining pleasure! Sometimes you just have to declare all-out war on the venomous little punks and call in the big guns...BATS! Bats are likely the most effective natural mosquito control out there.

You see, the mosquitoes on Lamont Drive have been dive bombing my son long enough. They will no longer prevail. The last straw was the evil, blood sucker who decided to bite Zachary at the outside corner of his right eye. This caused the eye to swell shut for about 24 hours. Today he can open it about halfway, but it's still pitiful.

The skeeters may think they are going to win this one, what with humidity and rain forecast for today. But just wait, your time is coming and you will not win this one. The first round of shock and awe will be coming in about an hour thanks to Cutter Bug Free Backyard spray and don't worry, if any of you survive the first round of attacks, my son will be wearing some natural bug spray we found last night at Whole Foods; enjoy the smell, we got it just for you! Then tonight, the bats will swoop in and finish off any of you stubborn lingerers. This is your warning - you serve no good purpose in the environment and you must prepare to die!!!!!!!!!!

I wanna go to Christmas!

Me too! We've been talking a lot about our Christmas travels to come this year and Zach just can't understand that we have to wait two months to leave. I know how he feels; I'm excited too and I want to go right now and spend time with the fam. He keeps saying "I wanna go to Christmas!" It's like he thinks Christmas is a place and in a way, he's right.

Christmas is a magical place, almost a fantasyland, when I get to be with my family. Since we live so far away, it's something that I look forward to with all my being. It only happens in even-numbered years. Aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins...all come from across the country to eat, laugh and pray together. It's pure bliss. Yes, sometimes the traveling is rough and it takes a long time to get where we are going and then when we get there, we still have to travel from place to place. We have to pack up stuff, mail presents, eat crappy road food, pray for no snow/ice on the roads and ultimately sleep on all kinds of uncomfortable beds, couches and floors. But somehow none of that really matters and it doesn't bother me to hear the old version of Rockin Around the Christmas tree a thousand times.

So yes, Zachary, mommy wants to go to Christmas too, but we still have to get through Judgement House, Kentucky Baptist Convention and Thanksgiving first....whew!

Grandma's WHAT?

It's becoming ever-clearer that I have to mind my words with much more caution than ever before. With a fledgling English-speaker in the house, word pronunciation and diction are becoming more and more important. Take for instance our little "misunderstanding" on the way home from the babysitter's on Wednesday. I mentioned my mom in conversation to David and from the back seat, Zach begins to yell that he wants to talk to Maw Maw NOW!! He loves, loves, loves to talk on the phone and who am I to deprive him, so I told him I'd call her...the rest of the conversation went like this:

Me (under my breath to David): I wonder if he'd protest if we just called Granma (his mother) instead?
David: not sure what David said because I got an earful from backseater;
Zachary: Granma's DEAD?
Me: WHAT? How did you get that?
Zachary: She not dead?
Me: NOOO, granma's very much alive.
David: no words just laughing profusely inside his mouth, lips tightly closed so it sounded quite evil.
Me: Umm, I said inSTEAD honey, not DEAD!!
Zachary: Her dead, granma not dead?
Me: NO, we'll call her in a second so you can ask her.

David's mom got a big kick out of it and assured him that she was very alive. Whew!

"The Fireman took my Paci!"

We tried to wean Zach off the paci again last night by telling him they were gone and we didn't know where they went. He asked about several locations in an earnest plea for us to find the silly sucker. We stood firm and told him they were gone. He actually went to sleep without it, even though he told me he didn't want to be a big boy; he wanted to be a baby and have his paci. He slept pretty good until about 3 am, when he called out for his daddy. David went to him and of course Zach asked for the paci. David convinced him it was truly gone and then offered to stay and sleep with him. They both went to sleep and without the paci!

I walked into Zach's room this morning after I got dressed. He appeared to still be asleep, but then opened his eyes and started crawling toward me asking about the paci again. I stuck with the plan and told him they were gone. He was deep in thought for a few seconds and then said "The fireman take my pacis? I said umm, the fireman took your paci's? just to make sure I heard him right. He shook his head yes and said that is what happened. I decided to go with it and I said. "Yes, the fireman took your pacis so he can give them to babies who need them." He scrunched up his forehead in deep thought again and then said. "No, I don't want babies to have my pacis." So I told him the fireman would just keep them then and he seemed pacified by that for some reason.

He must've had some colorful dreams about firemen. He's had a good bit of experience with emergency personnel - firemen breaking us into our house on Christmas day last year when we locked ourselves out (they came in the big engine and in full gear, 4 of them), we later took them a cake for their efforts and they let Zach wear a firehat and sit in the truck; and then there was the night he rode in the ambulance after his febrile seizure. We took cupcakes to those guys and they let him play with the sirens and sit in the ambulance driver seat. So, I guess it's not too out there for him to conjure up this story. Is it?

Shout out to Entree Vous in Nicholasville

I know they will never read this, but I had to give a quick shout out to the people at this awesome meal preparation joint. Ever since I got the "go gluten free or die" label, it's been a challenge on the cooking side of life. It's gotten a lot easier, but the convenience has been slower to arrive. Enter Entree Vous; the chefs there are so nice and patient. Whenever I want to get something for my freezer that will make my life easier and healthier, they have taken as much time as I needed to go over ingredients and tweak dishes to make them safe for the gluten free gal. We probably get one or two meals (which makes 3 or 4 for our family) from them each month. They really know their stuff and make sure I only get/use ingredients that are safe for me. They are even making me a crustless cheesecake special this week! I'm so excited :)

Oh and yes, I posted twice today haha lucky for all my many readers; they get a double dose...again, I must remind you that it's national sarcastic awareness month :P

If God made you a singer, you have to sing!

Lately everytime we head for church, Zachary has been asking me if I have to sing. He's talking about worship team because we have to be there early to practice and I usually send him off with this dad to play while I practice. When I tell him yes, he usually says "No, I don't want you to sing." It's a good guilt trip after a few sad, puppy eyes and sniffs. But then he always goes off and has a good time with daddy and he's fine. He just likes to make me feel crummy for a little while, I suppose.

It occurred to me that maybe by not addressing the question with more than a yes, I was missing an opportunity to bestow almighty wisdom on the kid..yeah that's it and it's also sarcastic awareness month.

But seriously, the last few times he's asked me I have said, "yes, I do. If God makes you a singer, you have to sing. If God makes you a preacher, you have to preach. If God makes you a teacher, you have to teach." And, so on. It's so true though, you just have to use the talents God gives you and it's important for kids to learn that as early as possible.

I hope Zachary will be a singer - he can already hold a tune pretty well as he walks around humming Twinkle, Twinkle and Jesus Loves Me. It's sweet, but if God doesn't make him a singer, He will give him another talent that He expects Zach to use for his Glory.