Preschool update

Last Wednesday I hosted Benjamin's little preschool. It was a fun day. Our lesson was on nests and eggs. I happen to own a really cute book about how it came to be that all birds build different nests, and the book also goes into some detail about the materials the birds use to build them. After reading our book, we made a 'nest' on our living room floor out of a bunch of blankets. Then we all sat in our nest and read a book about an egg hatching. (I own a cute book that worked for that too - that Aunt Mindy gave to Eliza when she was born, called, "Ruby, in her own time.") Then we all pretended to be eggs in our nest and we all hatched out and became baby birds, and then I pretended to be the mommy bird and brought them all pretend worms and seeds to eat. It was fun to see them play acting. (The picture is of them sitting in their nest at the end of preschool, once Eliza was awake. They were all sitting in a row listening to me read them another book about eggs, and it was so cute how even Eliza looked like an attentive little student. Benjamin is helping her look at the camera...)
After that we went outside and filled up our birdfeeder with birdseed so the birds could have lots of food. The boys are showing the camera the birdseed in their hands. Anyway, we also did a little craft, and we ate hardboiled eggs for a snack. The boys got to break and peel the shell off their egg, which didn't end up being a mess; however, I should have confiscated the egg yolks before they started to try to nibble on them.... THAT was definitely a mess - pieces of crumbly yellow yolk all over! :)

I jotted down some funny things that they boys said during our preschool.... At the very beginning we say a prayer while the kids are sitting around the table. Abram volunteered to give the prayer, and it went like this, "Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for chairs, thank you for tables, thank you for school, thank you for sharpeners, In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." I thought it was pretty cute, especially since Abram just adores his pencil sharpener and shows it to us every preschool day. :)

At the end of reading them the book about the eggs hatching, I pointed to the nest and said, "And look! Now there are lots of little baby birds inside the nest!" Garret looked up at me excitedly and said, "I wish I had a gun, and then I could shoot them!" He had the biggest grin on his face, like that would be the nicest thing to do. It was so funny, and surprising! I think he was imagining going hunting like Nephi and bringing the bounty back for dinner, or something like that. It still makes me chuckle remembering... you never know what kinds of things are running around in their heads!

Ever since Benjamin went to Christina's house (Garret's mom) for preschool, he's been asking me if I'm strong. The first time he asked me it was because he wanted a ride on my shoulders and I said I wasn't strong enough and only Daddy can give him rides. He said, "Are you strong?" and I said, "No, Mommy's not strong." Then he said, "Oh, well, Christina is strong!" That made me feel pretty puny! Mommy is such a weakling. :) I think gets that from when Christina was showing them how to squeeze orange juice out of a cut orange, and probably said something like, "You have to be strong, like this." Since then he's asked me lots of times if I'm strong. I've been telling him lately that I am strong, and then he'll say, "Like Christina?! You're strong like Christina!" I keep thinking I need to tell her how she has become the hallmark of strength to Benjamin. :)

And now for a little Eliza update -

She is getting to be a pretty good little army crawler now. It's fun to watch her. She'll see something interesting and you can just see the determination in her as she embarks on a mission to reach that piece of paper or that ball across the room. Sadly, Benjamin will often recognize that little "I'm on a mission" army crawl she has, and will quickly run and snatch up what she was going for, and put it somewhere safe where she can't "suck on it." It's actually makes my heart go out to her - poor little thing can't play with anything interesting when Benjamin is around! Just this morning while I was exercising, Benny kept taking things that she was crawling to, and then he would throw them in his room, close the door, lock it, and then come back looking like he had just saved the world. When I asked him to find her some toys, he came back with a few tame-looking toys that he didn't mind sharing with her (toys that were completely uninteresting to him). Luckily Eliza has a mommy that will stick up for her sometimes; I insisted that Benjamin let her play with a blown-up balloon this morning, although he was very much against it!

She's been teething lately, but for the most part she's pretty happy during the day. But on some nights she may get up two or three times! Once I give her some tylenol, though, she'll sleep through the night. She's getting into a stage where she wants to be held by Mommy, and she sometimes will cry if I leave the room or even turn my back to her. I've never felt such devotion! :)

I love going into her room in the morning and lifting her out of the crib. She is such a sweetie, and loves to see me. It's so cute!